Some of us like change; others prefer a more structured approach to any change management within their business. And among the latter, business leaders are prominent.
They develop workforces, processes, systems, and policies that deliver value in predictable cycles. If something emerges to disrupt that equilibrium, it means a drain on time and effort.
Bayzat data shows that a growing number of UAE organisations now offer their employees the opportunity to spend at least some of the working week at home.
More than half (52 percent) fall into this category, which is an effective reversal from the attitude of organisations just three years ago. Back then, 58 percent had strict office-only policies in place.
It is important to recognise two things.
First, changes in policy, where they occurred, were initially forced by external circumstances beyond an employers’ control, rather than enthusiasm.
And second, there are still a significant number of organisations on-the-fence when it comes to striking the balance between meeting expectations of employees for flexibility versus the question of productivity.
Their doubts keep them from what could be a prosperous new era of employer-employee rapport.
The benefits of hybrid work emerge from a range of studies around the world. Remote workers can lie outside an employer’s commute radius, leading to a wider talent pool.
Employers can boost their retention ratios by building more accepting and flexible work environments and exhibiting a genuine obsession with work-life balance.
And remote workers have lower associated overheads like on-premises resource consumption and reimbursement of expenses such as travel and fuel — which increased by over 400 percent and 38 percent respectively in the first six months of 2022.
And yet, despite empirical and anecdotal evidence for the efficacy and value of hybrid work, the figures clearly show us that doubts linger.
While there are many myths surrounding remote work that agitate those doubts, here are Bayzat’s main three.
1. “An unseen employee is an absent employee”
Many hybrid-holdouts cling to the simplicity of the clock-in culture. They fret about the ability to confirm that an employee is putting in the hours, even though modern thinking on productivity suggests that time spent bears little relation to output and almost none to innovation.
This is about trust. When lockdowns occurred, we saw no appreciable downward spiral in productivity, but we did see an uptick in reported stress levels for employees.
Some research even claimed an increase in productivity in the UAE during lockdowns, while one study on the psychological impacts of lockdowns showed more than one in three (36 percent) UAE workers feeling stress from either work, domestic, or financial matters.
The lesson is clear. Not only is the idea that “unseen employees are idle employees” a myth but it is also a misdirection of energy on the part of the management team.
For the most part, trusted, supported, nurtured employees will be clocked in no matter where they work. And if the doubters are still not convinced, they should know that attendance-monitoring tools are now very advanced and non-obtrusive and can flag any absenteeism issues early on.
2. “Productivity will suffer”
As we have already seen in busting the attendance myth, productivity showed no major dip in the UAE during the Covid crisis and may, in fact, have trended upwards.
While this should allay most fears, remote-work naysayers may feel more comfortable exploring the practices of those firms that have made hybrid systems work well.
They will see the following: motivation rather than intimidation; output metrics favoured over input; regular feedback rather than formal annual or bi-annual appraisals; empathy over policy.
This region is home to some of the world’s youngest workforces. And they want to design their own assessment.
Everyone needs a mentor, but modern approaches exist that allow mentoring at a distance and a greater degree of autonomy for the employee.
For example, the GROW (goals, reality, options, and way forward) methodology allows accountability through a series of agreed outputs that are aligned with the business vision.
All of this is handled best by digital platforms, not only because millennial and Gen-Z employees will approve, but because the complexity of individualisation calls for a data-based approach.
Bayzat has found that around 72 percent of UAE businesses either do not have a formal performance-management process in place or have yet to digitise it. But the benefits are proven. Digital monitoring is objective, precise, accurate and timely — and therefore of great value to both employer and employee.
Past reviews are forever at the fingertips of both parties. Agreed-upon goals can be locked into digital workflows that can be monitored and updated, so promises are not forgotten. And employees’ efforts do not need to be paraded in front of decision makers to be noticed because they are a part of the permanent digital record.
3. “We are just not that kind of company”
Here, we break down the non-descript anxiety that hybrid work may not suit the doubter’s business model or the mindset of their workforce. Within this myth is the notion that physical presence is necessary to build team spirit.
The truth is that the change in culture (input to output, intimidation to motivation, and so on) that we have discussed does not come about through physical proximity. It occurs through a change in attitude on the part of the employer that is communicated daily to every employee.
Even face-to-face assurances can be screen-based rather than in person.
In other words, open-door policies need not involve a physical door. Once this new culture is digitised it is unlikely that a remote employee will be overlooked.
Positive culture, we could say, overcomes geography, especially when supported by proprietary social platforms — platforms that remember birthdays and through which co-workers can gather virtually to discuss business and personal issues.
If this sounds a lot like camaraderie, that’s because it is. And conference tables do not make it happen; people make it happen.
Change, as usual businesses have embraced many changes in the past, as evidenced by the fact that we are now on our fourth industrial revolution. Hybrid work is just the latest, and the grass is a lot greener here than many think.
Ayman Kattan, chief people officer at Bayzat
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