Jean Roqua: And face my father? The last time he spoke to me, he said both of his sons died that night. And every day, like the day before, I wake up, wash my face, look myself in the mirror, disgusted. Jean Roqua: You know nothing! Seven years. Jake Tyler: I know you would've fought that guy. Jake Tyler: Really? If you could go back, and stop the guy who shot your brother. Jean Roqua: You cannot live in the past, my friend. Jake Tyler: The night my dad died, I just let him drive. Jake Tyler: Wait! You think this is what I want? To never train with you again? Just to give some asshole the show that he's looking for? I let you get away with it once, not twice. 'I tell business leaders all the time: 'You might be assessing employees as they come back to work, but mark my words, they're assessing you just as much – so be thoughtful, listen carefully and try to dig in with them on their needs.''Įxperts share the No.Jean Roqua: Do this and you can never come back in my gym again. 'There's a lot at stake for leaders with return-to-office plans,' Spataro says. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest JOLTS report, another 4.3 million Americans left their jobs in January. 'It's about getting people back to a shared headspace of what work will look like in the coming months, and being transparent about what employees versus leadership expect so there's no surprises,' he adds.Ī tight labor market means employees are still in the driver's seat and aren't afraid to quit if their needs aren't being met. Spataro recommends that leadership require managers to have 1:1 discussions with employees to design a 'team agreement' that outlines the business's needs, the team's needs and the individual employee's needs to determine how they can better align. 'But managers are also the key to helping companies execute effective work policies … your culture is going to rise or fall depending on how your managers implement it with employees.' 'They're the point where all of this tension comes to a head,' Jared Spataro, the CVP of modern work at Microsoft, explains. Managers are struggling to balance these competing desires: More than half of managers believe leadership is out of touch with employees, but 74% say they don't have the influence or resources to enact change for their employees, according to Microsoft's report. What's more, 44% of executives working remotely said that they would prefer to work from the office every day, while just 17% of employees said the same. The success (and failure) of a company's return-to-office plan lies with its managers, who are struggling to convince leaders in the C-suite to design their work approach according to employees' needs.įuture Forum, Slack's research consortium, interviewed close to 11,000 knowledge workers in the United States, France and other countries in November and found that 42% of executives are working from the office 3-4 days a week compared to 30% of non-executives. Managers feel caught between leadership and employee expectations 'If you show up and no one on your team is there, what's the point of going in?' she says. If leaders point to the benefits of in-person work for culture and collaboration, the office needs to be conducive to that, versus 'a cubical farm where everyone is on calls and no one is talking to each other,' she adds.ĭesign changes such as larger conference rooms, open floor plans and outdoor spaces could have a positive impact.įreedman also encourages companies to use collaborative tools such as Google Docs or Slack where employees can view and chat about people's office schedules in real time.

'That starts with answering 'What is the role of the office, and how do we get our most effective work done?'' 'Companies need to think through what, exactly, they want to accomplish by bringing people back, why, and be transparent with their employees,' Freedman says. Microsoft's research supports these claims: 38% of hybrid employees say that knowing when and why to come into the office has been their biggest challenge navigating work in recent months, as only 28% of leaders have defined why and when to go to the office in their plans. Such criticism is warranted, Freedman points out, as most companies haven't established clear, detailed workplace strategies that explain when employees should be in the office and why.

Wanting to go back in time