Management Perspectives

To be fair, it has not been easy for anyone—neither the companies, nor the employees. The pandemic has not only caused a major, worldwide disruption, it has meant a quantum jump in challenges. Since much has been written and deliberated already on this topic, I decided to focus on how the so called ‘new normal’ is affecting different generations at work.

It is during times of crisis that relationships— including that between an employee and the employer are tested. Engagement has never been more relevant than it was during the past year.

While writing this piece, I had the opportunity to interview a lot of people across generations— Generation X (born between 1964/65 and 1977/78), millennials (born between 1979- 1999) and Generation Z (born 2000 and 2020)—working in India and abroad, and listening to their experiences first-hand. Based on these interactions and other research, I have drafted this article to describe the on-ground situation, and hence serve as a consultative guide for organisations to in re-align their employee management and engagement strategies/policies to suit the new order.

An account of a Generation Xer
Dhruv, who works in the non-profit sector says, “Our organisation being in the social sector depends on various types of grants and funding for undertaking social development projects, and it was severely hit due to COVID. This resulted in subsistence concerns for the organisation, which, in order to maintain its visibility and get newer business, had to work overtime with PR exercises like organising webinars during the lockdown period to keep the clients and beneficiaries engaged, and also to pitch to new corporates and funding agencies.

Regular office hours as well as the boundaries of timelines were erased as employees were deemed to be always available for work. Meetings on three different online platforms— and at increased frequencies—became a norm. The concept of lunch breaks and coffee breaks disappeared. Many a time we had to excuse ourselves from office work, even on a Sunday when we had to do some urgent domestic work. Meetings were called at short notices via a message on the official WhatsApp group, which meant that we had to be constantly checking our phones. Despite being at home 24x7, we were actually not with our family and family life had gone for a toss.

Online meetings have become such a menace that people have to attend them even when they are commuting. Earlier, office was office, but now the home is also office. There is no respite from work anywhere.”

A millennial’s account
Prathap, a millennial, IT specialist says, “Like many of my friends, initially I was thrilled when I got this convenience—I did not have to go to office, I could manage my office work and household chores, all while watching my two-year-old baby grow. It did not take much time for me to set up a mini office in my house. I used to do work from home (WFH) once or twice in a week in the pre-Covid-19 era as well, so I familiar to it. On top of everything I was saving transportation time and expenses, as well as the mental and physical exhaustion due to hours of commute.

While all this brought joy to me and my family for the first few months, slowly I started realising that the duration and quantity of work was increasing manifold. The usual nine hours of work in a day was reaching up to 12 to 13 hours. Introspection led to an interesting finding. The joy of staying at home all the time engulfed the increasing workload and long working hours for the organisation. Apparently, I did not mind dedicating my precious two to three hours of time to my employer, which I could have otherwise happily spent with my family or for myself; it was because I knew that I did not need to rush to log off from my office on time to drive back home without being late, that I did not need to take a small meal break, and that I did not need to take a break to go for a stroll after being exposed to the laptop screen for hours. At home I could see and meet my family whenever I wanted to and I get my meal delivered to my table.

At the same time, I also found that organisations’ expectations have changed during the lockdown—employees are expected to be online all the time, they are expected to complete a given task on the same day, which would have taken more time in the physical office setting. In short, the organisation is trying to take as much advantage of this new normal as possible. I also slowly realised that I am encroaching my family’s space. In a nutshell WFH is a doubleedged sword.”

A Zener’s account
At 20 years of age, Simone is among the oldest members of her generation. She is studying in college and had secured an internship opportunity in her dream company. The year 2020 could not have begun on a more promising note for her until the Covid catastrophe struck. Due to the lockdown and shutdowns, her internship was cancelled, and she was instead offered an online course by her university as an alternative. This online course, though would fulfil her graduation requirements, could in no way replace the rich experience that she could have gained interning. Simone wondered how this would impact her career. Campus placements had been delayed as well. Securing a job is still getting difficult even as the world is trying to get to back to normalcy.

Work-Life integration - generational challenges
Generational challenges are unique in some ways but they also converge on many aspects. Though each generation has been hit hard by the pandemic, from a work-life integration perspective, Gen X and millennials seem to be affected the most.

When home becomes the new office, it is bound to cause commotions. After all, homes are neither spatially nor spiritually designed for work and the new setting is unsettling and a forced choice for most. Let us see how it has impacted both work and life of people.

Disappearing boundaries
The onset of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns meant a sudden switch to WFH for many. Most industries and jobs are not designed for the WFH model as yet, and this unexpected transition started diminishing the boundary between work and life. It also meant increased workload and longer working hours. Shiraz, who works for an IT multi-national in Hyderabad says, “All meetings are now virtual; hence, the number of meetings has increased substantially. This is compounded when the number of stakeholders is more and when they are spread across multiple time zones.”

This has also seen a rise in unrealistic expectations from the employees—to always be available for a meeting, always be online, be available for work and respond to office mails at odd hours, even during late evening and nights

Umang working in a global MNC, who moved into a major Asian market just before the onset of the pandemic says, “Companies should not put pressure on employees to be online all the time. If a person is at home, it is obvious that there will be kids to handle, someone has to cook and clean, and then bosses expect calls and availability round the clock. So, empathy towards an employee’s personal life has to be formalised in some way.”

Infodemic’ and triggered stress
Dealing with bad news is never easy, and when there is a barrage of bad news pouring in—death statistics reported on a daily basis like a scorecard, news of lockdowns and miseries of people, etc—it becomes enormously difficult to deal with the same. On top of it there is abundance of fake news and rumours that spread like wildfire, especially via social media. The imminent risk of health, safety concerns of self and of near and dear ones, and the looming uncertainty have not been easy to handle. Many went through panic attacks, anxiety, and stress. The pandemic has had a ravaging impact on the mental health of people and sadly there is no vaccine for it.

People employed in the government sector, especially in essential services had no option to work from home. A senior professional remarked, “For essential government services, many employees had no option of virtual work. Every morning they had to brave the Covid scare to perform their duties. HR departments of many companies need to retrospect their policies when it comes to employee health and safety.’

Ashish, who works for a European IT service provider, says, “Organisations providing psychological support to their employees through expert talks and counselling is really helpful during such times when there is so much uncertainty and turmoil.”

Working from home also meant a sedentary life with greater incidences of fatigue and stress on the back and eyes. The challenges of managing without domestic helps and learning to do a lot of new things meant huge time consumption on daily chores

Shrinking income, rising expenses
The pandemic has had a direct impact on people’s income as well as their earning potential, in most sectors. Salary cuts, reduced benefits/ incentives, and delayed salary disbursement were common, whereas expenses kept on rising—through the setting up office infrastructure at home including furniture, internet bandwidth, and better gadgets. There has been financial stress and uncertainty and space in the house has become premium due to earning members working from home.

No more commuting blues
The biggest positive from the lockdown has come in form of cut-down in commute time, expenses, and energy. Apart from this, most of us have learnt new things, learned to manage work more independently, and have been able to spend time with family. Almost every working professional has undergone at least one training on online working and it will not be wrong to say that we are more digitally adept than before

Collaboration impediments
Managing communication and collaboration across teams has not been easy in the virtual set-up. Umang says, “I am in a new role and it required meeting customers in the Asia Pacific region. It is almost a year and I have not met any of them face to face. It is very difficult to build personal rapport via Zoom or Teams meetings. For business it is important to know each other personally, which you achieve through face-to-face meetings, dinners, and traveling together. I am missing that personal touch.” Like Umang many have complained the lack of personal touch owing to zero socialisation and building of personal rapport.

Coping with new technology
Generation Xers have faced this problem more than millennials and Gen Z, who are more of digital natives. Online work models have necessitated quick learning and adaptation to new technologies and platforms. And, considering that there was no time for transitioning, it was mostly learning in real time, on the job, though trial and errors. Learning something new and at the same time keeping up performance levels, with zero transitioning time, has been quite a daunting task.

Force fit
The short and sudden compulsion to transition their way of working left many people still following the offline model for online work. This often resulted in duplication of work, longer process hours, and cumbersome reporting procedures. Rachel, who works as a teacher in Bengaluru, remarks, “We have to send a lot many offline videos as the number of periods now is less compared to when we had regular school timings. Again, those offline videos have to be revised and taught in the online class if students have doubts regarding the topic, which generally happens. This results in doubling of work.”

Leading by managing
It will not be incorrect to say that this sudden change has left most human resources (HR) departments clueless about the way the employees must be managed. Most HR policies are not designed to understand remote working and managing employees accordingly. The pressure to pull through during bad times and a perception that work from home may mean employees will slack have, at times, resulted in unclear expectations from the management, resulting in employee burnout and strong backlash.

Rachel further adds, “I would really like the VP to stop bugging us and calling us for meetings at all hours and telling us to prepare things such as charts and flash cards because I am at home. The school will not provide the material as it is closed.”

Ritwik says, “Leaders should learn to demarcate clearly between work and leisure hours. There are those exceptional days when working day and night for the benefit of the organisation is required, but when it starts becoming a norm, it gets problematic. People might not speak openly for the fear of creating a negative impression of themselves, but prolonged exposure to such conditions will cause deterioration of health and motivation levels, ultimately resulting in reduced or average performance.”

People having more unstructured and independent work arrangements have had different experiences. Adrija says, “My situation is a bit different. I was working from home from a year before the rest of the world joined in. Also being from an advertising agency background, and with my personality/ nature being the way it is, I have always found it hard to keep a firm boundary between the two. But in my current workplace, when there are leaner periods, I am able to do more things I enjoy and when there is a busy period, we all put our heads down and work. It is definitely a better balance.”

Future of work
The work-life integration is a reality and even after the pandemic is over, it may not go away. It is here to stay. So, coupled with the challenge of managing and engaging a multi-generational workforce, organisations also have to deal with the challenge of the dissolving of work-life boundaries. The future of work will need us to reinvent, reorient, and realign old rules, practices, and approaches.

Critical role of leaders
Crisis brings out either the best or worst side of leaders. Crisis is, in a true sense, a test of character and intent. Organisations and leaders who think that letting employees keep their jobs and paying their salaries is a privilege they are extending to their employees during a crisis, is a mistake.

Leaders need to exhibit greater levels of empathy. It is not easy for an average employee to deal with the pulls, pressures, and the constant stress. A bit of understanding goes a long way in instilling confidence among the workforce that they are together during difficult times. An open channel of communication is needed especially when face to face meetings become diminished.

The contrasting experiences of Dhruv and Adrija are a testimony to the difference that leadership can make in the ‘new normal’.

Dhruv is not very happy with his experience and says, “Decision makers in the organisations should appreciate the concept of worklife balance. If the chairman or the CEO of a company is a workaholic, he/she cannot expect the entire staff to be the same just to keep up with his/ her pace of working. He/she may or may not have a family life or have any recreational inclinations, but the same may not be true of other employees. Every individual has different emotional and social quotients, and they should be treated with appreciation for their difference.”

Adrija is fortunate to be working with a organisation with leaders who have shown much more empathy. She says, “While many are happy to work from the comfort of their homes, the work is not lesser than it was earlier. For some it is even more, and often under distracting, demanding circumstances. If everyone acknowledges that and respects that everyone is trying to do their best in the current scenario and as long as realistic timelines are being set and deliverables are being met, micromanaging can be avoided.

Thankfully, it works very well in our organisation. Knowing that we are trusted with a job and will get back when we are ready because we know the timelines and implications as well, the onus is on us and we know we can deliver. Also, a clear and open channel of communication helps. If everyone knows what they are working on and by when they need to deliver or connect to discuss and take it forward, the 'remoteness' aspect ceases to be a big hurdle.”

Redesigning processes
Offline work models and reporting mechanisms cannot be copy pasted in online remote settings. The processes need to be redesigned for remote/ online work models. The future of work will not discard remote/online working completely even after the pandemic is over. The online mode is here to stay, and hence processes need to be redesigned to suit the changed demands of the online platform.

New HR policy
The human resource policies for managing and strategies for engaging people also need to be reinvented. The future of work will have people working in both face-to-face as well as online settings and policies need to evolve to manage and engage people both in place and space. The concept of a work time/hours, reporting/ responding to emails/queries, definition of mental health of employees, and support that can be extended to deal with anxiety, guidelines to supervisors, and managers to manage their teams without causing stress, professional development in new emerging technologies, and most importantly, understanding generational needs in managing a multigenerational distributed workforce are some of the areas that need urgent attention.

A future-proofing vaccine
The end of the pandemic is now imminent with vaccine making inroads to provide immunity against the ‘invisible intruder’ that caused mayhem everywhere, but businesses all over the world also need a booster dose to revive their dwindling fortunes. An engaged workforce can be the best vaccine for any organisation to help it develop immunity against future crisis and environmental upheavals. Organisations need to learn from both the mistakes they made and the things they got right during this pandemic. Implementing these learnings in the postpandemic normal will be critical to effectively lead, manage, and engage the workforce in the future of work and thereby create more futureproof businesses.