What Do Post-Pandemic Employees Need to be Successful? - Part One

In part one of this two part series, Jennifer Stukenberg, NCIDQ, LEED AP, WELL AP, joins Coral Digatono to discuss how to successfully plan and execute the return to work with a hybrid work model. This episode also considers pitfalls to avoid and how to prepare for an equitable environment.

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Transcript

Coral Digatono  00:09

Hi, and welcome to Side of Design from BWBR, a podcast for those who are passionate, curious and obsessed about the performance of organizations and the people and the facilities that power them. We're happy you're joining us for these discussions on the topics and issues, reflecting how we heal, learn, work, research, play and pray, in essence, how we live, all with a Side of Design. I'm Coral Digatono, your host for this episode. 

Coral Digatono  00:33

For organizations who pivoted to remote work in 2020 disruption was forced upon them to very quickly transition their employees to a work from home model. As we now look ahead to Summer and Fall of 2021. Organizations are taking a variety of approaches to returning employees and operations to the physical office, and many organizations are embracing a hybrid working model. So different from the abrupt pivot of 2020. Coming back to an office or launching a hybrid work model is done best when it's done with intention and planning. 

So today, we're talking with BWBR principal and workplace strategist Jennifer Stukenberg on the types of details organizations need to be considering as they're planning their future of work strategy. Jennifer is a workplace design thought leader who helps organizations and companies use workplace strategy to improve worker experience productivity and wellbeing. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science in interior design from the University of Minnesota and is Well AP, LEED AP and NCIDQ certified. So she totally knows what she's talking about.

Coral Digatono  01:33

Jennifer, welcome. Since you've been at BWBR for over 25 years, tell me about the markets that you've served and projects that are relevant to workplace design and what we're going to be talking about today.

Jennifer Stukenberg  01:46

Well, Coral, you make me sound so old, like I've been around forever. But you know, I've been really blessed in a time at BWBR to have worked on a variety of projects, everything from a lot of health care and well being work to recreational fitness, corporate, of course, I worked on corporate even before I came to BWBR, and higher education. And it's really interesting how all those different marketplaces have really brought us to where we are right now. And it really gets to what's important and foremost, on people's minds. So my focus is mainly on workplace and corporate with a heavy focus on wellbeing.

Coral Digatono  02:28

Okay, before we get into the details of bringing people back to the office, I wanted to ask you about a recent Labor Department report that stated that 4 million Americans quit their jobs in April, like, wow, what does that mean?

Jennifer Stukenberg  02:40

Yeah, I think one of the things that the pandemic has really uncovered is that compensation with benefits is not the only carrot or frankly, stick that people want. When people are asked in the past year and a half what they really wanted and needed. Many of them, as you know, said time and flexibility to care for parents, for kids, and even just themselves with mental health issues. You know, some of the more maybe entry level workers took the time to rescale. Other workers decided to quit and follow a new passion. A lot of people are talking about burnout and the effects that that's had in the last year. Another interesting study from a company found that 5% of their workers had relocated since the start of the pandemic, can you can you believe that? And then an additional 7%, we're thinking about it. What this means likely means is that companies are going to have to offer more than just compensation in order to retain and to recruit workers.

Coral Digatono  03:50

Not only relocating, but what about, you know, I've been hearing people just traveling, I talked to somebody last week that said, they their daughter was traveling with friends and working remotely in a new place every month, for the last few months. I mean, just to be able to live life have flexibility and still hold their jobs.

Jennifer Stukenberg  04:09

Yeah, it isn't something just that the older you know, of course, women and families have really had a big effect, this pandemic has had on them, but young people. I was getting my hair cut the other day, and it's 20 something year old next to me was telling her friend that she used to work 60 hours a week, she was making a good salary, she was loving her job, and that, you know, over the last year is just not worth it anymore. And that her time, she finds so much more joy in time and purpose of the things that she's doing outside of work now. So people are making a choice about how and where they want to live. And I think that I think that really is a benefit to us as a society for a whole rather than just you know, it is a problem that we need to as employers and companies, but I think in the end run it's going to make for better employees.

Coral Digatono  05:05

I think so too. Yeah. And people want to feel that, that purpose, and I think you're going to get better quality work and productivity, if people are feeling like they belong to something they want to be there, that's their choice is to be a part of that organization, and spend their time there. Right? So then, okay, so then what are employers looking for,

Jennifer Stukenberg  05:25

They're looking for the same thing they've really always looked for, they're looking for that meaning, like you mentioned, and purpose they want on a day to day basis, they want to really feel like they're making a difference. That the work that they produce has an effect and that they're being seen, they want to be part of a company with similar values, especially some of the younger generations. So it's important that a company is able to communicate, its why. The why and its purpose to it's employees will help not only recruit and retain, but it also helps ease change guides decisions. And that really is that glue, that holds people and culture together and keeps them motivated. 

Jennifer Stukenberg  06:07

They also want to feel successful, and valued. And I think that is one of the challenges that we have seen of remote work is, you know, the ability to see and feel recognition on a day to day basis. So those small wins are really important for employees. And then this last year has really shown that employees can be trusted. I know it seems strange. But you know, a year and a half ago, a lot of employees weren't trusted to work at home. Some of my clients weren't even trusted have a laptop, which seems seems really, really ridiculous, but they're trusted now. And they want to be continued to be trusted to make decisions about how they best can do their work. And they and they feel being respected is more than that. 

Jennifer Stukenberg  06:55

The other thing that people are looking for is control over their lives. And it's not just about that flexibility, flexibility is you know, you have some choice, but people just want that control. And that control will mean that a one size fits all is likely not going to work for most companies. I know a lot of younger people have really struggled during the pandemic, and they want to come back to the office so they can connect and and get the mentoring they need. And they really crave that social aspect of it. But you know, as I said, women and families, they they're going to need something completely different. And in order to get women back into the workplace. Some of them it's going to take a lot of that giving them control over of over their environment.

Coral Digatono  07:41

Sure, yeah, there's so much that goes into that too, with parenting and families. You know, I personally know several people who've decided just to homeschool their children. And that requires one parent to you know, work, not work from home, but just remove themselves from the workplace. So having that work life balance, in general, if you do have kids in school, or whatever, being able to run them wherever you need to, or be available to them when they need assistance, but being able to then be there for your co workers and so on. That's helpful. And it provides a better quality of life, I think, for the family dynamic. But what I'm curious about is the power of routine. So some people require that they want to get up and go to the office every day. And I'm just wondering, where does that fall into this?

Jennifer Stukenberg  08:25

I think that this idea of routine is something that hasn't really been talked about, I love that you brought it up because it is super important studies show that you know, routines, reduce stress, help with sleep patterns. Obviously, in a routine, you use the best use of your time, you're more effective. But even creativity is increased. With routine. You think about famous writers or artists Georgiou key if they talk about how they get into this routine, getting up in the morning hours a day practicing their skill or their craft. And it's that routine, that practice, that leads to creativity, it also allows your unconscious mind to, you know, frees it up to, to work on other things other than just managing the stress of making decisions. So I think that is something that this last year has really disrupted that routine. And so as employers, you could absolutely be helping with routines. It might not be you know, physically in the office, although it's definitely something you can help with. But it could be helping people, you know, plan their day and not in a forced way. I mean, still giving the employee a lot of control over their their development and their career and their days. But, you know, how do you plan your week? And how do you be intentional about more than just getting your day to day work? Done? A lot of complaints about working from home is you know, development and mentoring. And so how do you how are you intentional? How do you create routines that will advance your career that help connect with leadership. And how do you create those opportunities in a purposeful way and routine can help with that? 

Jennifer Stukenberg  10:12

One thing we hear a lot of employees employers talk about is that they miss these water cooler moments. But who said that was the best way to develop staff and to connect? In some ways, it's kind of a horrible way. I mean, it's very informal, it's casual, it feels good. It's, it can be easy to do. But unless you're physically there, if you're on the same floor as a leader, or even in the same office, it is in a good way. And so we need to look beyond recreating just some of the past habits that we had, because that's the way we did them, and really get to what are we trying to do? How are we trying to develop staff, and not only be intentional, but to be equitable, so that the systems that we create work for everybody?

Coral Digatono  11:02

Exactly. Those serendipitous conversations can be so helpful, but how much, or how much of a distraction are they as well? You know, I feel now over this last year, when we've all been remote, our conversations are intentional, every conversation is intentional, and it's planned. And rather than taking that time, however, that's it goes back to you have a stronger relationship when you can pass people in the hall. And you can check in on how their weekend was, what's been going on and in. So while we've been more intentional with our conversations, I think we've lost a little bit of the connectivity and the relationships, you know, a personal level in which which helps us collaborate more and work better together as a team.

Jennifer Stukenberg  11:45

Yeah, absolutely. And then in every event, this last year has reinforced the importance of those social spaces, and the collaboration spaces that were frankly unheard of, you know, 10-20 years ago. So when we see people returning back to the office, not only are we seeing CEOs, you know, first and foremost, they're looking at technology, bringing technology and upgrading video capabilities. But then they're looking at those social spaces, because that's what's going to bring people back and to be able to walk through the front door and immediately be greeted by a couple people, say hi, that employee has immediately feels a sense of belonging know, someone recognized I was here knows I'm here says hello. So as people come back to the office intentionally, and they might not come back every day, and they may choose to spend their time in this hybrid manner where they spend a couple days working at home doing more focus tasks, or, or even purposeful meetings at home, one on one on Zoom or other media, they will come into the office and they want to recharge, by connecting with with people and collaborating. So we're going to see the shift to emphasis of the space being more on collaborative social spaces, and see a decrease in the overall percentage of those individual spaces, we'll still have them, and there are still going to be people who want to come to the office and work. There'll just be fewer of them, and they will look different.

Coral Digatono  13:17

Right. Right. Yeah, that's what I was, I was thinking, you know, I, personally, if I go to the office now for a couple days a week, I'm going to go, you know, as I said, with intention, I will go there to specifically meet with people until I would want, I don't need to have my own desk or space. But I would need to have a conference room, something small that I can meet one on one with somebody that I can reserve for the day type of thing. And so is that where we're going to start seeing more and more phone rooms and smaller conference rooms, meeting spaces?

Jennifer Stukenberg  13:45

We are. We are seeing that the individual work has gotten more private. That's one thing people across the board they love working at home, because they can work hours on end focus work distraction free, they can have a little bit more control over their environment. And going back the office is going to be somewhat of a shock to people. 

Jennifer Stukenberg  14:06

I was in the other day. And there was several of us sitting together. And someone got a call on zoom and immediately kind of looked around like is it okay if I take a call and we're like I think so. Like we didn't, you know what is the protocol and and just working through what's acceptable and what's not. So we are developing those protocols and working with companies and finding the right balance to can you plan certain meetings and events in rooms, but you will have certain people calling you out of the blue and you need to respond. Many CEOs are predicting that virtual communication is going to be the new norm. It will be a rare occasion when you just pick up the phone and call. So we need to plan our offices around that. Not only visual all distractions, but increasing acoustical properties of the spaces. We're spending a lot of time evaluating acoustical properties that used to be good, but no longer aren't going to work.

Coral Digatono  15:12

Right. Right. Okay, well, then I'm wondering, let's talk a little bit about burnout. Because as I was, I've been reading a lot about going back to work. And that seems to be the topic that comes up every time and burnout, it's people not feeling that work life balance, or, you know, working so much, or maybe they're just not handling the Zoom. What is it? What what's causing the burnout? And how are we going to work with that and change?

Jennifer Stukenberg  15:37

While burnout is when you become so overwhelmed that you start not to care, and have an inability to actually complete tasks. What's interesting about burnout is many times has nothing to do with the amount of hours that you work. Now, I know this does seem really counterintuitive. But if you look at times in your life, where you have worked lots of hours, you're totally energized, you are feeling great, and you're not burned out. And then other times, you may be just working 40 hours or less, and you feel completely drained. So that gets back to that. Do you feel your purpose? Do you feel you are contributing and you feel like you're having those small wins? You're getting reinforcement and recognition for what you do? So So how does that translate to where we are today, remote work and and then working back into the office. And I think, as employers, we need to just reinforce that purpose that what people do has meaning in the in the workplace can be a powerful tool to remind people of that and remind the people that they're working with, and then also just, you know, way to go, recognition, you make a difference, you know, physically being in a room of someone does help with that, that that sense of belonging. And so I think a lot of times people just blame it on I'm working too many hours. And, and yes, that can be a factor. But we all know from this last year, it can be so much more.

Coral Digatono  17:17

Absolutely, it can. Well, you know, we're gonna break this into a two part podcast. And we're gonna dive deeper into how we're going to work on that, more of a hybrid model to work with burnout and prevent burnout, and so on. And how is that gonna work better for people. There's a lot of details that go into that one. So that will be in our next episode with Jennifer here. And so we're gonna wrap this one up today. We'll be back soon. And we'll dig further into hybrid and what we can expect and need to consider as we return to the workplace. So Jennifer, if our listeners would like to get a hold of you, what's the best way to do that?

Jennifer Stukenberg  17:54

If people would like to get a hold of me, they can email me at jstukenberg@bwbr.com.

Coral Digatono  18:01

Okay, thanks, Jennifer. 

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