WFH is here to stay: Here’s how leaders can maintain employee wellbeing and productivity

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the way we work in much of the world, and Australia is no exception. For office-based workers, the most significant changes have been brought about by lockdowns, which have forced employers to switch entire workforces to working from home (WFH) and to learn how to manage their workforces remotely.

Recent research makes it clear that working from home requires new policies. The impacts of working from home can include stress, loneliness and boredom and all of these can eventually affect the individual’s functioning and their ability to perform.

This means managers now require new approaches to leadership and new skills for providing greater support to flexible workers. Leaders should prioritise the psychosocial safety of employees and effectively communicate their commitment and support for the wellbeing of all workers.

The shift to more online work means the task of managing teams of employees has also changed substantially. Often, this has meant that manager’s workloads have escalated as they grapple with coordinating dispersed geographical WFH team members. Our studies have found that a one-size-fits-all approach to flexible working is not effective, as WFH is experienced differently by demographic cohorts such as women, those with carer responsibilities, and those with a disability.

Managerial responsibility

Managers need to develop people skills and capabilities around providing support to all their workers, building team relationships and trust. These are the things that help employees satisfy their need for a sense of uniqueness and belonging. But while these qualities might be desired attributes of managers, they have not previously been essential elements of their job. Yet, the pandemic has shown us it is vital to implement practices that enhance trust and a sense of inclusion in the context of WFH, particularly between line managers and their staff. 

Managers need to find creative ways to support casual communication and collaboration. This is much harder when bumping into workers at the water cooler or the coffee shop is no longer an option. At the same time, managers ‘checking-in’ on WFH employees needs to seem natural and supportive rather than controlling.

It is also important to plan social interactions that support employees in overcoming the remoteness. Employees need to continue their professional learning, where relevant, and maintain communications with their peers to strengthen their networks. Again, all of this is harder when the collegial atmosphere of the workplace has been replaced with online interactions.

A well-recognised downside of remote work is the blurring of boundaries between work and home life. Some professionals have reported working far more hours, leading to burnout. In organisations with cultures that focus on rewarding those who work long and hard, this blurring has made it even harder to set boundaries with colleagues and clients.

But such delineations are vital if workers are to manage stress and avoid burnout. Effective policies could include preferred or mandated working hours that are acknowledged and respected by leaders.

Additionally, many workers are caring for school-aged children and supporting them with online learning, a situation that exacerbates the challenge of balancing work and home life. This is especially true for women, who are more likely to be caring for dependants.

Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that women are far more likely than men to spend time on unpaid indoor housework, cooking, and the care or supervision of children. According to an ABS survey conducted in May 2021, 62% of women had spent five or more hours in the past week on unpaid indoor housework (compared with 35% of men).

Remote work can exacerbate this imbalance, since the sheer amount of work for family members has increased and it has become harder to demarcate separate times for home and work responsibilities.

Employers should take active measures to limit this blurring, such as encouraging professionals to confine work emails to regular office hours and not to make demands on employees that intrude on family time. These include practices that may have been more appropriate in office-based settings, such as 8am meetings, and also well-meaning gestures such as Friday drinks at 6pm. Clearly workers caring for children are less able to attend such occasions outside office hours, and their inclusion is important to creating a sense of trust and advancing productivity.

This is where employers can consult with their human resources departments to devise strategies that will both get the best out of their employees and develop an inclusive culture, without overburdening them or pushing them towards burnout.

Looking ahead, both employers and employees see merit in retaining flexible working arrangements once the initial COVID crisis has passed. The key will be to ensure the effective planning and implementation of multi-level change towards new ways of working, including to structures, policy, practice, technology and culture. Indeed, all these components need to be working hand-in-hand to deliver flexible working arrangements, making them sustainable, and ensuring these practices deliver the expected benefits.

The following checklist can help employers establish a WFH policy that maximises both performance and wellbeing individually and collectively.

Checklist for action

1. Empower employees to give input into how they would like to structure their work, and where they would like to work from

2. Encourage senior leaders in the workplace to visibly champion wellbeing, and take a hard-line against negative work behaviours like bullying, harassment and discrimination

3. Ensure equity in resource allocation, including the provision of training, to enable employees to perform regardless of where they are located

4. Build capability in leaders, and ensure they are equipped to professionally navigate the personal and human-side of supervision

5. Ensure team leaders continuously check in on their WFH workers in a supportive (rather than controlling) manner

6. Review all HR practices through an inclusion and diversity and wellbeing lens, including the recognition of diverse workers; training and development; and flexible working opportunities to support each worker’s needs

7. Ensure leaders role model self-care for themselves, and empathy for others