Danny and Caitlyn (not their real names) are in their 30s, and work from home three days, from office two days a week. Danny Lim works in the tech sector and his wife Caitlyn works in the financial industry.
Their companies are not the exception in bringing employees back to office. Last year, global corporations like Disney, Starbucks and Meta gave mandates that staff are required back in the office.
In the case of Disney, CEO Bob Iger asked workers to return to the office on all work days, except Fridays.
Meta’s about-turn from embracing remote working to mandating that employees return to work three days a week, met with a lot of unhappiness not just from the staff, but raised a lot of flak among the tech community.
The workplace has changed drastically in the last three years. Generally, older persons are advocates of work from office whereas the views of young adults generally differ.
As a silver, I know that there’s a lot to be gained for those who work from office.
A colleague in her 20s once told me that she preferred text messaging rather than speaking on the phone. I always thought that it was easier to solve a problem by having a chat, either face-to-face or on the phone.
While this change in attitude of communication in the office requires a silver to have a change of behaviour, it is also the case that sometimes what is unsaid can be louder than what is said.
In meeting rooms, body language can speak volumes, such as when people turn their back to you, when they look at you expectantly for interesting suggestions, or when they invite you to join the social committee arranging the annual dinner and dance.
In the 1960s, cubicle design was the order of the day. Later, in the 1990s, the concept of hot desking emerged because the laptop replaced desktop computers.
There are many variations of workspaces at the office today. While cubicles were for the ‘bosses’ in the past, today they are fashioned for group meetings.
It’s more than a physical change. The work environment today is more collaborative with emphasis on team effort and, with it, team achievements.
How does one advance in a career? Yes, performance is ultimately the key. It’s not the only one, though.
There’s the role of the coach, mentor and advocate.
When I was a junior just starting out in my broadcasting career, I was lucky to have an advocate. In a vast ocean of talent, someone pointed me out to a powerful head of television. I was given a chance to audition for TV, which helped me further my career.
Most organisations have mentoring programmes. It is necessary for building the next-generation leadership, and also for building an organisational bench.
While leaders who are doing succession planning mentor a group of promising talent, it’s not inconceivable that a junior can look for a mentor who could be a more experienced colleague, beyond the line manager.
Similarly, a coach may have a hierarchical position such as a superior or it could be someone from a different department of an organisation.
Without being in the office, building friendships (some for life) is hard. Sometimes, the path to finding the right coach, mentor or advocate comes from casual rather than formal relationships.
The language at work has changed.
Personal messaging that started on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram moved to office enterprise messaging platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Users share, learn and collaborate on work files, schedule meetings, and teams can divvy work as well as give updates in real-time. Besides productivity, these new ways of communication allow for casual banter, memes, gifs making the entire work environment a more casual one.
It would thus appear that working from the office is not necessary. If that were so, the workplace becomes a global one, and that includes talent availability.
I’ve told Danny and Caitlyn that their preferred work from home set up also means that they’re competing with the best and cheapest talent from anywhere in the world.
Opinion: Is Work From Home Still Productive?
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Physical interaction allows for unspoken communications
Find camaraderie in the workplace
Career Advocates and Mentors: a Bottom Up approach, not Top Down
Work From Home (WFH) redefines the organisational structure
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Having spent most of her work life in PR, Media and Communications, Lena finds that there’s indeed a circle to life as she goes in a full loop back to Media, at SilverStreak. Whether writing, social media posting or researching, there’s always something fascinating to learn…these are her special Silver moments.
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