Focus on Work Environment, Not Work Policies

The "Where, What, and How" Behind Why You Work

Jun 26, 2021

As we start to make progress on vaccinations in the United States and look toward a post COVID-19 life, companies are starting to come out with their own workforce and workplace policies. While some (looking at you investment banks) look more toward the old ways of working, others seem to be taking more adaptive approaches. In addition to the traditional priorities for those seeking employment (compensation, location, benefits) policies around work flexibility are top of mind for job seekers, and put companies, especially those in industries and markets where demand for labor outstrips supply under the hot seat to balance employee sentiment with the cultural and strategic direction of the company.

Furthermore, it seems like everyone has a take these days on what we should be doing in the future of work. Depending on what companies’ thought leadership you are reading, the future of work that involves either no remote work or all remote work (or hybrid work) is either the best thing ever, the worst thing ever, or somewhere in between. Consider these headlines (and what the companies might have at stake)

Now, my reason for writing this post is not to debate whether or not in-person, hybrid or fully remote is the best option for a workforce or company (although if you have any thoughts I would love to hear them), but rather to make this point: Instead of focusing on the work policy, you need to focus on the work conditions and environment that help you actually produce great work.

COVID-19 and The Shift to The Home Office

In March 2020 When COVID-19 forced many of us to work from home was probably one of the first times we collectively all began thinking about our work environment because for many of us, it was very different from what we had been accustomed to. Even for those with direct experience working remotely were dealing with other changes, whether it be caring for children or elderly or experiencing working from home with a partner or spouse. Initially, at first, this was a jarring experience for many of us, as our normal flow of work was disrupted.

Humans are an adaptive, and we made shifts and adjustments to manage through this - parents staggered their work hours to manage through home schooling, people with roommates took turns taking calls in the bathroom so they didn’t disturb each other, and we all learned how important it was to be able to have a series of conditions and setup that allowed us to actually sit at desk during the day and do our job effectively. And while some of us were able to adjust and in some cases thrive, the impact of working from home for 16 months straight. Levels of mental health, feelings of anxiety, isolationism and depression are all up, and even for those of us who feel safe or who have been “Okay” many of us are not actually OK.

What is Work Environment?

Indeed defines work environment as: the setting, social features and physical conditions in which you perform your job.

Glassdoor goes on to add: “Professionals working in both full-time and part-time positions are significantly impacted by their office environment because they have to perform their duties inside it. Usually, workers are required to adapt to this workplace feature.

So, in addition to what it is you are doing (your core responsibilities or activities) work environment covers the how you are doing it, where you are doing it, and who you are doing it with.

Defining Our Ideal Work Environment

During 2020, for most of us knowledge workers, our work environments changed drastically. As we move forward to this new world of work and as companies produce their own workplace and work policies, we as employees, managers, and leaders should use this as a chance to reflect on the past year, but also, to spend time thinking about what we need as employees to do our absolute best work. This is not to suggest that whether your company is fully remote or in-office only doesn’t play a role in how you transition into this next phase of your work life, but rather, it allows you to think about what you need regardless of the policy in order for you, individually to be successful and achieve your own goals.

For individual employees, the upshot of this could mean anything from going back to your manager and based on the policy, asking for additional resources so that you can do your job better. For managers, this is a great chance for you to think strategically and tactically about how you are going to ensure your team feels cared for and empowered to achieving goals for the next quarter.

Case Study: Management Consultants

As a consultant, one of the benefits of working was constantly getting the chance to to work with new clients, projects, and industries. This is generally a net positive, but one of the downsides to this is that each time you move onto a new project, you have a new client, a new team, a new office and a new work environment. A common joke in management consulting is that “you’re always one bad project away from quitting,” but that stems from the notion that the work environment can vary so much project to project.

After working in consulting for two years I began thinking more deeply about what separated a good project from a bad one, and one of the biggest factors for me was the work environment. While the type of project (ex: strategy case) or type of client (everyone wants a Fortune 10 company) played a role in the interest, in terms of actually feeling engaged, motivated, and happy with the work itself, the actual environmental conditions of how the work got done mattered so much more.

During my second year, I started working for a Managing Director who believed in the importance of work environment, and before starting any project, would take the time to sit down with the team to determine based on the goals and outcomes we needed to hit, how we could structure the work environment in a way that could work for all of us. Here is an example of what we did for a 12-week project with a 6 member team.

Where

Travel to the Client - Instead of traveling to the client every week Monday-Thursday, before the project started we identified the most important times we needed to be with the client, and the times when we could either work from home, or where we needed to be co-located.
Travel or Work From Home- We also identified based on the scope of the work, the times when we would benefit from being face to face, and the times when we could work remote. When we needed to be face to face, we determined a centrally located office and met there. If someone couldn’t make it, would would video conference them in.

When

Working Hours - Like many consulting teams, we were distributed across multiple offices and time zones. We adopted the time zone of the client (Central) as our core working hours, and used that as a baseline for all client meetings and internal team meetings.
Protected Nights - The project was going to be particularly busy and would require some late nights, but we committed to having 1 night per week (decided one week in advance) where we would end early and no email was to be sent after 5PM on that night.

How

Technology - In addition to the standard technology we had available to us, we also had a Slack channel that was meant to serve as asynchronous communication (there was no expectation to respond right away)
Meetings - We talked about the types of meetings we would need to have, and then committed to clarifying before any meeting with someone else, the type of meeting and why it was needed.
Work Time - The nature of our work had two extremes. Deep engagement with the client (interviews with client, face to face workshops) and deep work time (thinking, creatively designing stories and slides, analyzing data, etc) During different phases of the project, we were mindful of what type of work was needed, and how much individual and group time was structured so that people could have what they needed to get work done.
Norms - One the norms of the firm was that on Friday’s we spent time in our home office or working on firm activities (think extracurricular activities) - we all shared with one another what was on our plate, and any major deliverables or deadlines. That way, we knew what workload looked like for each person, and could cover accordingly.

I will admit, not every project was perfect, and while we did our best to define the work environment we did have to make adjustments from time to time, but I personally loved the work I got to do while working for this leader because I felt like I had the right context and tools for being able to do great work. I started taking this approach when it came my turn to start managing projects and teams both in consulting and now working in industry, and I have found that while people want different things to do their best work, taking the time to have the conversation and get people to think about the work environment is a great first step to facilitating your teams work, and driving employee engagement.

The Right Work Environment

There is no one right work environment but rather, its important to define the right work environment that is best for you, and ultimately what will help you (or your team) achieve results and drive engagement. That said, here’s some things to think about when it comes to your work environment:

Company Culture (aka norms, values, and acceptable behaviors) - What widely accepted behaviors or norms are commonly used in order to do work within the organization?
Tools and Technologies to do your job - What tools are you using that enable you to do your job? How can you manage these tools effectively so that they help, but not distract you from doing your job?
Collaboration with others - What are the ways in which you collaborate or engage with internal employees, partners, or customers? What types of ways do you engage with them
Space - What kind of physical space do you need to do your work?

Practical Exercise: Determining Your Best Work Environment

Do you know the conditions of your own ideal work environment? How about for your team? If you aren’t sure, or if you want to take the time now to reflect and codify some of these ideas, consider using this exercise:

Take a look at your calendar over the past month, and identify the periods of time where you worked on something where you felt like you produced exceptional work. Once you’ve identified that project or deliverable or outcome, ask yourself the following questions:

What was the deliverable, output, or milestone that I completed?
What conditions were needed, in order for me to successfully complete this milestone?
What tasks and activities did I need to do to complete this work? What did I need in order to complete these tasks and activities successfully?
Who did I need to collaborate with to complete these tasks? How much time did that take (estimate) and what were the most effective ways to engage them?
What tools and technologies were needed to complete each of these tasks and activities that led to the successful outcome?

This exercise should give you a much deeper sense of what some of your ideal work conditions that you need in order for you to do great work.

Implications

For Employees - Take the time to evaluate the work environment conditions over the past year, but also, what you feel you need to be successful in order to do your best work.
For Managers - There will likely be variability in your individual employees’ needs and what kind of environment that they need. Furthermore, not all of your employees will have the gumption to think about this on their own. What this means is that you may need to call this out and encourage them to think about this for themselves (feel free of course to send them this article) Furthermore, this is also what you can think about when it comes to scoping work and assigning projects and tasks.
For Job Seekers - Don’t just think about work policy, research and find out about work environment. In addition to learning about company policies towards remote or in-office work, you’ll want to get to know the work environment that exists, and also, what kind of work environment some of your colleagues are working in. Most knowledge workers are in jobs that require them to work or collaborate with others, whether that be internal employees or customers. Getting a sense of the factors at play that will make up the how, when, and where you do your work can give you an even deeper sense of what a job or company might look like before you take the job.

Conclusion: If You Forgot Everything In This Article, Remember This

Don’t just think about the workplace policy, but take the time to understand the work environment and determine what it will take for you to do your best work. When considering work environment, think about the elements of the where, when and how you do your work

Work In Progress

Discussion about this post