Corona has developed a new normal in companies.
(Photo: obs)
The “New Normal” is here. What the fight against habits did not manage for decades was brought to us practically overnight by Corona: home office, mobile working, swaggy clothing and flexible working hours. And if you are already changing, then the company will also be trimmed to be sustainable, l (i) worthwhile and responsible.
Many board members and managing directors are suddenly confronted with questions that were not previously on the agenda: How many days should be spent in the office in the future? Should the general attendance requirement be completely abolished? Do dress code standards still make sense, for example also for work from home? Is the guiding principle still true, which does not contain anything about sustainability?
It is these topics that have been discussed inflationarily in networks like LinkedIn for months – the prevailing opinion makes some seasoned entrepreneurs wince. There is an imbalance between the normal business objectives of a company and the workforce’s desire for an oasis-like atmosphere. Feeling good like Caesar, exaggerated in “Asterix and Obelix”, is the new mantra. But isn’t the primary corporate purpose the healthy growth of the business, and doesn’t all wishes follow from this?
Is the company doing well when the employees are doing well, or maybe the other way around? That sounds like the “chicken and egg” discourse, but it isn’t. Anyone who has ever sailed knows: first the ship comes, then the sailor. And that is why, despite all the joy about the legitimate questioning of old habits and the partial breaking of these, a healthy amount of “old” belongs to the “new normal”.
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It is good and right to ask the workforce in these months of the decelerating pandemic how many office days should be compulsory in the future and how much they can work from home. However, companies and managing directors should not give the impression that this is a grassroots decision. First of all, the focus should be on what is good for the working atmosphere, to what extent production and service areas in the company are allowed to diverge from one another, and, for example, how new employees can be integrated.
Hoody remains a no-go
Business leaders should, indeed, have to deal with the problem of clothing clutter on their screens. What is currently being presented to the eye here is partly breathtaking. It can be a little more casual in the meantime, but please don’t leave everything to your personal taste. That ends horribly. The hoody just remains a no-go.
And if you no longer wear a suit, then please at least have a shirt with long sleeves. Personal taste knows no bounds and can sometimes make you very lonely. Why don’t you give your colleagues and customers the same reference in the Zoom conference as “in person”?
Klaus Hansen is a partner at the personnel consultancy Odgers Berndtson and heads the “Board & Chair” and “CEO” practices in Germany. He writes for the Handelsblatt on current topics relating to top managers, leadership and careers.
The list could go on and on, but in the end it’s always about the same thing: good leadership. A manager who understands their craft gives their team room to maneuver and design, but provides a clear framework and sets a good example. Certainly: Management in the form of the leadership of companies and their employees is just as subject to trends and fashions as any other area of our world – but certain standards remain.
How many days it makes sense to work from home and how many are acceptable for the company is ultimately a very individual decision. However, if the company management leaves it to its own discretion, negative developments can hardly be reversed. Clear statements and role models are required. There cannot and must not be any exceptions for the boss.
The bottom line in all of these questions is to first clarify what is good for the company. And if that doesn’t suit one or the other, then that has to be accepted. Personnel changes included. If you try to please everyone, in the end you will not please anyone.
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