Well, I say post Covid. At the time of writing there are various reports in the press of more variants but I'll take the positive view that we won't go back into full confinement anytime soon. As ever, I'll start the blog with the caveat that all observations are made within the agency/creative services marketplace in the North of England.
Even in our sector, the upshot is that hybrid working is very subjective according to job role, age, type of business (independent or network) and this is even more so when one considers all the other job types and sectors that exist.
I've talked to candidates who have loved working from home and I've talked to candidates who loathed it, I've got clients who are rigid in their thinking and clients who are wholly flexible. The role of recruiter, as it always has been, is to introduce the right individuals to the right businesses and this is just one other parameter to add to the mix.
Employers, in the main, are showing quite a lot of flexibility which is a complete step change from pre-Covid. Home working was extremely rare pre-Covid and it's now par for the course. The majority of agencies are working to a 3 day in the office policy with 2 days working from home. Many agencies have shifted their policies over the last few months - and I think that has been a case of everyone feeling their way out of the pandemic and working out what is optimal - for everyone in this new world of working. Some agencies initially thought that a higher degree of home working would work but have since discovered that different client accounts require a different degree of team-working or that a team with more juniors requires more management to be present. No agency has intentionally moved the goalposts but have asked for time from their employees to see what is likely to work in the long term. Most agencies do have 'days' where either everyone is in the office or particular teams make a point of having a day 'together' to ensure that the collaborative teamwork and culture can thrive as it did pre Covid.
The creative world is hugely collaborative and I am yet to speak to anyone who doesn't think that in-person collaboration is preferable to Zoom or Teams. Whilst we all survived - in fact, thrived over the pandemic, the meeting of minds around the same table is definitely what most people want. The same incidentally, is true of interviews!
Demographically, there are several observations. Throughout the pandemic we saw a drop in the recruitment of juniors - from graduates to Account Executives and even junior digital hires. Businesses didn't have the resources or ability to train these individuals remotely. It was felt unfair to hire a graduate and give them a laptop to work from home with the same expectations that one would have had of that individual in the office. So juniors lost out from that perspective. Employers have been quick to recognise that juniors also suffer if their team leaders and managers are working from home. The way we all learned as juniors was essentially 'on the job'. We watched, listened and learned. That's very difficult if you are liaising with your boss who is on Zoom and you are in the office.
By and large most employees in their twenties want to be in the office. There is a high proportion here of people who live and work in city centres and their work and social life is centred around this. Even if these individuals are not city centre based, they enjoy the buzz of coming into the office and as they are building their careers, they want to learn from other people, not just from instruction but by osmosis - again, as we all did.
There is a shift as employees enter their thirties. There is still a preference for being in the office for structure and to prevent boredom. This demographic has found constant online meetings to be tough mentally - after all, they have been office based for many years and they have had to adapt significantly to changes in processes and structures and a life with just so many meetings.
As employees become parents or as they simply become more experienced and have accepted that work isn't necessarily the most important thing....they have adapted the most to home working. Being able to structure their lives around a much more flexible diary has allowed them to breathe a little more and probably be far more productive all round. Asking these individuals to add the time and cost of a commute, the cost of parking, the inability to do pick up and drop off (as easily), having to make arrangements for the lockdown dog - even having time to do some exercise...you can understand why they're less keen than the younger demographic to be full time in the office. BUT, these individuals are the ones with most to offer in terms of learning and development which is why employers are keen to still maintain time in the office and to pass on those key skills.
These are perhaps gross generalisations...but they are observational truths and reflect what I have seen over the past 2 years. There are definitely some job roles that lend themselves more to home working or a higher percentage of home working, than others. Those with line management responsibilities and the requirement to work alongside other teams are finding themselves in the office but teams are working amongst themselves to find new ways of working that means everyone is adapting to try to please most people, most of the time (you'll never please everyone all of the time!). Flexibility is required from all parties and regular reviews to ensure that ultimately productivity and job satisfaction is high but also that the culture of the business remains. For businesses with a high degree of home working, we are seeing an increase in team building days and regular pow-wows.
Pre-Covid, my candidates used to talk about the holy grail of 'working from home'. As someone who has worked from home for over 10 years I used to caution them to be careful what you wish for. We have all come through the last 2 years with varying opinions as to how home working has worked for us individually - it is very different for everyone! But there is no denying that 'going to work' does keep us socialising, structured, able to communicate and not isolated. If one is predominantly home working, I think it's healthy to ensure you do have enough social contacts on a daily basis and not to become house-bound.
Most of my clients will let me know when they are briefing me on a job what their own new hybrid working model looks like. Smaller independent agencies tend to prefer a high degree of office based work with the bigger agencies able to offer more flexibility. But there is no one size fits all. It's worth asking questions to see if the employer can offer what you are looking for - but with an acceptance that you may have to be a little flexible according to business requirements. I'm sure working styles will continue to evolve and adapt but I'm absolutely certain that in this industry we are not seeing the death of the office.