There were many notable workplace shifts in the last year and two that stand out for me are: 1) the pivot to and the adoption of a 100 per cent distributed workforce (aka remote working); and 2) the fusion of our work and our personal lives.

Remember that time? That time…long, long, ago - okay, maybe not a long, long time ago, but it sure feels like a long time since March of 2020. Before COVID-19, the idea of having a distributed or remote workforce was a way of working that few organizations were considering and if they were considering it, it was in a dip-your-toe-in-it kind of way. Other organizations were 100 per cent against it. I can still hear the fear and resistance around it: "How will I know that they are really working?" "It will negatively impact the company culture." "We don't have the technology to make it happen."

And then COVID-19 happened. Suddenly many companies were forced to create a remote working option across their entire organization. Yes, there were challenges but companies made it work. And they made it work fast. As it turns out, when there is sufficient motivation, even the hardest problems are solvable.

The second shift that I want to note is the acceptance and understanding that employees have personal lives outside of work. Shocking, I know. It’s like we used to live in this compartmentalized world where we had our work persona and our personal persona. Before COVID-19, many of us would be mortified if our child or our pet made a peep (or even worse, appeared) in the background of a video call; we wouldn’t dream of wearing the same sweatshirt to work three days in a row (yes, yes I do that sometimes); and we would feel uncomfortable saying that we had to wrap up a call to attend to a personal matter.

And then COVID-19 happened. Suddenly colleagues were more understanding of one another’s personal situations; we welcomed a child or a pet in the background of a video call; we became okay with people working a regular workday during the hours that made sense for them.

Shifts Happened…Now What?

With more vaccines starting to roll out to the public, we’re getting closer to containing COVID-19. When we do get to that point, will we rush to return to the way things were before? Or will we embrace the positive shifts that have become our new normal?

It seems likely that some version of flexible work will continue in a post-COVID-19 world, so I encourage you to take stock of what has worked (and not worked) for your organization. And, if you have seen benefits from employees working in a way that meets the demands of their job AND their individual needs, consider how you can continue to offer that to them. From what I have observed, flexibility means different things to different people, so ask employees what working flexibly means to them.

As you start to think about what a return-to-work looks like, I hope that you take the time to reflect on all of the shifts that your organization made in the last year. What have been the benefits of these shifts? What do employees really need and want to be fully engaged and contributing? And for the shifts that you want to stay, how will you solidify them to ensure that you don’t slip back into old habits?

I’d love to hear about the shifts that you made in 2020 that have become your new normal. Send me a message or connect with me through LinkedIn.