Over 2 years have passed since the onset of the pandemic, and while people are eager for their day-to-day lives to return to normal, they aren’t exactly eager to return to the office … at least not full time.
To say Covid-19 has transformed our work environments would be an understatement. Research conducted by the Downtown Seattle Organization helps illustrate the extent of these changes to the city’s workforce: Prior to the pandemic, the number of locals who worked remotely reached a record-high 6 percent. By the end of 2021, that record had been markedly eclipsed, with 46 percent of those surveyed working from home.
The pros and cons of remote work have been the subject of many studies, think pieces and debates, but the widely-held consensus is that hybrid and remote work arrangements are here to stay. For employers that oppose a permanent transition away from the office due to potentially negative impacts on company culture, collaboration and engagement, a 2022 Gallup survey offers reassurance: 59 percent of employees said they would actually prefer hybrid work compared to the 32 percent who preferred exclusively remote positions.
The task of creating a hybrid environment that works for both employees and the company can take diligent fine-tuning, but when done strategically can yield positive results. Built In Seattle spoke with HR executives at Esper and Knackshops Inc about why they opted for the hybrid work model and what sets their arrangements apart from others in the tech industry.
Seattle-based Knackshops Inc is on a mission to create shared experiences and strengthen interpersonal connections through gift giving. Through its platform, Knack, the e-commerce company unites personalized digital experiences with curated products to make any occasion memorable. Much like a customized gift, Knackshops Inc’s flexible hybrid work arrangements are tailored to match the needs of employees and teams.
Tell me about your hybrid work arrangement. How often are employees expected to come into the office and what makes your arrangement unique in the tech industry?
At Knack, we ask employees to come into the office one to two days a week, depending on role and need. We want in-office time to be productive and beneficial so the expectation is not that employees come to the office and then sit on Zoom calls all day. Time in the office is spent on collaboration, team meetings and other activities that benefit from in-person attention. Each team member works with their manager to determine days and hours that work best given their work, commute and so on. Often we will see whole departments try to align in-office days to enhance collaboration and communication.
Why did you choose this arrangement?
Prior to the pandemic, we operated fully in person. When the pandemic hit, we were forced to quickly shift to 100 percent remote. This took some time to get used to, but over time we realized that it actually enhanced our culture. Employees were more present when they were in the office, and we saw more productivity during remote hours. Engagement increased because employees got to choose where to work so that they were most productive. Our shift to hybrid was an evolution as the pandemic waned and we continue to fine-tune to ensure we are best meeting the needs of the business and of our employees.
Hybrid allows us the best of both worlds — we get to enjoy the face to face time that we all need, but we also get to enjoy the five minute commute to our home office on our work-from-home days. At the same time, we don’t limit in-office time. If someone wants to be in the office 5 days a week, they can be. Removing the expectation of this though has enabled us to be more competitive in hiring and to reach a broader audience of candidates. People are more willing to do a long commute a couple times a week than 5 days a week.
We want in-office time to be productive and beneficial so often we will see whole departments try to align in-office days to enhance collaboration and communication.”
What lessons from the pandemic and remote work in general have influenced your hybrid work model?
The pandemic has changed the way that people think about work. I think going into the pandemic and shifting to 100 percent remote, there was a lot of doubt that people could be productive and that the business could still function. But the reality was that we saw very little impact — communication styles automatically adjusted to the remote setting and employees still found ways to connect. We doubled in size during the pandemic and onboarded numerous employees without ever meeting them in person, which was a daunting prospect.
As I mentioned earlier, the shift to our current model was gradual. At first we required employees to return to the office a minimum number of days each week. Then, over time, we shifted again and started to put more emphasis on the quality of work happening in the office. Now, while most employees have a general in-office schedule, it shifts and changes each week depending on what’s happening. We’ve learned to be more fluid, to look for results versus face time and to trust our employees to do their job without oversight. Our employees are happier and find more meaning and value in their office time because they get to choose.
Esper provides scalable DevOps SaaS solutions that make it easy for businesses to monitor, manage and update devices from a single pane. Esper received Built In’s Best Places to Work in Seattle 2022 accolade, and the company’s commitment to building trust and cultivating collaboration have informed its approach to hybrid work.
Tell me about your hybrid work arrangement. How often are employees expected to come into the office and what makes your arrangement unique in the tech industry?
Our current hybrid work arrangement allows Esper employees to report into the office a minimum 3 days per week and work from home 2 days per week. Esper empowers its department leaders and managers with the flexibility to work with their direct reports to formulate the week-to-week schedules to best accommodate department needs, workload, deadlines, in-person versus virtual meetings, personal appointments and so on.
Why did you choose this arrangement?
Esper recognizes the importance of providing in-person interaction opportunities for culture-building, team-planning, training and collaboration, while maintaining a balance in providing flexibility to work remotely for our employees. We feel this arrangement provides the balance that employees, both current and potential, require in their place of employment.
Esper recognizes the importance of providing in-person interaction opportunities for culture-building, team-planning, training and collaboration, while providing flexibility to work remotely.”
What lessons from the pandemic and remote work in general have influenced your hybrid work model?
The lesson most companies have learned across the pandemic is that the standard work arrangement as we knew it before 2020 is in the past. Yes, you will have the outliers who prefer to report to an office 5 days a week but, for the most part, it is now an expectation that companies, especially in tech, provide fully remote work or at a minimum a hybrid work option. The model we have in place brings the best of both worlds, allowing additional flexibility for each employee to develop a schedule with their leader or manager each week to accommodate both their work and personal life.
