The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines won’t trigger major changes to the industry’s flexible work policies, but employers are signalling they want staff back in the office more often.
With a start to Australia’s vaccination program only weeks away, most media and advertising businesses are still working in the office only a few days a week.
Generally, the industry isn’t planning on herding staff back into the office full-time when vaccinations are complete but there is a difference in attitude within advertising and media on where people should be working.
Some industry leaders think there's been a fundamental change in the way people work but others believe being in the office is the most productive and want a return to the office.
Publicis Groupe says that while the office is still vital to work, the company is not “winding the clock back to 2019”.
“Assuming it’s safe, we love having people in the office. However, this doesn’t mean we expect staff in five days a week – although they are free to do so,” chief talent office Pauly Grant tells AdNews.
Meanwhile, The Hallway CEO Jules Hall says that the agency now thinks of its office as club houses where the team can meet to collaborate when they need, but are free to choose where to work when they are working independently.
“Rather than worrying about ‘forcing’ people back to the office, we’re focused on the purpose the office now plays and how we best architect the space to deliver on that purpose,” he tells AdNews.
“Get that right and our team will use it to best affect.”
On the other hand, many agency bosses are eager to get their teams back in the office more often and think the work from home revolution predicted at the start of the pandemic has been overblown.
Ogilvy Australia has had staff partially back in the office for the past six months in Sydney, with its Melbourne office only just reopening.
“Feb 1 was our official ‘back to the office date’ - after that date we are more than happy to have staff look at flexible working arrangements, however, we would like our people in a minimum of three days a week,” CEO David Fox told AdNews.
“It’s started well and we are seeing more and more people return and get back into the office and the office is getting its vibe back on.”
Fox adds that after the vaccine rollout, which is expected to be done by the end of the year, he thinks things will return almost to a pre-COVID normal.
“Over time things will return back to pretty much the same with some more flexibility around working schedules,” he says.
“The idea for us that the office has changed dramatically forever in a huge way I think is misleading. We will slip back into old habits over time.”
CHE Proximity CEO Justin Hind echoes this, saying that while the agency shifted to remote working, he thinks being in the office is the most productive.
“We’re respectful and understanding of our team's concerns about returning to our offices. In saying that, as we move to a predominantly green zone status across Sydney and Melbourne, we think it is a good time to start to return,” he tells AdNews.
“We’re communicating with our people that our preference, not our policy, is for people to come back around three days a week (or more if they’re comfortable) in line with government advice and regulations.
“Ideally, we want a critical mass of people back in the business so when our people do come in, they get a lot out of it working together and how this adds to what they want to do flexibly.”
Here’s more on approaching the return to the office:
OohMedia! chief people and culture officer Steve Reid
"We’re really keen to have people back in the office, in a way that suits our employees. The way I see it, when you’re working online and virtually, you lose the ability to have informal, open discussions – you don’t bump into people online! By working from the office, you are more likely to engage in conversations with people cross-functionally, and deal with issues as they arise. As a company we’re pretty flexible, and employees have the ability to work from home when they need to."
Are you hearing staff wanting to return?
Feedback varies across teams and different areas of the business, but the majority of our people are keen to be back in the office. What’s also helping is having a fantastic new Sydney office, and a Melbourne office close to completion – both are real drawcards helping get people back, now we’re all going to be in the one location in each city.
Have you seen benefits as staff started to return to the office?
For the business, I do think certain aspects of productivity improve when people are in the office. Working from home can be very personally productive, but I think team productivity and wider business results are easier to achieve when we are face-to-face. Collaboration and idea generation is harder to execute in a virtual world.
How well were you able to train the junior staff while working from home?
COVID has been particularly tough for younger colleagues, many of whom have never seen a downturn before. The opportunity to informally learn from others was much reduced, but now that we’re back in the office, this will be a priority for us moving forward. But I can say without hesitation that they dealt with everything superbly.
Assuming the vaccine rollout goes as planned by the end of the year, do you expect staff to return to the office as normal?
We think that like the rest of Australia, life will start getting back to normal over the coming weeks and months, providing we have no more outbreaks of course. Offices will start to fill up and people will enjoy seeing each other again.
Ogilvy Australia CEO David Fox
"Hugely keen now to get the office back as the centre of our agency life. It’s critical that environment and face-to-face play a role in continuing to build our strong culture, so having people back and seeing someone’s face when chatting is a huge difference."
Are you hearing staff wanting to return?
We definitely have three camps – Some are dying to come back, some are fine with a few days a week and some want to remain at home in their pyjamas for most of the day. I think getting back to the office signals some normality for us and it’s a good thing.
Have you seen benefits as staff started to return to the office?
Two important areas improve with face-to-face working in the office. Firstly, the new business process is more fluid and easier to navigate with the corridor chats, which are so vital in any fast-paced new business pitch. Secondly, the creative process and the ability to sit in a room and bounce ideas around more fluently than you do online.
Publicis Groupe AUNZ chief talent officer Pauly Grant
"We had a spike in staff returning towards the end of last year in our Sydney office and we saw this again last week. Around 88% who have come back to the office continue to do so regularly. People are keen for face-to-face connection from a work and social perspective. This journey is personal and there are people who have seen new benefits of working from home, or even what we are calling the ‘Third Office’."
Have you seen benefits as staff started to return to the office?
There has definitely been time savings in areas. Conversations that previously needed a scheduled 30-minute video meeting can happen in five. Learning through experience is an obvious benefit; hearing conversations, how they are handled, fluidity in asking questions and guidance from those around you.
ARN CEO Ciaran Davis
"Having people back in the office is great for morale and creating a positive vibe within the workplace but if 2020 has shown us anything, it’s that our people will 'find a way' to get the job done no matter what is thrown at them. To be honest, we have seen no drop in productivity levels throughout the past 12 months and feel that we have been able to leverage the situation to become more streamlined and communicative than ever as an organisation which is something we are particularly proud of."
Are you hearing staff wanting to return?
We’ve all become accustomed to being so flexible; our people are saying that they are enjoying the benefits of whichever location they choose to work from and appreciate the flexibility we are giving them as we work through this situation together.
Assuming the vaccine rollout goes as planned by the end of the year, do you expect staff to return to the office as normal?
We intend to continue to afford our people the ability to manage their personal and work lives through a pragmatic, flexible work environment. That said, I imagine that the “new normal” is going to see us in and out of lockdowns for the foreseeable future, irrespective of the vaccine rollout.
CHE Proximity CEO Justin Hind
"We’re a business based on collaboration and sharing, so we do believe that when we do come together the work is better, faster, more iterative, more satisfying and engaging for us all. Our focus in coming together is for the good for our clients, the good for our business and the good of our people all in equal measure. Where it makes sense to work remotely then we’ll do that but overall, for us, it is about the right level and type of flexibility that works for us all."
Are you hearing staff wanting to return?
We are, particularly at a head department level. A lot of people want the energy that comes from us being together and post the stricter COVID lockdown regulations, people are starting to remember what it’s like to be back with their teammates. The great news is that we’ve had a good bunch of our team already start to return without prompting since Australia Day. Some people want the flexibility in their roles, and where some functions are more solitary pursuits, we’ll continue to accommodate that in the most effective forms we can while still being focused on in-person collaboration where and when it makes sense.
Have you seen benefits as staff started to return to the office?
I started here quietly in early January and only around 30% of the team were back for my first few weeks. Following Australia Day however, the place is operating at a different level. Seeing people back together, chatting informally, rebuilding connection has been wonderful. The in-the-moment engagement, quick meetings and hallway conversation on work has been great too.
How well were you able to train the junior staff while working from home?
To me this is one of the biggest impacts on our junior people’s careers. Learning and developing their craft through formal and more importantly informal measures is essential to advancing their skill and potential. Remote working in my view has impacted the informal component of their learning. If you think that someone’s potential is a combination of skill and experience powered by their own motivation, maybe the experience component has suffered singularly through isolation from their teams, their direct leaders and with clients. Accelerating all forms of developing our team’s talent and experience is a key focus for us all at CHEP.
Assuming the vaccine rollout goes as planned by the end of the year, do you expect staff to return to the office as normal?
The last 12 months has seen a drastic change in how we work, socialise and generally live our lives. As the vaccination program rolls out, we plan to get to our new normal or operating rhythm as fast as possible. Being together is where our best work comes from and COVID vaccination we hope, will advance that. Our challenge will be to land the right hybrid model that works for our clients, our business and our people equally. The unknowns are how fast this program will roll out as the world deals with vaccine supply issues, and people’s willingness to get vaccinated.
Carat AUNZ CEO Sue Squillace
"Last year, Denstu launched our 'Be the best you' which provides our people with the flexibility to work from anywhere, whether that is at home, the office or a combination of both. This continues today with expectations that vary between job functions, brand and client expectations."
How keen are you on having teams back in the office?
Personally, I look forward to the energy and momentum of a thriving workplace so enjoy coming in to the office. We are a few weeks in already of having our teams back across the country and I can see a positive shift in mood and collaboration which face to face office times really fosters. It’s also great to see our clients again which is happening more and more.
Are you hearing staff wanting to return?
So far we are seeing, when the majority of our teams are in the office, everyone wants to be there. The energy buzz and personal connections can be felt instantly.
Assuming the vaccine rollout goes as planned by the end of the year, do you expect staff to return to the office as normal?
I don’t think we will ever really get back to the old normal. Working from home has many advantages as does the office environment, striking a balance that works for our people and our clients is what we should all be aiming for.
The Works partner, people and culture Jasmine Lansdell
"In terms of how our team uses the office, we’re encouraging them to work in the environment that best suits what they’re doing. If they need to ideate or collaborate with colleagues then they’re in the office. When they need to get their heads down to think and need to work on their own, they can work from home or any location they choose. On average we foresee that people will be in the office around three days per week."
How keen are you on having teams back in the office?
A fundamental part of our agency is our culture of family and that’s harder to achieve when we can’t be physically present with each other. So, since it’s been safe to have a smaller number of people in the office, we’ve asked our teams to come in on rotating days. We felt it was important to do this as soon as we could as our employees missed having direct contact with each other and the comradery of being in the same space. They also found it tougher to ideate and collaborate via video conferencing. But we’ve learnt good lessons on how beneficial having work environment flexibility is and we will keep that well into the future.
Are you hearing staff wanting to return?
Yes, after such a long time virtually separated, people want to see each other and get back to being more social. I think that’s the biggest thing people miss, the human interactions of working in an office. For some, especially those living alone, constant remote working really affected their mental health and some quite like the routine of having a destination to go to work. So to be able to have this and then the ability to work from home when they want, will really support positive mental health.
Have you seen benefits as staff started to return to the office?
There is an increased energy across the team. We’ve also seen an improvement in people’s happiness as they now have more flexibility to have the best of both worlds, in terms of where they work, which in turn has meant they are more productive overall.
The agency has been busy since the pandemic started, but since we’ve moved to a rotation model for people coming into the office, we’ve noticed that our output has improved and that people are using their time a lot more wisely than maybe they did before.
Assuming the vaccine rollout goes as planned by the end of the year, do you expect staff to return to the office as normal?
We’ve taken some great learnings from working from home such as how real flexibility has positively supported productivity levels and improved people’s mental happiness. We want to ensure this continues so we’ll be asking people to work in the best environment that suits what they’re working on, be it in the office, at home, or wherever. It’s unlikely that we’ll return to having the full team in the office at the same time.
The Hallway CEO Jules Hall
"Regardless of the vaccine rollout we have fundamentally changed how we intend to work moving forward. When our employees need to collaborate or engage with colleagues more closely they can come into the office. For other times when they need to get their heads down, they can choose to do that where they want. It will not be dictated by the business or the vaccine."
Are you hearing staff wanting to return?
There is definitely an increasing desire from our teams to spend more time in the agency. Everyone had a different threshold, but we've observed that everyone gets to a point where they want to reinstate the real-world interactions with their colleagues and team mates.
Have you seen benefits as staff started to return to the office?
Throughout the lockdown and indeed the whole of last year, our business performance was relatively unaffected by the pandemic. Our team adapted to the fairly sudden shift to working from home and now we have a hybrid model, with some in the office and some not, we are continuing to see good productivity and we’re not expecting that to change.
Archibald Williams head of client and strategic services Kiranpreet Kaur
"We’ve been back in the office since mid 2020 – basically, as soon as the restrictions had allowed. Our strategy was to just check that everyone had a safe way to get to and from the office and work to that."
How keen are you on having teams back in the office?
Don’t get me wrong, I love my work from home days, and they are incredibly productive. That being said, I genuinely believe that they are only productive because they are not every day. At the end of the day, we’re human. The nature of our industry, our agency and our offering is that it relies on human energy and interaction in order to drive great ideas through collaboration.
Have you seen benefits as staff started to return to the office?
Our work has benefitted. Particularly when the brief or deliverables have been strategy or concepts, the teams being able to workshop together and bounce off each other’s energy in person has paid off. Not only are we more efficient in person in these collaborative situations, but we offer greater stimulus to each other through the process, which in turn contributes to greater outputs.
Since we’ve been back, our ability to move work through the agency with greater efficiency has been proven, and our clients have noticed and appreciated this. That, along with what we feel is stronger strategic and creative solutions have contributed to us being in a place where we can comfortably be focusing on growth versus just survival in these trying times.
The other massive benefit has been emotional awareness. Being back in person helped us not fall victim to forgetting that our colleagues and our clients are actual people. For managers, particularly, it helps us keep a stronger gauge of how our teams are coping with stress, how they’re feeling in the moment, and jump in and support and help earlier, versus letting them sit at home and take on the burden alone without anyone knowing.
How well were you able to train the junior staff while working from home?
It was honestly tough. I remember the early years of my career – junior staff learn a lot from just observing and are meant to absorb from every role around them, not just the structures and training programs built for them. I maintained regular check-ins with my team, even if they were just over zoom. We kicked off all of our training programs in person as soon as we were back in the office.
The other great thing I’ve noticed is that the senior and management levels of our team engage with the junior team members on their projects far more spontaneously, which gives our upcoming talent greater exposure to more collaborative meetings and a greater breadth of projects – all of which are priceless when you look back to your early years and your learning in your career.
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