THE JOURNAL
London, 1959. Photograph © Mr Sergio Larrain/Magnum Photos
Whatever you do for a living – delivery driver, asset manager, OnlyFans freelancer, jazz bassist – it is likely that your working life has changed drastically during the past 18 months. The pandemic and associated disruption have upended almost every aspect of the way we work. Terms such as “furlough”, “WFH” and – tragically – “let’s jump on a Zoom” no longer require explanation. But the effects have not been equal. Some of us have been madly overworked and stressed, some madly underworked and depressed, others delighted to drop their commute and embrace home-working for ever.
But there’s a subtler shift. Around the time of the first lockdown, I noticed that it was becoming acceptable to open a business call with: “And how have _you _been coping with it all?” And sometimes even to have a completely honest, human exchange before getting down to whatever business it is that you need to do. These tiny intimacies have been a small upside of the pandemic – a recognition that colleagues, associates, clients, are also facing human problems. Bosses, too.
“The responsibilities of a business have changed a lot,” says Mr Edward Coram James, CEO of Go Up, a digital marketing agency that has thrived during lockdown. “It used to be that our business was what people did to make money, and then they would have their personal lives and social lives to sustain them. In the past 18 months, we’ve been all of that. We have been the main point of human contact for most of our staff and a few of our clients too, as well as their means of making money. We always talked about the mental health of our team before but now it feels like we are actually responsible for people’s mental wellbeing.”
The current period has left business leaders with difficult decisions. While the CEOs I speak to take different approaches, all of them agree on two broad points. One, it’s vital to have a plan. The plan might change – indeed, that’s almost inevitable. But if people are aware of the plan and their part in it, then, as Coram James puts it, then they feel reassured: “Everyone gets a sense of satisfaction when the team hits its objectives. No one feels too small and no one feels too big. Otherwise, people are left alone in the dark, doing their tiny thing and not understanding why that is so significant.”
The second point is that you need to trust your employees to do their job in a way that works for them. Mr Lucas London, who launched his home décor brand, Lick, on the first day of lockdown, encouraged his employees to work from home from day one and is happy for them to stay there if they want, even though he sees many benefits in them coming to the office. “We wanted to be forward-thinking about how we build the business and culture,” he says. “The first thing we do is create an environment where people want to work.”
“We wanted to be forward-thinking about how we build the business and culture, the first thing we do is create an environment where people want to work”
One of London’s innovations is unlimited holidays. Not only can employees take as many days off as they want, they are actively encouraged to do so on the assumption that they are meeting their targets. “We have very flexible working hours so that you can work around childcare in the hours that suit you best. And every quarter, individuals and teams set objectives of what they hope to achieve within three months. It means people have context. They understand what they need to achieve and they have full ownership over achieving those goals in a way that works for them. That’s the thing that creates the culture more than, say, Zoom lunches.”
Ms Joanna Swash, the CEO of Moneypenny, which employs around 1,000 remote receptionists, has noticed that leaders who have been open, authentic and honest have thrived during the pandemic. Every week during lockdown, she has shared her concerns and worries with employees in a video call that she has taken to calling the “Weekly Waffle.” “It’s just me at home, usually with no makeup on, talking. I think you need to be transparent if you want people to trust that you’re in control – and when you weren’t in control, it was OK to share. You’re setting the tone for how you want your team to act.”
There is a potential downside to this loss of boundaries, however. People who work from home will often put in far more punishing hours than those who work in the office. Not everyone wants to invite their colleagues into their home. And without seeing employees face to face, it can be hard to keep tabs on how they really are. However, Swash feels that the best approach is simply to get to know your employees better.
“If someone is overworking, you have to look into their eyes and figure out why they’re overworking,” she says. “Some people actually want to work. They like feeling useful. It gives them a pleasure and a purpose that, say, watching Netflix doesn’t. That’s OK. But there are people who feel like they need to be doing it out of fear of losing their job. You should never just rub your hands and say: ‘That’s great! Look at all this work!’ It comes down to knowing what makes individuals tick. You need a structure so that everyone has someone looking out for them.”
This goes for bosses, too. It’s not easy having responsibility for the livelihoods of tens, hundreds, thousands of people on your conscience. Swash says she has taken to contacting fellow CEOs via LinkedIn – people she has never met – in order to exchange “dirty laundry”. She has also noticed that her team has looked after her. “What I found is that an effect of being really open and authentic is that your team reach out to you. They will say to you: ‘I hope you’re OK. This must be really difficult for you.’
“It comes down to knowing what makes individuals tick. You need a structure so that everyone has someone looking out for them”
Coram James admits that he is finding this particular moment the hardest of all. The physical and mental toll is starting to tell, as life returns to some semblance of normality. This puts managers like him in a difficult position. He is a digital marketing professional, not a counsellor. However, he has made it clear to employees that there are ways to get help if they need it. “We’ve said, ‘If you are having problems, this is who you go to, they can put you in touch with these organisations and we will foot the bill.’ That’s a new thing.”
It may be wishful thinking to expect to see this replicated across the world of work. On the one hand, there are a few boutique companies offering their bright young employees free counselling, four-day weeks and unlimited holidays. But there are far more reports of jobs being outsourced, delivery drivers being paid less than minimum wage and employee benefits being slashed to pay the debts of the private equity firms who have bought out their companies.
And yet, Coram James argues that strong values can play a part in good business. “We have tried as an agency actively to get involved in this very thing,” he says. “We are perfectly happy to say: ‘We are not going to work if you’re paying your employees a pittance.’ We work in marketing and we are one of the best in our industry at what we do. Why would we want to help grow a company that isn’t in alignment with our values? It’s time to stop separating work life from business life. I feel now that if I stand for something as a person and go against it in business, then what’s the point?” Indeed.