Back to the office: Don’t make Amazon’s mistake

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Wake-up-morning. Web giant Amazon’s policy of returning to the office three days a week is not unanimous. However, even though she followed the internal communication manual perfectly to the letter, she seems to be missing an essential ingredient for a smooth transition: empathy for employees.

In February 2023, the company, which Andy Jassey had been running for two years, announced that it intended to repatriate its employees more frequently to its various companies. Some welcomed this news warmly. reports Business InsiderNearly 30,000 workers signed a petition asking management to review its policy.

This attempt to move the organization failed and from May, everyone will be required to go to their assigned office at least three days a week, now that the activity on their access card is monitored.

In August, the company sent an email to people who weren’t following the guidelines — and some who were inadvertently following them to the letter — to remind them that they shouldn’t just walk into one of its offices. assigned to their team.

If employees can’t go to these “hubs,” they have two options, Amazon says: switch teams or submit their resignation.

Clara Demers, a practice leader in business transformation consulting at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, points out that “the tenacity with which senior management imposes its wishes without having to negotiate with key stakeholders is surprising.” In 2023, we will no longer manage our employees this way.

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“There’s no more arm wrestling,” says Clara Demers, practice leader in business transformation consulting at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. (Photo: Courtesy)

As such, an employer can legally decree where members of his team are to work by exercising his right of management. However, various methods allow you to rally your employees to your decision, even if they opt out, says a Chicoutimi-based organizational performance expert.

Naturally, the employer must ensure that they provide a pleasant place to work, perhaps an environment that meets the new expectations of workers accustomed to the tranquility of their homes.

As several studies over the past two years have demonstrated, people need to be able to exchange, collaborate, create and even innovate actions that make them better individually, recalls Clara Demers.

Therefore, the appeal of returning to the workplace should not be based solely on social events such as team dinners, team building activities or happy hours.

“We need to promote these benefits, create new habits, encourage employees to return rather than force them. Arm wrestling is no more, she believes. You need to ask them what they want, understand what keeps them away. By calling them, it helps us organize ourselves and better serve their needs.

By communicating and collaborating on each side’s expectations, it’s easier to get your message across than going one-way, she says.

Play the human contact card

Clara Demers believes that if, like Amazon, the return-to-work policy is embraced by its team members without too much enthusiasm, the situation can be rectified.

Forming an employee committee to take the pulse is wise, she believes, as it highlights aspects of the mandate that create discomfort. Management needs to find a balance between its needs and those of its teams.

“Fundamentally, I believe that employees need human warmth to escape isolation. For that alone, we have to find a way to bring them back to the office every now and then,” believes the manager.

To telework or not to telework, is a question that is confusing many companies at the start of the 2023 school year.

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