Workplace Culture Confusion Brings Challenges, Opportunities

The workplace of two, three decades ago may have been filled with negatives like a blatant lack of diversity, sexual harassment that often went unreported and unpunished, and restrictive articles of clothing like pantyhose, pumps and neck ties. But at least the expectations were clear when it came to where we worked, when we worked and how we were supposed to feel about work. With remote work basically nonexistent, we commuted into the office every day to work during traditional business hours, knowing we would leave our professional lives at the door every Friday afternoon and not be barraged by after-hours calls or emails. And during that time spent in the office, exhibiting ambition and a drive to get ahead was admirable, due to a consensus that hard workers earned promotions and slackers could get the boot.

The workplace culture of today, however, is suspended in a confusing, fuzzy gray area. The pandemic led to the normalization of remote work and the opportunity to reflect on whether “hustle culture” was a healthy path to follow or if greater prioritization should be given to things like downtime with family and friends, hobbies, self-care and travel. The Great Resignation gave workers and job seekers more leverage than they’d ever had before, forcing some employers to give in to their demands for remote work options and flexible schedules in order to attract and retain talent.

Remote work has been heralded as a solution that values the needs of employees, giving them the space and contentment they need to produce their best work. In a May 2023 column, I discussed hybrid work – a sort of happy-medium concept of working some days onsite in an office and other days at home or in another offsite location – as the winning, here-to-stay work arrangement that emerged from the pandemic. But now, recent studies are raising questions about whether remote or even hybrid work is a good thing.

A new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research, which followed two groups of data-entry workers in India, found the productivity of those working from home to be 18% lower than for those working in the office. In addition, a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Harvard University and the University of Iowa of software engineers at an unnamed Fortune 500 firm struck down hybrid work, finding that if just one person on a team were remote, the entire team operated as if they were remote, therefore recommending that teams be fully remote or fully in-office.

What’s more, a new poll conducted by Harris Poll and Bloomberg revealed the newest generation to enter the workforce is not as happy about remote and hybrid work as some might think. According to the poll, more than 50% of Gen Z summer interns and newly-hired workers said working remotely makes it difficult to establish business connections, and 56% said work-from-home and hybrid work situations cause difficulty to fully grasp and be a part of workplace culture in the office. For the Gen Z workers who are fully remote and hybrid, over one-third (37%) said they feel like they are falling behind their coworkers who are working in the office every day.

We’re also continuing to see return-to-office pushes from the heads of large companies – even, ironically, the company that is synonymous with remote work, Zoom (beginning this month, employees who live within a 50-mile radius of a Zoom office must work onsite two days a week).

Recent pushback against remote and hybrid work may be in response to a pandemic-era work culture that in some ways has made a lack of ambition socially acceptable, thanks to numerous catchphrases that have emerged in the past year or so. First there was “quiet quitting,” the concept of staying at your job but doing the bare minimum of work required for the role. Now there’s “bare minimum Monday,” which encourages easing into the workweek with a super-light workday instead of tackling a mile-high to-do list upon returning from the weekend.

And yet, the trend of caring less about work comes at a time when it’s more expensive than ever to rent or buy a house and pay for gas and groceries. Some would argue that now is the time to prioritize building a lucrative career in order to meet the steep cost of simply living a respectable life, not do the opposite.

If you’re confused about what work is supposed to look like right now, join the club. A recent Business Insider article described the state of work in mid-2023 well: “It’s the awkward adolescence of the evolution of work. It’s not quite in-person. It’s not quite remote. It’s not supposed to be your source of identity anymore, and you’re not supposed to ask people about it at parties. If you don’t know how to navigate it, you’re not alone.”

That new guideline of making sure “What do you do?” isn’t the first question you ask someone when you meet them at a party points to another once-unpopular career approach that is now gaining traction – letting go of the “dream job” in favor of the “good enough” job. With that also comes the separation of one’s job from one’s identity, which can be a positive thing for some. It takes the pressure off an individual from making the work area of their life their key source of fulfillment, and allows them the space to find fulfillment in other areas. It rejects “workism,” a belief first written about in 2019 in The Atlantic that “work is not only necessary to economic production, but the centerpiece of one’s identity and life purpose.”

The idea of “working to live, not living to work” is a healthy and appealing one; the problem is, if you’re feeling that “meh” about your job, it can be difficult to find motivation or feel content in your day to day life. Maybe the solution is to find a happy medium – similar to what proponents of hybrid work have found in their job arrangements – by finding a job you care about enough to want to do well at but that doesn’t define your entire life’s purpose.

A recent blog post written by Cornerstone Advisors President and Partner Steve Williams called on banking executives to recognize the new realities of the workplace, including the high value employees place on flexibility, the diminishing work ethic among employees, less demand for physical office spaces and the fact that today’s shifting workplace practices are putting financial institutions’ productivity and culture at risk. Williams highlighted one credit union, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union, which took a deliberate approach to hybrid work that turned the office into a destination, not a deserted cube farm that has nothing more to offer than an employee’s living room. The $7.7 billion MSUFCU in East Lansing requires all employees to come into the office for the “four Cs,” or culture-related, activities: Coach, Collaborate, Create and Connect.

For credit unions, successfully navigating an in-flux post-pandemic workplace culture might look like ignoring all the latest workplace-related catchphrases and studies, and designing policies that best fit their unique workforce. That could look like MSUFCU’s, or it could look totally different.

The lack of clear cultural expectations in today’s workplaces makes managing one difficult. But the good thing about the uncertainty is that it creates the ideal environment for innovation. Now is a great time to explore and experiment when it comes to where, when and how we work. Leadership teams and employees are more likely to be open minded about trying something new – at least when compared to the stuffy office-goers of the ’90s.

Natasha Chilingerian is executive editor for CU Times. She can be reached at nchilingerian@cutimes.com.