Covid changed the workplace forever as employees adopted work from home. Now employers want their teams back in the office. Can they compromise? In this issue, employers make their case for the office.
Sometimes the best way to move forward is with an honest conversation. Back once more to share onsemi’s return-to-work compromise is Test
Development Engineer Dave Stout. In our last edition, Dave shared how he has successfully managed remote teams from home. In this edition, he shares how empowering managers is an essential step to bringing remote teams back to the office.
Test Development Engineer in Boise
onsemi
Localized Control: Empowering Managers
Imagine being a leader with offices around the world implementing a return-to-work policy. Not only is it complicated, but also impossible for any one person or even team to manage. Yet, this is where onsemi’s leaders were a few months ago—trying to bring back hundreds of employees to offices all around the world who were comfortable at home. While they are still transitioning, the key to their
success has been leaning on their management teams. “There is no replacement for face-to-face interaction, and I think that is important to the executive team. At the same time, they recognize how difficult it is to go straight back to the office after working remotely for two years. So, they decided it was in everyone’s best interest to have employees work directly with their managers (at least in the U.S.) to determine what works best for their teams.” This way, managers can advocate for what is best for their team.
Connect With Employees
With control in the hands of the individual office and manager, each team can function at its best. For Dave, that means he can have honest conversations with staff about their productivity. “With Covid, you found out quickly who couldn’t efficiently work from home. I had to sit down with some of my team
members to solve those problems. I think it is crucial to make it an “us” issue rather than a “them” issue. One of my employees has terrible internet at home, so he needed to be in the office for better internet. Another lives in a small home with kids, so it is distracting. Having those conversations and understanding the root of the issue helps us have an open dialog and solve the issue. If I were to say, ‘You’re not getting anything done; therefore, you must work in the office,’ that wouldn’t go over well. Instead, we can reach a conclusion together with it being their idea. Then the employee is more open to the differences between their situation and someone else’s.
By bringing human connection into the equation, onsemi is on its way to a successful return-to-work compromise.
Read Dave’s previous article here.
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