As the COVID-19 pandemic eases and we start thinking about a Return to Office, we are combatting a new set of challenges:

• An employee base that in many cases doesn’t want to go back to work

• Uneven employer norms and mandates which are driving attrition

• A frustration at the potential for “going into the office just to sit on Zoom calls”

• An ability for people to work for companies outside their home geography that had been considered impossible prior

I’ve been fortunate to have thrived in my job and find a good balance through the pandemic, have been thinking a bit about why I’m in a different place than others and have some tips to share. But before doing so, it’s also important to acknowledge a few things:

1. Not everyone was happy at work before the pandemic. As a result, much of the attrition some companies are facing is a super-cycle brought on as a result of a 2020 in which employee mobility declined significantly and has since increased dramatically as the economy has started to reopen

2. Everyone’s baseline reference point has changed. At the outset of the pandemic, the sheer terror of it all made us more willing to adapt and were afraid we’d lose our jobs so it was easier to accept painful changes, while making difficult personal & professional consequences. Once the crisis moment passes, it’s much more difficult to accept such tradeoffs

3. Nobody can predict the future of work life in any company. Generally employers and leaders seem to run into resistance when they express certainty in the future and try to impose a rigid structure, whether in the imposition of the “old” normal over time or a new one. New cultures and norms will form

From my viewpoint, we are now entering the 5th of 5 phases to date and I expect there will be one more:

1. The Initial Crisis (March 2020) - On March 12, 2020 most of my colleagues had stopped working in the office. Many were sick and others were concerned about traveling on Mass Transit. It wasn’t just COVID-19; we had re-arranged everyone’s seats March 1st. Our office was generally an open setting and there were enough germs going around that at least 30% of the office was sick with SOMETHING that week. Two floors of legal teams had been sent home due to confirmed cases (from the initial New Rochelle cluster) and we were making plans to go to a hybrid model the following week where only half the team members would be allowed in the office. At 4:30pm, I was jolted by the shocking news from my personal email that someone had tested positive in my apartment building. Out of precaution I alerted my team and immediately made a hasty exit. In the immediate weeks that followed, my ex-wife and I spent our days switching-off watching our children with juggling various crises at work. For me, managing the changes in the demographics of our B2C business brought incredible stress to our business and there were constant meetings about what to do about taking care of our people, our customers and prospective customers, while worrying about the longer-term implications of the hasty decisions we were making. I spent 3-4 hours engaged at work during the day, handled calls as needed while juggling my children and then stayed up late at night to catch up. During this time, I tried to be as transparent as possible with my colleagues about when I could work and when I couldn’t and they were great at bearing with me. Many others were in the same fate. The stress I felt paled in comparison to those who were sick or taking care of loved ones but getting through each day — and maintaining the necessary supplies to do so — was its own battle.

2. Managing the crisis (April - June 2020)

   In those long, stressful days in late-March my mind started to wonder. It quickly became apparent that “flattening” the curve meant lengthening the curve. This simply couldn’t go on. We needed to find a way to restore some sense of normalcy with our children and start working close to a full workday.

   Everyone I knew was dealing with the same issue, each in their own way. Many moved to 2nd homes and others moved in with one set of in-laws. Neither were viable options. I heard that some with cars were driving to pick up their caregivers and thought that would be a better solution. I get a good rental car rate through my company and gave it a try. Initially, it was an expensive, complicated convenience. Traffic wasn’t bad and parking was easy to find however as fear waned and the weather warmed, it took up to an hour and a half to find a spot, a 35 minute drive turned into over an hour each way and I began spending 4-5 hours a day in the car. But it got my nanny back to work and I could cover more of the working day, while still seeing as much of my kids as I had before the pandemic. It was expensive, it was tiring, but it worked until it didn’t. The same challenges were faced by colleagues as we all tried to find a way to find a sustainable working environment through the pandemic.

3. Settling in (July 2020 - September 2020)

   After the July 4th holiday, I started to find a new groove. One of my sons was in summer camp and we were back to a usual pre-pandemic childcare schedule. Despite all of the mask wearing and other restrictions, I was able to work a normal schedule and settle in. There were a few tasks where I was less productive than I had been in the office but I felt like I was at least working in a sustainable way and could for the foreseeable future.

4. The unstructured hybrid (October 2020 - late spring 2021)

   As the election neared, COVID cases waned after a summer wave, there started being intense discussion about a Return to Office. Initially we were pressured to commit to going to the office two days a week, submit to regular testing and were given additional perks of free food & a stipend of reimbursement for alternatives to taking Mass Transit. Such a return proved to be premature due to employee resistance and the emergence of a third wave of COVID-19 cases that ran through the winter. Through that time, the concerns of productivity came to the fore. If sitting in a quiet place with access to a studio monitor and ample office supplies were a priority, I was in. Otherwise — and that was true for all except 1-2 days a month — I was home. People were where they thought was best to do the job and there was little discussion or pressure on office environment. Rather, the focus was on ensuring a positive working culture and maintaining good teamwork.

   5. The structured hybrid (June 2021 - August 2021)

   I was asked to commit to go back to the office earlier this month for at least three days a week, without masks, testing or social distancing (if vaccinated) yet the perks will continue. Furthermore, they’ve added Zoom to all workstations so videoconferencing can continue between teams in multiple locations. We’ve started having some in-person meetings and social events. Yet it’ll still be the summer so there’s only so much anyone will be in the office. Despite this new mandate, any given day our office less than 50% busy.

   I still think there will come a new normal once kids are back to school in the fall full-time. As a working parent, the influence of children and school simply cannot be ignored. While schools exist primarily for education, their role in providing safe childcare so parents can work cannot be minimized. And most in the workforce are parents. Having children in school also forces parents to commit to a place to live and generally during school days, fewer people have reason to be out of office. I do not however think that we will go back to where we were before because commuting takes time and most companies have learned that they can execute well fully remotely so partially remote can work too. In addition, business travel will be perceived to be a much less important expense. But given that this is all in the future and nothing has gone as anticipated, finding that new norm will be different for each organization and any who try to impose anything will see high employee attrition. I really feel for the people who need to make facilities & space planning decisions.

As for why things seem to have gone well for me, I do think there were reasons why I have exited from the pandemic more engaged in my job and given more responsibilities:

• I imposed my balance - Each of these phases have been stressful in their own way. It all comes back to something I keep repeating over and over again: Different people need different things at different times. And I had enough trust in the people around me to be honest about my situation, what I could do and what I couldn’t. Sure there were some calls I took on a bluetooth while driving and there were some Zoom calls I took while sitting in a car so I wouldn’t get a parking ticket, but if I needed to prioritize my family or relationship, I said no and wasn’t punished for it because through my efforts, my team knew I cared.

• I became selfish about being as productive as possible - I tried different ways to work. If I was having trouble and thought it would be better to come into the office, I did. If I was in the office and was done with everything that needed to be accomplished, I left.

• I was present when I needed to be and wasn’t when I didn’t - Having my days filled with meetings filled with Zoom was a drag. So I didn’t go to all of them. Early on, it was tempting to sitting in on meetings, but as time dragged on, I realized I was stifling my subordinates when I was on certain calls so I simply didn’t attend That allowed me to focus more on heads down work and empowered them. I really focused hard on being on only the meetings where I was needed, remaining accessible to the team and generally avoided being on my computer otherwise, even for personal matters. I’d be lying if I didn’t multi-task on personal business while on Zoom calls more than I should have….

• I made the best of it - Working remotely created all sorts of benefits I’d never anticipated. Not only could I spend more time with my partner and children but I could be more creative in doing so and finding time for myself. Sometimes that meant sneaking off to golf and the beginning or end of a quiet day, or a walk with my girlfriend. In the winter, I looked for holes in the middle of the day when I could go for a run when the weather get warm enough for me to do so even if that meant I’d work a little later. I also found that working from home meant just mine. I started spending my work days at my girlfriend’s (and she at mine) so we could be together more yet hold things down in our virtual office.

• I didn’t believe everything about about what the future would hold - Return to Office became a big stressor for all. And as a leader who had to enforce certain norms and mandates, it was a matter that I couldn’t simply avoid. But I learned that the present can be dealt with, so I made a point to be a leader in returning to the office, even if I wasn’t there much just so I could tell me team what it was like to be there. While doing so, I made a point to communicate why I was there and also NOT to be there when it wasn’t necessary. Taking things as they come and living in the moment as opposed to an uncertain future helped lower the temperature for myself and my team.