Marnie Brokenshire: ‘Bringing employees back to the office to revive productivity and culture’

With the work-from-home proving detrimental to innovation, productivity, workplace culture, and ultimately the profitability of businesses, Australian businesses should be putting more effort into bringing employees back to the workplace, says Marnie Brokenshire from HR consultancy firm Uncapped Potential.

“The reality is, working from home is killing innovation, productivity, relationships and long-term business growth but those who advocate for working from home either don't feel it or don't care,” Brokenshire kicked off.

“People need people. Human connection is fundamental to how we operate as our best selves. We fear that people are losing the ability to develop and maintain meaningful relationships in the workplace. They are also losing the ability to have hard and robust conversations that drive learning and growth, and culture simply cannot be created or sustained online.”

“Leadership has become transactional and we spend a lot of time with our clients relearning the skills needed to drive high engagement and performance as these skills have eroded or not been a focus in the past four years.”

According to Brokenshire, who now leads her own consulting firm and earlier in her career served Deloitte, rich and meaningful conversations and interactions take place when people connect in person. “It has a lot to do with voice, body language, tone, behaviour and style – some of the most valuable and insightful discussions happen around the water cooler.”

“These things cannot be fabricated or replicated online. They need to happen in person. This is where the power of emotional intelligence comes to the fore – you can't read the play and tap into the necessary cues for empathetic leadership when the interactions are remote and transactional.”

Brokenshire emphasised that while remote work offers flexibility for employees, it has also led to significant challenges that businesses are now struggling to overcome.

Declining innovation

“Innovation needs high levels of engagement, giving space and time to ideas, debating, challenging the status quo. Spontaneous idea-sharing, brainstorming and organic problem-solving are far less effective in virtual environments.”

Reduced productivity

“The blurred lines between work and home life contribute to distractions, disengagement and a lack of accountability. I have three children and a dog – I speak firsthand when I tell you that working from home is anything other than effective,” Brokenshire said.

"Accountability while measurable, isn't always a matter for measurement alone. It is also a matter for ingenuity, leadership, attitude and other human elements which help to forge culture, brand and success to add value beyond widget counting.”

Weakened relationships

“Without doubt, the absence of ongoing in-person interactions is eroding team dynamics, collaboration and professional development,” Brokenshire said.

“Many people push back on this and say that it doesn't because they come into the office every two weeks or every month for an in-person meeting. To suggest that this level of engagement has the same benefit as an ongoing in person connected working relationship is ludicrous and undermines the powerful dynamics of human nature.”

Culture decay

“A strong workplace culture requires physical presence, mentorship and shared experiences, which are difficult to replicate online or in a brief meeting every four weeks,” Brokenshire said. “High performing teams excel by understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses. Often it is not what is said out-loud, that is said the loudest. You have to be there to understand.”

As Australian companies push hard to clear the remnants of the pandemic and gear up for a post- cost-of-living crisis, many are re-evaluating their workplace strategies to drive innovation, sales and long-term success. Leaders are recognising the need for employees to return to the office to rebuild team cohesion and accelerate business growth.

“The problem many businesses are facing is that they don't know how to return to a work-from-office environment without facing backlash. Employees have grown accustomed to remote work and a sudden shift can lead to resistance, dissatisfaction and potential attrition, many will argue they simply can't go back for a myriad of reasons.”

“Organisations need a well-planned, transparent and flexible approach to facilitate the transition smoothly, they need to provide a mandate that makes it compelling, even irresistible.”

Brokenshire explained that the future of work isn't about eliminating flexibility, it's about striking the right balance, ‘one size does not fit all’. “What we're seeing now is that a fully remote model is unsustainable for the kind of high- performance, high-impact workplaces that businesses need to compete and thrive.”