💛 Don’t touch that location strategy...

Hello and Happy Thursday!

Our last newsletter was all about getting righteously honest with the state of your workplace. We drilled down on the importance of attracting like-minded candidates with an accurate, honest picture of what their experience would be. 

Maybe this got you thinking about your own company’s location strategy…

Maybe it even got you thinking it’s time to change your location strategy to better suit the talent you hope to attract.

Today’s newsletter is all about how to actually plan for a successful change - whether you’re going from office to remote, remote to office, hybrid to co-located, or something nobody’s even thought of yet! We’re walking through the steps you need to take to arrive at the right decision for your company’s unique needs.

Once again, today’s all about doubling down on clarity. So let’s jump in!

Yours, clearly,

Jill

The questions to ask before you change your strategy

Changing where your employees can (and can’t) work is a big decision.

But does anyone else feel like many CEOs are making big sweeping changes lately - largely without thinking through the true impact of the decision?

I get it. COVID hit, and people had to make quick decisions about how and where teams could work. It seems many leaders feel justified in reversing those decisions just as swiftly.

A lot of companies have been following the same botched recipe: pick a location strategy you like (bonus if a big industry-player just implemented it), mandate it, let the chips fall, and clean up the mess later. 

Well, it’s pretty clear just how well that strategy works. Even a quick search for “Return to Office Mandates” yields these top stories… yikes.

With the job market and economy being what they are, we haven’t seen many choose to leave their jobs because of a RTO mandate… yet. But remote and hybrid job listings remain wildly competitive, and in-person work continues to wane in popularity. Simply put, employees crave working on their terms, and they’ll seek out (and happily job-hop for) companies whose location strategies align with their preferences.

So today, we’re laying out a planning process you need to take before moving forward with any new work location strategy.

The goal here is to make the best decision for your company - one that minimizes mess and maximizes engagement and success. This takes careful listening, questioning, and planning.

 If all this pre-work sounds like a lot, it’s because any change to where and how people work will have a massive impact on the organization. And I’m willing to bet each of those botched RTOs above would have benefited from more thorough, human-centered pre-planning.

Let’s get started…

Nail Your “Why”

Like I mentioned, it’s easy to watch an industry leader you admire make a change and think “great, we’ll do that!”  But just because it was the “right” decision for them, doesn’t mean it’s best for your workforce. 

Before you jump to decision-making, take some time to nail your “why” for making a change in your location strategy. The best outcome for your team will come from understanding your operations, knowing the culture you aspire to, a realistic assessment of your teams’ skillsets, and rigorous planning. 

So how do you figure this all out? It’s a four-parter.

First: Put any agenda you may hold to the side. If you’re a CEO, Head of People, COO, or other teammate tasked with arriving at this decision, of course your opinion here matters. But it needs to be guided by what’s true and what’s possible, and not by what’s most appealing to you personally.

 Second: Once you’ve checked your agenda at the door, it’s time to research! Here’s what we suggest gathering to help support a well-informed decision:

1. Employee survey data: Any survey or poll where you’ve asked employees about their work preferences. If you haven’t done a survey like this yet, now’s the time to start! 

2. Previous notices on working locations: Comb your policies, your recent job descriptions, your hiring agreements - anything that was shared previously about “how we work”. What promises were made in the past that will need to be addressed?

3. Performance, turnover and financial data: If survey responses shout “I’m more productive working from home,” what data points validate this claim? This isn’t about proving anyone right or wrong - this is about making informed decisions!

Third: Ask yourself (and the decision-making team) these ten questions and to help nail your “why”:

1. How do we hope to evolve our culture over the next 1-3 years, and how does this decision support (or harm) that evolution?

2. How capably can our managers drive motivation, performance, and engagement?

3. What big bets on Employee Experience are we able to take financially?

4. What keeps our top performers engaged and successful? What demotivates them?

5. What kind of Employer Brand and employer reputation are we striving for (and why)?

6. What in our business operations can - and should - be updated or modernized for better outcomes?

7. How much of an increase or decrease are we prepared to absorb in job applications as a result of this change? 

8. How much, if any, turnover are we prepared to absorb as a result of this change?

9. How much are we prepared to invest in the personnel, programming, hardware/software, real estate, relocation, hiring, backfill, and incorporation/hiring compliance costs a change in location strategy will entail?

10. Who does this decision do the most right by (in terms of teams, levels, geographic locations, and demographics), and are we comfortable with the forecasted potential for inequity?

Fourth (and final): Now that you’ve taken all these pieces into consideration, do a quick pulse check. Are you and your team aligned on the answers (good, bad, and ugly)? Have you explored multiple angles and possibilities? Did you arrive at a decision that will best impact the highest percentage of these considerations - regardless of personal preferences?

 Great! Now - and only now - are you ready to consider implementing a change for your workforce

In Closing…

I suspect we’ll see a lot more botched RTO implementation - and other location strategy changes gone wrong - from leadership teams that aren’t willing to take on the breadth and depth of pre-planning required.

 But you’re different, and I love that about you! You know that an engaged, cared for, motivated, high-performing team is one that creates long term business success. You know it’s one worth working and planning for, no matter where they work from.

So here’s to doing the important work at the beginning, to getting all the information you need in front of you, and to landing the right outcome for your team.

You’ve so got this.

🎥 WTWT Behind the Scenes Moment 🎬

This newsletter was originally inspired by my LinkedIn post urging leaders to answer six specific questions before making a RTO decision. We decided to take a broader view on overall location strategy and all the pieces that go into successfully making that change. And boy - did it get long fast!

That draft (which included best and worst communications practices for notifying employees of a change) was about three times as long as this one 😅. Turns out, it is possible to have too much of a good thing -  so we decided to shelf that part for another day. Is it something you’re highly interested in? Hit reply and let us know; we’ll make it a priority to get it out soon!

THINGS I'M LOVING RIGHT NOW

Midwest People Ops Meetup: Are you a midwest people ops specialist? I’ve been a longtime member of Lattice’s RfH community, but recently started attending their midwest meetup. I’ve been loving it, and this month, I’m hosting it! It’s free, high quality, and I would love to see you there. Register here!

📣The Podcast is Returning! 📣: The Want to Work There podcast is coming back in June! We’re kicking off our return with a wildly high-impact episode all about employee accommodation requests. Get ready for launch and catch up on old episodes here.

There’s a Facilitation Guide For That: ‘Tis the season for team meetups! I’ve been getting so many requests for facilitation and workshop ideas. While different outcomes deserve specific solutions, Gamestorming is a one-stop resource that I always direct people to. It’s a wealth of incredible (and free!) resources to get wheels turning.