Years after the pandemic, directors continue to refine the rules for hybrid workplaces. Amazon and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among the largest U.S. companies rejecting hybrid schedules and shifting to back-to-work programs for 2025 with a five-day office workweek. Many independent directors suggest that organizations can’t go back to the way it was, but each board must guide the new corporate culture.
As they evaluate hybrid work, directors must ensure that organizations remain fiscally secure, align workers with the corporate purpose and mission, and maintain client service standards. “Culture starts with the tone at the top,” said Donna F. Zarcone, retired president and CEO of the Economic Club of Chicago. Zarcone serves on the boards of Cigna Group, CDW, Duchossois Capital Management, Halstatt LLC, Quinnox and the NACD Corporate Directors Institute, and is vice chair of the national board of the Smithsonian Institution. “When a company embraces a hybrid work model, policies and practices must ensure that model is effective.”
Back-to-work directives will be met with reverberations in the employee base and upset on social media, and boards must manage the backlash as well. “The entire social contract between an employer and its employees has been turned on its head in recent years,” said Lois A. Scott, who serves on the boards of Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, Kroll Bond Rating Agency LLC, Enwave and GreenGas USA. “COVID may have been the match that lit the fire of change, but the strong employment environment of recent years certainly added fuel to the fire. The hybrid workforce is simply a manifestation of the power employees now have to influence their work environment.”
Organizations Monetize Hybrid Work
As employers move to an office workforce, hybrid environments may grow as a recruitment and retention advantage, especially where salaries are less than competitive. Lower office expenses and saved travel time also monetize the value of hybrid work. “In my experience as a board director, productivity has grown in this hybrid work environment,” said Deb Boyda, former CEO of Dentsu and director of ConceiveAbilities, Trustmark and The Chicago Network. “In several cases, we’ve adjusted our financial objectives up.”
Directors who have been in the workforce for decades may find it hard to shake notions of the traditional work environment, but evidence suggests that there is value in change. “In our governance and oversight role, we look at data focusing on employee experience, engagement and satisfaction scores, promotion rates, retention metrics and pay equity,” Zarcone said. “We are seeking to understand that the culture and corporate practices are fairly and inclusively deployed for all employees, as it will lead to higher performance overall and sustainable and long-term value creation.”
Boyda identifies three types of culture challenges:
- Ensuring that each employee is inspired to deliver on clear business performance goals
- Keeping employee engagement high, so that people feel valued and see opportunity for themselves in the business
- Harnessing the business-building power of culture
“All three of these are harder to accomplish when teams are not working side by side on a daily basis, collaborating and inspiring one another,” Boyda said. “I’ve worked with several CEOs who are navigating this challenge successfully through a combination of high-impact, in-person events that are designed to ‘punch above their weight’ in terms of communication and employee engagement, supplemented by a regular cadence of more casual ‘pop-ups’ that are often virtual in nature.
“One CEO I worked with in the manufacturing sector made a point of walking the floor at the plants and hosting conversations with plant employees,” Boyda continued. “Another CEO has great success with regular ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions held virtually on Zoom. Initially, employees were quite reserved in their questions, but now this a compelling part of the employee value proposition and contributes significantly to the positive culture of the organization.”
A hybrid workplace needs safe spaces for employees to share their experiences. “If they sense discrimination, make sure they let us know,” Scott advised. “Encourage employees to communicate with us about the effectiveness of our equity and inclusion initiatives. Be purposeful about educating employees, executives and the board about unconscious bias.”
Set Return-to-Work Expectations
The ability to provide hybrid roles varies within industries, based on their employment needs and organizational flexibility. “The role of a corporate board is to assure fiduciary responsibility and to align the corporate strategy,” said Dr. Jan Berger, president and CEO of Health Intelligence Partners and a director of Aitia, BC Platforms, UCB and Upfront Healthcare.
“Hybrid work has different challenges in the health care setting,” Berger noted. “The work and the goals are often different. In addition, there is a need for significant oversight of privacy obligations. It is up to the board to support the executive team in addressing employee issues to achieve corporate value.”
Remote work can also be a test of trust. In my pre-pandemic role as a lawyer, I could only set standards; execution would be out of my control. Supervising remote work poses a similar challenge, which directors should not leave to chance.
“In situations where the core work of the company demands a fully in-person presence, boards should ensure management teams have a clearly communicated strategy for returning to an in-person environment,” said Suzet McKinney, a principal at Sterling Bay and board member of The Chicago Network, Chicago Urban League, Kemper Corporation, Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Wintrust Financial Corporation. “When employees and teams understand the expectations and have a ramp-up period to meet said expectations, the return-to-work plan is likely to progress smoothly.”
For an example of hybrid communications challenges, directors can look to their own video conferences. “We’ve all heard that 90% of communication is nonverbal, and that is true in the boardroom as much as anywhere,” Scott said. “With some people in the boardroom and others online, it can be more difficult to read the room, calibrate concerns and make decisions with everyone’s full input.
“Directors in the boardroom need to be vigilant and purposeful in engaging those online, asking each individually for their thoughts,” Scott continued. “Those who are physically present may have an advantage in participating and influencing discussions. I am now much more aware of who is dominating the conversation and whose voices we have not yet heard.”
Productivity and Profit Draw from Purpose
Workforce governance requires more communication and regular staff meetings. “I’ve implemented regular check-ins, both one-on-one and as a team, to ensure everyone stays connected and aligned,” said Dee Robinson, CEO and founder of Robinson Hill and GT Spirits Company; director of Accel Entertainment, Wintrust Bank, Athena Consumer SPAC and Charleston Gaillard Center; and trustee of the PGA Reach Foundation. “These aren’t just about work updates, but also creating space for the informal interactions that build relationships and team cohesion.”
Teammates can find different ways to work efficiently, but candid conversations can make sure they collaborate toward strategic objectives. Productivity and profitability require a clear purpose spelled out to the employee base.
“In a hybrid environment, you can’t micromanage,” Robinson said. “You have to trust your team to deliver results, regardless of where they’re working from. I learned through trial and error to focus on fostering a culture of trust and empowerment. I’ve made it a priority to clearly communicate expectations and goals, then give my team the autonomy to determine how best to achieve them.”
Technology can keep groups engaged and productive. “In more than one case,” Boyda said, “the need to better support a hybrid workforce has served as the inspiration for the board and company to more heavily invest in technology innovation overall and accelerated the organization’s digital modernization across the board.”
Just the same, the most effective tool remains a relationship of trust. The hybrid workforce calls on directors to reflect deeply on corporate purpose. “Too often, companies think of remote work as a technology adoption problem, rather than as one of human psychology,” Scott said. “At each of my companies, people demand to know what the company is doing to care for them as a whole person, not just as a worker. They want the flexibility to live a rich, full life while also making an impact on the world.” Like any strategy, hybrid work rules should not be made in a vacuum. “Companies have had to think deeply about what they need from their workforce now and in the future,” Scott said. “Many think that younger workers are driving these changes, but that is not what the data is showing us. More established workers, confident in their knowledge base and networks, want greater work-life balance. In fact, we find more junior workers are anxious to absorb knowledge from others and build their professional credentials by being at the office. They just want to pick the days and hours.”