Noémie Le Menn: How to Support Employees Returning to the Office

This year, three-quarters of French companies aim to bring their employees back on-site¹. A return to the office that, according to Malakoff Humanis, is causing anxiety among 60% of employees.

Faced with these figures, many are asking: should all employees be required to return? And how can companies support this “new normal”?

Read also: Remote Work: The Death of the Office?

To better prepare employees for a return to the office after months of remotely, we spoke with Noémie Le Menn, a work psychologist with 30 years of experience and a coach for over 20 years. President of upchange Conseil & Coaching, she helps companies and individuals who want to combine fulfillment and performance at work.

In this interview, she explores the causes of employee anxiety and shares several recommendations for managers, HR teams, and employees.

Why Are Employees Anxious About Returning to the Office?

In the office, nothing stops managers from monitoring employees’ every move. Similarly, if an employee has difficult relationships with certain colleagues, conflicts are harder to avoid.

Fear of the virus is therefore not the only reason employees dread returning to the office. For Noémie Le Menn, “employees’ primary fear is returning to relational dynamics that were a source of stress and discomfort for them. For instance, anxiety-inducing relationships with colleagues, or a management style that no longer worked for them.

Indeed, these ‘toxic’ relational patterns tend to be more pronounced in person than remotely. For example, it is harder for a manager to micromanage what employees are doing when they are remotely. Because remote control is different : il s’effectue davantage sur les livrables que sur la présence, ce qui limite le micro-management. ” 

How to Prepare Employees for a Return to the Office

To address employee concerns, HR teams and managers will need to think carefully about how to prepare those still working 100% remotely.

For Noémie Le Menn, the key challenge is, as much as possible, to “adopt a personalized approach based on tasks, roles, and individual personalities. L’objectif est d’identifier les besoins de chacun et d’y répondre en faisant preuve d’adaptabilité et de créativité, pour favoriser l’intérêt commun ”.

HR Best Practices

Raising Awareness and Training Managers

“In this context, HR’s first priority will be to support and train managers to move beyond a ‘command & control’ approach. The goal is for them to learn to trust their teams, and help employees become more autonomous.

Pour cela, il faut comprendre les sources d’inquiétude et les appréhensions des managers. Puis les accompagner pas à pas dans le lâcher prise, pour qu’ils acceptent de donner plus de liberté aux collaborateurs », the work psychologist advises.

Read also: Hybrid Work: HR and Internal Communications Best Practices

Identifying Who to Bring Back First

“It is also important to identify which employees want to return to the office, and to think through how work will be organized there.

Rather than forcing employees back to the office, I believe companies should aim for a policy that promotes professional fulfillment de chacun. Ma recommandation est de laisser télétravailler les collaborateurs qui ont démontré qu’ils s’épanouissent et travaillent mieux à distance. Et proposer aux autres de revenir au bureau en fonction de leurs tâches et des normes sanitaires. 

If you force 100% of employees back to the office, you will very quickly see a spike in sick leave. ” A flexible, “choice-based” approach, by contrast, will promote well-being at work, and therefore company performance.

“In any case, I believe some people will not want to come back. Companies need to be prepared for this. Sébastien Bazin, CEO of Accor, estimates that 25% of his employees will not return to work in his properties ”, explains Noémie Le Menn.

Re-engaging “Disconnected” Employees

“And of course, in the era of remote work, HR’s role also includes identifying and re-engaging those who have disengaged, by watching for warning signs. These include employees who no longer speak up, stop attending meetings, consistently reply late, or habitually turn off their camera during video calls. In short, people who do everything to make themselves invisible.

To re-engage these employees, you will need to identify the root cause(s) of their disengagement puis chercher à y répondre. Dans certains cas, on pourra pour cela faire appel à un coach ou à un psychologue du travail. Bien sûr, il n’y a pas de baguette magique : pour que cela soit efficace, il faudra que le salarié lui-même ait envie de s’investir à nouveau dans l’entreprise. ”

Management Best Practices

Understanding Team Needs

“To meet each person’s needs, managers will need to better understand their team members’ profiles, including their level of autonomy and preferred working style. ”

Rethinking Management Practices

To encourage employees to come back, “les managers devront aussi créer un environnement de travail le plus agréable possible. Pour cela, ils pourront apporter quelques changements à leurs pratiques, par exemple :

• revisiting their relational approach, including how they welcome employees and their management style, adopting a warmer and more supportive stance;
• fostering more team spirit by regularly organizing team-building events.” ”

Read also: Hybrid Work: Management Best Practices

Trusting Employees

Finally, as mentioned above, “micromanagers will need to learn to trust their teams, meaning managing their anxiety in ways other than controlling their teams. ”

Afin de garder de la visibilité sur le travail de chacun – sans pour autant tomber dans le ‘flicage’ -, « le manager can schedule regular check-ins with each team member. ”

It is a win-win: everyone knows that an autonomous employee is more motivated and engaged than one who feels controlled. The payoff is improved productivity, creativity, and employee retention.

Best Practices for Employees

Being Proactive

Finally, it goes without saying: employees themselves can make their return easier.

Noémie Le Menn recommends they “proactively suggest to their manager de réserver certaines activités pour le présentiel (ex : séances de brainstorming, comités projets…) et d’autres pour leurs jours de télétravail (ex : rédaction d’articles de blog, analyse de dossiers stratégiques), afin d’optimiser leur productivité. ”

They can also ask more regularly for feedback to continuously improve their own work organization. ” And the more employees request feedback, the less managers will feel the need to monitor them.

Practice the test & learn

“Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to making the return to the office easier.

I believe the best approach is to test different approaches pour identifier le mode d’organisation qui permet à chacun d’être le plus performant, puis d’ajuster ses pratiques au fur et à mesure. ”

Conclusion

Before bringing employees back to the office, companies will need to think carefully about a new work organization, tailored to their business and their people. While some employees are eager to see their colleagues in person again, many have grown accustomed to remote work: according to a study by Apec, 72% of managers want to continue working remotely on a regular basis after the crisis. It is therefore safe to say that this return to the office will help cement hybrid work as the norm in our organizations.

Want to learn more about the challenges and best practices of hybrid work? Check out our white paper “The Future of Work: Embracing Hybrid Work!”.

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In our white paper “The Future of Work: Embracing Hybrid Work!”, you will discover: the challenges and benefits of hybrid work; best practices for managers, HR teams, internal communications, IT departments, and employees; plus the tools to put in place to boost the efficiency of your hybrid teams.

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¹ 2021 survey by Génie des Lieux

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Author: Emmanuelle Abensur