Getting Workers Back to the Office With Incentives, Not Mandates

The challenge Like so many other businesses, digital photo resource Shutterstock adapted to the pandemic by having a fully remote team, which became increasingly geographically distributed as we started hiring talent outside of major cities. We successfully onboarded many new employees fully remotely—and found new ways to recreate, as best we could, the unmistakable energy felt when working at the office. Regardless of where we were located around the world, we continued to see strong performance across our business. Like many pandemic-related changes in our lives, we were amazed at how well everyone adapted. For all the practical benefits of working from home, it was still clear to us that something was lost by not being together in person. For one thing, it was sometimes hard to make quick decisions, and we also learned that many employees felt siloed within their functional areas and disconnected from other teams. Meanwhile, certain questions might not have seemed important enough to justify setting up a formal video call, so they never got asked. Back in 2020, we assumed that we would eventually call the majority of people back to the office once it became safe to do so. But, as time went on, we knew we didn’t want to force anyone’s hand, and that a hybrid model was most viable—in short, we realized there are benefits to working from home, and benefits to working in the office. We will also continue to have employees who will be permanently remote, embracing our global talent pool in order to attract and retain the best people. As we moved into this new model, the challenges we have faced include figuring out the practical logistics of a hybrid workplace, finding new ways to make distributed teams feel connected, and reminding employees who had acclimated to remote work that there is something to be gained from being in an office again, at least some of the time. The process Our goal is to get employees who live within commuting distance of our locations, and are categorized as hybrid, to come to the office at minimum once a week. We knew that enthusiasm for this would vary significantly from team to team and person to person. So we had to clearly communicate—and build excitement around—the benefits of office life. We also had a number of employees who joined us remotely during the pandemic, and while they were settled in their day-to-day, we didn’t want to lose sight of welcoming them to our office spaces and introducing them to a new aspect of the Shutterstock culture they hadn’t yet seen. First, we had to reimagine our spaces for a hybrid work model, which entailed creating more collaborative, open areas within the office. Since people would be coming to the office with the primary goal of spending time with their manager and teammates, we focused on creating more relaxed meeting spaces, such as large couches that can accommodate larger team gatherings rather than building out additional conference rooms that feel inherently formal. On top of creating the right layouts for hybrid work, we also thought about how to make the everyday experience of being in an office more welcoming. This has involved cosmetic elements (i.e., fresh paint and new art from our creators) and experiential ones, such as sending a Snack Attack Slack message to all employees announcing that Levain cookies are being served in the cafeteria. In the near future, we’re planning to celebrate and support our local neighborhoods by serving lunch semi-regularly from local restaurants and food trucks that our employees love, hosting regular happy hours, and bringing in a massage therapist and yoga instructor. But getting employees within commuting distance to come back to the office is only half the battle. We also had to think about helping permanently distributed teams stay connected. We know that when people feel disengaged from the work they or others are doing, they also tend to feel less connected to their teammates and the broader company—which can lead to looking for that elsewhere—so we had to take a proactive approach. First, we’ve reimagined our events as more inclusive and global, so that employees who don’t live near an office aren’t automatically excluded. For example, we’ve gotten really good at conducting our annual hackathon—an overnight coding event—virtually, with online trivia and other team-building activities to bring people together from wherever they are. We’ve also been investing in new technology to improve the meeting experience for remote employees. This is especially important as more of their teammates return to our offices, since it’s jarring to be the one big head projected onto a screen while everyone else is around a table in person. We’ve been purchasing camera systems that can follow the speaker so that it’s easier for the remote person to keep track of who’s talking, as well as wider viewing angles so they can gauge reactions and read the room better. Additionally, we’ve developed hybrid meeting training that involves coaching to be more inclusive of people connecting remotely, acknowledging the fact that it’s often harder for them to break into the conversation, and training for team management in a hybrid environment. The takeaway Our transition to a hybrid work model is still in its infancy, but we’re encouraged by what we’ve seen so far. Close to 100 people are coming to our New York office on Wednesdays, which is the peak day for attendance, followed closely by Tuesdays and Thursdays. We know it's going to take time. We're emphasizing that the office can, and will, look different in our hybrid model—we’re breaking away from strict 9-to-5 schedules and embracing the same flex hours that people had while working from home. We don’t have all the answers yet, but we believe that the flexibility this model affords will be a competitive advantage—and it already is when you consider we’re now able to tap into a truly global talent pool. We had a great office environment before March 2020, but it’s a different world now, and we’ve heard our employees loud and clear. We want them to have more flexibility in their day and be able to prioritize their wellness and productivity. This is ultimately the guiding principle that informs every decision we make about hybrid work. As we progress, we are already thinking about the next phase and how we can help get more people comfortable returning to the office, seeing the value of working together live and in person. Just as remote work has its advantages, we firmly believe that being together is also key to fostering our culture, increasing productivity and building valuable relationships.