This is the 41st in a series of business tips from industry leaders that Enterprise Times has interviewed. Enterprise Times recently interviewed Sirsha Haldar, General Manager, UK, Ireland & South Africa at ADP. He spoke about the Future of Work report that ADP publishes every year and what he hopes to achieve in 2023.
How organisations decide to compensate employees is growing more complex. For example, how should business leaders approach the question of balancing pay and benefits for those who work in the office versus those at home or hybrid workers? Business leaders must balance the cost of maintaining real estate and ensure that workers have a proper workplace at home as part of their duty of care. I asked Haldar what approach ADP is taking and his general view.
Haldar replied, “ADP has a very distinct view on this. We believe people are much more effective when they work together, not five days a week, but at least you need to be with your team maybe two or three days a week. It is not the same when you see everyone all the time on screen versus you meet them.
“We believe we are very strong because of our culture. To continue that culture, it’s very important that we get people in the office. We are very flexible, but we want people to come to the office for some part of the week. That’s our view globally.
“Now, what we are seeing is that other companies are also following the same policy. Most companies want people to come back, they want it to be flexible, but it’s not like completely home-based. The study shows that seven out of 10 home-based employees feel more valued than five out of 10 working from the office.
Different priorities risk splitting the workforce
Haldar continued, “We discussed with my team and HR that two types of employees are emerging. There is one type that wants to be in office. Maybe at some point, we’ll see that these are the more ambitious people, and they want to do things. They want to meet people because when you come and meet others, you understand what happens in the organisation beyond your job.
“Maybe there is another type at a certain part of their life where they are more focused on things at home. They may say, ‘My ambition is not to do something great. I want to do my job. I want to do it well, but I also have other priorities. I want to focus on them.’
“That may be one reason why people at home feel more satisfied. They probably appreciate that the organisation lets them work from home. They can do things which are more important at that point in time. They feel more appreciated.
“During COVID, all organisations have done loads of things to help people succeed at home, such as making equipment arrangements. That is one thing, which is still being carried by employees, appreciation. The people now coming back, maybe they’re a little more ambitious. They want more.”
Make the workplace more exciting
Haldar added, “For our organisation, we have to work on making workplaces more exciting. We want to make sure when a person comes to work, which we are very actively working on, to make people feel that if I come to work, they can do something more valuable than what they would have done at home.”
Haldar argues that people should do things in the office that they could already do at home, working on a screen or in Zoom meetings. He added, “We are trying to make sure that the team meetings happen on those days, and more collaborative work happens on those days. There are agendas set. If you are meeting with your team for two days, these two days need to differ from the other three days when you are on your own. You’re welcome to come all five days, but these two days are more exciting. You want to come. You want to meet people.
“I talk to many of our associates and keep hearing that all the time. ‘Oh, it was so good. I met him after so many years. We have a colleague visiting from Paris, and I haven’t seen her for ages. We met up and had coffee together. Things happen much faster. If I need to work with someone else, I just walk to their desk, talk to them, and it’s all sorted.”
