Workplace Culture. It has become such a nebulous term, right? Post-pandemic, the term has become even more vague and abstract than it was before March 2020.
I’m sure that if we polled each of you reading this today, we would all have varying definitions of what we see and mean by workplace culture.
At its most basic level, Forbes defines workplace culture as “The shared values, belief systems, attitudes, and the set of assumptions that people in a workplace share.” And it is generally true that employees want to feel connected – to their colleagues and, in most cases, to the company’s mission and core values.
Research by Deloitte shows that 94% of executives and 88% of employees believe that a distinct corporate culture is important to business success. A positive culture not only enhances employee satisfaction, but also accommodates various work styles, enabling everyone to work in ways that best suit their strengths and preferences.
Sounds reasonable, right? The challenge facing us HR professionals today is how to create and foster a positive work environment and culture in this new hybrid world of work. This is generally where we are -some organizations have welcomed employees to the office, others have demanded it, many have accepted the hybrid model, while others have resigned themselves to the fact that their employees will only work remotely.
In all these scenarios, what employers understand about what drives and motivates their team appears to significantly differ from what employees want and are looking for from the world of work today and moving forward.
The ever-elusive work-life balance that appeared non-existent with Boomers, and marginally became a concept with Generation X, now appears to be front and centre with Millennials and Gen Z. And as Al Jolson, an American singer, comedian and actor, who was also called “the world’s greatest entertainer,” said, “You Ain’t Seen Anything Yet.” Wait till we have to manage the expectations of the “Polars” – those born 2013 and onwards – when they enter the workforce…
Not to sound too melodramatic, but we are witnessing a paradigm shift; one that will significantly change how one views the world of work – we may be entering the age of life-work balance with more drive than ever before. There’s the “right to disconnect” legislation taking hold in many jurisdictions worldwide, there’s the policies that some countries are introducing to ease visa restrictions to attract remote and hybrid workers (otherwise known as “digital nomads”), and then just look at all the “Quiet” movements that have largely been spearheaded by Gen Z.
Fair enough. While the Gen Z’er who inadvertently sparked the Quiet movement has tried to distance himself from creating Quiet Quitting, the movement itself has since morphed into the Great Resignation, and led to the Great Reset.
And now we have quiet vacationing, a new development that the ever-effusive Howard Levitt takes post-pandemic employees to task for in his piece in the National Post.
In the same piece, Levitt mentions that according to the May 2024 “Out of Office Culture Report” (“OOO Report”) published by The Harris Poll Thought Leadership Practice, quiet vacationing involves employees unofficially taking time off on a regular workday, without advising their employer, rather than honestly requesting vacation time, so they can save their paid time off for later.
The BBC World Service recently had a stimulating discussion on this phenomenon that is occurring globally, which centred on the ethical and moral responsibility of employees and whether they had a “right” to quiet vacationing.
Undoubtedly, something will soon take over and replace quiet vacationing as a trend. The important takeaway though is that striving to create a positive workplace now requires us to reframe our lenses – how can we, as organizations and HR professionals therein, motivate our teams and keep them engaged in work while meeting and supporting their needs outside of work, rather than the other way around. And what will that mean for productivity?? That’s a topic for another time…
