How Work From Home Shifted Workplace Etiquette
Now that the dust is beginning to settle and more and more employees, alongside their managers, are adjusting to working from home. According to Paul Lewis, co-host, The Suite Spot, a new narrative is spinning around those of us who work from home. “So the one thing I hear most often is — especially with Zoom meetings — you’re inviting us into your house and therefore you get to set the rules, right?” What does that mean exactly? Lewis went on to explain that there is less and less of a “normal” workday now. Hours of availability are shifting, workers are balancing childcare and education needs during the work day, and the typical office dress code is out the window.
Ernest Solomon, Chief Information Officer, LAWPRO, feels his company adapted quite well to this new working reality. From an HR perspective, Solomon addressed some of the changes they’ve experienced, including the ability to have a “flexible, even work from home policy, changing shift on your own schedule. Because you know, with kids being there, you may only be able to work from, you know, a seven o’clock to a three o’clock schedule. There were some additional requests that did come forward, we took them individually, individual by individual and addressed those accordingly as well. But predominantly, I think we’ve managed,” Solomon said.
He noted that addressing employee concerns and needs individually is key. “There weren’t excessive amounts of those requests, but there was still a handful enough that we would have to look at them carefully, just to make sure that you know, there’s still collaboration happening and there’s still engagement on all sides of the fence from that perspective. And work has still been getting done.”