Scott is the President of Elevation Marketing, one of the top B2B marketing agencies in the country.
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Other than getting back on an even financial keel, I think few challenges keep marketing agency owners up at night more than reestablishing the culture they’d built pre-pandemic. The two are intrinsically connected, and many argue that you can’t have one — a successful, fiscally sound agency — without the other.
From what I saw, culture remained largely intact through the remote work permutations of the past two decades, because by and large, many people were still in the office most of the time. The office exodus that happened as the pandemic took hold has been an experiment of epic proportions. For employees and agency owners alike, the ensuing months ushered in an entirely new way of looking at work. More people discovered work-life balance. More employers discovered that they could tap into talented employees in far-flung locales. A raft of new(ish) technologies gave us the ability to work remotely while staying in touch with clients and co-workers.
What technology did not give us, however, is the ability to hold a culture together or a road map for transitioning employees back into the office. I’ve noticed that three distinct groups have emerged — those who want to continue to work from home indefinitely, those who want a more flexible work policy and those who can’t wait to go back to the office. Many agencies began looking for ways to accommodate everyone, and now they are paying the price. If you ask your employees to come back into the office, they may revolt. If you don’t require them to come back, you may lose some anyway as many virtual staff lose their connection to the culture that keeps them engaged.
It is true that a lot of agency-related work can be done remotely. It’s also true that jettisoning real estate when no one was around to use it saved money. But at what cost? In my experience, culture is usually built in-house; it’s a synergy of social science, intent, collaboration, mentoring and idle chat that is almost impossible to replicate over Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
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Creativity is often borne of collaboration, and the best work is pulled from the collective strengths of a team of people with different skills, viewpoints and passions. In a hybrid environment, where some people come into the office and others work remotely, I don’t think collaboration is optimal, no matter how many faces you’re able to see on a screen. Communication can suffer, too, from the inability to have spontaneous discussions. It can be hard for remote employees to feel seen and heard, stay engaged on conference calls, raise their hands for projects and get the mentoring needed to advance their careers. It can be tough for in-office employees to include them when using messaging apps may feel like an intrusion and substantive conversations require advance planning.
In this one-foot-in, one-foot-out setup, people may struggle to feel like they’re a part of something bigger than themselves — or even part of anything at all. That’s death to culture. It can also make it tough to attract a buyer if you’re looking to sell the business. I think agency owners must ask themselves whether accommodating everyone’s preferences in the short term is worth it in the long run.
Insisting that people come back to the office may seem foolhardy. Everyone is loath to lose good employees, especially in a job market that doesn’t favor the employer. But remember, some people are ecstatic to get back, whether they are seeking the camaraderie of like-minded souls, escape from a rowdy household, the benefits of a cohesive team or the ability to mentor others in a meaningful way. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that the culture you built prior to the pandemic is alluring for many, and that they’ll be patient as you work to smooth out any of the rough edges that arose over the past two years. They may also appreciate being part of the effort.
It can be tempting to fly remote employees into the office a few days a month, but keep the expense in mind. Flights, lodging, meals and transportation can get pricey, and any other perks you offer such as pet sitting and airport parking must be factored into the ROI calculation, too. If you find yourself leaning heavily on the expertise of remote employees who have zero interest in resuming their commute, or you can’t afford the travel expenses for those far away, you may choose to transition them to contractor status as you work your way back to your ideal in-house/contractor balance.
At Elevation, I ended up putting the collaborative culture we’d built ahead of any short-term consequences of bringing people back to the office. We’ve loosened our policies to accommodate those who need to work from home or take time off due to Covid-19, but the rest of it remains as it was pre-pandemic. Have we lost some qualified candidates and valued employees due to this stance? Yes, we have, but no more than normal agency attrition would suggest. We’ve also added some excellent people strictly because of it — and even enticed a few who left back again. And since we’re growing our client base at a healthy clip, we’ve also invested a bit more in recruiting.
In the end, people want to do meaningful work in a culture they enjoy with people who energize, inspire and challenge them. Rebuilding and protecting the culture that brought you success before the pandemic is good for business.
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Author: Scott Miraglia, Forbes Councils Member
