Pre-pandemic, a successful manager oversaw and evaluated others in the performance of their jobs and led by exerting power and with on-site supervision. The ability to supervise and lead in this manner completely changed when the pandemic forced managers and employees to work from home. Rather than checking boxes on a performance appraisal based upon on-site supervision and direct oversight, post-pandemic managers must now build and energize teams while ensuring team members’ well-being usually from behind a computer screen instead of in-person. Attributes such as empathy, compassion, and authenticity are critical for post-pandemic managers. Several pandemic-driven factors led to this fundamental change in how good managers operate.
Normalization of Remote Work
While remote work was once considered a perk, it’s now a mainstay. Based on Gallup’s annual Work and Education poll conducted in August 2023, about half of U.S. employees say they have telecommuted for work, a percentage that has been consistent over the past three years. This is in stark contrast to the 9% of employees reporting they have telecommuted when Gallup first asked the question in their 1995 poll.
During the pandemic, as managers grappled with the transition from office-based work to remote work, tensions arose between opposing forces in their managerial work. Dr. Yael Ben David of Reichman University’s Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology investigated the implications of how managers dealt with these opposing forces and reached interesting conclusions about managers’ efficacy based on which path they chose.
Without on-site supervision, pandemic-era managers felt tension between the need to intensify supervision over employees and the fear of losing their trust-based relationship with them. The study found that managers who chose to tighten their supervision over employees and ignore the potential damage to employees’ sense of trust encountered negative consequences like disengaged employees and a decline in productivity. Alternatively, managers who approached supervision by helping and enabling employees had far better outcomes and were able to maintain their employees’ hard-earned trust.
The study also examined the tension created by managers’ proximity to employees’ domestic environments and the need to create personal boundaries between work and personal space. Managers who ignored the blurring of the boundaries between home and work created an undefined and draining environment, while managers who understood the need to create new boundaries based on needs instead of location, were far more successful. One example of a needs-based boundary is allowing employees to rest or address personal chores during the day if employees need to work at night.
The study examined a final tension created between the traditional managerial concept of the manager being the knowledgeable authority and a new and uncertain remote environment in which the manager has no knowledge or expertise. The managers who willingly admitted to their employees they too were learning how to navigate this new work paradigm instead of trying to maintain a façade of certainty in the new uncertain reality, fared much better supporting and managing their employees.
The normalization of remote work has forced a change in the manager/employee relationship. Good managers, with dramatically less visibility into employees’ day-to-day activities, focus more on employee output and less on the processes employees use to produce them. Good managers build strong teams that collaborate and coordinate among themselves despite the lack of daily in-person interaction. Building a strong, shared remote culture where employees feel important and comfortable expressing their views, celebrating individual accomplishments, and working towards a shared purpose are key when managing remote employees.
Accelerated Use of Technology
Post-pandemic, the prevalence of monitoring software and artificial intelligence in the workplace has exploded, and managers must carefully adapt their approach to managing alongside this technology.
The use of monitoring software was a direct result of the rapid rise of remote work during the pandemic during which more than one in four companies invested in new monitoring technology to “watch over” remote employees. Most types of employee monitoring software allow users to see everything on a desktop in real-time such as keystrokes, browsing activity, emails, and chat apps. In a pandemic-era Microsoft survey in which 20,000 people in 11 countries were surveyed, 85% of leaders reported the shift to hybrid or remote work made it challenging to have confidence that employees are being productive. This fear of reduced productivity has led to a condition Microsoft calls “productivity paranoia.”
Not surprisingly, feeling watched has had some negative consequences for employees who may feel a breach of trust and personal privacy and that they are being controlled. There are countless ways good managers can counter these negative feelings. First, rather than unilaterally implementing a monitoring system, managers can find ways to give employees input into when surveillance is appropriate and not and stick to those boundaries. For example, financial services instant messaging platform Symphony, limits managers’ ability to monitor employee conversations only to the extent necessary for record-keeping and legal compliance. Good managers should also be transparent about the ways in which data is collected and used. Without that information, employees are left to their own imaginations and may feel they are being monitored more frequently and invasively than what’s actually the case. One Gartner survey found that even just explaining the scope and purpose of monitoring can boost employees’ acceptance of the practice by about 70%.
Another exploding technology is the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. Whether or not fueled by the pandemic, AI is here to stay and is being used to manage employees. While the tendency may be to fear AI and its potential to replace humans, good managers understand how AI will change their jobs and find ways to use AI to their advantage.
Data-Driven Decision Making
AI can assemble and crunch numbers much faster than any human. AI can also use the data to identify patterns and make suggestions for action items. These AI functions are invaluable tools for any manager needing quantifiable support in their decision making.
Planning
AI can assist any business initiative by suggesting personal and team best practices that have a high probability of success. All AI needs to help is information on goals and objectives, available resources, deadlines, and potential roadblocks to offer well-defined SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals. AI can even break down goals into more manageable, prioritized tasks to keep all team members organized and focused on deadlines. Once a project is completed, AI can learn from the team’s prior results ways to improve and better manage planning and executing future projects and initiatives.
Administration
Most managers agree that administrative tasks, while necessary, can be a huge time drain and keep a manager from other critical responsibilities that require a more sophisticated skill set. A Harvard Business Review survey found that project managers spend 54% of their time on administrative tasks. While repetitive administrative tasks can be burdensome for managers, AI can handle them with ease and accuracy. AI systems can index, classify, and retrieve documents immediately making it easier for managers to organize and quickly find critical information. AI can alert managers when to meet to address issues, notify essential meeting attendees and even set the meeting agenda. AI can automatically send reminders and notifications to update team members on deadlines and completed tasks.
Ultimately, AI can make a manager’s job easier by anticipating what’s needed and when, determining who is best at certain tasks, and what employees need.
Emphasis on Employees’ Well-Being
Some managers treat employees like a piece of equipment that is only good if it is cranking out a product. This managerial technique is bound to fail as employees want to be seen, heard, and understood. When employees are physically and mentally well, they are ready to perform at a high level and positively impact the company’s bottom line. This became blaringly clear during the pandemic. Employees felt their worlds were turned upside down and inside out. Most employees dealt with anxiety, grief, isolation, and economic hardship.
Compounding the stressful situation were families with children or other dependents at home. Employees had to work while also fulfill the role of babysitter, tutor, housekeeper, cook, and caregiver. The truly good managers recognized they needed to get to know their employees on a whole new level to support and successfully transition them to remote work and navigate the unimaginable that accompanies a pandemic. Empathy, thoughtfulness, and consideration were key to understanding their employees’ motivations, struggles, expectations, and needs. The continued focus on employee well-being post-pandemic is paramount to being a successful manager whether employees are working on-site, remotely or in a hybrid work model. Employee well-being equals company well-being.
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Navigating the pandemic taught survivors many lessons, both personally and professionally. When the old managerial rules and techniques used for the in-person workplace no longer applied, good managers adapted and have emerged from the pandemic stronger and with finer tuned interpersonal skills better equipping them for any future challenges and hardships. The manager role has evolved from a focus on oversight to one centered on ensuring employees’ well-being and building trusting and nurturing relationships. Even the best managers can improve and sometimes just need to tweak their skills. Among Smart HR’s many offerings is a comprehensive management training module that helps managers realize their full potential. If your managers could hone their skills to better serve your employees, call Smart HR today.
