The emergency order in Tokyo has been lifted, and yet it feels too early to celebrate. There are still a lot of unknowns and it's likely that the next few months will continue to be uncomfortable. However, the emergency order lifting is certainly a small victory on the way to larger ones, and signals some type of return to the office for many workers. What will that return look like though? For many companies and teams, the last few months have likely ushered in permanent changes to the way we work. 

In mid-April, I wrote about the initial steps we took to close our office and keep the business running. Recently, I've been reflecting on what I've learned over the past few months and what our next steps should be.

Empower people to make decisions 

In the pre-corona world I often considered more remote options for our business. We even did a few experiments here and there to test our productivity when working remotely. I felt strongly that for a team-based organization like ours, being decentralized would disrupt communication and hurt productivity - and ultimately revenue. And while that probably was a reasonable fear, I didn't give enough consideration to how we could change the way teams communicate to accommodate remote work. 

From March we were forced to adapt, and we did. We already had Slack, but we quickly expanded our Zoom usage while also using tools like Google Meets and Pragli. We allowed teams to decide for themselves the best way to communicate, and while having many tools might not be best practice for larger organizations, that flexibility allowed our teams and managers to focus on the effectiveness of the communication rather than the method.

We also came to realize that our normal core hours needed to be more flexible. I discovered pretty early on that the lack of distraction was exhausting. Because I was working for longer uninterrupted periods, I would find my energy levels dropping. My normal afternoon of barely controlled chaos in the office was actually more invigorating than the extended quiet at home. I found myself staring at the same email for 5 minutes... I needed more breaks. I also had to get over the guilt of being away from my computer. In the race to prove to everyone that I was working hard I'd become less productive. I spoke to others who felt the same, and we changed the way leadership communicated about time management. It's helped all of us find equilibrium.

A lot of this comes down to trust. If you would have asked me a few months ago if I trusted my team, I would have answered yes. However once that trust was truly tested, I realized that I trusted them in the context of the business culture that was created in the office. Now I trust them to take that culture with them wherever they go, which is a much more powerful thing.

C.R.E.A.M.

Wu-Tang knew what they were talking about - “Cash Rules Everything Around Me”

Like many businesses around the world, we've felt the adverse effects of Covid-19. From late March to early April over 30% of our clients went on hiring freezes. We had a record March, but our forecasting two months out didn't feel as reliable as usual. We made a quick decision to reduce non-essential costs from our budget. We asked our people if anyone would be willing to work 4-day weeks or take a sabbatical and a few did. Later, when it became clear that hiring trends had slowed considerably, we decided to move the entire company to a 4-day week. We made these decisions quickly, before almost anyone else in the market, as we knew we needed to be prepared for a prolonged period of uncertainty.  

We also improved our accounting processes to reduce the amount of overdue invoices while also educating our sales teams on the importance of communicating with clients early about payments. Additionally, we took the unusual step of offering our clients an extended warranty for placements in May as we know cash rules everything around them too. While it's hard to hand over a recruitment fee, it's even harder to hire someone and have them not work out. If we can help with that, we should.

Our company vision isn’t to make profit but rather to solve complicated problems through recruitment and HR technology, however we had to ensure that we’d still be around to solve those problems. 

Sleep > Commuting

I live outside of Tokyo and my door to door commute is about an hour and a half. That's three hours a day I can put towards something. Most of those hours have gone towards improving work life balance. I get an extra hour of sleep (from 6 to 7), eat dinner with my family everyday, and I get some exercise. All of that has improved my health, lifestyle, and happiness.

On the other hand, I lost some productive things I used to do on the train - self learning, listening to business podcasts, and OK, watching Netflix. Considering I've been commuting to Tokyo for most of the 15 years I've lived in Japan, I never really thought about what it would be like to do something else during that time. I accepted it as normal and pressed on (sometimes literally).

Now though, it's hard to imagine returning to that mindset. As we see companies like Shopify, Twitter, Square, and Facebook overhaul their remote work policies, I also see their attractiveness as employment destinations go up. Whether it's Tokyo, San Francisco, or New York, I believe companies can offer remote as a selling point as long as employees understand that pay is likely to go down if you aren't forced to live in particularly high cost of living cities. That trade off won't happen instantly or equally, but it seems to be coming. 

Will the traditional office survive?

Probably. In a recent survey we found that over 75% of companies are discussing or planning their return to the office. Less than 12% have actually finalized a plan. I would imagine those numbers will start to shift very soon. However, a recent subscriber survey conducted by The Information found that only 2% of respondents expected to go back to the office 5 days per week. Although those results likely reflect the situation in the US more than Japan, it’s still eye-opening. 

At EQIQ, we’ve created a plan around some basic guidelines and the prevailing ideas about how the virus spreads indoors. For example, we’ll be reducing the max capacity of the office by nearly two-thirds, insisting on non-peak commutation, and most importantly - leaving remote as an option for anyone that’s not yet comfortable coming back. We’ll continue to operate with a remote-first mindset and keep meetings online for as long as necessary. 

Find Silver Linings

I am definitely ready to see my colleagues. It'd be quite nice to meet a customer at a coffee shop. Maybe high-five someone when something good happens. I do think some things are lost when you work remotely. I think many people thrive on social relationships and are battling loneliness now. I miss hearing people on the phone, giving coaching tips on the desk, and basically being able to see something and help before anyone has to ask. We're getting closer to some of these things, but others will have to wait a while. 

But while we're waiting we might as well find some silver linings. The emergency lockdown has had the unintended but positive consequence of forcing many businesses, managers, and employees to ask themselves what's important, and in many cases, it wasn't exactly what they thought. We are all learning how to do our jobs better in difficult circumstances, but like so many things, adversity can bring out the best in us.

Chad Lafferty
Managing Director

chad@wahlandcase.com
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