Becker's Hospital Review

48 POPULATION HEALTH 48 CEO / STRATEGY Why hospital executives are dialing business school professors By Molly Gamble A cademics are readying for a season of consultations with executives — including those from health systems — to field questions about remote work, hybrid arrangements and return-to-office plans, Bloomberg reported March 8. Hospitals, schools, universities, corporations and government agencies are seeking guid- ance as COVID-19 cases fall in the U.S. "My inbox is exploding daily," Tsedal Neeley, PhD, professor of business administration and se- nior associate dean for faculty development and research with Boston-based Harvard Business School, told Bloomberg. At least 70 percent of knowledge industry workers say they prefer a hybrid workplace, according to Dr. Neeley, who cited employ- ee survey data. e extension of hybrid arrangements is becoming tablestakes to attract and retain talent as the "Great Res- ignation" persists. Furthermore, 20 percent of staff are what Dr. Neeley calls "remote natives," meaning they joined their employ- ers during the pandemic and expect to keep working from home even aer COVID-19 becomes endemic. Executives' questions range from the broad to the specific: Should working from home be a built-in feature of my organization, and how oen if so? Should we go fully remote and lose the real estate, require workers to return full-time, or fall somewhere in the middle with a hybrid model? e hybrid model brings its own questions: Should employees get to choose the days they come to the office? How do you coordinate schedules so the right people are in the same room at the same time? How do you en- sure that managers aren't preferential when scheduling or discriminating against remote workers for promotions and pay raises? Despite the clamoring around academics who study remote work and can provide consulta- tion, big questions remain even among the ex- perts, according to Bloomberg. "Among the ex- perts, one of the biggest debates about remote work concerns productivity. Most employees say they're more productive working from home, surveys show, but employers are divided on the question," according to the report. Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell Health, navigated the ins and outs of hybrid work to develop a plan for the New Hyde Park, N.Y.- based system's 8,000 shared services team members, many of whom were forced to start working remotely when the pandemic struck in March 2020. He told Becker's the exodus le the majority of 200-plus offices occupy- ing 3 million-plus square feet of space at 78 locations largely unused. "is shiing work model has impacted dozens — if not hundreds — of different non-clinical job roles within human resourc- es, finance, legal, managed care, procure- ment, marketing and communications, risk management and numerous other support services that are vital to the effective day-to- day operation of our health system, but do not necessarily require people to be in the of- fice five days a week," Mr. Dowling said. By March 8, all Northwell managers were executing plans to transition their teams to a full hybrid work environment through a model called "Workwell." e system estab- lished 10 technology-rich hubs in conve- nient locations throughout its service area that feature workstations, conference rooms, customized rooms to promote innovation and collaboration, multipurpose space, café zones and cafeterias, and even meditation rooms and ping-pong and billiards tables. Northwell is converting some of its office spaces for support services into clinical spac- es with the aim to expand the ability to see additional patients, reduce wait times and improve patient satisfaction. "All healthcare leaders, including conven- tional leaders like me, must recognize the realities of today's workplace and not force their non-clinical staff back into a five- day-a-week office environment, to where many have no desire to return — and may leave the organization if they're given no choice," Mr. Dowling said. n Managers stuck between conflicting desires of leadership and staff By Georgina Gonzalez N ot immune to the pressures and pulls of the "Great Resignation," managers often feel trapped between the conflicting pulls of their employees and their superiors, according to a report released March 15 by Microsoft. After analyzing work trend data from LinkedIn and polling more than 30,000 people, Microsoft's "2022 Work Trend Index" revealed that managers are hav- ing a hard time at work, according to the report. Managers hear their employees' worries about the workplace, but don't feel empowered to make changes for them. More than half of managers surveyed said the leadership team of the company is out of touch with employees, but 74 percent said they don't have the influence or resources to enact change. One major source of this tension is the issue of remote work versus returning to the office. Half of leaders surveyed said they expect to return to full-time, in-person work from the office this year. However, half of employees responded that they are considering switching to remote or hybrid work this year, and 80 percent said they were as productive if not more when going hybrid or remote. This leaves managers to bridge the gap in expectations between leadership and employees, giving them a difficult job of translating wishes as a messenger. "There's no erasing the lived experience and lasting impact of the past two years. Empowering managers to adapt to new employee expectations helps set businesses up for long-term success," Corporate Vice President for Micro- soft 365 Jared Spataro said in the report. n

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