A few weeks ago I wrote a blog titled, I’d Rather Quit Than Return To The Office. If you are someone who reads that headline and thinks, “you’re an entitled brat”, please hear me out… If I was required to go back to the office this week, I couldn’t. I would be forced to either take leave, or quit.

I’m a dad to a 3.5-year-old who throughout most of this pandemic has had steady daycare. Everyone has done their best to be careful, but this past Monday night we learned of an issue related to a potential Covid exposure over the weekend. We also learned that our daycare situation is now immediately shut down for 2 weeks. 

Putting the emotional fear and our family’s well-being concerns aside, logistically speaking this is a freaking nightmare… I couldn’t imagine any situation where I had to physically be out of my house for 10-11 hours a day commuting to and working from an office. I would hope my employer had a policy in place for “flexibility as needed without question”. 

Although my wife Jenn and I have been working mostly from our own home offices for years, well before 2020, this is still a huge challenge for us on top of everything else going on. We learned from the last time around and had a system in place to go to. We went to our whiteboard and mapped out all necessary meetings we each had, and divided up our work and child coverage efforts. We’ve been a good team this week in what’s been a stressful week.

As we acknowledged the next day, we are in full crisis management mode. We contacted friends and family we’ve recently seen and those we had plans to see. Medically and legally speaking, this is a 3rd degree exposure so we didn’t have to do anything, but we decided to mostly self quarantine until we got more information. 

I also let my partner Sylvia know and changed our weekly Tuesday meeting to virtual in an abundance of caution. I’m not one to make something out of nothing, but I don’t want to make nothing out of something. I’m grateful to have a partner that is extremely understanding and supportive. 

We did find out on Wednesday that our daycare provider tested negative which diffuses most of our health concerns at this point. We will still get tested for some additional peace of mind, and because of what is on our upcoming schedules. 

All of this has got me thinking that we’ve been saying some form of “returning to work post covid”. However, we are not past Covid, it is still an issue and we are still very much in it. For that reason alone, as leaders, we need to consider what we are mandating our people to do. 

I know there are some of us that can’t wait to get their people back. I know there are some people that can’t wait to get back themselves. However, there are many people, parents and otherwise, that more than anything right now need space and grace. 

According to a recent McKinsey survey, more than 30% of people returning to work say that their mental health has been negatively impacted. If you are an employer who says that your peoples’ well being and mental health is important, then let your people decide what works for them. It doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. Your goal should be to make it equitable, and not necessarily equal. In other words, let the individuals choose what works for them in a way that fits your organization. 

Often, it just requires you to listen. Only set firm boundaries and parameters when it is actually important and appropriate. Your people will appreciate you for it. This is a much more sustainable approach to leadership and operations. You will see many business benefits as a result including improved employee retention. People will stay working in your company because they won’t feel burned now that they are working in a way that works for them. 

This is good for overall organizational health and effectiveness. Happier employees lead to better, more engaged and productive employees. So again, I’ll ask you to consider… Why are you making it mandatory for your people to come back to work? Are you willing to lose good people because you made an office policy? What things should you change? What can you do differently?