Women’s relationship with ‘THE OFFICE’

For decades, pre-pandemic work was, for the vast majority of us, ‘in the o ce’. It wasn’t working for any of us all the time, but it especially wasn’t working for women. e indigestible cocktail of the in exible hours, the long commute, the micro-aggressions, the lack of career growth, cost of childcare and the increasing demands from ageing parents meant that burnout was rife and, as we have witnessed, quiet quitting was sadly on the up.

anks to the rapid deployment of technology and the rise of the diversity, equity and inclusion agenda, changes to more exible working arrangements pre-pandemic were happening. But it was incremental, and it felt a bit like watching paint dry. en in March 2020, Covid struck the world and overnight we swapped an archaic default for an ‘avant-garde’ all in, kids and all, home working.

For a brief spell there was much reported euphoria and news coverage that the o ce was a thing of the past and working from your garden shed or under the stairs was going to be the new norm.

I never bought that argument and still don’t.

We need the o ce. We all do –women as well. However, what has changed is the role the o ce plays in our working lives. For the o ce to work for women, the following needs to be addressed.

Prejudice Against Women

e o ce environment mustn’t operate as a petri dish of micro-aggressions that fester and ferment over time. Sometimes, the o ce environment gets to a point when a woman says, ”enough is enough. I can’t be bothered to put up with this nonsense anymore – there is more to life, and I quit.” is behaviour needs to be called out and dealt with. It needs instead to be inclusive. If it isn’t, the women will leave.

Genuine Flexible Working

Primarily mothers not just want, but need, to be able to integrate their work schedules around the in exible school hours and childcare practices. If they can’t, the women will leave.

Commuting

It’s the pointless commute for the sake of being in the o ce that has, over time, for millions of people zapped their energy and enthusiasm. For women juggling a demanding home life, it is not an e ective use of their precious time. So, again, the women will leave.

A lot of women work, or want to work, so that they can get away from the neverending humdrum of daily domesticity. Let’s face it, for years men have perfected the art of dodging this one. e o ce, therefore, o ers an amazing opportunity to break away from the monotony of domestic chores and swap it for interesting social interaction, intellectual stimulation and creativity that working from your home o ce can’t. It just isn’t necessary to go there every day.

at’s why hybrid working is here to stay as it supports work life integration, and it empowers everyone to be able to live happy, healthy and productive lives.

After all, an o ce environment that works for a woman will work for everyone.

The Help To Grow Management course, run by the University of Brighton’s Business School, celebrated the first cohort of graduates, sponsored by Dynamic.