When I joined Marco over 20 years ago, I sat across the table from founder Gary Marsden. I’ll never forget when he looked me straight in the eye and said that it didn’t matter what the title on my business card said. I had one job: take care of our clients.
It was a message he gave all new hires. I learned that the best success would be achieved by focusing on others and making moves every day to serve people well. That’s what he built Marco’s culture on from day one. Now, as an executive in the company responsible for human resources, I often think about those early times and what it takes to sustain a sought-out corporate culture.
We’re navigating what feels like a new working world. When we left Marco’s offices on March 16, 2020, at the brink of the pandemic, we thought we would come back to the same place. But it’s not. While the building may be the same, the expectations have changed.
As we started planning our return to the office earlier this year, a series of ah-ha moments surfaced, and we realized that there would be a different set of expectations for how an office would look and feel. As people walked in those first few days and weeks, we learned that the office isn’t simply where we work—it’s where we gain our sense of belonging. It’s the people and the collaboration that make it so valuable.
Here are a few of the takeaways we’ve had as we seek to navigate this new office:
- Take stock of the lessons learned through COVID. We found out that we can quickly pivot, and much of what we do can be done remotely thanks to digital collaboration tools. They keep us connected visually while also heightening productivity. We also gained a greater understanding of the culture and morale benefits of remote work. People like the idea of replacing commuting time with home time, and they find more focused work time when remote. In many cases, we also gain a higher capacity to connect with others in our company, industry and country in a remote working world. When you take out the travel, we can be in more places in less time.
- Create an agile environment. Given those learning experiences, we developed a new work arrangement that includes four categories: full remote, remote office (two days in the office a week), agile office (three days in the office) and full office. We established guidelines for each work type, slotted each employee accordingly and documented it all to serve as a baseline for how we work today. Just over half of our team members currently work in the office at any given time. These work types provide employees an element of choice and flexibility, and that translates into feeling empowered in their work.
- Openly communicate the benefits of in-person collaboration. All employees have the flexibility to work at their designated Marco office at any time or from any Marco office location; we encourage it. While a lot can be done remotely, we do lose some of the “magic” of work in a completely remote environment. People need people, and businesses thrive when people come together. We’ve learned to be more intentional about creating opportunities for our teams to collaborate each week or month, whether it’s about projects or just having fun together. The office can be a place where people want to collaborate and feel a greater sense of belonging. We’re looking at reimagining some of our spaces to make the office more comfortable and naturally more conducive to connecting as teams and across teams.
- Ask how you’re doing. We continue to try out new ideas. Some will work. Some will not. But we’ll only know if we’re hitting the mark when we ask employees and measure engagement. Navigating this new work environment takes an ongoing conversation to understand what’s working and what new opportunities there are to explore. It will continue to evolve. We’ll likely look different a year from now. That’s what makes a culture successful. It’s a living, breathing part of our organization.
This isn’t what I imagined when I walked out of my office on March 16, 2020. The office that we all returned to this year almost felt like a time capsule. Now, we have to build and sustain our culture in new ways—together.
Our CEO Doug Albregts gave us early advice: “This will be a work in progress with no golden ticket to uncover. The key is to follow your instincts, be open to change and new ideas, and continue to take the next step to create a positive employee experience that can be felt by our customers, our vendors and our communities.”
Creating a culture where people love to work and do business takes constant effort, refinement and dedication to being focused on others. Although a lot has changed, the commitment to serving others hasn’t. If anything, it’s grown. We know we are better together.
