WPP (one of the world’s largest advertising networks) insists that its employees should be in the office at least 4 days a week from April onwards, and it’s fair to say that its internal comms isn’t working terribly well as they’re facing such a backlash from their workforce that there’s now a petition being sent round demanding that the change is undone (currently signed by over 15% of the workforce in the first week).
Assuming that reason for the back to the office order is done as stated, for better culture, cohesion and creativity (and not for darker reasons such as a way to cut headcount or that their earnings from property might be greater than their core work) then they’ve clearly done a piss poor job of explaining it to their employees. They’ve failed miserably to see what’s important for their workforce, who don’t see what’s in it for them, they just see upheaval and cost. And like any change, most people don’t initially like it. They could have spoken more about increased creativity, team development, mentoring and learning (especially for more junior members), or been open about it needing to be done at clients request or to cut headcount. This would have at least built some goodwill. Better would have been to engage with staff before just coming out with this diktat from on high.
There’s also concerns that they’ve not fully thought though the logistics of their cunning plan – it looks like there’s not enough desks and rooms to fit everyone in as / when / if they do turn up as instructed! So they’ve failed to look at it from both a conceptual and practical level, and a single email out the blue from the boss announcing it really isn’t the best way to win hearts and minds.
— Know your audience
