As workers begin to get used to life with COVID-19, another challenge is set to appear: the inevitable post-COVID-19 culture clash.

For a year now, people have settled into remote lifestyles, with many people getting a taste of the “other side” for the first time. And guess what? They don’t want to go back to the way things were.

In March 2021, a Harvard Business School online survey revealed only 18 percent of workers want to go back to the office full time. On the other side of the remote spectrum, 27 percent of respondents said they hoped to work from home full time. Most workers (61 percent) think a hybrid situation is ideal.

The past year has revealed a lot to people about their preferred working styles and environments, and workers are gravitating toward arrangements that optimize productivity, flexibility and work-life balance.

Now that new working styles have been introduced, we are gearing up for a culture clash. And recent data on productivity is telling us one group needs to adapt or fail.

The clash revs up

At The Wall Street Journal’s recent Future of Everything Festival, WeWork CEO Sandeep Mathrani said “Those who are least engaged are very comfortable working from home” and that people are happier when they come to work.

The comments drew instant criticism, with many people observing how WeWork’s co-working model only survives if the in-office model does. Data even overwhelmingly proves Mathrani wrong, as well. In a KPMG survey of U.S. workers from companies with more than 1,000 employees, 79 percent of respondents said their work quality has improved.

Of the in-person employees that responded to the survey, 83 percent experienced increased job demands and 54 percent said their mental health had declined. Comparatively, remote workers had averaged a 10-point decrease in these categories.

Eighty-three percent of on-site workers reported that the demands of their jobs have increased over the past four months, compared to 74 percent of remote workers, and 54 percent of on-site workers indicated that their mental health has decreased, compared to 45 percent of remote workers.

Still, business leaders want employees in office. Best Practice Institute conducted a survey that found more than 83 percent of CEOs want employees back in the office. And CEOs aren’t being shy about their feelings, either.

Like Mathrani, other leaders from large companies have gone on record about returning to the office. Cathy Merrill wrote “As a CEO, I worry about the erosion of office culture with more remote work” for The Washington Post. Co-chief executive of Netflix, Inc. Reed Hastings said “I don’t see any positives. Not being able to get together in person, particularly internationally, is a pure negative,” and Harvard Business Review found 38 percent of managers believe remote workers perform worse.

What a clash means for business

As more people receive their COVID-19 vaccinations, back-to-office life will be inevitable for many. This is where the clash comes to a head.

When employees are unhappy at work, they are less engaged. This has been a known fact for years, yet CEOs are still pushing back against their employees’ wishes. With business leaders making the rules, those that impose in-person working will see lower productivity from employees that thrived remotely.

We know this. We’ve seen the data over and over. We even know it anecdotally. If a person is unhappy at their job, there is lower motivation to perform to their full potential.

There is data to back up how “the new normal” is beneficial for workers, however, there are many business leaders who are not budging when it comes to reworking their company culture. Some of it could come down to good ol’ fashioned self consciousness. In the same HBR survey, 40 percent of managers said they didn’t feel confident with their skills managing employees remotely. These same managers also expressed distrust in their team, with 27 percent saying their employees lacked essential skills to do the job.

Trust is one of the core pillars of employee happiness, with 72 percent of employees feeling more satisfied at their jobs when they have autonomy. Flip the scenario and 76 percent of employees surveyed who don’t feel trusted by their boss said they planned to find a new opportunity.

Once again, data tells us companies that stick to the rigid, pre-2020 ways will face high turnover, low productivity and disengaged employees.

To say it plainly: The companies that adapt will survive.

What can be done about it

In her opinion piece for The Washington Post, Merrill wrote “Now, we face re-creating a workplace where a good culture of trust will be harder to build.”

Merrill is not looking at this unique time as an opportunity, as all companies should be doing right now.

Business leaders are overlooking a chance to reevaluate their Culture DNA, which includes a company’s core mission and values. Culture DNA needs to be well defined and implemented within an organization in order for it to run efficiently and successfully.

Culture DNA is also what helps set the tone for incoming, newer and veteran employees. Without understanding the cultural fabric of your business, there is disconnect between employees, leadership and teams, furthering the culture clash.

In these situations, the employees are too involved in the day-to-day to clearly identify business Culture DNA, as well as their own personal strengths and weaknesses. Often, third parties like consultants and agencies are brought in to offer a 30,000-foot view of the company and identify any holes or discrepancies.

Many companies, however, don’t have the time or money to devote to agency overhauls and need a solution that’s simple and effective. That solution? Data.

As our culture becomes increasingly digitized, software has emerged to make life simpler. The HR of yesteryear has worn out its welcome and is frankly not working the way it should – we’re still driving Model Ts when we should be driving Teslas.

Luckily, StaffGeek’s software makes it possible to smoothly transition to a Tesla experience.

Could StaffGeek do the same for you? Take our Free Culture Assessment to find out.