HEOR – An acronym for the new workplace normal ?

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Once upon a time in a world which looked like planet Earth but where fewer people used hand sanitiser, companies who offered their employees the chance to work from home for 1 day per week were deemed to be modern and revolutionary. Nowadays, everyone expects to see a high level of flexibility with work location and the phrasing of the question when I speak with candidates has morphed from “would I be able to work some of the week from home” to “how often do I need to go to the office.” As we (hopefully) continue towards a post-pandemic work environment, the matter of how companies structure their teams geographically is a complex one and as is so often the case with Recruitment issues, balance is probably the best approach.

Many companies (particularly larger ones) are beginning to insist on a return to the office for most of the working week whilst others have let their office leases expire and are now operating as completely virtual teams. However, in my opinion, both approaches are restrictive for companies who wish to have the pick of the candidate pool.

I have always said that people are consistent only in their inconsistency and never has this been truer than with individual’s approaches and preferences to work since Covid19 emerged. There are many people who have embraced remote working and for whom it works fantastically; allowing them to balance home and work in a way which wasn’t possible before. However, there is an equal (perhaps larger) section of the workforce who have felt isolated, trapped, and stifled by having to work fully remotely and employers need to be mindful that there is no longer a ‘one size fits all’ solution to the work location question. Instead, the ideal solution is to be able to offer the best of both – access to human interaction in the office when needed along with the freedom of remote work.

Working from home is great if you have an adequate workspace which doesn’t also need to be a dining room / teenager’s homework desk / baby changing table and if you are able to secure the peace and quiet needed to focus on work. However, for people who do not have the luxury of a separate workspace at home, the stress of trying to make remote working effective can often be worse than the inconvenience of a daily commute. There is also the vital consideration of mental wellbeing – remote working is often perceived to be more liberating; enabling people to go for a walk, do the school run and fit in a gym session more easily. Conversely, remote working for someone living alone can mean the removal of the human interaction which working in a traditional office-based team provides and the utility this provides to each individual varies enormously.

The longer term effects of remote working on career development are also widely unknown – the subconscious, often unnoticed learning which comes from observing colleagues and seeing in reality how they approach and solve problems is not easily replicated in a virtual working environment and so whilst technology and good collaboration can overcome many of these issues, it does require a proactive approach and recognition that remote working is not perfect for every person or every team.

For employers; the financial benefits of abandoning expensive city centre office space are obvious and there are also major advantages arising from increased remote working in hiring people who live in locations which have not traditionally been within the catchment area of HEOR / Market Access teams. However, in my view, the companies who will have the broadest choice of candidates in the coming years will be those who can offer a combination of office-based human interaction and home-based freedom.

We are just at the beginning of this workplace evolution and I don’t believe we have anywhere near enough data or experience to make definitive claims about whether remote working can completely replace the office but in the meantime, aiming for a flexible workplace is, in my view, the best option.

Gareth Lee is a Recruiter for HEOR & Market Access professionals and works with Pharma, Biotech, MedTech & Consulting comapnies in Europe and North America.

E: gareth@garethjlee.com