For the last 18 months, the Public team – like so many companies around the world – has been working remotely. But, as the light at the end of the COVID-tunnel began to emerge this summer, we started thinking about what our post-pandemic culture would be as we made our way back to the office. What kind of rules would we have as we emerged from our homes, our apartments, our patios and our basements? Would everyone be back in the office every day? Would we even have an office?
The choices were many.
And so, we started to do the work: we talked to HR consultants; we gathered feedback from our employees; we read about what other businesses were thinking (at least, the ones we liked). We debated the merits of one day a week in the office versus multiple days. Set days (to ensure we are being equitable) versus allowing people to choose.
And along the way we came to a realization: we’ve never been a company of many rules.
We’ve always trusted our employees to do the work and set their own schedules. We’ve always allowed for a work-from-home day because we know that writers and editors and strategists can often benefit from a quiet room (and constant snacks). So, why would we change that in a post-pandemic world?
And just like that, we had our policy complete: You do You.
After a successful year+ working at home, we see no reason to require a mandatory number of days in an office. The pandemic has taught us that we’re all adults who can make a sound judgement about when we show up to work and when it makes more sense to stay home under a blanket. For client meetings, you can expect to see the majority of our smiling faces before you, because we miss seeing in-person-smiling-faces. But if not, we know how to host a Zoom meeting. We’ve hosted about a billion of them.
The only mandatory we have in place is the vaccine. We believe that a vaccine is a wonderful way to help protect your family, friends and neighbours. And so, when we open up our new office on October 12th, 2021, we will require that all our employees, guests, and anyone else coming in for a visit have been fully vaccinated. That’s yet another Purpose we can get behind.
Otherwise, we’ll keep doing us. We hope you’ll join.
Phil Haid
CEO, Public Inc.
