Those who hoped for a speedy return to normality in 2021 — or a return to the office — are likely to be deeply disillusioned by now. With the second wave of Covid-19 infections spiking, delays in acquiring and dispensing a vaccine, and talk of a third wave of infections in the coming winter, many employees are likely to work from home for the foreseeable future.
If all goes according to plan, which is that vaccines will become widely available for the bulk of the adult population and that there will no surprises from more nasty new variants of the Covid-19 virus, one might expect to see a gradual return to the office by the third or fourth quarter of 2021. However, even in this scenario it has become clear that working from home is not a mere pandemic-related phenomenon, but a permanent feature of the future of work. Employers are thinking differently about office spaces, and about the need for employees to spend 40 hours a week on company premises.
This new remote-working dispensation has opened up many pitfalls, but also created opportunities. It is neither a blessing nor a burden, but a mix of both. The focus in this article is on the challenges posed by remote working for ethical leadership in organisations.
That ethical leadership in organisations matters is beyond dispute. Unethical leadership not only harms them but often puts them permanently out of business. The recent spectacle of the unravelling of the Donald Trump presidency demonstrated how selfishness and disrespect for truth, people and institutions ultimately result in chaos and conflict. Ethics is the foundation of safe, just and prosperous communities and organisations.
But how does one ensure that ethical standards prevail in an organisation, when people are not present on company premises but working remotely? Some organisations have opted for remote surveillance of staff to overcome this problem, but surveillance can be a counterproductive way of ensuring that staff abide by standards of acceptable behaviour. Surveillance signals to staff that the leaders do not trust them, and is likely to be rewarded in return with distrust in the leaders.
A much more enduring way is to ensure an ethical culture prevails in the organisation, regardless of where people are working from. Instead of relying on external controls for ensuring adherence to acceptable behaviour, an ethical culture ensures people abide by ethical standards out of conviction, and not because they are externally controlled.
But how do you cultivate an ethical culture when you are not in regular contact with your co-workers — as is the case now for many organisations where a remote-working dispensation has become the new normal?
There is a clear link between ethical leadership and the ethical culture that prevails in an organisation. This has been affirmed by scholars in organisational culture, such as Edgar Schein, who indicates that the most influential factor that determines the culture of an organisation is leadership. The SA Business Ethics Survey 2019 conducted by The Ethics Institute on large and listed companies in SA also found that one of the foremost factors that determines the ethical culture of an organisation is leadership commitment to ethics.
The ethical culture of an organisation is thus to a large extent determined by what members of an organisation see and hear from their leaders. Remote working therefore has the potential to isolate employees from one of the most important cultural forces that shape the ethical culture of an organisation: exposure and proximity to ethical leaders.
The challenge for leaders in remote-working environments is thus to ensure that members of their organisations receive regular exposure to their leaders. In line with this, leaders need to create more opportunities than before for communicating directly — albeit digitally — with their staff. Staff need to see and hear from their leaders why ethics are important, and how ethical standards and behaviour relate to the purpose and mission of the organisation. This is a responsibility that not only resides with executive leaders but should be shared by leaders on all levels of an organisation.
The credibility of leadership commitment to ethics is, however, directly linked to the way in which an organisation treats its employees. Should there be a discrepancy between the ethical standards professed by leaders, and the way staff are treated, the ethical commitment of leaders will be seriously questioned.
In the survey conducted by The Ethics Institute, a clear link was found between the ethical treatment of staff and the strength of the ethical culture in an organisation. Fair treatment of staff was described as “the degree to which the organisation treats its employees with respect, fairness and dignity, and considers employees when making decisions that may affect them”.
The fair treatment of employees in a remote-working environment poses new challenges to organisations. It calls for paying far more personal attention to the wellbeing of staff. The effect of remote working on the mental and physical wellbeing of people is well documented by now. Though some people relish working from home, many others suffer from isolation, stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, burnout and other mental health ailments.
In these circumstances, showing concern and care about the personal wellbeing of staff becomes a precondition for people to experience and know that they matter to the organisation, and are being treated fairly. In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, Brian Kropp wrote that one of the trends that will distinguish successful organisations in 2021 is their ability to enable employees to live better lives.
Employees can only perform optimally if they are physically and mentally in a good space. Rather than totally outsourcing the responsibility for physical and mental wellbeing to their staff, smart organisations will take co-responsibility for their wellbeing instead. Obviously, this responsibility cannot be shouldered by executives alone. Leaders on all levels, but also colleagues, can collaborate in creating a culture of connectedness where it is part of the organisation’s culture to care not only about performance and outputs, but also about the health and sanity of the people behind the performance and output that are so essential for every organisation’s success.
Ironically, it is when more than profit and performance matters to organisations that they often enjoy better performance and profits. The link between ethics, positive employee morale and improved performance is a proven one — and one that has become even more important in a remote-working environment.
• Prof Rossouw is CEO of The Ethics Institute and an extraordinary professor in philosophy at Stellenbosch University.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.