Brother UK MD on new remote working policy and £100k investment in head office

Phil Jones says hybrid working has thrown up 'all sorts of challenges' but that businesses must follow the model

The managing director of Manchester-based print supplier Brother UK believes the move to hybrid working presents an "enormous opportunity" for tech firms - but warns that businesses must adopt the approach or risk losing their employees.

Brother is in the process of investing around £100k in redesigning its head office - including a new "collaboration café", kitchen and workspaces - which MD Phil Jones said would provide employees with a "new workplace experience" following more than a year away from the office.

The company has been implementing its new three-step hybrid working plan - redesign, refamiliarise and reintegrate - and from 23 August will undertake a six-month pilot which will see most of its employees work remotely for two days of the week.

"If you've been away for 15 months or more and you walk back in and nothing's changed and it just feels like you've landed back where you were, then I think we are missing the opportunity to really provide that massive dopamine hit of ‘thank god, I'm back'," Jones said.

"I think in this new era, you've got to make coming to work worth the effort. With people now having not commuted for all this time, if they're now going to have to come through some sort of commute to get to you, how are you making it worth their effort?

"Hybrid working, for me, is far more than just a change of your working contract. When you come here to the office, it's actually going to be about the human interaction, so we created much more space for people to work collaboratively together."

But introducing hybrid working has not been without its problems, Jones said, and told CRN that he has encountered "all sorts of challenges" when it comes to the practicalities of implementing hybrid working on a permanent basis.

This includes ensuring there is effective communication between those inside and outside of the office, as well as the need for a "culture change" such as no longer having a permanent desk, though he insists it is vital that businesses adopt the model or otherwise risk losing employees.

He added: "The key thing that I've been sharing a lot is it sounds easy to do on paper but in practise it requires a huge effort around systems, culture, internal environment, managing people's expectations, technology, you name it, there's a lot of work needed.

"There's all sorts of challenges. Because we've all been on Teams calls all day long, the office etiquette needs to change. You've got to be aware of the noise that you're making, that if you've got headphones on and you're chatting away, your voice could be really noisy.

"People are emerging out of their lockdowns and saying, ‘well my employer is not offering me hybrid working so I'm going to leave'. Almost everybody that comes through our door is saying that's one of the primary reasons they're leaving their previous job."

Jones said the first four months of the pandemic had seen Brother's products "flying off the shelves" but added that it had been impacted by the global shortage of key components which has left businesses "competing for the same raw materials".

It has meant that Brother has been carrying "huge back orders now for more than eight months", he said, but claimed that the company was "gradually getting through them".