Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
What's involved with getting people back to work?: A panel discussion
Summary
Join us for a conversation about what’s involved with getting teams back to work in person. This session features perspectives from Jennifer Bolduc, Head of People and Culture at HappyCo (formerly Capital One), Diane Gregorio, Head of Product Experience Operations at DocuSign, and Emily Day, Director of Global Workplace Services at HashiCorp (formerly at Pivotal), and will be moderated/facilitated by Lou and the DesignOps Summit conference and community curators - Alana Washington, Head of Shipper Experience, UberFreight, Bud Caddell, Founder/CEO Nobl.io, and Kristin Skinner, Head of Experience Design Operations at Expedia Group.
Key Insights
-
•
DocuSign empowers managers to decide office attendance, promoting flexibility in hybrid work policies.
-
•
Happy Cow operates fully remote in the US but maintains an in-office culture in Australia, creating cross-continental hybrid challenges.
-
•
90%+ of employees in surveyed companies prefer remote or hybrid work over full-time office presence.
-
•
Intentional rituals like themed virtual meetups and guilds help maintain connection and belonging in distributed teams.
-
•
Attrition rates have soared in 2021-2022, reflecting broader 'turnover tsunami' trends driven by shifting employee priorities.
-
•
Open conversations about employee goals and honest feedback can preempt unwanted attrition and improve team dynamics.
-
•
Leadership must coach managers on relationship-building and trust in remote contexts, avoiding mistrust of remote work.
-
•
Meeting design needs rethinking to prioritize collaboration moments in person and keep hybrid meetings inclusive.
-
•
Operational complexities like compensation and tax implications vary greatly with remote work and require thoughtful policies.
-
•
Return-to-office is not a return to normal but an ongoing experiment requiring agility and frequent reassessment.
Notable Quotes
"We asked our employees if they wanted to come back and 95% said no to regular office attendance."
"Covid proved people can work from anywhere, the real challenge is trust and managing that well."
"We empower managers to decide how many days their teams come to the office, not leadership top-down."
"The best way to build trust and bond in teams is just breaking bread together and sharing meals."
"Attrition is real and painful but also an opportunity if we have a deep and broad hiring funnel."
"Having honest conversations about where you want to grow can turn around a relationship or project."
"Every meeting now should be treated as if it’s fully remote to avoid creating uneven hybrid experiences."
"We need to redesign work and meetings with the newness of hybrid work in mind, it’s a new experiment."
"There’s a class distinction in who can or cannot avoid going to the office; 70% of workers never left the office during the pandemic."
"Remote work is becoming less niche and more of a standard in attracting and retaining talent."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Documentation your team will actually use, how to define and maintain a design ops roadmap, AI as a design partner."
Bria AlexanderTheme Two Intro
October 3, 2023
"Creating space to name what we’re experiencing without guilt allowed us to unload some of that emotional weight."
Ariba JahanTeam Resiliency Through a Pandemic
January 8, 2024
"Service design projects often last two to three years and necessitate ongoing stakeholder collaboration."
Cornelius RachieruHandling Complexity: Framing a Scale of Design
June 9, 2021
"Designing for the largest audience possible means including people with temporary or situational impairments."
Megan Clegg Michael Haggerty-Villa Alexis MorinSpace for Everyone: Reframing Accessibility Through a Wider Lens
June 10, 2021
"I call this an anti org chart because it’s organic, messy, and structures emerge rather than imposed."
Saara Kamppari-MillerCartography for Design Communities
September 10, 2025
"The US digital service ecosystem has grown remarkably, showing we’re not alone in this journey."
Kara KaneTheme One Intro
November 16, 2022
"Sovereignty was never ceded."
Natalia RadywylCo-Designing New Power in Australia's Public Sector
November 16, 2022
"Google’s photo algorithm mistakenly tagged Black people as gorillas, which was called out by Jackie Elsene."
Nancy DouyonWe'll Figure That Out in the Next Launch: Enterprise Tech's Nobility Complex
June 15, 2018
"Co-creation between users and technology determines if this AI evolves to be useful or harmful."
Peter Van DijckBuilding the Rosenbot
June 4, 2024
