The Omnichannel of Work
How lessons gleaned from eCommerce taught us the difficulties of remote-only work and the future of omnichannel work
Remember new hire orientation; those exciting jitters you had when you joined your company on Day 1? Your hiring manager showed you around the place. You got linked up with some informal mentors who outstretched their hands in welcoming warmth. Remember that office tour where you could almost feel the energy. It was like a sixth sense that reverberated through the walls. You had your chance to watch people in their natural habitat, in their work “neighborhoods.” You had a chance to meet those key leaders and build your own mental models of how the company ticked, how the different departments interacted, and how the leadership spun the web of inter-department connectivity to form a company. With that, follow me on this journey…
Direct to consumer was so in! You wanted to launch a shoe company? Made of wool? Cool! You want to launch a mattress built for the modern day sleeper? Yes! This was the early 2010s and the strong allure to build products and then sell them direct to consumers through online channels made total sense. Few companies were selling bespoke wool shoes. Only a few companies thought of selling mattresses direct to sleepers rather than through a Sleepy’s store. This made sense, cut out the middle man, remove the retailer from the equation and reach eyeballs direct from purveyor to buyer. Buy instagram ads, sponsor a podcast and ask an influencer to feature the product. It worked. It worked really well until everyone caught on and started doing it too and the cost to retain eyeballs started to rise, rise drastically. The D2C approach became more challenging. The costs per click increased, the cost to sponsor a well attended podcast spiked and the overall customer acquisition became a venture capital sprint to outbid and outspend the competitors where eyeballs were most drawn. There was only so much space on the headliners above the subway seats on the L train and only four minutes of available space on the Tim Ferris intro commercials…
Eventually the D2C brands learned the unit economics game of retail and came to understand the benefits of brick & mortar. They started to learn that the omnichannel is better than the uni-channel. They started to observe what happens when you build a trusting online reputation and then layer in-store sales for later stage growth. What happens when you put 100,000 daily average visitors in a mall setting and they all walk by your store? What happens if you can convert just 1% of them in a day? That’s a great day for a shoe brand or a mattress company! Just a few of those and you cover that monthly rent, pay your people, cover corporate overhead and re-invest in further growth (online or offline). Now your brand has eyeballs flocking to online purchases and feet following for walk in sales, creating multiple channels of sales and brand building. A great example of this was Warby Parker who started out direct to consumer and then amplified their sales by introducing the world to an in-store experience that treated you like a scholar and noble statesman looking for the perfect set of oval shades to adorn your perfect face. So too, Apple created an in-store experience that enthralled you in its beautiful curves, sleek design and elegant products. You came to trust Apple and then you felt more comfortable to make large purchases online. Just like the omni-channel approach of retailers reaching their customers, the world of “knowledge work” is having its largest moment to be introduced to an omni-channel approach.
Office dynamics and presence are really importance. Before someone is able to work remotely, it’s important to understand the bigger mission, the cultural expectations and the people with which it breathes. Notable corporate cultures were born from onsite experiences. Google and Facebook offer something unique and special to their employees. Many startups create the creative environments necessary to build and move quickly, together. There’s a reason why people have flocked to those employers. While remote and flexible work can be successful once the trust and experience has been established, going remote without that baseline and foundation is challenging. We know remote work is having its COVID moment but I believe this is the turning point that we see the office world truly adopt an omni-channel approach.
Onboarding and motivation remains the biggest challenge for remote work. While you can set up one on one zoom calls with key employees, do deep dives on the product and service and spend extra time with the newcomer, that model starts to fray as an organization grows. The fatigue of one on one zoom’s can be taxing emotionally and productively. Sure, there might be some technology tools that can try and simulate the office environment but does it really cut it? Does it properly do onboarding justice when you can see on your computer screen that Aaron, Tom, Ryan, Gene, Steph and Tyler are in the virtual “recreational” room?
Socolo software (below) to simulate the office.
Maybe…but we emotionally need more than that. The emotional acquisition cost becomes too high for remote employees. You have to spend an exorbitantly greater amount of time per new employee in a virtual onboarding setting than required in an in-person onboarding to get the same level of emotional buy-in needed for lasting motivation for the greater purpose of the company.
We can’t forget those early feelings of onboarding. The office can be a special place. Team culture and team building requires that physical space to thrive and grow. Maybe it doesn’t look like the days of the past. 40+ hours in that same space, 5 days a week doesn’t make sense anymore. There must be a new expectation of what the space means and provides. Company growth and employee buy-in is enhanced significantly on the consumption of all five human senses. That is something that physical space can provide. We know it has a critical role to play here. What splice of online (remote) vs. offline (physical) is the right mix for your company? Only you can answer that and testing and tinkering will land you at equilibrium. Embrace the change and accept that it’s not an either / or equation, better yet, it’s a question of when and why you choose to work where you work.