Micromanagement and the Return to In-Office Work

In 2020, the global spread of COVID-19 forced us into several unique social experiments that could not have been planned for or addressed in any other way than for all of us to experience a global pandemic together. It was not a great time in our lives, personally or professionally, and likely none of us would like to go back to that moment in time. 

The biggest change that happened in business that year is that many corporate workplaces went remote. Employees who had to come in to work daily while working office jobs that were computer based could now do those same jobs while sitting at home. It kept the spread of the virus more limited, and protected our health. And it also, inadvertently, gave us a different view of what work can look like. Even more inadvertently, it gave us a new perspective on what management looks like.

A clear line was drawn between managers who were focused on outcomes and managers who were focused on behaviors. The managers focused on outcomes didn’t care if their employees were glued to their computers all day at home, as long as their work got done. They didn’t feel it necessary to track the time online or monitor keyboard clicks, as long as the work that the employee was responsible for completing was done on time and as expected. And the managers who focused on behaviors spent their time monitoring time on Teams, software activity markers, and green buttons on Slack, an endless task and trying for everyone involved. One of these managements styles communicates trust in the employee, the other communicates power over the employee, I’m guessing you can figure out which is which.

Now that the migration back to in-office work has started settling in across the country, we are left with the question of what good management looks like, either in-person or remotely. There are benefits to both in-person and remote work, and there will likely be a constant navigation between the two for business going forward from here (and the proliferation of hybrid work environments indicates compromises between the two). But the pivot to remote work and then back in-office highlights the influence of the micromanagers and whether that is the most effective way to manage work. Am I managing you well if I see that you are in person in front of me on the software you should be using? Maybe. It might be achieving the goals of the business unit for me to stand over you while you’re working, but I’m betting that it won’t make my employees enjoy working for me very much.

In general, no one likes working for a micromanager. If you need to see me do the work or need me to report to you every action that I take, it defeats the purpose of me doing it–you could just do it, since you’re not getting anything else done right now. And you very obviously don’t trust me if you need to see me at my desk to ensure that I am working, and if you need me to be in the office to know that the tasks are being done. Are some employees better served by being in-office and being supervised in their tasks? Sure, and there are people who can benefit from micromanagement because they are easily distracted or have trouble working independently. Different people exist, and we should be working to adapt our management styles accordingly. 

But many of us are just fine on our own, given the tasks and the responsibilities that we must complete and hold, we take care of them just fine without any oversight from another human being. And for a capable independent contributor, your micromanagement reads as distrust and overly controlling, and that gives us the ick. 

You’ll find that employees tasked with goals, tasks, and outcomes who complete them independently and check in with you for questions, help, and guidance as needed are generally employees who are happier in their jobs than employees that are micromanaged through their tasks all day when they have shown that they do not need that level of management. It’s worth it to ask ourselves what we expect as a manager, and how we can communicate trust and competency to our teams, and learn from our employees as individuals which management style works best for their needs and adapt accordingly.