Advice on Return to Work Model for Briggs Bank

Importance of a Hybrid Model

Instructions: Please answer the questions below in a Word Document (max 500 words for  each answer)* and upload this into the assignment on Quercus titled Midterm Exam.

Please make sure to put your NAME and STUDENT ID # as a header on all pages. You must answer in full and proper sentences (spelling and grammar will not be graded). Please ensure that all of the work is your own as the submissions will be run through Turnitin.

• Anything above 500 words per question will not be read or graded

Guidelines:

• Use APA 6thedition formatting
• Use in-text For example: This proposition is consistent with a recent study by McCarthy and Bauer (2019), who found that when managers have high levels of stress they engage in prosocial behaviors in the form of managerial support.
• You do not have to cite materials that you obtain from the class textbook or class However, any information drawn from websites, research articles or other sources must be cited as per APA formatting guidelines.
• Try to cite at least two academic peer-reviewed studies for each question you answer.
• Try to obtain recent articles (within the past 6-7 years)
• Use academic articles from any journal but be sure that these are peer-reviewed academic research They can be obtained from University of Toronto Journal databases such as Business Source Premiere or PsychInfo.
• Avoid quoting from the article directly (paraphrasing is better). Generally, the only times it is appropriate to quote is when either (a) what the authors have said is so precious that quoting wouldn’t do it justice or (b) you’re about to rip about their argument and so you want to quote what they said Otherwise, it looks like you are quoting either (a) because you didn’t understand what was said and you don’t have confidence that you can paraphrase it or (b) because you’re being lazy and trying to fill page space without having to write yourself.
• If you do quote from the article, make sure that you put the text in quotation marks and provide an appropriate reference including page number. Failing to put quotes within quotation marks constitutes

Please read the following case and then answer two out of the three questions. Your answers will be assessed based on content (i.e., the quality of the information presented; integration of class material and peer-reviewed academic research articles), and organization (i.e., clear order, structure, grammar, proper citations, etc.).

Briggs Bank

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a massive toll on our society, bringing high levels of economic uncertainty and change. It has meant that employees across many sectors, including banking, insurance, consumer goods, and education, have had to shift from in-person to remote working from home and vice-versa.

However, fall of 2021 is showing signs of promise, as Canada is slowly starting to re-open. This is true for Briggs Bank, a large Canadian bank that employs thousands of employees across Canada in large city-based head offices and smaller town-based branches. Employees in the head offices across Canada have been mandated to work virtually for more than a year. Today, however, Briggs bank has a critical decision to make on their return to work model. They would like to move towards a hybrid model, wherein workers are at home for part of the time and in the bank for part of the time. However, there are many complexities to this and they need expert advice. For example, some of the things they need to consider are how many days employees should be required to work in the office vs. at home, as well as what hours will employees have - a traditional 9-5 Monday to Friday, or newer 4-day work weeks. They also need to determine whether employees will be required to be together in the office at the same time, or whether they will alternate. Considerations such as what in-person and/or virtual techniques will be used for meetings are also critical. Importantly, they also need to determine how they will keep workers happy while also keeping productivity high.

Imagine that you have been hired as an organizational behavior expert to give advice to this bank. Keep in mind that this is a very pressing issue for Briggs Bank. They want to make sure that they find the perfect balance between flexibility and productivity. The issue is also complicated by the fact that many of their employees are getting job offers by competing firms. Thus, the bank has to decide the best hybrid model that not only satisfies the bank’s shareholders, but also the bank’s employees.

Your task for this take-home assignment is to read the questions below and select two of the three questions to answer. Your answers should incorporate information, theories and research from the textbook, from class, and from academic peer-reviewed research articles. Please cite the articles you use with APA formatting and put all references at the end in a section labelled “References”.

Remember, pick two of the following three to answer.

1. Based on what you know about research and theories on workplace stress, what strategies can the company use to increase the probability that employees will not burnout? (25 marks, no more than 500 words not including references).
2. Based on what you know about the research and theories on learning, what strategies can the owners use to increase the probability that employees will comply with the rules and responsibilities that the company has set out in this hybrid world? (25 marks, no more than 500 words not including references).
3. Think about research and theory on fairness, what should organizations consider when implementing the hybrid work model? What type of hybrid model would work best? (25 marks, no more than 500 words not including references).

Grading for Each Question