The writer is a leadership consultant and author of ‘Think Like a White Man’. He previously worked in finance
As the restrictions and disruptions of Covid have mostly receded, we can now choose the habits we might want to reinstate, and those we should chuck in the collective bin. First to be discarded on my watch is the corporate narcotic that many of us developed a dependence on and which many a senior leader encouraged: presenteeism.
There are, of course, many leaders who refuse to believe that presenteeism has had its day. Somewhere in the middle of doing the world’s most expensive hokey-cokey with Twitter, Elon Musk took to the platform and questioned if its San Francisco headquarters should be transformed into a homeless shelter “since no one shows up anyway”. On the other hand, British government minister Jacob Rees-Mogg left notes on the empty desks of cabinet office staff demanding that they get their bottoms back on seats and faces in front of screens. “Sorry you were not here when I visited. I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon,” read the note.