General Mills updated its shared spaces at the Golden Valley headquarters to encourage in-person collaboration when employees are in the office as part of its “Work With Heart” initiative. (Farmkid Studios/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

"Flexibility may be the single most important thing that potential candidates are asking about," said Jacqueline Williams-Roll, and the company's answer has had a positive effect on recruitment and retention.

"It's about how you get work done, not where you work from," she said.

General Mills launched its "Work With Heart" initiative in September, letting teams decide when and how often they should come into the Golden Valley headquarters. Rather than a top-down edict or open-ended guideline, Williams-Roll said the approach ensures that time spent in the office is "intentional."

"If you come in and the rest of your team isn't there, it doesn't work as well," she said. "That spontaneous collaboration is so important, and we want employees to continue to get to know each other."

Though the necessity of work-from-home has largely faded, many large companies are permanently adopting hybrid work policies. The monumental shift in how people work — an estimated 62 million Americans, or 40% of the workforce, have jobs that can be done remotely — has created an unprecedented experiment for managers and employees alike.

"All kinds of norms that have been accepted practice for decades will be put to the test," according to a McKinsey analysis of hybrid work. "Leaders are a long way from knowing how it will work."

Last year the global consulting firm found a majority of C-suite executives want employees in the office at least three days a week and yearn for "a new normal that's somewhat more flexible but not dramatically different from the one we left behind."

A more recent Pew Research Center survey from January showed an increasing share of those who can work at home are choosing to do so because they have grown to prefer it.

"Working from home is a relatively new experience for a majority of workers with jobs that can be done remotely. ... For those who have made the switch to telework, their work lives have changed in some significant ways," the Pew report said. On the flip side, "most workers who could work from home but are opting not to say a major reason is that they feel more productive at their workplace."

To meet this wide spectrum of workplace wants and needs, Williams-Roll said General Mills crafted its Work With Heart policy with employees.

"Some employees have been homeschooling kids, caring for elderly parents or can't leave their pet," she said. "The flexibility is what people love, and saying 'You have to come back on these days and these hours' didn't feel like flexibility at all."

The company will continue to make adjustments to the hybrid work model every three months as needed.

"Employees want to be a part of it, and they're OK if they don't agree but not OK if you choose not to tell them," she said. "As long as we're doing that together, we're going to find our way."

While many of the 30,000-plus global employees work in production facilities, for the 3,500 employees at General Mills headquarters, fully remote work has moved from a few rare exceptions to 10% of the workforce — though those employees are still asked to come to Golden Valley four times a year. The rest of the headquarters employees have in-office and at-home flexibility.

Remote and hybrid offices work best when the company has a strong culture, Williams-Roll said. Encouraging employees to "get out of their sweatpants" and make the commute means making the office a destination for "moments that matter."

"We're very intentional about creating FOMO [fear of missing out] moments in the workplace," she said. That includes "the Exchange," a food-and-drink-fueled event every Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. that is sponsored by different brand teams.

"As a result, we see the highest number of folks coming in on Thursdays," she said.

While anxiety over productivity may continue to clash with employee demands for flexibility across the corporate landscape, Williams-Roll stressed that managers need to trust their workforce.

"I fundamentally believe the majority of our employees want to be the best employees and managers they can be, and they want to show up for General Mills," she said. "We can make Work With Heart a competitive advantage for us."