Greeting fellow board members, employees, and clients with a handshake is a small — but nevertheless crucial — aspect of quotidian office communication. Is it time to emerge from the shadow of COVID-19 and begin reintroducing physical touch into the office? Or is the elbow bump here to stay? The Rubicon Partnership investigates.
Why it matters
Employees will be looking to managers and boards to set the tone when returning back to offices. After more than a year of limited physical contact, it may feel natural for individuals to ‘reintroduce’ themselves to their colleagues through a handshake or elbow bump. There is no clear answer as to what greeting should be utilised in such settings, but there certainly is ample ways in which leaders can figure out what others are most comfortable with.
YES: It is time to start reintroducing the handshake
After an arduous lockdown, some leaders are keen to embrace the remnants of pre-covid working, deeming that the threat has been alleviated enough to return to ‘standard’ etiquette operations. Particular boards, including Chief Executive of WPP, Mark Read, are already active utilisers of the handshake. Speaking to Pilita Clark, Read says, ‘with people I don’t know it’s an icebreaker. The elbow thing has gone, certainly for me.’ Clark mentions that Americans are far more comfortable with handshaking than their UK counterparts, and that older individuals tend to be more at ease than younger employees.
Read and his American counterparts are not alone in their desire for a more hands-on workplace. Dr Vivek Bindra says that shaking one another’s’ hand is a crucial psychological sign that we are emerging from the pandemic. ‘It’s a return to feeling human after a year of living in fear,’ he says, and acts as an important milestone in corporate culture. What better way to invite employees back into the office than with a physical demonstration of the fact that your office allows individuals to return to a more connected way of working?
However, is there a threat that we are ignoring”? According to Dr Ferric Fang, professor of laboratory medicine and microbiology at Harborviews Medical Center, the risk of contracting Covid-19 from handshakes is low for those double vaccinated. The contact period is so brief that, combined with individual’s increased hypervigilance surrounding sanitiser and hand washing, one would be incredibly unlucky to catch anything from such a brief greeting.
NO: The world is not ready for the handshake to return
Yet Fang appears to be in the minority within the medical community. Health experts seem far more inclined to be anti-handshake, often chalking up their opinion to the overall unhygienic nature of the gesture. Some have even went as far as to claim that they should be banned from the healthcare sector for good, as is the opinion of Dr Mark Sklansky, professor and pediatric cardiologist at NYU, who wrote ‘Banning the Handshake from the Health Care Setting’ in 2014. Dr Anthony Fauci— the American infectious disease expert and White House advisor — is of a similar outlook. Fauci stated in 2020, ‘I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you.’
Perhaps Fauci’s approach is a touch Draconian, yet the point still stands: handshakes are an open door for transmitting viruses; according to Aberystwyth University, an average of 124 million colony-forming units of E.Coli can be transferred in a single handshake. Fist bumps, on the other hand, are 20 times more hygienic.
Whilst the medical community is sold on the handshake’s general health concerns, citizens seem trepidatious, also. A poll conducted by YouGovAmerica shows that less than half of Americans would want to return to shaking hands post-pandemic. Such individuals echo similar concerns to Sklansky and Fauci: the gesture is simply not appropriate considering what is now known about viral transmission.
NO: The world is not ready for the handshake to return
Yet Fang appears to be in the minority within the medical community. Health experts seem far more inclined to be anti-handshake, often chalking up their opinion to the overall unhygienic nature of the gesture. Some have even went as far as to claim that they should be banned from the healthcare sector for good, as is the opinion of Dr Mark Sklansky, professor and pediatric cardiologist at NYU, who wrote ‘Banning the Handshake from the Health Care Setting’ in 2014. Dr Anthony Fauci— the American infectious disease expert and White House advisor — is of a similar outlook. Fauci stated in 2020, ‘I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you.’
Perhaps Fauci’s approach is a touch Draconian, yet the point still stands: handshakes are an open door for transmitting viruses; according to Aberystwyth University, an average of 124 million colony-forming units of E.Coli can be transferred in a single handshake. Fist bumps, on the other hand, are 20 times more hygienic.
Whilst the medical community is sold on the handshake’s general health concerns, citizens seem trepidatious, also. A poll conducted by YouGovAmerica shows that less than half of Americans would want to return to shaking hands post-pandemic. Such individuals echo similar concerns to Sklansky and Fauci: the gesture is simply not appropriate considering what is now known about viral transmission.
The Rubicon Approach:
Bucket-loads of emotional intelligence required
Subsequently, what are leaders to do in such perplexing times? To shake or not to shake is perhaps of less importance than one may think, and it is impossible for leaders to have a ‘one size fits all’ approach to the conundrum. Those who look for a rapid answer will likely return disappointed; pre-covid etiquette is not a black and white issue, and it is perhaps best to embrace the inelegance of etiquette in 2021 rather than to attempt to fight through it. It is, after all, a temporary hindrance. As Ella Al-Shamahi notes in The Handshake: A Gripping History, other historic epidemics have seen the greeting’s popularity stumble, only for it to enthusiastically return amidst a more stable global environment. Moreover, Kasia Delgado highlights that humans are ‘genetically hardwired to shake’ and thus adopting a new communication style fights against biology rather than mere psychological learning. It is therefore increasingly unlikely that a year of minimal bodily contact should rule the handshake out for good.
Yet before the world feels comfortable emerging from etiquette uncertainty, Natascha Saunders, a career coach and lecturer of organisational leadership at Northeastern, is inviting leaders to think about people who may not be comfortable with shaking hands due to personal objections; ‘things have changed, and whether people have OCD or they have health challenges in the workplace, there’s many more reasons why someone may not want to shake your hand.’ Laura Dudley, an associate professor of psychology at Northeastern, echoes Saunders’ sentiments, adding, ‘Now we accept a wider range of behaviours when it comes to greeting another person.’
With over 80 million vaccinations being administered across the UK, most adults above the age of 30 are safe to shake hands in the office. But it is crucial that leaders remember that whilst physically it may be safe, employees may still feel — psychologically — like their world is a mousetrap waiting to snap shut. What such individuals would appreciate from managers and executives is clarity regarding their personal stance and expectations. Lizzie Post, copresident of the Emily Post Institute, highlights the importance of being clear regarding your stance on the handshake and admitting early on if you are not comfortable. By understanding your own personal boundaries first before considering another’s, you are less likely to find your first pre-covid greeting uncomfortable.
And, if you are untroubled by the handshake, you may wish to adopt Sir Douglas Flint, chair of Abrdn’s, strategy: ‘I’m certainly not walking into a room and offering a hand. You kind of let them make the first move and you go in a nanosecond behind them.’ But what happens if both parties wait for the other to lay the first stone? Questions such as, ‘how do you feel about shaking hands?’ may feel unnatural and awkward, but they are a sure-fire way to ensure that your people are made to feel in control regarding what their post-pandemic employment looks like. Utilising these questions creates an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their boundaries regarding returning to the workplace. If your people feel forced to adapt to your personal stance on the matter, they will likely feel disempowered and unsure about returning to the office. Thus, be patient and understanding. The handshake will return, but only when you — and your people — are ready for it to do so.