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The Future Workplace and How to Prepare

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I’m often asked to give my predictions for what the new year will bring to the future workplace. We’ve seen changes we never imagined, from the shift to remote and blended workforces to flexible scheduling—not as a perk but a necessity.  We observed just how critical mental health and family benefits are to our employees. We’ve watched millions leave our workplaces as part of the Great Resignation. And they’re still leaving. Our workforces are shrinking.

Looking back on the past two years, I didn’t know what would trigger the shift to an employee-centric dynamic. But I was sure it would happen. I wish it didn’t take an unprecedented pandemic to push the envelope. But it necessitated changes in HR and leadership that we were already talking about.

Workplace Revelations

Thanks to the pandemic, employers see how critical it is to treat their employees as people. They know that they need to recognize that employees have lives and stresses outside the office. And also, that they have needs well beyond having the right equipment and processes to get their work done.

A prolonged health, economic, and social crisis has sent the walls between work and life tumbling down. Employers who don’t support that reality are going to find themselves on the receiving end of an exodus in the future workplace. An August 2021 jobseeker survey found that 55 percent of American employees plan to search for a new job in 2022.

How can you ready your workplace for the changes already happening?

First, acknowledge they’re happening and they’re not going to stop. This is not a course correction or a passing trend. This is a new reality. Second, address the basic needs employees have—the fundamentals that make their work and lives easier. In some cases, we can follow the examples of front-running organizations. They may not be perfect but are nevertheless the ones innovating solutions to better support their workforce. In other cases, you’ll likely be on your own: no two organizations are alike any more than any two people are. The good news is that we can all learn from each other.

Family Support

One of the hardest parts of managing work and life in the pandemic has been somehow navigating caregiving and domestic responsibilities. The pressures of childcare forced a whole cohort—women—to make a terrible decision between jobs and children. Women are the ones leading the Great Resignation. A Lean In/ McKinsey report found that one in three women contemplated changing or leaving their jobs in the past year, up from one in four women in 2020. Forty-two percent of women and 35 percent of men say they are burned out, up from 32 percent of women and 28 percent of men last year. Women are bearing the brunt, the numbers show.

But solutions need to accommodate everyone and need to meet evolving definitions of what family means in the future workplace. This leads me to Amazon (remember I said they may not be perfect?). Amazon’s Family Flex program offers working parents a whole new level of flexibility—customizing schedules, swapping shifts, as well as care and financial resources—to make working easier. Adoptive parents—too often, left out of family support networks—are included here.

Remote Work

If you can offer remote work, should you? The answer is yes. If you can continue to provide remote work options for your teams, do so. And don’t just offer it to employees, offer it to managers as well. According to a recent study of tech professionals by Guru and Loom, both managers and employees have spent nearly two-thirds of their weekly work schedule working from home—64.4 percent of employees, and 66.4 percent of managers. A full 91.6 percent were satisfied with their working environment; 32.5 percent said they experienced a better work/life balance when working from home or in a hybrid setup.

Remote work is sometimes still seen as a perk or a trend—as if people will “sober up” and want to go back to the office. But remote work is a big part of the future workplace. Of course, this only holds true for industries where remote working is feasible. But even there I’ve been privy to discussions where the question isn’t how to enable more remote work, but when to transition people back—as if we’ve all been on some kind of diet or part of a social experiment. 4.3 million people quitting in August and then 4.4 million in September isn’t a fluke. Employees want to feel better about taking themselves to work every day. Becker Friedman Institute for Economics’ survey on some 30,000 employees found that nearly half of employees could work from home, with employers enabling them to do so an average of two days a week. Depending on your industry, if you can provide remote, you should, or you may lose out to a competitor who does.

Job Security

By April of 2020, more than 30 million Americans had filed for unemployment benefits (the highest increase in claims ever recorded). Furloughs, staffing changes, shrinkage, and temporary layoffs left many employees feeling betrayed (and furious).

But some companies took it upon themselves to retain employees any way they could. Inc’s list of top workplaces includes organizations like Autoscribe, who committed to keep all their employees through the pandemic. Likely the move took some extreme budget maneuvering. But the result is a sense of trust that’s going to be priceless in the years to come. When you’re presenting yourself as an employer, how you address the issue of job security is going to be a big deal to skittish talent. Be transparent, dispense with the platitudes, and if you have to, reassess your values and your culture when it comes to supporting employee retention.

Ninety-four percent of enterprises and 93 percent of SMBs reported plans to expand their job opportunities in the coming year. But keeping pace with hiring goals for the future workplace isn’t about numbers. It’s about meeting the needs of people coming to work for you. Every organization has its own culture, structure, and technology. Use these to create the kinds of programs that set you apart. Find ways to provide learning opportunities that extend well beyond the parameters of job skills. Or offer trackable development journeys established between managers and their teams. Other options include financial solutions like student loan benefits or committed DEI initiatives, including leadership development opportunities, mobility, and more.

Key Takeaways

This is a perfect time to do some soul-searching within your organization. Work may have changed for good these past two years—and that may be a good thing. My advice: embrace it. Don’t just ask your employees to bring their best selves to the workplace. Bring your best workplace to your employees. That’s the best way to set up your recruiters and talent acquisition teams for success.

How to Prevent (or Defeat) WFH Burnout and Zoom Fatigue

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When the COVID pandemic swept through the country last year, companies rapidly transitioned employees to remote working. However, this shift led to growing challenges, including WFH burnout and Zoom fatigue. As we transition from pandemic to post-pandemic life, many companies are adopting hybrid models, where some workers come into the office part-time only while others remain fully remote. That model means our burnout and fatigue issues will remain relevant for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately, organizations treat these issues as simply day-to-day challenges. They fail to recognize their systematic, long-term nature; they don’t address them strategically. At heart, these problems stem from organizations transposing their “office culture” norms of interaction to working from home. Over time, we’ve learned that just doesn’t work well. We now know: Virtual communication, collaboration, and relationships function very differently than they do when we share a workspace.

To survive and thrive in the post-COVID world and within hybrid working environments, organizations must make a strategic shift. Specifically, they need to focus on best practices for those employees working from home–part-time and full-time.

Defeating WFH Burnout and Zoom Fatigue: A Strategic Approach

Take these steps to establish effective work-from-home best practices for the long term:

Gather information from employees

Talk to employees about their virtual work challenges. Not enough time to connect with everyone? Try conducting surveys, do focus groups, or organize one-on-one interviews with key personnel. Be sure to collect quantitative and qualitative data on the virtual work issues in your organization.

Develop metrics and determine a baseline

Structure surveys so that you can use the quantitative results to establish clear metrics on challenges to prevent WFH burnout and Zoom fatigue. Do follow-up interviews to gather qualitative data. Prior to beginning the interventions listed next, use both forms of data to develop a baseline.

Educate your employees about needs-deprivations

Human nature dictates that we don’t recognize a large component of what we perceive as WFH burnout. We don’t recognize the deprivation of our basic human needs; specifically, our connection to each other. So early intervention involves educating employees on this topic.

Cultivate a sense of meaning among employees

Withing the virtual workplace, help employees intentionally develop a sense of meaning. That includes using an evaluative tool to establish a baseline of purpose. Use self-reflective activities on identity as tied to one’s work. The goal: To connect work to something bigger than yourself.

Create mutual connections using native virtual formats

We want to connect. But compared to in-person meetings, our emotions just don’t process little squares during a video conference as truly connecting. The mismatch between expectations and reality leads to drain and dissatisfaction. So focus on creating human connection and a sense of trust, perhaps by replacing bonding opportunities from an in-office culture with innovative virtual bonding activities.

Provide remote-specific professional development

Intentionally focus on employee and team development highly relevant to virtual or blended work teams. Effective communication, collaboration, and remote relationship building are just a few of the development areas the best organizations will target in hybrid working environments.

Initiate formal virtual mentorship relationships

Ask your senior staff to actively mentor junior team members in business areas and ask junior staff to mentor senior staff in other areas, like tech. This approach to bonding, in addition to the guidance it provides, also helps address the lack of social connection in virtual workplaces.

Establish times for informal digital co-working

Ask each employee to spend an hour or more per day coworking digitally with their colleagues. Create a sense of presence by joining a videoconference call without an agenda. Turn your speakers on but microphones off (unless you want to ask a question or make a comment or simply chat, of course). Next, simply work on your own tasks.

Digital coworking replicates the positive aspects of being in shared cubicle spaces with your team members, even while doing your own work. Benefits include mutual bonding through chatting and collaboration, being able to ask and answer quick clarifying questions, and being able to provide guidance and informal mentorship.

Fund effective remote work environments

Since the pandemic began, many companies have identified inequalities within remote working environments. For example, some employees have high-speed internet and quiet workspaces at home, while others do not. Address any inequity by investing in the work environments of remote employees.

Reduce unnecessary meetings

Zoom fatigue is real. So don’t schedule meetings unless you need to make a decision or get clarification on something that requires synchronous discussion. And make the best possible use of time when a meeting is required by staying focused on the task at hand.

Conduct weekly check-ins

The most effective leaders check in with employees regularly. Not just to determine progress being made on work-related tasks, but to also determine the team members’ well-being. So check-ins don’t add to Zoom fatigue, keep check-ins to weekly 15-30 minute video conferences.

Support work/life boundaries

Too many leaders expect employees to work after hours, then refuse employee requests for flexibility. Some employees, scared for their jobs, voluntarily take on too much work. To reduce burnout, leaders must reinforce boundaries. Whenever possible, they must also encourage and welcome flexible working schedules.

Take things step by step

Start with education about basic needs. Next, use the data from your conversations and internal surveys to pursue the actions that seem to make the most sense. Resist the temptation to fix everything at once by focusing on the issues that seem to have the highest sense of urgency.

A Change in Mindset

To prevent or defeat WFH burnout and Zoom fatigue, reframe your company culture and policies.

As you initiate this strategic shift, be sure to consistently support your employees. If you do this, your partnership with them will enable your organization to survive and thrive in the post-pandemic world.

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How Global HR Leaders Are Navigating the Post Pandemic Workplace

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In the past six months, we’ve seen the rise of what I can best describe as ‘emergency culture’. Employees are in a constant state of high alert. “Solving the unsolvable is the new normal,” says Flóra Bondici, chief people officer at Trax Retail, a global provider of computer vision solutions. So what happens when HR leaders need to transition from this “now normal” to the post pandemic workplace?

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the world economy, putting some 3.9 billion people, or half of the world’s population, in lockdown or under stay-at-home orders for months. In April, the International Labour Organization forecasted that workplace disruptions would wipe out 6.7% of working hours globally by the second quarter. That’s the equivalent of 195 million full-time jobs. HR departments across the globe sprang into action in response to the crisis to ensure the safety of workers. Everyone did what needed to be done.

The road to recovery, however, is paved with a whole new set of challenges. Here are three key themes surrounding recovery strategies, as seen by global Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs).

Employee Wellbeing: Buzzword or the Next Big Thing?

Earlier this year, millions of people found themselves confined to their homes day after day. Ramping up remote work plans, however, turned out to be only one of the many steps organizations had to take to keep employees safe. 

“We held dozens of workshops on the challenges of remote work and made sure to invite people from different departments to each of them. We talked about work and home life and actively encouraged them to share ideas and learn from each other,” remembers Györgyi Tóth, HR Director at Deloitte Hungary. The reception was overwhelmingly positive. “For our colleagues the feeling that they’re not left alone with their hardships was the biggest takeaway from these discussions.”

Helping Employees Overcome Stress

Thanks to the advent of the digital economy and ‘always on’ work schedules, helping employees overcome stress and improve health behaviors had been a top priority in the CHRO agenda for years. And if there’s one thing the coronavirus crisis has highlighted is that it’s here to stay.   

“We also launched a ‘remote nursery’ for working parents. With the help of nursery school teachers, we set up a Facebook group. Within that group, colleagues  find and share educational videos, useful links and playful learning activities for kids of all ages,” Tóth explains. She adds that HR professionals must be vigilant in looking out for employees who are struggling with anxiety, stress and burnout while in isolation. But they should not be the only ones to do so. 

“It’s very important colleagues watch out for each other. If you see that a co-worker is having a hard time adjusting, and you have the means to help out, just do it!”

Should I Stay or Should I Go: Rethinking the Way we Work

In most countries, COVID-19 measures have been slowly lifted over the past few months. So what now? After all, the reentry struggle is real. This is especially true when it comes to safely redeploying employees, in and outside of the HR department. 

Some of the areas of greatest concern include work schedules, seating arrangements, meeting spaces and event and visitor policies. Even elevator, break room, and restroom usage cause concern. Each of these issues need to be explored as part of organizations’ reintegration strategies. Not to mention who, among the staff, wants to get back to work in the first place.

Employees Come First

Trax Retail’s policy is simple: Employees come first. 

“Our only principle is to be flexible, supportive and understanding. When people face unexpected situations, you must find ways to support them in unexpected ways. We’ve helped a colleague return to their home country for the birth of their first child, had home-cooked meals delivered to single working moms, you name it. Thankfully, we’ve been able to handle just about any ‘now normal’ scenario that’s come our way. Our people find comfort in knowing that we care,” explains Bondici. 

At technology solutions provider Continental, leaders first looked to the company’s Chinese branch for good practices. Then other branches started to chime in. “We’ve selected a best practice for each aspect of employee management. We’ve also made sure to collect employee feedback from all locations and respond to their concerns,” says Sarah Frachet, head of country HR at the company’s Hungarian subsidiary.

“Make it safe and keep it voluntary. These are the two cornerstones of our reentry efforts,” explains Tóth. An organization-wide survey has shown that one-third of Deloitte employees would be perfectly happy to continue working from home. On the other end of the spectrum, one-third would welcome the opportunity to return to the office, while the remaining one-third remain cautious. 

“We’ve decided to take a hybrid approach and let employees decide for themselves where they want to work.”

The Future is Now: What’s Next for HR?

In many organizations, the HR department has moved on from administration to strategy. In the post pandemic workplace, there were no other viable alternatives. Ultra-competitive job markets, evolving business models and a combination of rapid technology innovation and shifting employee expectations left them no choice but to evolve. Never have CHROs had to deliver so much so fast. 

But what role will HR play in our brave new post-pandemic workplace? And the world in general?

The answer, experts agree, is twofold. Human resources will definitely continue its rise as managements’ trusted ally in shaping the way enterprises create value through talent. At the same time, they must offer support on an operational level – now more than ever. With no clear coronavirus treatment or vaccine in sight and a second wave just around the corner, CHROs must work out strategies for taking extra health and safety measures, maintaining workplace morale and, if it comes to it, overseeing layoffs.

But from a much better position than in February and March, when the pandemic started to hit businesses hardest.

Moving on From a State of Panic

“By now, organizations have moved on from a state of panic to stepping up to the challenge and making the new normal work,” points out IseeQ CEO Tamás Püski. The same goes for hiring practices, too. More and more recruiters have embraced Zoom interviews and remote onboarding, not to mention the unexpected opportunities the corona crisis has brought about in talent acquisition. “There’s been a growing regional demand for local talent for months. Several companies in Western Europe who had to let go of people during the first wave, or were in the process of building new teams, are now looking to tap into CEE’s talent base.”

The Post Pandemic Workplace: Resilience in the Face of Uncertainty

In the post pandemic workplace, the most important strategic objective for any business is to build resilience in the face of unparalleled uncertainty.

Meaning that HR executives must find ways to prepare their organizations not for the next crisis – but for any crisis. And to do so, they must start thinking differently about who they hire – and why. 

“My parents would always tell me that a good education is a stepping stone to a good career. This is not exactly the case anymore,” says Frachet. Instead of looking at what a person can do during a job interview, recruiters increasingly focus on finding out what they can and are willing to learn to do. 

“Make sure you have the right people in the right places. Then make sure they never stop growing.”

Frachet adds: “Moving forward, growth is what HR must be all about.”