Events as the New Office?

I was reading this article: "They're Not Employees. They're People" by ??? Jooseok Oh, DBA, Ph.D and realized the huge shift happening in the workplace.

Inspired by his article, I decided to write my own perspectives.

Peter Drucker, The Father of Management, said: "We believe that innovative technologies will drive the future of companies, but at the end of the day, people-centric organizations ensure sustainable competitiveness."

Since the explosion of AI few years ago, companies are rushing to increase organization efficiency and maximize performance. Some even start to outsource their relationships with employees through PEO (Professional Employee Organization).

Yes I agree that technology & efficiency are important. However, we should never overlook the most important company asset, our people.

Drucker argued that people in an organization should not be seen as mere "employees," but as "people" with their own growth and potential. No matter how advanced AI becomes, there still needs to be people who implement and oversee it.

Employee Experience

When employees feel a sense of belonging and nurtured, job satisfaction together with loyalty and performance to their organization naturally increase.

??? Jooseok Oh, DBA, Ph.D sums this up beautifully: "In other words, digital transformation and AI adoption are means of innovation, not goals. The goal is to improve the people's experience to increase the performance of the organization."

However this is not as straightforward as it used to be with the changing nature of work and employee relationships.

Now there are more non-traditional forms of employment like freelancers and contract workers. And outsourcing corporate functions and remote work are the norm.

These trends often result in declining employee experience as they do not get to meet each other and work in-person as much as they used to.

Loneliness & Disengagement

A recent article on the Wall Street Journal highlighted this:

The Loneliness of the American Worker: More meetings and faceless chats. Fewer work friends. How the modern workday is fueling in epidemic of isolation

It highlighted the trends of decreasing connection among coworkers, leading to higher levels of loneliness and disengagement.

Example is Nick Skarda (29) who works at two jobs in San Diego. After a few years working, he only knows one friend. He lamented: "I feel sort of an emptiness or lack of belonging. It makes it harder to go in and give it your all if you don't feel like anyone is there rooting for you."

Another example is the company 1-800-Flowers.com with hybrid and fully on-site employees. Guess what is their most popular community chat group?

'Loneliness'

The founder, James Mcann said: "Work is social, it's a lot more than a paycheck."

That is why earlier this year he decided to change from three to four in-person working days to boost a sense of connection among workers. Even designating hosts during lunchtime to encourage employees to sit and get to know each other, with suggested conversation topics.

Personal Connection

Though WFH (Work From Home) was the dream of many people pre covid, when given such excess remote-working days, many crave personal interaction with colleagues.

Ever since remote & hybrid work becomes the new normal, in-person employee meetings become a welcomed opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, to interact & discuss synchronously which gets work done much faster vs going back and forth through technology.

Now companies are realizing the importance of in-person meetings to not only boost productivity, but also employee satisfaction, innovation, and wellbeing. After all we are human beings who want to connect with others.

Based on this poll by Cvent and The Hariss Poll, nearly 80% of 250 senior business leaders viewed in-person interaction between employees as essential to success. That is why they try to bring employees together for meetings more often.

They prefer less-frequent but more-impactful in-person events compared to more-frequent but less-impactful virtual meetings.

Lonely Meetings

Although in-person meetings are important to get employees meet each other, we also have to provide enough time for them to unwind and connect.

Just like social media which is supposed to connect people but end up making them less connected, meetings if not designed well can make people feel lonelier.

A 2023 survey by employee experience and analytics company Perceptyx found people who see themselves as "very lonely" usually have heavier meeting loads than less-lonely ones as they just jump from one meeting to another without having time to reflect, let alone connect with others serendipitously at the water cooler or coffee machine.

This small chit chat actually helps employees release stress. Sarah Wright, an associate professor at New Zealand's University of Canterbury who studies worker loneliness said:

"We used to think loneliness has to be overcome by developing meaningful relationships and having that degree of intimacy. (But) more and more, though, we are seeing it is these day-to-day weak ties and frequency [interactions] with people that matters."

This happenstance encounter is hard to replicate in virtual environment as companies tend to schedule back-to-back meetings under the altar of efficiency versus human connection.

Have you ever had to schedule a zoom to only have a 5 mins talk with your colleague?

Events as the New Office

The first time I heard this was from Julius Solaris a while back.

With increasing WFH environment, more companies are actually sending their employees to industry events as an opportunity to connect with coworkers, while learning and then sharing the lessons back, another opportunity for social interaction.

I can totally relate to this.

For me 'Events as the New Office' is where an organization strategically designs employee experience through a set of interconnected internal events such as town hall, sales kickoff, regular meeting, employee outing, teambuilding, celebration & incentive trip.

Even better if we empower our employees to be involved in the co-design of these events so they feel seen and heard, resulting in sense of ownership.

What if the event co-design session itself is well facilitated and becomes a teambuilding where cross department members who don't really get the chance to meet, let alone interact with each other, get to co design their internal events and learn to work better together?

Just like what is highlighted in this article: Employee Meetings (are) More Necessary than Ever, but in Different Forms

What are your thoughts? Feel free to disagree too =)

Would love to also hear from you ??? Jooseok Oh, DBA, Ph.D. Aileen Sim Scott Gould Nicola Kastner Ratna Juita

#EventDesign #ExperienceDesign #EmployeeExperience #EmployeeEngagement #TownHall #SalesKickoff #RegularMeeting #EmployeeOuting #Celebration #IncentiveTrip