Ford and Microsoft team up in a conversation about the future of the workplace

The global pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we connect and collaborate with others, shifting not only our approach to work but our mindset as well.

When we ask people what they want from post-pandemic work, 73% say they want flexible, remote options. At the same time, 63% also tell us they want more in-person collaboration with their teams.

That is the paradox we face in designing the new world of hybrid work: How do you accommodate both? Doing so fundamentally requires a new operating model and a more flexible approach.?

Recently, at our Inspire virtual conference, I talked to Kiersten Robinson, Chief People Officer at Ford , to find out how Ford is thinking about hybrid work, the role technology plays, and how lessons learned during the pandemic are helping the company build a new hybrid culture for the future. Ford’s global design director, Jennifer Kolstad , also joined to share more about how the company is taking their vision for hybrid work from ideation to execution.?

Ford’s resiliency kept customers moving during a difficult year.

As the world shut down, technology was instrumental for many companies to maintain and, in some cases, even improve productivity and operations.

Kiersten says technology was a?great equalizer for employee experiences at Ford, giving people an equal opportunity to participate in the conversation from anywhere. Technology allowed Ford to quickly adapt to a new way of working.?

Now, as the company pivots to hybrid work and reimagines what modern collaboration looks like, Kiersten says the key is to identify solutions and build spaces that can help employees connect in ways that are flexible, inclusive, and that maintain an equitable experience for everyone.

Today, we have an opportunity to create greater inclusion in the workplace by designing a variety of spaces and flexible models that support a diverse workforce and empower employees to choose where they work best.

Technology will continue to play a significant role in Microsoft’s hybrid work journey.??

When we talk about hybrid work at Microsoft, we are talking about solutions like Teams, Viva, Windows 11, and delivering those services securely across the entire spectrum of user devices.

We also work with partners like Spatial to take the concept of hybrid work even further. Spatial’s platform allows for the creation of virtual spaces that bring people together — anytime, anywhere. In addition, the platform leverages a suite of Azure capabilities, from cognitive services for real-time transcription and translation to spatial anchoring for optimal productivity via hologram interaction.

Microsoft’s Leah Stevens joined Ford’s Jennifer Kolstad for a conversation that showed off the potential of this groundbreaking approach — connecting via HoloLens 2 on Spatial’s platform and using augmented reality avatars to discuss Ford’s take on the future of hybrid work in a virtual meeting environment.?

Designing and defining the workplace of the future

The biggest challenge posed by hybrid work is that we really do not know yet what it will be, and it will likely differ from company to company. Yet while it may look different for everyone, it also needs to be designed for anyone.

This means both designing new workspaces and processes while we are still defining the workplace of the future. The good news is that every company has an opportunity to build this future in the way that works best for them.

At Ford, they are developing workspaces with an emphasis on flexibility so as hybrid work evolves and needs change, the spaces can transform both physically and digitally. Ford calls this concept the “phygital technology” principle – representing the notion that the line between physical and digital is blurring as they develop physical spaces with digital capabilities to support in-person, virtual, and hybrid work styles.

To illustrate this, Leah and Jennifer gave us a virtual look at Ford’s Global Technology and Business?Center in Chennai, where the company is designing floorplans to support greater flexibility and choice when employees are at the office — emphasizing collaboration areas, increasing unassigned workspaces, and creating team-oriented collaboration zones, all supported by collaboration technologies.?

The world of hybrid work is here, and it is time to imagine the possibilities.

Our demonstration at Inspire looked to many like science fiction or movie magic, but the truth is that the technology is real, available now, and able to scale across a large organization. These use cases have been hardened and are practical to deploy today.

Kiersten and Jennifer both talked a lot about inclusive employee experiences. As we look more broadly, the pandemic has exacerbated every axis of inequity around the world. Still, it also created a more accessible and equitable work environment for many people. As we design and build the hybrid world of work, we can create that sense of equality and inclusion that remote work and virtual tools brought us and extend it into a new “phygital” environment.

If you missed my talk with Kiersten and Jennifer, you can see the magic for yourself on-demand at https://myinspire.microsoft.com/home .