The Future of Work - A post-apocalyptic Utopia?

As we settle in to our second week of full lock-down in the UK and the enormity of the global situation becomes apparent to us, many of us find ourselves reflecting on what has already changed beyond recognition in our world in such a short space of time. A threat to our very existence, the Coronavirus has already ripped through daily life, the economy and the world as we know it.

The working environment, what we know as “work” and how we conduct our activities has transformed practically overnight in this new, sanitised, isolated arena. My hope for something good to come of this is that the crisis will cement changes to our working practices and workplaces like no other, things we couldn’t have imagined being true before will become the new norm. Employers will quickly rally to adapt their attitudes, environments, and cultures in order to survive not just this period of uncertainty, but the new world of the future workplace.

1)     The boundaries between work and home life are now irretrievably blurred.

Working with large, remote teams has been a steep learning curve for many organisations, and with the closure of schools, ban on travel or visiting relatives, we have been catapulted into people’s family lives like never before. What used to be infrequent comedy interruptions on Skype calls from people’s pets has now expanded to their children and other family members, all forced into this melting pot of activity taking place within our four walls. Astute employers have quickly realised the need to be flexible around the other people in the household, understanding when work is interrupted by an excitable five-year-old sharing his drawing or a toddler’s demand to be fed. Some of the more forward-thinking teams have started to include the wider household in social activities such as virtual quizzes and bingo games, meeting the need for workplaces to be broader than just an employer/employee relationship.

Virtual platforms such as Skype, Zoom and Teams have opened up our homes to our colleagues and bosses, revealing how we live and the challenges our home environments provide to effective homeworking due to a lack of space or other family members also trying to homework in the same environment. There is a temptation to be “always on”, with teams continuing to interact long beyond the working day, filling the need for connection, purpose and stimulation whilst they are all stuck inside their castle walls. The boundaries between work and home life are distorted now, and in this unsegregated lifestyle the need for self-care and well-being practices to help keep the mental distinction clear (rather than the physical boundaries) are elevated to a new level of importance.

When this is all over, office space will be reduced, mothballed or smaller premises sourced, as some employees refuse to return to what are often busy, noisy and unhygienic workplaces that are not conducive to productivity. Employers will be hard pushed to refuse requests to work from home for most or even all of the time; some employees will prefer this and will be able to provide a proven justification that it works for them. Offices will become more about the social aspects of work than supervised productivity; this can only be a good thing for working relationships.

2)     Flexible working is a given, not a request, working hours become irrelevant.

So many online HR communities lament of the challenges they face when dealing with “flexible working applications” and line managers’ inflexibility when considering them. This crisis is forcing us to reconsider many of these arrangements and accept that if clear expectations around outcomes are set, it doesn’t really matter when a lot of the work is completed. If a team member wants to log on at 5am to complete their share of the work and another is only working half days and evenings to share the parenting with their partner, so what? We have to show more tolerance as parents face the guilt of not being able to give their child their full attention or work their full attention during this crisis – if they want to log off for an hour to do Joe Wicks’ PE class with their kids who are we to question that? As long as the work gets done to the standard required, why should we think it right to dictate when an employee has to work? Clearly there are industries where working hours and shifts matter, where a service or healthcare need is required for example and for those types of roles a more traditional approach is still necessary. However, in the world of knowledge-workers, working hours are no longer relevant and in this globalised economy where we interact with people across all different time zones, a bit of flexibility could actually boost productivity.

3)     Job title is less important as teams are all focused on what really matters.

In these times of crisis, we’ve all learnt to adapt quickly to the “new world” and recognise that much of what we are doing within our departments is “non-essential” or not business critical. The more sceptical may even describe some initiatives as vanity projects, the purpose not necessarily about adding value or keeping the wheels turning but more about proving the worth of a department or team. In this new world, instead of being precious about titles or roles, everyone mucks in and contributes to what issues need to be solved today. People are increasingly being asked to perform jobs they didn’t expect to or weren’t employed to do, but with this brings learning, job enrichment and expansion as well as recognition of previously unsung heroes.

Much like working hours no longer exist, job descriptions will be less prescriptive, people will be expected to expand their skills and understand much more about how an organisation’s processes fit together, how what they’re doing impacts on others. Structures will change and be focused around projects and deliverables, not archaic top-down hierarchies. Efficiencies will be made as a result as businesses realise how much fat there is in traditional models. Generalists will once again become preferable for recruiters than specialists, and the ability to think laterally across an organisation will be in high demand.

4)     Job security will take on a new importance again.

The view that “I can always get a job” will now change with the shrinking of the economy, a global recession on the horizon and large firms that were once seen as infallible facing insolvency and mass redundancies. The gig economy, a modern source of guaranteed flexible income for many, has taken a hit that will be hard to spring back from. A flexible and portfolio career, whilst appealing for many in terms of how it can fit around other commitments and interests, is less attractive due to the insecurity it also now brings. Workers will start to revert to a more traditional approach to choosing their next employer, job security will regain its importance as these once guaranteed stop-gap roles decrease in availability.

The workers in the gig economy and those in pseudo-employment arrangements have perhaps fared the worst in this crisis; technically self-employed, but often not for the required 3 years to receive financial assistance, they must now scramble around for whatever temporary work they can find. This uncertainty and sudden loss of income for many will perhaps influence lawmakers in the future to provide more stability in employment relationships and guaranteed arrangements should this type of crisis ever hit again.

5)     Communication is via digital means, even the resistors become early adopters.

Our digital capabilities have been enhanced overnight as we have been forced to adopt new technologies to keep in touch. Everyone now has to get with the programme, those resistors who clung onto the “old ways” now find they need these modern methods of keeping in touch to ensure they remain sane. Whether meeting via Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams or good old conference call, the power of regular communication is key during this crisis. Good communication is frequent, bite-sized and timely as well as relevant to all those in attendance. Water cooler conversations can no longer take place so there is a need to schedule in some social time, whether that’s a weekly digital team lunch or just a catch up in between calls.

As paperless offices become the norm and printers a thing of the past, businesses realise there isn’t much in terms of transactional processes that can’t be done electronically these days. With technologies now enabling us to sign digitally, scan from our phones, connect with people all over the world, paper really does become pretty redundant. Thousands of trees will be relieved at this, whilst stationery businesses are dismayed at the downturn in their profits. 

6)     Travel to meetings is redundant, the Earth takes a breath.

A crisis like this is every environmentalist’s dream; we are already seeing reports of reduced pollution over large cities as all but very few journeys are deemed “non-essential”. As we come out of the crisis we will start to see a backlash from employees against business travel, let’s face it none of us really enjoys trekking the length of the country for a meeting that lasts a couple of hours, or extended periods away from home. Colleagues will be more conscious of their carbon footprint, the impact of those journeys and will make more careful choices about whether a face to face meeting is really necessary. Workers will have higher expectations of employers around schemes such as cycle to work, showering facilities and car sharing schemes to help to reduce the impact where commuting is still required.

Global business travel has that glamourous appeal but the reality of the inside of hotel rooms, language barriers, and exhaustion from time-zone changes will seem less appealing now many businesses have been forced to embrace digital meetings and realise that many interactions that were previously face to face are not necessary and can be done virtually.  

7)     Long, tiresome all-day meetings are a thing of the past.

Anyone who’s sat on a conference call or web meeting for more than a couple of hours can attest to how utterly boring it is. We’ve all seen how quickly colleagues disengage from these types of meetings, start answering emails, fiddling with their phones or go onto mute so they can take other calls. Meetings in future will need to be short, frequent and with a clear purpose and outcomes so colleagues can see the value and follow Elon Musk’s lead and choose whether or not they should stay for the duration. During the crisis, daily check-in’s have been important to ensure teams are focused on what needs to be done that day, and many teams will continue with these, preferring them over more traditional all-day affairs.  

8)     Leaders are expected to be humble.

A new level of leadership conscience, highlighted by the insight they now have into people’s home lives, means that leaders will feel more responsible for the whole family and not just the person they see day to day. It really hits home when you can visibly see the challenges people are facing in their daily lives what an important stabiliser work is for many, and how important a purpose is, a role outside of their other stereotypes of parent, husband, wife, housemate. Leaders will need to adjust their styles from focusing on inputs and tasks and concentrate on motivating teams to achieve an end goal or purpose higher than themselves. The pastoral role of a leader, some describe as servant leadership, will be more important than ever, the most successful leaders will be humble, focusing on removing obstacles to their teams’ success rather than seeking glory in their own achievements.

During these unprecedented times, recognise and appreciate the differences in your team members. Introverts will embrace home working and produce some of their best work, they don’t need or desire frequent check-in’s and sometimes feel this is unnecessary and gets in the way of their “flow”. Extroverts on the other hand, those who gain their energy from being around people may struggle, they will need that regular contact and will celebrate the moment they can return to their offices, desperate for some interaction outside of their immediate family life. Recognise these differences and adapt your style to suit; one size definitely does not fit all.

As we increasingly move towards the trend in agile working practices which the digital world is primed to support, leadership at all levels and dispersed autonomous teams become the new norm – leaders are replaced by scrum masters and product owners, with the customer demanding swifter adaptable solutions to everyday business problems. Successful teams have proved just how fast they can turn things around during a crisis – with car manufacturers quickly mobilising to produce medical equipment and teams who relied on face to face processes moving to digital -  we’ll start to apply this approach to every project in the future and this will accelerate productivity to a new level in Britain and stimulate our economy.

9)     Culture

Presenteeism will be dead. Credibility and visibility will be achieved in different ways for those trying to advance their careers; it no longer becomes about showing up in person to get ahead, hopes for a true meritocracy unfold. Communication within and across teams improves, people who dial in to meetings aren’t forgotten about because they’re not in the room and everyone has a new appreciation of what it’s like to be working remotely. Career mobility takes on a whole new digital dimension as skillsets around engaging and motivating dispersed and self-managing teams become more valuable.

With this new-found flexibility comes a rich diversity in workforces unseen previously – the workplace is now opened up to many more people who can access it remotely, part time workers, people living in other countries, anyone with a laptop and a phone can now become an active part of your workforce. “Group think” is outrun by a luscious tapestry of new thinking and innovation. Employee engagement takes a huge leap as employees are given what they want from employers – work on their terms to fit around their other commitments.

10)  The employment landscape itself has changed.

Hospitality and leisure industries will decline to make way for other sectors to expand such as Health and Social Care, Public Services and Retail and Supply Chain. As people realise what matters to them large swathes of workers will decide for themselves that their old role in the service sector is trumped by a role helping others in need. Society itself has returned to older times of community, sharing, make-do and mend reminiscent of a wartime era. Our grandparents fondly remember what it was like during rationing and remind us of the struggles they faced and how these were overcome by the power of community. Many will reflect on this and realise their quest for commercial achievements and money is not always meaningful and will turn to other sectors where they can find true purpose, make a difference and give something back.

Please note: These are my personal views and not those of my employer.