The Future Of Work Shines Bright

A few weeks ago I surveyed my LinkedIn network to ask what people miss most about working in an office. An overwhelming 79% of people responded that they simply missed interaction with their colleagues. While this is certainly the case for many employees, I don’t think there’s widespread consensus about whether people are ready to return to the office or not. While many are itching to return, many remain content working from home.

I authored an article at the end of last year for the MBO Partners blog discussing the important role that marketing can play in adapting and responding to change during the pandemic. While change is constant and can be tremendously difficult, especially in the business world, it’s not always a bad thing. In this case, the change brought about by the pandemic has inspired businesses to rethink and reimagine the future of work. 

Interestingly, three years ago CFA Institute moved into an open office, which was a major change for many of our employees. As I’ve written before, there’s a reason so many companies have been embracing the concept: when done well, open offices promote better collaboration, mobility and flexibility. 

At the same time, an open concept office takes some time to adjust to. Love it or hate it, the open space office comes with its own set of challenges. And like goldfish getting dumped into a new fish tank, when we moved into our new open office environment, our team needed to adjust to changes in privacy, etiquette and open office behavior.

Fast forward to the present day when businesses like ours are thinking about what returning to the office may look like. Will employees feel comfortable? Will an open office concept still work? Will the workplace ever feel like it used to? How can business leaders make the best decision for their employees? Just like we felt three years ago, whatever the future of work looks like, it will be an adjustment.

Many business leaders believe that a hybrid work model is the future of employment. I would agree that the hybrid approach offers employees the opportunity to choose what works best for them. For starters, we cannot (and should not) ignore what we’ve learned over the past year. Like many companies, we discovered that remote work doesn’t negatively impact productivity, and in some cases it improves it. We know that many employees enjoyed the freedom of working remotely and relished the time saved by not commuting.

We also learned that keeping an open, honest dialogue with employees is key to determining exactly what they want and need and how this may change over time. And no matter what, we learned that we need to ensure a consistent stream of transparent communications and engagement efforts to foster and strengthen connectivity among employees.

While it’s unclear whether the hybrid model will work for every business, the future of work is bright. For many employees, it comes down to this simple equation: choice = freedom.

The more we can listen to employees and understand their perspective, the better equipped we will be to provide them with viable options for remaining productive. And perhaps the biggest thing we’re learning is that we need to welcome the changes that are sure to come as the future of work continues to evolve.