The Future of Work should be Flexible

The future of work should be flexible

At the start of the pandemic, both employers and employees were forced to rapidly revamp how work was carried out.?Offices closed; people became used to having meetings online and spent more time with their families and loved ones.?No rush hour or gridlocked roads to navigate.?However, there was also no watercooler moments, finding out the latest gossip and bonding with colleagues.?People became used to this new way of working and started to enjoy it.

With lockdowns a moment in history, hopefully never to be repeated, what does the future of work now look like as people and organizations have the choice to return to the workplace?

What do employees want?

Employees became used to working from home and some organizations have struggled to bring them back to the office.?

What exactly do employees want in the future and have organizations taken the time to involve their staff in debating this question??

According to an everywhere workplace report by Ivanti, a software company based in the USA, 71% of employees would rather be able to work from anywhere than to be promoted.?Pretty high statistics, yet are organizations ignoring what employees want, in order to return ‘back to normal’?

A study back in April 2021 by McKinsey found that 30% of people would switch jobs if their employers required them to work on site full time.

This coincide with recent polling result (https://lnkd.in/gnEBev6k) by Quintus Search, where 76% of professional polled they prefer hybrid role while only 4% prefer back to site full-time.

Equally, there is still debate about whether there is a true work life balance whilst working from home as many organizations report employees are starting work earlier, or finishing later, than their contractual hours.?Could this mean that employee burnout could be a consequence of the pandemic as work and life blend into one?

What employers really think

Employers adapted quickly to the pandemic but are they now demanding a return to the office and, if so, why??

If working from home, or even a hybrid model was successful, why is it so important to have those people return??

Reasons why employers may want employees to return to the office

Employers have a lot of financial investment in real estate and in equipment and may not have considered selling up and reinvesting this into other things.?However, some organizations have downsized or even sold up and have made the decision for employees to permanently work from home.??How many organisations are still considering their options and so have not made any decisions about the future of work?

Dependant on a manager’s working style, or their attitudes, they may be distrustful of people working from home, thinking productivity would be higher if working back with onsite, within a team.?However, if managers learnt to manage their team better remotely, and to enable trust to return, would this still be an issue?

There is no doubt that creativity may flow better when in a face-to-face meeting, either trying to find a solution to a problem, or in developing new ideas.?Bringing people together reminds them why the work they do is important.

Most organizations would consider a return to the office as beneficial to connect people to each other, to organizational culture and towards a common goal.?

They may also want people to be able to collaborate more effectively face to face – after all, it’s much easier to just see someone quickly than to read emails and instant messages that could result in misinterpretation.?

Employers may also feel that on-the-job training is more effective, than through learning something online.

Why employers will struggle recruiting

Employees have got used to the benefits of working from home – less commute time, no travel expenses, greater work life balance, are just a few examples of why.?

Employees want to enjoy the flexibility remote working brings them.?

If you are not offering working from home, or even hybrid working, the talent pool is greatly reduced.

If employers want access to top talent, they may have to consider offering a truly flexible package and so, in conclusion, organizations must think very carefully about what way of working them offer their new team members.