Linkedin Article: Friday Future-Ready

Article 1 – The Future Of Work - 7 TRENDS & TOOLS

(Adapted from Forbes, Published on February 21, 2021) 

2020 has brought  2020 brought many businesses to their knees, requiring profound pivots, workforce and workplace changes, policy changes, and how it significantly altered how humans work.

The trends and tools for the next-new-normal would comprise of – 

#1 The Human Experience (HX) Will Replace The Employee Experience (EX)

• Net-Net: Seeing employees as humans and helping them grow in all areas of their lives
• Focus on: Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial health
• Employee Experience (EX) was a 2-dimensional way of looking at humans. Now we care about the entire Human Experience (HX) and support our people to have more fulfilling lives, which of course helps them bring a more productive version of themselves to their work.
• As per Gartner’s 2020 Reimagine HR Employee Survey, employers that support their peoples’ lives overall enjoy a 23% increase in the number of employees reporting better mental health, plus a 17% increase in the number of employees reporting better physical health. Additionally, employers benefit from a 21% increase in the number of high performers 

#2 Personal And Corporate Value Alignment Will Support More Purpose-Driven Work

• Net-Net: Truly living corporate values, not just hanging them on the wall
• Focus on: Being authentic, walking your walk, talking your talk
• According to research, 74% of employees expect their organization to become more actively involved in current cultural debates of the day.
• The more a CEO models the organization’s values, invests in addressing challenging or even uncomfortable social issues, the more engaged their employees are. The same survey found a leap in employee engagement—from 40% to 60%— when their organization acted on today’s key social issues.

#3 Hybrid Work Will Be The Norm—So Build A Virtual Culture

• Net-Net: Release control over the work environment
• Focus on: Where your people feel most productive and connected to their team/the organization overall
• Hybrid workforces are already becoming common, with employees working in their home, a quiet coffee shop, or the office (of some variation).
• Gartner’s data showed the same: for full-time workers from both 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (during the pandemic) remote workers are 5% more likely to be high performers than those who work from the office.

#4 Employee Monitoring Will Be Replaced By Performance Monitoring—And Trust 

• Net-Net: If you don’t trust them, why do you employ them?
• Focus on: Monitor performance and results, not hours clocked
• Did you know that as a result of the pandemic, more than 1 in 4 companies installed technology to passively track and monitor their employees? If you choose to monitor your employees digitally, be sure to over communicate and be super transparent about the details.
• Regardless, you’ll get the best results (and highest morale) by simply establishing clear KPIs, success metrics, goals, OKRs, whatever you prefer to call them and monitor individual performance instead.

#5 Flexible Working Hours Will Become The Norm 

• Net-Net: Ensure overlap that’s essential, let go of control for the rest
• Focus on: Letting people bring their best self, according to their work rhythm
• Survey revealed that organizations offering employees flexibility over when, where and how much they work saw 55% of their work force as high performers. Yet at organization with a standard 40 hour work week, only 36% of employees were considered high performers.

#6 Freelance, Temporary Help Will Be Welcomed To Optimize Resource Allocation

• Net-Net: Stay lean and get extra help as needed
• Focus on: You’ll need better communication and more Standard Operating Procedures to ensure quality and consistency with temp help
• We all need more diverse capabilities and skills from our teams than ever before. And Gartner’s analysis shows that organizations are now listing about 33% more skills on job ads in 2020 than they did in 2017. Why? Because the world is moving faster, technology is moving faster, we have more diversity in the work we do, so we all have to level up to meet ever-changing needs.

#7 Neurodiversity And Mental Health Support Will Be Destigmatized. 

• Net-Net: We all have our struggles, so let’s support instead of judge
• Key Focus: Create a Neurodiversity policy and internal support groups
• Gartner research showed that 45% of well-being budget increases were being allocated to mental and emotional well-being programs. And now in the midst of the pandemic we’ve seen mental and emotional well-being brought to the forefront for all organizations.
• 68% of organizations had introduced at least one new wellness benefit to help their employees navigate the pandemic.
• We’ve still got a way to go to whatever the new normal is going to be. With the above tools you’ll be better positioned to capitalize on it, and with a happier, healthier, more productive workforce.