Page 31 - Inquisitive Employee Engagement Guide v22

New ways

for work

‘What is the future of work?’ was already a trending topic
before Covid ever hit. Digitally-enabled transformation of every
market and organisation demands that business thinks, adds
value and works in new ways. Fast and connected, automated
or augmented, collaborative ecosystems and empowered
teams, gig workers and multi-career options, more flexible,
more hybrid, more human.

During the height of the pandemic, 42% of US employees and
46% of UK employees were doing some work from home. Post There are very few companies able to go fully remote. So most forward
pandemic, peoples attitudes towards work and thinking organisations are adding in much more flexibility and a hybrid
expectations have changed. They are looking for more work option for those who can and want to take advantage of this shift.
flexibility, more balance and wellbeing; and for more meaning They will seek to create a safe, collaborative, efficient and culturally
in their job. engaging space for their employees. The focus will be on turning the
office spaces into a digitally enabled, collaboration-first environments to
Hybrid working is now part of the work landscape providing enable hybrid to work and display the culture they want people to
more flexibility in when, where and how people work. It means embrace. Communication takes on a new, more strategic importance.
a mix between home and in the office. There are also more fully
remote roles that are completely home based. The aim of this A mix of remote, hybrid and office roles has the potential to add more
anywhere, anytime concept is to be more purposeful, agile and layers of complexity when organisations are looking for more agility and
flexible with more productive work and employee satisfaction. simplicity. Technology can remove much of this but the human side of
these changes needs to be worked through carefully. It is an
However, based upon Chicago University and Norwegian opportunity to press the refresh button and be better prepared for the
Economists separate research only 37% of jobs currently can future if it is approached in an intentional way.
plausibly be done from home. So whilst this is a big shift that
will continue to evolve - essentially it only covers a third of roles This is especially relevant to communication – it needs to become much
that are mainly desk based. There are large differences between more intentional – it is crucial to set expectations, guidelines and
job categories and geographic cultures too. This means etiquette, new norms, boundaries, maintain balance and ensure flexibility
organisations will have many more diverse audiences with is sustainable. Inclusion and fairness needs are crucial too, because
different needs and preferences to engage. unchecked they reduce engagement and retention.
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