Navigating the world of work post a pandemic
Getting back into the swing of things cannot be easy, aside from facing a new world of work we are confronted by new ways of working. So, how then do we get back into the swing of things?
Sungeetha Sewpersad, Chief People Officer at Rand Merchant Bank shared some guidelines on how to navigate the world of work post a pandemic.
The future of work… reinvented
The priority of workforce issues, such as talent retention, hiring and diversity, equity and inclusion is rising among senior leadership, says Sewpersad
“Pandemic-driven changes in work models have created a range of challenges and opportunities, including how best to attract, retain and engage employees and offer people the value and purpose they now expect from work. As hybrid work becomes the norm, at least for many knowledge workers, concerns are growing that culture is being diluted,” added Sewpersad.
In recent Gartner surveys, CEOS rate culture as their biggest concern when it comes to in-office and work-from-home policies for knowledge workers, and HR leaders say the most challenging aspect of a hybrid strategy is adjusting their current culture to be supportive of their workforce.
Future of work trends, post COVID-19
The employee value proposition (EVP), according to Sewpersad, must change for hybrid work and respond to the shifts in employee expectations. These nine trends have a great impact on employee experience, which underscores how the EVP must change and respond to the shifts in employee expectations.
- Hybrid work becomes mainstream – hybrid work is here to stay. With 75% of hybrid or remote knowledge workers agreeing their expectations for working flexibility have increased, there is no doubt that the future is hybrid. In fact, if an organisation were to go back to a fully on-site arrangement, it would risk losing up to 39% of its workforce. You must create a new, human centric model for the hybrid environment, by designing work around employee-driven flexibility, culture connectedness and human leadership.
- There’s a shortage of critical talent – HR leaders are under more pressure than ever to fill roles with those with critical skills to meet market needs and drive organisational change. While there’s an urgency to obtain scarce, critical capabilities, there’s also an effort to optimise costs on the current economic climate. To fill skills needs both effectively and efficiently, broadening the range of talent strategies under consideration, either as part of your strategic planning or as needs arise. For example, develop processes, norms and infrastructure that facilitate the mobility of employees from their current roles to other existing or newly created roles within the organisation. This creates an internal labour market and makes it easier and more attractive for employees to move jobs without exiting the company.
- Well-being is a key metric – traditional employee experience indicators, such as engagement surveys and turnover metrics, aren’t showing the whole picture – for example, measuring current experience or overall well-being – which impacts employee performance and intent to stay. Although 70% of organisations made additional investments in well-being throughout the last two years, most employees are still not taking advantage of these offerings. You must deliver on well-being as part of your EVP to attract and retain talent.
- DEI outcomes could worsen – hybrid and remote work does not guarantee all employees will experience the benefits of this change equitably. This has the potential to worsen diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) outcomes. For example, 76% of managers say on-site employees are more likely than remote works to be prompted. Considering that women and employees from underrepresented groups are more likely to want to leverage flexible work, proximity bias becomes a recipe for inequity. To support all employees in a hybrid future, you must mitigate bias in performance and recruiting and support underrepresented talent.
- Turnover will increase – hybrid work has become a baseline expectation for most employees, and organisations are already seeing the effects. Turnover has significantly increased when employees are required to come back into the office full time, and 52% of employees say flexible work policies will affect the decision to stay at their organisation. Turnover will continue to increase because the emotional costs of leaving the organisation are lower when hybrid and because there’s more choice in employers when location is no longer a factor. To combat this sustained turnover, connect hybrid employees to the organisation’s culture and invest in talent processes to expand employee networks.
- Managers’ roles are changing – with fewer opportunities for spontaneous in-person interactions in the workplace, managers need to be more intentional in establishing and developing relationships with their team members. The manager-employee relationship is critical in shaping the employee experience and connection to the organisation, CHROs need to provide managers with the proper tools to become human leaders and manage employees career perceptions, well-being and connection to organisational culture.
- Gen-Z want in-person work experiences – although the younger generation is comfortable with hybrid working (having finished their education and entered the workforce during the pandemic), the experience has left something to be desired. To Gen Z, remote work is about continuing connections built in person while maintaining a flexible schedule. Pay attention to Gen Z’s expectations of the post pandemic world of work. The needs of these entry-level hires will impact decisions surrounding redesigned office spaces, in-office onboarding support and development opportunities.
- Shorter work weeks are a new EVP – labour market competition and high inflation are putting pressure on compensation, but many organisations cannot afford to increase pay as quickly as employees want or expect. If inflation continues to rise, not all employers can attract and retain talent on compensation alone. This is challenging organisations to rethink their EVP with reduced hours. To consider this new EVP approach, C-suite leaders and hiring managers must work together to review roles and processes in which a shorter week is possible.
- Data collection is expanding – Gartner analysis shows that 16% of employers are more frequently using technologies to monitor their employees through methods such as virtual clocking in and out, tracking work computer usage, and monitoring employee emails or internal communications/chats. While some companies track productivity, others monitor employee’s engagement and well-being to better understand employee experience. Even before the pandemic, organisations were increasingly using non-traditional employee monitoring tolls, but this trend will only accelerate thanks to monitoring or remote workers and the collection of employee health and safety data. Make sure to follow best practices to ensure responsible use of employee information and analytics.
“Today’s workplace is hybrid by default, raising concerns that culture and leadership will suffer. They don’t need to. In fact, accepting hybrid as a permanent feature of the modern workplace creates an opportunity for organisations to evolve their approach with an emphasis on two key issues: reshaping culture and equipping leaders. Strengthening culture connectedness is key for successful and sustainable hybrid workplace,” she said.
“These are the points we need to be cognisant of, going forward in the next 12 months for hybrid work models,” she concluded.
Writer’s thoughts
Today’s workplace is hybrid by default, raising concerns that culture and leadership will suffer. Do you think culture and leadership will suffer, or is there no need for concern? Please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email me your thoughts myra@fanews.co.za.
