“We are on the cusp of a major employee-driven transformation to a whole new way of working. The opportunity for employers to embrace this future is equally profound. To do so, we need to reset our idea of normal work to be flexible work.” – Dr. Sean Gallagher Director, Centre for the New Workforce at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
As we navigate our pseudo-post-pandemic world and whispers of recession, it’s critical for businesses to continue evolving. According to Gallup, nearly half (46%) of today’s full-time workforce is comprised of Gen Z and younger Millennials. And what they care about looks different from older Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers. They are most concerned that their employer cares about their well-being, that the leadership is ethical, and that their company is diverse and inclusive of all people.
Add to this, trying to make sense of the Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting, and the other buzzwords for employer-employee relationships, and current discussions about what the future holds for companies around the globe.
The reality is business is not business as usual.
To help spark some ideas, here are 10 ways to embrace the future of work today.
1. Change your perspective - you are borrowing people from their lives
I attended an author’s roundtable with Charotte Lockhart where this quote of hers was discussed: “As leaders, we need to remember we borrow people from their lives, reflecting that work is just a part of their lives, so employers and employees, more than ever before, have to function as a true partnership.”
This is a stark contrast to a different regime of thinking where your job is your life, you live to work, and you squeeze in your life around what the job demands. I’ve always held a belief that we should design our careers around the lifestyle we want, but this ideal takes it a step further and asks employers to remember their people are mothers and fathers, friends and children, Little League coaches, and travel junkies before they are employees.
2. Allow your CHRO to focus on people and culture, not just HR
In my experience, most CHROs care deeply about people but simply don’t have time to focus on culture initiatives while also dealing with the legal, benefits, compensation, and other critical functions related to human resources.
Make sure your HR leader has the bandwidth to take on the important role of watching over culture alongside you and your C-suite, and that they have ample support for the other employee relations needs. Some of the most successful culture transformations, including the one at Microsoft, have been credited to a strong partnership between a CEO and CHRO.
3. Sure up your values and operationalize them
Employees want to rally around shared beliefs and understand how to contribute to a positive culture. Clearly define your values and then operationalize them through stated behaviors that represent your team at their best. Don’t just do this once and put up a poster in the (physical or digital) breakroom. Make training your people on the values and operating principles part of your company’s quarterly routine so current and new employees know what’s expected of them and can hold each other accountable. By the way, for this to be successful, you and your leadership team need to model these values and behaviors first!
4. Partner with your people and don’t be afraid to change
Hold town hall meetings, send out surveys, and actively listen to your managers about what their teams are asking for. There could be new ideas about how your business is run, how to spark innovation, and what they are most excited about. Give teams the freedom to try something new and report back results. You never know what can come out of asking for suggestions that increase your company’s impact.
5. Make diversity and inclusion a core tenant of your culture, not an add-on
The events surrounding George Floyd’s murder in 2020 created a new awareness about the disparity of treatment of different groups within the U.S., especially minorities and people of color. For many organizations, it was the first time they engaged in conversations with their teams around diversity and inclusion considerations, and started thinking about how to make their workplaces more equitable.
Diversity and inclusion aren’t things to care about because you have to in order to stay relevant or compliant. They are things you care about for humanity’s sake first, and the success of your company second.
But if you need to make a business case to your board, diversity and inclusion have a positive impact on a number of factors including innovation, range of skills and perspectives, ways to understand and relate to your customers, and employee recruitment and retention, just to name a few.
If you’re not sure where to start, consider joining a group like CEO Action to listen and learn.
6. Welcome flexibility and choice for your team
One of the beautiful things that came from our weeks of forced-working-at-home was the discovery people made about how much they enjoyed it, or didn’t. It was like a collective group research project where we were forced to choose our preferences about commuting, work hours, flexibility, and more.
Check your proximity bias – the idea that your people can be effective only if they come into the office – and put measures into place to properly track productivity and outcomes. Look into practices like 4 Day Work Week that have been shown to improve productivity alongside employee satisfaction.
7. Invest in technology to keep people connected and create belonging
With the onset of remote and hybrid workforces, leaders have to be more intentional about creating points of connection for their teams. And not just connection, but reasons to belong, such as opportunities for peer mentoring or leadership roles.
From communication tools like Slack and employee pulse survey tools to employee recognition platforms, make sure there are ways for people to get in touch with each other, provide feedback about how things are going, and recognize each other’s efforts. Check out companies like Work Human which have all-in-one programs to help with this.
8. Plan intentional fun
More studies show that fun “has a positive impact on engagement, creativity, and purpose — increasing employee retention and reducing turnover. When we find tasks enjoyable, we’re more eager to dig in and complete them. When we make time for joy and laughter, we become resilient.”
Besides, who doesn’t want to work for a company that wants to have fun together? Regardless of your industry and your own comfort level with initiating fun, this is something experts like Grin Events can help with.
9. Offer growth through learning
Besides flexibility and compensation, your team wants to have the opportunity to grow and learn. LinkedIn’s 2019 Workforce Learning Report found 94% of employees said they’d stay at a company longer if it invested in helping them learn.
I know this was true for my own corporate career – it meant a lot that the tech giant I worked for had programs for leaders to learn management and other skills, many of which I still employ today.
10. Cultivate creativity
We often think of creativity in relation to designers and filmmakers, artists and musicians, but everyone on your team has the ability to be creative in their work, no matter how technical their job is. Plus, creativity has been shown to improve happiness, mental health, and even immune systems.
You can cultivate creativity by encouraging collaboration across departments, even if not related to a special project, or take up 3M’s long-standing “15% Culture” where employees are encouraged “to set aside a portion of their work time to proactively cultivate and pursue innovative ideas that excite them.” Allowing more opportunities for creativity should improve the overal health of your workforce, which will naturally increase productivity and employee satisfaction.
Here’s my encouragement to you, leaders: You don’t have to do all of this at once.
Start with something simple and curate change for a healthy culture one action at a time. The important thing is recruiting your senior leadership team to be your allies in this effort and to take the first step.
If you need help with any of the above, I’d love to hear from you.