Future of work - Q2 2020

FUTURE OF WORK

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Q2 / 2020

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Stefano Scarpetta

Director, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD

“Inequalities in earnings and job quality have been widening in many countries.”

Elliot Wellsteed-Crook

Head of Partnerships & PR, London Tech Week

“There is no longer a clear-cut, clinical separation between our professional and personal lives.”

Robin Brodie Cooper

Senior Vice-President of the British Council for Offices

“The idea of the traditional office has been thrown on its head.” © I R I N A _ STR E LN I KOVA

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79% of organisations believe that improving employee engagement is key to improving productivity

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Rebuilding a future that works for all

IN THIS ISSUE

02

Stefano Scarpetta

Director, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD

Policy makers today face the daunting task of moving the economy out of intensive care onto the recovery phase

04 Richard Kauntze Chief Executive of the British Council for Offices

The physical office allows us to build relationships and create genuine networks of support

06

Nicola Inge

Director of Employment and Skills, Business in the Community

COVID-19 is having a disproportionate impact on the employment prospects of disadvantaged groups Project Manager: Tilly Morley Business Development Manager: Josie Mason Email: josie.mason@ mediaplanet.com Content and Production Manager: Kate Jarvis Managing Director: Alex Williams Head of Business Development: Ellie McGregor Digital Manager: Jenny Hyndman Designer: Thomas Kent Content and Social Editor: Harvey O’Donnell Paid Media Strategist: Ella Wiseman Mediaplanet contact information: Phone: +44 (0) 203 642 0737 E-mail: uk.info@mediaplanet.com All images supplied by Gettyimages, unless otherwise specified

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Please recycle

WRITTEN BY

Stefano Scarpetta Director, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD

I

In only three months, the COVID-19 pandemic has become a public health crisis with no parallel in living memory. It is driving the global economy to the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

t’s already hard to remember, but back at the end of 2019, we were celebrating record-high employment rates in the OECD at 68.9%. Yet, even then, many workers and companies were feeling mounting pressures of globalisation, digitalisation and other megatrends that had been profoundly changing how we live and work.

At the OECD, we had estimated that 14% of jobs were at risk of automation, but another 30% were likely to be largely overhauled in the coming decade. Technological progress and the integration of global supply chains were proving to be a bonus for many workers with high skills and in expanding occupations, but a challenge for workers with low or outdated skills in declining occupations. Inequalities in earnings and job quality had been widening in many countries.

The impact of COVID-19 on low-paid workers When COVID-19 hit, those widening disparities were laid bare. Most highpaid workers stayed home and managed to work remotely, while many low-paid workers had to continue providing essential services during the lockdowns, often at a substantial risk of exposure to the virus.

Own-account and temporary workers, and those working short hours – about a third of the workforce in OECD countries – were the first to lose their job. What’s more, they often have less access to social safety nets and less

generous benefits than workers with a permanent contract. These gaps in social protection are untenable in the COVID-19 crisis.

Response to the crisis OECD countries have taken unprecedented measures to respond to this unprecedented crisis, for example by improving access to, and the generosity of, job retention schemes and unemployment benefits. In the US alone, more than 40 million people have filed unemployment benefit claims since mid-March. In Europe, job retention schemes now provide support to about half of dependent employees in France, 40% in Italy, and 25-30% in Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. A number of countries eased access to existing minimum-income schemes; the US, Japan and Korea introduced or announced universal cash payments to the entire population.

Will these massive public transfers be enough? They might be if they are maintained for months to come.

But this will probably not be feasible or efficient as the economic activity restarts. For example, keeping job retention schemes unconditional will give firms incentives not to go back to normal even if their activity resumes, or is no longer viable. Withdrawing these schemes too soon, on the other hand, could generate an unbearable wave of layoffs.

The policy makers’ challenge Policy makers today face the daunting task of moving the economy out of intensive care onto the recovery phase, where support needs to be differentiated according to the conditions of firms, sectors and workers. The megatrends that were already re-shaping the world of work may have even accelerated.

Lockdown measures have forced the adoption of ICT technologies at a pace never seen before, and some even suggest that firms may be pushed to replace frontline workers with machines to avoid the risk of infection and disruption. And, although there is much talk about the end of globalisation, it’s unlikely that countries will revert to complete economic self-sufficiency: value chains may become shorter, but benefits from cutting back trade would be small and unlikely to last.

Last year, the OECD called for a “transition agenda for a future that works for all” to re-shape a more inclusive and resilient labour market.

The COVID-19 crisis has made this inclusive transition even more urgent, and, at the same time, has prompted decisive action to reduce gaps in social protection.

Building on the impressive efforts made during lockdown, countries now have to walk a tightrope with the same determination to revamp the economy, and build a more inclusive and resilient labour market.

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This article is sponsored by Slack

Unlocking competitive advantage in the next normal of remote work COVID-19 has forced businesses to fundamentally rethink how they work.

Those leading the way are using technology to transform communication, collaboration and alignment. This is not business as usual, and there is no going back.

T WRITTEN BY

Stuart Templeton Head of UK, Slack

he pandemic has forced businesses to adapt the way they work – albeit remotely – and improve upon it. But this change is not a new concept. COVID-19 simply fast-tracked it on the corporate agenda, and there is no going back to life before COVID. For some, the initial focus was just enabling people to work remotely for the first time. But as organisations have settled into the ‘next normal’ many of the business leaders I speak to want to understand how technology can help drive competitive advantage in this new environment.

Saying goodbye to email and hello to channels: greater transparency and access to information For decades, email has been the common form of business communication. Yet, it works poorly for aligning teams given it offers a fragmented, limited view of information.

Messaging platforms have been gaining significant traction well before the pandemic. But the value they provide in terms of greater transparency and easier access to information has accelerated their adoption. Employees collaborate across projects from wherever they are in ‘channels’. A single channel could be about anything, but their purpose is to bring the right people and information together.

What we’ve all experienced over recent months is not working from home. It is working from home during a pandemic. We’re increasingly having to juggle day-to-day life with work, whether it’s childcare or shopping, and that is leading to an increase in asynchronous work and making effective communication and alignment more important than ever.

To achieve this businesses need to arm teams with the ability to seamlessly communicate so they can be across projects whenever they need to – an area where email alone fails.

The intellectual property of successful businesses sits in the communication between its employees, rather than in carefully crafted

© BAC K YA R D

documents sitting in hidden folders.

The future of work and innovation in this environment is about collaboration across departments at speed, rather than silos and hierarchies.

With channels, individuals can share ideas, make decisions and move work forward with a common purpose at pace.

Virtual or physical offices: communication will accelerate to support remote working When everyone isn’t in the same physical space, challenges can arise when it comes to alignment, coordination and maintaining some form of company culture. So, the need to communicate has expedited.

During lockdown, we’ve seen usage of Slack increase significantly as businesses seek to transform communication. For example, the London-listed investment firm Man Group is centuries old, yet was impressively agile during the pandemic, shifting its 1,400-member workforce across 19 offices from Beijing to Boston swiftly and securely to Slack’s Enterprise Grid in under two weeks.

Channel-based messaging platforms continue to support teams, enabling more meaningful individual connections and greater collaboration across departments, offices and time zones. Something that email simply can’t deliver to the same degree.

Being an effective leader in the age of remote working:

1

Check in with employees more often – Those ‘water cooler’ conversations aren’t happening right now, so one-to-ones can help to align people’s focus.

2

Be available – Employees need to know they are being supported. Creating virtual ‘office hours’ and making a list of people to check in on each day can help.

3

Ensure clarity – Don’t make assumptions about things that may seem obvious to you. Describe exactly what you mean, even if you think you’re repeating yourself; not everyone has the same information you do.

4

Focus on results, not time spent – Shift your mindset from focusing on employees’ time to focusing on their output.

2020 has seen a fundamental shift in the way businesses work. The pandemic has been a catalyst for change at a level that simply was unimaginable at the start of the year. Although no-one knows for certain what the future holds, we are confident that the greater transparency, alignment and collaboration that channel-based messaging delivers means it is the future of work. The organizations that have already adopted tools like Slack, are best placed to be agile and innovative, and to get ahead, in this new environment.

Read more at slack.com/remote

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COVID-19 may, eventually, strengthen the office The COVID-19 pandemic has created fundamental questions about the longevity of the office. What will the future workplace will look like? Will the office survive at all?

W WRITTEN BY:

Richard Kauntze Chief Executive, British Council for Offices

hen confronted with a naysayer, I am inclined to remind them this is not the first time the office sector has come into question – nor I imagine, will it be the last.

Since the nineties, digital technology has changed how we work. Each new development – the laptop, the internet, the smartphone – has led to claims that the office was about to die, that we would all work from home thanks to tech. These predictions were, of course, wrong.

The office has thrived, and the UK has led the way. In the past two decades, the UK has built some of the world’s most iconic workspaces – The Shard, Bloomberg’s Cannon Street HQ, the Blue Leanie, the list goes on. Why, when we could have worked remotely years ago, has the office remained so popular?

The reasons are many and varied.

Offices create networks of support Our work is so much more than the tasks we complete between nine and five: it’s about people. The physical office allows us to build relationships and create genuine networks of support.

There is value in the conversations over the coffee machine and the shared complaints by the printer. Our interactions with each other, no matter

how fleeting, have a tangible impact on our attitude to work; they energise us, and they help us form new ideas and think differently.

The office is also where we work best. The modern office is designed to aid our work. Its layout enables groups to collaborate effectively, while also giving room to those who need solidarity and focus.

Our work is so much more than the tasks we complete between nine and five: it’s about people.

The physical office allows us to build relationships and create genuine networks of support.

Its environment, from the lighting to the temperature, is designed to help us focus and be productive. At home, we are faced with countless frustrations and distractions that act as barriers to our work.

Of course, the pandemic also provides us with a period to reflect, take stock of where we are, and where we can improve.

The office of the future Most obviously, COVID-19 will change workplaces as they look to mitigate virus transmission. In the immediate term, this will mean screens for receptionists and touchless toilets.

Further ahead, it could mean new technologies and designs that promote airflow and create environments that are hostile to viruses.

Less directly, COVID-19 will provide greater ‘competition’ to the workplace.

Many firms will now feel confident in their ability to have staff working remotely. They may see this as an alternative to the office.

So, our industry will have to work even harder to show the value of the office.

Offices will have to be designed to even higher standards, and confront some of the great challenges of tomorrow, particularly climate change.

The office will change, but it won’t die. We are social beings and we work best in the office, a truth that has been proved time and time again.

Most importantly, our appreciation for them will likely increase after weeks stuck at home, trying our best to battle slow wi-fi and bored children.

Read more at businessand industry.co.uk

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Technology can boost post-pandemic productivity and employee experience

© I N U EN G

Remote working is now standard practice, meaning it’s never been more important to keep employees engaged and productive.

Technology stands ready to deliver.

I INTERVIEW WITH:

Darren Fields Regional Vice President, UK & Ireland, Citrix

WRITTEN BY:

AMANDA BARRELL

This article is sponsored

by Citrix

n just a few short months, COVID-19 has changed the world of work. If not forever, then at least for the foreseeable future.

The seismic shifts we have seen in working patterns are unlikely to go any time soon.

It’s not easy to keep staff productive and engaged in such circumstances, yet the continued success of organisations across the private and public sector depends on it.

Flexibility, engagement, and productivity In the pre-pandemic world of February 2020, Citrix surveyed UK managers and employees across several sectors, in a bid to understand the relationship between the employee experience and output.

Flexibility and engagement, they agreed, were key to driving productivity in a world of remote working.

While most managers believed their organisation was operating at optimum productivity, just 24% of employees agreed.

Interestingly, 16% of employees doubted their company would ever be set up in a way that enabled maximum productivity.

We believe that employee engagement is vital to the quest for better productivity. Engaged employees tend to be happier, and are more likely to deliver a better customer experience.

The managers we surveyed agreed with us, particularly those in the insurance and retail sectors (88% and 85%, respectively). But just 21% of the employees we spoke to said they felt fully engaged in their organisation’s future.

When asked what was holding them back, employees said inefficient, outdated technology directly impacted their output.

As one employee explained: “There is not enough technology for the workload to be completed”.

Organisations that want to enhance employee experience and maximise productivity as the world adapts to new ways of working must invest in technology.

Accelerating change Our survey respondents highlighted the importance of flexibility, and pointed to projects and initiatives already underway to facilitate this.

Public sector managers who are used to some people working from

home some of the time, must now accommodate remote working for all people all of the time. The NHS, focused on reducing risk and freeing up capacity in the face of COVID-19, has scaled up and rolled out remote consultations.

Government IT teams that have invested in systems that enable a minority of employees to work from home are quickly ramping them up, while ensuring they are agile enough to be sustainable.

Across the board, organisations need to set up communication channels, like conference calls and video-based recruitment processes. They need guidance for how to share ideas and information, as well as training for people on how to use these tools.

There’s a lot to be done.

resources departments need to be dynamic enough to securely cope with the ebbs and flows of seasonal changes in demand and staffing.

Security challenges The utilities and retail sectors, critical to keeping the country running in a time of crisis, face particular challenges.

Cybersecurity has always been a top priority in the highly regulated utilities space, but significantly higher levels of remote access to core systems magnifies vulnerability. Organisations need to close any possible security gaps by providing single sign-on to multiple apps, and automating simple tasks that do not require human interaction.

In retail, where 60% of managers already thought technology could drive efficiency, systems and human

Methodology Our survey was conducted in February 2020. We spoke to 757 IT Decision Makers and HR DMs at organisations with 250-plus employees across retail, financial services/ banking, insurance, utilities, and the public sector.

Within the next month, we will publish a report based on new research following the outbreak of Covid-19, demonstrating how much employer and employee perceptions have shifted in their attitudes to productivity and the workplace.

Flexibility and engagement, they agreed, were key to driving productivity in a world of remote working.

Digital revolution Across sectors, the digital revolution has been coming for some time. Luckily, as businesses and organisations move to adapt models, boost engagement and drive productivity, technology is making new adaptable models of work possible for a continuously changing world.

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The future of work just became more human

©VA R I JA N TA

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WRITTEN BY

Elliot Wellsteed-Crook Head of Partnerships and PR, London Tech Week

COVID-19 and working remotely has made us more human. We must build the future of work in accordance with human values, skills, experience and empathy.

R

emember in 2017, when, during a live BBC interview, the video call was gate-crashed as children of Prof Robert Kelly came bounding into the room, followed by their mortified mother to scoop the troublesome toddlers out of the picture?

The family became an internet sensation. It exposed that, behind the façade of staged video calls and polished personalities, we are human.

COVID-19 has prompted the world’s biggest remote working experiment. This forced experiment could well be the most dramatic reinvention of work in our time.

Remote working has not only led to increased digital adoption – it has presented organisations with a moment to lean into their empathy.

Remote working has sensitised our perceptions of one another Through video calls, we are inviting colleagues and clients into our homes, and providing a glimpse at the people we become beyond the office.

There is no longer a clear-cut, clinical separation between our professional and personal lives. With this, a new type of inclusiveness has emerged, and an opportunity for business to build on leadership, culture, technology, as well as a greater awareness of humanity.

For many, the office-home transition has brought the global workforce onto unified collaboration platforms and bizarrely, has brought the five generation workforce closer together.

Unlike a traditional office environment, where colleagues may be engaged in all manner of disjointed activities, communication has narrowed to fewer channels.

Essential skills are the foundation of the future of work Essential skills are the enduring talents that underpin business success in every context, vital for early careers and throughout people’s working lives. These include attributes such as resilience, leadership, problem-solving and teamwork.

T

WRITTEN BY

NICOLA INGE Director of Employment and Skills, Business In The Community

Human experience is the cornerstone to the future of work The remote working experiment has also exposed the importance of ‘human experience’, both in the tech that organisations use internally, as well as what they send to market.

Human experience is essentially experiences that understand, and are created for, human values.

Seems obvious doesn’t it?

Indeed, technology should not make us less human, but more, and yet we only now appear to be reaching a point where digital transformation is positioned to drive improved human centricity.

Building the future of work we should have COVID-19 has put a new lens on humanity, of empathy, of togetherness. It has put much of the global workforce in the same boat, exposed to the same headwinds of company change, economic uncertainty, and restrictions on day-to-day life. In so doing, it has provided greater commonality.

It has amplified the fundamental, and uniquely human values of emotional intelligence, creativity, personality, and is a reminder for us to build the future of work in accordance with human values, skills, experience, enabled by the technologies that keep it possible.

Read more at businessandindustry.co.uk

Find out more about the importance of essential skills and sign up for our newsletter at bitc.org.uk/ essential-skills Check out the framework and supporting resources at skillsbuilder.org

hese essential skills need (NEET),4 we must do all we can to to be taught in education, give these groups the best chances of valued and assessed through success and stop the disadvantage gap recruitment, and developed widening. through organisational learning and development programmes.

A shared language and a shared Over the past 18 months, Business in responsibility the Community has been collaborating Young people in education, jobseekers with leaders in the education and skills looking to enter the labour market for sectors as part of an Essential Skills the first time, and workers of all ages Taskforce, with a shared ambition looking to progress in their careers to create a common language and need a clear framework and common framework for skills that would language to identify and develop their span education and employment, essential skills. enabling people to develop these skills In May, members of the Essential throughout their lifetime.

Skills Taskforce5 launched the Skills The challenges presented by Builder Universal Framework for COVID-19 provide an additional essential skills with the vision that this motive for businesses, educators, and would enable educators, employers employability providers to do more to and individuals to develop essential develop essential skills now. Some of skills in a consistent way. This shared the trends that were language is vital to already in place due empower individuals to automation are and maximise the being accelerated, as impact of the myriad Essential skills are the businesses rapidly skills development adopt more technology. critical human attributes programmes that are Essential skills are available. needed to maximise the critical human We also need to the productivity gains attributes needed recognise how often to maximise the these skills are made possible through productivity gains technology, which are less overlooked or taken made possible through for granted, with the vulnerable to automation. false assumption technology, which are less vulnerable to often made that these automation. skills are innate or only built through Whole sectors of industry have been experience. It is critical that these skills brought to their knees over recent are developed through our education months, with unemployment predicted system, but employers also have a to reach two million.1 In the months responsibility to ensure that everyone ahead, hundreds of thousands of people has opportunities throughout their lives will be relying on their transferable, to develop the skills that they need to essential skills as they look for new thrive. jobs, with many looking to explore 1 UK economy could shrink by 35% with 2m job losses, alternative industries. warns OBR (2020); Richard Partington; The Guardian, COVID-19 is having a disproportionate available at theguardian.com 2 Sector shutdowns during the coronavirus crisis: which impact2 on the employment prospects workers are most exposed? (2020); Robert Joyce and of groups that were more disadvantaged Xiaowei Xu; Institute for Fiscal Studie; available at ifs.org.uk 3 even before the crisis – young people, https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/ uploads/2020/05/Class-of-2020.pdf. women, older people and low-paid Establishing the Employment Gap (2019); Impetus; workers. Young people will be hardest available at impetus.org.uk 4 hit, with youth unemployment Establishing the Employment Gap (2019); Impetus; available at impetus.org.uk estimated to reach 27%3. With evidence 5 Essential Skills Taskforce members are: Business in the that young people from disadvantaged Community, Careers & Enterprise Company, CBI, the CIPD, EY Foundation, Gatsby Foundation and the Skills Builder backgrounds are more likely to be not Partnership in education, employment or training

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This article is sponsored by Health Assured

How to manage change in the workplace after COVID-19 WRITTEN BY

It’s becoming quite obvious that we don’t live and work in a perfect world. © I N U EN G

W

hatever your opinions of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is clear to absolutely everybody – once everything is done, and the restrictions are lifted, we will be returning to a radically different ‘normal’.

One that may be almost recognisable as the normality we enjoyed last year, but with some key differences.

There’s a distrust in the air over mixed messaging, perceived inequality and uncertainty about just what we should be doing – both as members of the public, and as business leaders.

It’s vitally important that this mood isn’t allowed to take over in the workplace.

An uncertain working environment is far from a happy working environment, and an unhappy working environment is not productive.

So, what can you do to predict, acknowledge and cope with the seismic shift in working practices, expectations and happiness that COVID-19 has wrought?

How solving the collaboration paradox will unlock the potential of distributed teams The UK’s rapid shift to remote and distributed work has accelerated digital transformations, as keeping teams connected has become the top priority for businesses.

A

recent survey found that nearly two-thirds (63%) of UK knowledge workers have increased their use of collaboration tools since transitioning to remote working, also known as ‘distributed work models’.

Even before this shift, collaboration tool usage had skyrocketed by more than 50% over the previous two decades. Yet, productivity levels in the UK had failed to keep pace.

Additionally, burnout had reached a fever pitch, with the World Health Organization officially designating it as an official occupational phenomenon last year.

Despite the incremental benefits that collaboration tools deliver, they also contribute to a collaboration paradox.

If we rely too heavily on collaboration tools for remote and distributed work, we add fuel to an ‘always-on’ culture, where chat notifications, video conferencing fatigue, and endless pings can consume our days even more so than in the physical office.

WRITTEN BY

Chris Farinacci Head of Business, Asana

becomes less meaningful, engagement levels plummet, and burnout increases.

Why work-management and clarity go hand in hand Work management tools like Asana provide this clarity as a living system of record that enables teams to orchestrate their work, from daily tasks to strategic initiatives.

According to our research, nearly twice as many employees using a work management tool for remote and distributed work felt more connected and supported by their manager (30%) than those who didn’t use them (17%).

Additionally, 55% of those using work management software felt more productive, compared to those that didn’t (35%). Ultimately, teams that stay organised and connected can make progress together.

It’s simple. Provide easy access to the help people need.

When it comes to uncertainty, anxiety and negativity about circumstances, the best way to mitigate those issues is by ensuring people can get advice they can trust.

Schools, offices, building sites, hospitals – each is important to the economy, and each is staffed by real human beings, each with fears, worries and anxieties about the strange new future we’ve been thrown into.

Dealing with this future is going

Combatting the collaboration paradox with clarity What drives the collaboration paradox to rear its ugly head? Despite the spread of collaboration tools, many distributed teams lack clarity of who is responsible for what, by when.

People may struggle to pinpoint whether work is on track, and lack predictive power in understanding whether their team can actually achieve its stated goals.

When you’re not sitting next to your colleagues, there can be an incredible lack of real-time clarity around these fundamental questions.

When teams lack clarity, work

Solving the collaboration paradox IT departments have valiantly rushed to equip teams with tools to work remotely.

But, as organisations begin to plan for a phased return to the office, where distributed work plays a key role, businesses need to fundamentally rethink the systems today’s workplaces rely on.

All distributed companies need a real-time system of clarity – to manage who’s doing what when – that aligns attention with intention for more time spent achieving both individual and company goals.

As we adapt to the new world of work, these mission critical tools are more essential than ever to solving the collaboration paradox and fostering a culture of clarity where distributed teams thrive.

© G P O I N T ST U D I O

Teams that stay organised and connected can make progress together.

David Price CEO And Wellbeing Expert, Health Assured

to require flexibility on the part of business leaders.

The days of unilaterally deciding what’s best for everyone in one fell swoop are behind us. After all, in the aftermath of a great leveller like a global pandemic, what use is presenteeism?

Do people really need to be made to attend hour after hour of meetings, roundtables and brainstorming sessions when they could be working – far more efficiently – in the style that suits them best?

And, as well as this flexibility, the importance of workplace wellbeing cannot be overstated.

Whether working remotely or venturing back on-site, people are going to be understandably nervous.

Months of restriction and ominous messaging will do that.

As many as 60% of employees say they’ll benefit from more workplace support.

A comprehensive, clinically based employee assistance programme is perfect for this – confidential, secure, 24/7 365 counselling helplines, with digital offerings in the form of apps and online support, encourage people to voice their concerns, and find real, actionable help.

So support, advice, and workplace counselling are going to see an explosion in growth – because the best workplaces, the ones that truly care, will do everything in their power to make sure their people know it.

Read more at www.healthassured.org

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Standing up to change in the face of a pandemic It’s no secret that our industry is facing something of an identity crisis. More than two months of lockdown has shown that the UK’s workforce is able to work remotely and, for the most part, with relative ease using the latest communication technologies.

T WRITTEN BY

Robin Brodie Cooper Senior Vice-President, The British Council for Offices Director, Gleeds

he idea of the traditional office has been thrown on its head and challenged those of us within the industry with new questions about our purpose and objective. However, it’s important at this juncture to recognise that, while the COVID-19 pandemic is entirely new, disruption is not.

COVID-19 has demonstrated, more acutely than ever before, that the office sector does not exist in a vacuum. To evolve, we can’t isolate ourselves. We must stand up to the changes happening around us and respond. Twenty years ago, workplaces were uniform, grey buildings housing rows of uniform desks in grey rooms. Today, there is no blueprint, no one-size fits-all but rather, different models all vying to best meet demand.

Short and long-term challenges The current pandemic may, particularly in the short term, bring back some of the old office uniformity. In order for offices to operate safely many will introduce similar measures to meet the necessary health and safety requirements.

For example, no matter the occupier, meeting rooms should have strict occupancy limits, floor signage will likely be used by many to signal safe distances for employees using lifts, corridors and stairwells. Receptions across the world will increasingly have in-built screens to protect staff.

But long-term, standing up to change in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic can help us reshape our industry, and build better offices for the people who work within them.

COVID-19 has strengthened community spirit across society. With that comes a new challenge to businesses and their workplaces: to play a greater role in the community. We must build offices that offer greater space for hosting events, or for small businesses

© U N I TO N E V ECTO R

like shops and restaurants looking to rebuild.

The importance of an office is to give workers a landing place where the culture of a firm can be embedded, ideas generated and shared, friendships and teams established and where the younger generation can learn from those with more experience.

As Reid Hoffman, Co Founder of LinkedIn said: “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you will always lose out to a team.”

The office of the future Offices should therefore focus on creating more collaborative spaces, where employees can benefit from the community created within its walls – as well as the one buzzing outside. It’s no secret that many of us will work from home more often in the future. The days we do spend in the office will likely be reserved for the relationships we form there and the physical office should reflect this.

Similarly, more flexible working patterns will create new space in existing offices as occupancy levels fall. This space can be repurposed to provide greater resources for those who are in the office on any given day. Rather than rows of desks reserved for individual

work, we may see greater value placed on wellness with more quiet focus rooms, or gyms, being incorporated as standard.

Ten years ago, everyone predicted the death of the office at the hands of home

But long-term, standing up to change in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic can help us reshape our industry, and build better offices for the people who work within them. working. The catalyst at that point was the rapid evolution of technology in the 90s and the introduction of the mobile phone. They were wrong.

Today, the office sector has an opportunity to prove the naysayers wrong again. By facing up to change, tackling new challenges head on and responding to new demands around connection, hygiene or space, modern workplaces can refocus on human connection in a way that feels entirely new, and entirely compelling.

Read more at businessand industry.co.uk

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This article is sponsored by Workhuman

Workhuman research found that 80% of employees report loving their job when their personal values align with the company’s.

Bringing people together to celebrate what makes them who they are – and recognising the contributions they make – fosters employee engagement and true organisational commitment to D&I. © EL EN A B S

Building better D&I through recognition and connection Recognition and celebration of diversity at work leads to a greater sense of humanity in the workplace for everyone.

R WRITTEN BY

Derek Irvine SVP Client Strategy & Consulting, Workhuman

ecent events in America, and the subsequent ripple effects being felt around the world, have resoundingly shown us that equality in our society is still very much lacking. As the streets fill with protesters demanding justice, and millions of people look to educate themselves about the racial inequalities that are still prevalent in many spheres, so too should we take time to consider the discrimination that occurs in the modern-day workplace.

If nothing else, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how widespread the problem is, with 50% of BAME NHS staff1 saying discriminatory behaviour played a role in unfair deployment on the coronavirus front-line.

Even before the current crisis, reports of discrimination were rife across UK companies, with Glassdoor finding in its recent Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) survey2, that 49% of employed adults have experienced some form of discrimination at work, whether based on race, age, sexual orientation, or gender. More startlingly, the World Economic Forum estimates that equal pay won’t be achieved for close to 100 years.3 Valuing diversity at work Now is the time to start making a difference, but change won’t happen without raising awareness. We need to prompt behavioural changes within organisations that will make the workplace inclusive and welcoming of every single person. This starts with

valuing and embracing the unique contributions that a diverse workforce can offer.

A culture of recognition is key here. In the modern workplace, companies can utilise technology tools – performance management platforms, pulse surveys, and social recognition initiatives – to make sure each and every employee’s individual efforts are seen. This recognition can also be made into actionable data, so that business leaders can evaluate where their organisation is falling short when it comes to D&I, where it is thriving, and how it can look to improve the workplace for everyone in the future.

Those companies that recognise the unique insights each individual brings to work will see increased employee engagement, retention, and satisfaction – all of which encourages employees, and the company as a whole, to flourish.

In fact, a McKinsey report found that companies with more culturally and ethnically diverse executive teams were 33% more likely to see better-thanaverage profits.4

someone’s life experiences can offer a new perspective, bringing our humanity into the workplace is a powerful way to foster a more diverse and inclusive work culture.

Even when teams are remote, people can still celebrate life’s important moments virtually, whether that’s via an informal instant message or bringing the whole team together on video.

Fostering humanity at work is as straightforward as it sounds. It’s about bringing people together, from every walk of life, to celebrate what makes them who they are and to recognise the contributions and impacts they make on an organisation. Especially with colleagues physically apart during the coronavirus lockdown, and emotions swirling around social and racial injustice, bringing employees and peers together has never been more important.

By sharing and learning from one another’s experiences in a safe space, organisations can help create powerful human connections that foster a sense of belonging and being valued at work.

Creating human connections The feeling of belonging at work is no small thing. Workhuman research found that 80% of employees who love their jobs find their personal values align with their company’s,5 and there is no better way of cultivating this than through authentic human connection.

Whether this means taking the time to celebrate someone’s birthday or new baby at work, or learning about how

References 1 https://www.itv.com/news/2020-05-13/discrimination-frontline-coronavirus-covid19-black-minority-ethnic-bame-deaths-nhs-racism/ 2 https://www.glassdoor.com/about-us/app/uploads/ sites/2/2019/10/Glassdoor-Diversity-Survey-Supplement-1.pdf 3 https://www.weforum.org/reports/gender-gap-2020-report-100-years-pay-equality 4 https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2018/01/25/ more-evidence-that-company-diversity-leads-to-better-profits/#30fe32fa1bc7 5 https://www.workhuman.com/resources/globoforce-blog/ new-workhuman-survey-report-the-future-of-work-ishuman

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Last year, the OECD called for a “transition agenda for a future that works for all� to re-shape a more inclusive and resilient labour market. ~ Stefano Scarpetta Director, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD - Page 2

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