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Creating the new norm
•• Creating the new norm Businesses have been forced to do things very, very diferently since early 2020. ‘Lockdown working’ threw everyone into unknown territory – systems had to be quickly established, technology integrated and home ofce space created, with no concept of how long we might be working like that. It was a needs must, temporary solution. As we emerge from lockdown working, however, it’s clear that things aren’t going to go back to how they were before the pandemic. The concept of working fve days a week from an ofce, regardless of what you’re doing or what you need to do, is unlikely to be attractive to current or future employees. “In my view, the fexibility you ofer will become a reason you retain or lose staf,” says Kevin Baker, Regional Director of South East Australia, at Aon. “Flexibility is now an expectation, and each individual is going to have an expectation of what fexibility looks like for them. “There’s no right or wrong answer, other than if you say people have to be in the ofce fve days a week, you’re not going to be an employer of choice.”
HYBRID WORKING – MORE NUANCED THAN YOU MAY THINK While the notion of fexible working may seem simple on the surface, once you begin scratching, it’s deeply nuanced. What will work for a company of 100 people, won’t necessarily work for a business with fve employees. Similarly, what works for one role won’t work for another. And over the coming months and years, it’s something that businesses are going to have to fgure out by trying certain things and seeing how they work in practice. However, the research is clear - hybrid working has a benefcial efect on business2. Under a hybrid working arrangement, employees are 22 per cent more likely to increase productivity and 29 per cent more likely to try something new and innovative. “We haven’t mandated that a certain number of days have to be in the ofce, we’ve left it up to our people to do what they feel is right, within our guardrails of client need and collaboration or connection opportunity,” says Baker. “However, there are times when certain projects or meetings Busting the productivity myth: Hybrid working in Australia 2021. http://1u0b5867gsn1ez16a1p2vcj1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/ uploads/2021/10/Telstra_HybridWorkingReport.pdf
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