4 Ways Work Will Look Diff erent in 2022

By Scott Dust

Organizations that want to be successful will need to strategically adapt to ensure they’re able to retain employees

THE WAY WE WORK has changed drastically over the past year. The integration into our lives and our reliance on technology has also increased. We’ve reached the era of “tele-everything,” and virtual or hybrid work is now the new normal. As we settle into new routines before the new year, it’s important to take stock of where we’re headed in 2022.

Along those lines, below, I off er fi ve predictions as a professor in business management and Fast Company contributor, for the upcoming year of work. To make the most of these predictions, organizations can adapt each to their own companies’ needs.

THE DEFINITION OF FLEXIBILITY IS EVOLVING

Employees want all sorts of things from their work. They want fair pay, opportunities to grow and develop, a positive organizational culture, and more. Over the last year, however, there has been a major shift in what employees want the most. While equitable compensation is consistently at the top, the newest employee priority is actually fl exibility.

We used to think of fl exibility as fl exible work schedules; the ability to have half-day Fridays or rearrange hours across the workweek. This is outdated. Today, when employees say they want

fl exibility, what they really mean is that they want to be able to get their work done anytime

and anywhere. It’s no longer about rearranging hours, but about throwing out the idea of hours altogether. Employees are essentially saying, tell me the deliverable and the due date, and I’ll get it done.

My prediction is that organizations that focus on fl exibility will have a much easier time attracting and retaining talent. Some organizations are balking at the idea of such extreme fl exibility. That is their strategic choice. It could be because their product or service requires a face-to-face workplace. It might also be because it produces a specifi c culture or interaction pattern for employees. It’s important to note, however, that purposefully ignoring fl exibility will shrink the size of the talent pool.

THE CUSTOMIZATION OF HYBRIDWORK OPTIONS

During the pandemic, organizations were forced to send employees home so that they could work remotely. Employees, for the most part, enjoyed this virtual option. Well-being, work-life balance, and productivity all appeared to improve. Organizations were leery because they worried that employees would miss the interaction and collaboration that takes place when face-to-face.

In turn, a compromise ensued: the hybrid work arrangement.

Hybrid is the new normal. However, there are as many variations of hybrid work as there are organizations. On one end of the spectrum, organizations can let employees work from home or the offi ce whenever they see fi t. On the other end of the spectrum, organizations require specifi c days for employees to be present, sometimes as many as four days a week.

Many organizations have started in the middle. The vast majority tend to ask specifi c teams, units,

or departments to come into the offi ce two or three days per week. The challenge here is that this team-based approach is oversimplifi ed, and in some ways, counterproductive. For example, recent research suggests that virtual work leads to more, not less, within-team collaboration. The real challenge is that we miss out on cross-team collaboration, which leads to knowledge transfer and organizational innovation.

Each employee has a specifi c work-home situation and job function. Given these individuallevel variables, team managers are already beginning to make custom arrangements for these employees. Although organizations have set the mandate across the organization—an equitybased approach—managers aren’t willing to lose key employees, and in turn, are willing to make idiosyncratic deals.

My hunch is that organization-level mandates will eventually turn into cultural suggestions, but the manager will ultimately have the fi nal say. The manager, not the CEO, knows their team’s needs. Managers have a much clearer estimation of whether work location mandates will work or not. Let managers make the call.

FACE-TO-FACE SUBSTITUTIONS

Virtual communication will never replace faceto-face communication. In organizational behavior research, it outlines how the richness of communication diff ers by the medium. Asynchronous virtual communication works great for sharing information. Synchronous virtual communication works better for dissecting and clarifying information. However, face-to-face communication is ideal when the situation is complex. Interactions aren’t constrained by a 30-minute calendar invite, and participants can pick up on subtle, emotion-laden cues or body language. Additionally, face-to-face communication is better for building trust, a key component of any work setting.

Given these diff erences, my prediction is that organizations will start investing heavily in two things. The fi rst is HR-tech. Many organizations are already using some form of surveying to uncover engagement and job satisfaction. Now, more than ever, organizations are also starting to invest in technology that allows virtual or hybrid employees to get to know each other better.

Without random run-ins and impromptu conversations, it’s hard for employees to get to know each other personally and get an update on what they do and what they are working on. For example, companies like BeRemote are infusing their technology into existing systems like Microsoft teams to ensure employees can get to know each other better. Similarly, companies like Cloverleaf offer daily coaching insights on team members to help ensure they work better together.

The second is high-quality off -sites. There is an art to formulating the perfect off -site, and organizations, especially virtual organizations and hybrid organizations, will need to fi gure this out. The off -site should include opportunities for leaders to engage in strategy or establishing a unifying vision, for teams to grapple with their toughest questions, as well as a hefty amount of team-building and rapport.

BEHAVIORAL TELEMEDICINE IS HERE TO STAY

Perhaps one of the few positive aspects of the pandemic was the increase in transparent and nonjudgmental conversations surrounding mental health. As the world experienced change

and challenge, it caused many to experience worse mental health-related symptoms. Because medical facilities were closed, providers started investing heavily in telemedicine. Organizations realized that the only way to ensure that their employees had access to their providers was to start off ering telemedicine options, which in many