Headlines everywhere are warning us of the big impending resignation. LinkedIn have even named it #TheBigShift.
Scaremongering or a real threat?
Based on our WorkBuzz data, and many conversations we’ve been having with our clients, what matters most to people in their work and home life has fundamentally pivoted, putting more fact than fiction into TheBigShift!
Collating evidence across recent WorkBuzz pulse surveys:
· 50% of employees want to work in the office/work location 2 days or less (where their roles allow)
· 47% of employees feel that productivity has improved when working from home, 44% say it stayed the same, with only 9% saying their productivity has decreased
Pre and Post COVID views on flexible working
Pre COVID, it’s hard to remember a single employee survey asking how many days you would like to work from home, and how productive you’ve been/would be working from home. However, it’s very easy to remember the increasing volume of comments in surveys over the previous 5 years, from employees saying they could be far more productive and happier working in a more flexible/hybrid way. When presenting this back to leadership teams pre COVID, it was often met with pushback based on two reasons:
· We don’t have the technology/hardware/software to support people working from home, certainly not en masse
· It would be impossible for teams and individuals to collaborate/communicate effectively with each other if done remotely
COVID has forced the hands of many organisations to rapidly get the tech in place to work and collaborate remotely…so what arguments remain? A brave thing to put on the table at any point in the discussion, do leadership teams trust their employees when working remotely?
It’s essential to understand this pivot within your own organisation, in your own context.
What does this mean for you moving forward?
1. HR/people teams and organisations as a whole are facing an overwhelming rush of new challenges that could break the dam – knowing where to focus your energies and efforts is key when you only have finite resources
2. Evidence from some of our surveys have shown a disconnect between the leadership and the majority of the organisation in preferences/direction on future hybrid working arrangements
3. Many employees no longer see hybrid working as a nice to have, but an essential (especially after having a prolonged period working this way, and in many cases getting 2-3 hours a day of time back from not commuting)
4. Do you know your own traditional reasons for attrition? Do you know what your new norms are, are you suffering from the same employee pivot on expectation? You only know what you know, and don’t know what you don’t know until you investigate
5. Regular employee listening and understanding has never been more important
6. People have re-prioritised work life balance/wellbeing and time with loved ones. In one of our recent LinkedIn quick polls:
7. Leadership and culture are key – success will happen through the deliberate actions of our people leaders. Preparing them for these challenges, helping them understand what matters most to their teams and possibly overcoming their own potential biases will make or break the future employee experience
8. Do not get caught out on the wrong side of the tracks if the latent BigShift hits your organisation, especially if it’s slow to react to the new employee expectation
Can you risk waiting to see if this all blows over (which some argue it will), or would you rather know what your own employees are feeling right now on their expectations about the future of work, so you can plan deliberately with your Leadership Team in the coming months?
If you want to find out more about our experiences and how WorkBuzz can help you prepare, please contact hello@workbuzz.com.