In our Consultants Collective predictions for 2021, our member consultants identified many potential long-term trends and impacts of COVID-19 on the future of work, including:
- Employees’ expectations have changed and they will expect more flexibility from their employers in terms of where, when and how they work. Yet working from home will be difficult or impossible for some employees.
- Managers will face challenges and need new skills to effectively supervise a distributed workforce and ensure employee engagement, productivity and innovation.
- Employers will need to figure out how to adapt their culture for a digital world of work.
- COVID-19 has resulted in a move from Boomtowns to Zoomtowns. Companies must rethink their role in communities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has set in motion the need for a “new deal” between employers and employees. Longer-term, and more permanent, work-from-home options mean organizations must rethink everything from manager skill sets to communication and collaboration platforms to re-defining what corporate culture is, to what “community” means, to new ways to address employee engagement, performance, compliance, ethics and brand reputation. Leaders are considering a multitude of questions on these topics.
Employees’ expectations have changed and they will expect more flexibility from their employers in terms of where, when and how they work, yet working from home will be difficult or impossible for some employees:
- How do employees get more/stay engaged as they move to more work-from-home and/or hybrid working teams?
- What kind of new benefits might employees expect for longer-term work-from-home arrangements from their employers.
- How can managers strengthen relationships with remote/hybrid teams?
- Are employees actually more productive working from home?
- How do employees who want to advance their careers navigate the “loss of face time” with their managers or others who influence their career paths?
- How are communication and collaboration platforms changing (or how should they change) to encourage greater connectivity and innovation?
Managers will face challenges and need new skills to effectively supervise a distributed workforce and ensure employee engagement, productivity and innovation:
- What new skills should managers of work-from-home or hybrid model teams be developing?
- What should organizations be doing to address the emerging needs of managers with work-from-home or hybrid teams?
Employers will need to figure out how to adapt their culture for a digital world of work:
- How can organizations reinforce desired culture/values in workforces that are increasingly located in more remote environments?
- What risks should organizations be addressing with more long-term work-from-home arrangements? (e.g., employee productivity, burnout, engagement, belonging, retention, compliance, cyber risk, etc.)
COVID-19 has resulted in a move from Boomtowns to Zoomtowns. Companies must rethink their role in communities:
- As Boomtowns move to Zoomtowns with employees moving out of big cities as the result of more work-from-home and hybrid options, how is the definition of community changing?
- What can employers do to reinforce or establish their role in community engagement/volunteerism when the “where” of community could mean many different locations and new priorities?
- How must employee resource groups (ERGs) evolve to address the needs of diverse employees and their employers in a remote work environment?
Please join this important conversation with Consultants Collective member consultants Mark Dollins and Gurmeet Ahluwalia on February 25th from 9am – 10am PST in a Consultants Collective Conversations online event, part of our 2021 Trends & Hot Topics series. Register here for this complimentary event. Let’s create the future of work together.
