Empathy Archives - Page 4 of 4 - The Future of Work Exchange

The Future of Work Exchange Meets “The Deep End”

Business Leadership Contingent Workforce Solution Providers Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 09/08/2021

The business world is consistently evolving, with a global pandemic setting off accelerants that are pushing the boundaries of how businesses address how work is done. Future of Work Exchange research points to a variety of factors that enterprises are focused on today in regard to how they are transforming the way work gets done, including:

The transition from manual- and paper-based tactics within workforce management to a world of a digital talent acquisition and recruitment.
The prevalence, benefits, and long-term impact of remote work and hybrid work models.
The rise of empathy-led business leadership and a greater focus on worker well-being/wellness.
The critical interjection of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into core business operations, and;
The continued growth and impact of the agile workforce.

I recently had the pleasure of joining Workforce Logiq’s Chief Solutions Officer, Geoff Dubiski, for the company’s highly-regarded The Deep End vodcast/podcast series. Click below to enjoy FOWX meeting The Deep End for insights on empathy in the evolving world of work, why the hybrid work model is here to stay, and some peeks of Ardent Partners’ new Future of Work Exchange Research Study for 2021:

An Uncertain Start to the School Year Means Uncertainty for Business, Too

Business Leadership General Insights Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 09/02/2021

This week, both of my children began their 2021-2022 school years. My daughter (eight, heading into third grade) and son (five, heading into kindergarten) waddled onto the bus with masks on their faces and and anticipation in their hearts. For both of them, and this is something that surprised me as a parent, wearing a mask is commonplace: at the grocery store, at Target, at indoor activities, and, of course, at school. For children that are similar in age to mine, there’s a constant worry that nags at both of my wife and I’s minds, and that’s that both cannot receive any of the three available COVID vaccines.

For the millions of children under the age of 12, the first few months (at the very least) are going to have to leverage the same non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) used during in-person learning last year, including masks, social distancing, better ventilation, altered activities, etc. Once one of the major vaccines (most likely Pfizer’s or Moderna’s) is approved for children under 12, the game changes tremendously. But for now, we’re experiencing increased anxiety as working parents.

This uncertain start to the school year translates into uncertainty for businesses, too (something I talked about during a recent (Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast episode). If we take a quick trip back to a year ago, many of us remember the first day of school as the first day of “remote school,” in which we, as working parents, would simultaneously pop open two laptops and start the day. We would shuffle around conference calls and video meetings, frequently checking in on our children to ensure that they had the proper modules up on their screens. No doubt that this had a tremendous affect on productivity, consistently, and morale within our roles at our respective enterprises.

A year later, none of us want to go through that experience again. However, the reality is clear: the vast majority of school-age children are not yet qualified to receive a vaccine, meaning that those aforementioned NPIs are all we have to combat infection in the classroom (although vaccinated teachers are certainly helping the cause, it still is only one vaccinated person in a room filled with upwards of 12 or more bodies). And again, as discussed on the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast, there are major ramifications if things get out of hand and we are forced to contend with a hybrid schooling model.

Behind the uncertainty for the new school year is also a ripple effect due to the Delta variant’s rampage. After-school programs, activity centers, and daycare facilities are all dealing with their own staffing shortages and workforce issues. This extreme gap in both daycare and aftercare has a direct influence on whether or not working parents who cannot perform remotely wade back into the labor pool. Although 70% (or more) of the jobs lost during the pandemic have been restored, those difficult-to-fill positions may remain that way for some time as high-contact roles (restaurants, hospitality, retail, etc.) fall out of favor due to the increasing impact of the Delta variant.

Business leaders must approach the coming weeks (and months) with a balance of empathy, flexibility, and strategic planning in order to thrive this wave of the pandemic:

As always, lead with empathy first. Empathy, as stated here on the Future of Work Exchange, is the only way forward. Personal and business lives have converged in such a way that the world around us has forever transformed the human elements of our persona. Emotions are apparent at work, and work bleeds into our home lives. Working parents have a level of anxiety over unvaccinated children heading back to in-person learning. The upcoming school year is a perfect time for leaders to approach with empathy, understand where their workers are coming from, and develop a positive experience that doesn’t add to the already-rampant concerns. The talent experience is still paramount, no matter if workers are at home or in the office. Leaders can alleviate a great deal of stress by being empathetic (even more so) during the next several weeks.
The flexible workplace is the ideal workplace. Businesses should be used to this by now. During the more optimistic spring months, execs were tinkering with reopening plans amidst a wash of vaccination campaigns and superior weather. Although many of those return-to-office plans have been put on pause, the typical business should have no problem operating in a virtual, digital, or hybrid environment. There are challenges with remote working and hybrid models, for sure, but a few more months can be a major asset in both seeing how a return-to-school looks for working parents and a possible decline in Delta-driven COVID cases.
Communication is key with worried working parents. Leaders should be proactive in how they communicate with their workforce, especially during these next several weeks. Working parents, as mentioned, are already nervous enough about the health and safety of their children…they shouldn’t have the stress of what will happen at work on top of that. Managers and leaders must facilitate conversation now about what processes are in place in the event that the work day is disrupted due to child quarantines or a lack of daycare, and stick to a plan that can be executed in an agile manner. Can workloads be balanced? Should projects have additional team members that can “tag in” if someone needs a few hours to attend to their children?
Experiment with new and innovative work models. If full return-to-office plans have been put on hold, now is the ideal time to experiment with new work models. “Task context” is a critical piece of this strategy, and if more time in remote settings has no negative ramifications on projects and initiatives, then leaders know that a quick shift to fully-remote can support business goals. If the opposite is true, leaders should begin strategizing around how to get work done in a challenging environment; should specific team members be in the office while others are at home? Who requires access to in-office resources, as well? The months ahead are mired in uncertainty, however, enterprises can utilize this time to continue evaluating which work models are right for the organization in the long run.

In addition to the above elements, there is another notion at hand: the range of enterprise skillsets and how they can be shifted within a digital environment. Many businesses have poor visibility into their available skillsets and expertise, including both full-time workers and non-employee talent. Understanding where and how these skills are deployed company-wide can be a crucial advantage in developing new work models. Businesses that operate on a digital scale can easily push skills to where they are needed, and, as an uncertain fall looms (due to both the return-to-school and Delta variables), this dynamic approach can alleviate some of the productivity gaps that may arise if working parents experience disruption.

No matter what the next several weeks brings to the world of talent and work, business executives can act now to ensure that empathy, flexibility, communication, and innovation are at the forefront in how they lead their organizations to success during uncertain times.

Once More, With Feeling: Empathy Is the Only Way Forward

Business Leadership Diversity and Inclusion HR Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 08/23/2021

“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy, we can all sense a mysterious connection to each other.” – Meryl Streep

Over the past several months, there’s one word that has popped up more than so many others in my conversations with hiring managers, business leaders, HR practitioners, and talent acquisition executives. It’s a word that hasn’t been used very often in the corporate world, but it’s a concept that we are learning has such a profound effect on how work gets done. It’s at the very heart of who we are as humans and it’s a reflection of the energy we put out into the world around us. And, as we are finding, it’s a foundational way for businesses and their leaders to build long-lasting relationships with their workforce.

Empathy.

Many of us knew exactly what it would be like when the biggest remote work experiment in history kicked off in the dark days of March 2020. However, many others struggled with newfound responsibilities within their home as kids shuffled no further than the kitchen table and a laptop instead of to the bus. Many of us waded in the collective, anxious waters of a global pandemic that forced us indoors and to shutter social interaction. And too many of us still bear the scars of the most dangerous public health crisis in our lifetimes.

All of this means one thing: empathy must be the root of how we move forward. It must be the foundational layer to how we approach how work gets done and how we structure a workplace environment that is both inclusive and safe. It also means that, in the face of the Delta variant’s rampage across the country (and world), we as business leaders and we as business workers must prioritize empathy in nearly every facet of how we address our roles, our jobs, and our communications with each other.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research finds that 77% of businesses expect more empathy-driven leadership moving forward within their organizations, proving that “cold” and archaic modes of leadership, particularly instilling a culture of fear and rigidity, are detrimental to the overall enterprise. In order to retain talent and reengage key workers when needed, business leaders must create, foster, and deliver on the best possible workplace culture. By reinforcing expectations, practicing transparency, promoting positivity, and leveraging accountability (for both workers and managers), business leaders will ensure that empathetic efforts will help their organizations improve the talent experience for its total workforce.

Empathy within the workplace (and the workforce) has incredible benefits:

Empathy-led leadership will help business execs develop long-lasting relationships with its workforce. Workers that can perform their tasks with a touch of flexibility whilst feeling comfortable and safe within an inclusive environment are more likely to want to have a better relationship with their managers. Workers will be more apt to open additional lines of communication with their leaders and be honest about their workloads and any pressure they may be feeling about their roles. These long-lasting relationships can be especially critical when workers have opportunities outside of the organization, and, could potentially be a deciding factor on taking their talents elsewhere or staying put.
Leveraging empathy as a core Future of Work tenet will result in more productive workers and teams (and better business outcomes). Appreciation is also another factor that can catalyze a workforce. Workers that feel appreciated, along with a sense of physiological safety in an empathetic environment, are more likely to perform at a higher level due to a better overall employee experience. If they truly believe in what they are doing and feel that they are appreciated in how they perform their jobs, that extra level of value certainly cascades into the ultimate completion of the project. “Better business outcomes” has long been a goal for organizations, and empathy as a foundational workplace facet can be a critical contributor to achieving this initiative.
Empathy fosters a better connection with workers that can help stave off potential issues before they are exacerbated. Workers that have an open line of communication with their leaders will always feel that they can discuss major personal and business issues without fear of scrutiny or reprisal. In these scenarios, simply talking about problems, especially before they become worse, can potentially stave off detachment from the role or even resignations. Leaders pushing empathy can foster stronger relationships with their workers and ensure that these unions are robust tools in boosting the overall talent experience. In age that some have dubbed “The Great Resignation,” anything that executives can do in terms of empathy, flexibility, etc. will go a long way towards key talent retention.
Empathy-led leadership is one of several solutions to worker burnout. Think about the world we’re currently living in. The pandemic has been nothing short of an anxiety-ridden rollercoaster ride. Some of us have lost loved ones, others have been sick and experienced COVID first-hand. Many of us still battle with the lingering personal ramifications of this public health crisis. As we discussed recently, worker burnout is an epidemic on top of a pandemic; business leaders are the essential front-line of defense when it comes to curtailing this major issue. Empathetic and inclusive workplace environments (including, yes, remote environments!) can help curb some of the worker burnout issues that plague today’s talent by helping employees feel that 1) they are not alone in what they are doing, 2) they can reach out for help if they are overwhelmed, 3) they can establish flexible boundaries for when personal issues need to be prioritized, and, 4) they can work effectively with their leadership team to construct the best possible work-life balance for the maximum productivity and wellness.

A phrase known as “compassion fatigue” has been uttered lately as more and more leaders tire of the past eighteen months and the changes they’ve had to make in how they manage their workforce (it’s also a phrase thought of and spoken by medical workers that are rightfully exhausted at the thought of caring for unvaccinated individuals as hospitals begin to surge once again across the country). The FOWX theory is this: if business leaders are tiring of pushing empathy and rooting it into the foundation of their workplace environments, they shouldn’t be surprised when productivity wanes or workers begin to quit.

The COVID-19 pandemic (an ongoing pandemic, I may add) has been stressful for everyone, no doubt. However, empathy is the only way forward for the world of business. It’s the only way that workers will have a sense of inclusion, wellness, and appreciation. Leaders must respond to challenging times with empathy and flexibility, not just for themselves, but for their direct reports, as well. According to Future of Work Exchange research, nearly 70% of businesses expect leadership to focus understanding the perspectives of the workforce as they adapt to personal and professional change over the next 12 months. When the public health crisis is in the rear-view, it will be those businesses that have led with empathy and truly understand the human elements of their workforce that will retain their top talent.

The Permanence of Workplace and Workforce Transformation

Business Leadership General Insights HR Talent Talent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on 08/11/2021

Around this time last year, there was a spirit of optimism that had been missing for over six months. The waning weeks of 2020’s winter brought disruption like never before, with the spring months forever etched into our minds as a period of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety. The summer of 2020 brought a sliver of hope that coronavirus cases would recede in anticipation of a better fall. We unfortunately know how the story goes from there: inching cases from September through the end of November brought one of the globe biggest’s winter surge before millions of COVID vaccines were administered through the late weeks of winter 2021 and through the spring. And yes, now we’re living a Delta variant world, but there’s at least some science-led expectancy that its enhanced transmissibility will result in a shorter surge than the ones earlier in the year.

If we look back to last summer, though, for just a moment, there was an aura of variability that sparked a temporary wave of thinking in how businesses managed their workforce and structured their workplace environments. “At some point, hopefully soon, we’ll get back to normal.” We’ve been saying it for months since then, hoping that there will be some sort of signal that it’s okay to get back to full office, cluttered highways, and crowded meeting rooms. Maybe there’ll be a point in time when those carefree, pre-pandemic days will once again be a steadfast reality, right?

Wrong.

If there’s anything that we should be discussing now, it’s the permanence of transformation. The pandemic left an indelible mark on how we get work done, from the way we engage talent to the means of aligning skillsets with specific roles and projects. In our personal worlds, we think, act, and move differently. Even those of us who are vaccinated routinely wear masks in grocery stores and other crowded areas. While there will absolutely be a day that we can battle COVID as an endemic piece of our seasonal virus gauntlet (much like the flu or the common cold), the truth is that we are all different from the collective experience of the past 18 months, which will soon be “the past two years” and then the “past 36 months.” We’re looking at a future of on-and-off mask mandates, vaccine boosters, and “embers” of hotspots where inoculation is low. We’re standing up against a continued fight against a “goldilocks” of a virus that will be with us forever.

That modicum of permanence, that we’ve been fundamentally changed…why can’t we accept that in how we conduct business? Do we really think that there will be a day sometime soon when we throw out all of the productivity gains we’ve seen from a shift to remote work? What about the realization that businesses can effectively engage top-tier talent no matter the location? And is there a point in time when enterprises suddenly stop relying on the extended workforce?

Well, no, of course not. Which means that the evolution we’ve collectively experienced as business professionals over the past 18 months is permanent, a series of uniform changes to how we think about talent and how we think about how work gets done. Consider that:

Nearly half (47%) of the total workforce is considered “non-employee,” another sharp increase from the year before and likely a result of the workforce agility gained from tapping into this on-demand, top-tier talent.
75% of businesses state that the pandemic forced them to reimagine how they apply skillsets to projects and how they structure their workforce.
70% of enterprises believe that the extended workforce effectively allowed them to be more adaptive during the challenging times of 2020.
82% of businesses expect worker flexibility and related issues (such as empathy) to permanently transform how work is done.

Look at how fast the past year-and-a-half went by and the major talent/work shifts during that time period: remote and hybrid work as fundamental layers of survival, executive leaders managing with empathy and flexibility, the agile workforce becoming even more of a tool for thriving in changing times, etc. Change can be relative in most cases, but today, it is certainly not. We’ve all collectively experienced change in our personal and professional lives, and now the permanence of workforce and workplace transformation needs to be embraced as the current and future state of work. Businesses that don’t adapt and don’t buy into the foundational revolution of change will not only be left behind, but may find themselves never being able to catch up. Everything that’s happened in the greater world of work and talent, be it the viability of hybrid work or the massive shift to worker flexibility, is part of a permanent fixture of change and progression.

Workers understand what’s at stake and it’s the main reason why resignations are at an all-time high in the scope of business history. Worker experience (what we call the “talent experience” here at FOWX) is paramount for career development and work/life balance. Flexibility has cascaded down into the very fabric of the workforce and will forever become a crucial piece of the overall talent experience.

Given the uptick in extended talent utilization, the workforce has changed. Given the uptick in remote and hybrid work, the workplace has changed. Given the requirements and criticality of flexibility and the employee experience, the worker has changed. Permanently.

Let’s Not Ignore Worker Burnout

Business Leadership Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 08/09/2021

In late spring 2004, I graduated from Suffolk University with a degree in print journalism. In-between traversing between temporary accounting and finance gigs, I knocked on the doors of every local newspaper in the North Shore area above Boston. Some editors gave me a firm “no” while others offered poorly-paid freelance opportunities to write an article or two week per week. I eventually stumbled into a newspaper office in a larger Boston suburb and spent 45 minutes with the owner and publisher chatting about newspaper layout, local politics, the Red Sox, and more. When he found out that I could write, edit, and design (a “three-tool player” in the world of journalism, a rarity), he hired me on the spot.

During my first couple of weeks, I thought I landed a dream job…right out of college. I was covering political issues, police budget cuts, school committee meetings, and so much more. During my second or third week as “designer version” of my role, when I had to put together nearly 50 pages of ads, stories, features, pictures, etc. using Microsoft Publisher, the owner saw me yawn and rub my eyes. “You’ll do great in this industry, kid,” he said. “As long as you don’t get tired, you’ll be fine.” I thought he was joking, so I smiled. And less than a year later, I left the industry for good.

I clocked more 18-hours days than I could remember. I once worked 28 straight hours because a co-worker up and quit during an argument with the owner. In order to attend a Red Sox game (during their magical 2004 season, no less!), I had to make up the work when the game was over (at 10:30pm). When those same Red Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years, I wasn’t at home celebrating; I was in front of a desktop computer putting together my second of three newspapers that evening. At the age of 22, I was burnt out, unhappy, and regretting having a dream that involved writing for a newspaper.

Nearly 17 years later, the very problem of worker burnout is unfortunately all too-common.

Business professionals are facing an epidemic on top of a pandemic: extreme burnout and work fatigue. Eighteen months of combating an increased workload on top of managing remote learning, an extreme lack of social interaction, and a rollercoaster ride of anxiety during the worst public health crisis our our lifetime. Some industries (such as healthcare and human medicine, veterinary medicine, light industrial, etc.) have experienced such an increased level of work that employees are facing the worst burnout issues of their careers. Staff shortages have been to blame for the majority of burnout cases, as businesses are often forced to “do more with less” in a period of continued uncertainty. And, within sectors that have experienced “boom” times over the past year, there has been a greater demand for products and services, resulting in organizations placing even more pressure on their workforce to perform.

In addition, workers that have moved to fully remote or hybrid models still routinely face a “blurring” of work and life balance, with care for children and their homes (on top of an additional workload) contributing to late nights on the computer, extended time on mission-critical projects, and work on the weekends. Worker responsibilities have surged, as well, as businesses seek to align staff shortfalls with the existing workforce.

Unlike pre-pandemic times (when burnout was still very much an issue), employees facing the epidemic of burnout now also have to contend with additional social, political, and health issues that are all comprise the world that is 2021. And it’s so much more than simple “stress,” too: mental anguish stemming from a workplace environment (and YES, a home office counts!) can have significant ramifications on business professionals, including irritability, physical illnesses, mental health issues, waning productivity, and, worst of all, a constant questioning of if the position/role (or, even worse, the career itself) is worthwhile.

Here at the Future of Work Exchange, we’ve talked at-length about the value and impact of flexibility and empathy in how executives manage their workforce. Business leaders can extend these concepts to ensure that they address the core issues behind worker burnout and improve overall work-life balance. To start, organizations must:

Institute deeper communication between managers and staff. Workers aren’t always willing or able to give away information in a conversational setting with managers, and, managers shouldn’t be playing coy with their workforce’s emotions. Open up the proper channels of communication and get right to the issues at hand: leaders asking if their employees how they feeling and allowing them to freely discuss the physical and mental impacts that all avenues of work are having on their work-life balance. Communication may seem like a gigantic obstacle, but more often than not, once the gates of discussion are open, both sides will begin truly understand the perspectives of what is occurring from a burnout perspective.
Provide a more flexible system of paid time off, vacation, and mental health support. Scroll through LinkedIn on any given day and you’ll read about various companies taking a progressive approach to workforce management, whether it’s offering extended time off, additional benefits for fully-remote workers, and services/offerings for mental health support. No worker that’s currently clocking 60-hour weeks will turn down an opportunity to develop a better plan for vacation or time off. Although workers with mental health issues may be hesitant at first, once they feel comfortable taking advantage of such benefits, they should utilize whatever the enterprise offers for mental health support.
Consider a dramatic short-term shift in the overall workplace structure. The long-vaunted “four-day workweek” has been effective for some businesses over the past several years, however, not all organizations could shift to this model and be successful from a productivity perspective. With that said, though, running such a dramatic short-term experiment could reveal so much about its longer-term success a viable option…quite simply: if you haven’t tried, how do you know it won’t work? Now is the perfect time to move to a four-day workweek, especially with many return-to-office plans on hold due to the continued impact of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. If a two-month experiment reveals that workers are happier, more productive, and better engaged with their roles and with each other, then it’s an experiment worth conducting.
Develop a direct line of collaboration regarding upskilling and reskilling opportunities. Although not a front-and-center issue when it comes to worker burnout, there is sometimes a hidden root cause: a misalignment between a worker’s total skillset and the work they are performing within a stressful or demanding environment. It’s not so easy juggling a career with an anxious home life in what was supposed to be the waning months of a pandemic but has now turned into a horrifying repeat of the early months of 2021. Managers must institute a direct line of communication about career paths and “where” workers want to be in the future. If there is an opportunity to undergo training for a different unit or department, there’s no better time than now to kickstart that initiative before burnout gets worse. The last thing executives want to experience is another period like this past spring, which were the largest on record regarding worker resignations across the United States. Existing experience and expertise is always going to be an incredible benefit, even if the long-term fit between the worker and his or her current role isn’t set up for long-term success. Employers must give these workers the opportunity to leverage their unique talents and apply those skillsets to other facets of the greater business.

Contingent Workforce Weekly, Episode 603: “Hot Vax Summer” Meets the Delta Variant

Podcast by Christopher J. Dwyer on 08/05/2021

An all-new edition of the Contingent Workforce Weekly episode, sponsored by DZConneX, a Yoh company, highlights how summer reopenings and return-to-office plans are currently being derailed by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The big ideas around the summer being a time of reopening, celebration, and a return to normalcy have all been thrown into a tailspin, especially knowing that this variant results in more frequent breakthrough cases and can possibly be spread by even the vaccinated population. The question, though, remains: what does it mean for business?

Tune into Episode 603 of Contingent Workforce Weekly below, or subscribe on Apple Music, Spotify, Stitcher, or iHeartRadio.

The Impact of the Delta Variant on the World of Talent and Work

Business Leadership General Insights Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 08/02/2021

Throughout 2020, businesses across the globe waited with bated breath for the development of a medical marvel to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Up until late year, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were the best (and only) way to stop the spread of the coronavirus. When Pfizer was the first Big Pharma firm to hit its vaccine home run, both the business and personal sides of our personas were exalted with joy and relief.

We’re now seven months into the most critical vaccination campaign in history, and, once again, the slithering coronavirus is continuing to wreak havoc. Once a “variant of interest,” the “Delta variant,” much like its predecessors (Alpha, etc.) has become the dominant strain of the virus across the world. In the United States, which just recently experienced an incredible decline in cases alongside millions of vaccinations per day, has now seen yet another sharp uptick in cases and hospitalizations due to the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant, which suggests is as easily spreadable as the chicken pox (which is, in non-scientific terms, not good). Just a little over a month ago, the seven-day moving average of cases hovered around 12,000. Today, that same seven-day moving average has hit 72,000.

All of this essentially means one thing: within the next several weeks, people are either 1) going to be vaccinated, or, 2) going to contract the Delta variant. The big ideas around the summer being a time of reopening, celebration, and a return to normalcy have all been thrown into a tailspin, especially knowing that this variant results in more frequent breakthrough cases and can possibly be spread by even the vaccinated population. The question, though, remains: what does it mean for business?

Many organizations have been pivoting and adapting for so long that it remains an easy decision on how to spin their reopening or “return to the office” plans; these enterprises can effectively continue doing whatever they have been doing, whether it’s continuing a fully-remote work model or leveraging the power of the hybrid model. In most cases, these business leaders have already have the foundational tools to weather the next several weeks. However, for those businesses that have struggled or have spent the past few weeks touting a “big return,” what should be the plan of attack?

First and foremost, base whichever workplace strategy on science and data. It’s too easy for executives to base summer strategies on country or global data and make decisions from there. The CDC did have a more pointed line of thinking with mask mandates, though, as it relates to the spread of the Delta variant: for individuals in “high prevalence” areas, masks should be worn indoors regardless of vaccination status. In those counties with “low prevalence,” masks for vaccinated persons can be left up to the individual. The same should apply for the business mindset with a pinch of salt: utilize the county-level, data-based approach but understand that workers may be traveling from further regions that are in areas of higher prevalence. And, also understand that with cases surging in nearly 70% of the United States, it may only be a matter of time before we’re all re-masking in indoor settings once again.
Safety must be paramount, no matter the strategy. It can be incredibly disheartening (and exhausting) to have to reissue mask mandates and social distancing awareness within an office after a few months of relaxed guidelines. The good news throughout all of this (as I read in a New York Times newsletter on Friday morning) is that the Delta variant’s anticipated surge in the UK never truly occurred, petering out at 25% of its estimated peak before settling back to the mean. Owed to increased transmissibility, the sheer volume of inoculated individuals, and the continued mysteries around this novel coronavirus, we may (hopefully) not experience the same type of surge we saw in the winter months (when cases were hitting 250,000/day). However, workplace safety must be paramount, and if business leaders must reissue mask mandates even for those vaccinated, or, alternatively, continue in remote or hybrid settings, it will ensure that physical well-being remains a priority.
Focus on empathy and flexibility as continued strategies. For some regions, working parents are about to send their kids back to the second school year under pandemic culture. For others, the Delta variant remains a cause for concern for workers that are immunocompromised or live with immunocompromised individuals. Adding in yet another layer of stress can be deficient to worker productivity if there is unease regarding a return to a physical location, so business leaders and managers must continue to focus on their empathy-led direction and be flexible in how units and professionals choose to get work done. It’s been nearly 18 months of adaptability…what’s a few more weeks? Or a couple more months? By now, we know what works in remote settings and what does not. For many professionals, even being around disruptive home life has resulted in the best possible levels of productivity and an enhanced work-life balance. This mode of thinking must cascade up to the leadership suite: continue being flexible in how work gets done, continue to lead with empathy, and, most importantly, be aware of worker well-being and their emotions.
Broach the great vaccination debate and stick to a plan. It has been proven that privately-owned businesses can mandate vaccinations for their workers. Before the emergency use-authorized vaccines were actually available, this was a discussion that had started to gain steam by both those who believed that vaccinations were the only way out of this pandemic versus those who were vehemently against a series of vaccines that were developed in record time. This debate has raged on for months now, with many individuals wary of the three EUA-approved jabs or downright against the very concept of them due to longstanding (and incorrect) beliefs that COVID-19 was nothing more than a hoax. With so many heartbreaking stories of younger individuals being intubated and realizing that it did not have to come to such measures if they had only been vaccinated, the scientific truth is that Delta’s transmissibility will seek out those who are not inoculated and wreak havoc. Business leaders are in a tough position: do they mandate vaccinations as a condition of employment for the sake of science and safety but risk alienating workers that do not want to be told to be vaccinated, or, allow workers to decide for themselves and possibly risk a local surge that could be incredibly disruptive to business operations? No matter the decision here, leaders cannot waffle; if the mandate is the best way to move forward, stick to this plan and ensure that workers have all of the support they need, be it time off to receive the shot, an extra day to deal with possible side effects, etc. Empathy here, as always, will be helpful in executing such a plan.
Above all else, the power of communication will be key. Throughout the entirety of the pandemic, one of the worst ramifications on professionals and workers was an overwhelming feeling of anxiety sparked by uncertainty. Business leaders cannot muddle through decision-making and cause panic or worry amongst the workforce. They need to use this time, especially as science continues to uncover the continued possibilities of vaccination breakthroughs (and whether those who have been jabbed can spread the virus as robustly as those who are unvaccinated), and clearly communicate short-term plans with their teams. Inform that changing environments may delay reopening plans and that the executive team is keen on science and data in designing the next wave of back-to-office planning. For workers, knowing that they will be in a remote or hybrid environment for several more weeks can alleviate some of that anxiety and ensure that they can focus on being productive.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to throw curveballs at us. It’s a novel virus that has mysterious consequences and an uncertain origin. The last thing anyone should expect at this point is a premature declaration of victory. What’s so much different today than last year is that we have actual tools in highly-efficacious vaccines that prevent the worst possible scenarios of COVID while allowing those who are vaccinated some small semblance of normalcy.

Businesses have been stuck in a perpetual cycle of change, adaptation, and uncertainty. Looking across the country (and other regions around the glove), tourism is nearly back to where it was pre-pandemic. The global economy is nearing early 2020 levels, as well. The speed of destruction caused by the Delta variant, however, could very well result in some rigid restrictions that we thought were gone for good. However, if the path ahead, especially over the course of the next month or two, means that businesses have to pause office reopenings and stick to what has worked best over the past 18 months, well, then, they know exactly what to do and how to do it.

The Future of Work movement has long been predicated on evolution, flexibility, and change. The concepts behind the Future of Work’s core principles were ideal accelerants for a business world begging for change and progression. Delta is taking its best shot right now and flaring up cases across the world and especially within the United States. It’s certainly exasperating to go from the highs of millions of vaccinations per day to a 700% increase in daily cases, however, businesses have been resilient throughout the past several months and there should be no expectation that this will change however long Delta continues to blaze through the hopeful final months of the biggest public health crisis of our lifetime.

The Hybrid Work Model is So Much More Than “Working From Home”

Business Leadership Diversity and Inclusion Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 07/26/2021

Look around at the typical news sources. Some of them are proclaiming doom for the vaunted “hybrid work model” in which businesses allow their workforce to work remotely several days a week while limiting in-office time. These same news sources and pundits were, not too long ago, singing the praises of the digital enterprise and its ability to adapt during unprecedented times. There’s no doubt that many business leaders crave a return to pre-pandemic times, when their devoted workers would trudge through awful commutes, sit through endless meetings, and deal with all of the Dilbert-like annoyances of life inside of an office.

However, it’s mid-2021…and workers have moved on both physically AND emotionally. Simply put: the hybrid work model is here to stay.

Some businesses might see the dramatic drop in coronavirus cases (even though the Delta variant is causing upticks and surges across the country) and a splurge of available vaccines as a ticket back to normalcy. “Normal,” as in “Let’s go to the pub down the street” or “Let’s catch a screening of “Space Jam,” sure, alright. “Normal,” as in “Let’s go to the office five days a week”? Nope.

Workers have had a near-18-month period in which they have not only been enabled with the ability to work from home (or anywhere with an internet connection), but also the very spirit of flexibility in how they approach their roles, projects, and overall workload. Businesses adapted to changing times, shifting how they measured productivity and the overall impact of their workforce. That flexibility has cascaded into how workers and business professionals structure their days, interact with their family, coordinate child care and related activities, and ultimately how they choose to apply their time across various projects and initiatives. Employee well-being has also rocketed up the priority list, with nearly 68% of businesses expected to integrate employee well-being into remote and hybrid workforce structures, according to upcoming Future of Work Exchange research. One of the many silver linings of the “greatest remote work experiment in history” was that so many business professionals now had the ability to incorporate exercise and well-being directly into their workday, choosing a mid-afternoon jog instead of a pre-commute run, or a late morning Peloton ride in-between video meetings.

Let’s forget, for a moment, that the hybrid work model is often centered around physical proximity and instead focus on mental energy. The hybrid work model is more than just telecommuting; it revolves around the notion that business leaders care about their workers and want them to be productive and happy. There is a symbiotic link between the talent experience and the hybrid work model that cannot be ignored ever again. With diversity and inclusion at its most important inflection period (and rightfully so, as a core component of the Future of Work movement), creating an “inclusive” culture and workplace translates into ensuring that employees are happy, healthy, and feeling welcomed by their peers and leaders. With so much of the Future of Work revolving around productivity and business outcomes, enterprise leaders must ensure that they are designing flexible work environments that allow an “elastic” means of getting work done, which includes a level of empathy and well-being in how they manage their total workforce.

While the media may be feeling pressure to report on the “Next Normal,” they are forgetting that the changes over the past year weren’t temporary, but rather fundamental shifts in how businesses operate moving forward. Nearly 90% of businesses, according to FOWX research, expect a sharp increase in remote work over the next 18 months. Furthermore, the expected percentage of workers operating in remote or hybrid environments is expected to double by the time 2021 ends, from 21% pre-pandemic to nearly 40% at the end of the year. The technologies and tools now available to even the smallest of businesses means that flexibility, collaboration, and productivity can all converge to result in positive business outcomes.

The hybrid model is more than working from home. It means being more available to family. It’s about being more engaged with one’s emotions and personal needs. It is the improvement in work-life balance and making work more meaningful. It means being both more productive and having an enhanced quality of life. It is, in essence, the Future of Work.

The World is Nearing Normalcy, But Will the Workforce Ever Be the Same?

Business Leadership Talent Talent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on 07/07/2021

In mid-June, CNN’s collaboration with Moody Analytics (the “Back-to-Normal Index”) indicated that the United States economy is “90% of the way back to where it was before the pandemic began over a year ago,” a stark contrast to the heartbreaking days of last spring and summer. Air travel and transportation are actively reaching pre-pandemic levels, while some markets indicate that the global economy could mirror February 2020 by the very end of the year.

Consumers are certainly taking advantage of the COVID-19 vaccine boom, spending more and more of their funds on the goods and services that were mainly out of the question less than a year ago. This activity, perhaps, is the strongest indicator that we are, albeit slowly, getting things back to some level of what we could call “normalcy.”

However, the pandemic and its ramifications left an indelible mark on the workforce; the below shifts represent the fact that even though some elements of the world and businesses may return to normal, the workforce will never be the same:

The next mass exodus of women from the workforce is happening right now. Back in March on the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast, The Mom Project’s co-founder and COO, Greg Robinson, predicted that we may see another mass exodus of caretakers from the workforce, especially moms. And a Washington Post article found that after the early COVID shutdowns, nearly 11.3 million jobs held by women “vanished almost immediately, as women are over-represented in the retail, restaurant, travel and hospitality sectors.” Add in the need to be home without proper, in-person schooling, and this is a recipe for disaster for women in the workforce…something that could take upwards of two-to-three years to return to pre-pandemic levels. Companies like The Mom Project are certainly helping to alleviate this issue (check out our conversation this past week with the solution’s Donna Yelmokas), and the advent of digital staffing solutions and talent marketplaces are enabling moms and other caretakers access to roles that fit within their schedules. However, it is also incumbent on today’s business leaders to cultivate a culture that is founded on flexibility and empathy to get back to those pre-pandemic points even faster and allow women, moms, and caretakers to bring their incredibly valuable skills back to the workplace.
And, speaking of flexibility and empathy, business leadership will never be the same. As the world evolves into a “new normal” (or whatever you want to call it), both longtime FTEs and extended/contingent workers are going to place evermore emphasis on the overall “talent experience,” a concept borne from an application of employee engagement and employee experience attributes applied to both employee and non-employee workers. Aspects like remote work, flexible hours, and an inclusive culture are all critical concepts for talented individuals seeking their next role (be it a full-time or contingent project). Business leaders must look to a “culture of flexibility” as the foundation to how they lead. Ardent’s upcoming State of Contingent Workforce Management 2021 research study also finds that 82% of businesses will provide more flexibility regarding worker lifestyle issues, including childcare/daycare, schooling, etc., in the year ahead.
“Alternative” channels of talent become primary means of talent engagement. Even though direct sourcing and talent pools were high-priority strategies going into 2020 (and before a worldwide pandemic), they became even more crucial when traditional means of talent acquisition (such as proper interviewing) weren’t possible. Today, direct sourcing represents an ideal means of converging top-tier skillsets and expertise and on-demand talent engagement in the same package, allowing businesses to funnel the best-of-the-best into segmented talent pools and talent communities. Too, the talent nurture aspects of direct sourcing enable businesses to foster strong communication with their candidates, ensuring a positive candidate experience even before these workers are engaged for a particular role or project. The “next normal” will see an exponential rise in the utilization of direct sourcing, for sure.
New and evolved work models form the foundation of the Future of Work movement. This all-encapsulating concept brings together the brightest of innovation from learnings over the past year, and the approach is multi-pronged: 1) understand which modes of talent engagement are best for the business based on the levels of skillsets required, 2) apply an analysis that can determine whether positions, roles, and entire divisions should be distributed/remote, 3) innovate around how productivity will be measured (with an edge towards outcomes rather than hours worked), 4) implement whichever new safety and health precautions that are required (which, yes, includes whether or not COVID-19 vaccinations are mandatory), 5) foster and cultivate a workplace environment of flexibility and empathy, and, finally, 6) determine the best possible alignment between digitization and human-led processes.

The Link Between Mental Health and the Future of Work

Business Leadership Talent by Christopher J. Dwyer on 04/16/2021

Even though it seems as if time passed by both slowly and quickly during the past, very strange 12 months, it’s not that difficult to remember the days immediately preceding the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic (and, for us in the States, the days just prior to the President announcing a national State of Emergency). Many of us may have spent the weekend beforehand spending time with loved ones in a restaurant or movie theater, or perhaps enjoying a night out with friends at a crowded bar.

Within a matter of days, those activities were shelved and the world as we knew it was changed nearly instantaneously. For individuals with mental health issues (which affect 26% of all adults in the United States, according to the National Institute of Health), the toll was much greater: unheralded anxiety due to uncertainty, loneliness, and a constant barrage of negative headlines of the unfolding calamity.

Compounded by global economic disruption, massive layoffs and furloughs in specific industries, and a general sense of vagueness regarding the progression of the pandemic, talented workers with mental health issues needed flexibility more than ever over the past year. While it is only human to support these individuals with care and support, there is a greater link between mental health and the Future of Work…one that is founded on the limitless potential of empathy in how businesses address how work is done.

Empathy and Flexibility as Critical Future of Work Attributes

If there’s one thing that we learned over the past year (and let’s be honest: we’ve learned MANY things, from how to bake bread, the importance of video conferencing mastery, and much more), it’s that the pandemic’s disruptions lead to an interesting development: many of the Future of Work movement’s evolving principles, including remote work, digital transformation, and non-technological strategies, were accelerated.

Businesses quickly learned how to collaborate across distributed workforces/teams, while others experienced first-hand the value of automation in business locations that couldn’t allow for more than a small percentage of on-site work at a given time. In looking at the less obvious accelerants, however, there is one that has taken on greater meaning and impact in the face of the myriad changes the business world has collectively experienced: the rise of empathy and flexibility.

The collective trauma left in the pandemic’s wake affected nearly every individual in some profound manner, a joint sense of struggle that opened pathways for business leaders and managers to employ different modes of leadership. For example, working parents faced with a sudden lack of daycare or school needed both the actual and emotional support of their leaders to contend with a series of new challenges, while the dramatic shift to remote work ruptured the once-delicate work/life balance and required those same leaders to be more flexible in how they managed their staff.

Mental Health’s Role in the Future of Work

The issues detailed above sat on top of the already-critical issues faced by the tens of millions of workers with mental health issues. A worker with anxiety or depression (or both) could now contend with burnout due to taking on additional new roles in the age of social distancing, as many more workers with more severe mental health challenges are still forced to traverse the complicated pathways left behind by how to be productive while various modes of worry plague their minds, even now a year later. Too, the pandemic itself triggered a new “wave” of individuals who experienced mental illness for the first time, compounding the greater issue at-hand.

What does this mean for the Future of Work movement, you know, the set of attributes that describe how a business optimizes its talent, technology, and strategy to best get work done? Well, it all boils down to fusing mental health and employee wellbeing into greater workforce, staffing, and work optimization strategies, much like how diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are becoming table stakes for how business address projects, staff roles, and find top-tier talent.

Addressing mental health, as well as employee wellness and wellbeing, must be melded into other foundational workforce strategies, similar to how new technology and new talent acquisition approaches (such as direct sourcing) have become key pieces of the Future of Work puzzle. The very essence of the Future of Work movement is to optimize how work is done and enhance the productivity of both talent and technology. Mental health is a critical factor in just how productive, creative, and innovative the workforce can be in how work is addressed and ultimately optimized.

As business leaders continue to prioritize the “basics” of supporting worker mental health (via empathy and flexibility), the following actions will be critical in the year ahead:

Push employee wellbeing up the priority list for 2021.
Offer an open and inclusive culture for those workers that need to speak their minds.
Cultivate an environment in which all workers, regardless of position, feel “physiologically safe.”
Prioritize the human connections between leaders and their staff (such as scheduling more video conferences).
Institute flexible policies that discourage worker burnout and allow for enhanced productivity.
Restructure paid time off (PTO) policies to ensure that workers can take the time they need to maintain a healthy work/life balance.