Blog Layout
The beginning of the end? Or the end of the beginning?
14 January 2022
This time last year I outlined 6 ways our work habits would change in 2021, based on my conversations with business and HR leaders. So what did we actually witness last year? And will it be 'back to normal' or 'all change again' in 2022?
Businesses continued redesigning their operating models and transforming front and back office operations, and business travel remains at much lower level than pre-2020. The shift towards more tech-enabled client conversations and service delivery is here to stay. Individuals may have gained more control over how they fit their home lives around their work but the working day has lengthened without any proven rise in productivity and concern is growing about joyless work interactions, the rise of loneliness and disengagement. Hearing the mistrustful phrase ‘shirking from home‘ may be a distant memory and many organisations are continuing to trial different working arrangements before committing to a fixed ‘future model’. However there’s a chasm emerging between ‘old school’ leaders insisting on a blanket, full-time return to the office and more enlightened leaders who accept that people are unwilling to give up the autonomy they have gained over their work lives. The result? With the Great Resignation and the Great Job Hop, employees are voting with their feet if they see a better deal (aka greater flexibility) on offer elsewhere.
How might these developments play out further over the coming months? What are the new characteristics of the employer/employee relationship? Here are 7 trends that will reshape our world of work in 2022:
1. Time-centric benefits. The gym membership and travel loans seem outdated now and in their place, people are valuing time-related benefits. These include: additional/more varied leave entitlements; meeting-free weeks; and more creative time-flexible schedules such as term-time hours or being able to ‘bank’ non-working days and take these in longer stretches during quieter business periods. There will be more demand for sabbaticals, and at senior levels too such as this recent HSBC example.
2. The return of the awayday. As many people are likely to continue working remotely at least half of the time, the value of bringing people physically together centres more on nurturing social bonds, strengthening interpersonal trust and encouraging creative collaboration in a more rewarding way than talking through our computer screens. Outdoor-, nature- and wellbeing-focused activities and venues will be prized. Geese herding may have had its day though, according to the FT’s Working It podcast.
3. More collective recognition and rewards. As business strive to maintain or strengthen team bonds and a united sense of community, they are increasingly moving to team-based bonuses and away from rewards mechanisms that pit individuals against each other in a win/lose, competitive culture.
4. Investment in the ‘manager as coach’. Historically firms have only invested in building coaching expertise among senior executives and ‘high potential’ future leaders; line managers have tended to be overlooked. With hybrid- and remote-working, employee wellbeing and retention higher up the agenda, the role of the manager is no longer that of a supervisor looking over team members’ shoulders. Instead, successful managers now need to be coach, facilitator, counsellor and inclusive leader rolled into one.
5. Flexi-time leaders. The last bastion to fall: whilst many workforces have embraced more flexible working arrangements lower down the hierarchy, the senior leadership team is often still full-time and most likely to be found back in the office. Until that changes, people will look up the career ladder and see only one model for life at the top. And that will hamper efforts to create a more diverse senior cadre.
6. Offices that work. Workplaces that are designed to meet people’s actual needs, not a uniform set of cubicles or hot desks alongside a bank of meeting rooms. Quiet rooms, creative/collaboration spaces, hybrid-meeting rooms like this one at Google, areas for downtime and physical/mental recharging will be needed, as will outdoor working spaces where these can be created. People will be encouraged to plug in to any desk, pick up the (sanitised) noise cancelling headphones, switch on their ‘do not disturb’ light and turn off their video cameras and online messaging channels.
7. Team time management. Teams will benefit from allocating half days or full days to certain activities such as routine meetings, performance management, planning, learning and development, productive working time and social activities. Similarly greater co-ordination will be required across leadership groups around which days they will be in the office so that people coming in on less popular days of the week (Mondays and Fridays) will still have access to senior colleagues, the chance to network professionally and to be mentored in person. And in return, those leaders can talk directly and regularly with a wide range of employees so they are picking up new ideas and concerns and responding swiftly.
Professor Julian Hiscox, chairman in infection and global health at the University of Liverpool, has told the BBC that ‘it is now the beginning of the end, at least in the UK … I think life in 2022 will be almost back to before the pandemic.’ After two difficult years we’re all hoping we’re on the final stretch, but for me there's one big caveat: that our COVID-driven innovations at work leads to more permanent, positive change for businesses and employees alike.
Businesses continued redesigning their operating models and transforming front and back office operations, and business travel remains at much lower level than pre-2020. The shift towards more tech-enabled client conversations and service delivery is here to stay. Individuals may have gained more control over how they fit their home lives around their work but the working day has lengthened without any proven rise in productivity and concern is growing about joyless work interactions, the rise of loneliness and disengagement. Hearing the mistrustful phrase ‘shirking from home‘ may be a distant memory and many organisations are continuing to trial different working arrangements before committing to a fixed ‘future model’. However there’s a chasm emerging between ‘old school’ leaders insisting on a blanket, full-time return to the office and more enlightened leaders who accept that people are unwilling to give up the autonomy they have gained over their work lives. The result? With the Great Resignation and the Great Job Hop, employees are voting with their feet if they see a better deal (aka greater flexibility) on offer elsewhere.
How might these developments play out further over the coming months? What are the new characteristics of the employer/employee relationship? Here are 7 trends that will reshape our world of work in 2022:
1. Time-centric benefits. The gym membership and travel loans seem outdated now and in their place, people are valuing time-related benefits. These include: additional/more varied leave entitlements; meeting-free weeks; and more creative time-flexible schedules such as term-time hours or being able to ‘bank’ non-working days and take these in longer stretches during quieter business periods. There will be more demand for sabbaticals, and at senior levels too such as this recent HSBC example.
2. The return of the awayday. As many people are likely to continue working remotely at least half of the time, the value of bringing people physically together centres more on nurturing social bonds, strengthening interpersonal trust and encouraging creative collaboration in a more rewarding way than talking through our computer screens. Outdoor-, nature- and wellbeing-focused activities and venues will be prized. Geese herding may have had its day though, according to the FT’s Working It podcast.
3. More collective recognition and rewards. As business strive to maintain or strengthen team bonds and a united sense of community, they are increasingly moving to team-based bonuses and away from rewards mechanisms that pit individuals against each other in a win/lose, competitive culture.
4. Investment in the ‘manager as coach’. Historically firms have only invested in building coaching expertise among senior executives and ‘high potential’ future leaders; line managers have tended to be overlooked. With hybrid- and remote-working, employee wellbeing and retention higher up the agenda, the role of the manager is no longer that of a supervisor looking over team members’ shoulders. Instead, successful managers now need to be coach, facilitator, counsellor and inclusive leader rolled into one.
5. Flexi-time leaders. The last bastion to fall: whilst many workforces have embraced more flexible working arrangements lower down the hierarchy, the senior leadership team is often still full-time and most likely to be found back in the office. Until that changes, people will look up the career ladder and see only one model for life at the top. And that will hamper efforts to create a more diverse senior cadre.
6. Offices that work. Workplaces that are designed to meet people’s actual needs, not a uniform set of cubicles or hot desks alongside a bank of meeting rooms. Quiet rooms, creative/collaboration spaces, hybrid-meeting rooms like this one at Google, areas for downtime and physical/mental recharging will be needed, as will outdoor working spaces where these can be created. People will be encouraged to plug in to any desk, pick up the (sanitised) noise cancelling headphones, switch on their ‘do not disturb’ light and turn off their video cameras and online messaging channels.
7. Team time management. Teams will benefit from allocating half days or full days to certain activities such as routine meetings, performance management, planning, learning and development, productive working time and social activities. Similarly greater co-ordination will be required across leadership groups around which days they will be in the office so that people coming in on less popular days of the week (Mondays and Fridays) will still have access to senior colleagues, the chance to network professionally and to be mentored in person. And in return, those leaders can talk directly and regularly with a wide range of employees so they are picking up new ideas and concerns and responding swiftly.
Professor Julian Hiscox, chairman in infection and global health at the University of Liverpool, has told the BBC that ‘it is now the beginning of the end, at least in the UK … I think life in 2022 will be almost back to before the pandemic.’ After two difficult years we’re all hoping we’re on the final stretch, but for me there's one big caveat: that our COVID-driven innovations at work leads to more permanent, positive change for businesses and employees alike.
Enjoyed reading this? Share it with others
Recent blogs
Growing successfully as a business means first letting go of old ways of operating; only then can people fully embrace the new.
Teams are what make or break business performance. With a relatively small investment in each team, your retention rates, employee engagement scores, and productivity measures will go up.
How to encourage this in a way that works for your business. There is a real and urgent need to address the creeping norm of employees working all hours, being contactable and available all the time. But Labour’s recent abandoning of a legal ‘right to disconnect’ in favour of a voluntary code of practice is probably the right move, in my humble opinion. Here are 5 reasons why, 5 ways to make switching off a win/win for you and your organisation, and 5 positive actions to put into practice now. Why legislation is too blunt a tool: Heavy-handed legislation will probably antagonise businesses, not secure their support. There's more to do first to spotlight organisations that are managing the boundaries well between working & non-working time well and proving the business benefits. It’s too early to say confidently how well similar legislation has worked abroad. Australia only adopted this last month; the longer-standing fine-based approach in France and Portugal isn't proven as an effective deterrent. Human-centred organisations are probably already paying attention to this, being creative about work boundaries and using their approach to enhance their employer brand. They'll be the ones who proactively adopt the code of practice and make it genuinely part of ‘the way we work here’ - and they'll win at attracting and retaining talented people longer-term as a result. ‘But clients will go elsewhere’. This is the defence I often hear in rejection of proposals like the right to disconnect. No, client won't IF you engage them in the change and show them that it means they get to access your sharpest minds working at their best,. When organisations see their early-adopter competitors living the code and still winning & keeping desirable clients - and nabbing theirs - they’ll swiftly follow suit. Let’s be clear: some people will continue to say yes to high pay/exciting work in return for ‘you’ll work whenever when we need you ‘. But it’ll be a transactional relationship lasting for as long as it benefits the individual (or employer) and no longer. Easy come, easy go. If that’s your philosophy as an employer: own it and be transparent. Don’t sign the code and pay it lip service. If yours IS an organisation that wants to do better at encouraging employees to switch off, try: 1. Using Labour’s shift to open up conversations at work about pressures to communicate or be available after hours. 2. Adding ‘we support the right to disconnect’ in your recruitment material and having examples to share with candidates during interviews. 3. Supporting selected managers and their teams to trial different experiments around switching off. 4. Asking people ‘how can we help you do to your best work within your normal working hours?’. ‘What gets in the way of this?’. 5. Setting up an industry-wide collaboration to trial different ways of achieving the same outcome. Asynchronous and flexible working are here to stay and bring many benefits to individuals and their employers. But they can make it a challenge to co-ordinate and communicate within teams and across time zones. Here's what you can do personally to uphold the right to switch off and respect other people's non-working time: Add an email footer like: 'I'm sending this now because it suits me but I'm not expecting a response outside of normal working hours'. Work offline if you're working late evenings or weekends, so you're not visible on Teams/whatever channels you use, and schedule your emails to send the next day to avoid the ripple effect of people responding immediately. If people on your team have repeatedly worked late or sacrificed home lives to help reach a deadline, then give them some time back straight afterwards. It's simple and effective. If you're a manager, find out people's preferences around being contacted - or not - during out of hours or when on leave. Everyone's different, so make it your job to know. See annual leave as an opportunity for a colleague to step up and have some stretch experience by covering for you, with support beforehand. Then switch off properly and don't muddy the water by dipping in and out unasked. Listen to my podcast conversation with Ben Higgins, Global CHRO of Wholesale Banking at Societe Generale, about how he does this. These examples are about applying #timeintelligence. If you want to know more about my #timeintelligence sessions for leaders, teams and individuals, get in touch . And if you're making good progress in your organisation on switching off - or at least trialling a few changes - then I'd love to hear more. During normal working hours, of course.
Managing the school holiday juggle and announcing book 2!
What does it cost us to be always rushing ahead? What are we missing by not pausing to look back?
When sticking stops. A barn owl perched observantly on a post in front of me, a heron gliding by like a feathered Concorde with its wings tucked in. Just two of the birds I’ve spotted today whilst working at UK’s only family-owned and managed National Nature Reserve, at Elmley in Kent. I’m not working in the sense of checking on wildlife and mending fences, I’m working in the sense of enjoying an indulgent writing retreat in glorious isolation, tucked away in a definitely-not-roughing-it wooden cabin complete with outdoor tub overlooking meadows and marshes (more pics here ). This retreat is both a long-anticipated birthday gift from my family and the official starting point for writing my second business book. It’s been brewing in my head for months and is now begging loudly to be given some proper love and attention. So here I am, off-grid in every sense with nowhere else to go and nothing else to do for 24 hours than plan and write. Write what? I hear you ask…
What does time off mean to you? How well do you 'not work'?
I waved a Minion off to school yesterday for World Book Day. At least my 12 year old daughter now sorts out her own WBD outfit thank goodness, and there’s now another 364 days before WBD rolls around again. But we’re not done for this week because it's International Women’s Day today! In recognition of this global celebration of women’s contribution to work and society, every day this week I’ve been sharing a statistic on Linked In that describes how women are impacted by our 'time culture' at work. If ‘time culture’ is a new expression to you a) you obviously haven’t read my award-winning business book The Future of Time yet and b) it means our attitudes, behaviours and expectations around the way we spend our time at work. What gets valued and rewarded, what doesn’t. What we spend much of our time on, what we don’t spend so much time on (but ought to). Because surprise, surprise, women are disadvantaged by our ‘time culture’ in several ways. Here are my top five.
Making change stick. Recently, I’ve been tuning in regularly to the 'Just One Thing' podcast by Dr. Michael Mosley. In each 15-minute episode, Michael delves into a single, manageable change that can enhance our health and extend our lifespan. Thanks to him, I’m keeping up my green tea ritual (that was a quick win), incorporating daily planks into my exercise routine (right after my morning run - oof) and reheating leftover carbs. I’m a bit of a podcast butterfly and I’m wondering why this podcast has stuck firmly now as a favourite. Besides Dr. Mosley's warm and reassuring tone, I think it boils down to 3 things. Firstly, focusing on just one thing feels refreshingly attainable. Let's face it, we're bombarded with complex self-improvement strategies daily. Who wants a whole industry of new ‘to do’s to implement, remember and track? Secondly, the changes are entirely within my control. I don't need anyone's permission to start planking in my bedroom, even if it does provide my husband with daily amusement. I can make these changes tomorrow, better still, today. Thirdly, the advice is specific and the outcomes are clear. I know precisely what to do and whether it’s working. Whether it's keeping my blood pressure in check or reducing blood sugar spikes, the benefits are measurable. Now, shifting gears to my work life, I find parallels between Dr. Moseley's approach and my Time-Intelligent Teams workshops. These workshops aim to enhance teams' productivity and enjoyment at work – to help people to invest their time more effectively. We focus on one collective and one individual change that are within the team's control. Through reflection, brainstorming, and laughter, teams identify actionable steps to work smarter, not harder. The feedback from these workshops has been resoundingly positive with managers reporting improved communication, higher levels of commitment to the change and more cohesive teamwork. Of course the power of ‘just one thing’ is that once you’ve mastered that one change and it has proven it’s value, it simply becomes part of how you do things. Which leaves you free to cast around for the next ‘just one thing’ that could also have a transformative effect. And another after that. That’s why, to my amazement, wall squats have joined my daily exercise routine and I’m evangelising about the benefits of cooked tomatoes. I just need to find Michael’s episode on why sticky toffee pudding will reverse the ageing process…..