2020 brought massive upheaval for organizations worldwide. Capgemini Research Institute found that as many as 68% of businesses have accelerated, launched, or planned transformation initiatives in response to COVID-19.
Cost resilience matters in this new economic climate; but as well as seeking savings, enterprises need to facilitate a balance between home and office, and between productivity and employee satisfaction. This has to be done while ensuring the workforce is safe, motivated, and supported; and while protecting operations from new disruptive threats.
The biggest remote working experiment of all time has seen many employees embrace extra flexibility, and productivity has increased, but the risk of burnout increases as the boundary blurs between work and home.
We argue that by embracing the new working paradigm, employers and employees can reap benefits in three crucial areas:
Sustainability:
The new working paradigm can reduce an organization’s environmental impact, and improve perceptions of a company’s brand by consumers who are increasingly sustainability-conscious.
Real estate:
A more flexible remote working model means fewer people in the office and fewer square meters to maintain. This combined with geographical redistribution and new talent sourcing can bring significant cost savings.
A new employer promise:
The new way of working redefines the relationship between employers and employees in areas ranging from recruitment to benefits. There’s a strategic opportunity for HR to not only deliver on ethics, fairness, and employee experience, but to make pioneering decisions with the power of data.
Business leaders need to take a balanced and carefully measured approach to reap the full benefits in these areas, and build resilience and relevance for the future. In this point of view we examine the challenges and levers they can seize to achieve a hybrid working model.