WFH: ‘Like the internet before, we’re at an inflection in the history of work’
The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent switch to home working has put us at a pivotal moment in history that could change how we do things forever, according to a specialist.
We are about to see a dramatic shift to hybrid working in a post-pandemic world, according to research director Alexia Cambon, who, along with her team, has been studying extensively home working models since the start of the pandemic.
Speaking at a webinar this week, she argued the pre-pandemic, office-centric way of working was already outdated, and based on practices set up decades ago before we had access to modern day technology.
“We’re at an inflection point in the history of work,” she said. “There have been a few key moments like this in our history; electricity, that boosted the industrial revolution, and the arrival of the internet really triggered the digital era.
“We’ve seen that the pandemic has very much normalised remote working, and this normalisation means that we’re about to see a dramatic shift to an era of hybrid work post-pandemic.”
Cambon defined hybrid work as employees not bound to any single location, they could, for example, work from the office, from home, at a third location, or a mixture of all three.
“We’re on the precipice here, this is a great opportunity for us to really re-think,” she added.
Flexible work
Research by Gartner HR found more than half (56%) of the remote UK workforce indicated that flexible work policies will impact their decision to stay at an organisation.
However, there is something of a generational divide when it comes to what staff want. Seven in 10 (70%) Gen Z employees want a hybrid workplace post-pandemic, with only five per cent wanting to be fully on-site.
By comparison, just over a third (38%) of baby boomers want a hybrid set-up, while a similar number (36%) want to move back to on-site working.
Many businesses, including those in the Square Mile, have opted for a hybrid model, after asking staff how they would best like to proceed in a post-pandemic world.
Cambon said it was time to re-visit age-old working wisdoms, including nine to five workdays and the idea of the office as HQ.
“The future success of organisations really hinges on their ability to reject these work design structures and really ask themselves: If the history of work had never been invented, if today is day one of work, how do we design how we work?” she continued.
“We really have an opportunity to stop designing work around location and start designing work around humans.”