Since the beginning of 2020, the world of work has changed dramatically….a bit of an understatement - but what an incredible pivot for a lot of businesses! There’s been a lot of creativity and acceptance for new ways to work and places to work from. Undoubtedly there are some businesses that due to their nature don’t have the option of changing the way they operate but for many, business found a way to carry on.

It’s really challenged the traditional 9 to 5 (let’s be honest, 7 to whenever…) working style of the corporate world. In my last corporate job, within the 6 or so years I was there the workforce went from less than 5 to many, many remote workers. It was a hard sell at first. The few remote workers in place were people who had formerly worked in the corporate office and had proven themselves as trusted and effective employees.  Due to increasing business need for talent and shortages of that talent in certain locations, remote working was eventually embraced. The best part of it was that it the talent pool became wide open, which led to the ability to hire some great people that we wouldn’t have been able to convince to relocate. We had remote managers managing in- office teams and remote teams being led by in-office managers as well as remote managers managing remote teams. The key to success in this endeavor is, you guessed it, good managers. Managers who are leaders, that lead by example and engage with and interact with their teams are the ones who thrive. On the drama scale, the remote team led by the remote manager had the least drama of any other arrangement.

Another new way of working, windowed working, has also been gaining in popularity. Windowed work allows employees to divide their workday into windows of time that allows them to work in blocks or windows of time rather than “core hours” between 9 and 3 for example. Again, this is not ideal for every job, but if it’s great for people that are working from home and have kids that are in school part of the day or maybe are being home schooled at this time. Anyone who has someone in their lives they need to help care for would appreciate this type of schedule. There are expectations set for this arrangement though – emails must be answered, calls taken and returned and meetings must be attended, etc., but there is much more freedom of choice as to when the majority of their work will be produced.

Other pivots I’ve seen are reduced hours of operation per week, half week in office-half week out, 3 weeks home-1 week in the office per month and I’ve seen lots of examples of businesses fully operating online and planning for this business model well into next year. Some really creative things have emerged.

These alternative schedules are continually gaining ground but have also created some concerns surrounding workplace culture. Concerns about developing company culture, as well as about diversity and inclusion, especially when groups are already marginalized and struggling to be seen and heard. I think this is where some dedicated attention and resources for Diversity and Inclusion, as well as, Training and Development can play a big role in keeping things on track. Investing in management teams so they know how to manage and have time to do it properly can go a long way in keeping a culture intact. Communication can flow and teams can thrive if they have a leader who is well-trained and really likes managing others and has adequate time to do the job.  If a company is committed to keeping the culture healthy and inclusive, a continual effort needs to take place to develop and maintain that. It’s a cost of doing business, but in reality it is an investment in the business where the return can be seen in a higher level of talent, a wider customer base and a more sophisticated workforce. 

With the recent changes in the world, we are seeing a new revolution of sorts when it comes to working. I think many have seen this a wake-up call in the sense that they’ve had to slow down in all respects. People have spent time at home, more time with their families and outside in the fresh air walking or riding bikes. No doubt aspects of this have been stressful too. Let’s face it, when you and your partner work full time, there is usually a limited amount of time spent with each other and this new togetherness has been – let’s say, challenging. Challenging, but not impossible after some minor adjustments…  But through this, a lot of us have had time to reflect on what’s important to us and how we’ve been spending the majority of our time. With all of this reevaluation going on, I think people will be more vocal about their needs and more selective about how they work. In order to attract and retain talent, I believe businesses will need to listen and continue to be open to alternative working arrangements. Businesses that do will also be the ones with the most highly sought-after company cultures.

J