May 5, 2022 "'Hybrid work is here to stay': Canadians more productive, happier and richer working part time from home": Today I found this article by Victoria Wells on the Financial Post:
The future of work is hybrid as a majority of Canadians say it’s made them happier, healthier, more productive, and even thousands of dollars richer, according to research from Cisco.
Close to three-quarters of Canadians say they’ve seen improvements to work-life balance by breaking up their time between the home and office, the hybrid work study from Cisco said.
And the benefits from this new-found flexibility have stretched across all aspects of people’s lives.
“Our data shows that work has changed forever, to the point it’s
improved employees’ well-being,
it’s improved work-life balance,
it’s improved performance,”
Shannon Leininger, president of Cisco Canada, said in an interview.
Flexible schedules have eliminated the daily commute, and 61 per sent said they are saving four hours a day because of it.
That’s made it easier for people to connect with loved ones, boosting overall well-being, the study said.
Canadians are saving money, too — and lots of it. According to the survey, working from home part time has translated into $11,000 a year in savings for the average person as they avoid commuting and spend less on
gas,
transit
and food.
Hybrid workers also said their newfound flexibility has made them healthier, giving them more opportunities to exercise and eat better.
Mental health is seeing a boost as well with 77 per cent saying their stress levels are either improving or staying steady amid their new flexible schedules.
But it’s not just employees reaping the benefits of hybrid work. Productivity is up as well, the study suggests. More than half of workers said they believe they are more productive on a hybrid schedule, and 50 per cent said they’re producing better work.
Put it all together and hybrid work and the flexibility it brings is no longer a nice-to-have, but something workers expect from employers going forward.
Indeed, more than half of workers said they wanted to maintain hybrid work going forward,
compared to 35 per cent who want to stay strictly at home
and 10 per cent who prefer a full return to the office.
Employers will need to wrap their heads around that if they want to retain staff, Leininger said.
“Hybrid is here to stay and we all need to accept that,” she said. “If we don’t allow people to work the way they want to work … they will leave companies.”
Other studies back that up. In research released by Cisco Canada in October, 77 per cent of Canadian employees said flexibility was a make-or- break factor in keeping them in their jobs.
A study from Microsoft Corp. conducted earlier this year also suggested workers would quit if they felt their well-being wasn’t being prioritized at work.
Yet, the transition to hybrid work hasn’t been an easy one for many companies.
Only one in five Canadians think their employers are “well prepared” for the realities of hybrid work.
Employees point to inclusivity, engagement and even greater flexibility as needing room for improvement.
Broader access to technology platforms for networking also needs work, the study said.
Trust is another issue showing up in organizations. Cisco’s study revealed that only 59 per cent believe their colleagues can be trusted to be productive working from home.
That highlights the challenges managers face in uniting their teams working out of separate locations. Leininger said organizations are missing one important element in their quest to get hybrid culture right: training leaders.
“A lot of the transformation that needs to happen moving forward needs to happen with leaders, and helping them learn how to lead differently in this new environment,” she said.
“I don’t know that everybody knows how to do that. We need to focus and double down on leaders and help them navigate this.”
Both communication and experimentation will be key, Leininger said, in helping companies build trust among their staff. That means organizations will need to be open to making mistakes and also open to listening to employee feedback.
Companies will need to ask staff about their expectations, then be willing to try new things based on those conversations.
“Experimentation is going to be really important moving forward to maintain work-life balance. What it comes down to is
listening,
offering choices to your employees on what works for them …
and then really trying things
and being flexible with how we approach work,” she said.
In spite of all that trial and error, a hybrid way of working could very well offer the best of both worlds for employees and employers alike.
Workers will get to maintain the flexibility and work-life balance they had working at home,
while experiencing the benefits that come from being with colleagues in person,
something Leininger said has been “joyful” for teams in her organization.
That means leaders will need to be intentional about creating reasons for people to come into the office, instead of asking them to come in only to waste their days away in virtual meetings.
“Organizations need to really rethink what hybrid work looks like moving forward. Part of that is flexibility and experimentation, and how do you build that into your environment.
And then also, making sure that leaders are leading with empathy, as well as that flexibility,” she said.
• Email: vwells@postmedia.com | Twitter: vwells80
Hybrid work here to stay: Canadians more productive, happier, richer | Financial Post
There are 7 comments:
September is a month with a decidedly fresh-start feel thanks to all that back-to-school energy.
This is the time when a lot of people recommit to personal and professional goals, take on projects left on the back burner over the summer, or put in more overtime at work. Quiet quitters not included, of course.
For office workers who’ve gotten used to remote work and lots of flexibility, this September might come as something of a shock. As more companies push for increased face-time in the office, showing up one day a week (or less) doesn’t appear to be cutting it anymore.
Thankfully, most organizations aren’t requiring a full return. Bosses seem to know better than to force their luck with a labour market that remains stubbornly tight and job vacancies that continue to set records.
Still, employers are walking a fine line in their bet they can bring workers back to their desks more often. I wonder if employers truly understand how life-changing flexibility has been for so many people. It’s not something they are likely to give up without a fight.
Hybrid and remote work have been especially helpful for parents, who thanks to the strain of having to work and take care of children during COVID-19 lockdowns, ended up gaining some perks they could only dream about before 2020.
Paid parental leave,
flexible hours,
remote work options
and shorter workweeks
are among some of the benefits Canadian companies are now offering parents, according to one recent survey from staffing agency Express Employment Professionals, conducted by The Harris Poll.
Smart companies wanting to stay competitive amid a talent shortage would do well to extend those benefits to workers without kids, too.
What does flexibility look like at your workplace these days? I can’t help but think how different this September is from those of the past two years, when we faced continued pandemic restrictions and new COVID-19 waves that forced many employers to delay return-to-office plans.
While COVID-19 hasn’t gone away, a lot of people are at least pretending things are back to normal. Vaccine mandates aren’t really a thing anymore, and most restrictions have been dropped. That makes the argument for continued remote work a little less compelling this year.
It’s possible the desire for a fresh start could bring many workers back to the office without too much of a fight. But that might change as the reality of commuting sets in and that dewy back-to-school feeling wears off.
Up to this point, organizations have been all-too willing to give employees the flexibility they want.
And we’ve seen the benefits: workers are happier and more productive, plus they’re saving money, something extremely valuable in this high-inflation environment.
Let’s hope the rush to bring everyone back to the office this September doesn’t erase the gains workers have made in achieving better work-life balance.
Will you be going into the office more often this fall? How do you feel about it? Send me an email and let me know your thoughts.
In return to office, workers won't give up flexibility without a fight | Financial Post
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