By The Pollack Group
Is the hybrid model here to stay? How will workplace culture attract employees in 2022? Members of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, including agency president Stefan Pollack, recently shared their insights on the Future of Work Trends. Here’s their predictions for the next 6 months:
Workplace Culture Will Become Key in Attracting and Retaining Talent
The pandemic reset the clock on what “the office” means, sending some of the world’s biggest companies back to the drawing board on defining their corporate culture. Companies that are ambiguous about culture in the coming months may fall victim to the talent upheaval happening in the marketplace. Internal communications will be paramount. Companies need to align around what their culture truly is, communicate it internally, and then deliver on that culture’s promise.
-Stefan Pollack, President, The Pollack Group
Hybrid Is The Thing of The Moment
The pandemic has demonstrated the possibilities of remote working on a global scale. Although there are many obvious benefits, it’s not all good. While employees have benefited from the increased flexibility that remote working allows, many are missing out on the social interactions, relationship building and ease of collaboration that office working brings. This means that companies and employees will be exploring the possibilities of hybrid working in the next 18 to 24 months. Most companies will switch to smaller, inclusive workplaces, where people can come for two or three days a week to work, attend events, regular meetings, and moments of personal and professional sharing.
-Fernando Batista, Executive Director, Do It On
The Positive Economic Impact of Remote Working Will See It Become Standard Practice
Covid-19 has accelerated the agenda for flexible and remote working opportunities that many have been campaigning for over a number of years. But the pandemic is not the only driving force behind the evolution of remote working. There are economic benefits too. Globally, remote workers save around $7,000 per year in transportation, food, and childcare. Simultaneously, companies that allow remote work see an average increase of $2,000 in profit per remote worker. These economic benefits for both employer and employee will be a driving force behind companies giving more opportunities for remote work in the future.
-Patrik Schober, Managing Partner, PRAM
HR Must Revise Onboarding Programs to Fit The New World Of Work
As teams have been forced to work from home and relationships have been established and maintained via rather impersonal and often crowded virtual meetings, traditional group dynamics have changed dramatically. Therefore, new employees will have a hard time building relationships within teams that were already established before COVID broke down the ‘office team’ structure. The same challenge arises for new employees that have just left school or university. Ordinarily, school leavers would take their first steps into working life by completing an internship. But that, too, has shifted to the impersonal virtual world. This means that many of them will have missed out on developing important social skills that allows them to easily build relationships with their teams. With many employees continuing to work from home, HR will need to revise the company’s onboarding programs to properly introduce, include and retain new employees.
-Serge Beckers, Managing Partner, Wisse Kommunikatie
Download the eBook with the full list of predictions here.
