Reimagining a workplace where people and business needs both come first

Reimagining a workplace where people and business needs both come first

Companies across Canada and around the world responded swiftly to the pandemic by safeguarding the health and safety of their people. What resulted was a shift from the traditional and static office environment to an entirely new and dynamic workplace experience. Today it’s clear the changes are here to stay, but what implications are they having on businesses themselves?

As companies reopen their physical doors, employees are bringing with them a new set of expectations. Employers must contend with the evolving demands of their people in a robust job market that has them scrambling to attract and retain the talent required for their businesses to thrive, while balancing the business requirements to achieve expected results.

Different priorities emerging between employers and their people

Our 2021 EY Work Reimagined Employee Survey — which solicited the views of employers and employees across 23 industries in 16 countries, including Canada — confirmed that today’s employers and employees have different priorities when it comes to work. Flexibility, for example, has become the new normal as opposed to a negotiable perk. More than half of employees (54%) say they will move on from the organization if they’re not given the flexibility they desire.

What’s more, traditional assumptions around productivity have gone out the window. Today, 67% of employees believe their productivity can be accurately measured irrespective of their location. More than half agree that a mix of onsite and remote work will impact their company’s ability to solve problems more efficiently, and drive productivity and creativity.

At EY, we’re supporting clients across industries through transformation towards the future of work. The companies we work with are not opposed to change. The challenge is, they’ve been so bogged down in upholding business continuity and meeting employees’ preferences that they haven’t had time to think about what comes next.

Now, companies have a unique opportunity to reimagine their workplaces, particularly when it comes to when and how work gets done. It’s a chance to take a pause and think about the needs of the business.

With this in mind, what can you do to make sure your company is keeping pace with the speed of change in the workplace?

Here are three key considerations as you determine how to strike the right balance between people priorities and priorities for your business.

1.     Start with a set of guiding principles

According to our Work Reimagined study, one of the top six missteps companies make is being “bottom up” vs. “vision led.” Before you can get to where you want to go, you need a plan. It’s important to start by defining a set of guiding principles that are directly aligned to your business.

Many organizations are hosting visioning sessions among executives and key stakeholders to achieve agreed-upon guiding principles and guardrails to serve as a beacon. You need to realize that approaching workplace flexibility is not only an operational issue, but a strategic decision that impacts both your business and your people.

When defining these guiding principles, leaders are addressing many elements, including the business and operational requirements, what’s happening in the market and the organization’s employee value proposition. Using a framework like this to develop a broader vision can help you bring synergy and alignment across various areas of your business. A vision also creates a sense of purpose in the workplace and helps clearly define expectations.

2.     Shift the mindset from remote viability to remote suitability

Throughout the last 18 months, organizations have found that many jobs can be done remotely. Now the pertinent question is: should they be? The next step is to decide how and when to implement remote or hybrid working arrangements that will be most suitable and effective for the longer-term success of your organization.

To make those decisions, consider all aspects of work. These include customer interactions, operational requirements and resource needs (e.g., data, systems) and employee engagement. That last item can help you assess the suitability of remote working for different roles and role families to support the business. Conduct a scoring exercise to quantify employee engagement for more effective analysis, comparison and tracking. Through this exercise, you can also identify and confirm which activities are most valuable on premise and which are more suitable for remote work.