How companies drive employee engagement directly impacts how employees drive results.
As the shift from cubicles became commutes to kitchen tables nearly overnight several big businesses are now planning to let much of their staff work from home permanently, even after the pandemic. “When you limit hiring to people who live in a small number of big cities, or who are willing to move there, that cuts out a lot of people who live in different communities, have different backgrounds, and have different perspectives,” stated Mark Zuckerberg in a livestream announcement as Facebook plans to allow 50% of their employees to permanently work remote within the next five to 10 years.
The shift is happening, and it all starts with increasing leaders capacity to create healthy, productive teams. Employee engagement and wellness are ultimately about protecting human capital, the most important asset of any organization. An essential habit every level of an organization needs to develop (and fine tune) more now than ever before is productivity, both professional and personal. This directly correlates with a company's bottom line. Now is the time for new solutions in a new world and leaders require education and the right tools to enable their teams to thrive.
In a recent study, almost three in five (57%) of leaders globally cited the negative impact on productivity as a top concern amidst the crisis. In Singapore, 50% of leaders cited it as their greatest challenge. The findings showed that productivity is a greater issue than ongoing cash flow problems.
The most severe impacts of the pandemic:
Productivity slump – 50% in Singapore, 57% globally
Cash flow problems – 35% Singapore, 37% globally
Customers stopping or reducing purchases – 36% Singapore, 29% globally
Forced deferment of new product launches – 29% Singapore, 24% globally
Supply chain disruptions – 27% Singapore, 24% globally
While talking of silver linings may be very hard at this time, we need to think about every opportunity, and to consider every option available to keep businesses large and small afloat. All while ensuring companies development the right habits to increase engagement, productivity, and overall wellness.
Which companies plan to make working from home the new normal? As in forever.
TWITTER:
Twitter will allow some of its workforce to continue working from home "forever," if the employee chooses.
SQUARE:
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's other company, Square, plans to allow staff members to work from home once the pandemic ends.
SHOPIFY:
Tobi Lutke, CEO of Shopify, announced that the world of work has been turned on its head. "Office centricity is over," he tweeted. "
FACEBOOK:
Mark Zuckerberg pitched working from home as both a matter of satisfying employee desires and also as an effort to create "more broad-based economic prosperity."
GROUPE PSA:
French automaker PSA announced a "new era of agility," in which its non-production staff will work remotely from now on. The company plans to reduce its real estate footprint.