The Reality about Hybrid Work
There’s a significant disconnect with a number of articles on ‘Hybrid Workplaces’ and it’s really disappointing to see SO MANY large consultants pump out articles that ignore reality.
So this is a short take to offer an additional perspective.
1) Hybrid workplaces have existed for centuries, they are not new, though the sudden interest is
2) Much of the discussion has been on how to assist employees who prefer to work in an office, to get used to working at least part of their time, from somewhere other than the office
3) Almost NONE of the discussion looks at the fact that between 40 and 60% of workplaces (depending on their make-up) have employees who prefer to work Anywhere OTHER THAN an office, have been forced to work in an office for most of their careers
4) The SINGLE BIGGEST DRIVER for mandating (yes that is the word) people work in the office is the utter lack of skill sets held by in particular, line managers, to manage staff NOT in their line of sight
5) CFO’s are suddenly waking up to the false ‘sunk-cost’ of extremely expensive commercial real-estate. Many are now asking ‘why have we rented so much space for so long?’
I’ve spoken about this for over a decade, here and overseas, on radio, in magazines and press both online and in print. Number 4 is the continued entrenchment of the Wedgewood factory model from the 1780s that saw the role of ‘overseer’ stand behind workers to guide them in the use of new tools and methods not seen on the farms. The ‘overseer’ in now known as ‘manager’ and very few understand how to guide and support staff who aren’t at their desks.
The skillset missing (and I flag my bias here in that I run sessions on How To…’) is what I have called Outcomes Based Management. It requires MUCH more planning by Managers and a much greater awareness of the outputs of their office based workforce. Once understood and implemented, employee productivity climbs as much of the wasted effort of ‘being busy’ dissipates to make way for outcomes.That also leads to far greater engagement of the workforce.
The Hybrid workforce – and staff who work from their cars already know about it, is a useful option. I just wish more Managers would embrace the approaches available to them whilst also recognising that half their workforce will likely prefer it.
China’s Gift to the world, the #CaronaVirus is not yet as severe as what the US gift to the world (Spanish Flu) was, and still signs are clear that disruption to normality is the key theme. In that the light, the Australian Football League (AFL) need to plan for crowd free rounds. Because that’s…
Read More >Potential Impacts of the Carona Virus will cascade across the globe. With deaths on track to climb quickly now that it has reached epidemic proportions of infection, the fat tail extends to the corporate sector. With whole areas of China on lock down, factories are shuttered and with it, Multinational and local firms who’ve…
Read More >Five days ago I tested positive for Covid. Here’s a bit of what the story has been like so far Tuesday was spent moving on of the offspring out of their rental property in country Vic and back down to Melbourne’s suburbs. A hot day of heavy lifting and a fair bit of driving. By…
Read More >Decision making is an interesting field of inquiry. I’m about three months in to a long term contract with an organisation working on enabling its people to be more effective and the thought that keeps popping into my head is ‘Start with the End’ When you start with the end in mind (know your desired…
Read More >There’s a little problem with food production in the world that not many people want to talk about. About half the world is being starved to death whilst we are seeing a spike in obesity due to over-consumption of food. The strange thing about that issue is that both ends of the food consumption divide…
Read More >My most recent long term client contract had me specialise in Employee Engagement, something I’d done consistently at the Senior and Middle Managers level. But this client need was across the board and at a time when major changes were occuring. With a previous survey of their staff in two states and across three…
Read More >Great to see some quality collaboration between the City of Casey and City of Greater Dandenong aimed at addressing or tackling Social Issues and importantly bridging the divide between ‘our area’ and ‘their area’ artificial boundaries. Well done to both Councils Here’s the oveview of what they’re doing. This one looks to be an…
Read More >Most people who’ve been involved in planning and strategy development will have heard of VUCA – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous. Emerging out of the US War College in 1987, it’s come to be more widely used by consultancies aiming to at least ‘sound smart’. But that’s not the main problem with its usage Instead…
Read More >In short – ‘No’. In days of yore manufacturing data meant jobs being done, employed people being paid, sales being made. But with robotics and off-shoring in many parts of Australian manufacturing, it’s no longer the value indicator it once was. In the US it is an even less reliable indicator because in the…
Read More >I’ve writen a fair bit over the years about the need to move futures thinking out of a theoretical approach and into a more applied model. Recently I’ve come off a 6 month project working with the Asian Productivity Organisation, an entity that brings together 20 member countries and their core government policy…
Read More >