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Exploring the future of corporate life in a post-covid19 work from home landscape.

It would be great to have a crystal ball and see now what our workplaces will look like in the future. With COVID, our workplaces have journeyed through necessity, from the traditional ‘in the office’ for most employees, to work from home for all, and back again to something in between. In this time where the future is an unknown, it would be great to foresee what we should aim for moving forward to get that competitive advantage, or just to stay with the pack, and not be left behind.

One thing is for sure – the workplace as we knew it has changed forever. So, what does that mean for businesses? And how do we need to respond to these changes?

Experts, including those at Gallup, predict that employees will never return to the traditional workplace 5 days a week. They have had a taste of a more flexible lifestyle and won’t give it up easily. At the same time, this flexibility is predicted to ultimately reduce productivity in the longer term. So for businesses, this flexibility has significant issues and risks that will need to be managed in order to stay successful.

Meeting the challenges of an evolving work environment.

Whilst none of us have that crystal ball, there are some things we can do as business owners to stay on top of this changing environment. By staying on top, we mean, being aware, proactive, and flexible to meet the challenges face on:

• Acknowledge that we are going through a significant evolutionary process
  
  Experts warn putting your head in the sand, or trying to be prescriptive on workplace conditions, will ultimately lead your team members to seek greener pastures. Instead, it will be crucial that business leaders recognize the changes and look for opportunities and/or remedies to meet the changing conditions. It may seem daunting, however, now is the time to, as the saying goes ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’.
  
• Proactively address WH & S risks head on
  
  With working from home (WFH), new WH&S risks have been identified that need to be addressed. Businesses have the responsibility of ensuring that team members have the necessary physical work environment, technical infrastructure and social support, to meet their needs at home. This means that business leaders need to find ways to ensure that wellness of the employee is not compromised when working from home. This includes mental health, which is a primary concern that businesses need to be alert to. Isolation and even potential exposure to domestic violence have been highlighted as possible WH&S risks in today’s environment. This may mean your WH&S practices and communication processes need to be overhauled to be more inclusive as well as holistic to adequately address individual circumstances.
  
• Focus on Talent Management to keep your best people

Having a clear and flexible Talent Management Strategy will set you apart from your competitors and make you more attractive both to future and your current team members. In a time of the lowest unemployment rate in nearly a half century, staff retention is more important than ever.   

Savvy firms know that to attract and keep quality people, you must be proactive in your strategic HR practices – engaging team members, training them to be their best, and keeping them by providing opportunities for them to have real input into both their roles and the organisation.

• Be part of the solution – creativity and flexibility
  
  With risks such as lower productivity, business owners need to be creative about how they can potentially shape and influence the evolving playing field. Evidence is showing that hybrid workplaces that have a combination of office time and WFH leads to better team engagement and communications. Team members have the opportunity to feel connected to others, as well as contributing to a higher and shared purpose, that only being in the physical workplace can bring.
  Businesses therefore need to consider how they can make their workplaces more attractive so that team members want to come to the office, at least for some of the time.

Call to action

Creating a responsive Talent Management Strategy that not only attracts and keeps your best people, but also shapes behaviours that lead to higher engagement and productivity takes time and effort that can seem too big to tackle. It calls for proactive leadership, a strong and flexible framework, and seamless processes to support the strategy. This is where Balanced Scoreboard comes in.

The Team at Balanced Scoreboard recognize that as a small to medium sized professional business, you often don’t have the internal knowledge or resources to customise a Talent Management and Performance strategy. The Balanced Scoreboard Team was born from a gap and need in the market. Consisting of professionals specialized in professional practice leadership, organizational development, talent management and performance coaching, process design, and systems integration, they are here to help.

Contact Balanced Scoreboard to find out more about how they can deliver and implement a strategy for recognising, retaining, and rewarding your greatest asset, your people, and transforming your good team into a great team.

For further information, enquire today via  www.balancedscoreboard.com.au.

You can also view our Blog ‘Why Balanced Scoreboard’ to see what a Talent Management Strategy includes.