Chris Herd

@chris_herd

I spoke to 5 global enterprises about remote work last week Here’s what they told me about their plans for the future [ a thread ] πŸ’»πŸ πŸŒŽ
πŸ’° Office space: All of them have $Billion real estate portfolios All of them plan to cut it by atleast 50% and as much as 70%
πŸ“ Talent Access: The thing they are most interested in is access to talent Rather than hiring the best person in a 30-mile radius of the office, they’ll hire the best person on the planet
πŸ“ˆ Efficiency: Their concern about remote work post-pandemic was that productivity would slip It’s increased. They now know remote work works
πŸ€” Remote Dilemma: A big concern is losing their best people through not giving their teams what they want Each company plans to let people work from home 60-100% of the time
🎑 Time Together: When they do have time together they are focussed on experiences Designing in person time to maximise value and social connection
⏰ Outcome Measurement: Switching from the KPI to judge performance to outcome will be huge Measuring this is a big problem most are still searching for ways to solve
😴 Avoid Burnout: They are seeing people burnout more frequently Some will begin ordering time off on a monthly/quarterly basis to combat this
πŸ“† Office Return: None of them have any plans to return to the office at all The assumption already is that they won’t respond in 2021
⭐️ Talent Retention: Every company will continue to offer remote work post-Covid They know they have to if they want to attract the best talent
🌍 Talent Decentralizing: People are moving further away from the office A large proportion no longer live close enough to commute regularly
πŸ’¬ Collaboration Quality: They aren’t concerned about collaboration quality Where physical relationships existed prior the quality is unaffected They see a challenge where people have never met teams
❀️ Culture Changes: People who were quieter in the office are having more of an impact That change in culture has led to more creativity and better communication in several companies
πŸ” Information Security: This is growing in concern. Less of an issue when it was a reaction to what happens Big issue as companies lean into remote work more
πŸ€• Injury Risk: Reports of back and neck pain as high at 60% of team members They need to do something to combat this rapidly
πŸ˜ƒ Experience Quality: Companies want to do more to improve this It’s been a huge focus in recent years while working onsite. Most companies are interested in ways to do this remotely
πŸ§˜β€β™€οΈ Leadership Change: Command and control no longer works – a change in leaderships style is needed Empathetic leaders are thriving. The importance of checking in on your team the most important skill
πŸ“ Written Documentation: Building the organizational muscle of knowledge through documentation is of massive important This will grow over time rather than leaving when an employee leaves
⏰Increased Flexibility: 9-5 working is dying – companies have seen workers productivity rising when working when they want The thing they are most interested in exploring are asynchronous ways of working
πŸ‘Ά Childcare: Women are falling out of the workforce rapidly, and companies recognise they need to act to stop this now They are thinking about ways they can help working parents with childcare