DO YOU PREFER A HYBRID WORK CULTURE?
Key trends to watch as work environment transforms
The “workplace” has been disrupted. It no longer refers to a specific physical location; rather, it’s asymmetric. Some call it the “blended” work mode. So, while many return to their traditional workplace as the pandemic wears off, others continue working remotely. Now, the world of work faces another disruption. The key drivers: cost, productivity and technology. For many businesses and professionals, there’s no going back. The pandemic-driven shift is here to stay. Industry experts say it’s only bound to accelerate. These are the key trends to watch:
1 Hybrid work: A part of the mix, and more
The pandemic has disrupted our world, but work never stopped. It took another form, evolved. So remote work will not only be part of the mix, but will most likely accelerate. Globally, the share of team members on a permanent remote work mode is projected to double — to 34.3 per cent compared to the prepandemic 16.4 per cent, a poll by the Enterprise Technology Research shows.
The goalposts moved elsewhere. The pandemic forced this move. In March 2021, Microsoft unveiled its hybrid work strategy for the company’s 160,000+ employees. In May 2021, CEO Sundar Pichai shared Google’s own approach to hybrid work for the company 140,000+ staff. The key message of such moves? Allow flexibility for employees. Inperson work has its value. But so does remote work, including reduced cost, travel, insurance, traffic, emissions and expanded talent pool.
Lesson: In a post-pandemic world, value of remote work will remain.
2 Hybrid work is not for everyone — yet
The tools available to man — from stone to AI — define every era. By definition, remote work has always been with us, from the time of hunter-gathering societies. Fishermen, farmers, soldiers, train engineers, etc are, by nature, remote workers. Futurist Peter Diamandis, in his book Abundance, pointed out that in 1790, 90% of all Americans made their living as farmers; today it’s less than 2%. But farming jobs did not disappear. Machinery has transformed agriculture.
Then genetic engineering came (with genetically modified foods), and now by AI, too. Certainly, construction, health care, assembly-line jobs, flying and dozens of other jobs will not be the stuff of remote work — but maybe not for long. Assembly-line work and face-toface board meetings are fairly recent inventions, arising from the Industrial Revolution.
Technology, especially communication technology (i.e. smoke, sermon, book, radio/ TV, phone, ‘cloud’), is a key determinant of every human endeavour. Today, it’s the great equaliser. It bridges great distances, connects minds and allows people work together. Lesson: Our tools define the nature of work.
3 Productivity and real ‘presence’ go together
For some, remote or “hybrid” work can prove admirably more productive. Is it possible for remote workers to match — even surpass — the productivity of in-person work before the pandemic? The answer hinges on these: employee health, well-being and satisfaction, as well as digital experience and engagement. A survey of remote workers by Morning Consult and The New York Times showed 86 per cent were satisfied working from home.
The interaction with remote staff should be such that highquality work is made possible. A Pricewaterhouse Coopers poll published in January 2021 reported more than one-third (34%) of employees and more than half (52%) of employers believe productivity has improved over prolonged working from home during the pandemic.
The pandemic has ushered in the primacy tech-enabled productivity. Sam Tayan, Zoom Managing Director for Middle East and North Africa (Mena) told Gulf News: “You know, if we were to get together in the same place for this very same meeting, there’d be travel, driving, traffic, and all sorts of things. Maybe a little bit of lateness, because people coming from different locations … not to mention parking. Imagine if we’re from international locations, it would be even more difficult … As we move out of 2021, and further on to 2022, I think we’ve all learnt the benefits of virtual and hybrid working.”
Lesson: Increased productivity via remote is not only possible, but sustainable.
4 IT holds the key
The quality of digital experience by people working both on-site and remotely hinges on IT. It starts from newcomer-initiation to network availability. On the remote side, a big variable is the quality of communications infrastructure. This is still a major challenge, especially in the developing world. Soon, when thousands of satellites (StarLink/OneWorld/Kuiper) go live, this problem may be history. Coverage of fibre-to-thehome services, meanwhile, is also getting cheaper, and wider.
“We have lots of customers who talk to us about hybrid work,” said Tayan.
There are an estimated 35 billion smart devices connected today. This will jump to 75 billion by 2025 (> 1 trillion market by 2027), already including smart vehicles, medical devices, smart factories using a lot of robotics, etc.
Lesson: The internet is the new utility, in addition to power and water.
5 Data is the new gold
Data is the new currency. Big data systems are today key business enablers. They help reach new customers, create new revenue streams, customise services and improve efficiency.
Increasingly, people are getting paid for the work they do using one form of crypto platform or another. Blockchain technology is disrupting our understanding and use of money. Banks are looking to create their own blockchains and selffulfilling smart contracts for settling financial transactions.
This is true even for media houses, where real-time audience engagement has become a key metric. The reliability, and safety of such tools will be the key challenge. Strategising and decision making based on accurate and secure data analytics is no longer the exclusive domain of big businesses. Lesson: Data is more valuable than money.
6 Innovation drives integration, which drives even more innovation
It started around 1965, with Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel. “Moore’s Law”, which remains unbroken since then, refers to Moore’s observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years, though the cost of computers is halved.
Faster chips is the reason why smartphone used by today’s kids is more powerful than anything Ronald Regan saw or used as president in 1984. Video has become the dominant communication tool. Every day, people consumes more than 1 billion hours of YouTube content.
Faster speeds of change will only drive more innovation. We see it in education/training, banking, health care and insurance.
Lesson: As the tools we use change, so does our means of livelihood.
7 Imagine what happens next
So we have miniaturised chips and powerful smartphones today. But the progress of computing power will not stop. Stretch your imagination and try to see where it’s going. Given Moore’s Law, 10 years from now, computers will be 1,000 times better; 20 years from now 1 million times better; 30 years from now, 1 billion times better.
With the global sensor explosion, the notion that you can know anything you want anytime you want is what’s happening. Here’s the takeaway: everything that’s digitised enters a period of “deceptive growth”, an improvement that’s deceptively incremental in value accumulation.
So prepare for so-called 6 Ds: disruption, digitisation, deceptive growth, dematerialisation, demonetisation and democratisation. Whether you grab it or not is up to you.
Lesson: Change never stops.
Imagine if we’re from international locations, it would be even more difficult … As we move out of 2021, and further on to 2022, I think we’ve all learnt the benefits of virtual and hybrid working.”
Sam Tayan | Zoom Managing Director for Mena
Globally, the share of team members on a permanent remote work mode is projected to double — to 34.3 per cent compared to the prepandemic 16.4 per cent, a poll shows.