In a hybrid world, we will experience most things along a continuum – careers, work rules, employment contracts etc. I spoke about this in this podcast. Listen in.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, sent employees an email about the company’s decision to create a “hybrid workplace” – a model wherein around 60% of the employees would come together in the office a few days every week, another 20% would work in new office locations, and the remaining 20% would work from home. That led to a lot of interest in the media. What was this “hybrid workplace” and what would that mean for us?
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“Going forward, Googlers will be able to temporarily work from a location other than their main office for up to four weeks per year, with manager approval.”
Think Along a Continuum
We have moved away from the world of binary choices and moved to a continuum. You will have some companies that are allowing employees to work from anywhere forever. Twitter’s decision to allow its 5,200 primarily San Francisco-based employees to decide where they want to work will impact everything from office lease, home ownership patterns and compensation packages.
Many others like Apple and Netflix believe that “creativity comes from spontaneous meetings, from random discussions.” I spoke to Moneycontrol.com about hybrid workplaces. People are likely to miss the warm face-to-face personal interactions that they had with their colleagues in the physical space. It will be a challenge to replicate these virtually, therefore organisations will have to work harder to build connections.
When Twitter announced the work-from-home policy, it threw the HR teams and IT teams into a tizzy.
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“They surveyed the implications of various employee moves from legal, tax, IT and security, real estate and immigration perspectives. They looked into the tax consequences for workers who wanted to move to countries where Twitter wasn’t authorized to operate. The security team began creating protocols for large numbers of people logging into company systems outside of headquarters.”
Most companies will fall in the middle of the spectrum with some offering fully remote working, like Twitter. Some will want to go back to in-person workplaces. Most will allow for some flexibility to the employees. One thing is certain, working in a hybrid environment will mean a big change in the life of the managers. <Read More>
Think Adaptability
Think about your skills from the lens of rigidity and adaptability. You need deep skills that can be applied to solve problems across many settings. A communications professional may need to build skills in managing brand architecture, social media, digital marketing, SEO etc. The core skill has to be applied in multiple settings and contexts.
Skills too will be along a continuum. There will be some specialists who will choose to become self-employed and most organisations will have some generalists.
Spaces as a Portfolio
During the pandemic, many companies shut their offices in the big metros. People moved to the suburbs or to their small towns. The vacant spaces offer opportunities for offices to use space as a portfolio of activities. Some Co-Working spaces used to offer talks and musical performances in the evening to better utilise space and offer innovative experiences for their clients.
What happened to airports? As travel reduced, there was another interesting trend appearing. Lots of Gen Z and Millennials use the airport as a place to socialise.
“An airport is a free, diverse and safe space that offers the roaming possibilities of streets and parks, with the added benefit of lots of security, meaning nothing bad is likely to happen to you there.”
Vice explains it as, “The appeal of the airport seems to be rooted in something very human: being connected to people in a world where significant events are happening all around: leaving to start a new life, returning to connect with an old one, going on an adventure, saying hello or goodbye to a loved one.” <Read the post>
The Nobel Museum in Stockholm becomes a place to have dinner surrounded by memorabilia of Nobel Laureates. I actually had dinner there. read about it. <Click this>
Space as a way to shape culture
Large companies have under-utilised office spaces. Startups are scrounging for space. Getting a small startup in the office could become a way for businesses to shape their culture. The startup and the large behemoth could learn from each other.
I talked about careers in a hybrid world. Listen to this
