Planning for the future
Future Work/Life is a weekly newsletter that casts a positive eye to the future. I bring you interesting stories and articles, analyse industry trends and offer tips on designing a better work/life. If you enjoy reading it, please SUBSCRIBE HERE, and share it!
Things have moved up a gear since I got back from my holiday last week, as it seems everyone has finally returned to work. I’m glad to hear so many of you have taken a proper break, and I hope you feel refreshed because it seems like the end of this year is going to be eventful.
There’s been much talk about the ‘Great Resignation’ over the past couple of months, and I’ve certainly seen evidence of it, as some misguided hybrid work policies have massively missed the mark and pushed those teetering on the edge of job hunting out into the market. I hear tales almost daily of people quitting, and while the talent market is bubbling up with new opportunities, it’s competitive out there for individuals and businesses alike.
All of which makes me wonder why businesses are getting it so wrong, particularly after so much goodwill was established last year as people rallied around to ride out what was an incredibly disruptive and challenging period?
I’ll be writing more about how to approach developing a solid hybrid work strategy in an article that will be released next week for Tenzing, the private equity firm that I’m delighted to have begun working with as their Future of Work Specialist. I’ll share a link in the next newsletter, but for now, there are some basic principles that I’d advocate adhering to as you think about how to redesign the way your company works in the future - none of which will come as a great surprise to those who have been reading this newsletter for any length of time.
Clearly communicate the business’s priorities and outline the objectives of the process at an organisational, team and individual level.
Collaborate to ensure everyone’s voice is heard.
Take an experimental approach and accept that you might not get it right the first time.
Don’t get hung up on the past, focus on what’s going to work in the future.
Embrace change and support people taking ownership of adapting and improving how they work.
In October, I’ll also be taking Future Work/Life on the road and properly launching the business. I’ll be consulting with any business that is as interested as I am in putting people at the heart of their growth strategy. Drawing on the knowledge and experience of this community, I’ll be developing an evolving future of work playbook for business leaders and their teams, as well as running workshops and masterclasses.
What are clients are most interested in discussing?
Burnout prevention
Coaching and learning
Creativity and innovation
Data and technology
Flexible work
Hybrid work
Productivity and scheduling
Talent strategy
Wellbeing and performance
Workplace culture
If any of that rings a bell for you, do get in touch or share this with someone you think might benefit from hearing more about the insights and case studies I’ve been assembling since launching this project last year - I’d love to meet them.
I’ll continue to bring you highlights and analysis of news and emerging trends in this newsletter, so until next week, have a good one.
Ollie
Any Other Business
If there’s one thing that people appear determined to cling on to as the conversation shifts again to whether and how frequently to return to the office, it’s autonomy. As this article by Emma Jacobs in the Financial Times points out, while the debate around offices reopening pits the workplace against the home, the real issue is control.
The assumption by many is that being back in the office means less autonomy. That doesn’t necessarily need to be the case, but just in case, BBC WorkLife have created this guide for those that are looking to retain as much of it as possible.
One thing looks pretty certain - business travel doesn’t look like it’ll be returning any time soon, and probably never again at the levels we saw before. This Bloomberg article shares some numbers based on their survey with 45 large businesses in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The headlines are that 84% plan to spend less than pre-Covid.
Other experts seem to agree is this summary shows:
If you’re interested in how your behaviour is influenced by what stage of the working week you’re at, then read this fascinating article by Dr Rob Jenkins on The British Academy website - Does risk tolerance change through the week?
He explains how:
“Willingness to take risks decreases from Monday to Thursday and rebounds on Friday. The surprising implication is that the outcome of a decision can depend on the day of the week on which it is taken.”
This matters in business but in other areas of like too, not least, political elections, which in the UK typically take place on a Thursday. As Jenkins explains:
“Every general election since 1935 has been held on a Thursday – the most risk-averse day. The Scottish Independence and Brexit referendums were also held on Thursdays. The core message of the Brexit campaign – "Take back control" – was a direct appeal to risk aversion, and the opinion poll data show that support for Brexit was strongest on Thursdays. Our analyses show that the outcomes might have been different had they been held on Fridays.”
And finally, among the handful of newsletters I read consistently is Packy McCormick’s Not Boring. He brings some amazingly oblique thinking to the table in many of his articles and this one is no different as he ponders how the internet and Web3 are changing how we think about work. Prepare to read ideas about the ‘Cooperation Economy”, “LeBron and Super Teams”, and “Liquid Work’.