Employee priorities have changed, workplaces must change with them

While it is easy to agonise over headlines like the ‘great resignation’, senior leaders should instead consider how to capitalise on these changes.

Opportunities have emerged – and will continue to emerge – from enormous shifts in attitudes and behaviours to personal and work life right across society.

Adapting to new workplace attitudes

Let’s start with the most obvious: companies need to adapt to changing attitudes to the work/life balance.

Many companies that insisted on 100 per cent workplace attendance have now realised that they no longer need to; that their teams can, in fact, be trusted to do work where they can work best.

Some jobs do require the team to be in the same place of course (it’s hard to tin baked beans at home), while many people are now committed to working from home full-time.

This is one of those areas where the ground is shaky. We are in a reactionary phase right now: millions of people have led more insular lives over the past two years, with upsides including more time with their children and downsides including more social anxiety.

There’s a lot of 'I’m never going back' and 'I need a change' going on, but these are almost all reactions against how things were. So do not expect someone to feel the same in a year or two as they do now: as life settles into new patterns the only thing that is certain is uncertainty. The pandemic was a huge societal trauma and it is no secret that shocks and trauma can have unexpected impacts on people far into the future.

People will, however, continue the trend of choosing to work for companies that they believe in, doing work they are passionate about, wherever they can. But we will increasingly see alignment with their chosen lifestyle playing a much greater part in that decision-making process.

That does not mean all companies must offer super-flexible working: quite the contrary. Two companies doing the same thing can operate very differently (100 per cent on-site vs 100 per cent remote, for example) with an equal chance of success. They will appeal to two different groups of people, however. And those people will likely not be in those groups forever.

Not all will be lucky enough to make those choices, and there are other factors involved (like access to a global talent pool) but more people will make their choices based on a more diverse range of influences, in more areas of the economy, than at any point in history.

The guidance for companies is simple: be clear about your own vision and values, then operate your business in line with them. Do not be afraid to experiment and adapt because I would bet big on today’s answer not being the best one for the long term.

At my business we adopted a four-day week and hybrid working three years ago and we have made several improvements to how we operate this model since. Be prepared to adjust as you go.

New opportunities in changing behaviours

In many ways, the most interesting aspect of the post-pandemic phase is how companies can capitalise on the ways that customer attitudes and behaviours are changing. There are a whole host of things that people value more now than they did two years ago and many previously entrenched behaviours that have been altered.

Consider some of the adaptations we have all made. It is now normal (and better in many cases) to consult with a GP via a video call. Our homes have been reformed to provide dedicated places to work. City living has been deprioritised. We can now assume that anyone can conduct a business meeting remotely. Almost everyone has tested themselves for a disease at home. These are a handful of innumerable changes whose effects are only beginning to be felt.

That behavioural fluidity is a massive opportunity. We have known for many years that the greatest and most disruptive leaps in innovation come not from solving a problem but from enabling a new behaviour; spotting an opportunity to do something instead, rather than better.

There has not been a period with more potential to introduce new behaviours for decades. While everyone figures out what really matters to them, and begins to shape the products and services they consume around those choices, there is a unique opportunity to inject new behaviours into their lives. Whether for work or for personal life, we are entering a golden age for innovation, especially in digital products and services.

Those that carry on as they were will miss out. Bold near-future thinking, built on a mindset of invention, is needed to unlock this potential because we are now all more receptive to conducting aspects of our lives in new and better ways.

Naturally, these two areas are tightly interconnected. Spotting and exploiting new opportunities will depend on motivated, effective teams.

A mix of high intensity in-person time in a ‘workplace', and quiet thinking and doing time at home will inevitably emerge as the standard formula for doing good work in many companies. The exact mix is for each organisation to define, but get it right – for who you are and what you do – and you will have a team that is well positioned to capitalise on new opportunities.

There are some critical times ahead. Harness these changes effectively and you will flourish, both as a place to work and in the propositions you present to customers.

Forget about getting ‘back to normal’ in any sense, and grab the opportunity to invent new, meaningful behaviours for a world full of customers ready and waiting for them to arrive.

Mark Wilson is founder and chief executive of Wilson Fletcher