Managing the unknown costs
The Future of Work is Hybrid — Chapter 2
It’s easy to see how WFA brings some immediate financial opportunities for organisations and employees; office real estates can be reduced, money and time spent on travelling falls — but clearly there is more to think about than short term financial savings.
A focus on health and wellbeing is here to stay.
A hybrid work mode that creates value must have employee health and wellbeing front and centre
Never before has the spotlight been shone so brightly on health and well-being. The sudden, seismic and disruptive changes that ensued from March has taken its toll on the mental health of society and its workforce.
Eight months on, even as people have got used to WFA or a hybrid working model, the situation continues to worsen rather than improve. The ability to cope with C19 has declined slowly, falling from 64% in April to 56% in September amongst young people for example. In the last two weeks, 45% of the UK population felt anxious, nearly 1 in 5 felt lonely and 15% were feeling hopeless. The shift to WFA has subtly introduced an always-on culture — 15% longer days, recurring meetings up 25% and a new night shift with a 52% increase in IMs being sent between 6pm and midnight, just some evidence that this culture is becoming rooted. A hybrid work mode that creates value must have employee health and wellbeing front and centre and provide respite to the always on culture.
When C19 hit we worked with one of the world’s biggest healthcare providers on an award-winning communications strategy. Working alongside internal teams we launched a series of virtual events in a matter of weeks and helped them pioneer new communications styles in the business too. It meant crucial updates got to customers and made sure teams were behind one clear strategy for the months ahead.
magneticNorth
Smart digital health solutions have never been needed more and we’re proud to have brought an award- winning healthtech product to market earlier this year. Menopause affects around 50% of the population, yet 70% of the women we spoke to during research were unaware of perimenopausal/menopausal symptoms when they first experienced them.
By taking an incredibly user focussed approach to the design. magneticNorth have been able to develop an app that allows people to take control of their health and bodies — and putting menopause support into the palms of people’s hands allows us to reach so many more in this new way. Balance already has over 40,000 sign ups from over half the countries around the world, just 4 months after launch.
Cities need to reimagine.
Footfall in cities dropped off a cliff in March. Since the easing of lockdown, there has been some recovery but in large cities like London and Manchester, footfall is still 60–70% below baseline. The economic cost is, and will be, huge. The City of Westminster for example expects to suffer a 63% drop in gross value added (£48bn) in 2020. In addition, cities thrive from tacit knowledge — things that are not written down — and there is a danger that working away from cities will start to eat away at this intellectual capital.
However, high rise office buildings won’t simply be torn down, they will need to be reimagined on the inside rather than out. Urban centres will need to shift from relying on the ‘caffe latte culture’ to production as well as consumption. Transport systems have been hit hard too. Transport for Greater Manchester’s income from Metrolink was £3m below 2019/20 levels and Transport for London is forecasting it will need £5.8bn of Government money to keep services running until March 2022. It’s no surprise then that rises in walking, cycling and micro-mobility were coupled with a soaring of private car ownership (11% rise in new car registrations in the UK in July).
There is a real opportunity to revisit what ‘smart’ means for cities in the advent of hybrid working, and as one of the cities most affected by reduced footfall, London has the opportunity to lead the way in developing a new hybrid model with the necessary supporting infrastructure. For example: how might tech be the enabler to getting people safely back to offices? Perhaps by gathering and distributing health information or simply counting the number of people currently in a building. How can we use this as an opportunity to make cities more accessible without clogging streets with more and more private vehicles? And is there a need for a fourth space, somewhere different from a home or cafe — a cross company hybrid space that is closer to where we live and responds to community demands?
We have the 1830s cholera outbreak to thank for London’s sewage system…what will cities thank C19 for?
As with most things, C19 has simply accelerated two existing mega-trends in cities: the adoption of human-centred tech and an increased focus on sustainability. We have the 1830s cholera outbreak to thank for London’s sewage system (and the birth of the Spatial Analysis) — what will cities thank C19 for?
Widening and new inequalities.
There is a risk that a hybrid work mode will lead to ‘us and them’ cultures (those who work more in a physical space vs. remotely) but, perhaps more importantly, widen existing socio- economic inequalities. The ability to WFH or WFA correlates closely with income: those earning less than £20,000 a year can perform only 30% of their tasks remotely compared with 58% for those earning more than £58,000. It is sector specific too: IT, finance, insurance, management and professional services are the dominant sectors that can WFA (and enjoy the benefits). And most importantly, the economic impact of C19 has disproportionately affected the young and women: 78% of those who have lost their jobs since the crisis began are women and two thirds are aged between 18 and 34. One study found that a quarter of women surveyed were worried about their performance at work being judged because of the need to look after their child.
Inequalities might arise from a new hybrid model itself too. There is a risk of presenteeism creeping back in, unethical employee tracking at home and a subsequent bias towards those working in the office and a lack of shared social identity in partially distributed teams.
How might we ensure that the new hybrid work mode levels the playing field? What innovations will be required to ensure that more of society can enjoy the same remote working benefits as the rest of us?
A hybrid future also has a number of untapped opportunities — find out more in Chapter Three >>
Jack is a Consultant at Fluxx. Click here for useful links to all things Fluxx.
Are you curious as to how Fluxx has helped companies such as Condé Nast, Mars, Thames Water, HSBC, Addison Lee Group and many more? Learn the secrets for sustained, repeatable innovation models, from expert practitioners. Get in touch now Jack.Metcalfe@Fluxx.uk.com.
