Another week, another ‘Wave’ 🗞️

5 news items from the world of work and workplace you can digest in 5 minutes.

This week:

1. Airbnb has never performed better with it’s WFA program
2. 70% of Canadian hybrid workers are now more productive
3. How different companies are approaching flexibility in the workplace

Work From Anywhere: It's been one year since Airbnb announced its Live & Work Anywhere policy and it’s time to gloat: "The business has actually never performed better since we moved to this program," says Airbnb CFO Dave Stephenson , "It's working really well for us." At a time when more and more workers are finding themselves back in their offices at least a few days a week, Airbnb is going full throttle on flexibility, which Stephenson insists is really about talent: "The best talent in the world is not all within a 50-mile radius of San Francisco". And that talent, Stephenson says, no longer wants to be tied down. Before the pandemic, 95% of Airbnb employees lived near a company office. Now, almost a quarter are more than 50 miles away, far beyond a comfortable commute. Airbnb now flies teams in for regular in-person gatherings, which the company sees as critical to success. "We are not remote first. We are just being intentional about how we gather," says Stephenson. "It's not a random three days a week where you hope to run into people at a water cooler." Read Full Article.

More Sleep & Productivity: 70% of Canadian hybrid workers say they’re more productive than before the pandemic, according to a new survey by International Workplace Group plc . 48% said they have more time to relax after work and 46% enjoy work more. 35% said they sleep at least seven hours a night compared to just 25% before 2020, leading to a total of 73 extra hours of sleep per year. “This study confirms hybrid working is building a healthier and happier workforce,” said Wayne Berger , CEO of the Americas for International Workplace Group plc . “Giving people the flexibility to work closer to home gives them greater control over their schedules and better work-life balance so they can make time for the healthy habits that are critical for their physical and mental well-being.” Read Full Article.

Reframing the Name: Reframing flexible work as ‘agile working’ could get even the most stubborn bosses onboard, reports Yahoo Finance . 97% of women surveyed by Deloitte feared asking for a more flexible work schedule would hurt their chances of a promotion (94% last year). Emma Codd , Deloitte’s Global Inclusion Leader, says it's important to get rid of the stigma. Her team renamed the concept of flexible working to “agile working,” and she personally banned the word flexible. “Everytime I mentioned the word flexible, people thought it [stood for] women being difficult,” she says. “That’s so wrong, so I said no, we’re going to change the name.” Codd found people in the organization who were already “agile working” and showcased them to decision-makers. “The way to remove a stigma is to talk about it, reframe it, show the impact, and establish clear principles about what we will do and who we will be.” Read Full Article.

Ending Full Flexibility: The new Lyft CEO has announced the end of the company’s fully flexible work policy. Employees will be required to come into the office at least three times per week, starting this fall. But why are so many firms back-pedalling? “When top executives feel financial stress, the classic ‘threat-rigidity’ effect kicks in, and beyond possible benefits for communication, collaboration and creativity, they feel compelled to increase their own illusion of control,” said Bob Sutton , a psychology professor at Stanford University . However the reality is that CEOs aren't basing these return-to-office policies on statistics, with numbers showing that the remote work boom has actually been quite a boon for productivity. Read Full Article.

Approaching Flex: How are different companies and industries approaching flexibility in the workplace? The latest Flex Index report, gives some interesting stats: 51% companies allow hybrid work. Most of the 49% that don't are frontline industries, such as restaurants and retail. By contrast, 80% of tech companies are highly flexible, either fully remote or a flexible hybrid. 60% of professional service companies and 59% of media companies have similarly embraced full flexibility. Financial services companies come in at 47%, and insurance companies are at 42%. In terms of the models chosen, 8% of companies are fully remote, while 23% have a flexible hybrid approach, allowing employees to choose which days they come into the office, with complete flexibility on where and how to work. 9% require a minimum number of days in the office, and 6% dictate specific in-office days. Where does your business sit? Read Full Article.