Is remote working a quick fix or something for the long term?

The Corona Virus pandemic shocked the whole world. In a lifetime, many had not witnessed such massive disruption to the world order. With the development of vaccines and the easing of restrictions in several places, the natural course of events for some observers was that everything would go back to normal. In this case however, not exactly. That is why it is called a disruption.

The pandemic sparked light bulb reactions in several quarters. For instance, it became apparent to business owners that requiring customers or business transactions to be limited to a physical location was not sustainable. Businesses that leveraged on technology were more dynamic and adaptable, able to reach more customers and as a result, many of them soared during the wave of the virus. For employees, this lightbulb moment sparked the 'Great Resignation' with the realization that alternative options existed in freelancing, self employment, private practice, consulting, entreprenuership and flexible work arrangements or in other instances, more time for self and family. Some realized that they could do more outside the regular metropolitan transition to and fro a physical office. Increasingly, it appears that active candidates have become more intentional and deliberate in their choices of work opportunities and organizations that offer them.

In a recent LinkedIn poll, the following findings were interesting:

• 46% of respondents stated they would reject a job offer if the role does not feature hybrid or remote work.
• 34% of respondents mentioned they would not turn down a job offer that does not feature hybrid or remote work. 20% of respondents thought other factors would be important in making a decision.
• 43% of respondents felt that a hybrid model should be adopted by organizations for the long term.
• 34% of respondents felt that remote and flexible working is employee friendly.
• 21% of respondents felt that long term adoption of remote working should be dependent on business realities.
• Just 2% of respondents felt that remote working should not be adopted because Covid19 has already been contained.
• 47% of respondents felt that supportive technology is the most critical factor to enabling remote and hybrid working. Effective communication was next with 22% of the respondents voting in its favour.

It is important to pay attention to critically changing dynamics. Though it is typical for employees to have blind spots on other perspectives and business realities, the changing preferences of employees and candidates seem to unfold a more interesting dimension. Talent may have better leverage on the negotiating table. With the war for talent, talent scarcity and increased global opportunities, companies may need to tweak their talent attraction, engagement and retention strategies to deal with the prevalent and emerging realities. These realities are not only occassioned by changing preferences of talent but also driven by the larger scope of changing dynamics across the world. It seems that there is an unfolding digital revolution.

A look at the list of the Top 10 world's richest people for instance shows that 60% of them made most of their wealth from the digital space or they are making steps in that direction.

1. Elon Musk: Recently acquired Twitter for about $44bn. For someone with a networth of over $300bn and with business interests in car manufacturing and space travel amongst others, there must be something he is seeing on the 'bird app'.
2. Jeff Bezos: Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer.
3. Bill Gates: Founder of Microsoft that acquired Nokia and LinkedIn, also a digital platform.
4. Larry Page: Co- Founder of Google
5. Larry Ellison: Co-Founder of Oracle
6. Sergey Brin: Co-Founder of Google and Alphabet

Is it not surprising that after several decades in manufacturing, trading and commerce, Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote is ranked by Forbes as having an estimated networth of $13.9bn? Yet, Mack Zuckerberg ('new kid on the block' in terms of decades in business) who founded Facebook and has business interests in Whatsapp and Instagram, (all digital platforms) has a networth of $84bn, over 6 times more? The world has indeed gone digital.

Uber disrupted yellow taxi cabs. Netflix disrupted cinemas. Amazon Kindle disrupted physical book stores. Cryptocurrency disrupted the financial services. The Metaverse is on its way. With technological innovation, comes disruption. The underlying philosophy of every innovation is "Can things be done better, faster and/or easier?". The best seller book 'Who moved my cheese?' written by Dr. Spencer Johnson comes to mind. The question remains, "Are we holding on to the old?" or "Are we open minded about the new?" The change many expected is no longer anticipated. Indeed, it is already here. What may be left to change may just be you.

Links to the polls:

https://bit.ly/38pj08n

https://bit.ly/3FGQ4ox