Over the past month, the business world has seen “phased reopenings” introduce some semblance of normality to life, albeit against a backdrop (as of this week, unfortunately) of some regions across the world experiencing sharp upticks in the number of confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases. Although the future is still unsettled, and, although most of the world is still months away from seeing some semblance of pre-pandemic life, the world is indeed “opening up,” and with it, some questions regarding which major shifts will stick long beyond these unprecedented times. (For those of you playing “pandemic news bingo,” that will be the only time I say “unprecedented,” so get that shot of whiskey or tequila out of the way now before we start.)

Over the past four months, several topics have dominated discussions around the global arena of talent and work, including:

• The massive increase in remote work and distributed teams.
• The contingent workforce becoming more critical in the face of layoffs, furloughs, and cuts across the labor market.
• The criticality of operational automation, such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), in managing repeatable and recurring tasks that were interrupted when businesses locked down.
• The shifts in how businesses align newfound transformations in how they structure their products and services.
• The personal effects on workers from a lack of daycare/school, and;
• The significance of “flexibility” in how we get work done.

Any one of the above can be picked apart, discussed, and expanded into a larger conversation about the state of the Future of Work movement. The title of this article, however, is a trick question: all of these attributes will stick around in post-pandemic business life in some form. The hope is, though, that one above all others becomes a long-term and permanent piece of how work gets done.

Flexibility.

Flexibility must be a core, fundamental, and foundational attribute of the Future of Work moving forward. Here’s why:

• Stretching the definition of “agility” to include flexibility can have incredible benefits. Business agility has become (both pre- and mid-pandemic) an oft-desired state of being for organizations across the world. The ability to be dynamic in response to real-time pressures and challenges has become especially crucial in the face of economic chaos and supply chain disruptions. However, expanding the definition of agility to include flexibility in how work is addressed will have positive long-term ramifications. Flexibility in how skillsets are aligned with new projects, flexibility in which talent is engaged for new initiatives, and flexibility in how the work is actually done…these are all fantastic extensions of the core ideas behind business agility.
• The “human” side of the Future of Work is critical for both businesses and workers. During the last few episodes of the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast’s fourth season (check out the podcast here, as we have just kicked off season five), I spoke about the “human” side of the Future of Work. The pandemic (and other recent events) have plunged the collective psyche of the world’s workforce into truly dark territory; both business leaders and workers alike are concerned about health and safety, as well as the continued effects of the lockdown/shelter-in-place orders (loneliness, missing family and friends, having to homeschool children, etc.) even if some restrictions have been lifted. Leaders (who are also experiencing these feelings) must be flexible in how they view their talent’s availability and output: work can get done on a non-traditional timescale (i.e. focusing on project and business outcomes rather than adhering to a strict 9-to-5 schedule) and be more aligned with productivity.
• And, speaking of productivity: permanent alignment between flexibility and productivity should become the norm. There are always going to be roles within the average business that need to be tethered to a physical location. However, some (or, in some cases, most) positions can be supported via digital or remote work setups. Even though the “biggest and greatest remote work experiment in history” proved that distributed teams can be just as effective outside of the office, there will still be a heavy majority of workers heading back to the office later in the year (and into 2021). The caveat, however, is that it has been proven that the flexibility of remote work can have significant productivity advantages. There will be an alignment between the depth, complexity, and criticality of a project or initiative and how it is addressed from work optimization perspectives. If it can be done virtually/remotely, it should If the business can tap into specific non-employee channels of expertise to get it done, then they should. The question of “Can remote workers be productive?” has been answered; it’s just a matter of more business leaders understanding that more flexible work structures (including tapping into on-demand talent pools, agile talent, etc.) will have incredible results on the overall efficacy of how work ultimately gets done.

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Tagged in: Agility, Christopher Dwyer, Complex Categories, Contingent Workforce, Future of Work, Innovation, People, Strategy, Technology