Will work ever be the same again? (Aug 2020)

In early June I ‘went’ to the CIPD’s 2020 Festival of Work. I was really struck by how similar speakers’ reflections were about the impact of the pandemic, even though they come from very varied backgrounds, and how the festival itself demonstrated that. 

Having been to a few of the CIPD’s annual conferences at Olympia they are great events but they have downsides – expensive ticket if self-funding, time consuming and costly travel if you’re not based in London, and it always seems to be that your top three speakers will be on at the same time so you miss two. Instead this year I attended a free virtual event at my desk, along with over 23,000 people who had registered from across the globe, listened to some speakers live, and caught up with those I missed later. Yes, I missed meeting new people and chatting about what we were hearing, but I’m not sure that outweighed the virtual benefits. Will I ever attend a big conference again?

Which links with perhaps the main theme from the conference – will work ever be the same again? Actually, the theme was more positive, a call to action of ‘let’s make sure work isn’t the same again, let’s take the good things we’ve learnt from the lockdown and make work better, in a way we’ve been trying to do for at least the last decade’.  Some of the good things people wanted to hold onto were:

·      Harnessing technology in a way that is good for people and the planet. For example, in lockdown 38% of UK workers have worked from home full time (yougov.co.uk 13.5.20), with most valuing the flexibility, time with family, and time not lost in commuting. Many speakers reflected that for those who used to work in an office full-time, it is likely the office will become a place to drop into once or twice a week for social contact, informal catch-ups, and meetings where face to face will really add value.

·      An increased understanding of the importance of mental health. Many of us have experienced declines in our mental wellbeing in lockdown, but conversations with colleagues about ‘how are you feeling’ have increased, and many businesses have invested in wellbeing support for their employees and communities. Perhaps work will no longer be such a significant factor in the 21st century ‘stress epidemic’?

·      Businesses have really learnt what ‘collaboration’, “co-operation’ and ‘agility’ look and feel like. The chairman of Barclays UK reflected that before lockdown 1,000 Barclays employees were working at home, two weeks into lockdown 65,000 were. Previous discussions about such a possibility had often ground to a halt when multi-year timetables and tens of millions of investment were raised. There will be lockdown mistakes as well as successes to learn from, but all will have happened quickly.

·      A flattening of hierarchy, and role for voices from all levels of organisations. A number of examples were given of board members ringing front-line staff to see how they were and to get their feedback on how the organisation was handling the crisis. Other organisations had regularly surveyed staff throughout lockdown, and were also using surveys and focus groups to gather views on how work should look after lockdown. After all there is no equivalent of a corner office on a virtual meeting, we all have the same sized picture. 

·      The importance of purpose in helping organisations and employees steer their way through the crisis. There was a sense amongst speakers that businesses who have responded well to lockdown, and are likely to continue to do so as we come out of lockdown, are those who have focused on their core purpose. I have a healthy dose of cynicism about Amazon’s latest advertising campaign, so a better example would be Leon’s role in spearheading the ‘Feed NHS’ coalition of restaurants. 

And a theme that is close to my heart, the importance of line managers. Sadly, many line managers are still promoted to that role based on technical, not people, expertise. Exacerbating that problem many are then not given skills development in how to manage people and teams, which often doesn’t come naturally. But line managers are critical in valuing productivity not presenteeism; trusting people and providing coaching so they can do their jobs well; creating a sense of meaning and purpose; and checking in on engagement, motivation and wellbeing. Essential roles at any time, critical during crisis. 

Naturally not all themes were positive. All speakers started with very sombre reflections on the impact of the pandemic, as well as the recent killing of George Floyd and perhaps at long last the confronting of racism in our societies, and let’s not forget climate change. We are in the midst of an unprecedented recession, although as Andrew Scott (Professor of Economics at LBS) commented ‘recession’ is inaccurate, as recessions are cyclical, whereas across the globe governments have chosen to crash their economies in order to save lives. In the UK 8% of workers have lost their jobs and 21% have been furloughed in lockdown (yougov.co.uk 13.5.20) and it is likely there will be a permanent loss in GDP of 10%-15%. One in five school children have done less than an hour of study a day since March, and of those eligible for free school meals 20% have no access to a computer at home, compared to 7% of other children (UCL Institute of Education report 16.6.20). With such a bleak socio-economic outlook, speakers raised questions such as:

·      What role does business, as well as government, have in generating secure, meaningful, fairly paid work? 

·      How can businesses and government help people reskill and upskill for a different, more automated world of work? 

·      Will a universal basic income be provided for those who can’t reskill?

·      What role does business, as well as government and educational institutions, have in providing lifelong learning, that may equip an employee for work but not with their current employer?

Churchill’s “never let a good crisis go to waste” was quoted a number of times, and I was reassured that so many leaders, economists, psychologists, and other professionals are determined to not let organisations ‘snap back’. I was also reassured by the healthy doses of realism and pragmatism about how difficult this may be when it involves shifting cultures against a backdrop of recession, job-losses, and continued anxiety about covid-19. All of us need to keep similar conversations alive in our organisations, and not miss our chance to reset negative aspects of work.