Future of work and employee experience

With many workplaces operating in more of a virtual mode currently, our assumptions about employee experience may be challenged

- Richard Smith

How do you like your job at that company?” This is a question that friends often ask each other when comparing notes about different employers. The various answers to this question often shape the reputation of an organization as a good place to work (or not). Leaders in Human Resources will hope that the answer to this question provides a resounding endorsement of the employee value proposition. The employee experience has been studied in many organizations in hopes of understanding the nature of the job, the workplace environment, and how time at work is experienced.

With many workplaces operating in more of a virtual mode currently, our assumptions about employee experience may be challenged. After all, if we were to ask people how they like their work environment over the last several months, most might reply with a retort such as: “My workplace is my living room… it seems fine!” Recent trends suggest that it is time to rethink and potentially redefine how we curate the employee experience in relation to time, place, and task.

Over the past year, many organizations have created new ways of working, a heightened sense of human connection, and in some cases a unique manner of interacting. People used to come to a specific place at a specific time to do specific work… while this is still the case for some jobs, our research suggests that at least 60% have some degree of flexibility – and up to 40% have total flexibility as knowledge work dominates much of the service sector. While there are many factors, let’s look at the potential shifts of work in three dimensions:

1. Time Continuum: Specific Time -to- Any Time

2. Place Continuum: Specific Place -to- Any Place

3. Task Continuum: Specific Tasks -to- Any Tasks