Last week, I shared some insights on 2022 workplace trends as predicted in a January article from Harvard Business Review. Among the things mentioned in the article “11 Trends that Will Shape Work in 2022 and Beyond” was last week’s focus of the shortened workweek. This week, I’d like to dive in to Trends #4 and #6 on their list.
Increased Turnover
Article writers Brian Kropp and Emily Rose McRae predict (in Trend #4) that employee turnover will continue to increase as hybrid and remote work become the norm for knowledge workers. As to WHY this will create more—not less—turnover is an astute observation: “Employees that work hybrid or remotely have fewer friends at work and thus weaker social and emotional connections with their coworkers.”
As to how this affects the job seeker, consider this also… “With hybrid and remote work as the norm, the geographic radius of the organizations that someone can work for also expands.” This means that companies who don’t have to provide workspace for everyday knowledge workers can expand their search beyond their geographic “center.”
This is also true for the prospective employee. You may not have to move to Silicon Valley for your dream job in big tech… The job may be hosted there, but it might meet you where you are.
Recently, I spoke to an HR manager who said their radius for a “local” candidate has expanded from 40 to 90 miles. This gives them the ability to reach well-qualified candidates on the northern perimeter of Atlanta. She said they can WFH almost every day. And she lives in Villa Rica – 37 miles and 52 minutes away.
When they have team meetings at HQ, all employees are close enough to arrive for a 9:00 AM start time, they bring in lunch, and send everyone home no later than 4:00 PM. This supports work-life balance, strengthens relationships, and builds an esprit des corps.
Improved Collaboration
As to why some companies are comfortable with this shift, Kropp and McRae offer this explanation in their predicted Trend #6. The tools we use to work remotely will become the tools that help measure and improve performance.
They put it this way, “Moving forward, the same tools that employees are currently using to work in a virtual environment will be used to assess the contributions that employees are making.”
In other words, a company that wants to expand its team doesn’t have to expand their physical office capacity. Likewise, replacing a staff position can mean they look in a wider geographic area than ever before—without the expectation for the candidate to relocate for the job.
What do you think about this? How does the trend of remote working, which appears to be on the rise, affect your job search?
Dave O’Farrell helps his clients shorten their search, earn more money, and get better results. He helps employers soften the blow when they have to let employees go by offering the very best outplacement service on the planet. Reach out to Dave through his LinkedIn page.
For the #3 trend, the article lists “To compete in the war for knowledge worker talent, some companies will shorten the work week rather than increase pay.”
You may remember in my email to you last week that I discussed another source (TechRadar) that noted the 4-day workweek would be a top trend in the job market in 2022.
Here’s what HBR had to say about this trend back in January:
“While some companies are able to compete for talent through compensation alone, others don’t have the financial resources to do so. Rather than trying to win the war for talent by increasing compensation, we are seeing some employers reduce the number of hours worked by employees and keeping compensation flat”.
And if you’re wondering if this form of compensation is somehow short-changing the very talent they are seeking to attract, remember one hard-to-overlook factor: inflation.
In addressing that factor, the article states: “employers will find the compensation they offer will be worth less and less in terms of purchasing power for employees.”
So yes, while the increase in wages has doubled (4% versus the normal rate increase of 2%) the inflation factor makes the apparent increase worth a little less than in past years.
So now time is being given as another form of compensation. And if the HBR article title is any indication, the prediction is that this will last even beyond 2022.
Dave O’Farrell helps his clients shorten their search, earn more money, and get better results. He helps employers soften the blow when they have to let employees go by offering the very best outplacement service on the planet. Reach out to Dave through his LinkedIn page.
I was recently on a Zoom call with a Customer Success Manager who declared he doesn’t schedule meetings on Thursdays because he has a 4-day workweek and Thursday is his during-the-week day off.
For physically demanding jobs, 4-day workweeks, even 3-day workweeks, can be common, since more time is needed to rest from the more grueling manual labor.
But white-collar jobs?
In case you think this is only the case with the most progressive companies, think again.
In an article published this year, TechRadar noted the 4-day workweek was among the 9 biggest work trends of 2022. Sure, work-from-home and better pay and benefits were among the 9… and that probably surprises no one. But the 4-day workweek?
The TechRadar article said that “while plenty of people love the idea of having a three-day weekend as part of their routine, trials and studies do show that moving to a four-day week can often prove beneficial for both staff and companies.
“Microsoft Japan,” Mike Jennings, the article’s author, went on to say, “trialed a four-day work week back in 2019 and found that it led to a 40% boost in productivity and 23% less electricity consumption.”
The article also cites studies in New Zealand and Iceland that found staff were both happier and more productive with a four-day week.
With an increase in productivity and employee satisfaction, it’s hard to argue with the results, but obviously the 4-day workweek wouldn’t be practical for every industry or company.
What about you? What do you think about the 4-day workweek? Where does it rank on your list of job priorities?
Dave O’Farrell helps his clients shorten their search, earn more money, and get better results. He helps employers soften the blow when they have to let employees go by offering the very best outplacement service on the planet. Reach out to Dave through his LinkedIn page.
