Over the past number of months the GoChallenge team have spoken to 56 HR professionals across the globe to help us get a deeper understanding of the rapidly changing world of work. We spoke with executives from businesses of all shapes and sizes, from family run SME businesses to Fortune 500 companies. These executives were all extremely generous with their time and our conversations were honest, educational and enlightening. They informed and shaped our value proposition at GoChallenge and I would like to share our five key learnings with you:
- Human connection is challenging in the new world of work
One US-based company said that 50% of their new hires in 2022 had already left their business. In their exit interviews they revealed they felt “isolated”, “lonely”, “had made no friends”. Organisations are trying hard to provide social and interpersonal events / moments for their hybrid working teams. In a world of Zoom calls, bots and artificial intelligence, people still crave real human connection and interaction.
2. Many Companies have moved from operating one model of work to three.
The majority of companies we spoke to are offering 3 work options to their people, and it broke down as follows:
Those companies that are offering hybrid working, it was 50:50 split between working three days from home or two days from home.
3. You can’t out Yoga a bad boss
Every company we spoke to understands that employee wellbeing is absolutely critical for advancing corporate objectives and boosting their business’s bottom line. However, what’s really key to employee wellbeing is having a manager that is empathic, fair and is clear in their communications and decisions. One London based HR Director said, “the most toxic thing is any organisation, and the number one stress driver in our business is bad management. There’s no amount of yoga that’s going to cure that.”
4. Hybrid working is here to stay
Every HR executive we spoke to said that at the outbreak of COVID they naively thought that everything would return to normal after a short lockdown. As we know that’s not the case and what we’ve experienced since is a tectonic shift in how organisations operate and their people work. Each of the 56 executives agreed that the new world of work is here to stay and going forward it’s critical we enable office based, hybrid and remote teams to connect and collaborate better.
5. Sedentary lifestyles are a huge concern.
Every HR executive mentioned getting their people to move more, and the mental and physical health benefits of doing so. They are conscious of stats like that from the British Heart Foundation stating that; “Office and home workers spend 75% of their waking day sitting down”. A number of HR executives mentioned investing in standing desks, gym memberships, bicycle schemes, fitness apps and one company went so far as to buy Peloton bikes and subscriptions for its people.
A large multinational revealed to us that they did a survey with their hybrid working teams across four continents and their main health concerns in order of priority are:
- Gaining weight
- Mental health issues, such as loneliness, depression and anxiety.
- Stress and burnout
We hope you found this article of interest.
To find out more about how GoChallenge can connect your people no matter where their work happens, simply:
Email: john@gochallenge.com
Visit: gochallenge.com
