Collaboration Forum Series 5: Building a brighter future (Week-10)

A tipping point of historic proportions

The final Collaboration Forum of series five brought together three opinion formers on the future of work. Peter Richardson from Protiviti, Matt Weston from Robert Half, and James Ghaffari at B Corp, explained more about what comes next

Change, like we’ve never seen it before

A tsunami is sweeping across the commercial landscape. The past year has profoundly influenced people’s view of work and given companies time to assess their business models. Some have also doubled down on sustainability, health and wellbeing, and questioned why they exist.

As business leaders contemplate what happens as pandemic restrictions lift, they will enter another period of change. They will continue to consider the way they operate, and the way their employees want to work. Their experience of one crisis will, in many ways, keep them focussed on coping with the next.

“The Covid-19 crisis is a tipping point of historic proportions, and the pace of change is unlikely to slow down,” said Peter Richardson, architect for the future of work at Protiviti. “More changes will be required as the economic and human situations evolve, remote work is created, and new job opportunities come along.

“We’ll have to deal with those challenges, and over the next six to 12 months, we’ll experiment with technology and operating models; and how to manage change that will exceed the pace we’ve seen before,” he added.

There’s nothing like a crisis to strengthen relationships

The pace of commercial change has also been compounded by an existential crisis. As the health impact of the pandemic becomes more manageable, people have been reflecting on the bigger picture, too. Many commentators have called Covid-19 the warm-up for climate change, and an event that has highlighted our wider relationship with the planet.

At B Corp, which benchmarks businesses on their environmental and social behaviour, James Ghaffari has seen a “pretty phenomenal step change”. He said recent conversations about sustainability have been fascinating and inspiring to see. He explained this period has allowed companies to look inward and clarify how they are approaching the environment, society and their workforce.

“I think companies are viewing this crisis as the start of a period of crises to come,” he said. “So, companies are communicating consistently with their employees and suppliers to build really strong relationships. It’s those strong relationships that build resilience and help them transition through crises, and actually come out the other end stronger.”

Because we’re about to see a “tsunami of staff turnover”

Those relationships will be put to the test over the next few months, as people contemplate moving jobs, and finding roles that suit them better. While professional relationships have been through a survival phase during the pandemic, the market for new jobs suggests things are about to change.

More than 80 per cent of companies are looking to recruit at the moment, according to research from Robert Half. But the number that might stop everyone in their tracks is this one: 48 per cent of people are looking for a new opportunity. That means we are facing a “tsunami of staff turnover”, according to managing director Matt Weston.

These are people who might enjoy their job but are just looking to do something different. They have also been shown that work can be done remotely, and that the location of a job doesn’t matter anymore. Ultimately, “the pace of change that’s coming, and the war for talent, has never been seen before”, he added.