Major Changes We Saw In Work Culture In 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has had tremendous and swift effects on workplace culture. And the year 2021 had the global lockdown and travel bans upend assumptions about the nature of work and corporate interactions.

In the past year, people have discovered that they don¡¯t have to be in an office, that they can get most things done remotely. They do not need to commute to work. Others have gone from jet-set to home-bound with little effect on their business.

In short, it taught us many trends and how work can be done, efficiently and effectively without having to implement the typical work structure. Here's a list of changes we saw at workplace cultures across the world in the year 2021.

1) Working from home

In the past couple of years, the competition for talent has been fiercer than ever. At the same time, some groups of talent are less willing to relocate to their employers¡¯ locations than they had been in the past. As organisations reconstruct how they work and identify what can be done remotely, they can make decisions about which roles must be carried out in person, and to what degree.

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For instance, Apple declared that its employees won¡¯t be returning to offices in February as previously slated due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, according to Bloomberg¡¯s Mark Gurman. Further, the company has announced that it would be giving all of its employees $1,000 as a bonus that can be used for their ¡®work-from-home¡¯ needs.

2) Technology upgradation

Previously, for example, organisations may have generated ideas by convening a meeting, brainstorming on a physical or digital whiteboard, and assigning someone to refine the resulting ideas. A new process may include a period of asynchronous brainstorming on a digital channel and incorporating ideas from across the organisation, followed by a multi-hour period of debate and refinement on an open videoconference.

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Organisations should also reflect on their values and culture and on the interactions, practices, and rituals that promote that culture. A company that focuses on developing talent, for example, should ask whether the small moments of mentorship that happen in an office can continue spontaneously in a digital world. Other practices could be reconstructed and strengthened so that the organisation creates and sustains the community and culture it seeks.

3) 4-day work week

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies across the globe experimented with a four-day workweek, but the pattern gained steady popularity when the world shifted to work from home.

Recently, United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the first country in the world to implement four and a half-day working week for government employees. This plan will be implemented from January 1, 2022, as reported by state news agency WAM on December 7. This plan is in contrast to the global five days working week, with Mondays to Thursdays, the new working period will be from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm, and on Fridays, it's from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm.

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Earlier, Spain, New Zealand, Japan and Ireland rolled out a 4-day work week schedule. Scotland and Iceland are among the countries that are experimenting the 4-day workweek trial.

4) Expanded data collection

Gartner analysis shows that 16% of employers are using technologies more frequently to monitor their employees through methods such as virtual clocking in and out, tracking work computer usage, and monitoring employee emails or internal communications/chat. While some companies track productivity, others monitor employee engagement and well-being to better understand employee experience.

Even before the pandemic, organisations were increasingly using nontraditional employee monitoring tools, but that HR trend will be accelerated by new monitoring of remote workers and the collection of employee health and safety data.

5) Expanded employer's role

The pandemic has increased the trend of employers playing an expanded role in their employees¡¯ financial, physical and mental well-being. Support includes enhanced sick leave, financial assistance, adjusted hours of operation and child care provisions. Some organisations supported the community by, for instance, shifting operations to manufacturing goods or providing services to help combat the pandemic and offering community relief funds and free community services.

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The current economic crisis has also pushed the bounds of how employers view the employee experience. Personal factors rather than external factors take precedence over what matters for organisations and employees alike. Employing such measures can be an effective way to promote physical health and improve the emotional well-being of employees.

6) Humanization of employees

If not all, many orrganisations have recognized the humanitarian crisis of the pandemic and prioritized the well-being of employees as people over employees as workers. Companies were deliberate in the approach they took and mindful of the effects on employee experience, which will be long-lasting. The discussion became about addressing inequities if remote and engaging task workers in team culture and creating a culture of inclusiveness.

Conclusion

As employers around the world experiment with bringing their employees back to offices, the leadership must act now to ensure that when they return, workplaces are both productive and safe.

Organisations must also use this moment to break from the inertia of the past by dispensing with suboptimal old habits and systems. A well-planned return to offices can use this moment to reinvent their role and create a better experience for talent, improve collaboration and productivity, and reduce costs.That kind of change will require transformational thinking grounded in facts. Ultimately, the aim of this reinvention will be what good companies have always wanted: a safe environment where people can enjoy their work, collaborate with their colleagues, and achieve the objectives of their organisations.

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