From experiment to status quo
We’re more than two years into what experts are calling “the greatest work experiment of all time.” What began as a necessary shift to remote work has since grown and evolved into a long-term exploration of hybrid ways of working. Around the world, organizations and leaders have been strategizing through emerging technologies and new workspaces, all with the goal of finding a better way of working fit for a “highly digital, globalized world.”
To better understand how to move forward with hybrid work, Jabra surveyed 2,800 knowledge workers in six key countries to answer three critical questions:
- How much autonomy should employees have to determine where and when they work?
- What characterizes our emotional connection to our workspaces?
- How can we use technology to rewire our relationships with colleagues for a virtual-first era?
As we enter the third year of this new era of work, we must begin to think about hybrid work differently. We need to start thinking about how to create emotional stability in an otherwise consistently unstable reality.
Key takeaways
Now that we’re entering a new stage of the hybrid workplace journey, Jabra’s takeaways include tangible steps organizations can take to improve employee happiness, sense of belonging, and emotional connections to their colleagues. Their insights focus on objectives like maximizing employee autonomy for a better hybrid work experience, identifying the emotional significance of our workspaces, and enabling genuine human connection with hybrid technology.
As leaders, we can’t expect that our Gen X and Gen Z employees will have the same motivations for coming to work – or any two generations, for that matter. To create a work culture that reflects, respects, and embodies the wide range of values in a five-generation workforce, it’s up to leaders to identify the shared values that bridge these groups and use those as common ground on which to collaborate and cooperate.
