The Future of Work is evolving quickly. “Hybrid” was the buzzword of 2022, but we know that what employees really want is completely flexible work. The hybrid model, an awkward blend of the “9 to 5” and “remote work” lifestyle, has served its useful purpose and created space for something new to emerge. It’s time to rethink your approach to flexible work, to bring out the best in your current employees, and attract the top hires in the job market.
Modern companies try to incorporate work/life balance in different ways: some have fun treats like a cold brew tap or Friday lunches, while others allow employees to play ping pong throughout the day. But do any of these practices actually equal balance?
Career and personal life “balance” rarely equals 50/50, and many employees feel liberated when they let go of making balance happen.
Work/life balance doesn’t exist, or at the very least looks different for every person. While one person may have an entrepreneurial mindset driving them to fill their free time with work, another may only want to work during his or her child’s school hours. Either person can accomplish the tasks their job requires, but their schedule will look different.
Despite incredible advances in day to day technologies, many workplaces have not evolved past the rigid structural requirements of the industrial revolution. While we have made great strides in areas of equality at work, invisible (or unconscious) biases still persists, typically enabling a stereotype of women as less experienced than men with a more nurturing side that means weakness.
We know these biases exist and need to be eliminated in order to reach a greater potential for innovation in the workplace.
