How to manage flexible working during this uncertain time

Employees from the baby boomer generation who lived through World War II and The Depression may have a different view, but for the majority of the workforce, we are living in one of the most uncertain times in our history.

After a worldwide pandemic, geo-political tensions continuing to rise, and a high-inflationary environment causing the highest cost of living in modern history, you’d be forgiven for thinking, what’s next?

“It’s the most uncertain time that I’ve been in the workforce, said Chandra Sinnathamby, Director, Digital Media B2B Strategy & GTM, Asia-Pacific. “But uncertainty is a constant, just like change is a constant. For the last few years, though, there has been a heightened level of uncertainty and the frequency of uncertainty is playing on people’s minds.”

The Adobe Future of Time study found the answer to alleviating that uncertainty for your employees is flexibility, and employees want more of it. The study of 9,700 people across APAC and Europe found that 70% of not only employees but also enterprise managers and SMB leaders would like to be able to choose their own hours and location of work.  

Read more: The balance between human interaction and technology is key

“No real surprise after three years of working from home,” said Sinnathamby. “Humans are creatures of habit; it’s habitual for us to work from home now.” The big question for employers is how to enable collaboration and workflows, and maintain worker job satisfaction?  

Technology is an enabler of flexibility

According to the study, the vast majority (93%) of ENT managers, SMB leaders (86%), and employees (90%) observed the positive impact that investing in digital tools can have on productivity.

Over 90% of ENT managers in the ANZ region are interested in digital tools to help foster collaboration among employees, with 88% stating their interest in how digital technologies could enable easier feedback between employees and their managers.

The fact of the matter is even if people are working from home, they need to be productive. “What digital does is enable employees to get work done,” said Sinnathamby. “It allows them to collaborate and get processes and workflows completed.”

The data shows technology plays a big role in enabling the workforce, with 89% of employees having observed the benefits of digital tools in maintaining business continuity during uncertainty. However, Sinnathamby is quick to warn: “Technology is there to enable, but employers need to ensure it gets implemented and adopted.

“In this climate, the role of the employer is to enable their staff to have the right tools to get the job done when they’re working from home and digital tools are core to all of that.”

Read more: Technology gap? Some business leaders are flying blind

Employees who work for companies who have invested in digital solutions are twice as likely to say they have experienced better work-life balance because of innovation.

“People come to work, yes, to put food on the table but also they want satisfaction and if you think about it in the current climate where there’s a massive war for talent, people will leave if they’re not getting job satisfaction,” Sinnathamby said.

Sinnathamby warns against simply digitising a process for the sake of digitising a process. Unfortunately, it’s not a matter of buying technology, installing it, then letting it do its thing.

“Organisations that do it well think about the change management, the implementation, how they are going to drive adoption, and they are the ones that really succeed.”