My eldest son has been talking to his employer for some time about remote working.
He and his family wanted to get out of Sydney, with its attendant challenges, and have a simpler lifestyle.
Problem has been, the simpler lifestyle also limits the job opportunities, particularly in the relatively narrow field where he has developed experience and expertise.
He conducted an experiment, both for himself and his employer, by working remotely for 6 weeks, from Tasmania. His boss was happy, as was he, and so the idea flourished to the point where he sold his unit a couple of weeks ago, just after his boss’s boss informed them that remote working was not on the agenda, and not acceptable.
This was all before the great dunney paper rush motivated by ‘The bug’ over the past few weeks.
I wonder if the attitude has changed? I know Geoff and his family are committed, and in the absence of a job, will move anyway and try their luck, cashed up as they are.
What does Geoff’s employer have to do to make remote working a part of the way they work?
They have to undergo a digital transformation, supported by a cultural one. In a global company in a regulated market, this is not easy. In fact, the only easy thing about it is to kick the can down the road, so it is someone else’s problem to solve.
However, Millennials are not the same as us baby boomers. They are looking for something more, and are very mobile, risk takers, and unlikely to stay with an employer who does not meet, or even try to meet their needs.
I have prepared a list of the elements Geoff’s employer needs to think about, if they are to transform, and have the chance at retaining the training, commitment and intelligence Geoff, and his cohort bring to the table.
- Change of this nature requires leadership and overt commitment from the very top, cascaded through the organisation. This means that there is a mandate to change from the top, and the necessary resources and leadership are made available. When change is slow, or not forthcoming, the leadership needs to remove the roadblocks, ensuring the ball keeps rolling, building momentum.
- All stakeholders need to understand the reasons for the change, and the value that is created by the outcome. In the absence of an articulated reason for the change, it will stutter.
- Organisation structures need to change from vertical siloes to cross functional collaboration. While this is organisationally and operationally difficult, it is logical, as the customer does not care which part of the organisation addresses their needs, they just care that it is done in a timely, reliable and efficient manner. Organisation structures have to evolve to reflect the customer journey, they can no longer dictate how that journey will be fulfilled. Siloed organisation structures generate ‘transactional friction’ for customers, and the millennials amongst them generally will no longer tolerate it, so they will go elsewhere.
- These changes are not a digital transformation, they are an organisational transformation that uses the evolving digital tools to add value to customers. Too many become obsesses with the tools, when it is the outcome that counts.
- Transformation of any type ultimately boils down to the people, it is them who will engage and push the cultural transformation needed, it just requires the permission and tools to do so.
- Somebody, somewhere, has to build and approve the business case for all this. Change is risky and potentially expensive, but is a necessary part of commercial sustainability. In the absence of a business case that finds a way to articulate the desired outcome, in a manner that everyone understands, the change process will grind to a halt under the weight of the status quo.
The bug may be the catalyst that kick starts remote working. If I was a share market punter, I would be tumbling all my spare cash into businesses whose product was enabling this move. Zoom, for example, as well as the integrated cloud systems, Microsoft, Cisco, Zoho, et al. My son is well down in the pecking order of a very large corporation, and seemingly irrelevant to the success or otherwise of the organisation, but losing him, and others like him, will slowly rot the business from the core.
Header cartoon courtesy Mike Luckovitch
