Future Work (FlexOS)

Welcome to the second episode of the Future Work podcast with your host, Daan van Rossum. Today's guest is Alyssa Than-Stark, Group Well-being and Reward Manager at Singtel.

Alyssa is a passionate advocate for promoting a culture of "holistic well-being" in the workplace. Drawing on her extensive experience in behavioral health & neuropsychiatry, she discusses the importance of designing evidence-based strategies to meet the needs of Singtel's 20,000 employees at every level of the organization. Prior to joining Singtel, she spent the last 5 years working on the front line at various government hospitals in Singapore.

In this insightful conversation, Alyssa challenges the common understanding of workplace wellness practices and shares her firsthand experience in building comprehensive well-being initiatives. She also emphasizes the undeniable role of managers and on-the-ground champions in driving meaningful change.Being skeptical of on-the-surface solutions like mental health webinar culture or quick fixes like free food and massages, Alyssa brought to the table another practical approach to creating a sustainable well-being program.

Find Alyssa on LinkedIn.

This podcast is sponsored by FlexOS, unleashing the full potential of hybrid and remote teams. Go to our website and grab your management toolkit today.

Want to make up to $153,698 working from home?

Then you're going to love new AI jobs.

And surprisingly, a lot of them are not even in tech.

But – one danger looms – that of women falling behind.

Why's it? We've got it all covered in Future Work #64:

1. AI's Ramp-Up in the Job Market: AI job postings on LinkedIn more than doubled between July 2021 and July 2023, and applications rose by 19% in the US and 11% globally. This includes many roles outside of the tech sector.‍
2. AI Pays More: Amazon research shows that employers pay an average of 47% more for employees with AI skills and according to data analyzed by CNBC, many AI roles can be done from home and pay between $127k and $153. ‍
3. Women Risk Falling Behind: However, women are less engaged in AI conversations, less likely to learn AI skills compared to men, less likely to use AI, and to use it less often, all while they are overrepresented in jobs that are likely to be disrupted by AI. This could amplify an already existing pay and seniority gap.‍
4. Taking Action is Key: Picking up both technical and non-technical skills popular in AI roles is crucial to getting ahead in a future that’s looking to be more AI-fueled by the day.

I dive into all of this in this spoken version of the Future Work weekly newsletter.

Rather read? https://www.flexos.work/learn/ai-creates-100k-wfh-jobs-but-what-about-women.

In Future Work, I scan the news for must-know stories about the employee-centric, happier, distributed, and AI-driven future of work.

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this episode, Anna Tavis discusses the future of HR, emphasizing the growing importance of personalization in the workplace. She explains how HR is evolving from managing employees as a collective group to tailoring support for individuals using AI-driven tools like digital coaching. This shift toward personalization is critical for creating environments where all employees can thrive. Anna also highlights how this approach can improve employee performance, inclusivity, and overall organizational success.

Main Takeaways:

1. Talent Acquisition is Too Narrow: Traditional recruitment is often transactional and focused on immediate needs. Shifting to a broader talent strategy that focuses on long-term development, internal mobility, and strategic workforce planning is key to success in the future of work.
2. Technology as a Game-Changer: AI and automation are transforming recruiting by making processes faster, more inclusive, and more efficient. However, human oversight is still crucial to ensure decisions are empathetic and reduce bias.
3. Internal Mobility is Underutilized: Organizations often overlook the talent they already have. By understanding and developing employees' current skills and interests, companies can fill roles internally rather than relying on external hiring, improving efficiency and morale.
4. Personalization at Scale: Technology offers a huge opportunity to create more personalized candidate experiences, from acknowledging applications to nurturing talent pools, which can result in stronger relationships and long-term success for the organization.
5. The Human Touch Still Matters: While technology can streamline processes, empathy and human connection should remain central to recruitment strategies. A personalized, respectful approach will make the difference in a competitive talent market.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-from-recruiter-to-talent-strategist-technology-personalization-human-connection

Hybrid work is here to stay, but are you making the most of it? Join us on July 8th for "The Hybrid Work Dilemma." - https://www.flexos.work/hybrid2024.

Learn how to do more with less office space while increasing productivity, collaboration, and employee engagement. It's a chance to get inspired and connect with peers in a live roundtable to tackle your hybrid work challenges.

Thanks to Tactic, the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, and the UN, for making this event possible. Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

In today’s episode, we talk with Janet Pogue, the Global Director of Workplace Research at Gensler, about office design in 2024.

Janet shares her insights from over twenty years of research, including their latest study, which covered 15 countries and 16,000 office workers.

We’ll discuss how the pandemic has accelerated changes in workplace expectations, the essential elements of high-performing workspaces, and practical tips for making your office a place where people truly want to be.

Here are the actionable key takeaways from the conversation:

1. High-Performing Workspaces: Many offices remain unchanged post-pandemic, despite significant shifts in how we work. As Janet says, people now spend about half of their workweek in the office, and more than ever, they come into the office to focus and get their work done. Evaluate and update your office to align with new work habits and expectations. With more spaces for focused work, cocreation, informal and confidential conversations, hybrid meetings, and wellbeing. And, make sure you involve employees in the design process to increase their engagement and satisfaction with the workspace. As Janet said: "When people feel like they had a say, they now have ownership."
2. Balancing Function and Experience: Successful workspaces balance functional efficiency with creating an engaging, welcoming environment. But it’s not space alone. We need to be intentional about the experience by hosting events, and having team and core days, all to create a sense of vibrancy so that offices are a carrot, not a stick. For innovation, the lifeblood of companies, to flourish, you need to have more people across teams, not just within a team. So, beyond the office design, think about why people want to be there and how you facilitate this.
3. Leveraging Third Spaces: I loved Gensler's finding that you can extend the functionality and appeal of your office by using third spaces like coffee shops. With employees already spending a third of their week outside of the office and home, help them find more opportunities to tap into coworking spaces, libraries, coffee shops, and outdoor spaces to complement the office setting.
4. Improving Technology: Effective technology integration is essential for successful hybrid work environments. As Janet said, almost every meeting will have someone joining remotely. Invest in technology that enhances communication and collaboration, ensuring remote and in-office workers are equally engaged. This includes not just better microphones and cameras but also optimizing the room's acoustics.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/reimagining-office-gensler-janet-pogue-space-design-new-era

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this conversation, Tim Reitsma and Alex Her delve into the intricacies of employer branding, exploring its definition, importance, and the role of AI in shaping its future. They discuss the significance of self-reflection in branding, the integration of candidate experience, and the necessity of transparency in employer branding. Alex shares insights from his community on common challenges and trends, emphasizing the need for organizations to identify their unique value propositions and the importance of measuring ROI in employer branding efforts. The conversation concludes with actionable strategies for attracting top talent and mastering employer branding.

Takeaways:

1. Authenticity in Employer Branding: Building a strong employer brand means aligning your message with the actual culture of the organization. Candidates are drawn to authenticity, so presenting an accurate, relatable image is essential to attract and retain top talent.
2. Candidate Experience as Part of the Brand: The candidate journey, from the career page to interviews, should reflect your brand’s values. Small details, like personalized communications and engaging media on the careers page, create a lasting impression and reinforce the brand's message.
3. Leveraging AI for Efficiency: AI tools like GPT or Gemini can streamline employer branding tasks, from research to content creation. This frees up time for HR teams to focus on more strategic and creative aspects of the branding process.
4. Employee Advocacy as a Branding Tool: Employee advocates naturally share their work experiences and amplify the brand’s message. Identifying and empowering these champions within the organization can enhance authenticity and broaden your reach.
5. Employer Brand ROI: Employer branding can save companies money by reducing reliance on job boards and increasing time-to-fill metrics. Measurable ROI may come from a reduction in recruitment costs and faster hiring times.
6. Community and Continual Learning: Engaging in communities (like Alex’s EB Space) and industry events keeps employer branding professionals updated on trends and best practices. This shared knowledge enables teams to adapt and innovate in an evolving field.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-candidate-journey-employee-advocates-crafting-lasting-employer-branding

You may have heard Google launched its “ChatGPT Killer” Gemini, and that part of it was fake.

What actually happened? And should you use Google's new tools?

That and more in this week’s Future Work, the 65th edition, and the last one of 2023:

• ‍Google Launched Its ChatGPT Killer “Gemini:” Google unveiled Gemini, a new AI technology designed to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. ‍
• Key Features: include its multimodal capabilities (processing text, video, voice, and code from the ground up) and enhanced reasoning abilities, positioning it as more intuitively intelligent than existing models. ‍ ‍
• Controversy and Comparison with ChatGPT: Critics note that Google's comparisons with GPT-4 may be unfair. Gemini has not yet been released, and the benchmarks do not provide a direct comparison. Furthermore, some demos were revealed to be less interactive than initially presented. ‍

‍I dive into all of this in this spoken version of the Future Work weekly newsletter.

Rather read? https://www.flexos.work/learn/googles-chatgpt-killer-gemini-is-here-but-fake-should-you-use-it

In Future Work, I scan the news for must-know stories about the employee-centric, happier, distributed, and AI-driven future of work.

Hybrid work is here to stay, but are you making the most of it? Join us on July 8th for "The Hybrid Work Dilemma." - https://www.flexos.work/hybrid2024.

Learn how to do more with less office space while increasing productivity, collaboration, and employee engagement. It's a chance to get inspired and connect with peers in a live roundtable to tackle your hybrid work challenges.

Thanks to Tactic, the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, and the UN, for making this event possible. Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

In today’s episode, I welcome Ashley Herd, a lawyer turned management trainer whose TikToks and YouTube videos reach over 5 million views a month.

This reach gives Ashley an amazing insight into the real sentiment of employees and managers, which she combines with data from doing corporate leadership training at scale.

We'll discuss the importance of respect in the workplace, managers' untapped potential, and AI's evolving role in leadership.

A great episode if you deal with remote teams, navigate hybrid work environments, or want to improve your managers.

Here are the actionable key takeaways from the conversation:

1. Respect and Humanity in the Workplace: Ashley sees a lot of unfiltered feedback on the world of work in her video comments. Combined with corporate training, it’s taught her that when employees feel valued and respected, morale and productivity are significantly boosted. Ensure you foster an environment where respect and empathy are central. Regularly check in with your team to understand their needs and concerns, and make people feel they matter in things like being able to take time off and getting credit for their work.
2. The Ripple Effect of Good Management: Effective management goes beyond getting the work done well; it's about positively influencing and inspiring teams. But it goes further: As Ashley said: "Managers have a potential for ripple impact on their teams and often don't know how to harness it." So, invest in manager training programs that focus on empathy, communication, and leadership skills. Give them the autonomy to manage well and not have to run to HR every time.
3. Driving Performance with Empathy: Performance is important, but don’t forget empathy to create a balanced and effective management style. Focus on understanding your team's needs and aligning them with organizational goals for optimal performance.
4. Balancing Remote and Hybrid Work: Remote work requires a shift in management style, focusing more on outcomes than hours worked. As Ashley said, "Managers often worry about what their remote teams are doing, but it's about setting clear expectations and trust." Set clear goals and expectations for your remote teams. Use regular check-ins to maintain engagement and address any concerns.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/empathy-efficiency-ashley-herds-viral-management-tips

Is there a significant risk that AI will take over all our jobs? Have you heard about the latest Elon Musk prediction?

That’s what we’ll dive into in the 60th Future Work. Here’s the scoop:

• During an interview with “talk show host” Rishi Sunak, Elon Musk predicted that AI would take over all jobs. The only reason to work, he said, is to feel like we have some kind of purpose.
• Two reports issued this year by Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, however, show that AI will only impact some jobs while others will even grow. Especially manual labor and creative jobs are safe.
• Futurists disagree about where AI will take us in the near future. Antony Slumbers says we should be unique humans, while Alexandra Samual notes that she can foresee most of even her job disappearing.
• Managers who want to stay ahead in the future of work should not only embrace AI themselves but also train their teams, as data shows it’s surprisingly the Gen Z’ers who feel they lack the skills to take advantage of AI.

I dive into all of this in this spoken version of the Future Work weekly newsletter.

Rather read? Go to https://www.flexos.work/learn/a-jobless-future-interrogating-musks-ai-prophecy

In Future Work, I scan the news for must-know stories about the employee-centric, happier, distributed, and AI-driven future of work. Below is this week’s edition. Not a member yet? Join over 9,000 people-centric managers and subscribe here.

Future Work is the bi-weekly podcast from Daan van Rossum, CEO of FlexOS – the platform that helps hybrid and remote managers level up their leadership game.

In this episode, we’re joined by Antony Slumbers, a globally recognized speaker, advisor, and writer on proptech and space-as-a-service and one of our Top 55 Remote Work Influencers.

Antony is a serial entrepreneur who founded and exited several proptech software companies and now consults real estate boards on their transformation, technology, and innovation strategies.

He writes an influential blog at antonyslumbers.com, is a prolific Tweeter (@antonyslumbers), and teaches the online ‘#SpaceAsAService - The Trillion Dollar Hashtag’ course.In the episode, Antony discusses:

• The paradox of technology and the need for humans to become "exponential humans" in a world of exponential technology.
• Why we need to get much better at abstract and critical thinking.
• The integration of AI and its impact on the workforce in startups and enterprises.
• How employees can be ahead of companies embracing new technologies.
• How hybrid remote work has changed the world of work fundamentally.
• How applying an office-centric way of working to hybrid is doomed to fail.
• The need for companies to design experiences that cater to individual and team needs.
• The innovator’s dilemma and how companies should reinvent themselves, learning lessons from Microsoft and intel.

How technology should address significant global challenges, focusing on building a beautiful world and finding purpose in making a positive impact.

Want more Antony? We understand! Find him today on LinkedIn, Twitter, and his website.

Like reading more than listening? Find We Need to Become Exponential Humans on our website!

This episode is brought to you by Deel: https://www.flexos.work/deel.

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In today’s episode, we're joined by David Paffenholz, founder of PeopleGPT, an AI platform that uses a ChatGPT-style interface to help source the right candidate for open roles.

We'll discuss how AI is transforming recruitment, making it more efficient, altering the role of human recruiters, and whether they are still necessary.

Here are a few key takeaways from the conversation:

1. Efficiency Through AI: We learned how AI platforms like PeopleGPT could reduce the time recruiters spend on sourcing candidates by up to 90% by taking over the repetitive and predictable tasks of sorting through candidates, leaving recruiters more time for what humans are good at.

2. The Human in the Loop: The conversation underscored how humans still play a role in nuanced decisions and strategic direction, at least for now. Very often, the real value is better understanding the true needs before a search even starts, informed by company culture and organizational understanding.

3. Ethical Considerations: We also touched on the ethical implications of using AI in recruitment, ensuring that as we integrate these technologies, they enhance rather than compromise our human values and workplace culture. Practices David put in place include removing all personally identifiable information including names, gender, and nationality.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/90-faster-recruiting-with-ai-david-paffenholz-founder-peoplegpt

Welcome back to the Future Work podcast. Today I’m speaking with Chase Warrington, one of the world’s leading authorities on remote work.

Chase is the Head of Remote at Doist, an async-first company that created the famous Todoist tool and has over 100 people distributed across 35 countries.

Chase is a LinkedIn Top Voice for Remote Work and has been featured by Forbes, BBC, Fast Company, the World Economic Forum, and more.

Today, we speak about what any company can learn from his fully remote company, how Doist keeps people consistently engaged online, but also, why his company is remote yet he loves getting together in person.

Here are a few lessons I picked up today:

1. Getting people together is a huge priority for Chase and the team. He’s a head of remote pushing for more synchronicity. They got so good at async communication that they forgot to connect on a human level.
2. So how do they do it? Doist helps people connect through mentorship trips, where a new hire gets sent to work with their mentor face-to-face for a week, a mini-retreat where direct teams spend a week together somewhere, and Doist Connect, a company-wide retreat.
3. Doist doesn’t see remote as a way to save costs on offices. In fact, while they had some budget cuts this year, they actually increased their investment in getting people together.
4. If you invest in retreats, you have to consider how they connect to your core values and how people will get value out of it. Doist purposefully uses them for connection, spending 20% on work, 30% on activities, and 50% on rest and relaxation. Chase found that in the 50%, that’s where the true breakthroughs happen.
5. Even if companies don’t go fully remote, they can learn from some best practices, like documenting everything. As Chase said, we should ask ourselves, are we designing for how we used to work or how we work today?

We hope you’ll love this episode and can put these insights to good use. Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/secrets-playbook-of-famous-remote-companies-chase-warrington-head-of-remote-doist.

Welcome to the third episode of the Future Work podcast with your host, Daan van Rossum. Our guest today is Stephanie Lee, Director of People Experience at Nansen and a leading expert in remote work in Asia.

Stephanie is passionate about helping people bring their best selves to life and work. She believes that the key to hybrid success is designing your operating system to be remote-first. With her background in building remote companies in Europe, the US, and now in Singapore, she has helped businesses adapt to work-from-home directives by teaching effective implementation of remote work.

In this episode, Stephanie reveals how Nansen, the first remote-first company of this scale in Singapore with a workforce from almost 40 countries, approaches remote work. She also discusses the importance of team composition, cross-function collaboration, and organic connections, all aimed at helping the company thrive in a remote-first world.

Find Stephanie on LinkedIn and Twitter.

This podcast is sponsored by FlexOS, unleashing the full potential of hybrid and remote teams. Go to our website and grab your management toolkit today.

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this conversation, Tim Reitsma and David Turetsky explore the evolving landscape of total rewards in the context of the future of work. They discuss how total rewards have expanded beyond traditional compensation to include elements like career development, culture, and employee engagement. David emphasizes the importance of viewing HR as a business function rather than a cost center, advocating for investment in employee training and upskilling. The discussion also touches on the need for personalization in total rewards and the importance of clear communication with CFOs regarding the ROI of HR initiatives. Overall, the conversation highlights the critical role of HR in shaping a successful and engaged workforce in the modern business environment.

Takeaways

• Total rewards are more than just compensation: They encompass salary, benefits, career development, culture, and upskilling, all of which contribute to motivating employees and driving business success.
• Shift HR from a cost center to a business function: HR needs to be viewed as a value-generating function, where investments in people are seen as strategic contributions to the organization’s long-term goals.
• Upskilling is critical for future success: Investing in employee development, particularly in areas like AI and emerging technologies, is crucial for staying competitive and adapting to the future of work.
• Personalization is the future of rewards: Companies should consider offering flexible reward structures that cater to individual employee needs, such as health spend accounts or customizable compensation packages.
• Communicate ROI of HR initiatives effectively: HR leaders need to collaborate with finance and other departments to demonstrate the ROI of total rewards and training programs, positioning them as investments rather than costs.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-from-cost-center-to-business-function-the-power-of-total-rewards-in-hr

On this Future Work podcast, my guest is meeting facilitation guru Jakob Knutzen, the founder and CEO of Butter.

Jakob founded Butter, an online meeting and workshop platform, after being frustrated by overly complex and uninspiring alternatives.

In the episode, we discuss the power of synchronous moments, how to facilitate online meetings better, and why we don’t need an office.

Here are the key lessons you can apply today:

1. The Importance of Synchronicity: Like Chase Warrington, the Head of Remote at Doist, said in a previous episode, synchronicity remains important – even for remote teams. Jakob builds on this by saying people thrive on synchronous interactions, which explains the longing for office environments. Find synchronous moments with your team, especially for collaboration, brainstorming, communicating important or difficult news, and celebration.
2. The Art and Science of Active Facilitation: Jakob stresses the critical role of active facilitation in virtual collaboration, in three key moments:
   • Before the meeting: establish a concise and clear agenda with clear objectives and desired outcomes, roles and responsibilities, and send this to participants together with other pre-reads. Make sure you prepare well so that the meeting is effective and engaging.
   • During the Session: adhere to the agenda while remaining flexible to adjust based on the conversation's flow and emerging priorities, actively facilitate by engaging participants, encouraging interaction, and ensure that the conversation remains focused while ensuring inclusivity. Finally, finish with a Real-Time Recap and Agreement: Summarize key points and decisions throughout the meeting to ensure alignment.
   • After the Session: document the meeting's outcomes, including actionable tasks, and distribute them to all participants to ensure accountability and progress. Establish a clear follow-up process to monitor the implementation of decisions and progress on action items. And, seek feedback on the meeting's effectiveness to continually improve them and address any areas of concern.
3. AI's Role in the Future of Meetings: Looking ahead, AI can revolutionize virtual collaboration. AI's potential includes enhance real-time engagement as a co-facilitator in meetings, workshops, and break-out rooms. I also liked Jakob’s reminder that we should not rely on AI too much for agendas and recaps, as writing those are part of how we internalize the meeting’s contents.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work. Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/amazing-online-meetings-jakob-knutzen-ceo-butter

This week I’m speaking with Paul J. Zak, a neuroscientist and economics professor whose work focuses on human connection, human happiness, and effective teamwork.

Paul is a 5 time TED speaker, is in the top 0.3% of the most cited scientists, has given talks in 30 countries, and wrote the 2017 HBR classic “The Neuroscience of Trust.”

Paul shares insights from his extensive research on how trust influences productivity, innovation, and well-being in the workplace, providing a roadmap to foster a culture of trust and empowerment. All that, and the importance of embracing weirdness.

Here are a few takeaways to apply as a leader:

1. Embrace the Weirdness

‍Recognizing and celebrating the inherent weirdness in people creates a culture where everyone feels accepted and where trust is built more easily.

2. Trust is the Cornerstone of Modern Workplaces

‍Trust is even more critical for remote and hybrid teams. A zero-trust environment leads to micromanagement, which in turn stifles productivity and employee satisfaction. But – a high-trust workplace fosters innovation, productivity, and a sense of well-being among employees.

3. Trust AND Verify

‍Trust, coupled with verification, means employees have the autonomy to perform their tasks effectively while still being accountable for their outcomes. Plus, they’ll enjoy it more and stick around longer.

4. Keep Checking In

‍Effective communication and regular check-ins are vital in building and maintaining trust, especially in remote settings. Implementing daily huddles to discuss accomplishments, plans for the day, and any support needed can keep teams aligned and focused. Weekly deeper one-on-ones provide more personalized support and coaching opportunities, ensuring employees feel valued and understood.

5. Be vulnerable!

Leaders can leverage insights from neuroscience to enhance trust and team cohesion. For example, promoting a culture of vulnerability, which starts with you! It’s okay to not know everything, and it’s okay to share that. Your team will be better for it.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work. Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/trust-neuroscience-embracing-weirdness-at-work-paul-j-zak

Today, I have a dynamic discussion with Q Hamirani, an influential figure in the HR, AI and remote work sphere. He is known for his groundbreaking work at Airbnb and his current role as Chief People Officer at an ed-tech company, Paper and most recently founded the world's largest community for HR and AI enthusiasts called PeopleGPT (you can join at www.thepeoplegpt.com) - this is a community I have been an early member of and really enjoy etc.

Discover the implications of generative AI for HR, how embracing technology can redefine organizational structures and career paths, and why we should never choose the status quo.

Here are four takeaways to apply as a leader:

1. Embrace and Drive Change

Q underscores the importance of challenging the status quo and actively seeking ways to improve and innovate. As employee engagement is still at record low levels, encourage your teams to question existing processes and to explore new ideas that could lead to the development of pioneering programs like Airbnb’s "Work Anywhere" initiative.

2. Strategic Integration of Technology in HR

‍As Q says, in HR, it's always a combination of technology with humans in the loop. Use technology to free you up to do more interesting and complex work. This goes beyond automating routine tasks to leveraging advanced technologies like generative AI for more strategic purposes, like enhancing decision-making, improving employee engagement, and personalizing the employee experience. As leaders, fostering a culture that embraces technology will be key to staying competitive and efficient.

3. Choosing the Right Technology

Whether it’s HR technology or IT technology like collaboration tools, you have to be tied to the hip as HR leaders, because these platforms deeply influence the employee experience. As Q said, it's important for HR or people leaders to be very opinionated and influence what collaboration tools are being given across the organization by IT typically. Q is also a big advocate of centralizing onto one platform, especially for communication and knowledge management, and especially in remote companies where this becomes the employee experience

4. Navigating Generative AI

If you feel a bit behind, you’re not alone. This conversation reminded me that we're still all figuring it out. One thing is for sure, there is a lot to figure out, for example, workforce planning as AI can do the job of one or multiple people. We may also need less manager. So everyone, including HR, needs to jump in and get familiar. Plus, there may be some teams in your org who are using it actively, so why not spotlight this to the rest of the company so you can all learn together?

As people leaders, your stewardship in these areas will shape the future of work within your organization.

Q’s insights remind us that the path to innovation and success is paved with curiosity, courage, and a commitment to putting people at the heart of everything we do – especially as it relates to new technology like Gen AI.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/unicorn-chro-how-to-embrace-generative-ai-q-hamirani-paper

Josh Bersin is an Industry Analyst and Thought Leader in the HR, leadership, and technology space. Josh is authored three books, most recently the bestseller Irristable, The Seven Secrets Of The World’s Most Enduring, Employee-Focused Organizations.

Today, we discuss The modern company, Technology, AI, people, and playing the infinite game. Here are a few takeaways to apply as a leader:

‍1. Taking Care of People

Our people are the company. While our financial system sees people as an expense, companies should look at people as their most valuable asset and invest in them, which in turn strengthens your company.

2. Keep People Connected

Create connections between people and operate as a community, not just a business. This may be harder in remote settings, which is why it’s an effort we all have to take. We have to give them a great development plan. Give them opportunities to meet other people, like how Josh brings all of his 50 remote team members together twice a year.

3. Becoming an Irrisitable, Enduring Company by Playing the Infinite Game

‍What actually makes for an irresistible company? He found that the best companies are enduring companies that play an infinite game, start with a clear mission and a problem to solve, and adapt with the market.

It helps them engage and retain their best people because they continue to be committed to the core mission, like Boeing with multiple generations of engineers working there.

4. Transforming to a Dynamic Organization.

Listening to employees and customers, who will tell you where change is needed and then adapt products and services. You need to adapt internally, focusing on goals versus titles and budgets. And to focus on every person as the unique individual that they are. Our skills and our relationships and our experiences can be used in multiple ways.

5. A new Generation of Work Tech

The organization of the future needs to know who works in them. What are they good at. What will they be good at, what’s their potential.

So a new category of software is called Talent Intelligence is on the rise, and this includes platforms like Eightfold and Beamery.

Have a conversation with vendors like these and see where the opportunity is. Don’t forget about the upsides, to working with someone who can tailor technology to your needs and perhaps adjust their roadmap to fit your purpose, make you more competitive and potentially change not just the vendor but the entire market.

6. AI and the Future of Work.

AI is really about data, and that the power and value are in the trustedness and accuracy of your data. You’ll continuously train your LLM on new data. AI marks a huge oppporuntity for HR people to lead the agenda . Can really buy AI systems without the IT function being involved, so include them, but lead with the functional agenda – what do we want these systems to do?

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/why-we-need-people-and-technology-with-josh-bersin

On this episode of Future Work, we welcome Renee Kida, a high-impact human resource leader with over 20 years of corporate experience in Japan and APEC at companies like Google, Goto, and Ikea.

Some of Renee's many areas of expertise include project management, change management, diversity and inclusion initiatives, client relationship management, team leadership, talent management initiatives, and organizational development.

Join us as we hear about:

• Renee’s journey from the US to Asia, and into HR
• Cultural differences in markets like Japan, Singapore, and Indonesia
• Why HR needs to understand the broader context they are working in
• High-context versus low-context cultures in communication styles
• The challenges of managing people
• Why and how managers should tap into HR for guidance, programs, and frameworks
• The importance of building relationships for remote managers
• The need for open communication, understanding of working preferences, setting expectations, and providing accountability
• Why and how senior teams need to model proactive behavior
• How to prioritize people management alongside the manager’s own work
• The difficulty and importance of transitioning from an Individual Contributor to a People Manager

Ensure you listen to the end to hear about Renee’s mantra of ‘Consider, act, reflect, reiterate” as a framework for a better work-life.

Find Renee on LinkedIn.

Future Work is the bi-weekly podcast from Daan van Rossum, CEO of FlexOS – the platform that helps hybrid and remote managers level up their leadership game.

Find all episodes on our website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all other podcasting platforms. Like reading more than listening?

Find How Managers Can Make a Difference in Hybrid and Remote Teams on our website!

Hybrid work is here to stay, but are you making the most of it? Join us on July 8th for "The Hybrid Work Dilemma." - https://www.flexos.work/hybrid2024.

Learn how to do more with less office space while increasing productivity, collaboration, and employee engagement. It's a chance to get inspired and connect with peers in a live roundtable to tackle your hybrid work challenges.

Thanks to Tactic, the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, and the UN, for making this event possible.

In today’s episode, we explore the revolutionary idea of treating employees like responsible grownups with Amy Leschke-Kahle, a renowned thinker in the people and business space.

Her mission is to solve hard problems you can’t see, bust workplace myths, and design solutions for people working in the real world.

Before starting her own advisory, Amy served as Vice President of Talent Insights and Innovation for ADP. She led HRIT, people analytics, and learning & development organizations for several Fortune 500 companies.

You’ll likely know for her writing in Fast Company, Forbes.com, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Fortune.

In this conversation, we'll dive into how rethinking HR structures, embracing AI, and fostering a culture of trust and autonomy can transform organizations. Here are the critical insights into modernizing HR and workplace culture:

1. Treat Employees Like Adults: Amy passionately argued for treating employees like responsible adults. If you treat your employees like responsible, super smart grownups, they will thrive." So, foster a culture of trust and autonomy, empowering employees to take ownership of their work and make meaningful contributions.
2. Separate HR Functions: Amy emphasized the need to separate operational functions from talent amplification in HR. Distinctly separating compliance and payroll from coaching and development functions can streamline operations and enhance focus. Consider reorganizing HR departments to delineate between operational and talent functions, ensuring each gets the attention it deserves.
3. Embrace AI for Connection: Amy highlighted how AI can help us be better coworkers, which highlights that AI isn't just for automating tasks; it can enhance human interactions and relationships at work. Implement AI tools that facilitate better employee communication and understanding, using data-driven insights to foster stronger workplace connections.
4. Courageous Leadership for Transformation: Amy discussed the importance of leaders willing to make bold changes, saying, "It takes courageous leaders willing to take a pause and make that switch." Insight: Significant organizational change requires leaders who are brave enough to disrupt the status quo. Pilot innovative structures and processes, creating a culture that supports experimentation and growth.
5. Focus on the Work, Not the Person: Amy pointed out that focusing on work rather than personal traits reduces unnecessary friction. Emphasizing work outcomes over personal characteristics can create a more objective and fair environment. Develop performance metrics and feedback systems concentrating on work quality and outcomes, minimizing personal biases.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/treating-employees-like-grownups-amy-leschke-kahle.

Hybrid work is here to stay, but are you making the most of it? Join us on July 8th for "The Hybrid Work Dilemma." - https://www.flexos.work/hybrid2024.

Learn how to do more with less office space while increasing productivity, collaboration, and employee engagement. It's a chance to get inspired and connect with peers in a live roundtable to tackle your hybrid work challenges.

Thanks to Tactic, the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, and the UN, for making this event possible. Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

In today’s episode, we explore AI and modern work with Annie Dean, the VP of Team Anywhere at Atlassian, the largest distributed work company in the world.

Annie has advocated for flexible work for over ten years, stemming from her own needs as a new mom, but in this episode, we shift the conversation from WHERE we work to HOW we work.

We discuss how to work more effectively, AI's profound impact on productivity and collaboration, its broader implications for workplace diversity and inclusion, and Annie's inspiring vision for the future of work.

Here are the actionable key takeaways from the conversation:

1. Default to Digital-First Norms. The way Atlassian works today has proven that the office no longer needs to be a dependency for how great work gets done. Digital-first approaches optimize work efficiency, especially now that AI fuels even more seamless collaboration and information access. Shift towards digital-first practices and utilize AI tools to enhance productivity and reduce dependency on costly physical office spaces.2
2. Reduce Ineffective Collaboration. Fortune 500 companies collectively waste 25 billion hours a year on ineffective work, preventing people from doing the deep and creative work they crave. F500 CEOs believe their teams can get the same amount done in half the time, but their people are wasting time being stuck in a system that they can't win against. Annie’s study found that a lack of clarity on goals, a lack of knowledge sharing, and too much distraction are the three main reasons we are now getting our best work done.
3. Leverage AI To Further Boost Effective Work And Collaboration. AI can solve the challenge of information being in many people's heads or even digitally dispersed in various accounts, email threads, and Slack channels.
4. Change Your Own Way of Working. Many of these lessons can start small. Working differently yourself can help you model the right behaviors to your teams. Then, sponsor your employees to do the same. Think actively with your team members about how to attack the work they need to do.
5. Embrace Modern Work to Promote Inclusivity. As Annie said, “So much of the story about women's place in leadership and in their fulfillment and growth in their careers is about logistics. Their access to higher salaries was actually a question of logistics, not intent, talent, or drive.” Make logistics work for everyone by making work digital and providing flexibility to accommodate the realities of people’s daily lives. This way, we can fulfill Annie’s wish of having the people who have been left out of the workforce until now run our companies in ten years.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/annie-dean-how-we-work-trumps-where-we-work

Sam Altman is out at OpenAI. Oh, wait. He’s back.

From a firing last Friday, causing shockwaves in the industry and beyond, to a subsequent rehiring yesterday, Sam Altman has kept people busy this week.

What actually happened with Sam Allan at OpenAI? And what does it mean for the future of work? We've got it all covered in Future Work #62:

1. Sam Altman was out at OpenAI: The board of OpenAI shocked the world last Friday by suddenly announcing Sam Altman’s removal as CEO and board member. Sam founded OpenAI in 2015 with 11 others, including Elon Musk. Deep into the night on Tuesday, just four days later, Sam Altman was announced to be rehired.

2. Team members, investors, and partners were shocked: Altman's dismissal led to resignations from key positions like Greg Brockman as board chair, backlash from investors, a petition signed by the vast majority of OpenAI employees threatening to walk out if Altman was not rehired and the Board removed, and potential financial challenges.

3. The theory of why: The leading theory of the dismissal was that co-founder Ilya Sutskever and certain board members felt Sam’s focus was on commercializing OpenAI’s products like ChatGPT at breakneck speed – in conflict with OpenAI's mission to “ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.”

4. The AI landscape is moving faster than ever: This event occurs against rapid advancements in AI, with generative AI technologies like ChatGPT becoming mainstream and developing at the speed of light.

5. Impact on us: In the future, AI will be embedded in most knowledge workers’ workstreams. Already, ChatGPT is used by over 70% of knowledge workers, more than double the popularity of Microsoft and Google’s AI tools. Which products OpenAI develops and how they bring them to market immediately impacts our work.

I dive into all of this in this spoken version of the Future Work weekly newsletter.

Rather read? Go to What Actually Happened with Sam Altman and OpenAI, and What Does It Mean for the Future of Work? // Future Work #62.

In Future Work, I scan the news for must-know stories about the employee-centric, happier, distributed, and AI-driven future of work.

Overnight, the world has changed. AI can now actually do all your work for you.

What if you were to dream up your own AI to do exactly what you want it to do? As announced at OpenAI’s demo day, that is now possible. And they’re called GPTs. GPTs is a new OpenAI innovation that allows you to build your own AI.

Have you created your own “GPT” yet? In Future Work #61, that’s what we’ll explore:

1. Customizable AI Capabilities: OpenAI has introduced GPTs, customizable versions of ChatGPT. You can train them to perform tasks aligned with individual, team, or company needs.

2. Save Your Time: These AIs can streamline workflows, increase efficiency, and offer direct interaction for feedback and problem-solving, reducing manual effort and time in any process.

3. Practical Implementation: Initial GPTs developed by OpenAI let you explain Gen Z memes and negotiate contracts. Community applications include GPTs in editing, HR, interviewing, management, and personal development.

4. It’s Easy: Building a personalized GPT is accessible to those with ChatGPT Plus or Enterprise and is simpler than ever imagined.

5. Future Potential: The potential of these GPTs is significant, as they represent a move towards AI agents capable of handling multiple steps in work processes, indicating a future where AI could increasingly take over structured, repeatable tasks.

Building your own GPT is not difficult. All you need is ChatGPT Plus or Enterprise, and you’re off to the races. Here’s a nice tutorial on how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5--JexprHuk.

• Define the purpose with GPT Builder, which will ask you what the bot is supposed to do: https://chat.openai.com/gpts/editor.
• My example of the “Personal User Manual Bot” is now live here: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-yDeX5Ty6Z-personal-user-manual-maker.
• Below are some great examples that you can discover: 1. Thomas To from our team created a GPT to get advice on any management challenges based on our database of best practices: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-UT6K00O0B-lexi-coach. 2. Michael Preuss created a strategic advice GPT with “the wisdom of top-tier MBAs and elite consulting firms”: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-4xw63Av3D-action-planner. 3. Douglas Voeten from Perfect Dubs created a GPT to “roast” your photo: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-a14Q8Cybp-roast-master-supreme/.

I dive into all of this in this spoken version of the Future Work weekly newsletter.

Rather read? Go to https://www.flexos.work/learn/smart-managers-create-their-own-gpt-today-with-50-examples.

In Future Work, I scan the news for must-know stories about the employee-centric, happier, distributed, and AI-driven future of work.

I’m thrilled to have Anthony Onesto join us. Anthony is not only the Chief People Officer at Suzy, an AI consumer research platform, but also a product and innovation advisor to HR tech platforms like ADP and Lattice.

We’ll discuss which tech is worth investing in, the role of AI in the future of work, and why data is the new oil. Here are five key highlights:

1. HR leaders need to speak business

Any platform or program you’re introducing needs to lead to a business outcome.

2. Data is the new oil

‍To tie HR efforts to business results, you need to be analytics-focused, you need to have data underpin every decision. And you need that data in one place, not in fifteen. ‍

3. Centralization of workplace tech

‍To get data in one place, you’ll likely be better off working with one core platform that offers most of what you need. While there are some data warehousing solutions, they rely on vendors’ API access, which is getting more and more limited as everyone makes a play for becoming the ‘one platform.’‍

4. The Opportunity in AI

‍While AI could negatively disrupt us, Anthony still sees opportunities. For example, he sees opportunities to replace bad user experiences with ChatGPT-style chat interfaces and create new workflows with a simple prompt. ‍

5. Start Today‍

That leads to our final insight. If you haven’t already, start today. Pick something, regardless of how small, where AI can automate a workflow, freeing up your team to do the work humans are uniquely good at.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/workplace-tech-bridging-hr-business-ai-anthony-onesto-cpo-suzy

Thinking about HR and leadership means thinking about Dave Ulrich. Dave is called the “father of modern HR” for designing the HR systems we know today, including the concept of HR Business Partners.

Dave wrote over 30 books on HR, leadership, and modern organizations; has spoken to large audiences in 90 countries; performed workshops for over half of the Fortune 200; and coached many successful business leaders.

Dave is one of the most awarded people in the industry, including the #1 management guru by Business Week, Fast Company’s top 10 creative people in business, and a spot in the Thinkers 50 (Hall of Fame).

In this episode, we’ll discuss how to lead teams and ourselves in the remote and AI-driven future of work:

1. First of all, what is leadership? It’s not a title or a position. It’s attributes times results, so do I have the right attributes, and can I deliver results in the right way? I also like Dave’s question to leaders: does someone leave an interaction with you feeling better or worse about themselves?

2. Principles of Leadership: While practices may be different, from the pyramids of Egypt to now, the principles of good leadership remain the same:

• Strategy
• Execution
• Personalized Talent Management
• Human Capability or Systems Building
• Personal Proficiency
• And throughout all that, being agile and resilient.

3. The Paradox of Leadership: It’s not either people or profits. You need to take care of your people and deliver results. Leaders need to navigate this paradox - going back and forth between the organization and the individual. Another area where we need to find balance is in Personalization, toggling between company Principles and individual Practices.

4. The second to last insight is that Work is about Value Creation: Dave said that as a leader, he wouldn’t worry about where you work, but about your ability to create value for the customer, no matter when and where that is. And, that he hopes that the organization will support everyone in their flexible needs so that people can take care of themselves, their children, and parents.

‍5. The last insight is that AI becomes an important part of how work will get done. We’ll start with the requirements of the job, the tasks to be done, and then think, where do I need full-timers, where do I need part-timers, and where can I apply technology? And this is a great future to imagine because AI can take over especially the meaningless work, so that people can do the high-value stuff.

6. And speaking of value, let’s conclude with Dave’s wish for the future. Work is not what I do, it’s what others get from what I do.

We hope you’ll love this episode and can put these insights to good use. Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website “The Playbook for Leadership That Impacts People AND Profits”.

Brian Elliott spent 25 years building high-growth companies and leading teams as a startup CEO, a leader at Google, and then an executive at Slack and Salesforce, where he co-founded Future Forum, a think tank focused on redesigning work through data and dialog.

Brian is the author of the WSJ bestseller, “How the Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams to do the Best Work of Their Lives,” he’s been published in the Wall Street Journal, HBR, Bloomberg, the Economist, and other publications.

Today, we will discuss how Future Forum’s research helped Slack transition from in-person to hybrid remote work, all the lessons Brian learned during this time, and how you can implement them yourself, including:

1. When matters more than where. The first key insight from Future Forum is that while we talk about location flexibility and how many days a week people should be in the office, time matters more than place. Giving people uninterrupted time to do deep asynchronous work boosts productivity more than location choice.
2. Online and offline connections. The second great insight is that even today, leaders don’t connect people well online and offline. When managing remote teams, getting people together and focusing on building relationships is critical, even if it’s just once a quarter.
3. Create an inclusive environment. The third insight is to rethink how flexibility can drive inclusion in the workplace. As Brian shared, from their data, women and caregivers wanted flexibility more than men. He also noted vast differences between countries and their policies that drive the need.
4. Bring not just data but storytelling and practical ideas. Storytelling and practical ideas help build your case for flexibility better. Brian gives a great example of how we can gain the effect of a whiteboard session without being together offline.
5. We can’t lift and shift. Instead of copy-pasting things that worked in an office, rethink them completely. Like meetings – do you really need all of them? What can be handled through online collaboration? Besides this, rethink mentorship, onboarding, and training. Think about the outcome you’re trying to achieve and the best way to get there without holding on to how we used to do things.
6. Supporting managers. Whether you’re managing a team or managing managers, we need to rethink how we support managers. We need to give people who don’t want to be managers that opportunity and provide practical support for key management elements like asking good one-on-one questions, running virtual icebreakers before team meetings, and understanding each others’ personal user manuals.
7. Finally, on a more personal level, Brian shared two great personal lessons that we should all take to heart.- There is no straightforward route to achieving success. It’s important not to become overly concerned with titles or the size of your team. Prioritize your personal development and the tangible impact you can make.- Unlearn the idea that you need to know everything as a leader. The idea of ‘seldom wrong, never in doubt,’ isn’t true. Set ambitious goals but then make it a team effort, ask for help, and achieve it together.

We hope you’ll love this episode and can put these insights to good use.

Welcome to the next episode of our Future Work podcast with your host, Daan van Rossum. This episode welcomes Mark Birch, an expert in community building and author of the book Community-in-a-Box: How to Build Event-Driven Professional Communities.

Mark is a software entrepreneur, startup advisor, and community builder. He currently works at AWS as a Global Startup Advocate sharing how startups successfully build, grow & scale on AWS. Prior to AWS, Mark launched the SaaS business for Stack Overflow, founded an enterprise HR tech startup, was a software engineer, and worked for a number of leading technology companies.

Practicing building community for over a decade and proven successful with the Enterprise CIOs Forum of 30,000 members across 24 chapters globally, Mark brings lively insights about:

• The importance of community building in every organization
• Role of managers in connecting employees to the company
• How to address the challenges of building community in a distributed work environment.

Find Mark Birch on LinkedIn.

This podcast is sponsored by FlexOS, unleashing the full potential of hybrid and remote teams. Go to our website and grab your management toolkit today.

After working for Yahoo!, Jennifer became co-founder and CEO of The Dealmap. She joined Change.org as COO and president and played a leadership role at Facebook.

Jennifer founded Rising Team, a platform our teams at FlexOS and Dreamplex have loved using to easily run awesome team development sessions.

Jennifer writes about leadership for LinkedIn Influencers and Fortune and is a Stanford Graduate School of Business management lecturer. Her first book, Purposeful, about how we can be a movement starter, became a Wall Street Journal Bestseller.We discussed how managers can lead hybrid and remote teams successfully:

• It’s still about good management. While many things are different now, the basics of good management still stand. For Jennifer, these are the four C’s:
  • Clarify: Where are we going, what is the vision? How does your work relate to what we’re trying to accomplish together?
  • Coach: Great managers know each person on the team as an individual. Your preferences, working styles, talents, and how you want to be appreciated are unique.
  • Connect: How do you make the team feel like a team? This is what will make them effective.
  • Consistently: You have to do all these consistently and frequently. Keep sharing the mission, and keep investing in coaching and connecting.
• Managers are more important than ever but struggle. Jennifer chose the identity and language because she believes great managers are like sports coaches. But managers are struggling the most; they’re the least supported.
• Companies need to support managers better. Companies also need to invest more in manager’s ability to lead well by:
  • Setting the right high expectations
  • Offer the support to get there
  • Require their action and delivery

From her experience in non-profits, Jennifer saw that managers can become truly empowered when companies provide these three elements.

• Psychological safety is key in the future of work. Jennifer explains that psychological safety is when people feel safe to express their thoughts, ideas, and concerns without fear of negative consequences. Google’s Project Aristotle found that it directly creates high-performing teams. It has four stages:
  • Inclusion Safety, Learner Safety, Collaborator Safety, And Challenger Safety. People feel safe for what they bring and are included in their preferences and talents.
  • Some quick tips:
  • Be vulnerable. Jennifer shares the importance of the team leader going first.
  • Include all voices. Ask a question and let people write down their thoughts first so there’s room for everyone’s voice, including introverts.
  • Ask good questions. You want to ask questions like ‘Is anything missing?’ or ‘What do you see that could be wrong here?’ Ask questions that invite people to point out.
• Traditions are critical in distributed teams. As Jennifer is now running a remote team, she highlights the importance of rituals.
• Practice F.O.W.M. People don’t lie on their deathbed saying, I wish that one more OKR. They’ll think about the people that mattered to them and the things they did that mattered. So forget about FOMO and focus on FOWM.

Today is the last episode of our second season, in which I have the pleasure of speaking with ​Molly Sands, a PhD and the Head of Atlassian’s Team Anywhere Lab.

Molly is a behavioral scientist turned product and program leader whose work has been published in top tier academic journals, popular press including the New York Times, and a TED talk with over six million views.

Today, Molly shares what’s wrong with meetings, what we should do instead, and why you need a Chief Vibes Officer.

Here are a few takeaways to apply as a leader:

1. The Detrimental Impact of Meetings

‍While we often default to them, meetings are the top barrier to productivity and enjoyment, with 80% of people saying they’d be more productive with fewer meetings. Additionally, up to 67% of people work overtime due to these excessive meetings.‍

2. Alternatives to Traditional Meetings

‍Atlassian's research points to asynchronous communication tools, like Loom, and collaborative documents as powerful alternatives to traditional meetings. For instance, managers using Loom for updates, like Molly did, found that "teams felt more connected to the manager, more recognized for their work, and more clear on the top priorities for that week. So bye Zoom, and go Loom!

3. Atlassian's Formula for Optimal Work Week Structure

‍Atlassian recommends allocating no more than 30% of the workweek to scheduled meetings, advocating for a structured approach that includes blocks of focused work, collaboration, and reactivity. I loved Molly’s idea of keeping some blocks of time open for more casual coworking between smaller groups of colleagues. And, to look at our calendars not just for meetings but for everything on how we spend our time.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work. Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: https://www.flexos.work/learn/meetings-dont-work-what-to-do-molly-sands-anywhere-lab-atlassian

Hybrid work is here to stay, but are you making the most of it? Join us on July 8th for "The Hybrid Work Dilemma." - https://www.flexos.work/hybrid2024.

Learn how to do more with less office space while increasing productivity, collaboration, and employee engagement. It's a chance to get inspired and connect with peers in a live roundtable to tackle your hybrid work challenges.

Thanks to Tactic, the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, and the UN, for making this event possible. Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

In today’s episode, we meet Amber Wanner, founder of Vette, who’s using AI to make recruiting more human.

We'll discuss how Amber’s methods provide instant, meaningful conversations, not just interviews, often with people in similar roles who may be suited better for that conversation than a recruiter.

Here are the actionable key takeaways from the conversation:

1. Making People Feel Valued: Amber said her purpose is to show as many people in the world that they matter. Recruitment can feel like a plight, but try to reenergize your process to emphasize human connection.
2. Instant Interviews: When you let people choose when to interview, as Vette does, you see that people choose to interview much faster than the usual process, and over 50% of the time outside of office hours. Does your current recruiting process support this?
3. From Interviews to Conversations: Amber is dedicated to transforming hiring from traditional interviews to conversations. She believes in allowing colleagues and individuals familiar with the role to interact with candidates rather than relying on recruiters with limited knowledge of the position. She said, “A warehouse worker talking to another worker flows better, allowing for a safer, more comfortable environment."
4. Using AI Purposefully: Amber found great ways to apply AI in places where it complements the human touch. For example, by matching candidates and interviewers like Uber does riders and drivers. They also use AI to summarize conversations and extract key data points. If you’re looking for ways to implement AI, this is a great place to start.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/ai-make-recruitment-more-human-amber-wanner-vette

Are you tired of working five days per week? Welcome to this week’s episode of Future Work.

Today I am honored to welcome Alexandra Samuel, a speaker, data journalist, and the co-author of Remote Inc.: How to Thrive at Work...Wherever You Are – one of our favorite remote work books.

Alex holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and her writing on work and productivity appears frequently in the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review.

Here are the key lessons to stay ahead in the future of work:

1. A New Way to Friday: Fridays have become ambiguous – is it still a workday? Alexandra highlights three solutions: going back to the office, creating a 3-day weekend, or, as she advocates for, an in-between where the office closes and no meetings are scheduled so you can better balance work and life.
2. The Challenges of a 4-day Workweek: As Alex says, we’re conflating activity with output and output with value. The hours you spend at your desk do not determine the value you contribute to your organization. So, does it matter how many days you work?
3. Impact of AI on Work: Alex shares the huge impact AI already has and will have, including the displacement of white-collar jobs. She shares we may have to rethink what constitutes a full-time job. The pace of AI is accelerating so fast. Adaptability and continuous learning are essential for us to participate in an AI-driven future of work.
4. Managers and AI: Leaders should cultivate that sense of adaptability in their teams. Alexandra says she’s gobsmacked that companies and managers don’t allow their teams to use AI. It’s use it or be replaced, she says. For this, three obstacles have to be removed: - Companies need to allow AI to be used at work. - You need to have time to experiment. - You have to become one with the fact that AI is hard to learn as it develops so quickly.
5. Becoming a Business of One: As managers, enable your team to deliver that one brilliant hour of work that trumps 25 mediocre ones. This means giving them time for renewal and coaching them to get the most out of it.

1. Alex’s Final Thought: We’re on the verge of a beautiful transformation in the nature of work. We’re in a moment where we can rethink how much of our lives is spent at work. And how much of our work is spent on tedious stuff. Because the AIs don’t care about tedious, they really don’t mind.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/ai-driven-10-hour-work-week-best-selling-author-alexandra-samuel-wsj-hbr-book-remote-inc

Today, it’s my great pleasure to host Liam Martin, the co-founder and CEO of Time Doctor, a time-tracking tool, and the founder of Running Remote, a conference about remote work launched in 2017.

As Liam told me, everything he does focuses on one single mission: empowering the world’s transition toward remote work as quickly as possible, as he believes this will make humanity happier.

Today, we’ll discuss focusing on outputs, managing asynchronously, and why remote companies are more profitable.

Here’s what I picked up from this fascinating conversation.

1. Time Tracking to Understand Effectiveness

‍While time tracking is controversial, Liam believes it must be done in the context of radical transparency. And that if you measure your inputs at work better, you can get more and better outputs. Microsoft research shows that 76% of people say they’re more productive working from home, but managers say they are not. This is why measuring work is important to Liam, as it makes this conversation objective. ‍

2. Remote, Work-Life Balance, and Hybrid‍

A longitudinal study from Liam’s Timedoctor data shows that while remote employees’ output per week is higher, output per hour is lower. Remote workers stretch out their weeks more, melting work and life together. Liam says that remote workers need to learn to create more boundaries between life and work. And that therefore, there may actually be a great role for hybrid work, where you spend your synchronous working time in an office and your asynchronous work remotely.‍

3. Asynchronous Management

From twenty years of remote work experience and studying the best remote companies, Liam embraced a model called asynchronous management, where you lead people without synchronously interacting with them. In fact, project management platforms can do the lion share of what management used to be, And as long as you focus on the outputs someone creates, that should be totally possible. ‍

4. Remote as the Norm

‍Liam remarks that 82% of new tech companies in San Francisco are remote or hybrid, compared to 16% pre-pandemic. If all new companies embrace this working model, this will eventually become the norm. So, if you as an existing company don’t embrace this model, you will not be able to compete as it decreases costs.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: https://www.flexos.work/learn/remote-companies-are-more-profitable-liam-martin-ceo-time-doctor

Are you struggling to attract, engage, and retain the best talent? The answer may be in Purpose.

In this episode of Future Work, I have the pleasure of speaking with author, consultant, and educator Josh Levine. Josh is a graphic designer turned brand strategist, and in the past years has been on a mission to help organizations design a culture advantage. His book, Great Mondays: How To Design A Company Culture Employees Love, was listed as one of BookAuthority’s best culture books of all time.

Josh and I speak about The Importance of Purpose, the 6 elements of Designing and Managing winning Cultures, and how great cultures allow you to shape an Employee Value Proposition that lets you attract, engage, and retain the best talent.

Here are the lessons to apply today:

1. The Importance of Purpose: Purpose, why you’re in business beyond making money, is even more important now as we don’t see each other as often. Purpose connects us as people and gives us meaning, which is a main motivator for humans.

2. Designing and Managing Culture: In Josh’ book, Great Mondays, he lays out a framework for designing and managing culture. It starts with Purpose (your North Star), Values (what you need to do to move the business forward), Behaviors (help employees make better decisions), Recognition and Rewards (linked to values-driven behavior), Rituals (to strengthen relationships), Cues (reminders.) Following this framework means you can finally manage, measure,, and optimize your culture.

3. Purpose means Business: A purpose statement isn’t just up in the clouds. Josh’s Credit Karma case study shows that aligning on a clear purpose can influence your product and drive business results. Credit Karma wanted their people to be their best financial selves, which meant that a financial dashboard will help their customer, but also provide great business opportunities.

4. Culture and Employee Value Proposition: The best cultures tie directly to Employee Engagement and Employee Value Proposition (EVP.) A great way to attract, engage, and retain employees is with the 5Ps: Package, Potential, People, Purpose, and Pedigree.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/the-5ps-of-a-winning-employee-value-proposition-josh-levine

This episode is brought to you by Deel: https://www.flexos.work/deel.

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Thanks so much to the wonderful team at Deel for making FlexOS' mission of a happier future of work possible.

In today’s episode, we explore the transformative role of AI with our first return guest, Dr. Alexandra Samuel.

Since our last discussion, AI has not only advanced in capabilities but also in its integration into our daily workflows and organizational structures.

We'll delve into how AI is transforming how we work, what our relationship with AI should be, the differing speeds at which it is being adopted even within one organization, and what you as a business leader should do to successfully bring AI to your organization.

1. You have to act now

As Alex shared, the typical way of adopting technology is where a company collects requirements, tests, and rolls out. Doesn’t work for AI. By that time, the robots would have taken over. So move fast, and especially, start experimenting. Alex suggests to find some people who are already AI enthusiasts, and tap them to have the teams innovate together.

2. Create a Culture of AI

Alexandra stressed the importance of organizational culture in adopting AI, and how we need to define our relationship with AI, and how it is used, for example in making it a norm to summarize handover materials before sending. Have discussions and create agreements between people about when and where to use AI. As Alex says, make AI not just legitimated, but expected.

3. Let People Experiment

A really important way to get people to use AI more is to let them experiment as we also saw in the MOderna and Microsoft case studies. Make time available to figure out how to automate your own work. And make it clear that it’s okay to do so. At the same time, you need to reassure people that this is not about losing their jobs.

4. Ensure to Close the Gap

As Alex shared, already, some people are using AI a lot, and for some people, AI is still very new and used infrequently. As AI evolves, that could create a gap between employees. Ensure to close the gap, putting efforts into equal understanding and time spent with AI tools for all. Get everyone to get the benefits of for example being good at using the ChatGPT voice feature, which is a game-changer. This is a huge benefit, as Alex says, “profound changes come when you develop that capacity as an organization or a team.”

And Alex CTA, AI is a co-intelligence. And the co means we change too. We evolve too. Rethink your relationship with AI. By leveraging these insights and integrating these tactics, you can facilitate smoother AI adoption and ensure your organizations remain at the forefront of technological innovation and workplace efficiency.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/using-ai-with-teams-wsj-technologist-alexandra-samuel

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this episode, Anna Tavis discusses the future of HR, emphasizing the growing importance of personalization in the workplace. She explains how HR is evolving from managing employees as a collective group to tailoring support for individuals using AI-driven tools like digital coaching. This shift toward personalization is critical for creating environments where all employees can thrive. Anna also highlights how this approach can improve employee performance, inclusivity, and overall organizational success.

Main Takeaways:

1. Personalization is the Future of HR: Moving away from one-size-fits-all models, HR must adopt personalized approaches that cater to the unique needs of each employee, allowing everyone to perform at their best.
2. AI is Transforming Employee Support: AI-driven tools, like digital coaching, make personalized employee support scalable and cost-effective, helping organizations provide real-time guidance tailored to individual needs.
3. Inclusivity is More Granular: Personalization enables a more nuanced approach to diversity and inclusion, ensuring all employees, regardless of background or specific needs, feel supported and valued.
4. Shifting from Reactive to Proactive HR: Personalized strategies prevent small issues from growing into bigger problems, ultimately reducing costs associated with turnover, retraining, and lost productivity.
5. HR’s Role in Competitive Advantage: Companies that embrace personalization will attract top talent, increase productivity, and gain a competitive edge by fostering an environment that truly supports employee well-being and success.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-future-hr-personalization-ai-human-centered-workplace

Rebecca Hinds is a Stanford PhD who heads The Work Innovation Lab by Asana. Her research and insights have appeared in publications including Harvard Business Review, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, etc.

In this interview, Rebecca shares:

1. Neuroscience and AI: People have always been afraid of technology and innovation, and neuroscience shows us that people avoid what they fear, and AI is triggering our fear of the unknown, of being replaced.

2. Three Gaps for Organizational Adoption of AI: there are three big gaps between how executives and individual Contributors view the technology:

• Optimism Gap: Executives see the promise and potential of AI more than Individual Contributors do.
• Transparency Gap: Executives think they are more transparent in using AI than they are according to individual contributors.
• Resource Gap: 25% of executives say they provide AI training, but only 11% of ICs agree. Leaders must close these three gaps to gain the benefits of AI in organizations.

3. AI: From Individual Productivity to Team Results: People currently use AI for admin tasks, content production, and data analysis. While beneficial, this creates a risk of focusing too heavily on individual productivity versus team productivity. Doing so can lead to “collaboration overload." This will ultimately result in higher job satisfaction and retention rates due to the increased interest in the work assigned.

4. Solving the Meeting Overload Problems: Rebecca co-wrote the famous HBR article Meeting Overload Is a Fixable Problem. This article highlights the Meeting Doomsday case study, which let people delete all repeating meetings before adding them back, saving participants up to 2.5 work weeks per year. Cutting meeting time is important.

5. Tech Stacks: Less is More: Rebecca’s team recently released a new study about tech stacks in partnership with Amazon Web Services, using too many platforms is counterproductive especially because of switching costs. To solve this issue, the subtraction mindset is key: do less, not more.

6. The Innovation Score: Rebecca's Work Innovation Lab has developed a new AI-powered model for predicting a company's ability to innovate. Called The Innovation Score, it captures four key predictors of innovation: cohesion, velocity, resilience, and capacity.

7. And finally, a call to action from Rebecca: work needs to change, so be bold! Grab a couple of people and test better ways of working.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/meeting-doomsday-how-asana-won-back-3000-hours

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this conversation, Tim Reitsma and Nick Petschek explore the multifaceted nature of change in organizations, particularly in the context of HR and the future of work. They discuss the importance of adaptability, the role of HR in facilitating change, and the need for organizations to create a culture that embraces change rather than reacts to it. The conversation emphasizes the significance of understanding the 'why' behind changes, fostering connections in a digital world, and the necessity of training and introspection for individuals and organizations alike.

Takeaways:

1. Change is a constant in our lives and organizations.
2. Creating adaptable organizations involves systems, culture, and individual capabilities.
3. Proactive change is more effective than reactive change.
4. A sense of urgency can be created without panic.
5. HR plays a crucial role in leading change initiatives.
6. Face-to-face interactions foster connection and urgency.
7. Introspection is key to understanding resistance to change.
8. Training alone is not enough; culture and systems must support change.
9. Understanding the 'why' behind changes is essential for buy-in.
10. Different individuals have varying thresholds for accepting change.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-future-work-starts-adaptability-insights-kotter

Bill Gates gave us some good news: he thinks a 3-day workweek is possible.

And, that it’s a very positive development for those who believe that we don’t live to work.

I couldn’t agree more. So how do we get there? We've got it all covered in Future Work #63:

1. Transition to Shorter Workweeks: Bill Gates supports the idea of a 3-day workweek as a positive development, emphasizing the potential for AI to handle mundane tasks and improve work-life balance. Current trends already point towards a feasible 4-day workweek, with 33% of respondents in a recent study expressing a preference for it over other work arrangements.
2. AI's Role in Work Efficiency: Our new data shows that Generative AI significantly boosts productivity by taking over tasks like email, data analysis, and research. This increase in efficiency, combined with the reduction of unproductive meetings, suggests a realistic shift towards a 4-day workweek.
3. Future Prospects and Concerns: The rapid advancement of AI could lead to a future where human labor is largely unnecessary, posing challenges in effectively utilizing increased leisure time and addressing economic needs in a post-labor world.

I dive into all of this in this spoken version of the Future Work weekly newsletter.

Rather read? Go to https://www.flexos.work/learn/the-3-day-workweek-is-here-says-bill-gates-i-agree

In Future Work, I scan the news for must-know stories about the employee-centric, happier, distributed, and AI-driven future of work.

Future Work is the bi-weekly podcast from Daan van Rossum, CEO of FlexOS – the platform that helps hybrid and remote managers level up their leadership game.

On this episode, we welcome Christie Hoffman, who hosts the highly popular Flip Flops & People Ops podcast, is a Brand Ambassador + Workplace Experience Strategist at Pingboard, and a recently crowned Top 55 Remote Work Influencer.

Join us and hear answers to all your questions on employee engagement best practices:

• What is employee engagement, really?
• How do you define employee engagement?
• What’s the difference between employee engagement and employee experience?
• How can we improve employee engagement?
• How can I prepare my first employee engagement survey?
• What can managers do? And what’s HR’s role?

Click here to find Christie’s magical employee engagement survey workshop and don’t forget to familiarize yourself with the 3 survey formats available!

And, listen to the end to hear why and how managers can take care of themselves before they take care of others – something we can’t overlook in our never-ending quest for engaged team members!

Need more Christie? We understand! Find her today on LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram. Like reading more than listening?

Find Employee Engagement Best Practices from a Pro on our website!

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this conversation, Tim Reitsma and Joe O'Connor discuss the concept of work time reduction, exploring its implications for productivity, employee engagement, and overall well-being. They delve into the differences between a four-day work week and broader work time reduction strategies, emphasizing the importance of addressing burnout and creating a culture that values time over money. The discussion highlights the role of AI in enhancing productivity and offers practical steps for organizations looking to implement these changes. Ultimately, the conversation advocates for a shift in workplace culture towards a more sustainable and fulfilling work environment.

Takeaways:

1. Work Time Reduction as a Productivity Strategy: Shorter workweeks, like the four-day model, enhance productivity and well-being by reducing inefficiencies and burnout including better rest, work-life balance, and psychological detachment from work.
2. Work time reduction isn't one-size-fits-all: Options include nine-day fortnights, half-day Fridays, or shorter workdays. The key is adapting strategies to organizational needs and creating a bottom-up initiative.
3. Changing Employee Priorities: Employees increasingly value time over salary, with many willing to trade pay raises for reduced hours.
4. AI as a Key Enabler: AI streamlines tasks, enabling shorter workweeks while maintaining high performance.
5. Leadership and Engagement: Success depends on leadership buy-in, clear goals, and employee-driven solutions, supported by a culture of continuous improvement.
6. A Competitive Edge: Flexible work models help organizations attract and retain top talent in a competitive market.
7. The Future of Work is About Outcomes, Not Hours: Organizations must prioritize results over time spent, with clear goals, accountability, and employee autonomy driving success.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-case-working-less-reduced-hours-drive-productivity

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this episode, Tim Reitsma sits down with Jim Harter, Chief Scientist for Workplace Management and Wellbeing at Gallup, to explore the critical role of leadership in driving employee engagement. They discuss the importance of taking actionable steps to foster a culture where employees feel connected, empowered, and motivated. Jim emphasizes that engagement isn’t just about making people happy—it's about creating clarity, trust, and a sense of purpose within organizations. He also highlights that improving engagement starts with just one small step and explains how linking engagement metrics to organizational performance can lead to significant business outcomes.

Takeaways:

1. Leadership is Key: Employee engagement starts with strong leadership that promotes clear communication, role clarity, and accountability.
2. Start with One Actionable Step: Improving engagement doesn’t have to be overwhelming—just start with one small, intentional action to begin the process.
3. Tie Engagement to Performance: The most successful organizations link engagement metrics directly to performance outcomes like productivity and employee retention.
4. Trust and Clarity Drive Engagement: Trust is foundational, and employees who have clear expectations are more likely to feel engaged and perform well.
5. High-Performing Organizations Sustain Engagement: Top organizations maintain high engagement levels by making engagement an ongoing priority, even during challenging times.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-employee-engagement-sense-purpose-leadership-is-key

Welcome to the fourth episode of our Future Work podcast with your host, Daan van Rossum. In this episode, we have the privilege of hosting Chris Dyer, a world-renowned expert on remote leadership and productive company culture.

Chris is a recognized company culture and remote work expert. He has been a CEO with a workforce of thousands and consistently creates the "best place to work". Chris is an International Keynote Speaker ranked #1 by Forbes. He has two bestselling books The Power of Company Culture and Remote Work, and has been named #5 on the Leadershum Power List, a Top 40 Change Management Guru, a Top 50 Global Thought Leader, and a Top 50 leadership podcast just this year. In this talk, Chris offers valuable insights and practical advice for those who manage hybrid teams on how to navigate the challenges of remote work, which covers:

- How to measure team productivity

- How to build and maintain remote teams

- How to embrace a supportive environment where every team member is comfortable asking questions and offering help

- How to elevate AI and tools to create guidelines to help people get work done

- How to automate the onboarding processes and personalized learning experiences for team members.

Visit Chris Dyer website and connect with on LinkedIn or his channels.

This podcast is sponsored by FlexOS, unleashing the full potential of hybrid and remote teams. Go to our website and grab your management toolkit today.

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

Next episode, we’re launching The Future of HR Master Class, where HR leaders will explore key topics like company culture, workplace experience, total rewards, change management, .. all through the lens of hybrid work, AI and technology, workforce expectations, and evolving business needs.

And like the past three seasons, where I’ve interviewed guests like Josh Bersin, Annie Dean, Dave Ulrich, and Ashley Herd, we have an amazing line-up of guests to discuss the role of HR in the future of work.

But one thing will be different: I won’t be asking the questions.

As FlexOS develops further, and the future of work gets more complex, I wanted to hand over the microphone to someone who understands this topic more deeply.

I found that person in Tim Reitsma. Tim has been an editorial advisor with FlexOS for over a year and is the perfect person to spearhead season 4 of the podcast. Tim is an HR leader and a believer that a happier future of work is not only necessary but also possible.

He also runs an organization called Invisible Condition that focuses on normalizing conversations around non-apparent illnesses and disabilities, reducing stigma, and enhancing understanding.

To introduce Tim further to you, I thought I’d interview him. In this episode, you’ll hear from Tim about:

• The evolving role of HR from tactical execution to strategic leadership.
• The need for HR to align more closely with business objectives.
• The future of workspaces and HR’s responsibility in managing hybrid, remote, and office environments.
• The integration of AI into HR processes and how AI can enhance HR’s strategic role.
• The increasing importance of disability inclusion and creating spaces where employees can perform at their best.
• Setting healthy boundaries and prioritizing tasks within HR roles to avoid burnout, and leveraging curiosity as a tool for HR to navigate the uncertain future of work.

Join Tim next week for his first episode as a host, where he interviews the famous Company Culture thinker Gustavo Razzetti on the future of HR in building amazing cultures.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work#podcast

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-promising-a-masterclass-for-hr-in-future-of-work.

Future Work is the bi-weekly podcast from Daan van Rossum, CEO of FlexOS – the platform that helps hybrid and remote managers level up their leadership game.

On this episode, we welcome Dror Poleg, an economic historian researching technology's impact on how people work and live. His insights have been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Financial Times, NBC, Bloomberg, The New Yorker, The Times of India, China Daily, and beyond.

Dror is the author of Rethinking Real Estate, an award-winning book that predicted the current reshuffle of offices, homes, and cities. He regularly delivers keynotes at public and private gatherings for industry-leading companies such as UBS, Bank of America, HSBC, Recruit Holdings, BCG, AvalonBay, CBRE, Hines, British Land, Liberty Mutual, Dubai Holding, Cushman & Wakefield, and others.

During our discussion, Dror highlights the various ways work is evolving, including the impact of remote work on productivity and lifestyle.

• Offices have set how we live and work for a long time and what's about to change.
• Remote work has opened up new possibilities for people to work from anywhere and live the life they want.
• The trend of talent decentralization has also become more prominent due to remote work.
• Assessing creative work with traditional metrics such as hours worked or lines of code is no longer sufficient.
• The "scalable class" concept refers to individuals who can achieve their goals independently by leveraging AI and the internet.
• and much more.

The interview concludes with Dror’s advice for young professionals to take risks and share their expertise with a specific audience, even starting with the least expensive methods. Tune in to gain practical insights from Dror Poleg on the changing nature of work.

Connect with Dror Poleg on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Like reading more than listening? Find After Offices: How Life and Work Will Change Forever on our website!

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this conversation, Tim Reitsma and Phil Kirschner explore the evolving landscape of work, particularly in the context of HR's role in shaping employee and workplace experiences. They discuss the impact of COVID-19 on workplace dynamics, the importance of data-driven decision-making, and the need for transparency and authenticity in leadership. The conversation also delves into the significance of measuring social capital, creating purposeful workspaces, and future-proofing organizations in a rapidly changing work environment.

Takeaways

• The future of work is constantly evolving, influenced by technology and employee expectations.
• HR professionals are increasingly responsible for managing workplace experiences.
• Data-driven decisions can significantly enhance employee engagement and retention.
• Employee experience is influenced by workplace design and management practices.
• Hybrid work models require clear communication and intentionality from leadership.
• Measuring social capital is essential for understanding employee connectivity and engagement.
• Transparency in leadership fosters trust and aligns employee expectations with organizational goals.
• Purposeful workspaces should enhance productivity and collaboration.
• Future-proofing organizations involves anticipating changes in work dynamics and employee needs.
• Authenticity in communication is crucial for maintaining employee morale and engagement.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-people-places-purpose-hrs-role-shaping-tomorrows-workplace

Edie Goldberg is the Founder and President of E. L. Goldberg & Associates. She is a nationally recognized expert in talent management and the future of work. Her practice focuses on designing human resources processes and programs to attract, engage, develop, and retain Employees.

Edie was a Global Thought Leader in the Human Capital Practice at Towers Perrin. In addition to her strategic advisory work, she is the Chair of the Board for the SHRM Foundation and a member of the Board of Advisors for three HR Technology companies.

Her book, The Inside Gig, stems from this deep look into how companies need to adopt new approaches to work given changing business dynamics.In this conversation, we discover the following insights about the future of talent management throughout the employee lifecycle.

• Employees Want Purpose: More than ever, employees want purpose and meaning. They want to impact their team, company, or the world positively. Similarly, learning and growing (as Daniel Pink says: Mastery) can be very motivating. Managers can ensure that people continuously learn.
• Remote Culture, Goals and Motivation: We're not always together in hybrid and remote work. The sense of belonging is the glue that holds everyone together. People want a place to belong, so company culture is so important. This is also why goals are important: working together toward a common objective. Managers can help employees by having meaningful conversations about setting and achieving goals, which drives motivation, engagement, and performance.
• Training Managers: We need better support managers for successful hybrid and remote teams. First, to help them understand that management is about getting work done through other people, training them to do it well, and then recognizing them for success. We should also separate the leader of the work and the leader of the people. These are different things that require different skill sets. Don’t make people take on work that drains them.
• Fractional Work: Talent marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork connect people with work that matches their skills and interests. Edie believes we can apply that in a company too. Because we don’t know or leverage all of our employees' skills, experiences, passions, and interests. Even just giving them time to opt into projects they’re interested in could be a huge win for people, their teams, and the company.
• And I love Edie’s final note: If you’re not learning, you’re falling behind.

Find more Edie Goldberg on LinkedIn.We hope you’ll love this episode and can put these insights to good use. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest Future Work episodes. Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website “The End of the Full-Time Job: How Fractional Work Finally Liberates Us”.

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this episode of the FlexOS "Masterclass" series, host Tim Reitsma speaks with workplace culture expert Gustavo Razzetti to explore HR's evolving role in shaping and sustaining workplace culture. From the foundational ABCs of culture—alignment, belonging, and collaboration—to navigating hybrid work models, the conversation delves into how HR leaders can guide organizations in defining their culture amidst the challenges of the future of work. Together, Tim and Gustavo uncover practical insights on leadership, trust, and the integration of AI, ensuring that HR remains at the forefront of cultural transformation.

Summary:

In this insightful discussion, Gustavo Razzetti shares his expertise on workplace culture, offering a framework known as the ABCs: Alignment, Belonging, and Collaboration. He explains how HR professionals play a crucial role in creating the conditions for these cultural elements to thrive. As they tackle the challenges of hybrid work, remote work, and the rise of AI, Tim and Gustavo provide actionable advice for HR leaders on balancing organizational rules with flexibility, facilitating difficult conversations with leaders, and maintaining authentic communication. The episode encourages HR professionals to think creatively about culture and to view their role as essential in fostering collaboration and connection in the workplace of the future.

Key Takeaways:

• The ABCs of culture—Alignment, Belonging, and Collaboration—are essential for fostering a positive workplace environment.
• HR's role has shifted from being solely responsible for culture to acting as "godparents" of culture, providing guidance without full ownership.
• Hybrid work policies should be flexible, and designed around the work itself rather than rigid schedules.
• AI is transforming HR, but HR leaders must be cautious of losing the human element in decision-making.
• Authenticity and curiosity are key for HR leaders in building trust and navigating difficult conversations with leadership.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/reimagining-hr-for-2024-building-culture-with-clarity-and-curiosity

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

In this conversation, Tim Reitsma and Luke Mahoney explore the evolving landscape of HR, emphasizing the importance of breaking down silos and shifting from traditional HR practices to a more integrated approach focused on people experience. They discuss the need for HR to view employees as customers, the role of AI in automating administrative tasks, and the significance of co-creation and user-centric design in developing effective HR strategies. The conversation highlights the necessity of flexibility in the workplace and the potential for HR to drive value creation rather than merely serving as a support function.

Takeaways:

1. Break HR Silos and Treat Employees as Customers: Traditional HR silos divide functions like L&D, talent acquisition, and DEI, leading to inefficiency and disconnection. By smashing these silos, HR can create unified people experiences. Treating employees as customers reframes their relationship with HR and encourages the creation of engaging, value-driven work experiences.
2. Shift from Service Delivery to Value Creation: The transition from HR to people experience involves moving away from administrative tasks and focusing on how work experiences align with organizational goals. HR should operate as a strategic enabler, designing systems that create value for employees and drive business growth.
3. Design Work as a Product: Work should be viewed as a product that employees subscribe to, fulfilling personal and professional needs over time. Continuous improvement, data-driven decision-making, and user-centered design principles (borrowed from product design) should guide HR initiatives.
4. Leverage Automation and AI to Free HR for Strategic Work: Predictable and repeatable tasks should be automated, allowing HR professionals to focus on human-centered activities such as design, strategy, and employee engagement. Tools like inverted HR pyramids help visualize the shift from operational tasks to growth-focused work.
5. Flexibility as a Fundamental Work Design Principle: Flexibility is no longer a perk but a requirement. The future of work integrates flexibility into its design, aligning with employees' evolving expectations and life needs. This shift has the potential to transform not just workplaces but broader societal structures.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-employees-customers-designing-unified-experience

This week, it's my great pleasure to host TED speaker and Boston Consulting Group Managing Director Debbie Lovich.

Debbie has done a ton of research on making work work that has been published on Forbes, HBR, and BCG.

Since top talent is up to 10x more productive, our discussion delved into what truly drives joy at work and its profound impact on employee retention and effectiveness.

Here’s what I picked up from this fascinating conversation.

1. The Link Between Joy and Retention

‍Debbie's research revealed that employees who enjoy their work are far more likely to stay with their company. The retention rate more than doubles for those who find joy in their job compared to those who don't.

2. Work Types and Environments

‍It's fascinating to hear how different tasks affect our happiness. Focus work, administrative tasks, and interactive work uniquely shape our job satisfaction. Equally important is the environment – remote or in-office – and how it aligns with these tasks.

3. Role of Management

‍The role of management in all this cannot be overstressed. Managers are pivotal in fostering an environment where employees feel valued, supported, and fairly treated. Satisfaction with one's manager, access to necessary resources, equality in opportunities, and support from senior leaders are all crucial factors for employee happiness and retention.

4. Evolving Employee-Employer Relationship

‍Our conversation also highlighted the evolving relationship between employees and employers, necessitating a personalized approach to employee needs and preferences. It's about understanding that each employee's requirements and aspirations are as unique as the customers our companies cater to.

5. Future of Work and AI's Role

‍AI's potential to reshape jobs, by enhancing joy and reducing mundane tasks, is enormous. However, it's crucial to balance AI implementation with an eye on employee happiness alongside productivity. Don’t let AI remove the work you enjoy doing.

6. In conclusion, Debbie's Optimistic Vision for the Future of Work

‍Debbie shared an optimistic vision for the future of work. It's one where there’s less us vs. them and employers and employees collaborate to redefine the workplace, focusing on mutual benefits, productivity, and a shared sense of accomplishment and joy.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Subscribe on FlexOS, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for the latest episodes.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/retaining-top-talent-debbie-lovich-boston-consulting-group-bcg

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos.

Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind.

It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In this edition, I have the pleasure of speaking with Ashutosh Garg, the founder and CEO of Eightfold, a unicorn HR tech platform that brings AI to improve the entire talent lifecycle, companies, and the world of work.

Ashutosh brings a wealth of experience from his early days pioneering personalization at Google to now helping companies like Ernst and Young, Bayer, Morgan Stanley and Starbucks use AI to revolutionize how talents are managed and nurtured in the workforce.

Today, he'll share insights from his journey and how AI can play a pivotal role in enhancing our work lives. Here are the key takeaways:

1. Career Development and Employee Retention with AI: We've learned that AI's potential to tailor career paths to individual skills and aspirations can dramatically transform employee growth and satisfaction. By aligning opportunities closely with personal competencies, organizations can maximize employee potential, drive engagement, and keep the best people longer.
2. Human in the Loop: This new way of thinking about people also means sometimes a team or manager has to give up a great employee to benefit the greater good, central to the theme of Josh Bersin’s dynamic organizations at the beginning of the season. It also means that even the smartest AI platform will always have a human in the loop, to control its impact on an organization.
3. Reducing Bias with AI Tools: AI platforms can significantly reduce human biases that often influence hiring decisions. By standardizing processes and focusing on data-driven assessments, AI helps ensure that recruitment is based on merit and qualifications, not unconscious biases, leading to fairer employment practices. I love Ashutosh’ point that this starts even at job descriptions, where we need to be objective about even the kind of tasks done in the role we’re hiring for.
4. Creating a Better World of Work: Ashutosh's mission with Eightfold is to create a better world of work—a place where employment is more than a necessity but a fulfilling part of life. AI is poised to transform the workplace into a more satisfying and productive environment by matching individuals to careers that genuinely fit their skills and aspirations.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/ai-and-the-entire-talent-lifecycle-eightfold-ceo-ashutosh-garg

Welcome to today’s episode where we explore the fascinating intersection of AI and human resources with Barb Hyman, the founder of Sapia.

As companies like Starbucks, Randstad and Holland & Barett begin to leverage AI for interviewing, Barb discusses how this decreases bias, increases diversity, and makes the recruiting job a lot more joyful.

Today’s discussion unveiled several critical insights into how AI is reshaping the hiring landscape and HR as a whole:

1. The role of AI in Recruiting: We learned that AI can dramatically enhance interviews by replicating a five-star recruiting journey at scale, starting with a structured interview. It also makes interviews less biased, more enjoyable for the candidate, and the start of a data-driven employee journey that leads to improved retention. Consider integrating AI tools where manual work doesn’t provide benefits and may induce bias.

2. Bias and Diversity: Giving more candidates a universal interview experience leads to more people being considered for a role, blind to demographics. Additionally, using chat vs. video or in-person interviews leads to more women applying, and letting candidates proactively provide demographic information.

3. Data-Driven Insights for Retention: Our discussion highlighted how AI could use performance data to predict long-term job success, thus improving retention rates, like Holland & Barrett saving money with 30% improved retention.

4. Ethical AI Use: Addressing AI skepticism through ethical practices was a significant point. Promote transparency in your AI implementations and engage in open dialogues about the ethical use of AI in your hiring practices to build trust and acceptance among stakeholders. Also keep in mind that where the data from candidates sits matters and increases your fluency in understanding the privacy elements of AI.

I also loved Barb’s point of view that AI ultimately gives people more agency, which is a very positive view on the future of work.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/starbucks-uses-ai-interviews-barb-hyman-sapia

Welcome to Future Work, a podcast by Daan van Rossum that dives into the people-centric future of work. In this episode, Daan is joined by Tracy Brower, VP of Workplace Insights at Steelcase and a Forbes and Fast Company contributor.

She is the author of “The Secrets to Happiness at Work” and “Bring Work to Life”.

Tracy is an award-winning speaker with over 25 years of experience working with global clients to achieve business results.

With profound research and experience on how we cultivate happiness at work, Tracy brings a beautiful discussion on defining happiness at work and how positive work culture should be.

She also discussed the role of leaders and managers in fostering employee engagement and well-being, which shed light on healthier team performance.

Find Tracy on tracybrower.com and LinkedIn.

This podcast is sponsored by FlexOS, unleashing the full potential of hybrid and remote teams. Go to our website and grab your management toolkit today.

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos.

Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind.

It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In today’s episode, we explore how HR can be a powerhouse for business transformation in the age of AI and remote work.

We're joined by Lars Schmidt, who shares his journey of 25 years, from operator to one of the most influential thought leaders in the industry.

We delve into how HR is not just a support function but a critical driver of business strategy, especially in times of AI, and what leaders in HR and across the organization can do to futureproof themselves and their teams.

Here are some actionable takeaways to implement in your roles and organizations:

1. Get close to the business. Lars emphasizes how HR should be close to the business, something Anthony Onesto also sent a previous episode. He named Spotify, who is CHRO has created a context in which AR is a natural partner for all important decisions made in the business. Look at this on an individual and organization level. Make sure you truly understand the business - the most successful CHROs have spent time outside of HR. And be curious!
2. Regular Engagement with AI Tools: Encourage your HR team and employees to engage with AI tools on a weekly basis. This practice helps integrate new technologies seamlessly into daily operations, enhancing productivity and decision-making.
3. Emphasize Skills Development: Focus on continuous learning and skills development within your teams. Most skills will expire i. 2.5 years. With the rapid pace of change in job requirements, fostering a culture of growth and adaptability is crucial.
4. Foster Talent Mobility: Implement strategies that support talent mobility within the organization. This approach not only prepares your workforce for future needs but also helps in retaining top talent by providing them with new challenges and growth opportunities.
5. Promote Self-Learning: While we’re all stressed and burnt out, Lars agrees that we’re with the vanguard of a new world of work. Hr is leading that change. Encourage your HR professionals to be proactive in their personal and professional development. Staying curious and informed about industry trends and new tools can make them more effective and forward-thinking in their roles.

Future Work is a weekly newsletter and bi-weekly podcast to help people-centric leaders stay ahead in the future of work.

Like reading more than listening? Find the article on our website: www.flexos.work/learn/lars-schmidt-leaders-should-experiment-with-ai-weekly

This episode of Future Work is brought to you by Tactic: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Tactic is the #1 rated space logistics platform used by customers such as Microsoft, Redbull, the UN, and Northwestern University to create order out of the chaos. Tactic has a 100% customer satisfaction score on G2 because it was built from the ground up with the end user in mind. It’s an all-in-one solution for hot desking, room reservations, and visitor management.

Visit Tactic today to unlock the power of hybrid work: https://www.gettactic.com/work.

Our thanks to the Tactic team for sponsoring this episode!

In today’s episode of the Future Work Podcast, we’re excited to welcome Paul Falcone, a renowned HR leader, bestselling author of 17 books, and experienced executive with a career spanning Paramount Pictures, NBCUniversal, and more. With his works translated into six languages and over 750,000 copies sold, Paul has shaped leadership practices globally. He’ll share actionable insights on navigating AI’s evolving landscape while championing human-centric leadership, helping organizations tackle the challenges and opportunities of 2025.

Takeaways:

1. Prioritize Talent Development: Address talent scarcity by focusing on career ladders, certifications, and upskilling, ensuring long-term workforce readiness in a competitive market.

2. Strengthen Emotional Intelligence (EI): Train leaders to build trust and inspire employees, fostering employee experience (EX) and driving discretionary effort, critical for retention and engagement.

3. Leverage AI in HR: Use tools like Josh Bersin’s Galileo to enhance HR processes, from data analytics to personalized learning, while staying informed about AI’s limitations and opportunities.

4. Adapt to Hybrid Work: Support hybrid work as an essential model for retaining talent, avoiding rigid in-office mandates that risk trust and employee satisfaction.

5. Align with Gen Z’s Expectations: Prepare for the Zoomer workforce (60% by 2030) by emphasizing professional growth, diversity, inclusion, and work-life balance, training managers to act as mentors and coaches.

To get a notification of new episodes, sign up for the Future Work newsletter at: https://www.flexos.work/future-work.

Reading more: www.flexos.work/learn/futurework-the-future-hr-balancing-ai-human-centric

Welcome to another episode of our Future Work podcast with your host, Daan van Rossum, CEO at FlexOS.

In this episode, we have a special guest, Corinne Murray, the Founder and CEO of Agate, a strategic consulting studio that shepherds companies as they undergo major organizational transformations around how, where, and when work gets done successfully in the post-COVID era.

Corinne has an extensive Workplace and Real Estate background, working across various sectors, including occupiers, consultants, landlords, and service providers, including WeWork, Gensler, and RXR. Her ultimate goal is to create sustainable and beneficial relationships between people and their workplaces.

Throughout the episode, Corinne shares her valuable insights on transforming the workplace experience, including:

• The shift from defining the workplace as a physical location to a broader concept includes the entire digital ecosystem where work is done.
• Organizations must consider designing the workplace with intention and user experience in mind, similar to any other consumer product or service.
• The importance of in-person and virtual interactions and the need to strengthen weak ties.
• The return-to-office trend and the need for organizations to focus on activities that are best supported by physical presence.
• The friction between online meetings and the lack of suitable spaces in the office leads to frustration among employees.
• The importance of conducting an audit of existing work environments and involving employees in identifying challenges and areas for improvement.
• The need for organizations to address universal frustrations and solutions in a people-centered manner.

Corinne's expertise and passion for creating meaningful workplace experiences shine through in this episode, and her insights undoubtedly provide valuable guidance for organizations navigating the changing work landscape.

Connect with Corinne Murray on LinkedIn.

This podcast is sponsored by FlexOS, unleashing the full potential of hybrid and remote teams. Go to our website and grab your management toolkit today.

Today, we’re kicking off our second season with an extra-long episode featuring Professor Nick Bloom of Stanford University.

Nick has been researching work from home for over 20 years. He was heavily involved with policy, including meeting President Obama and speaking at the White House 2014 Working Families Summit.

Nick isn’t just collecting and analyzing data on tens of thousands of employees, he also consults with 100s of CEOs and managers. His work has been covered extensively by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC, Financial Times, and the Economist.

He was called the “Prophet of remote work” by Fortune Magazine, “America’s best work-from-home expert” by Business Insider, elected to the Bloomberg 50, and one of our 55 Top Remote Thought Leaders.

Today, we talk about why the media is often wrong about hybrid and remote work, what people want from work, why the office as we knew it is never coming back, and what the opportunities are for employees globally now that work is becoming more remote, including:

• Media versus data. The media is incentivized to paint remote work negatively. Nick’s panel data and another source like Kastle, which measures actual swipe-ins into the office, are flat in 2023; people are not returning more than before. Data over anecdotes, as Nick says.
• Remote = positive. Nick’s research shows no real negative impact on productivity. As he says, offering remote working days is a huge benefit for employees who value it about the same as an 8% pay increase.
• Intentional office days. Don’t let people return to the office to be on Zoom calls. As Nick said, focus on one-on-ones, mentoring, group meetings, problem-solving, training, presentations, etcetera. People come back to the office to meet other people.
• Offices won’t disappear. There will be roles that always remain on site, and therefore offices will not disappear. But they will have to be good enough to want to spend time in, which means bad news for ugly, old offices and office buildings.
• Global employees’ opportunities. If we can make jobs remote, people in Southeast Asia can take much better-paying jobs while working where they live. This is an amazing opportunity for our region.
• Outcomes, not keystrokes. Nick calls this the Marissa Meyer point, referring to when she took over Yahoo when it was a fully remote company. We need a better framework for measuring and evaluating good work to successfully manage hybrid and remote teams. And to be clear, this is not surveillance, it's not watching keystrokes.

I hope the insights from this interview serve as a reminder or even a wake-up call to follow the data and focus on giving people more flexibility to mold work to their lives rather than vice versa.

Start with people, then design work schedules, work days, and offices around them.

For more Nick, follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter. Find all of Nick’s research data on WFHResearch.

Future Work is the bi-weekly podcast from Daan van Rossum, CEO of FlexOS – the platform that helps hybrid and remote managers level up their leadership game.

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