The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos this week covers a wide range of topics including the Ukraine war, climate change and new technologies. But one issue which is seemingly drawing more debate than others is hybrid working and shorter work weeks.
However, the previous ‘weekday, nine-to-five, in the office’ paradigm appears to be a relic of the past. Many workers now prefer a hybrid arrangement that gives them the flexibility to work remotely for at least part of the week.Working from home can poison office relations because communicating virtually requires far more empathy than meeting a person in real life, said Christian Ulbrich, chief executive of the real estate group Jones Lang LaSalle.
“The flexibility people want most at work is not choices about where they work, it’s when and how much they work,” said Adam Grant, an organisational psychologist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. However, it noted that there is much less debate about how new work models will also reshape an organisation’s risk profile, including:Less clear responsibilities in relation to remote and flexible working conditionsA significant proportion of employers say they will require employees to be back in the office full time, said Mark Edward Rose chief executive of real estate company Avison Young.