From the rise of hybrid work to the rise of inflation, the lives of companies and people are affected by an economic, political, and social context punctuated by a series of major events and transformations on a global scale.
Employees have discovered the benefits of teleworking and 86% of them want to continue teleworking with an ideal average of 2 days a week. For companies, the challenge is then to find a hybrid organization that meets their expectations in terms of flexibility.
Ecological & environmental concerns and considerations are increasingly important in the lives of employees, they care much more today about the commitments made by companies in ecological and environmental terms.
Also, companies and employees must adapt to new challenges: inflation, rising energy costs and unprecedented difficulties in supplying products and services.
CHALLENGE 1: PURCHASING POWER
In summer 2022, inflation had reached a record 6.1% in just one year (it was 5.8% in May 2023 - source National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE)). Inflation drastically reduces the purchasing power of households, which must continue to assume necessary expenses such as those related to housing and food. Solutions will have to be found to best limit the impact of inflation on the purchasing power of employees.
CHALLENGE 2 : WORKING TIME FLEXIBILITY
After the teleworking implemented during the health crisis, the world of work continues its structural transformation. Concretely, spending two hours on public transport to get to work is no longer to the taste of employees!
The organizational model traditionally represented by “9 a.m. to 6 p.m.” is increasingly rejected by employees because it is no longer adapted to today’s reality.
Employees are seeking more meaningful work, a greater focus on well-being with considerations such as greater time and location flexibility, and more personalized and agile job models and career paths.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 47.8 million people in the United States quit their jobs in 2021, the highest number on record… since at least 2001. In what has been dubbed 'the Big quit', resignations accounted for 69.3% of total separations in 2021.
CHALLENGE 3 : SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
With rising fuel prices and increasingly heavy traffic in metropolitan areas, solutions will have to be found to facilitate mobility to the workplace while taking into account ecological considerations. To attract new talents and keep them, the actions proposed in the context of sustainable mobility will be decisive in the years to come (i.e. bicycle rental, transport shuttle, electric terminal, etc.).
CHALLENGE 4 : IMPROVE THE BALANCE OF WORK/PERSONAL LIFE
For employees, work/life balance is priority number 1 (JLL barometer on employees' new work preferences, April 2022). Companies must innovate and offer solutions to support their employees on a daily basis so that they are not parasitized by organizational concerns and focus on their work.
Quality of life, health and well-being have become the primary concerns of employees, even ahead of the guarantee of a comfortable salary, which now comes in third place. The prospect of a better quality of life is the number one reason that drives employees to leave their jobs today.
CONCLUSION
As the gap between what companies offer and employee expectations widens, it is essential for companies to review and reinvent their value propositions to their current and future hybrid employees. Social interactions play a prominent role and remain the main reason employees return to the office today, so the new role of corporate offices is to become this epicenter of social relations and innovation.
