Op-ed: Data and The Future of Work

The world of work has forever changed. The global COVID-19 pandemic has driven a fundamental societal shift, and many of the trends that were already underway have now been accelerated. The “Great Resignation” has changed the landscape of many industries, the competition for talent has never been more dynamic, and employers are doing their best to rapidly adapt. Employee experience and engagement have become a daily focus of the C-suite as retention and hiring move toward the top of the strategic agendas of forward-thinking companies.

As employees begin to return to the office, either full-time or for a few days a week, for many nonmanufacturing industries it seems unlikely that an office-based, five-day work week for all employees will ever be considered the norm again. However, only time will tell what an average “office” will look like. 

The concept of hybrid work is being embraced by more employers and now increasingly expected by employees. The demand for flexible workspaces has never been higher, and numerous companies are realizing they don’t have to be “office based” in particular cities and regions to attract/retain clients and team members – especially high-demand knowledge workers who now expect the freedom to work remotely at least some of the time. Even industries that have been traditionally office based in “primary cities,” such as technology, finance and entertainment, are increasingly moving their headquarters and primary operations from traditional hubs to new “secondary” cities (often for tax reasons, which could change, of course). Ark Investment Management LLC announced it was permanently closing its New York office and relocating to St. Petersburg, Florida. Tesla relocated its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas. Many movies are now filmed in Atlanta, Barcelona, Auckland and other cities rather than Los Angeles and New York City. These moves highlight the emergence of secondary U.S. cities as well as popular international (often lower-cost) talent hubs as viable alternatives. We are in the middle of an evolution in skilled labor migration patterns and technological advances allowing better remote collaboration. 

The Future of Work is upon Us

These shifting dynamics have fundamentally changed the traditional relationship between employers and employees. To attract the best talent for your company, it has never been more important to have granular, dynamic, current market data on topics such as compensation, demographics, commuting norms/expectations and employee sentiment. A company lacking good analysis of such data is simply using guesswork in the competitive, post-pandemic workforce arena. This data analysis is no longer the exclusive provenance of the HR department but is critical for decisions across senior management teams, from real estate/facilities to finance, corporate development, strategy and the CEO. For many companies, the cost of team members is the largest single expense item, and the quality and culture of the team are core elements of success. For many industries, “people as a competitive advantage” has never been truer. 

The playing field has become extremely dynamic and significantly more complex – one size does not fit all. Employees at different levels and stages of their careers want and need different things, and increasingly diverse backgrounds and geographies require additional flexibility and ways of thinking about the partnership between people and their working environment. Shifting commuter habits and expectations are also driving a specific need for advanced data analysis and real-time visualizations. How can you ensure your employees’ commute times, and the resulting employee experience, are not increasing attrition rates and risks? Many of the issues exposed by the pandemic are regarding quality of life, and how one gets to work and what it costs to live near the office (i.e., commute time) are important pieces of that fabric.

The good news is there is vastly more market data available, and it’s increasing at a rapid rate. Also, HR systems are dramatically improved, allowing users to slice internal data in many ways. One current challenge is how best to combine internal workforce data and external market data into a platform that can deliver clear, actionable insights and unique signals to nontechnical users in real time. The goal of such a system is to enable executives to make data-driven decisions to develop, implement and measure their future work strategies: how will policies and office design and locations impact attrition, hiring, culture, team-member performance and all-in labor costs? 

The pandemic dramatically accelerated a shift to more bespoke work solutions in efforts to improve employee engagement. Improving an employee’s experience can lead to improved productivity, better products, lower costs, happier and more clients and thus a better bottom line for shareholders. However, employees’ experiences are impacted by a massive amount of data – where they work, who they interact with, what they are learning and contributing, and even how they get from home to work. Sentiment surveys and improved HR systems alone do not capture all the factors that management teams need to make properly informed decisions around workplace policies and locations. The result is the development of ever-improving tools to not only improve HR data but combine that internal data with external data on locations, demographic trends, diversity, transportation systems and government. The result creates a visualization and scenario analysis toolkit that forward-thinking executives will require to lead their teams toward success.

Other Considerations

Diversity is also a consideration. How can you ensure that you are advancing your diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) agenda as you set about the task of making hybrid working a success for your company? Again, proximity to potential employees will be key to drive DEI agendas forward. 

People are moving to secondary cities at a higher rate than ever. A recent survey showed that the top 10 destinations for 2021 included Austin, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; and Florida, but not New York or California. This mobility creates new and unique challenges with regard to not only the current workforce but also hiring needs and talent pools. 

How can you ensure that a new city or region will be the optimal place to move your business for its next phase of growth? Where is the best place for your company to be based? Does it make economic sense to move? Making these decisions has never been more challenging and complex. The only way to make informed decisions in this increasingly complex post-COVID-19 market environment is to leverage data and analytics that produce actional and differentiated signals and insights. 

The need for data, data analytics and data-driven decision making has become an imperative, and the need to combine internal workforce data with external market data in a scalable, extensible platform has become the challenge. More profile and granular skill data is available to us about where our ideal recruits are, from graduates to C-suite hires. Location decisions can be key in making sure that your company is in the appropriate market to attract and retain qualified candidates. 

The future of work is an exciting and ever-evolving topic. I believe the key to a successful workforce strategy for all companies is to leverage the billions and billions of data points made available to us every day.