The future workplace: How ready are you?WORDS BY CLIFF ETTRIDGE

Contents

Great brands are built from the inside................................................................................................................... 3

The gig is up. We’re all workers in this economy................................................................................................. 5

Forget about email. Give employees the digital tools to build an empire.......................................................... 8

Workspace & headspace: why ditching your desk can improve creativity & productivity............................ 10

How storytelling helps employees understand and embrace change............................................................. 12

Cliff Ettridge DIRECTOR

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I’ve been working on employee experience projects for the last 20 years. In creating Employer brands and developing campaigns to help people understand, buy-in to and participate in company initiatives I’ve learned a lot about what makes people inside businesses tick. I continue to learn more each day.

The film interview I did for Business Reporter and the Daily Telegraph is a snapshot summation of where I see the employee landscape today. But, things change, and they change fast. So my advice to anyone reading these pages a year from now is to treat them with caution as the world of work will have changed dramatically.

Great brands are built from the inside

People build brands and brands build businesses. The challenge is seeing both sides of the brand coin and getting it right for employees AND customers.

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Most organisations will say that they only have one brand – and that may be true – but there are different ways of looking at it: from the inside and the outside. And that inside expression, the employer brand, is becoming more important to the C-suite.

My opening phrase ‘People build brands’ was coined by Chief HR Officer, Stephen Kelly, when I worked with him on the employer brand at the BBC. Since then, we’ve worked together creating a valuable brand for Logica (which was successfully sold to CGI) and now Avanade, a multi-billion-dollar digital business focused on maximising Microsoft’s capabilities. Stephen represents a new breed of CHRO, as passionate about brand as he is about people.

In our time working together, we’ve learned the importance of getting the brand right on the inside if the business is to maximise the brand on the outside. See it like this, if you’re an athlete – a 100-metre sprinter – your brand is speed and excitement. That’s what you promise. Imagine Usain Bolt for example, he’s an entertainer.

Now, to show speed, you need to be athletic. To be athletic, you need to be well-trained. To be well trained you need an environment that practises discipline; diet; routine and careful measurement. That environment, that’s the ‘employee experience’ an athlete needs every day. As an ‘employee’, athletes don’t just need to be told to increase their speed and be exciting. That’s the outcome, not the input.

It’s in the detailed brand experience that we create for employees that the brand promise to customers comes to life. But they are two different things. One brand, two expressions.

Avanade reinvented its brand inside and outside, by starting with its employer brand. We looked at the culture inside the business, its strengths and its weaknesses, and most importantly, what customers expected when Avanade people showed up. It’s this last point – expectation – that many people miss when creating their employer brands.

We discovered Avanade was fantastic at tech, but not strong at turning that experience into stories that conveyed the end benefits of what they did. So a new approach was crafted: one that was about seeing beyond the details, beyond their clients, to their clients’ customers and how their work was changing lives, from improved patient care to a better in-flight service experience.

The employer brand experience was about inspiring people; about accessibility, collaboration and constant conversation. It was about helping every employee make a genuine impact with clients. That has affected recruitment strategy; the reshaping of leadership hierarchy and reward, and the development of communities where talent can collaborate. As a result, the experience on the inside not only supports the brand, it matches the talent’s aspirations and has helped Avanade to significantly reduce early attrition.

In turn, we’ve been able to help Avanade launch a repositioned brand on the outside – one that is about its bold thinking, fresh perspectives, optimistic approaches and passion for people and technology.

So, focus your efforts on your employer brand. See it as the engine for your brand on the outside.

“We’ve learned the importance of getting the brand right on the inside [...] to maximise the brand on the outside”

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The gig is up. We’re all workers in this economy

The definition of employee is beside the point. What’s important is loyalty, and that’s increasingly hard to earn in the gig economy.

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1 Build their business alongside yours

With any freelancer, you’re giving them the keys to the safe. They get access to clients, ideas and talent – that’s a rich set of contacts and knowledge. Sure, they sign non-disclosure and non-compete agreements, but the value of this info is worth much more than their day rate. Trust is part of the deal. Advertise your freelance opportunities and allow workers (where client agreements allow) to promote what they do for you. Many sites like Topcoder or Upwork have been exceptional in creating opportunities for freelancers to market their work.

“With any freelancer, you’re giving them the keys to the safe”

2 Create an insider’s marketplace

Not all freelancers are the same. Some you love working with; some deliver exceptional results. Others… well, the less said the better. Sites like Checkatrade already exist to give homeowners the opportunity to rate tradespeople. Why not encourage your freelancers to join talent and job sites that give them the same opportunity? If you’re a hirer, leave reviews. It’s a confidence game. Genuine reviews will help them to secure more contract opportunities – something they’ll thank you for.

Employee is a word that used to have a clear-cut definition. But in today’s emerging gig economy, it’s up for debate whether ‘employees’ includes freelancers, contractors, part-timers, zero-hour contractors, and so on. But here’s the thing. When it comes to brand loyalty, the definition of employee doesn’t even matter. Here’s why.

Everyone who works for you is a worker. This is something Charlie Mullins at Pimlico Plumbers recently discovered in court, and Uber continues to fight. Workers represent your brand. But how can you create loyalty with workers in the gig economy when, by its nature, you haven’t exactly offered the same in return?

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“It’s all about respect. If you value their skills, value the person too”

4 Play to your unique strengths

Every business has a USP. From proprietary training to creative assets or software, your products and services are something you could offer for free or discounted to increase the loyalty of your ‘gig’ workers. Most companies aren’t offering these benefits to freelancers yet, but public policy is urging them to catch up.

5 Get to know more than their skills

It’s about respect. If you value their skills; value the person too. When they have a birthday, send them best wishes. Follow them on social media. Read their blogs. Like it. Comment. This isn’t entirely altruistic, as it also encourages loyalty and advocacy of your product, but objective third-party support is valuable to both parties.

Fifteen per cent of the UK workforce is self-employed – and it’s a growing population. While the gig economy allows workers to find employment on their terms, it also creates challenges for employers who don’t know how to

tap into loyalty when they’re sourcing skills. Yet creating loyalty with gig economy workers is no different than with the traditional employee. It’s quid pro quo. So time to start thinking about what you have to offer.

3 Relevant rewards can be more valuable than cash

Uber have recognised this with Momentum and the sixth star: a form of recognition that customers can give to drivers. A coveted sixth stars triggers a financial reward, whereas Momentum delivers benefits to help drivers improve their business, such as car maintenance and phone plans. Uber has also partnered with accounting services to help its workers stay legit. What do your workers need? Could your people ease their admin burden or strengthen their skills or brand? Be warned though: rewards can’t make up for poor leadership behaviour.

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Forget about email. Give employees the digital tools to build an empire

Messaging beats email if you want to work collaboratively and iteratively.

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If we’re spending increasing time on our devices, digital tools should really pull their weight. For instance, the average business user receives 90 emails a day. Of those, 76 aren’t spam. Ignoring the amount of time taken to deal with each of these emails, that’s 76 points in the day when an employee’s concentration is disrupted by an email. A linear piece of communication that invites little collaboration.

Microsoft Teams and Slack, on the other hand, are two collaboration tools that may soon become ubiquitous inside businesses. And digital immigrants had better get used to them, because Generation Z, who are now entering the workforce, don’t know what Outlook is.

For the uninitiated, tools like Slack enable employees to post messages in online spaces that can be read by all employees. But this isn’t mindless chat – or it shouldn’t be. The spaces are dedicated to project work and enable employees to upload and collaborate on documents. In a world where the next generation has ditched the text message and is adept at multiple conversations via WhatsApp, this is what will drive productivity in the future.

The advantage of these tools is that they encourage collaboration. Anyone can build on any other’s message. And so, as a team, you are constantly iterating. Building together. Never relying on an answer from one person in an email chain.

This shift to iterative working finds its roots in the tech worlds of Agile. In previous days, the way we worked was simple. We identified a project need; agreed on the need; developed the solution; tested it and then launched it. That whole process took time and, as we know, time is a killer. Nowadays, companies want to deliver products and services faster. So we iterate. We release pieces of solutions every day. Or in Amazon’s case, every second.

“Generation Z, who are now entering the workforce, don’t know what Outlook is”

“Employees want tools they can interact with – that they can play with”

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That requires a change in mentality. It’s about encouraging leaders to let their teams take control of end-to-end quality. It means letting go a little. HSBC have been at the forefront of this culture change by creating pods of employee teams in the tech functions all focused on owning a specific part of the product. It belongs to them. It’s where they can make a huge change. That’s an incredibly powerful offer to employees.

Employees want tools they can interact with – that they can play with. RBS recently engaged 45,000 colleagues by creating a simple online profiler so employees could see how their preferred work style fitted into RBS’ new brand and values. Tools like this instigate debate and discussion and result in much more meaningful conversations around things like brand.

Start thinking about how digital tools can help employees play with content, collate valuable data and kick-start conversations. Start to create a culture where you get teams off email and Outlook and into collaboration tools. Do it soon. Generation Z are knocking on your door.

Workspace & headspace: why ditching your desk can improve creativity & productivity

Desks are boxing in creativity. Workspaces should be designed around collaboration, not bums on seats.

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The desk is dying out. If we want flexibility in our work and our thinking, we need to let go of our nesting instincts. If we’re to collaborate more, we need to step out from behind the desk.

There is a business imperative as well. It’s estimated that just 40 per cent of employees in offices are based at their desks. This means that other employees are nomadic. And yet, businesses are still providing desk space for many of these nomads. Why? Is the desk even the best place to do their work? What about coffee shops; breakout areas; and co-working spaces?

There’s been a rise in spaces where you can work away from work. Places like Platf9rm in Brighton; Impact Hub and Second Home have created some extraordinary spaces where creative connections can happen naturally.

Deloitte are now creating spaces where employees can benefit from more serendipitous connections and where clients can work in a more cheek-by-jowl fashion. These environments don’t just extend to the offices of management consultants. The more work environments encourage connections between employees, the more sales and productivity increases as ideas are shared. The Norwegian company Telenor discovered that when a salesperson increased interactions with co-workers on other teams by 10 per cent, their sales grew by the same amount.

Creating spaces need not be about office furniture. It’s also about creating the space for people to think about the work they do and how they do it.

Much has been said about Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s ’20 per cent’ idea: “We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20 per cent of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google. This empowers them to be more creative and innovative. Many of our significant advances have happened in this manner.” This policy has subsequently been scaled back, some say abandoned. Here’s why.

Innovation happens within projects and within the working day, not necessarily within some predetermined time for innovation. Great ideas flourish when you create space and permission for employees to experiment on the job.

It’s leadership behaviours that allow innovation to emerge. Leadership is more than management; it’s about nurturing, encouraging, inspiring and giving employees permission to explore.

“Just 40 per cent of employees in offices are based at their desks”

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“Great ideas flourish when you create space and permission for employees to experiment on the job”

How storytelling helps employees understand and embrace change

How to challenge beliefs and manage change through storytelling.

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There’s a reason many classic stories start with the immortal words: once upon a time. There’s comfort in the past – the known. Stories provide context. And this is very relevant for organisations undergoing change.

Change may be the new normal, but how does the experience of change actually sit with most employees? Not well, unfortunately.

You see, we tend to trust things that have been around for a long time. It suggests a level of certainty. This study from 2010 asked students about the relative merits of academic courses, health practices and art, according to longevity. The longer it had been around, the more they trusted it – something that’s particularly pertinent in today’s world, filled with ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’.

As WH Bovey wrote in his study on resistance to change: “According to the A-B-C theory of personality… ‘A’ (the activating event) does not cause ‘C’ (the emotional and behavioural consequence); instead, it is ‘B’ (an individual’s belief) about ‘A’ that largely causes ‘C’.” And those beliefs are instilled over time.

Understandably, people are reluctant to challenge their own beliefs. That’s why change is uncomfortable for employees. But these feelings can be overcome when an organisation communicates the journey it’s been on, as well as the direction it’s heading in. It’s a way of using past events to make sense of the future.

RBS has successfully done this through two campaigns – ‘Think outside the bank’ and ‘Determined to make a Difference’. These shared employee and customer stories using simple constructs that reiterate the strengths of the bank and what is required to turn the bank’s fortunes around. This relatable, personal storytelling makes

change feel like opportunity. Regular storytelling also acts as a drumbeat to keep momentum up, as you ease employees through change.

Some employees thrive on change, but many don’t. Recent work using one of our online psychometric profiling tools revealed that a massive 80 per cent of a client’s employees weren’t the challengers they thought they were: many yearned for a sense of stability.

The result of this is a significant tension because change is unavoidable for any employee wishing to succeed. The importance of learning new skills has been explored in depth by Accenture. The ability to change, learn and adopt new technology has been cited as a number one concern by employees. The rational realisation is there, but that doesn’t make the emotional leap any easier, which is why telling stories about change is so important.

And the best storytellers are often the employees themselves. Avanade, one of the biggest Microsoft consultancies in the world, has invested in creating communities of employees to share the stories about what clients are up to and how to move to the next level of skills development.

BP has gone further. Post Deepwater Horizon, storytelling became central to their values and behaviours internal campaign work. Stories gave them a way to fix employee’s attention on what ‘good’ looks like, and rebuild pride in what they do. So successful, storytelling is now helping to shape the brand on the outside.

The stories that inspire change all have one thing in common: they leave people asking

What could I do better?

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