Welcome back to The Mantle, your monthly download on all the marketing trends and industry insights brewing below the surface, courtesy of Quartz’s in-house studio, Quartz Creative.
The remote and hybrid revolutions have shifted work forever—but we’re still figuring out how. This month, we’re examining the early stages of the Work From Anywhere era to see who’s doing it right, what needs to change, and how it will impact current and future employees.
While throwing plenty of norms into confused chaos, Covid-19 made one thing crystal clear: Employees want flexibility. Now, companies must learn how to adapt working guidelines to meet this new mandate.
As of July 2020, Quartz became a fully distributed company and allowed all employees to work from anywhere indefinitely. To pull this pivot off, we had to adopt a remote-first approach. Today, that means while some may choose to come into our headquarters, the default mode is that most work happens outside of the office. It’s a subtle distinction that wholly reshapes how we meet, collaborate, and socialize.
If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is. See what Quartz Co-founder/CEO Zach Seward had to say in his recent piece on the most important lessons we’ve learned about managing a hybrid workplace since reopening our NYC office doors this June.
— Natalie Diamond, CRO, Quartz
Data Mining
Since lockdown orders went into effect, pollsters have scrambled to see how people feel about remote work and plans to return. The results are in.
We agree. In the very near future, Quartz believes:
- Jobs will be as mobile as the workers who fill them
- Creating a productive and inclusive environment for distributed staff will be a business mandate
- Career growth will be untethered from proximity to a physical office
Some companies are already there, blazing a path the rest will follow. Sign up for The Memo and receive updates on our first-annual rankings for Best Companies for Remote Workers, scheduled to launch early September.
Trendgame
A great mobilization is upon us. According to a recent MBO Partners report, the population of digital nomads rose nearly 50% between 2019 and 2020. American workers are quitting their jobs at the highest rate in decades.
In tandem with the WFA renaissance, many now feel empowered—and are choosing—to leave companies that don’t meet their working preferences. Those leading the revolution want remote work options, flexible hours, and a choice in the projects they work on. A whopping 63% are planning to change jobs this year.
Managers need to take a long, hard look at their offerings if they want to attract and keep the best talent. Make your company marketable for the mobile masses with these tips.
- Do your research. What’s good for one company may not be good for yours; start by surveying your own employees and asking for their specific feedback and suggestions.
- Ignorance is a miss. Workers know that you know that their jobs can be done from almost anywhere. If for some reason you can’t accommodate remote work options, make sure you have a good explanation.
- Beef up your benefits. The pandemic has forced employers to examine the true efficacy of their benefits packages; to stay competitive, you’ll need to do the same.
- Make trust the default. Treating employees like adults, with regard to remote work, vacation time, and working hours, creates a precedent of trust that will set you apart from more traditional workplaces.
- Keep up (responsibly). You don’t have to follow every trend, but leadership and people ops teams should keep abreast of these shifts for a proactive approach to improving workplace experience.
Content Ă la Carte
There’s been a drastic shift in how workers expect to come back together, most notably that they do expect to come back—at least occasionally. In June, Quartz created a field guide to navigating the hybrid workplace for leaders and employees alike.
From running hybrid meetings to rethinking office fashion, this guide covers the ins and outs of planning your office’s hybrid future. A few starter tips: Write things down, ask teammates what they want, and experiment like you would with a new product.
New from the Stu’
In June, executive editor Heather Landy hosted the season finale of Quartz at Work (From Home) in partnership with Asana, featuring a lively discussion about all things hybrid work. You can watch (or read) the full playback here. And if you just want the highlight reel, check out our YouTube playlist of the most noteworthy points.
As Genentech’s Cynthia Burks pointed out, leadership adoption is key to new workplace policies and practices, both official and unofficial. Earlier this month, we published a work guide for leaders looking to adopt a new attitude toward time—setting an example for their employees and fellow leaders—in partnership with Grand Seiko.
See you next month
Thanks for tuning in to this month’s edition of The Mantle. If you’ve got a remote work hack, gripe, or anything in between, send them on over to quartzcreative@qz.com. See you next month.