Bold leaders are seizing this moment to drive a workplace revolution that’s here to stay

If you were to predict five years ago that the hottest business trend in 2020 would be working from home in sweatpants, people would have thought you were nuts. But you would have been right just the same. Research from Stanford University indicates more than 40% of the U.S. workforce now find themselves working from home.[1] Experts predict that one in four workers will work from home in some fashion on a permanent basis after the pandemic subsides.[2]

Suffice it to say that work as we once knew it has changed forever.

Truth be told, the trend that “work is something you do rather than somewhere you go” has been catching on for years, accelerated by a combination of factors including the rise of mobile smart devices, a change in workforce demographics and a swing toward part-time service work. Yet nothing compares to the almost overnight shift catalyzed by the covid-19 pandemic.

While some organizations struggle to adjust, smart business leaders have seized the moment to revolutionize the future of work—and in the process, transform the workplace into something more productive, human and sustainable. This has created tremendous opportunity for businesses to forge a new path and adopt innovative ways to drive resilience. According to Gartner, prior to the pandemic, 55 percent of organizational redesigns were focused on streamlining roles, supply chains and workflows to become more efficient.[3]But more important than efficiency is the need for resiliency to create more flexible, adaptable companies that sustain long into the future.

And that begins with the heart of an organization: its people. 

Workplace revolutions start with people

Building a workforce that can flourish amid the pandemic and thereafter requires leaders to rethink key components of their organizations. Consider the workforce. Chances are, employees are dealing with new realities that would have been impossible to imagine just a few months ago. Some working from home must do so while caring for small children or elderly parents. Others are challenged by physical environments that simply don’t lend themselves to focused work. And still others are coping with the psychological distress of loved ones who may be sick or recently unemployed.

To adjust to the new reality, resilient companies are prioritizing their human capital differently. In addition to embracing greater flexibility, resilient organizations are investing in capabilities to stay on the pulse of how their employees are doing. This live information flow empowers companies to develop programs in direct response to employee sentiment. Bringing in full-time counselors to support and enhance employees’ wellbeing, for example, is increasingly becoming more commonplace. And programs like these don’t just engender goodwill—they can help produce superior business outcomes. A recent Gallup analysis revealed that the relationship between employee engagement and performance outcomes such as profitability, productivity      and customer perceptions, is stronger during crises, as was seen in past recession years.[4] The need for resilient organizations to prioritize their employees’ wellbeing, particularly amidst the pandemic, is a matter of urgency. 

Upskill the workforce with a digital mindset

In addition to workforce morale, organizations are also rethinking talent development. As companies revolutionize their business models, they must rely on more agile learning approaches required to reskill and upskill their workforce. According to the Training Industry Report, organizations spend nearly $90 billion on corporate training in the U.S. annually, but the bulk of this is spent on classroom training whose efficacy is just a fraction of the continuous learning culture required to build an agile workforce.[5]

As covid-19 renders these traditional, in-person approaches to learning nearly impossible, employees are increasingly at risk of losing critical months, even years, of needed development to upskill for businesses of the future. Organizations that lean into digital learning will benefit from a workforce that can quickly adapt to new business models, processes and technologies that ultimately shore up their organizational success for the long-term. 

Technology acceleration is no longer optional for success

To accommodate new workforce realities, organizations are already beginning to invest heavily into new forms of technology that prioritize resilience over efficiency. For instance, 85 percent of respondents to a global McKinsey survey from summer 2020 said their businesses have accelerated the deployment of employee collaboration technology, while 35 percent said they have digitized their supply chains.[6]

Estimates vary, but experts believe we will see as much as 10-years’ worth of digital investment condensed into the next five years as organizations continue to invest in resiliency. Done properly, these investments can drive powerful outcomes. The city of Portland, for example, has relied on cloud-based workforce management software from SAP to activate and manage the complexities of its emergency response team during the pandemic. The flexibility and speed with which it was able to deploy critical resources enabled the city to streamline reporting, reduce spend and reallocate furloughed employees into new roles, further validating the city’s plans to ramp up adoption of cloud-based technology.  

While the pandemic has impacted countless lives, it has also become a catalyst for radical, positive change in the business world: change that puts people first, that focuses on adaptable and sustainable employee development and that leverages technology to help businesses—and the people who power them—perform at their best. Leaders who place resilience above all else will find an enduring competitive advantage that helps them not only survive, but thrive for decades to come. 

As organizations take practical steps to become more resilient and agile in today’s challenging environment, SAP and its partners are providing solutions and services to help businesses run at their best again.

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