(music)
-: About 250 years ago,
the Industrial Revolution created today's working model.
For the first time, people left their homes
to work in factories and offices.
We had to be in the same place at the same time
to get work done.
Today, I stand here in this empty office
yet work is getting done.
COVID has accelerated changes
that were already underway.
Digitization, remote working and virtualization.
Companies have found
that their workers can be just as productive
working without the old constraints of time and place.
Business leaders have the opportunity and the imperative
to intentionally architect the future of work,
to unleash a new wave of human ingenuity and productivity.
-: COVID has accelerated changes in both customer
and in employee preferences.
B2C e-commerce was accelerating
even before the pandemic began
and now in the US, 50% of B2B customers
say they're comfortable going fully virtual.
Such changes in customer preferences
give us a unique starting point
for designing the future work in organizations.
And the employees who serve these customers
have changing expectations too.
40% of employees BCG recently surveyed
say they want flexibility in wear and/or when they work.
And 50% said that they have been at least as productive
during the pandemic as they were before.
-: These changes in customer and employee expectations
call for a holistic approach
to architecting the future of work.
For business leaders, this means focusing on four areas:
how we work, how we lead, how we organize and what we need.
By how we work, we mean reimagining customer relationships
and employee work models.
Business leaders need to be ready to embrace disruption
in these areas
and meet customers and employees where they are
and where they want to be.
How we lead entails empowering leadership
all the way from the C-suite down to the frontline
to create a purpose-driven culture
that truly inspires people.
How we organize,
that involves new ways of working
embedding agile everywhere
to make the organization more adaptive
as well as embracing new talent models
like gig economy talent
as well as creating career paths
that maybe more like jungle gyms than ladders.
What we need, that's about smart work environments:
physical spaces, tools and technology
and equipping the organization with the right skills.
In designing the future of work,
it's critical for leaders to understand
the vast amount of value at stake.
It's revenues, efficiency, customer satisfaction,
employee satisfaction, retention, hiring
and the increasingly important sustainability and wellness.
And it's for this reason that we encourage leaders
to think broadly and holistically
when they invest in thinking through the future of work.
-: It can be tempting to say
that with the vaccine now available,
the virus will soon be contained
and we can revert back to old work models.
However, doing so would be a momentous waste.
Companies have a once-in-a-millennium opportunity
and obligation to redesign work for the way work should be,
not just the way it used to be.
This will take intentionality, effort,
leadership engagement and real innovation.
But it will create a future of work
that will unlock new talent,
creativity and productivity benefits
we have only glimpsed so far.
(techno music)