CXO INSIGHT
Your recent Technology and Talent study found that a large majority of UK tech workers want to continue hybrid working . How can organisations facilitate this so it both benefits the employer and the employee ?
It ’ s making sure when people come into an office , they come in with purpose . If you come into an office and you spend all day plugged in and on calls , you might as well be in a home setting . So , you ' re changing the in-office days to be collaboration work .
Also , have hybrid meetings . Some of us will be in an office , some of us will be in different locations . It ’ s about rethinking how we run meetings and how we include people in this hybrid world .
In your opinion , what is the perfect balance between on-site and working from home ?
and want to think about something before it spills out of your mouth , then the home-working way is much more friendly towards you . Suddenly , the quiet woman in the corner got heard and promoted . This is a good sign for the future .
What are your predictions for the coming years with diversity / equality in the workplace ?
In our survey , 42 % of respondents hadn ’ t set up employee support networks . I ' m a servant to our diversity and inclusion council , not the other way around . I believe you need to unwire many , many different connections in an organisation to permanently make changes and then rewire them in a new way . That means not just hiring practices , but it ' s about the way we communicate , the way we ask for feedback and ideas , the way we promote people and develop them . Making sure we have employee support networks is an essential element of keeping women and keeping gender diversity .
Ideally , two to three days in the office and the rest from somewhere else . We asked people in the survey about that . The majority ( 93 %) wanted to work between two to five days a week from home . That compares with only 45 % of tech professionals globally working two to five days a week from home before the pandemic .
However , nobody is going to have a fixed formula . You might have one week where you do four days in the office , but the next week , you may do none . It ’ s getting the right balance .
What is Harvey Nash Group doing to improve employee well-being and what are some further initiatives the company can implement ?
From the first lockdown , we did a variety of things . We did coffee check-ups with people ; we gave people the opportunity to do meditation sessions . We did walk and talk sessions , we had fitness sessions and quizzes .
Additionally , 36 % haven ' t carried out any inclusion training or communications . I don ' t think anybody would deliberately say or do things that exclude people but if we ' ve not been trained and made aware of what we ' re saying and the impact of our words and actions , how would you know you were doing that ? If we ' re going to keep diversifying , growing inclusivity in a permanently sustainable way , it ’ s important to underpin it with these elements .
Then we started to think about things at a bigger stage . The first hire I made when I joined this company was a Chief People Officer because , fundamentally , we are a people business .
She said to me , ‘ I want to create a health and well-being hub .’ We amassed advice and guidance for people , videos , talks , podcasts they can listen to . Then we open-sourced it , even to our competitors . x
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