In partnership with The Rising Trend Of ‘Work Anywhere’ And How To Future-Proof Your Workforce Produced by Dominic Black & Patrick Watson - Cavell GroupThe Rising Trend of ‘Work Anywhere’ and How to Future-proof Your Workforce 2021 Introduction External environmental factors, including the COVID crisis and changing workforce dynamics, have accelerated the evolution of enterprise working behaviour. The traditional office environment and its structure will now become radically less relevant. We are entering a new era of hybrid working, where employees will transition between their office desks, homes, and remote locations. Organisations need to re- evaluate their approach to working, technology, and administration to ensure their future success. Enabling productivity and efficiency in a remote workforce is one of the most critical considerations for any enterprise in the modern era. Connecting remote workers and providing them with the right tools to remain productive in a remote environment is challenging businesses of all sizes across all vertical markets. Changes are inevitable. These changes, and those still to come, have in turn transformed demand for collaborative communication services that better cater to the needs of a dispersed workforce. The call for best-in- class collaboration specialists and services has increased dramatically. “Collaboration solutions consolidate various communication mediums – including messaging, video and audio conferencing, telephony, and productivity tools - into a single application or system which can improve workflow, reduce complexity, and improve efficiency for end- users. “ This document will examine the background behind the trends that are impacting the workplace and explore some key tools, such as cloud collaboration applications, that can help an organisation future-proof their business technology strategies.N4Engage The Cavell Group A radical change, enforced by the COVID crisis, has taken place in the world of work. The number of workers forced to move away from the traditional office environment outstripped even the most extreme forecasts. This grew to 41% in 2020.” – Cavell Group Enterprise Insight Report 2020 Although this trend was caused by an unexpected external catalyst, in the form of a global pandemic, we are unlikely to see a reversion back to the previous model of working. Work from anywhere (WFA) is here to stay with employees and employers making plans for more permanent structural changes. with 77% of businesses continuing to offer remote working to staff in 2021.” – Cavell Group Enterprise Insight Report 2020 This planning for more permanent flexible working solutions is partly down to capability - now that some organisations have the infrastructure and systems in place to support remote working, they may as well leverage them. On top of that, end-users themselves have now experienced the work from anywhere lifestyle and it appears that many of them don’t want to go back to the office, at least not all the time. A study from used data from over 750,000 employees which showed a sharp decline in the proportion of the workforce who wanted to return to office full-time post-COVID. Back in April 2020, 33% noted they want to return, by the end of June that number had dropped to just 4%. These research findings demonstrate that organisations will now have to embrace hybrid working models. The future business will need to offer technology solutions that can cater for remote working requirements but also allow staff to return to the office when required for face-to-face interactions, customer meetings, and social events. Work from anywhere is here to stay, the question now is: how can organisations make the most of it? Not everyone can work from anywhere. It’s quite difficult to drive a bus sitting in your living room. The type of job role and vertical industry radically impacts the ability to work from anywhere. Unsurprisingly the hospitality industry, with its requirement for physical presence, is the least suitable for flexible working, with only 1% of organisations able to have the majority of their workforce working remotely. Remote working is here to stay “20% of companies surveyed had over half of their workforces working remotely in 2019. “Only 2% of large businesses are likely to have no remote workers in 2021 –The Rising Trend of ‘Work Anywhere’ and How to Future-proof Your Workforce 2021 Industries with higher proportions of ‘knowledge workers’ such as finance and ICT are much more viable options for widespread remote working. Effectively the level of physical presence required directly impacts the viability of WFA. Ability for at least 50% of the workforce to work remotely Figure 1. Cavell Group Enterprise Insight Report 2020 54% 54% 52% 49% 46% 31% 16% 12% 8% 1% Construction Transport Business & Professional Services Finance IT & Comms Other Retail Manufacturing Education HospitalityN4Engage The Cavell Group Figure 2. Cavell Group & Global Workforce Research Centre Generational changes One often overlooked aspect that is also altering demand for flexible working environments is the evolving state of workplace generational dynamics. There is constantly shifting demographic within global workforces, and the ages of any workforce are particularly relevant. Each new generation has slightly different demands for its own work environment and its workplace technology systems. As generational dynamics shift, newer generations form a higher proportion of the overall workforce as older workers leave. Baby Boomers (1945-1960) Generation X (1961-1980) Generation Y (1981-1995) Generation Z (1995-) Percentage in workforce 22%31%36%10% Attitude to technology Early information (IT) adopters Digital immigrants Digital natives ‘Technoholics’ entirely dependent on IT Communication media TelephoneEmail and Text Text or Social Media Hand-held communication devices Communication preference Face-to-face ideally but telephone or email Text or email Online and mobile Facetime Workforce generational changes are therefore impacting the provision of workplace environments, structures, and technologies. Younger generations, who are digitally native, are much more inclined to utilise more advanced communication technologies. Research and data show that by 2025 Generation Z will comprise 36% of the workforce, further driving demand for higher- end communication and collaboration tools. These changes have forced the enterprise to incorporate technologies that match the requirements of their increasingly younger workforces, with video services being a key constituent. In partnership with Want to read more? Download the rest of the whitepaper hereNext >