This trend is impacting the global workforce. Three quarters (75 percent) of the workforce made changes or plans to change how or where they live, according to ADP Research Institute’s “People at Work: A Global Workforce View” study. That percentage proved to be even greater (85 percent) for Generation Z. The same study found that there is a sharp increase in the proportion of workers (67 percent) who say they feel empowered to take advantage of flexible working arrangements at their companies, which is up from 26 percent before the pandemic. However, there is some stigma with this significant uptick, because 59 percent feel they are judged for working flexibly.
As employees are changing their ways of working, employers need to adapt and accommodate distributed workforces and increase employee visibility in hybrid or remote environments. ADP surveyed small and midsized U.S. employers and found that 66 percent have a hybrid work model in place. Hybrid or remote work models require in-depth “people data” to provide insight for business decisions about employee engagement and people performance.
Employers will look for new opportunities to increase employee visibility for improved employee engagement and performance, as well as better understanding of their workers’ needs. Finding ways to build connections between workers, even in the absence of physical proximity, will be key. To foster these connections, managers will use people data to provide insight into the ebbs and flows of engagement and performance, helping managers pull the right levers to support a high-performing remote or hybrid team.
Trust and Connection are Vital for Engagement
A new dynamic of employee visibility built on mutual trust will also help drive employee engagement and performance. ADP Research Institute® found that U.S. employees who have trust in both their teammates and their team leader are seven times more likely to feel “strongly connected” to their organization. That same study found that those who are categorized as “strongly connected” to be more engaged than those “not connected.” For example, the “strongly connected” employees are:
- 75x more likely to be fully engaged at work
- 19x more likely to feel like they belong at work.
- 28x more likely to feel completely accepted at work.
Unsurprisingly, the opposite also held true. Of the “not connected” group, this group was only 3-5 percent likely to feel their voice matters, they are an important part of the company and belong at work. This data demonstrates that building connections in a hybrid environment has strong implications both for hiring and retention.
As the number of employees leaving jobs continues to rise, data can help meet employee needs while fostering employee engagement and providing insights into driving productivity. Only then will employers better build connections and pave the way to greater growth in an evolving workplace.
