Our work experience is getting more complicated. From changing generational expectations, organisational turnarounds on flex work, technological revolution, to increased focused on mental health and wellbeing, there’s a lot going on. So much of it is long overdue, but in the context of such relentless transformation, we’re sensing a pullback. Sometimes we’re misdiagnosing that as a new apathy at work. It’s being broad brushed in a continuously negative generational commentary, supposedly evidenced by whatever new TikTok trend we’re enjoying today. We need to look harder. And let’s not make this just about age. There’s a new level of overwhelm in the workplace and, unless we act, it’s here to stay.
We spoke to over 5,400 employees across five continents about their dream workdays. Not the pipedream, early retirement kind of dreams. Instead, we wanted to know what enabled people to do their best work. We wanted to dig deeper into what gives people energy, enables their productivity, and ultimately how those dreams make an impact on people and business performance. And, here’s the thing, people don’t just dream of doing less work, they dream of working better.
A balanced new concept
How many times have we read that work/life balance is dead? Traditional 9-to-5 models are shifting but, more importantly, we’re human. Most of us don’t have two personalities and multiple nervous systems, ‘shutting off’ from a stressful day isn’t part of our reality. So, if the ever-blurred line is getting squigglier, working less hours and getting a better ‘balance’ isn’t the answer to this new level of overwhelm. We need more than just balance to do our best work, we actually need headspace…
The ‘Balanced Headspace’ that came out strongly in our study is more nuanced. When we asked if people could change one thing that would better enable them to do their best work, 51% want increased flexibility, work-life balance, and better overall wellbeing. Then we looked at energy, achieving goals and feeling empowered to get things done give people the most energy. Against not having time to get work done and conflicting priorities and mixed messaging from leadership being the biggest energy detractors. People want to do great work, they’re motivated by it. They dream of it. We just need to buy them the headspace to do it.
We need to simplify the employee experience
We need to clear up the noise and complexity. We need to take responsibility for enabling people’s best work. Organizations are great at adding more, but if we’re adding, are we also prioritizing what we can stop? Here are three steps organizations can take to start them along the journey.
Three steps to start
- Dream big with your people
My husband and I play a game where we spend that inevitable lottery win. We plan out what’s going to family, charity, a new home and our undetermined length of stay in Bora Bora. Why don’t we think about work like that? Do you know what the dream day at work looks like for your people? Do you know what enables your team’s best work? Do you know what contributes to the level of overwhelm? If you want to tap into the strengths and positive energy in your organization, start here. We can’t buy headspace without knowing the currency. - Simplify the employee experience
There’s so much complexity clouding our headspace and preventing our best work.Let’s map out and identify where we can clear up the grey areas of our experience, starting with those laborious annual performance processes. We don’t need a nine-box grid or a ten-step onboarding process. We don’t experience this sort of complexity as customers, why do we need to as employees? Let’s clear up what we can and design for a simplified future of work. - Empower their best work
The more empowered we are, the better our experience at work, and it impacts performance; People with high empowerment are 37% more likely to say their organisation and culture are high performing compared to those with low empowerment. Empowerment can unlock the potential of our people and teams, but we need to equip our leaders to know how to do it. It’s been a conceptual buzzword for too long. We need to break it down and operationalise what it means in each organisation in practice. If empowerment means more delegation, let’s upskill our leaders to know how.
I’ve had more conversations about complexity this year than the previous 15 combined. Every business thinks their transformation is more complex than any other. Every HR leader is dealing with never-ending competing priorities. How long will it be until we realise that if we want to move quickly, we need to prioritize? And maybe, just maybe, what we should be prioritizing is headspace. And in turn, the greater enablement of our best work.
