AI And The Battle To Get Hybrid Working Right

The battle over hybrid work seems to be never ending. Those in favor insist that it is here to stay, not least because it has helped many office workers who were becoming overburdened by the demands created by modern technology to restore some kind of balance to their lives. But there are those — chiefly bosses — who seem to be constantly seeking more evidence to support their desire for a return to the way things used to be.

The latest example comes from Kevin Ellis, UK chairman of the professional service firm PwC. He is reported to have said: “The latest wave of AI will likely bring people back to the office. People are going to want to learn from others face-to-face, and the best way a human can differentiate themselves from a robot is in person.”

Given that there are almost daily stories of the potential role that AI could play in our lives and particularly in the workplace, this comment could well concentrate a few minds. But for the moment, those workers who are able to work remotely at least some of the time seem to be clinging to the idea. The same article that quoted Ellis pointed out that figures from the Office for National Statistics indicated that more than 40% of civil servants were still working primarily from home and that analysis by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development of ONS data suggested that private sector employees were more likely than their government-employed counterparts to be working in this way.

This is not to say that this will always be the case. Dave Prezzano, UK and Ireland managing director for HP, the maker of technology hardware such as computers and printers, said in a recent interview that “some of the debate was sorted, some not.” He believes that hybrid working will continue because organizations have had enough time to see how it works. While employees are enjoying the better work/life balance that it can enable, employers “like the idea of a smaller real estate footprint.”

But one area that requires attention is “levelling the playing field” between people who are in the office and those working remotely. According to HP’s 2022 Hybrid Global Survey, four times as many office workers believe that being in the office increases their chances of promotion compared with working remotely, which significantly disadvantages employees who find it difficult to commute or who are remote workers. Moreover, only 22% of employees say they are thriving in this environment. While the restrictions imposed by the pandemic certainly speeded up the development of technology that has revolutionised video meetings and the like, much more needs to be done, creating an opportunity for the likes of HP.

Already, the company has acquired a business that makes a camera that follows participants in virtual meetings and so creates a more natural environment. But it is also adopting some of the technology from the gaming world to further enhance employees’ experience of using the sort of technology that enables remote meetings and collaboration. This means, for example, better headsets and more intuitive and easier to use controls. Just as individual employees in the early days of IT brought their superior private hardware into the office to make their lives easier, so now companies are borrowing from the consumer world to improve organizational performance.

As if to illustrate that getting all of this right is going to take a lot more than exhorting people to return to the office because it will be good for their careers, it needs to be said that AI is playing a primary role in the developments aimed at reducing the divide between office and anywhere else and making the whole communication and collaboration aspect of business seamless. And with everybody, from policymakers on down, seemingly worried about the effect AI could have on society, this is an obviously complex area.

For the moment, employers need to acknowledge that they are still not on the front foot as far as the war for talent is concerned. They need to think about the experience workers have of technology, not just when working remotely, but in the office. This could be a key element influencing the readiness of employees to leave their homes for work. And it is something that they need to take seriously. Earlier this month, a YouGov report commissioned by YuLife, a the technology-driven insurance company, a majority of workers in the US and the UK are either starting a new job or are looking for one, with a further 35% of working adults saying it is likely they will consider changing jobs within the next year. As the company says, the findings suggest that the Great Resignation may be far from over. Stress, poor management, low job satisfaction and little recognition are the main factors cited for looking for alternative work.