個案總覽

With crowds once again packing sporting events, theatres, and restaurants, business leaders must effectively communicate to employees what their work lives will look like in the days and months ahead if social distancing doesn’t return. After two years of operating remotely, rushing decisions about the future of work to keep up with the rapid loosening of restrictions is indeed the wrong way to go. With some forethought and planning, along with early and frequent communication, companies can get the return of employees to work right, avoid costly lawsuits, and usher in a new era in employee relations. But first there are a lot of questions to answer: 1) How will you mitigate COVID-related risk? 2) How much flexibility will you offer? 3) How will you approach business travel? 4) How will you support employee mental health? 5) How will you support workforce equality? 6) How will you support your new policies? The days of rigid schedules or constant face time have passed. To keep your best people, you need to give them some ability to custom design their work lives. So, rather than dictating where they work and when they do it, seize the opportunity to build more trust by measuring your employees on their output and value. This will help keep them happy, healthy, refreshed, and productive.

With businesses struggling and with marketing efforts toned down for the foreseeable future during the COVID-19 crisis, it’s hard to build a brand. But you can still support your brand’s reputation through thoughtful leadership and treating people right. And since the reputation of your brand—not to mention your personal leadership and the culture of your company—hinges on how you operate during difficult times, best practices in corporate communications have never been more important. Make sure you let all concerned know how deeply you empathize with their personal challenges and show genuine gratitude for their contributions. If you’re forced to cut salaries or break other employee commitments, a sincere apology can go a long way. However, being an inspirational leader is about more than grand gestures or rousing speeches. Think way outside the box to find creative ways to join your team in their day-to-day efforts. Encourage your people to stay connected, stay healthy, and have fun. The need for open and transparent communication, of course, is just as vital with customers and partners as it is with employees. Be honest in every interaction. If products are going to be delayed, let customers know right away. The business world needs leaders who work side by side with their people, who share tough news with compassion and empathy, and who make transparency their top priority.

In recent years, professional service firms have seen considerable senior talent (often women with children) leave work. Many of these individuals leave their career due to the unwillingness of their employer to provide them with the flexibility to achieve a work-life balance. Virtual teams — often the answer to this problem — are those in which not all members are physically assembled; they share complementary skills and are enabled by technology such as the Internet and telephone. This format, which is especially suitable for individual, knowledge-based work, is on the rise due to employee demand. The lifestyle-driven virtual team model allows practitioners to be selective about their hours and projects, increasing employee satisfaction. Employers benefit due to virtual teams leveraging the best talent more easily and workers facing fewer office-related distractions. Unique challenges, however, include the absence of non-verbal communication, working across time zones, difficulty of building rapport, overreliance on e-mail and telephone communication, and managing conflict at arm’s length. After describing the paradigm of lifestyle-driven virtual teams, this article outlines the best practices: institute strong leadership, choose the right team members, set expectations from the start, implement strict protocols, use proven processes, manage timelines and budgets carefully, establish meaningful project milestones, encourage interaction, communicate more efficiently, and minimize team conflict.