In the early twentieth century, after hundreds of years of miserable, often dangerous conditions, the workplace began to change for the better: The standard five-day, 40-hour working week was popularised.
Companies started to offer the safety net of pensions and health insurance. A yearly entitlement of annual leave was written into law. Now, even perks that were novel only a decade ago, like fully catered meals and subsidised gym membership, seem like old news.
Fast forward another ten years, what should we expect from the workplace of the future?
The contemporary culture of professional burnout has driven many progressive companies to challenge the traditional formula for productivity. By doing away with long hours, stuffy offices and unbending performance targets, they are putting people at the centre of their operational model.
Performance reviews to become a thing of the past
Professional development and career progression are top priorities for today’s employees, particularly millennials. But old habits die hard–few companies stray beyond the tried and tested method of annual performance reviews.
Today’s world of work moves fast, and a KPI set for a year from now can easily become irrelevant by the following month, if not the following week. Studies suggest that more than half of a given performance rating has to do with the traits of the person conducting the evaluation, not the person being rated.
In short, assigning somebody a crude 1-5 performance rating will not help you advance your business objectives or develop your key people.
Progressive companies, including Deloitte, Accenture and SAP, have made the bold decision to scrap end-of-year performance reviews and replace them with ongoing, quality conversations between managers and their teams.
This type of assessment is focused on future growth and goal-setting and allows both managers and employees to give and receive feedback on a regularised basis as opposed to once a year.
While the absence of numerical rankings will make many HR executives uncomfortable, organisations that remove them are seeing the conversations shift from justifying past performance to thinking about growth and development.
The result is better employee development and collaboration, and a happier, more productive workplace.
Building on this theme of developing a more employee-centric work culture, a number of other leading employers have begun addressing another longstanding employee gripe: time itself.
Five-hour work days
We know intuitively that the traditional eight-hour workday is not generally conducive to optimum productivity. For many professionals, concentration levels flag after three to four hours of continuous work and drop off a cliff by mid-afternoon.
A radical and increasingly popular alternative, the five-hour workday, has produced interesting results.
Trialled in companies across the world, and en masse in certain parts of Sweden, this shorter workday is designed to help focus the mind. Rather than waste time on non-urgent work, employees concentrate on getting the most important tasks done as efficiently as possible in a short space of time.
Swedish employees reported better-perceived health and lower rates of sick leave. While a number of sectors of the Swedish economy continue to trial these reduced working hours, Toyota’s Swedish operations introduced these changes over a decade ago and they remain in place today.
Leading American paddleboard manufacturer, Tower, made headlines earlier this year when it reported a 40 percent increase in revenue after adopting a five-hour workday.
While a one-size-fits-all five-hour workday won’t necessarily work for every organisation, a move toward more flexible working hours will make for a happier, more productive workplace.
A fully distributed workforce
Even the concept of a ‘workplace’ is being revisited and revised. Advances in video conferencing technology and new business-friendly instant messaging platforms like Slack have made it easier than ever before for employees to work remotely.
Automattic, the company behind blog platform WordPress, has what it describes as a ‘fully distributed workforce’. Its 600 employees work in more than 50 countries and meet up in person only once a year.
For new parents juggling work and home commitments, or for those who live far from the office, remote working creates flexibility and convenience, which in turn boosts productivity and happiness.
Making the workplace more fun
Workplace perks like free snacks are not a new phenomenon, and they pale in significance when you consider that Guinness was providing free housing for its workers for than a century ago.
That said, in the last five years, IrishJobs.ie has seen a 135% increase in on-the-job perks amongst Irish employers. These include everything from free beers on a Friday and stress-busting massages, to music rooms and ‘dog-friendly’ offices. To a prospective hire, this shows a commitment to culture and a strong employer brand. In addition, these perks are shown to reduce stress and improve employee retention.
A more open-minded approach to work
The twenty-first-century employee is not purely mercenary: they seek self-realisation and fulfilment. While a competitive salary (and free coffee) will always help to lure in new hires, to attract the best, today’s leading companies are setting themselves apart from the crowd by taking brave steps outside of their comfort zone, building a workplace that prioritises flexibility, professional growth and a more holistic professional culture.
The result? A happier, loyal and more productive team.
Orla Moran is General Manager at IrishJobs.ie.
This article first appeared in the Sunday Business Post.