Consumer goods manufacturers face the same challenges as other companies, competing to be the employer of choice for key talent by climbing onto the flexible work bandwagon and dealing with the process and cultural changes that entails. But they must also overcome an additional set of challenges, because while they offer some jobs that can be performed remotely, many others must be performed onsite.
Innovative leaders are finding ways to bring flexibility and new policies to benefit the entire consumer goods workforce in the hybrid workplace era.
At furniture designer and manufacturer Herman Miller, for example, “We are beginning to explore what more flexibility could look like for those whose work cannot be done from home,” Ryan Anderson, VP of global research and insights at Herman Miller, tells CGT.
But that doesn’t mean they have it all figured out. Understanding the nuances of the hybrid work movement is critical — CGs must find an approach that strikes a balance between employee satisfaction and the need for corporate control.
Adapting to the Era
of Work From Anywhere (WFA)
Estimates on the percentage of the US workforce that worked from home prior to the pandemic ranges from 7% to as high as 30%. Researchers agree that one clear outcome of the stay-at-home orders is a sharp increase in workers setting up shop in their bedrooms and living rooms who want that arrangement to continue.
Workers didn’t just stay home, though — they relocated to vacation destinations, moved in with relatives, and tried out new living styles and locations. For that reason, many analysts have shifted the “Work from Home (WFH)” label to “Work from Anywhere (WFA).”
Employers learned some lessons during the pandemic too: Pre-conceived notions about lower productivity turned out to be patently false for most workers. An overwhelming 94% of 800 employers surveyed by the Society for Human Resources Management said that productivity was the same as or higher than before the pandemic.
While tech firms lead the way among major companies announcing hybrid or flexible work arrangements over the past few months, some in the consumer goods supply chain are also making moves:
83%
of employers plan to put more flexible work policies in place
Source: SHRM, “Study Finds Productivity Not Deterred by Shift to Remote Work”
P&G is “organizing around
giving a team a decision of when they work, where they work, and how they're going to work.”
Apparel retailer Chico’s FAS announced many corporate employees will work from home permanently.
Unilever launched U-Work in several countries to address the demand for flexibility from young workers, those over-50, and parents/caregivers
Weighing the Pros and Cons of Hybrid Working
While the momentum toward hybrid working is palpable, there are important pros and cons to consider, particularly for consumer goods companies that will never be able to tell their entire workforce they can choose their own timing or location.
1. Reduce or eliminate real estate costs
2. Potential productivity increase
3. Geographic flexibility for workers
4. Reduce/eliminate commutes
5. Better work/life balance
6. Increased employee engagement
7. Can hire and use talent globally
8. Reducing worker visa issues
9. Reduce carbon footprint
1. More challenging communication/brainstorming
2. Harder to evaluate performance
3. Compensation challenges
4. Potential legal hurdles
5. Expanded cybersecurity risk
6. Challenges in maintaining culture, especially
beyond immediate workgroups
7. Sense of unfairness between knowledge
and production workers
PROS
CONS
25%
of workers expect remote work as a benefit of employment.
Source: Statista, “Change in Remote Work Trends Due to COVID-19 in the United States in 2020”
A January 2020 Gallup study found employees who could choose when to come into the office and when to work from home had higher levels of employee engagement than those who spent most of their time in the office or working remotely. Other research has found managers have become better communicators, according to The Economist.
48%
of employees will work remotely at least some of the time in the post-pandemic world.
Source: Gartner, “Prepare for the Future of Remote Work”
But shifting to a hybrid or completely remote working arrangements require significant cultural and process change. In addition to learning new ways to manage workers and maintaining culture, companies must develop fair and equitable policies — particularly across the production/corporate divide — and deal with any potential legal and regulatory issues that could arise.
Tech-Enabling a Hybrid Work Future
The digital transformation already underway at many companies, such as Hormel, was put to the test as many processes shifted online by necessity. For example, Herman Miller's Anderson, says, “The need to work from home greatly accelerated our digital transformation plans, helping our employees to leverage technology platforms to work in faster and more innovative ways,” such as adapting to video meetings.
ex., Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Pexip, Cisco Webex
Collaboration Platforms
to maintain informal interaction, ex., Slack
Social Networking/
Communication Tools
to switch from presenteeism to results metrics, ex., 15Five
Performance Management Solutions
especially to support asynchronous work, ex., InVision
Workflow
Tools
ex., VMware remote work solutions, Cisco Secure Remote Worker
Enhanced Remote Work Security Tools
to remodel
workspaces around safety, shared resources & maximizing the benefits of in-person work time, ex., Autodesk
Digital Twins
Tools and technologies that can make hybrid and
work-from-anywhere arrangements work include:
“WFA [Work From Anywhere] may not be possible at this time for some organizations, such as manufacturing companies — though that could change with advances in 3D printing, automation, digital twins, and other technologies. However, with the right strategy, organizational processes, technologies, and — most important — leadership, many more companies, teams, and functions than one might have thought could go all or mostly remote.”
Source: HBR, “Our Work-From-Anywhere Future”
97%
of global IT professionals say their firms went through some sort of digital transformation last year.
Source: CMS Wire, “Don’t Push Pause on Your Digital Transformation”
HOW WFH PAID OFF FOR HEINEKEN
93%
of Heineken managers agree that working from home has increased their teams’ productivity.
Source: EAE Business School, “Find Out Why Heineken Is all for Its Employees’ Right to Disconnect”
Improved efficiency in
10 out of 11 parameters — especially the ability to concentrate, the efficiency of meetings, and the speed of turning in work
Increased engagement and employee retention levels
Crucial element of the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) when it comes to attracting clients
It also...
Best Lessons for Work from Anywhere from Herman Miller
Herman Miller has studied how people work for more than 60 years. But even this didn’t prepare the company for some of the lessons of the pandemic. Now the company is combining those lessons with its own research to rethink the way it works — and apply those insights to the products and services it provides.
RYAN ANDERSON
VP of Global Research and Insights
Herman Miller
KEY TAKEAWAYS & BEST PRACTICES
Greater workplace choice enhances recruitment and employee satisfaction. “It’s beneficial to empower employees to choose from where they’ll be most productive on a given day,” says Anderson. Each employee can take into account personal factors including the nature of their work, personal workstyle, personal demands, proximity to coworkers, physical/sensory/cognitive limitations, WiFi connectivity, and caregiving responsibilities.
Workplace flexibility should be equitable. Clear and evenly applied decision frameworks are key so workers feel treated fairly, a condition the manufacturer didn’t always live up to in the past.
Herman Miller is even exploring how to extend flexibility to jobs that must take place onsite.
Technology is a key enabler. The pandemic accelerated Herman Miller’s own digital
transformation, which will now enable a more distributed-work future. Business must
learn to incorporate tools into natural workflow — when to use cameras, how to work
asynchronously to accommodate time differences, how to foster culture remotely, and so on.
Communication is critical. The company implemented a bi-weekly leadership covering topics
such as communication, leading through disruption and avoiding burnout and shared a summary
with all employees. “Frequent and intentional communication and good leadership are critical for people to feel connected and seen, wherever they are,” Anderson says.
Shared workspaces provide specific benefits. Consider updating offices to become
desirable, on-demand workspaces that support activities such as long-duration (3+ hour)
team collaboration, community building, and individual focus that can be difficult for
many employees to achieve at home.
“The future of work will continue to be more distributed, and with it will come increased autonomy for employees and an increased need for employers to holistically support them,” says Anderson. “As they do so, organizations will benefit in their ability to recruit top talent from a wide variety of locations and work together in a manner that uses corporate office spaces and home office spaces as a continuum of environments to build culture, facilitate collaboration, and improve employee well-being."
RYAN ANDERSON
70%
of US and European companies will pivot to a hybrid work
model post-pandemic.
Source: Forrester, “Is Your Tech Ready for Customer Obsession?”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Skepticism about the sustainability of remote work has been alleviated by the productivity demonstrated by employees that worked under stay-at-home orders.
75% of workers now want more flexible work arrangements including work from anywhere or hybrid office/remote working.
Consumer goods companies are investigating and implementing more flexible policies to enhance recruitment and retention.
Tools and technologies including collaboration and security tools are musts to enable work from anywhere.
Physical workspaces are taking on new roles and configurations that tap their ability to facilitate collaboration.
To succeed with a distributed workforce, CG companies must lean into new ways of working and managing and ensure flexibility is extended to more of the workforce, including production staff.
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