Insights On Future-Proofing Workplace Strategies

1 in 3 middle managers would take a pay cut for flexibility, values alignment, or a lighter load. According to LinkedIn’s recent data, middle managers are more willing than directors or individual contributors to trade compensation for sustainability. One of the reasons that deserves a discussion is that they are now caught in what I’d call the “AI squeeze”. 1. AI is automating the operational aspects of management (reporting, task delegation, workflows) 2. The expectations to deliver performance, engagement, and culture haven’t dropped. 3. Worst of all, no one is telling them where this leads. I speak in front of thousands of professionals each year about AI and the future of work. Every time, I ask my audience this same question: “How many of you have heard directly from your manager about how AI is going to change your job or reshape your career path?” Only one or two hands go up. And it’s always the CHRO. Or someone in Transformation. Everyone else is in the dark, even as their roles are already shifting. Middle managers aren’t opting out because they lack ambition. They’re opting out because they lack CLARITY. - Clarity on what AI means for their job - Clarity on how their skills need to evolve - Clarity on what advancement even looks like If you’re a leader or in HR, this is your call to action. To truly future-proof your workforce, you have to: 1. Explain how AI will augment instead of erasing the manager role 2. Rebuild mid-level career paths with transparency 2. Give managers autonomy, not just accountability Because when your managers start walking away, they’re not just leaving their jobs… they’re taking your company’s future with them. Data With Serena™️

8 in 10 companies are losing talent to RTO mandates. Yet 41% of employees would actively job hunt if forced back five days a week. The numbers tell a story most leaders aren't ready to hear. Today we analyzed emerging patterns in the Future of Work landscape at PeopleAtom, and what we discovered challenges everything we thought we knew about office returns. (Also today we cover Stripe culture scale story as a swipe file on our LinkedIn page do check out)... Ok back to office tea... The Uncomfortable Truths: → Stealth Layoffs in Disguise Companies are weaponizing RTO policies as "attrition by policy" → forcing voluntary resignations without severance costs. The real agenda isn't collaboration; it's headcount reduction. → Proximity Bias is the New Inequality Physical presence = career advancement. Remote workers face systematic disadvantage in promotions, recognition, and opportunities ↳ creating a two-tier workforce that undermines diversity and inclusion efforts. → Location Isn't the Problem Dissatisfaction remains high across ALL work models → remote, hybrid, and in-person. The issue isn't WHERE people work, but HOW organizations support collaboration and recognition. → Structured Hybrid Wins Companies with role-based, intentional hybrid models are outperforming rigid mandates in both retention and productivity ↳ proving that nuanced strategy beats blanket policies. 🔮 The Strategic Shift Ahead Instead of fighting the where, smart leaders are reimagining the how: ↳ Anchor Days Strategy → Designate specific collaboration-intensive days when teams converge ↳ Office as Social Infrastructure → Transform office time into high-value experiences, not attendance theater ↳ Role-Based Flexibility → Customize expectations by function, not hierarchy ↳ Proximity Bias Training → Equip managers to recognize and counter favoritism toward in-office staff The future belongs to organizations that see flexibility as competitive advantage, not operational burden. Those still treating this as a binary choice will watch their best talent walk to competitors who've cracked the code. This complexity is exactly why we're building PeopleAtom → a network where CXOs share intelligence on challenges like this. If you're a CXO - CEO, CIO, CHRO.... navigating these strategic decisions, join our network → we're connecting leaders who are shaping the future of work, not just reacting to it. Love the strategic implications of this shift, Joe Have a fab week ahead!

Most leaders resist change—until they get left behind. The future of work isn’t coming. It’s already here. The question is: Are you prepared to lead in this new era? Here's the uncomfortable truth: Yesterday's leadership won't work in tomorrow's workplace. Let's break down what's really happening and what it means for leaders who want to stay ahead: 1️⃣ AI Won’t Replace You—But Someone Using It Will ↳ It’s not about replacement, it’s about enhancement ↳ Smart leaders embrace AI as a force multiplier ↳ The rest will get left behind 2️⃣ Work Isn’t a Place—It’s an Ecosystem ↳ The office is optional, results are not ↳ Top talent demands flexibility—and they’ll leave to get it ↳ Culture happens in pixels and presence 3️⃣ Leadership Has Gone Digital ↳ Trust beats tracking ↳ Asynchronous is the new normal ↳ Impact matters more than hours logged 4️⃣ Employee Experience = Business Success ↳ Well-being isn’t a perk—it’s a priority ↳ Mental health matters as much as metrics ↳ Purpose drives performance 5️⃣ Skills Matter More Than Degrees ↳ Credentials don’t guarantee performance ↳ Potential beats paper qualifications ↳ Continuous learning is non-negotiable 6️⃣ Borders Are Blurring—Talent Is Everywhere ↳ Talent has no zip code ↳ Cultural intelligence is crucial ↳ Time zones are the new office hours 7️⃣ The Best Leaders Are Coaches, Not Bosses ↳ Command-and-control is dead ↳ Coaching beats commanding ↳ Trust is your competitive advantage The takeaway:   Tomorrow's workplace is today's reality. Ask yourself:   Are you leading with a future-focused mindset, or clinging to outdated practices? P.S. Which trend is revolutionizing your leadership approach? Share your insights below! 👇 ♻️ Don’t keep future-ready leadership to yourself. Repost to help others adapt. ➕ Follow Sandra Pellumbi for more. 🦉

𝗨𝗽𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲-𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 💪 The workplace is changing faster than ever. Automation, AI, and evolving industry demands mean employees need new skills to stay competitive. By investing in upskilling and reskilling, companies can future-proof their workforce, improve employee engagement, and drive long-term success. 🏆 ◉ What Are Upskilling and Reskilling? ◾ Upskilling: Teaching employees new skills that enhance their current roles. For example, training a marketer in data analytics to complement their existing expertise. ◾ Reskilling: Equipping employees with entirely new skills to transition into different roles. For instance, training a customer service representative to take on a digital marketing position. Both strategies prepare employees for the future while helping businesses adapt to change. ◉ Why Upskilling and Reskilling Are Essential Keeping Up with Industry Changes Technology and innovation are reshaping industries, and the skills required today might not be relevant tomorrow. Continuous learning ensures your workforce stays ahead of the curve, giving your company a competitive edge. ◉ Boosting Employee Engagement Employees want to grow. In fact, a LinkedIn study found that 94% of employees would stay longer at a company that invests in their development. Providing training opportunities shows you value their growth, boosting morale and job satisfaction. ◉ Improving Retention and Reducing Turnover Employees who feel stagnant are more likely to leave. Upskilling and reskilling not only engage employees but also open new career paths within your organization. This reduces turnover, saving the significant costs of recruitment and onboarding. ◉ Filling Skills Gaps Internally Instead of searching externally to fill critical skills gaps, businesses can invest in their current workforce. Reskilling is often faster and more cost-effective than hiring new talent. ◉ How to Start Upskilling and Reskilling ◾ Assess Skills Gaps: Identify areas where your business needs to grow and the skills employees need to get there. ◾ Offer Flexible Learning Opportunities: Use a mix of in-person training, online courses, and AI-driven platforms to accommodate different learning styles. ◾ Tie Training to Career Growth: Show employees how learning new skills can lead to promotions or new opportunities within the company. ◾ Promote a Culture of Learning: Encourage continuous improvement by celebrating milestones and sharing success stories. ◾ Future-Proofing for Success Upskilling and reskilling aren’t just about preparing for tomorrow—they’re about thriving today. By investing in your workforce, you build a team that’s ready to adapt, innovate, and excel in any situation. The future is uncertain, but one thing is clear: the businesses that prioritize learning will lead the way. 🔮 #training #upskill #reskill #future #innovation #lupoai

There's no "right" policy when it comes to workplace flexibility. As HBS prof Prithwiraj Choudhury put it last week at Charter, "I've seen good #hybrid, bad hybrid and great hybrid." Having talked with executives at hundreds of companies about this topic, there's one factor that does drive whether you're successful or not: Are you investing in figuring out the right answers for your company, and to a path of continuous improvement? Simplistic approaches don't work, regardless of where you put them on a spectrum. There's ample evidence of the drawbacks to mandates. And as Frances Frei put it last week, "mandates are a leadership action of last resort." But individual free-for-alls also don't work. The collaboration tax faced by people whose leaders aren't trained to help them figure it out, or spaces that are no longer fit for purpose, is too high. I talked with leaders yesterday at two companies that externally appear to be at opposite ends: one is virtual-first with quarterly gatherings, the other has everyone coming in 3-4 days a week. They've both got it right, for their organizations. Here's what they, and a number of others, have in common: 🔸 Aligned talent strategy and workplace guidelines. You can't tell an organization of distributed teams to march back into separate offices. 🔸 Investments in redesigned spaces, travel for getting teams together, training and support for leaders to find the right cadences at function and team levels. 🔸 Experimenting, iterating and measuring results. Metrics against space utilization, team performance, employee engagement and turnover (hard work!) 🔸 Senior teams sitting across People, Workplace and Tech to align their efforts, run pilots and share with executives what's working, and what's not! Innovation isn't just external, it has to be internal. The needs of organizations and teams inside them are unique. The muscles you build around experimenting with new ways of working around #flexibility are the same ones you'll need to adapt to #GenAI. If you want to get the most out of your employees, engaging them in finding better solutions is a better path forward. #FutureOfWork #hybridwork #remotework #leadership

Far too often, I see leaders and companies move on from innovation, believing it's only necessary during the startup phase. In reality, it's what keeps companies alive and thriving. As companies grow, it's easy to fall into routine and let creativity fade. But innovation must continue-even as you scale. An older HBR article I came across this morning highlights how breakthroughs in management can create lasting advantages that are hard to replicate. Companies focused only on new products or efficiency often get quickly copied. To stay ahead, businesses must become "serial management innovators," always seeking new ways to transform how they operate. This idea remains as relevant now as it was back then. The benefits of sustained innovation are undeniable: •Competitive Edge •Increased Revenue •Customer Satisfaction •Attracting Talent •Organizational Growth and Employee Retention Embrace the innovation lifecycle-adapting creativity as your organization matures. Sustaining creativity means creating an environment where people feel safe to push boundaries. Encourage your teams to think big, take risks, and use the experience of your organization. Here are three strategies that I’ve seen work firsthand: Make Experimentation a Priority: Mistakes are part of the process—they help us learn, grow, and innovate. As leaders, share your own experiences with risk-taking, talk about what you've learned, and celebrate those who take bold steps, even when things don’t go as planned. It sends a powerful message: it's okay to take risks. Promote Intrapreneurship: Many of the best ideas come from those closest to the work. Encourage your people to think like entrepreneurs. Give them ownership, the tools they need, and the freedom to explore. Whether it’s through ‘innovation sprints’ or dedicated time for passion projects, showing your team that their creativity matters sustains momentum. Address big challenges, ask tough questions, and let your people feel empowered to tackle them head-on. Break Down Silos: True innovation happens when people connect across departments. Create opportunities for cross-functional interactions-through gatherings, open forums, or spontaneous connections. Diverse perspectives lead to game-changing solutions, and breaking down silos opens the door to that kind of synergy. Innovation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires dedication, a commitment to growth, and a willingness to challenge what’s always been done. To all the leaders out there: How are you ensuring your teams remain creative and engaged? What strategies have you found that create space for bold ideas within structured environments? —-- Harvard Business Review, "The Why, What, and How of Management Innovation" #Innovation #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #Creativity #BusinessGrowth #Intrapreneurship #CrossFunctionalCollaboration #ImpactLab

The workplace change process isn’t just about redesigning space; it’s about using the process to redesign how people connect. The discovery process for workplace change is an opportunity to: 🔥 Build Empathy – Employees share experiences about what they need to do their best work, wherever they are working. 🔥 Drive Innovation – Employees engage in conversations about improving systems and processes, which can lead to reduced friction and improved productivity. 🔥 Strengthen Culture – A workplace designed with employees leads to stronger engagement and ownership of the resulting space. When organizations treat workplace change as a dialogue rather than a directive, they create spaces that don’t just house people—they support them. The process itself becomes a tool for building empathy, driving innovation, strengthening culture, and shaping a workplace that reflects how people actually work today. I recently read a great piece by Eoin Higgins on the rise of hospitality-like workplace amenities. He made key points I want to expand on—because employees, not designers, architects, facilities teams, or HR, should define what best serves them. To engage employees, try this structured discussion in small groups (3-4 people). Each question gets 8 minutes (total of 24 minutes). Have participants write their answers silently for one minute, then take turns sharing (1 minute each). The group selects a top idea from each person’s list to report out. Active Contribution vs. Passive Consumption – What ways of working encourage shared ownership of work, policies, processes, technology, and space? Friction as Meaningful Work – Oliver Burkeman suggests challenges create meaning. If friction were seen as valuable rather than something to eliminate, what would you want more (or less) of in your work? Engagement Beyond Perks – True engagement comes from purpose and shared endeavor. How do you connect with our organization’s purpose and others? What would improve engagement for you? These discussions will inform design decisions and foster ownership of outcomes. Research shows early employee participation increases adoption and support of workplace changes - and also builds connections, strengthening culture. Caveat: Don’t ask if you won’t listen—nothing frustrates employees more. Images by Josef Chalat of people sitting in a circle having a conversation (illustration of a facilitation method called "fishbowl").

Remote. Hybrid. RTO. Async. The headlines change, but the challenge remains: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? At Included, we’ve analyzed over two years of workforce data—spanning industries and operating models. The findings are clear: workplace strategies have deep, measurable impact on: → Leave of absence trends → Attrition risk and burnout signals → Productivity fluctuations → Performance by role and cohort → Overall organizational health One client’s hybrid model was unraveling mid-year—engagement dropped, burnout spiked. But because they were tracking 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬, they caught the signals early. Within weeks, they pivoted: ✔ Restructured teams ✔ Up-skilled managers with targeted coaching ✔ Recalibrated KPIs based on workflow insights By Q3, attrition was down 19%. Productivity rebounded. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲. It was AI-fueled visibility—and the willingness to act on it. In a world where the “future of work” changes monthly, static dashboards won’t cut it. Dynamic, adaptive insight is the only way forward. #chro #hr #datainsights #dataanalytics

The pace of workplace disruption has fundamentally shifted. What historically required decades to transform entire industries is now happening within years, driven by rapid advances in AI and automation technology.   This acceleration creates a critical challenge for professionals: traditional career strategies built around deep specialization in single domains are becoming increasingly risky.   The emerging pattern I'm observing across industries: • Roles requiring repetitive, single-function tasks are being automated faster than anticipated • Organizations are prioritizing candidates who can navigate multiple functional areas • Job descriptions increasingly require hybrid skill sets that didn't exist five years ago • Career security is shifting from expertise depth to adaptability breadth   Skill stacking - the deliberate cultivation of complementary capabilities across different domains - has evolved from a career enhancement strategy to a survival necessity.   Professionals who build unique combinations of technical proficiency, analytical thinking, and human-centered skills create value propositions that are difficult to replicate through automation.   The question isn't whether your industry will be affected by this transformation, but how quickly you can position yourself ahead of these changes.   What skill combinations are you developing to remain competitive in this rapidly evolving landscape?   Sign up to my newsletter for more corporate insights and truths here: https://lnkd.in/ei_uQjju   #deepalivyas #eliterecruiter #recruiter #recruitment #jobsearch #corporate #skillstacking #futureofwork #automation #careerstrategist

High-pressure, fast-paced work environments are like hot sauce on the brain—they keep everything on fire. While leaders might thrive on this continual state of excitement and ambition, expecting all employees to sustain this intensity is unrealistic. Such an environment can lead to: → Burnout → Disillusionment → High turnover But what if you’re on a mission to change the world or accomplish big things? How can you cultivate a culture of innovation that also supports a sustainable workforce? ⦿ Flexible Schedules: Foster innovation with flexible hours and remote work options, as demonstrated by Google. ⦿ Clear Boundaries: Limit after-hours work and communication to avoid burnout, a strategy championed by 37signals. ⦿ Promote Well-being: Invest in wellness programs and mental health resources, like those offered by Asana. ⦿ Create Innovation Labs: Set up dedicated spaces or times for experimentation and creativity, like 3M's famous 15% rule. ⦿ Encourage Regular Breaks: Implement mandatory downtime, similar to Slack's "no meetings" Fridays, to boost creativity and reduce fatigue. ⦿ Mentorship Programs: Pair employees with mentors to nurture growth and support, following the model used by Pixar Animation Studios to encourage creative collaboration. wearemotto.com