Bang! On April 28, 2022, Brian Chesky sent a tweet heard around the world. The CEO of Airbnb announced that “...employees can live and work anywhere.” In his thread, he fleshed out his rigorous hybrid approach, including “that most employees will connect in person [at least] every quarter for about a week at a time...”.
So, friends, there it is: the future of work is what I'm calling "tidal hybrid." In other words, employees can be remote, but requires regular in-person gatherings.
Within the next few years, most organizations will adopt some form of hybrid. Why? Even if Chesky’s decree isn’t immediately mimicked by leaders, talent will measure their employment against this new benchmark.
Of course, there will be outliers: those who go fully distributed and stalwarts demanding 9 to 5 in an office. Still, in reality, the argument is over.
THE EMPLOYEE IS THE NEW CUSTOMER
In a competitive and free market, software as a service businesses make money hand over fist because they handily deliver on their promises. If they don’t or can’t, customers quickly flee for the competition—and tell tens of thousands of friends along the way out. Companies looking to succeed in the talent market would be wise to apply this lesson internally.
How we got here is worth repeating: low unemployment and a high volume of remote work have changed the calculus of employment—the power is on the talent’s side. Add to this equation the pandemic jolt that reordered people’s priorities. The result is a population of knowledge workers with a wealth of options and no patience for a crappy employee experience.
Talent now has more power, greater expectations, and less patience for sub-par employment. Organizations that can’t define and deliver compelling brand promises for employees will continue to suffer a plague of low engagement and high turnover.
A warning: If you want to get and keep top talent like Chesky, you’ll need to design an employee experience as excellent as Airbnb’s customer experience.
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If you are ready to design your employee experience and create a powerful culture, let's talk. Sign up for a free discovery session with me, Josh.
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