In a few weeks time it will be two years since many workers were told to work from home by governments around the globe, where it was possible. For a vast majority of those workers, remote and hybrid working has become the norm as workers expect to have a degree of flexibility in where they work. And while two years ago productivity loss was one of the biggest fears for CFOs with the onslaught of mass remote working, productivity levels have in fact held up. PwC’s recent Future of work and skills survey found that 57% of respondents saying their organisation performed better against workforce performance and productivity targets over the past 12 months, compared to just 4% saying their company performed significantly worse in that time. But as many companies have boosted workforce productivity and performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, cultural and leadership speedbumps have arisen. The PwC survey also found that 70% of the business and HR leaders surveyed don’t believe their organisation is building high levels of trust between workers and their direct supervisors, which is inhibiting the creation of robust workforce strategies. But building trust and connecting with workers when they aren’t in the office can be a difficult challenge, one that many organisations and leaders aren’t rising to. So how do you build trust in a hybrid world?
