Many people had to learn how to work from home over the last year and a half. Now, with the CDC changing guidelines and the majority of the population being vaccinated, many employers feel it is time to return to the office. In this week’s episode, PwC’s Elizabeth Yates and Sushil Ahuja go in depth on the “new normal,” and how employers can adjust and accommodate to make their employees more comfortable.
Statistically speaking, women are more likely to leave the workforce for childcare. To prevent that number from rising, Yates said changes need to be made. “What we're going to have is a generational gap in women who are either not going to be getting promoted because they're not in the workforce or they've chosen to slow down,” she said.
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“That's going to have a long-term impact as far as women getting into more senior leadership roles, being more at the executive level. We already know that we've already been behind for such a long period of time.”
Ahuja elaborated on the importance of a hybrid work strategy. Now that most of the world knows how to work from home and has been doing it successfully for the past 18 months, companies can use that strength to benefit employees.
It’s been proven that employees can complete the same amount of work at home, so they don’t have to be in the office to validate their work. “We have to start measuring performance on impact rather than facetime,” Ahuja said.
Tune into this episode to learn more about how returning to the office is going to change, and how employers are adapting to the new normal.
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