In addition to pulling back the curtain and revealing how the pace of change was accelerating, the pandemic laid bare all the corporate vulnerabilities previously pushed aside and ignored. From the moment lockdowns began, employees found their voice. They started speaking out, catching most employers by surprise. While many businesses talked about the importance of “employee engagement” and how their employees were their most valuable asset, Campagna says most just paid lip-service. Because of the abrupt shift to remote work, workers and consumers decentralized. Businesses were vastly unprepared to function without in-person, face-to-person interaction. For corporations, this decentralization left workers detached, without functional technology, and ill-prepared to work from home.  Support for customers, marketing and sales faltered. 

The resulting chaos left remote employees feeling lost and invisible, with many working extra hours every week without a clear divide between work and life activities. A recent McKinsey report found that life-work integration is many employees’ biggest goal and fear, which marks a pointed shift in modern generations’ reason for work. Where Baby Boomers lived to work and Generation X worked to live, Millennials and Generation Z want both. But in order for that to happen, employers need to provide the necessary resources to make their employees as successful as possible.

One of the ugly concerns Campagna runs into frequently with both employers and employees is their resignation to an unhappy future, or what he calls a “default” future. Ironically, this is the same future many people arrive at when asked what their future would look like if everything could stay the same. If what you’re doing now is going to lead to this unhappy future, why not change it?

Campagna blames stress and there is an abundant supply of that these days. Stress kills creativity, leaving people stuck in the present. This prevents those resigned to a default future from creating a better future for themselves, whether they are CEOs or front line workers. This is a difficult rut to escape. Oftentimes, even a week’s vacation isn’t enough to recharge your creativity. Campagna offers an alternative: improve your behavior 1% a day, similar to the approach we learned in another Geeks Geezers Googlization episode with Jacob Morgan. For employers, Campagna recommends involving employees in more day-to-day company activities and conversations, creating an inclusive environment that makes company restructuring less intimidating, even when working remote.

In addition to becoming more inclusive, Campagna asks: What if employers actually gave their employees what they needed to succeed in jobs outside the business? This includes not only the information and tutorials many employees are lacking for remote positions, but also the professional skills many companies look for in a job candidate. Why not prepare them to succeed in their career and life, not just the job they are doing today? 

For example, another recent McKinsey study found that the top six qualities predictive of future employability included:

1.     Adaptability
2.     Coping with uncertainty
3.     Synthesizing messages
4.     Achievement orientation
5.     Fostering inclusiveness
6.     Energy, passion, and optimism

Of course, people still need digital and computer skills, the ability to use services like Microsoft Office, and technical skills to do certain jobs. But acquiring these skills are different from the skills required to navigate perpetual change. While computer programs and industry expertise are obtained in classrooms and training sessions, the six skills listed above aren’t currently taught in schools or, according to Campagna, in many companies. Without these skills, employees struggle to adapt to this era of never-normal, to juggle the uncertainty of life and requirements of work.  Frustration builds and leaves employees feeling overworked and invisible.

With employers consumed by daily chores and tasks, it often takes an outside perspective to point out the problems many companies are experiencing. And while some are taking the initiative to focus on the well-being and emotional health of their employees, others ignore the sirens signaling a wakeup call.