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Post-Pandemic CEO Culture Division: Mark Zuckerberg vs. Brian Chesky

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If the next blockbuster superhero movie centers around the back-to-office battle, the villains and heroes are painstakingly obvious: the CEO orders employees to return to the office, and the CEO tells employees to stay at home. Allow to work and wear the cloak forever. red ones.

At least, 87% of remote workers seem to think so. Many employers have allowed white-collar employees to work from home indefinitely during the pandemic, offered wellness days, and pledged to create a more diverse and equitable workplace. Some enjoyed home office scholarships and free internet. Benefits such as these have become the norm for workers who quickly join in with a broad resignation if the company fails to meet expectations.

Over the past two years, the world has been a worker’s world as companies scramble to hire in a tight labor market with 1.7 vacancies per worker. This has led employees to expect a different and improved post-pandemic workplace. But this year proves that hope was built on a foundation of flimsy promises. At least some companies do.

The dominance is starting to return to bosses, with many accusing remote work of hurting bottom lines. After experiencing stuff, it began curtailing benefits with strict staff memos, driving employees to whiplash. Labor Day proved to be the turning point when companies like Apple and his Peloton brought workers back to the cubicles (again). More workers have been in the office since the pandemic began. After that, the benefits started to wear off. For example, Salesforce announced last week that it was ending the monthly Wellbeing His Holiday it was offering during COVID.

Organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic says it’s not surprising that some companies will become “less employee-centric” in their policies as the recession looms. and flexibility, this can be a mistake,” he says. luck.

But there are still a few hero CEOs championing an alternate future of work. See Brian Chesky on Airbnb and Jeremy Stoppelman on Yelp. They introduced a remote work policy and promised not to change it, claiming it was better for their corporate culture and employee productivity.

After all the changes over the past two years or more, what has emerged is a split in post-pandemic CEO culture, with some executives withdrawing perks and others doubling down. do you work at

The Mark Zuckerberg couple around the world focus on profits

In July, Zuckerberg warned staff in a memo that he was “raising the heat” to weed out underperformers.

“The reality is that there are probably a lot of people who shouldn’t be here at the company,” Zuckerberg said. To raise it up a bit is to think some people will decide this place isn’t for them and make a self-selection.

It has become a slogan among many CEOs this year, who have resorted to many pandemic-era policies in an attempt to get back to business as usual as the recession looms. In June, Tesla CEO Elon Musk issued an ultimatum, ordering workers to spend at least 40 hours a week in the office. “Failure to attend will be considered resignation,” Musk wrote.

Last month, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink mandated that workers be in the office three days a week as a solution to inflation, and the company said it was “more determined about how to get employees back.” We have a strict policy,” he said.

Urging employees to return to work is just one way some CEOs are trying to make the future of work look like the past. A survey by digital mental health platform Headspace Health found that a majority of workers (71%) said their company had stepped up its mental health efforts in the wake of the pandemic. However, only a quarter say their employers are maintaining that focus this year.

And there are many promises that companies made in 2020 to fight systemic and societal racism by stepping up their commitment to diversity, inclusion and equality. But such efforts are moving at a slow pace. The main reason is the failure of companies to implement DEI structures that support a more diverse workplace. According to a 2022 report by software firm Culture Amp, only 34% of companies have sufficient resources to support DEI initiatives, and he is the only one with a strategic diversity plan in place. only 49% of

Brian Chesky of the world focuses on talent

Some CEOs want to go back to the old ways, while others are looking forward to it. After what he called “his most productive two years in our history,” Airbnb’s Brian Chesky made his work from home permanent in May. He also rolled out other benefits this year. For example, a single wage tier where salaries are based on role rather than location, and the ability to work up to three months per year in each location in over 170 countries.

“What Brian got is what Slack sees…it’s all about talent,” said Brian Elliott, Future Forum Executive Leader. luck. “Competition in business these days depends on your ability to attract and retain talented people and focus them on improving business outcomes, and flexibility is a key tool in driving that. “

Future Forum’s quarterly Pulse survey found that flexibility is one of the top reasons behind compensation, motivating people to look for new jobs. Elliott cites Chesky as a great example of his CEO adopting a digital-first approach, allowing people to work remotely while making time to meet regularly.

So does Jeremy Stoppelman, who officially implemented Yelp’s all-remote policy this year after seeing hybrid work as “hell.” And one year after Spotify introduced its “Work from Anywhere” program, Chief Human Resources Officer Katrina Berg said: luck As a result, the turnover rate has decreased and the diversity of expressions has increased.

“Organizations that are actually more flexible with their workforce not only attract and retain top talent, they actually outperform their competitors,” argues Elliott.

It’s all about trust and transparency

The CEO cultural divide that is emerging today is not so black and white. Portraying the boss who wants you back in the office as the bad guy is an easy story to tell if you disagree with their stance.

Just because they approach talent differently doesn’t mean it’s wrong, says Chamorro-Premuzic. “Every company has a culture, and there is no one successful culture. It is important that companies are honest with their cultural propositions, so that employees with choices make the best choices.” You can,” he explains, likening it to the national culture. “Denmark and the United States are very successful, but the average Danish person is American and vice versa.”

Future Forum found that people who don’t believe their leadership is transparent are 3.4 times more likely to say they’ll definitely leave the organization. The risk for CEOs is that “lack of flexibility, or lack of transparency, will cause people (or at least those with options) to look elsewhere.”

Strict attendance requirements indicate a lack of trust, which could be a sign of a flawed culture, Spotify’s Berg said. luck. “If you trust your people, decide that you spent a long time finding them, treat them well, and they want to be with you, it doesn’t matter where they work.”

But then again, the remote work war could be just one big misconception. It’s not a power struggle, it’s a split about the best approach for both businesses and workers in coming out of the pandemic. CEOs must decide whether to live in the past or move to the past The future: Reimagine the workplace the way it operated in the 2010s, or move things forward and adopt the more flexible approach seen in the past two years, says Elliott.

Ultimately, it’s important that executives promote a work culture based on trust and transparency, not the difference between a good CEO and a bad CEO.

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