New research paints a picture for a post-pandemic world of work

PwC releases findings from the largest study in corporate Australia on the workforce impacts of COVID-19 and expectations for the future of work

PwC Australia today launched a new report, “The Future of Work – Thinking beyond: How the pandemic is rewiring a new world of work”, that unveils rich insights from its 8000+ strong workforce on the shift in employee behaviours and their definition of the workplace during the COVID-19 crisis.

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing an overnight disruption that triggered a national ‘work from home’ experiment, PwC Australia sought to understand the challenges, drivers, motivations, needs and wants of its own employees – identifying what parts were better before, discovering what was broken, and how individual experiences impacted the workforce as a whole. The firm conducted a study which included surveying employees nationwide and dove deeper on issues that mattered most to employees through a week-long Future of Work Jam, held during the last week of September 2020. More than half of PwC Australia’s workforce contributed to the study from across all areas of the business.

Lawrence Goldstone, Lead Partner, Future of Work at PwC Australia, said, “The national ‘work from home’ experiment prompted by COVID-19 has changed work as we know it and there’s no going back. Alongside Australia’s business community, we at PwC have been living a once-in-a-generation case study, an almost overnight disruption to established ways of working.

“The way we work has fundamentally changed. We knew PwC’s best future had to be one that was co-created. Our transformation journey had to begin with our people, by seeking to understand their challenges, drivers, motivations, needs and wants. That level of understanding requires deep and authentic consultation at scale, and an open and active method of asking, answering and listening.

“We asked for ideas, comments and feedback on a series of ‘design challenges’ which included designing the ideal working week and reimagining the workplace of the future based on their work preferences through a gamified experience – this encouraged high engagement with over 4,000 voluntary participants from all of PwC’s offices across Australia.”

There’s nothing like a crisis to bring people together

Key learnings from the research showed people love the individual flexibility of working remotely and that it should be the norm, rather than the exception. Despite the lack of everyday workplace interactions, employees are feeling more connected to their immediate colleagues which has positively impacted organisational culture – 51 per cent of survey respondents said that culture has improved because of COVID-19. Additionally, 41 per cent said they have a greater sense of purpose and 72 per cent said they feel confident about the future of work.

“Maintaining flexibility is important for workplace culture and high on our agenda as we undergo our future of work transformation. We are working to identify the ways in which employees’ personalities and preferences inform their relationship to organisational culture, along with their satisfaction with working from home. Recognising these different streams and integrating them will empower employees to thrive,” said Mr Goldstone.

We need to reimagine innovation

The remote environment saw a drop in creativity – although 26 per cent felt more innovative, 33 per cent felt they were being less creative when working from home. This has positioned the firm to think about how to re-define innovation and provide greater opportunities for employees to be innovative.

It’s not just about trying to force face-to-face collaboration. Mr Goldstone said that it is a massive opportunity to re-imagine innovation, with leaders and team members working to re-create the unplanned, unstructured and spontaneous interactions in a hybrid physical-virtual environment across multiple spaces, to unlock and unleash neuro-sparks of innovation.

“With most people working remotely, we’ve heard that social interaction and chance encounters that spark new ideas have dropped off significantly. Simply translating offline activities online isn’t the answer. We need to find new means to engage, design and bring diversity of thought and perspective into our work. Technology can help to a point, and there are some great collaboration tools out there, but the creative tension, as well as camaraderie, that unfolds when different minds gather in the same place, is still incredibly powerful, and our people recognise and want to maintain this” said Mr Goldstone.

Rapid uptake of digital collaboration and communication tools

The use of digital collaboration and communication tools soared due to the pandemic and with PwC’s $US 3 billion global investment in upskilling the digital literacy of its workforce, the firm was already in a strong position to transition smoothly when the impacts of COVID-19 struck.

Among PwC Australia employees, 89 per cent said they felt they have the skills needed to work remotely. More than half (55 per cent) nominated digital and technology skills as necessary for success in the future of work and 20 per cent ranked interpersonal communication and leadership skills as a major priority as collaborative projects take place via digital tools and virtual settings.

COVID-19 has changed the way we work for good

While there are many advantages to working remotely, feedback from PwC Australia’s Future of Work Jam indicated that there is no one-size-fits-all workplace to suit everyone, for a range of practical and personal reasons, and there is no going back to the firm’s pre-COVID model.

Employees were asked to consider eight potential workplace models each with unique features and trade-offs and the majority overwhelmingly expressed that they would like to mix working from home with working at the office – 75 per cent of employees said they would prefer to perform administrative work remotely, while 67 per cent said they would prefer to carry out individual tasks at home. On the other hand, 66 per cent of respondents would prefer to connect with people at a physical workplace.

“For organisations, this means going back to basics – re-visiting the organisational ambition and what work needs to get done, how it gets done, and then the people, processes, and infrastructure that are needed to deliver. It’s about understanding precisely what is changing and the steps your business can take to evolve. Now is the time to gain critical insights into how work will transform in the future.”

Stats at a glance

51% Workplace culture has improved
41% Have a greater sense of purpose
72% Feel confident about the future of work
26% Feel more innovative
33% Feel less creative when working from home
89% Feel they have the skills needed to work remotely
55% Nominate digital and technology skills are necessary for success in the future of work
20% Rank interpersonal communication and leadership skills as a major priority
75% Prefer to perform administrative work remotely
67% Prefer to carry out individual tasks at home
66% Prefer to connect with people at a physical workplace