| This week, what’s working—and for whom—with remote work. Plus, banking trends in Latin America, Europe, and India, and McKinsey partner Jason Wright on a chance meeting with Representative John Lewis that still resonates. |
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| Months into the remote-work era, what’s the verdict? Yes. Yes, it’s going well for many; yes, it’s difficult for many; and yes, it’s probably going to change the nature of work for a long time to come. Whether people like working from home or hate it, this widespread change holds surprises for businesses and employees alike. |
| A learning curve for businesses. Conventional wisdom has long held that physical offices are crucial for employee productivity, collaboration, and attracting talent. And, of course, without them it’s hard to replicate informal office interactions that buoy morale. But many organizations are now realizing that digital tools such as virtual calls, file-sharing apps, and instant messaging also enable collaboration and connectivity—without the high cost of leasing office space. |
| Capitalizing on the moment, some companies are planning for their employees to work from home indefinitely. Others are adapting a hybrid working model, with some combination of remote and on-site working. This new model is aimed at increasing productivity for individuals and small teams, lowering costs, and adding flexibility. |
| Even with a variety of work arrangements, organizational norms help generate social cohesion and build shared trust. Decision makers need to be sure their organization’s model provides stability to everybody, whether they work remotely, on premises, or some combination of both. Now is the time, as leaders reimagine their postpandemic organization, to pay careful attention to the effects of these choices on a company’s overall culture. |
| Employee experience is all over the map. The mental-health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can’t be overstated. On the work front, virtual work means fewer connections with colleagues, no in-person happy hours, and no commute time to decompress. People have their own range of experiences, emotions, and resources for responding—and many are paying a psychological toll that is still poorly understood. |
| McKinsey recently surveyed more than 800 US-based employees on a wide variety of topics related to the employee experience during the COVID-19 crisis. We found that employees working remotely see more positive effects on their daily work, are more engaged, and have a stronger sense of well-being than those in nonremote jobs with little flexibility. Fathers working remotely seem much more positive about the experience than mothers. (If you’re a mom reading this while your kids are asking for another snack and your partner is on his sixth virtual call from the basement, you might relate.) |
| Segmentation works. The good news is that with advances in listening techniques, behavioral science, advanced analytics, two-way communication channels, and other technologies, leaders can now address the experience of employees in a more targeted and dynamic way. While drilling down on which employees need more and varied types of support, they can also tailor actions that create widely shared feelings of well-being and cohesion across the workforce. |
| Here are some tips from experts on how leaders can focus on psychological safety and energize forward progress in a time of flux. |
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| OFF THE CHARTS |
| Closing the racial wealth gap |
| The United States has spent the past century expanding its economic power, and it shows in American families’ wealth. Beyond the overall growth in top-line numbers, however, the growth in household wealth has not been inclusive. Black individuals, families, and communities tend to lag behind their white counterparts. Other than its obvious negative impact on human development, the racial wealth gap also constrains the US economy as a whole. By closing that gap, US GDP could be 4 to 6 percent higher by 2028. |
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| PODCAST |
| AI and the empathy deficit |
| Minter Dial, an expert on technology and marketing and the author of Heartificial Empathy spoke with McKinsey about the role of empathy in business and whether artificial intelligence should be trained to exhibit empathy when used in certain situations. Minter first became interested in how AI systems learned empathy after he was invited to use an empathic bot on his smartphone as part of research being conducted by an organization in Berlin. He called the bot JJ, after one of his favorite authors, James Joyce. |
| “It got me really focused on what is our relationship with machines and what is empathy in a bot? How does that happen? The truth is, I think the very journey of trying to encode empathy into AI can shine a light on our own level of empathy,” he told McKinsey. “Are we actually empathic? Or are we trying to delegate the empathy to something else because we’re not capable?” |
| For more, check out the McKinsey on AI podcast, a miniseries featuring conversations with a wide range of AI experts who explore how to apply the technology for the benefit of business—and society. |
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| MORE ON MCKINSEY.COM |
| How to transform Latin American banking | The region’s banks have long sought productivity breakthroughs to meet rising customer expectations and the challenge from new digital players. The COVID-19 crisis is making transformation even more urgent. |
| The future of private banking in Europe | European private banks were already feeling pressure to revitalize. Now that the pandemic has accelerated changes in the expectations of clients and employees, the industry will need to accelerate its transformation. |
| How the State Bank of India is learning from crisis | In this interview, Rajnish Kumar, chairman of India’s largest bank, discusses the COVID-19 crisis, digital transformation, and the future of work in financial services. |
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| MY CONVERSATION WITH JOHN LEWIS |
| Jason Wright |
| Jason Wright, a partner in Washington, DC, focuses on modernizing higher-education institutions, government agencies, and industrial companies through large-scale transformations.
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| When I was a senior associate, I had the honor of spending a few hours with John Lewis, the late US Congressman representing Georgia’s Fifth District. I was returning from a client engagement in New York, awaiting my regularly delayed flight from LaGuardia Airport, when I noticed him seated across from me. |
| As the son of civil-rights activists (my father was a Black Panther turned racial reconcilist and my great uncle was an activist professor at Tuskegee University), I spent every Saturday learning about Black history. And though this gentleman was sitting quietly at the gate, I knew his unassuming nature belied his formidable legacy. |
| John Lewis was one of the founders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, leading lunch-counter sit-ins in the Jim Crow South; one of the 13 original Freedom Riders who challenged segregation in public transportation in 1961; and one of the organizers and speakers at the March on Washington in 1963. He was in the inner circle of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his beating by law enforcement in Selma, Alabama, in 1965 galvanized support for the Voting Rights Act. For the past 33 years, he served in the US House of Representatives. |
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| I walked over and introduced myself. He invited me to sit down, and we had a conversation that was, to me, remarkable. |
| He deflected all of my praise and deference, quickly asking me about my story. I began telling him about my parents’ big push on education, economic empowerment, and how they thought about elevation of socioeconomic class as the real marker of success. At some point, I realized I had been talking about myself for some time. I expected him to talk about his own experience, but he didn’t. |
| Instead, he said, “You’ve done amazing things for someone who is 33 years old. But I’m curious, what drives you?” |
| I had an answer to his question that I think about often. I said, “I’ve been privileged to enter sectors and spaces where people who look like me have not traditionally been. These are places that were closed to my parents, even legally at times. And when I’m in these spaces of influence, I want to learn the ways of that place and use the influence for things I care about. I want to use it for the empowerment of groups and individuals who have been marginalized.” |
| Talk turned to then-US President Barack Obama, and what his election said about the American psyche—how hopeful it made us, irrespective of supporting the president’s politics. John shared what excited him most about where the nation was heading in race relations. |
| At that time, an increasing number of young people were moving into political and corporate leadership positions. I mentioned that I was not so confident about the ability of younger generations to lead in the ways we needed—my impression was that they were not as resilient; they always wanted everything and everybody to be accommodating and inclusive, and seemed unwilling to accept that that’s simply not how the real world operates. I expected John to agree with me, but he didn’t. |
| “Actually,” he said, “I love what young people are doing because they are pushing me and everybody else to have a higher bar for what it means to be included and accepted. They might be wild and uncalibrated, but they are the fire that we need. The old fire is not going to get us where we need to go. I listen to these young people, and I take them seriously. When I don’t understand them, I keep asking questions. And I think you should too.” |
| It’s a challenge that has echoed in my ears over the past few months as the nation and the world started a dialogue in reaction to the murder of George Floyd. To the congressman’s credit, he was right: it is largely younger generations that continue to raise and propel these issues to the forefront of the global conversation. |
| I will remember John Lewis as a pragmatic-yet-extraordinary leader who encouraged us all to be bold, to embrace “good trouble,” and to listen at least as much as we speak. Perhaps most important, he leaves behind a legacy of change through persistence. It’s this quality, he proved, that changes mindsets, social structures, and policies. I will do my part to steward his legacy, and I hope you will join me—though you may face pushback when advocating within your community, it’s through persistence that you will find courage, optimism, and ultimately action. |
| Rest in peace, Representative John Lewis. |
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| BACKTALK |
| Have feedback or other ideas? We’d love to hear from you. |
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