| This week, we look at whether employees and their bosses see eye-to-eye on the future of the office. Plus, two experienced venture capitalists on the start-up investing landscape, and the future of space tourism. |
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| Back in the groove? Having seen the solid productivity gains among their employees during the pandemic, many organizations are planning a hybrid virtual model that combines remote work with time in the office. McKinsey recently surveyed both employees and executives about the future of the hybrid model to get their views about what can—and should—happen. |
| Not so fast. Many of the employees we surveyed feel they haven’t heard enough about their employers’ plans for post-COVID-19 working arrangements. Organizations may have announced a general intent to embrace hybrid virtual work, but too few of them, employees say, have shared detailed guidelines, policies, or expectations. That lack of transparency is leaving employees anxious. They want organizations to emphasize flexibility, well-being, and competitive compensation once the pandemic is over. |
| Not so slow. More than a quarter of employees we surveyed said they would consider switching employers if their organization returned to fully on-site work. In our employer survey, the majority of executives expect that employees will be on-site between 20 and 80 percent of the time (for roles that aren’t essential to perform on-site), or one to four days per week. Is that enough common ground? |
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| Room for improvement. When it comes to transparency for employees, most executives who envision a hybrid model say they have at best a high-level plan for how to carry it out. Although many organizations have a more detailed vision in place, only one in ten have begun communicating and piloting that plan.
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| Making the ‘small moments’ count. Companies that have articulated more specific policies and approaches have seen employee well-being and productivity rise. One notable finding from the employer survey is that organizations with the biggest productivity increases during the pandemic have supported and encouraged “small moments of engagement” between colleagues—opportunities to discuss projects, share ideas, network, mentor, and coach. As executives look to sustain pandemic-style productivity gains with a hybrid model, they will need to design ways for these small interactions to take place. |
| No time like the present. Mixing virtual and on-site work isn’t going to be easy given the risks associated with creating a two-tiered workforce—among them, botching how people communicate in ways big and small. Yet the best leaders are using this time to reenergize their people and organizations. And many see a larger opportunity—the chance to build on pandemic-related accomplishments and reexamine the organization’s identity, how it works, and how it grows. As much of the globe moves into a new phase of the pandemic, leaders have a chance to renew their corporate culture, generate social cohesion, and build trust. Employees are listening. |
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| PODCAST |
| Diligence and deal making |
| In this premier episode of the McKinsey on Startups podcast, Daniel Eisenberg speaks with two experienced venture capitalists, Roelof Botha of Sequoia Capital and Pär-Jörgen Parson of Northzone, about the overall start-up investing landscape and the challenges and changes their industry is experiencing in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. |
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| MORE ON MCKINSEY.COM |
| Wall Street to Mission Control: Can space tourism pay off? | With the COVID-19 pandemic curtailing earthly travel, space tourism may seem like a far-fetched dream—but some companies are betting on high demand. |
| Chewing over what’s good for dairy | Although US dairy companies successfully shifted their channel mix and offerings in response to pandemic-related disruptions, there is still significant room to respond more quickly to market opportunities and uncertainty. |
| How companies capture the value of sustainability | What makes the difference between a sustainability program that produces business value and one that doesn’t? A new survey identifies practices that distinguish value-creating companies from others. |
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| FOUR QUESTIONS FOR |
| Bob Sutton |
| Last spring, as US colleges were embarking on a remote-teaching odyssey, the Shortlist talked with Bob Sutton, a best-selling author and professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University, about what it would be like to teach remotely. We recently checked back in with Bob and his co-teacher and PhD candidate, Ryan Stice-Lusvardi, to see what they learned.
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| When we talked last year, you were realistic about the shortcomings of remote learning, but also optimistic that most students (and you) could adjust and thrive. How has that played out? |
| Stanford Engineering has been offering distance learning for at least 50 years, so I knew we could pull this off. Of course I missed the face-to-face element of teaching, but overall we managed to replicate as much of the classroom back-and-forth as we could. |
| This year, I taught an introduction to organizational behavior with about 60 students, and a much smaller management and engineering seminar with juniors and seniors. We made it clear from the beginning that we were going to be patient and kind with one another. Students are going through a lot, and we wanted to be supportive. I basically told them, “I’m going to assume that you’re not going to screw up, and if you’re not engaging, we’re going to figure out what’s going on in your life.” |
| We usually started class with a warm-up exercise—for example, we would ask students what gave them joy last week. And they would engage pretty quickly. We had one student logging in from Saudi Arabia who had perfect attendance, even though class was at 1:30 in the morning his time. He talked a lot, he responded to other students, and he added thought-provoking comments in the chat function. |
| That channel became a way for students to take care of one another, in addition to the class work. In a live class that side chatter would have been hugely distracting—the equivalent of passing notes while the professor is speaking—but in remote learning it augmented the experience rather than undermining it. |
| What did you learn about how to get students to engage? |
| One thing that struck us was how different it is to “nudge” people in a remote model compared with a physical class. |
| Video can offer a clearer signal that someone is struggling, which may sound odd but that’s what we found. If someone has their camera off or looks unhappy or disengaged, that comes through, and you can send them a private chat asking if things are OK. In some ways, you can be softer and more supportive than you can be in person.
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| In terms of engaging on the curriculum, you can ask more reticent students to submit questions beforehand or give them encouraging feedback privately. You can also say, “I’m going to call on you next,” giving them time to prepare. You can’t really nudge the same way in a classroom; it comes out as much harsher because you are putting students in the spotlight. |
| At the same time, there are drawbacks and real differences with in-person interactions. For example, the conversation with our expert guests probably would have been more emotionally complex in person, and maybe we would have had more constructive engagement. It’s also easier to address tensions or repair things when they go south in person. |
| What teaching techniques or practices worked the best? |
| We designed the classes to be a mix of live lecture, some recorded material, guest speakers, case studies, and breakaway sessions for small groups. Our mantra was, you are not watching a movie, we are making a movie together. At the start, we tried to speak for no more than about seven minutes before switching things up. Then we reduced it to five minutes or so. Talking for shorter and shorter spans, then posing a question for the students to go discuss themselves, was a good formula for continued engagement. They built great communities in the breakout sessions. |
| Are you excited for a return to in-person classes? |
| Yes, we are going back in the fall. We made remote classes work through preparation and innovation, and we were surprised that there were so many upsides. But there’s really no substitute for being together, and I’m sure students will be thrilled to get back to all those crucial interactions of college life—dorms, sports and clubs, office hours, and just plain running into people. |
| — Edited by Barbara Tierney |
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| BACKTALK |
| Have feedback or other ideas? We’d love to hear from you. |
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