The self-confessed optimist was speaking to Future Human’s Ann O’Dea about the future of leadership and all that entails.

Aon has a workforce of around 50,000 people spread out all over the world, as chief people officer Lisa Stevens explained yesterday. Andersen told O’Dea that he felt he had grown closer to his staff over the past few years thanks to seeing their home lives during online meetings.

“You used to work with people for 20 years and know nothing about what their personal life was like. They were just work colleagues. Today, you’re in their kitchen … you see the kids walking around, the dogs.”

Andersen added that this increased intimacy has worked both ways, and that his staff now know more about him and other leaders, too. The “square screen” has also taken away some of the “pomp” and “trappings of success” associated with the traditional office environment.

‘I think there’s the need for business leaders to look at individual colleagues as whole people, understanding what they bring to work’
^{– ERIC ANDERSEN}

“You can look at these individual colleagues more holistically,” he said of hybrid working.

“I think there’s the need for business leaders to look at individual colleagues as whole people, understanding what they bring to work.

“Work is just a part of it. And so, how you lead them, how you manage them, how you train them and develop them … You really have to step back and think about all aspects of them, not just the eight or 10 hours you’ve got them when they’re working.”

People are as important as tech

Andersen described Aon as a “people business” in that it provides advice and services to clients. Therefore, it continues to be important for the company to get its own internal workplace culture right. It is as important as investing in new tech, he said.

“How you actually lead the people who you train and develop starts with having the right culture and ultimately the ability to draw people into our firm who are committed to the way we want to work and the value that we want to bring to clients. That has become the most important part as we step back and think to our strategy for this year in the next three to five years.”

From his point of view, Andersen said the change in leadership culture in general over the past few years is helping him and other leaders deal with pressing problems facing all of us in our working lives. These range from cyber to climate to health and wellbeing.

“When I look at the topics that we are wrestling with, to create that human-centred world, around climate, around cyber, around health and wealth and all the big issues, I feel like our firm is positioned where we can actually make an impact, which ultimately drives confidence and optimism around what we’re doing.”

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There was an amusing moment when Monica Parker, founder of future of work consultancy Hatch Analytics, told the audience about a client who told her at the beginning of the pandemic that remote working might lead to the end of the human race because people wouldn’t be able to meet their partners in the office and procreate.

Parker has spoken at Inspirefest, the predecessor to Future Human, previously. She told panel moderator Ann O’Dea, “I love the name of the event Future Human because when people ask me what is the future of work, it is human, it will always be human.”

While Parker’s client became a convert to remote working, fellow panellist Dee Coakley admitted that she preferred not to work remotely.

“I’m an extrovert. I like a lot of people around me. I like bouncing off people. That’s my preferred way of working,” she said.

It was an unlikely admission from the CEO of Boundless, a platform co-founded by Coakley in 2019 to help employers recruit distributed teams across borders.

Lisa Stevens, chief people officer at professional services multinational Aon, offered her insights about managing larger remote teams. Stevens, who oversees a workforce of 50,000 people, dialled in from the US.

“At Aon, we’ve adopted something called smart working,” she explained. This involves allowing workers to choose their own career paths and where they work from.

Right after the panel event, Rand Fishkin, founder of audience research software start-up SparkToro, spoke about the concept of ‘chill work’.

SparkToro’s chill work concept involves the team working independently and with a “very low management overhead”.

While Fishkin said modern capitalism “sucks in a lot of ways”, he acknowledged the conflict that he is himself an entrepreneur with several different tech companies.

“I am the least CEO-like CEO,” he said of his position at the helm of his latest start-up. Fishkin was previously in charge of a larger team of 200 at software company Moz. (His title was, funnily enough, Wizard of Moz.)

“Life is about more than just work,” Fishkin told the Future Human audience.

As Parker said, the future of work is human. Or perhaps wizards, if you are Rand Fishkin.

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According to the Irish Farm Report 2022 – by Irish farming, food and agribusiness specialist professional services firm, Ifac – almost one-third (32pc) of those surveyed said they used technology to increase their farm’s efficiency.

21pc said they used tech to reduce the burden on employees. The most significant barrier to farmers using technology as part of their farming work was cost, with 52pc saying that expense was the biggest barrier preventing them from embracing new technologies.

Irish farmers are under stress

As it is, Irish farmers are already under financial stress. Ifac’s report also found that 60pc of respondents said the biggest concern for their business in 2022 was increased input costs. The costs are currently affecting all primary farm inputs including fertiliser, feed and energy. Just over half (51pc) of farmers have already seen their costs increase due to Brexit.

As well as the cost barriers to adopting new forms of technology on the farm, the report found that farmers were also concerned about lack of time for financial planning, the climate crisis, and retaining and finding staff.

All of these problems are linked in that if one was solved, farmers could better help themselves and perhaps adopt some new technologies that would aid their working lives as a result.

Technology and machines can help mitigate agriculture’s impact on the climate, for example. They can also alleviate the physical burden of farm work and fill productivity gaps for short-staffed farmers.

Ironically, farmers indicated that they don’t have time for financial planning due to staffing shortages. But, if they did have some assistance, would they be better able to take the time to think about how technology could work for them?

John Donoghue, chief executive of Ifac said that the findings from the survey provided “invaluable insights into Irish farmers’ lives in 2022”.

“As Covid-19 begins to dissipate any anticipated relief has been overshadowed as other significant challenges have emerged,” he said.

“Rising costs are now the biggest challenge facing farmers, heightened by escalating prices and supply shortages because of the tragic and needless events in Ukraine. In parallel, finding and retaining employees has become a big concern for many, particularly in the dairy sector, and succession planning remains a recurring theme year after year that still requires urgent focus.”

Despite this, 58pc of Irish farmers said they had a positive outlook on farming for the year ahead. Donoghue added that with “the right support and a financially viable framework, Irish farmers can take a lead role in driving positive climate action in global agriculture”.

Commenting on the report by Ifac, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, TD, paid tribute to the “resilience” of Ireland’s agricultural sector. He said it was the goal of his department to “make sure that farming remains sustainable and will continue to generate fair incomes for farm families and future generations”.

Earlier this month, Fine Gael MEP Deirdre Clune told EuroParlRadio that AI could be a great benefit to all sectors, including farming.

Drones for farmers

For an insight into how Irish farmers can use tech to overcome some of the difficulties identified by Ifac’s report, SiliconRepublic.com spoke to the founder of ZenaTech.

The company is also known by ZenaDrone, its flagship product. ZenaDrone is a two-metre drone with a high-definition camera, computer vision and automated sensor technologies.

ZenaTech was founded in 2018 by Canadian entrepreneur Dr Shaun Passley, and expanded into Ireland late last year.

Currently, ZenaTech has five staff in Ireland. It is hoping to have 30 on the team here in the next 12 months.

“I think it’s a generational question,” said Passley of farmers’ willingness to adopt tech. “Younger farmers seem to be very open and seeking technology, while older farmers are less willing to move forward with it.”

Passley is well aware that farmers don’t have the money or the time to play around with technology, so he focuses on what the drones can do (rather than the machines themselves) when he’s talking to Irish farmers.

He describes the company’s business model as drones-as-a-service.

ZenaDrone is just starting out in Ireland with pilots operating in farms around the country. Passley’s goal is to eventually have drones all over the country on demand.

‘Younger farmers seem to be very open and seeking technology, while older farmers are less willing to move forward with it’
^{– SHAUN PASSLEY}

Farmers will download an app via the company’s website which provides them with information about drones in their area. Plans vary depending on the size of the farm, but small farmers with 50 acres can expect to pay about €500 per month.

Passley wants to have around 10 to 20 drones in Ireland by the end of this year. The company began beta-testing last year and is working with clients such as a sheep farmer in Donegal and potato farmers, to identify crop diseases.

Passley said the data that the drones can provide on farms is so accurate that it makes up costs otherwise lost on things like over-spraying. Rather than spray all crops at set intervals, the drone can spot spray as required.

The drones can also count sheep, monitor crop and grass growth and provide data on animal health, which helps farmers mitigate environmental damage caused by methane emissions from cows.

Like Passley, Irishman Conor McGann knows all about technology and how it can help farmers. From Dublin, he works in the San Francisco Bay Area with indoor vertical farming company Plenty as its senior director of software and data systems.

Vertical farming involves growing crops in vertically stacked layers. McGann will be delivering a talk on how the practice can be improved using AI and robotics at this year’s AtlanTec Festival next Thursday (19 May).

As for ZenaDrone, Passley said the company will be exhibiting its drones at the Ploughing Championships this September so farmers can see for themselves how they operate. He said the company is committed to Ireland and its farmers as they continue to take on new tech in their working lives.

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But that comes with its own challenges. While a fully remote workforce will be well used to the teething problems that come with virtual meetings – “Can you hear me now?” – hybrid meetings have the potential to make it more difficult to interact with remote employees if some of the attendees are in the same room.

This the challenge HP Inc is hoping to tackle with a new portfolio of conferencing and collaboration tools known as HP Presence. The suite launched in Ireland at the end of April and includes special meeting space satellite microphones, audio bars and AI cameras to give hybrid meetings more of an in-person feel.

Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com at the Irish launch, HP’s Sarah Drysdale said the company has a strong belief that asynchronous collaboration is the way forward in the future of work.

“We’ve worked over the last four years to develop HP Presence as a seamless collaboration tool integrated with people like Microsoft Teams or Zoom to really give you that in-the-room experience regardless of where you are,” she said.

“If I’m a remote attendee, I want to be able to dial into my call and see everyone that’s in that space. We’re missing those behavioural cues; we’re missing seeing what people have been up to and how they’ve changed over time and that in-person interaction.”

Some of the features include HP Speaker Frame, a picture-in-picture mode that spotlights in-room speakers; HP Auto Frame, which puts meeting room attendees into perspective by framing out white space; and HP Speaker Tracking that allows speakers to move around the room while keeping them in frame.

HP Inc’s Ireland country manager, Neil Dover, said that while having your voice heard while working remotely is “massively impactful”, security is also an important factor as automation becomes more common in workplaces.

“We need to tie that security piece and the collaboration piece together in the trends as they go forward and that change in behaviour becomes a secure change rather than just an ad-hoc change as it has been in the past,” he said.

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Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary established in 2018 to provide institutional clients with access to this growing market, is looking to double its 45-strong team in Dublin by the end of the year.

Tom Jessop, president of Fidelity Digital Assets, chatted to SiliconRepublic.com about the company’s decision to run substantial operations from Dublin, how to get into the digital assets industry and what kind of talent he’s looking for.

Blockchain – the ‘internet of money’

“We are a company that provides services to financial institutions that want to gain access to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies or digital assets,” said Jessop, a former Goldman Sachs tech executive.

“You should think of us as a brokerage. An institutional client can open an account and then they can buy and sell digital assets on our platform. We also provide custody – a fairly technical and important solution to ensure the security of the digital assets.”

The company, which has a base in Dublin’s Citywest, offers other B2B services such as record keeping and research offerings to help clients make informed decisions when investing in digital assets. While most of its clients are in the US, some are based in Europe and Asia.

‘Given the newness of blockchain technology and the fact that it’s a very innovative field, when we look at the talent in Ireland, we see a lot of things we like’
^{– TOM JESSOP}

Jessop, who has extensive experience working in roles at the intersection of finance and technology, got interested in blockchain primarily because “it’s another form of financial technology” that has great potential.

“Some people call blockchain technology the ‘internet of money’. Just as easily as we can send an email or text message over the internet, you can send something of value over blockchain and I think that has long-term potential for improving the financial services industry and democratising finance,” he said.

“I think, with the benefit of hindsight, we’ll see this as being a fairly significant technology wave the same way that the PC revolution was, and then the internet and mobile and social.”

Why Ireland?

Fidelity Digital Assets established a presence in Ireland soon after it was launched in 2018. While it views Ireland more from a capability standpoint rather than as a market to sell its services, Ireland’s proximity to the EU has been an important factor in its attractiveness.

But perhaps the most important factor in Fidelity’s decision to grow its team in Ireland is the rich pool of talent the country has to offer.

“Given the newness of blockchain technology and the fact that it’s a very innovative field, when we look at the talent in Ireland, we see a lot of things we like,” said Jessop.

“We see a great secondary educational system, a lot of existing technology companies that have a footprint in Ireland for a long time, and the fact that Dublin has increasingly become a financial centre for Europe, especially post-Brexit.”

In early 2021, the wider Fidelity Investments business announced 90 new tech jobs in Dublin and Galway, less than a year after another significant jobs announcement in response to the changing needs of the Boston-headquartered company’s clients during the pandemic.

“Given that our business is at the intersection of technology and finance, Ireland is a very rich environment for us to find the type of talent we’re looking for,” Jessop said.

He added that, for Fidelity Digital Assets specifically, he expects not only to double its current 45-strong workforce in Ireland but also see “pretty strong and consistent growth” in employee numbers into next year. “So as our business grows, our presence in Ireland will grow proportionately.”

‘You don’t need to be a digital assets expert’

“I’m going to state the obvious – we’re looking for smart, curious people,” Jessop said when asked about what kind of people are fit for roles in the burgeoning digital assets industry.

He believes that the problem with many jobseekers in this sector is that they don’t apply for roles on offer because they think they don’t know enough about the field.

“I think what we’ve realised is that smart and motivated people can learn anything, and we’ve got great experience bringing talented people from other parts of tech and finance into the business and training them on what they need to know about the asset class.”

However, those who have a particular interest in the space are also “a good fit” because they can demonstrate passion and the willingness to self-learn. Those with a wide range of general skills are also likely to be considered.

“Think about settlement operations in a traditional financial services setting, full-stack engineering in a traditional tech setting, folks that have project management expertise – these are all generalised skills we’re looking to bring into the company and adapt for digital assets.

“The industry is growing so quickly, so you don’t need to be a digital assets expert to have a career in the industry – you can learn that as part of the training.”

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There have been many studies conducted into the subject over the years, and one conclusion they all reach is that, for most of us, money’s more of a sub-motivator than a prime mover when it comes to why we come to work every day.

In fact, in a Hays survey of more than 5,500 people conducted at the end of 2019 confirmed that only 13pc of those looking for a new job at the time were doing so because they were dissatisfied with their current salary and benefits.

Other factors played far more of a role. 40pc were looking for a new position simply because they felt it was time for a change, and 22pc wanted improved training and career progression opportunities.

So, let’s take a closer look at some of those factors that are likely to matter to your people more than money in really inspiring and motivating them every day.

Feeling a sense of meaning and purpose in their work

People are now increasingly looking for more meaning and purpose in their professional lives – in other words, they want to feel that they’re really contributing to and making a difference to our world.

I think it’s safe to say that the pandemic has only heightened this feeling among professionals. After seeing the heroic efforts from healthcare and key workers, many may be re-evaluating their career choices in a bid to find more meaning, perhaps opting to focus on a different industry entirely. They may be looking to craft their existing role in some way, or perhaps even exploring a complete career change.

In fact, Harvard Business Review has reported that more than nine in 10 of us would be willing to earn less money for the opportunity to do more meaningful work – showing just how important a person’s purpose really is to them. As illustrated by productivity and leadership expert Bryan Collins: “A skilled employee might quit a company if he or she can’t see how their work affects the final product.”

It’s important that your employees understand the role they play within your business and feel like a vital cog. After all, the more impact an employee has in your business, the more likely they are to feel connected to it, and to aggregate the business’s success with their own.

Working in a positive company culture

Company culture can play a major role in driving employee motivation – as shown by research conducted by Deloitte which found a strong correlation between employees who claim to feel happy and valued at work, and those who regard their organisation as having a strong culture.

And as Hays CEO Alistair Cox said, “The culture of your organisation is its personality. It’s what makes it different from all the others. It’s what attracts talent and makes that talent want to stay with you for the long haul, no matter what challenges they face along the way.”

Improving your company culture has certainly become more challenging as a result of the crisis – however, we should see this change in ‘normality’ as the perfect opportunity to revisit, reboot and revive our company cultures.

After all, we’re going to have to work hard to ensure they are sustained with the rise of hybrid working patterns, whereby a portion of employees are based remotely and others are based in-office.

Being recognised for their hard work

Employees must be acknowledged and thanked equally for all of their contributions and achievements. US clinical psychologist Frederick Herzberg would have defined this as a ‘hygiene factor’ – something which will demotivate employees if it is not offered.

As outlined by our UK&I director of people and culture, Trisha Brookes, it is human nature to want others to acknowledge and recognise you for your contributions and recognising your employees helps to create an emotional connection between yourselves and the wider organisation.

However, you can do far more than just the minimum of financially remunerating an employee for their efforts and giving them the occasional proverbial ‘pat on the back’. Indeed, it’s in your own interests to praise your employees for a job well done.

This is because there are various powerful effects that employee praise has, including setting a standard of success, encouraging people to believe in themselves more and improving your chances of retaining and attracting talent.

But recognition also comes in many forms and should be tailored to each individual. It’s largely up to you and your good people management skills how well you execute it. Some employees would feel greatly encouraged by formal recognition in front of other colleagues, such as a certificate or a shout-out on a group video call, while others would prefer more personal and private praise. What’s certain is that we all get a kick out of being acknowledged for a job well done.

Bear in mind, though, that this recognition might be different in a hybrid working world than it was in the pre-crisis world; you may not physically see some of your team members regularly.

Therefore, you need to ensure your methods of recognition are inclusive of, and resonate as deeply with, your remote workers as well as your office-based workers. For instance, before you call a remote worker to personally thank them, think about whether you could instead organise a quick team meeting and publicly recognise them there.

Opportunities for learning and development in the workplace

By upskilling your employees you’re showing them that they matter to the business, that you see their potential and that there is room for progression within their role. What’s more motivating than being encouraged and supported to become a better version of you?

Sure enough, according to research from LinkedIn in 2019, 94pc of employees said they would stay at their companies longer if their employers took an active role in their learning and development. Not only that, but a Hays study at the end of 2019 also found that 22pc of people would leave their current job if they were offered better training opportunities elsewhere.

As director of Hays Australia Jane McNeill recommends, you should first conduct a skills assessment before deciding on what training you’re going to organise for each employee.

“This will enable you to identify any skills gaps and consider what skills – such as agile working, resilience or adaptability – will be important going forward.”

The employee will better appreciate, and be more motivated by, a sensible and well-considered plan of training for them. And remember, it doesn’t matter if your business or department has no budget for learning and development right now. Many of us have faced cuts in these areas in recent months. There are plenty of free and relevant training opportunities your employees can attend, such as webinars and online conferences – you just need to spend some time searching for them.

A clear path of career progression

It’s not enough just to enrol employees on training courses and webinars. What’s even more motivating for most professionals is being shown that there are more rungs on the career ladder that they can climb to within your business.

Research from LinkedIn has indicated that 45pc of people left their old job at least partly due to concern about a lack of opportunities for advancement, ahead of other potential reasons such as ‘I was unsatisfied with the leadership of senior management’ and ‘I was unsatisfied with the work environment/culture’.

All of these grievances can be fairly easily resolved by clearly articulating a plan of progression for your employees. Make sure that you regularly have meetings to discuss the employee’s ambitions and their promotion prospects within the business.

This is especially important given the current circumstances, as Hays Australia and New Zealand’s managing director Nick Deligiannis has explained. “In today’s world of work, where change is the only constant, being open and honest with your staff about their career ambitions and working together to achieve them can give you a strong retention advantage. So, it’s worthwhile taking a deep breath and making time to sit with your staff to have this important conversation.”

If an employee’s promotion aspirations can’t currently be realised because of a lack of financial resource or that position currently being filled, then giving them increased autonomy or say within the business could be a satisfactory compromise.

Hays UK director Karen Young has previously described how a horizontal career move – for example, moving across into a more technical position within the same organisation – can be just as good as a more obviously upward one for an employee’s long-term career prospects.

It’s well worth exploring these possibilities for any workers of yours who may feel reinvigorated by the opportunity to explore a new area and fill skills gaps. This could put them in a better position to make big career strides in the future.

By Marc Burrage

Marc Burrage is managing director of Hays Poland. A version of this article previously appeared on the Hays Viewpoint blog.

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The programme will include a combination of online content and ongoing interactive events, and will see young people living in Ireland matched with highly qualified mentors working in STEM.

Stemettes is currently accepting applications for the programme, which runs from May to August 2022.

Founded in 2013, Stemettes was set up by British mathematician Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon. The organisation focuses on reaching girls and non-binary people through events and cohort programmes that rely on a ‘free, fun, food’ ethos. Stemettes has impacted more than 55,000 young people across the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe as of 2021.

It aims to encourage underrepresented groups into the sciences by increasing their exposure to those working in the industry. It runs programmes for children from ages five to teenagers and young adults.

Imafadion received an MBE in 2017 for her work with young women in the STEM industry. She set Stemettes up when she was in her early 20s, and spoke at Silicon Republic’s Inspirefest event in 2015 about her career and being a young woman in technology.

Stemettes launched an app in 2016 to connect with young people interested in its work and getting involved in STEM in general. It also runs a zine featuring the stories of people who work in science and technology to inspire young people to seek out STEM careers.

Stemettes’ latest mentorship programme is supported by the Avantor Foundation. The foundation is the philanthropic arm of Pennsylvania-headquartered chemicals and materials company Avantor, and supports organisations in the sciences, education and healthcare sectors.

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That’s according to a report by national non-profit network Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI).

Last May, almost 50 companies signed the Elevate pledge by BITCI, which called for employers to commit to greater diversity and inclusion. It included commitments to measures such as gender pay gap analyses and disability confidence training.

The companies also agreed to measure their inclusivity and diversity in the workplace across gender, age, disability, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

A year on, BITCI has released its first Elevate report detailing the progress the pledge’s signatory companies have made regarding diversity and inclusion.

The report was formed by a study of 50 businesses in Ireland that employ almost 120,000 staff. Among these companies, there is 38pc female representation in senior executive roles, compared with a national average of 30pc.

Data disclosure in the areas of gender and age were good, according to the report’s authors, however other areas such as ethnicity and disability were at a less advanced stage. The authors acknowledged that gender diversity is a common starting point for D&I policies.

There are 18 companies where the percentage of women at senior management level is at least five percentage points ahead of those at the next executive or C-suite level, indicating the positive impact of leadership programmes for women.

The report also found that women fill 30pc of top-earning posts at these companies, with salaries of €120,000 and upwards. However, women are also disproportionately overrepresented in the lowest salary bands of less than €26,000.

“While the study is representative of just 50 companies involving 120,000 employees, it points to good news in the increasing representation of women at senior management level,” Tomás Sercovich, CEO of BITCI.

“This is real change and one that we hope will be replicated in the other areas which the Elevate report will capture in succeeding years.”

While progress is being seen in gender diversity, the report recommended that age-related policies be put in place to make workplaces more suitable for Ireland’s ageing workforce. Just 1pc of the Elevate pledge workforce of 120,000 were aged 65 or over, with 84pc aged between 26 and 65.

“Estimates from the CSO indicate there will be about 1.5m people aged over 65 in Ireland by 2051. Also, with the qualifying age for the old age pension likely to be pushed out, people are going to be in the workplace longer,” the report said.

“Having an understanding of the age profile of the workforce and developing strategies to mitigate risks is going to become increasingly important for employers.”

BITCI is also adding to its portfolio of employment programmes supporting marginalised people in employment by launching a new Traveller programme, funded by The Community Foundation for Ireland.

The Elevate report was compiled by BITCI with support from Deloitte Ireland, one of the companies that signed the pledge. Other signatories include Accenture, BT Ireland, Cork Chamber, EirGrid, IBM Ireland, Janssen, Permanent TSB, PwC and Sodexo.

Harry Goddard, CEO of Deloitte Ireland and social inclusion sub-group co-chair, said that world events have forced the business community to think more deeply about what it values as a society.

“We’re proud to be part of the first Elevate Pledge report, making a commitment to clear and measurable targets to improve inclusion, holding ourselves accountable and continuing to make an impact where it matters the most,” he added.

Women’s business group Network Ireland has welcomed the higher levels of female participation at senior and executive levels in some of Ireland’s largest companies.

Responding to the report from BITCI today, president of Network Ireland, Noreen McKenzie, said, “It’s encouraging to see employers taking diversity and inclusion seriously, however, further progress is needed. It is more than just tackling the gender pay gap; it is a good starting point, but we also need to focus on areas such as ethnicity and disability.”

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“There is no way people work as hard or productive as when they had to turn up at a work location,” he said in his tweet, which included a screenshot of a LinkedIn post with a news story about PwC giving its UK staff Friday afternoons off in the summer.

The LinkedIn post made no mention of remote working, and was about how companies are looking to retain staff in a competitive market. To be fair, Sugar’s post made no mention of how remote working negatively impacts owners of office blocks, so his views may be a coincidence.

However, what is clear from his tweet – and several of the replies beneath it – is that there is still an incredibly toxic rhetoric around remote working, flexible working and work-life balance in general.

Despite Sugar saying that there is “no way” people work as hard at home compared to when they’re in the office, many rushed to dispute this, arguing that there are fewer distractions at home.

There have also been several studies over the past two years suggesting that productivity has actually risen with remote working.

‘The current resistance to remote working appears to be nothing more than resistance to change’

One example is a PwC survey from November 2021, in which 57pc of respondents said their organisation performed better against workforce performance and productivity targets over the previous 12 months.

So, why then must leaders such as Sugar continue to push this belief that people who want to work from home are just lazy? Do we really still believe that grown adults who get paid to do a job would just watch Netflix all day if given the freedom to work from home?

And let’s even say that’s true. Is their work really so untraceable without physical micromanagement that it’s possible to get away with skiving off for any length of time?

I ask that last question because in a situation where I am not constantly monitored, I may, in theory, be able to get away with watching TV instead of doing my work.

However, if the work isn’t done, that will very quickly be clear to my managers. So even if I needed something to keep me in check, a manager breathing down my neck in an office is not necessary, because my to-do list does that for them.

The trickle-down effect

We’ve come to expect throwaway comments like these every so often. In 2018, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, which has been known for workplace issues, said the term ‘work-life balance’ is a “debilitating phrase”.

Later that same year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that “nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week”. Never mind the fact that some of us might want to enrich our lives outside of work and actually spend some time with friends and family.

But it’s not just throwaway tweets and comments from billionaires entering the chat when it comes to remote working and work-life balance. The desire to cling to the traditional workplace has been made clear through how major companies have responded to the pandemic.

Over the last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been set on bringing staff back to the office. While the rise of Covid-19 cases delayed his plans, the inflexible policy was vehemently fought against by many Apple employees.

Despite protests, Apple employees will be expected to be in the office at least three days a week by late May. According to The Verge, the company’s crackdown on remote working led a number of employees to quit, with many others worried they’d have to leave the company due to its lack of flexibility.

Now, the iPhone maker has reportedly lost its head of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, due to its return-to-office policy.

This is a major blow and in line with fears around the so-called ‘great resignation’.

In many industries, it has well and truly become a jobseekers’ market, which means employers are finding it more difficult to attract the talent they want, especially with remote working opening up more opportunities since the onset of the pandemic.

Adapt or die

And this is where we get to the core of the toxic rhetoric around remote working: a resistance to change.

Employers who are not willing to adapt to the new ways of working will be left frustrated that the old ways of working no longer cut it for today’s workforce. What appeared to work before was a fixed location, fixed time, easy-to-supervise employees and in-person meetings.

As SiliconRepublic.com editor Elaine Burke previously stated, a move towards a more flexible working life is bad news for bad managers who thrive on micromanagement and presenteeism. Their way of working is threatened by the new status quo and so they may lash out, telling employees that they’re fools to think this can work and even trying to vilify them, labelling them as lazy or entitled.

But never has the phrase ‘adapt or die’ been truer. In the past, a reckoning took place among workplaces, especially in tech, where it was no longer acceptable to not encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Harassment, discrimination and paltry gender balance were constantly called out and, while there is still so much work to be done, the world of work changed irrevocably. Most major companies have a D&I lead and several policies in place to back this up.

Burnout and work-life balance has also been slowly brought onto the agenda and again, while there are still pockets of the tech world and wider society where crunch times and overworking are still the done thing, it is becoming less acceptable.

The current resistance to remote working appears to be nothing more than another resistance to change, a resistance to the future.

This is not to say there aren’t plenty of challenges and concerns around remote working, from proximity bias and the possible ‘Zoom ceiling’ for women, to the aforementioned burnout and inability to switch off when working from home.

But those like Sugar, who claim that remote working is an over-the-top request from a lazy group of workers, is damaging to the overall need to think about how to adopt these policies in the right way.

There is a danger that those who seek to promote remote working as a policy will be too busy fighting this kind of old-fashioned thinking to give enough attention to the real challenges that are coming down the line.

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That’s according to a survey of nearly 900 employers and professionals in Ireland by recruitment company Hays.

Hays said its research suggests that around 6pc of Irish workplaces have already implemented a four-day working week, with 4pc doing so on a permanent basis and 2pc doing so on a trial basis.

There is already an Irish campaign underway to promote the move to a shorter working week. By last October, 17 companies had signed up to a six-month pilot programme run by Four Day Week Ireland.

The Irish pilot was modelled on other similar international initiatives in countries such as Iceland, Canada and New Zealand. Companies that signed up included Dublin-based recruitment company Yala and bioceuticals manufacturing company Soothing Solutions.

Last December, Dublin-headquartered IT company Typetec also said it would introduce a four-day week for its employees in a bid to improve work-life balance.

‘The proposition of a four-day working week may present an exciting new opportunity for employers to differentiate themselves from their competitors’
^{– MAUREEN LYNCH}

“While the number of employers currently offering a four-day working week is still extremely low, today’s research suggests that this may soon change,” said Hays Ireland director Maureen Lynch.

“At a time when the market has never been more competitive, the proposition of a four-day working week may present an exciting new opportunity for employers to differentiate themselves from their competitors.”

Less than a quarter (23pc) of those surveyed by Hays said they believe a four-day working week would never happen. But 36pc said they think it will happen in the next two to five years, while 19pc said it will happen in the next year or two.

More than half (56pc) cited employee mental health and wellbeing as the main benefit of a four-day working week, while 11pc said they think the move would result in greater organisational productivity. Attracting and retaining talent was also identified as a potential benefit.

“The last two years have encouraged employers to reconsider the workplace environment. The switch to remote and hybrid-working models have proven hugely successful,” Lynch said.

“This has now opened the floor for further discussion of alternative ways of working within Irish organisations. The latest frontier is the four-day working week.”

While the four-day week concept may become more common in the coming years, Lynch noted that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for companies.

“At face value, for many employees, the prospect of a four-day working week is extremely attractive. However, what this looks like in practise may be dependent on the industry and jurisdiction.

“For some employers, this means reducing the number of hours in the traditional 40-hour working week. For others, it means compressing 40 hours a week into four days, rather than five.”

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