Though future of work initiatives are considered important by 94% of business leaders, they are not yet among companies' priorities, said BCG recently.
According to a global survey of senior leaders from about 350 companies across industries by BCG, only 20% of organisations designate future of work initiatives as a CEO priority for action.
One-third of survey respondents were C-suite executives, the firm said.
Survey highlights
- 93%of respondents consider leadership important for a better future of work, but respondents also say their companies aren’t providing adequate support to ensure leaders have what they need to succeed.
- For example, only 20% view improving the organisational culture and behaviours of senior leaders, and just 15% consider reskilling managers to manage, inspire, and coach distributed teams, as CEO priorities.
Deskless worker-focused initiatives falling behind
When it comes to implementing future of work initiatives, the research revealed that companies and industries with a high share of deskless workers—those who need to be physically present to do their jobs and do not have the option of working remotely—are falling behind those with more office-based workers.
The telecom, technology, and insurance industries, which have about one-quarter or fewer of their employees in deskless jobs, are top-ranked in their future of work readiness, according to the BCG study.
But energy, consumer products, and retail organisations– which employ deskless workers for more than half of their jobs–are the three lowest ranked industries on future of work readiness, BCG pointed out.
Survey results indicate that 38% of all organisations have yet to implement new initiatives such as flexible schedules and differentiated benefits for deskless workers.
This is important because, as BCG’s latest global employment survey found, 37% of deskless talent were at risk of leaving their jobs in the next six months for reasons such as lack of flexibility, opportunities for career advancement, and compensation, BCG said.
To prevent that kind of significant turnover, companies must prioritise efforts to ensure a better working environment for those colleagues for whom hybrid work isn’t an option, the firm advised.
Overall, just 4% of companies consider themselves industry-leading on work model dimension readiness for deskless workers, and just 8% of CEOs consider amplifying support for the frontline a priority, said Sebastian Ullrich, BCG managing director and partner and coauthor of the report.
“These figures underscore the fact that the employees who continued to work in factories, stores, and in the field during the pandemic lack support from their employers, after previously being hailed as heroes,” he observed.
