Employer Insights Archives

Creative Circle wanted to understand what managers’ experiences were working with creatives—how to support them best, and what approaches foster the best environment for stellar creative work. We put out a survey to over 400 industry influencers to get their insights on how they navigate these unique working relationships.

Creative work is inherently different — brainstorming sessions, non-linear processes, a mélange of crafting and editing, and more that goes into creative development. So, how do you best navigate that in the workplace?

When asked, “Is your management style different when managing creatives versus non-creatives?” 59.22% of managers surveyed resoundingly (perhaps unsurprisingly) said “Yes.”

Here are some best practices for working successfully with creatives gleaned from this recent survey.

Be Open to their Process

You may not fully understand a creative’s process and everything happening behind the scenes — and that’s okay! Creative work does not necessarily follow a linear process — and the time it takes to translate an idea into something concrete is not always predictable. Most managers mentioned that when working with creatives, giving them the time and space they need to turn ideas into deliverables is essential. It is important to communicate deadlines clearly, but taking a more project-oriented rather than task-oriented approach to checking in can also be helpful.

“You have to display more patience and trust with creatives.”

“I do not believe in micro-managing. I trust my team, and with that trust comes creative freedom and an atmosphere that fosters imagination and being fearless with ideas and their work.”

“Creatives need more flexibility, less over-communication, and more standardized processes so they can create what they need or accomplish tasks without the fear of feeling over-managed or suffocated.”

“With creatives, I like to tell them the GOAL and a few ways I would accomplish that goal—but leave it up to them. I try to give more space for associative and lateral thinking, so instead of giving them solutions to implement, I give them problems to solve.”

“Creativity is not always available on-demand; part of the process involves time spent searching for inspiration—think doodling, taking a walk, daydreaming. While that may not look like traditional “productive” work, it is a crucial part of the process. If always in “doing” mode, creatives will not have time to generate those BIG concepts necessary for their work. Allowing the time and space for those juices to flow will support results that move the needle.”

“Creatives need time to do deep work and think—so whereas another type of role could sit down to get the work done and not need that deep thinking time, creatives may need time blocked on their calendars to think and research instead of doing. This helps inform the quality of the final product.”

“I tend to give them more autonomy. As a creative, I know how important it is to step away to get inspiration. That can be a walk in the park. A stroll to a coffee shop. Or just a quick nap.”

“Creatives need more space and affirmation, as well as clear goals and timelines. So, you manage them according to what motivates and drives results.”

Individualize Your Approach

Creative work can be deeply personal. Many creatives feel like they are pouring a piece of themselves into their ideas; if you can strive to ensure that there is alignment — with you, the team, and the brand — you will maximize a successful working relationship.

Ask what kind of support works best — what inspires them to generate new ideas? When interviewing and hiring, look for someone whose work and perspective resonate well with your brand, as well as their ideal work environment, how they best receive and process direction, and their preferred mode for feedback. And remember, just because someone is a great designer does not mean they are great for your project.

“I establish relationships with creatives while managing them. I think it’s important to have good, strong relationships first with creatives to understand their values and how they like to work in order to get the best work from them.”

“I feel it is more holistic in that there are layers and levels of communication, such as emotional intelligence, visual intelligence, intellectual intelligence — all combined.”

Emphasize Collaboration
Creatives don’t want to feel like they’re working FOR you; they want to feel like they’re working WITH you! Fostering a sense of collaboration can help creatives be more confident in developing and sharing more out-of-the-box ideas and allow for more productive feedback. Approaching each project as a shared mission—rather than an assigned task—can make the work feel more exciting and inspiring.

“When managing creatives, I take the time to build more personal relationships.”

“I tend to make sure there is lots of brainstorming and weekly meetings involved. There is no wrong or right way to be creative, and I think it is very important that the artist feels heard in the process.”

“I am probably more open to a creative’s consultation on a project (tone, aesthetic, demographic, project viability) and consider their input more deeply than with non-creatives, just by the nature of the work and because they were hired for their creativity, not to be held down to specific parameters.”

Value their Creative Insight
Creatives bring fresh and new ideas to the table, and it’s essential that managers acknowledge that. They’re generating unique concepts and content that would not exist without them.

When offering feedback, try emphasizing actionable changes rather than “no, this is wrong” or vague instructions like “make it pop more.” Suggesting a shift in direction and asking open-ended questions can keep the creative process moving rather than creating confusion.

“Creatives need actionable feedback. If you can’t articulate what is wrong or needs revision and a direction they should move in, you can wind up spinning on the same work. Because creatives put so much of themselves and their passion into their work, I’m also more sensitive in how I give feedback. I don’t want to diminish their work; just help it get in the place our clients will be happy with.”

“I always treat my creatives like they know as much as me or more. I never assume I am in a lead position because I know more. Being a manager isn’t about being the smartest or the best; it is about being able to bring people together to create one cohesive project.”

Finding the Right Fit
With all this in mind, how do you find the perfect creative member for your team? We asked managers about their most critical questions when interviewing, and they pointed to the following topics:

Timeline // At the end of the day, you want to have the work when needed. If your projects have strict deadlines, make those clear upfront and gauge if a potential hire feels up for that challenge. Ask if they have experience with tight timelines or juggling multiple deadlines.

Style // Look at their portfolio of previous work. Would it adapt well to your client or project? Does their style make sense for your project or brand? Ask about past projects they found exciting; it can help you gauge if they will be inspired by what you are asking them to create.

Process // Learning how a creative works can do wonders for getting your working relationship off to a great start. Do they prefer to work collaboratively or independently? Do they like consistent feedback throughout the process or want to bring forward fully formed concepts for review? Knowing how an individual thrives in this process can help you find someone that will mesh well into your workplace’s flow.

Grasping the creative workflow may prove elusive — but understanding how to communicate and manage people who do can help ensure stellar results that make you (and your clients) happy.

About the author.

An award-winning creator and digital health, wellness, and lifestyle content strategist—Karina writes, produces, and edits compelling content across multiple platforms—including articles, video, interactive tools, and documentary film. Her work has been featured on MSN Lifestyle, Apartment Therapy, Goop, Psycom, Yahoo News, Pregnancy & Newborn, Eat This Not That, thirdAGE, and Remedy Health Media digital properties and has spanned insight pieces on psychedelic toad medicine to forecasting the future of work to why sustainability needs to become more sustainable.

The Big Quit is a BIG deal. We’ve written I, II, III articles about it! Employees continue to resign amidst a changing job market. and are shameless in their reasoning! Employers are scrambling to figure out what’s the problem, while employees are openly sharing what went wrong. And after reading some of ex-employees’ stories, we understand why quitting seemed like the best decision. We’ve compiled a list of their exit reviews below!

1.

Very true in lots of cases!

2.

50 dollars????

3.

4.

Low pay and poor management? Employers need to pick a struggle.

5.

6.

Poor management seems to be a theme here.

7.

8.

Tell us more about the weird surprises, Pamela.

9.

10.

Call them back, Travis. They probably still feel the same way!

Why’d you quit your job? Join the conversation here!

“Slashie.” Are you familiar with this word?

It made a cameo appearance in the movie Zoolander in 2001. The scene: Fabio, with glass statuette raised high, accepts the “Fabio Slashie Award” for “Best Actor ‘Slash’ Model.” He’s not just an actor or a model, but both—an actor/model.

Fast forward to 2007, when author Marci Alboher coined “slashie.” Her book One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success asks: “Are you a ‘slash’? With technology giving us the ability to work from anywhere and the nine-to-five grind becoming a thing of the past, more and more people are building careers filled with slashes.” She cites: lawyer/chefs, police officer/personal trainers, mom/CEOs. Although these folks are doing different things, they have one overriding element in common. They are straddling multiple roles, deriving income from not one but several activities.

Profile of Slashies

MediaSilo reports the “slashie” label, “widely used abroad,” is making its way to this corner of the world. As such, it asks: “Will 2020 Kick Off the Decade of the Slashies?” To answer, it references a Bankrate survey, which shows 45% of U.S. labor force participants had a “gig outside their primary job.” An Upwork study confirms this trend from the other end. That is, about 60% of employers use flexible workers, such as freelancers and temps, who may pursue various routes and projects. As for the future, these hiring managers expect this number to increase 168% over the next 10 years.

This career style pertains mainly, but not exclusively, to Millennials, or those born in the 1980s through mid-90s. Again, Bankrate offers metrics: “40% of Millennials identify their side hustles as making up at least half of their monthly earnings.”

It makes sense. Millennials largely “want to define their own identities: to select and control how they are perceived.” Per HuffPost:. “As this generation has matured and begun careers, they have applied to their professional descriptions the same meticulous self-curation they perfected on their Instagram accounts.” Previous generations favored lifelong careers in one facet or organization, Millennials “hop around, both to fast track their ascent and to taste-test different companies and roles.”

The Big Picture

As the slashie way gains momentum, organizations need to respond accordingly. Flexibility is paramount; that pertains to structuring work as well as hiring, managing and optimizing this cohort.

“Slashies thrive on creativity, and could get bored easily if you aren’t able to feed that need for creativity or variety in daily work.” Another angle is empowerment. HuffPost suggests: “Celebrate [slashies] for their side gigs, elevate their hobbies, and arm them with the tools to make their aspirations a reality.”

LinkedIn reports companies are adjusting. Since 2016, descriptions for jobs increased the use of “work flexibility” by 78%. That term itself is multifaceted. It may entail offering modified workdays and hours. “Workplace flexibility could be a tremendous help to not only the Slash Generation and their obligations but a healthy work/life balance for everyone.”

Not all hiring managers may initially view slashies as assets; instead they may question their loyalty. A suggestion is to embrace a strategic view based on their far-ranging capabilities. That, in turn, may inspire companies to tweak job titles in line with the likes of this group. The key: use a broad perspective in considering slashies and give them incentives.

Slashies are real and gaining ground. “Allowing these individuals to find meaning in their work and do what they enjoy is crucial to their workplace engagement and success in your organization.”

The Making of a Slashie

There are other reasons slashies have evolved:

Personal growth

A multidimensional job path enables a person to pursue interests. It offers “the possibility to manage different passions.” In contrast, a one-dimensional career “can be frustrating if [people] are not able to tap into all their talents.” And using free time to explore outlets has limitations, “Very often doing something as a hobby may not be enough.”

The modern answer to job insecurity

The Guardian suggests the 2007 recession created “the fastest increasing segment of workers in both the UK and the US, the portfolio careerist.” Rather than depending on one channel for revenue, slashies branch out as a defensive play. “When our entire income comes from a single position, it only takes one redundancy programme to drop us from comfort into terror. Compare that to the slasher with multiple sources of income: if she loses a job it doesn’t matter: she still has five more.”

Greater work-life balance

“What Are ‘Slash’ Careers And Why You Need One” says this strategy promotes satisfaction and balance. “By adopting a slash career, a millennial who feels unfulfilled in a particular area, can work towards achieving balance in another area while still paying the bills and getting certain needs met.” Forbes contends: “The possibilities of slash career options are truly limitless.” They plug intellectual, emotional, spiritual and other gaps. Working in several spheres simultaneously or subsequently fosters well-being.

Enhanced marketability

Career advantages accompany being a slashie per Forbes. “Slash careers can make you more enticing to an employer.” Having a mix of specialties expands a person’s overall value. Slash careers “give you greater discipline, creativity, and a broader skills set. Companies are always looking for self-starters and innovators on their team to help them get to the next level, and people who have taken the initiative to develop a slash career are more likely to bring these qualities into their office.”

Additional income

It costs a lot to be a Millennial or member of any generation. But Forbes notes: “It’s no secret that millennials are struggling with money. They had higher rates of being late with mortgage payments, overdrawing checking accounts, and trouble with medical costs. A slash career might not help with the financial literacy aspect, but it could help pay some of those bills.” Moonlighting and side gigs can build cash reserves.

One Person/Multiple Careers referenced above sums it up. It casts slashies as “creative thinkers,” who “have discovered the antidote to boredom, burnout, job insecurity and many other workplace woes.”

Possible Potholes

There are advantages to the slashie style, but potential downsides too. They include time management challenges. In piecing together several jobs, slashies may exceed the standard 5 day/40 hour work week by not just a small margin. “For those with two or more jobs, scheduling time for self-care—seeing a move, taking a walk, drawing a bath—is even more important for mental and physical health.” Billing and accounting factor into the picture too. The slashie needs to keep careful records and stay on top of monies owed and received. “Having multiple streams of income means being responsible for tracking it and ensuring you get paid on time.”

More caveats include lack of security and consistent work. Slashies with several part-time gigs likely do not have traditional benefits that come along with full-time positions. “Chances are you have no holiday pay, no parental or sick leave, and perhaps not even any health insurance.” Slashies also are subject to highs and lows of demand, which “don’t always appear at convenient moments.” In short: “The reality is that you’re often at the behest of how the work is flowing.”

About the author.
You name it, she covers it. That’s the can-do attitude Sherry M. Adler brings to the craft of writing. A polished marketing and communications professional, she has a passion for learning and the world at large. She uses it plus the power of words to inform and energize stakeholders of all kinds. And to show how all of this can make a difference, she calls her business WriteResults NY, LLC.

Welcome to the land of economic “hurry up and wait.”

The labor market is robust, yet gross domestic product growth appears to have slowed substantially and has perhaps nudged backward since last year’s boom. Things are up and down simultaneously, making forecasting what’s coming our way hard for experts and soothsayers alike.

At the very end of July, the Federal Reserve announced (again) that it is raising interest rates to combat inflation, which stood at 9.1% from last June — the fastest rate of price increases in more than 40 years. The government also reported last month that GDP fell for the second straight quarter, a possible sign that the economy may be in a recession.

Lloyd Blankfein, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and now its senior chairman, summed things up nicely: “Everybody is saying, ‘Where is the economy going?'” he said. “And I think a good point to make is it’s hard to predict the future, but right now it’s hard to predict the present.”

“There’s a not insubstantial chance that we have a recession,” shared Blankfein. “I don’t think it’s baked in the cake. Some people say we’re already in a recession. A lot of people say a soft landing is very, very unlikely.”

And a soft landing is precisely what the Federal Reserve is trying to mastermind. They want raise interest rates enough to cool the economy without creating a job-killing recession. In other words, walking a tightrope at night while gargling with salt — considerably hard to do.

Recession and the labor market

Most recessions do not have a pillowy landing. The Fed raises rates, and jobs are lost. Companies don’t just reduce their hiring plans; they contract. But here, we are starting from a different place — our financial system is actually in good shape. In the United States, there are more jobs than there are people to fill them. We are living in the era of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the glowing.

The June jobs report was positive, and that was, to many, a surprise — 372,000 jobs were added, much better than expected. How was it possible to generate 372,000 jobs while we are potentially on the cliff of a recession?

The first six months of 2022 were an extraordinary period for the United States labor market, as unemployment hovered at 50-year lows and job creation boomed. But what will the next six months bring? Will the job market remain robust? Will wages surge higher as demand tightens or will they be beaten back by inflation? When we posted a LinkedIn poll asking jobseekers about their job market sentiments, it was a nearly even divide between optimism and pessimism, with 21% unsure if things were up or down.

Interest rates and inflation

One thing is for sure — the headwinds have become more intense. The Fed is poised to keep raising interest rates, which makes businesses’ debt more expensive and may well prompt companies to slow their hiring plans. If inflation continues to rise, it will overtake whatever wage surge workers have gained. The good news? Inflation seems to be slowing down, and worker demand remains high — still far higher than before the pandemic.

While Covid created a big economic downturn, demand for goods like housing, cars, TVs, and more actually went up, which is unusual. One of the challenges facing the Fed is that their decades of data do not allow straightforward extrapolation for this pandemic outlier time. And the Fed has only one tool — interest rates — that can slow or speed the demand of interest-rate-sensitive parts of the economy.

One of the big lessons from past inflation episodes is that raising the interest rate to reduce demand will not make inflation go away if your inflation comes from supply-side shocks. If wages go up more slowly than prices increase, people’s effective income decreases. If the Fed creates a recession to conquer inflation, in the short run, things are going to get worse because income will stagnate, people will lose their jobs, and unemployment will rise. The strongest part of today’s economy? A massively robust job market. A wrong move by the Fed may very well kill the part of the economy that is working well.

The big picture

So, how did we land here? The pandemic played a role. We shut down the economy as if we shut off a valve. It was not the natural order of things, and now we are feeling some of the repercussions of that most unusual time. The unemployment rate currently stands at 3.6%, about what it was before the pandemic — almost a 50-year low. And yet, 58% of Americans are thought to be living paycheck to paycheck. In economics, there’s the BIG picture but also the smaller one for each household.

In our age of 24-hour news cycles, fear may be the very thing we need to fear most. Our glut of nonstop punditry is built to send jolts of jitter into people; there is deep concern that the public might slip into a ‘doom loop’ that could scare the country into a downward economic spiral. The irony is, if we collectively pull back and stop going out to restaurants, for example, the very thing we are hoping to avoid — a deep recession — will likely happen.

Job openings are still almost double the number of unemployed job seekers, though that could change as companies grow more wary of a possible recession. While companies may rein in their hiring plans as interest rates cool capital financing, things are likely to ebb and flow a bit as the markets strive for equilibrium.

About the author.

It’s no surprise that “freedom” means different things to different people — but what does it mean to creative professionals as it relates to work?

We are experiencing an ongoing revolution in the workplace. Traditional ideas about knowledge work are dissolving, and as a society, we are undergoing a radical change in how we think of work — especially for those who work in creative industries.

For decades, scientists have known that creativity often grows in a non-linear fashion and that creatives tend to be more neurotic and antisocial than others — aka, they live more in the world of daydreams and require some solitude to produce quality work.

Neuroscientists who study creativity find that it does not involve a single brain region or side of the brain as the “right brain” myth of creativity suggests; rather, it draws on the brain as a whole. The complex process of “creativity” comprises many interconnected unconscious and conscious cognitive systems and emotions, with discrete areas of the brain recruited to handle each task and work in concert to get the job done.

Creatives don’t always follow the classic 9-to-5 workweek flow, finding that doing work at night or early in the morning is often more beneficial. In other words, thinking out of the box is hard when you’ve been put into one. It’s fair to say that social environments can adversely impact creativity.

So, when are people most creative? A large study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley sought to better understand what drives creativity. They collected daily electronic logs from nearly 240 professionals working on 26 distinct creative projects, who reported on their emotions and perceptions of their work environment, along with their motivation and one notable event from each day.

They found that of all the positive events reported in the nearly 12,000 diaries collected, the most significant factors for generating positive emotions and perceptions of their work environment was making progress in meaningful work — moving forward on something that matters. They were not only more productive on those days, but more creative, too. Simply put, creativity has a lot to do with setting up the right work environment to allow motivation and imagination to thrive.

But the right environment isn’t the same for everyone.

For some, working from home stifles creativity because collaboration via Zoom doesn’t get their creative juices going vroom. In contrast, others find open office setups and their attendant distractions a major creativity killer. Recent research published in the journal Nature, based on fieldwork in five countries, found that video conferencing inhibits the production of creative ideas. But they also found that video conferencing was as effective as in-person meetings for choosing which innovative ideas to pursue, essentially proving that some folks prefer vanilla ice cream while others prefer strawberry (just kidding, sort of).

We set out to see what were the most essential creative workplace freedoms for Creative Circlers. While everyone wants control over their general process — including where, when, for whom, and on what they work — we learned that some aspects are definitely more important than others. To uncover which work freedoms matter most, we crafted a LinkedIn poll to which over 6,000 people responded.

We broke things down by looking at the overarching question: Which freedom is your #1 priority?

And these were the options:

Working with whom I want
Working where I want
Working when I want
Doing the work I want to do

Can you guess which option creatives valued most?

In this new age of widespread digital nomadism, we guessed that “working where I want” would take the cake. While this ranked high, there was something that mattered even more…

Here’s how our results broke out:

Doing the work I want to do: 41%
Working where I want: 34%
Working when I want: 21%
Working with whom I want: 4%

The number one thing for Creative Circlers? “Doing the work I want to do” — echoing the results of the Berkeley study.

Creativity is crucial for companies. It’s one of the elusive characteristics that managers seek in their employees so that their organizations can stay ahead in today’s cutthroat new-new-new marketplace. Research suggests that businesses would do well to remember that creativity is as much about communicating with creatives to set up the right work environment that lets motivation and imagination juices flow as it is about finding the right candidates.

People are most creative when motivated by interest, sincere enjoyment, and satisfaction with the work itself. That’s important for both creatives and those that employ them to remember.

About the author.

COVID-19 kickstarted The Great Resignation — according to the U.S. Department of Labor, a record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in March 2022, edging just above the previous high-water mark set in November 2021. Why are so many people leaving their jobs, and what can companies do to retain talent?

The Current State of Employee Retention

Prior to COVID, the median worker had been with their current employer for a little over four years, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Since COVID? Millennials (those born between ’77 and ’95) make up 66 percent of the U.S. workforce, and 91% of them say they expect to change jobs every three years. The average tenure for workers between the ages of 25 and 34 is 2.8 years.

The current overall turnover rate is 57.3 percent — 25 percent voluntary, 29 percent involuntary, 3 percent high performers. This means one in four employees left their jobs voluntarily during the second year of the pandemic.

The Cost of Training and the Impact of Employee Turnover

According to Training Magazine’s 2021 Training Industry Report, the average U.S. company spent $1,071 per employee on training costs in 2021, with varying amounts of time required to learn new software, protocols, and timekeeping procedures. Companies are now spending more and more on employee training, on subjects including consulting, off-the-shelf and custom content, products, services, technologies facilities, travel, and equipment.

Turnover is generally detrimental to a company. Knowledge, training and development all leave when employees leave. Projects may have to remain unfinished on hold until a new employee is hired and trained. Too much turnover is also terrible for morale — when more than a few employees leave a company in the same span of time, it can diminish the enthusiasm of coworkers, who may in turn be inspired to undertake their own job searches.

Why Employees Depart

Creative Circle recently put the question to our 486,000 LinkedIn followers, and here’s what they told us:

48 percent left a job for better pay.
24 percent said they were looking for more fulfilling work.
20 percent wanted more flexibility.

One respondent put it quite succinctly: “Money and flexibility.” “I think most people decided that life is for the living and want to make the most of it,” another respondent said, a sentiment many have come to share since the pandemic began. Another of our followers simply told us, “Money isn’t everything.” Another respondent remarked, “…plan is to be able to ‘retire’ from the corporate world and run my own business in the next 10 years,” and she’s not alone – the number of new business applications increased by almost a million in 2021 from 2020. Finally, many of the people who responded to our survey feel undervalued at their jobs, which often spurred them, or is spurring them, to seek new opportunities.

See a full recap of why Creative Circle candidates are considering switching jobs here.

According to a Gartner HR report from October 2021, attrition is driven by a number of factors, including:

Lack of employee recognition
Poor management
Absence of opportunities for professional growth/development of new skills
Lack of flexibility
Non-competitive pay
Burnout.

The unemployment rate is down 3.6 percent, housing prices are up 19.8 percent between February 2021 and 2022, and inflation closed March 2022 at 8.5 percent. Compare these percentages to the average raise in the USA, which is around 3 percent — chances are if employees leave one company for another, it’s because their new employer will pay them more than what they’re making.

As for burnout, for a lot of people “work from anywhere” has become “work from everywhere all the time.” Workplace stress and burnout go hand in hand. In a 2022 report, the American Psychological Association found that both issues were at an all-time high across all professions: 79 percent of the 1,501 U.S. workers surveyed in late 2021 reported experiencing work-related stress in the month they were surveyed, with three out of five confessing the stress was bringing anxiety and stress into their personal lives.

How to Improve Retention

How are companies attempting to staunch the bleeding? In February 2022, Gartner advised companies to revise their employee retention strategy as follows:

Offer flexible work arrangements.
Identify select roles with critical skills for compensation increases.
Work to retain employees from underrepresented groups by setting retention goals and doubling down on DEI initiatives.

What’s our advice to keep your employees — and to keep them happy? It’s a combination of a number of ingredients. Let’s say you create a pie chart of reasons your employees will want to remain with your company: each employee will weight the reasons differently, but the list of reasons will be pretty much the same. The pie is the same, but the slices are all different sizes.

So how can companies bake their employees the perfect pie? Here are some general guidelines:

Pay your people salaries and bonuses in line with other employers in your industry.
Don’t make team members who deserve raises wait or ask for them, especially when other companies might hire them at higher salaries.
Adopt a remote/hybrid model to give your people the opportunity to create a work-life balance that actually works for them.
Be responsive to ongoing economic conditions such as higher gas prices, overall inflation, etc. Now’s the time to subsidize employee commutes, provide in-office meals, and more. However you can help your people reduce their everyday expenses, do it.
Shift your focus from hours to projects. If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s the days of punching a clock are over. As long as your team members get their work done, and do it well, does it matter how many hours they work?
Tailor your management style. Some of your employees want more recognition for what they achieve, while some want more autonomy…whatever it is, let them have it.
Incentivize your staff with more paid time off. It’s an inexpensive way to stave off burnout. Even just one extra week each year of PTO is akin to a slight raise or small bonus, to say nothing of its mental health benefits.

The first few bars are unmistakable to music fans. Pound, pound, pound goes the keyboard in a catchy rhythmic pattern. Soon what sounds like the clicking of a typewriter (what’s a typewriter?) joins in. Then Dolly Parton croons:

Well, I tumble outta bed and stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
Yawn and stretch and try to come to life

Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumping
Out on the street, the traffic starts jumping
With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.

That’s the opening to a 1981 #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and soundtrack to the movie of the same name — 9 to 5. NPR proclaimed: “A Cup of Ambition and Endurance: ‘9 To 5’ Unites Workers Across Decades.” The thrust of that message about the daily grind may be true, but what about those hours? Does this traditional schedule align with the ebb and flow of the business community today and, more so, going forward? Is it time to adjust the 9-to-5 work clock?

The rejiggering is underway. Although movement began on a modest scale about five years ago, a monumental disruption created the impetus for change. That factor — the pandemic — has had a profound effect on the world and our business life. It redefined the setting of work for many. But that’s only the beginning.

The Influence of COVID-19

“The pandemic has been a wake-up call,” declares a post in Forbes. “It has shaken us out of our complacency. We have started seriously looking into the way we lead our lives.” That comment segues into a discussion about remote work, which “has proven to be an undisputed success.” This outcome fostered a “new mindset” which “has also shifted to other areas of our work lives. The standard 9-to-5 workweek is now up for change.” It’s in this spirit the title of this piece advises “Working 9-To-5 Is an Antiquated Relic From the Past and Should Be Stopped Right Now.”

“The 9-To-5 Schedule Should Be the Next Pillar of Work to Fall” agrees. It reports that marquee companies, such as General Motors, Meta and PepsiCo, “have incorporated remote work into their corporate cultures.” But rather than an endpoint, this repositioning is a steppingstone. That’s because “in a truly flexible workplace, people would control not just where they work but also when.”

Variations of the word “flexibility” keep coming up in these forums. The New York Times post referenced directly above notes that: “recent pandemic upheavals could open the door for new kinds of workplace flexibility.” An informed source quoted here shares a lesson that business owners learned during COVID-19. At first, they considered “work from home” as “the hill I would die on” because “I absolutely knew my company could never do it.” Then guess what? “My people proved me wrong in three weeks.” The takeaway? “What this tells us is that there is no assumption about how we work that should not be open to challenge.”

Accompanying Factors

Pandemic aside, we were getting into position to reconsider 9-to-5 anyway. The paradigm has been around for about 100 years. “In 1926, Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, started the concept of a five-day, 40-hour workweek for his assembly line workers — down from much longer hours. The 9-to-5 workday was created to serve the needs of business titans who ran manufacturing plants that relied upon lots of people standing on assembly lines.”

Since then, the fabric of our economy has shifted from a manufacturing base to service. So has the composition of the workforce. “Rethinking 9-to-5: The Rise of Flexible Work Hours and Telecommuting” explains. “Today, work has changed dramatically and the corporate landscape looks nothing like it did in the days of Henry Ford. With the decline of manufacturing, the rise of women in the workplace and, more recently, the acceleration of new technology, it has become less necessary for everyone to work the same eight-hour shift.”

Let’s focus on the point about technology to underscore its significance. CNBC.com reports that the World Economic Forum says that we have arrived at the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In short: “The first two revolutions were about mass production. The third turned us into knowledge workers bound in offices. This revolution is about breaking free of geography. It is being driven by the technology to help us do that.” There’s more. Email, cloud computing and a growing legion of other high tech tools enables workers to attend to their responsibilities at any and all hours, not limited to 9 to 5. No wonder this post subscribes to the view that “The future of jobs won’t be about 9-to-5 office hours.”

So Why Haven’t Businesses Done Away With 9-to-5?

Some firms already have gone down this path. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cites “10 Forward-Looking Companies Offering Flexible Work.” It notes: “As workplaces adopt new technology and innovative management philosophies, some companies are ditching old-school, nine-to-five office requirements.” Among those featured in this group are three iconic organizations — American Express, Dell, and UnitedHealth Group.

Of this trio, Dell is “a pioneer in flexible work scheduling.” Its “Connected Workplace” program, initiated in 2009, enables employees to not only work remotely, but also in whatever way they choose. Some 60% of its workforce takes advantage of these flexible options.

What’s another big-name company in this pack? It’s the subject of “A huge tech company just killed the 9-5 workday for good.” And that firm is Salesforce. Its chief people officer asserted that it “no longer makes sense to expect employees to work an eight-hour shift and do their jobs successfully.” From that perspective, employees have the “flexibility in how, when and where” they choose to work. Following through on the gist of this piece, this spokesperson declares: “The 9-to-5 workday is dead.”

How to Get Started

Harvard Business Review points the way. “Breaking Free from a ‘9 to 5’ Culture” declares: “the future of work points to more asynchronous ways of working.” Before delving into the strategies offered here, it’s worth defining a term—asynchronous. Remote.com explains. “Asynchronous (async) work is a way for workers to organize the order in which tasks are executed to align with their own timetable.” In other words, an async system does not require all employees to be at the same place and work at the same time.

Let’s say a business seeks to veer from the 9-to-5 structure. How should it adopt an asynchronous way of working? HRB suggests:

Go top down

Get buy-in from upper management. The highest-ranking members of the firm also need to exemplify this new mode. “Whether you are looking to shift to an asynchronous way of working at the team, department, or company level, it needs to start with the leadership of the entity.”

Emphasize effects

“Identifying clear goals and outcomes will allow employees working asynchronously to focus on the desired results versus when, where, or how the work is done.” This mindset and work style represents a change from “here’s all the work to be done” to “here’s the outcomes we want.”

Categorize

Sometimes all hands must be onboard, e.g., initial project planning sessions, client meetings. “Distinguish which tasks and activities are better conducted synchronously.” Note: “Higher-touch activities such as conducting one-on-ones, providing others with coaching, feedback, and mentoring, as well as some onboarding activities, should also be conducted live.”

Uncover and set expectations

Work cultures are deep-rooted; changing them is complex. Consider engaging an external facilitator, who “can help the team surface, articulate, and challenge [the] existing rules and assumptions so the team [can] let go of them.” Examples of unwritten rules: “acceptable response time, what topics require a meeting, the standard length of meetings and how these meetings are run.”

Clarify and commit

What will new ways of working look like? “Identify dependencies for various workstreams and stakeholder needs. How will these be met? Make clear agreements around several elements, such as the use of various technologies and when these technologies are shut off.” Formulate policies and accountabilities.

Test and tweak

Transitioning to a new culture requires time and tinkering. Check back, assess and alter, as needed. “Making the shift to asynchronous work is not a ‘one-and-done’ event, but an iterative process that will likely need adjustments and fine tuning over time to successfully make the change.”

Set inclusion front and center

Keep clear sight of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “The task will be for leaders to be thoughtful and intentional with respect to inclusion.” Awareness is foundation, followed by facilitation and all that entails. “Creating this awareness and offering trainings for managers and leaders on inclusive leadership can help set up the shift to asynchronous work for greater success.”

Just ask

Forbes recommends going straight to the source to get started. “Instead of the 9-to-5, it would make more sense for companies to ask their employees what type of schedules would work best for them. Some may select to start the day later and stay a few hours. Others could request coming in early and leaving a little around 3 p.m. or 4 p.m.” Survey and accommodate as best possible.

Benefits and Timetable

Both employees and employers gain from cracking the 9-to-5 mold. It’s a win-win.

On the employee side of the equation, knitpeople.com contends workers increase efficiency by doing their jobs at the best times for them; consequently, that triggers higher quality output. They focus better on their tasks with less distraction and manage time more effectively, which enhances engagement with their work. In all, they derive greater work-life balance and health and wellness.

For employers, the change aligns with the wants and needs of workers, especially younger ones. PwC’s Next Gen: A global generational study found that 64% of millennial employees “would like to shift their work hours.” Why? It keeps employees satisfied, which lowers turnover. In addition, it enhances productivity and reduces overhead costs. One more? Flexjobs.com notes that “work flexibility appeals to highly educated and experienced workers;” it thus attracts high-caliber employees.

When will the movement away from 9 to 5 occur in a meaningful way? The Forbes post advocates the time to change is “now.” That is seconded by “Why you should be working asynchronously in 2022.” Others put the timetable further out in the future. Although Forbes asserts “it’s only inertia holding us back from changing the 9-to-5, five days a week program. It’s time to consider other options.” Some companies may act accordingly, others not. But regardless: “The change in 9-to-5 will eventually happen, one way or another.”

That may occur via natural progression. “The future of jobs won’t be about 9-to-5 office hours, as power shifts to millennial leaders” suggests it’s just a matter of time until we say goodbye to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” elegy. “As younger generations take management reins, remote work and flexible work models will just be the norm.” So set your sights to see this inflection point “within the next 10 to 15 years.”