Let's Conquer New Challenges

Representation in leadership during the last two years has taken on great relevance within the top management at companies and organizations practically everywhere in the world. People require leaders in their workplaces to value, care for, develop and consider them as human beings with potential talent.

In the scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic, leadership at the best places to work established humanitarian commitments with their associates which, at the same time, allowed them to overcome the challenges of that time with a positive balance.

The lesson from the pandemic is to break the paradigms of leadership because this is how we changed toward a focus on the person, with empathy and flexibility. This must be preserved. As Simon Sinek said, "Leadership is not about being in charge, but about taking care of the people in your charge."

The Future To Come

Today, the landscape has been reconfigured. Advances in vaccination, healthcare promotion campaigns and the encouraging, but still fragile, hope of a return to normality driven by the reactivation of economies present new challenges for the labor universe.

Organizations at the forefront of returning their associates to the workplace are encountering strong resistance from people. The benefits of working from home, commute times, the opportunity to care for family or to work from anywhere in the world are elements that people are not willing to lose so easily. Considerations include:

• Put the talent of women back on track.

The pandemic pushed us back between five and 20 years in the progress that had been made in terms of equity and inclusion of women. Many talent development programs were truncated and even the promotion of women's talent was questioned in the face of new demands for home and family care.

Commitment from senior management will be necessary to resume and strengthen mentoring programs, leadership training, and work schemes that are flexible enough for women to continue their upward trajectories.

• Return to the workplace.

Thousands of people went from the discomfort of being locked up at home to discovering the benefits of remote work. However, for many organizations, it is urgent to regroup their associates in the workplace.

For this, it is important to consider the conditions of each person and thereby develop tactics to promote the return to company facilities in a safe, respectful way that allows the employee to reorganize their personal life and maintain a good life balance.

• Income distribution

There is a phenomenon that is already beginning to manifest itself and that very few have observed. During the pandemic, employees received their salaries in an integrated manner; however their expenses and consumption habits had changed. The money destined to transport or food in the workplace, was assigned to other expenses, such as entertainment, adaptation of the workspace in their house or home maintenance.

Upon returning to the facilities, employees will have the dilemma of how to redistribute these expenses without affecting their lifestyle, which at the same time the organizations should consider through possible increases in compensation, benefits or expenses for parking or food.

• Diversity and inclusion

In the two years that the pandemic has lasted, between one and two generations of young students graduated, who immediately sought to position themselves in the job market. Digital natives entered corporations in virtual work environments, far from the company’s culture and work environment.

Now that organizations are returning to the workplace, they are meeting strong resistance from those who prefer to continue working virtually and with minimal interaction with the diversity found within organizations. Therefore, it is necessary to appeal to innovative practices that stimulate the presence in the workplace for these young people.

Where to Focus

Great Place to Work® Mexico is already prepared to help organizations face these and other challenges that will impact the climate and work culture, and that must be strategically addressed so that they operate in favor of business results.

In the short term, leaders must focus on helping their organizations transform their organizational culture in the post-pandemic era that will emerge in the coming months. In the medium term, the focus should move toward product, service and process innovation, as consumption patterns will continue to change. They must also be able to inspire new styles of leadership that will be required in the world.

The organizations that dare to rethink the way they work and that are willing to break paradigms will be the ones that take ownership of the evolution of their businesses and guarantee that their associates reach their maximum potential.