Businesses are backing a return to the office, but does their top talent?

There doesn’t seem to be a day that goes by at the moment, without there being a poll asking what flexibility people want from their employers, post June 21st in the UK. It seems that there is a growing appetite to ensure work life balance is the one positive that can be taken from an awful 12 months. But where does that leave employers?

We’ve seen organisations proudly state that “collaboration, innovation and culture” are all central to their reasoning in bringing people back together full time. The question is how do they achieve that whilst ensuring they keep their talented individuals engaged, when they have become used to flexibility and autonomy not seen before in the modern work place.

The other dynamic organisations mulling these questions have to contend with, is the employment market increasingly gathering pace. Whilst it may be a little early to declare that we are now in a candidate led market, there are multiple opportunities becoming available across most sectors, as confidence begins to rebound. Meaning candidates have a lot more choice than they have had in a long time. Some of this is driven from organisations looking to invest, and reinvigorate projects, postponed in 2020. However, some of it, interestingly, is from people who have taken stock over the past 12 months, who have weighed how their organisations have remained true to their values, and conducted themselves internally, and how they plan to face 2021 and beyond.

We have seen the questions people ask about organisations move to, “what is their approach to flexibility” and “how did they treat their employees through the pandemic” added to the more traditional “what is the remuneration” and “what are the opportunities for career development”.

It is a conundrum for business, but as always, the organisations that can articulate their value proposition or “Why”, most clearly, will be the ones to capture the top talents imagination and prosper.