Skip to content
Skip to main content
header search
ahihi OpenLearn
OpenLearn
Menu
sticky search

About this free course

Become an OU student

Cymraeg

Download this course

Share this free course

Course content Course content
Hybrid working: organisational development
Hybrid working: organisational development

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

More free courses

4.3 The evolution of the employee

When people are put first, and a human-centred approach is taken, organisations need to consider what this will mean in reality, given the environment the organisation operates – what is possible? When there is finite resource, budget and limitations on infrastructure.

By understanding the evolution of the employee, organisations can start to design how they will work by considering the implications and how they can manage expectations and needs between organisations, teams and individuals.

Jacob Morgan’s info graphic succinctly visualises how the employee’s relationship to work has evolved.

Described image
Figure 17: The Evolution of the employee
Show description|Hide description

Image showing the evolution of the employee (past/future) and how expectations have changed over time. Past/future changes are given as:

Work 9 to 5/work anytime; Work in a corporate office/work anywhere; use company equipment/use any device; focused on inputs/focused on outputs; climb the corporate ladder/create your own ladder; pre-defined work/customised work; hoards information/shares information; no voice/can become a leader; relies on emails/relies on collaboration technologies; focused on knowledge/focused on adaptive learning; corporate learning and teaching/democratised learning and teaching.

Figure 17: The Evolution of the employee

In the video below, Jacob Morgan explains the evolution of the employee, and what this might mean for organisations.

Download this video clip.Video player: hyb_1_2022_sep114_evolution_of_the_employee_jacob_morgan.mp4
Copy this transcript to the clipboard
Print this transcript
Show transcript | Hide transcript

Transcript

JACOB MORGAN
In-- I think it’s 2014 now, which is crazy. It’s almost a decade ago. I created this concept called the Evolution of Employee Experience, basically talking about, how did we get to where we are today? In other words, why is employee experience such an important topic?
And there were four stages of that evolution to get us to where we are today. The first one was utility. And this is if you go way, way back in the day, as far as how organisations were structured, really, the only thing that employees needed or were given or things to get their jobs done. That was it.
So in other words, if you were in some sort of an office function or role, you were given a desk. You were given a phone. You were given a computer, if computers existed at that time, a notepad, a pen and paper, and that’s it.
It was really just about utility. You really were a cog. You were just there for a very specific function. And you were given the bare minimum of the tools and resources that you needed to be able to perform that function. Nothing beyond that was given to you.
And then I think, after a while, we realised, hey, wait a minute. This is probably not the most effective way for us to build organisations, and maybe we can do things a little bit better. How do we get a little bit more out of our employees?
And then we moved from this era of utility to this era of productivity. And productivity was really about, how do we get more out of our employees? How do we do more in terms of employee optimisation? How do we take these repeatable processes and standardise them and create rules around them?
And at that point, you employees were literally timed with stopwatches to shave seconds off of their tasks that they were doing to try to get them to be more efficient and more productive. I kind of think of analogies for employees that are like a lemon or some sort of a fruit. And the organisation was trying to get every last drop of juice out of those employees.
And then we moved to this era of engagement. And, again, we realised, hey, wait a minute. This probably isn’t the most effective way for us to think about employees. We shouldn’t just be viewing them as resources where we try to get as much as we can out of them. We should try to focus on making them happy.
And we introduced these concepts like employee engagement. We started doing annual employee surveys. We focused on corporate culture.
But the problem with that period is that we really viewed employee engagement as kind of like a short-term adrenaline shot. And what I mean by that is typically, what happens in any company is nobody ever shows up on day one thinking, this place sucks, right?
On day one, people are genuinely excited to be a part of your company. They are excited to work on cool things, to meet their team. They were ready to make an impact.
And then what happens is through outdated workplace practices, office politics, bureaucracy, their engagement, their satisfaction, their happiness levels dip. And at that point, the organisation does their wonderful annual employee engagement survey. And the company realises that they have a 72.
And then they go to their HR teams, and they say, hey, my goodness. We have a 72. We need, like, a 98. How can you guys improve this?
And a bunch of HR people get together around a table. And somebody says, hey, who’s got an idea? How do we improve employee engagement? And one of the HR people sheepishly raised their hand in the back, and they say, why don’t we give employees free food on Thursdays? Genius idea.
And what happens? Employee engagement satisfaction and happiness goes up. And then, again, outdated office politics, bureaucracy, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It goes back down.
And, again, we do our annual survey, and we freak out, and we say, what else can we do? And we say, well, why don’t we give them hot yoga on Fridays? And you can kind of see where this is going, right? In other words, we’re not making any core changes to the workplace practices.
We’re really just using employee engagement as an adrenaline shot. And when people aren’t happy, we give them something to get them to shut up and close their eyes to the reality of what it’s like to work for the company. And we keep giving them things and things and things. And then, when they wear off, we give them other things.
And this isn’t true change to the organisation. We’re not revisiting workplace practices. We’re not really making any changes whatsoever as far as leadership, as far as how work gets done, as far as what it means to be an employee. We’re just distracting employees from the sad reality of their lives.
And I think that’s gone on for a very, very long time. And that brought us to the realm of employee experience. And this is something that I’ve talked about for many, many years now.
And employee experience is about making changes to the core workplace practices of your organisation, around your people, focusing on three environments that your organisation can control, which are culture, technology, and space-- culture, technology, and space.
Culture is how employees feel working for you. Technology is about the tools and resources employees have access to to do their jobs. And space is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the spaces in which employees work, whether that’s a headquarters a home office, a co-working facility, or what have you.
And I think this is the world that we’re in now. And companies are really understanding and appreciating the value of employee experience. It’s the number one business trend, the number one business focus for organisations around the world, because this is how you attract and retain talent. And it really boils down to this theme of, how do we create an organisation where people actually want to be there, not where they need to be there?
And that I think is what employee experience is all about. And that’s what this evolution of employee experience image really signifies and represents is how we went from utility to productivity to engagement to experience over the past few years.
End transcript
Download
 
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

The evolution of the employee must be considered alongside the Hybrid Ways of Working: A Contextual Framework because the elements within it will have an impact on your decisions as a leader, for example around cyber security. Hybrid working can mean organisations have less control over how, where and what devices employees use, which means that good online security policies and procedures for both employees and contractors are essential.

Now and the future

The evolution of the employee diagram above clearly shows the shift in expectations; some are already a reality, and understanding them will help you plan better for the future.

Work anytime: Employees set how they work their contracted hours around the needs of the outputs they need to deliver and the teams they are working with. This is especially important for those working on international projects, working across time zones, or those who welcome the flexibility to fit around their family commitments or have found that early mornings or late nights are when they perform best, with fewer distractions.

Work anywhere: Where does someone need to be to work? The pandemic has brought to the forefront that people can and will work anywhere if needed, for example those who regularly travel for business will frequently sit in cafés, airports, hotels to work. Online security and secure Wi-Fi access becomes essential in these situations.

Use any device: As an organisation you need to consider what devices your employees – and contractors – are using. People are using multiple devices as technology makes it easier to access work systems from smartphones and tablets, not just desktop computers or employer-issued laptops.

Focused on outputs: Trusting employees to deliver their outputs rather than ‘presenteeism’ allows flexible working and gives employees ownership over their work. Managing this can be challenging: leaders need to be able to monitor not only whether those outputs are delivered, but also whether employees are managing their workload effectively – both in terms of too little and too much – which can be hidden when working in hybrid teams.

Create your own ladder: Depending on the environment in which you operate, not all careers have a formal path of starting at the bottom of the ladder and working your way up. For many there is no fixed route, especially where the job they might go into doesn’t exist today or hasn’t even been imagined. People move in all directions within their careers, often completely changing their vocation and lifestyle choices.

Customised work: Many employees who can do so are managing their own careers and choosing to work for organisations or on projects either as employees or on contracts that fit with their lifestyles and career interests. Often the decisions are not about the career ladder, but their own motivations and values.

Can become a leader: The voice of the employee has become more valuable, especially as we come out of the pandemic, to understand their needs and share their ideas, thoughts and concepts that can help organisations develop. Access to people through collaboration platforms is enabling people to lead especially on projects, but also to lead others both formally and informally. A leader is not now seen as someone who has just been given that title, but through the actions they display to bring others together and take them on a journey.

Knowledge vs adaptive learning: The ability to find ‘knowledge’ via an internet search means most people can find an answer with ease. What becomes more important is an employee’s critical thinking skills to interpret that knowledge, and learn new things to adapt, understand interdependencies and apply the learnings to new situations and scenarios.

Everyone’s a teacher or a student: While formal education and organisational learning is still required, encouraging informal learning allows employees to quickly learn from each other, connect and build networks. Access to ‘learning’ through online platforms and networks such as OpenLearn, FutureLearn, Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, TikTok and YouTube has made it more accessible, cheaper and faster.

Source: adapted from The evolution of the employee [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]

Activity 12: What makes a good employee and student experience?

Timing: 15 minutes

Think about the expectations of ‘evolving employees’ and students, and what Josh Morgan believes organisations need to be focusing on for a good employee experience. Listen to Alayla Castle-Herbert, Policy Officer (Learning & Teaching) talking to Louise Casella, Director – The Open University in Wales about their experience of starting a new role.

Download this video clip.Video player: hyb_1_2022_sep115_employee_perspective_alayla_louise.mp4
Copy this transcript to the clipboard
Print this transcript
Show transcript | Hide transcript

Transcript

ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Hi, Louise. We’re just kind of here to talk about, I suppose, experiences of working in the OU, experiences particularly kind of working remotely in marginalised communities, and talk a bit about my personal experience. We haven’t spoken about this before, have we? So I guess it’s one of kind of opportunities to have a discussion about what things might look like for people working at the OU, and perhaps what the last two years have looked like working remotely, and now, as we kind of move forward.
LOUISE CASELLA
Thanks, Alayla. It’s really helpful to me to hear that. And I think one of the things that I’ve been reflecting on is that as we’ve gone into hybrid working, as we’re working in a different way, how different everybody’s experiences are now. Because before, people would arrive at the office, go home at the end of the day, and I could probably never-- unless somebody wanted to share it with me-- never had to really think about what their experience outside their office day was like. And I think one of the things that’s interesting to me now is to understand, from people’s lived experiences, how hybrid working impacts on them. So I’d love to learn more about how it feels like from your perspective to have this mixed economy of working, if you like.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yeah. Well, as you know, I kind of started at the beginning of lockdown. So I was very new to the OU just as things started. And I know for me, at that point, and kind of now, I was living by myself. So it was kind of a big thing. It felt very intense in the beginning, when everything felt heightened, everything felt panicky.
LOUISE CASELLA
It did, yeah.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yeah. And I suppose, too, then, for me, because it was kind of a new job, not wanting to get it wrong, you know? New organisation, wanting to prove yourself. But then also not having those connections, not having people, not being able to make those connections in the workplace at that point in time. And it was quite isolating for me, even though I had great support from my line manager. But it’s not it’s not the same as being here, is it? It’s not the same. It doesn’t give the same structure.
And it just it felt a lot. It felt kind of very intense, I suppose. And I think since then, I suppose we’ve done quite a lot around doing remote inductions, because I was kind of one of the first. Yeah. So I think there are things in place for that now.
But I guess if you live by yourself and you’re in front of a screen all day-- and some days, it’ll be full of meetings, and then other days, you’ve just got your head down, and you’re doing your work, and then you’re, like, oh, didn’t actually-- unless you’re speaking to friends and family and things are opening up, so I can see them again now. But there definitely was a period of time where it felt like a lot.
LOUISE CASELLA
I mean, it’s really interesting hearing you saying that, because I think I thought, at home, it felt like a lot. But I had company at home. And you clearly were there alone, and learning a new job, and learning a whole new organisation and everything else. Do you think we’ve learned from that? What would you say to us in the senior team that you think we should learn? Have we learnt enough? What else could we be doing?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
I think so. I think kind of at the start, there were kind of social things. But you know, and we all know, that it requires a bit more. Things don’t happen as organically working remotely, and I guess I’m probably more likely to put myself out there than perhaps some other individuals. So there is a certain reaching out. And it is very hard to do, because there’s an element of wanting to almost cocoon yourself sometimes.
LOUISE CASELLA
Yeah.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
So yes. I think we have learned. But there’s probably more, I guess, around noticing when people are isolating themselves, noticing when people aren’t reaching out, and noticing when people are choosing not to engage or only engaging in, I suppose, the limited function to get the job done, perhaps not more.
LOUISE CASELLA
Yeah. There’s a difference between getting your job done and engaging, or getting the tasks done.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yes. But not really--
LOUISE CASELLA
But not getting-- not being part of a larger community of achievement.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
I think so. And you know, the OU is a community. The OU in Wales feels like a community, and that’s something that I feel. The people who I’ve connected with, mostly it’s about shared interests, and all of those things.
And you know, work is another place where you get that. It’s another thing that makes you feel connected. It’s another thing that makes you want to do your job and want to turn up to work, whether that’s remotely or literally come to the office.
LOUISE CASELLA
How supported were you in doing it?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Very, I would say. You know?
LOUISE CASELLA
Could we have made it easier?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Um, I think we were all learning, at that point. And we were all sort of thrown into it. And there was very much that kind of-- we’ll just have to try things out and see how they work. But probably, I guess, in terms of getting those connections beyond work.
LOUISE CASELLA
I appreciate that you have a confidence about you, that you’re willing to do that. There may be others who are much quieter. And I think partly, is it about opening up different ways, different pathways, and making sure there’s a multitude of them that people can connect in through?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
I mean, absolutely. I think there’s an element of throwing things at people and seeing what sticks, or what certain people can relate to more than others.
LOUISE CASELLA
Yeah.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
And you know, I’m particularly very interested in inclusion and have that focus very much. And you know, I think when we’re talking about ways to connect, in some respects, I always try to think of them as the, let’s say, wholesome ways to connect-- but you know, things that are apart from going to the pub, things that don’t involve things that might kind of exclude other people. Although that is absolutely an important bonding thing.
LOUISE CASELLA
Because it’s interesting for me, because of course, you’ve taken a particular – but you’ve got a particular responsibility in the OU in Wales about student voice, about including student voice in what we do. And our students are remote and out there. So is there stuff from that we can learn from about what you’ve been doing with students, that we could apply a bit more into staff as well?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Good question.
LOUISE CASELLA
Because you’ve been looking at kind of digitally creating communities, and supporting them to be a community online.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yes. I mean, there probably are things that we could learn all about doing it more consciously. I think it is that, and putting that effort in. So you know, I don’t know. They do, like, fantastic, really easy things, the Students Association. Just, how are you feeling today, three emojis, that’s it. And they get hundreds of people responding. It doesn’t require anything more than-- anything more complicated than actually trying to articulate and find the right words.
LOUISE CASELLA
So some of that stuff’s really simple, isn’t it?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yeah, it is.
LOUISE CASELLA
But it needs thinking about.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Responding and connecting. But it needs more. Yeah, it needs thinking about. But yeah, there definitely are ways to do it. I don’t think-- and this is a personal preference-- I don’t think you can lose that face-to-face, though.
LOUISE CASELLA
That’s interesting, because you were one of the earlier come-back-to-the-office people, weren’t you?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yes. Intentionally.
LOUISE CASELLA
Intentionally. And that’s why you made the choice. When the choice was there, that suited you.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yeah.
LOUISE CASELLA
Yeah. What fed into your decision around that?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
I think, for me, you know, I know how I work and I prefer to work, and having that structure in place, as well as having the opportunity to meet people in person. But actually being able to get on the bus or walk to work, and having that separation between things.
LOUISE CASELLA
I like that as well.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yeah. I think the first moment I got to leave my laptop here and then just know that I could come back to it the next day, but I wasn’t taking it home-- like, it’s just a feeling of--
LOUISE CASELLA
That’s symbolic.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
It is symbolic. And it’s a closing off of one part of your life to then go on to the other part of your life.
LOUISE CASELLA
So now, when we’re thinking about the next-- not the next two months, but the next two years, or beyond-- how would you like us to develop our working practices? What do you want to hang on to, and what do you want to change?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
I think the flexibility, definitely. I like to come into the office more than work at home, but actually not being constrained by days, you know? Just simple things like if you’ve got somebody coming around to do the boiler, it’s not an issue. You’re just, like, oh, I’m just working from home, you know? And then I’ll come in another day, and the ease of being able to do that-- it just kind of is not another thing you have to tick off in your mind or think, oh, I need to ask whether I need to do this.
LOUISE CASELLA
Have your personal circumstances changed at all, or are you still on your own at home? So is that, being here, still part of-- being in the office still part of giving you more structure?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
It’s definitely given me more structure. I’m in a relationship now so it’s not quite the kind of-- although I’m at home in the day by myself. I’m not in the evenings. So that’s a part of it, definitely. But I think for me, having the structure and having your key people at work-- like, your people-- really matters, as well as the casual people you’ll talk to in the kitchen, and all that.
LOUISE CASELLA
I find that important, that it’s not just about coming in for meetings, or this task or that task, but it’s about seeing you on the stairs and saying hello, or asking somebody else something, and just the two-minute conversations, as well as the two-hour meetings. That’s as important.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
I do feel very glad, I guess, that really, kind of, you have quite clearly articulated that it is important, because that’s not happening to, like, my friends. That’s not necessarily happening in other parts of the OU, potentially. But you’ve kind of articulated that the office space is important, having that space is important, what that looks like in the future is important. And that’s reassuring to me to have that voiced so clearly, because that’s what I want to hear.
But you know, it does build trust in the fact that I think it will happen. It will get done. I won’t kind of get all of that ripped out from underneath you, and that kind of source of support that that provides.
LOUISE CASELLA
So that’s interesting, because here, you see it as a sort of support, and that reassurance-- they aren’t words that people have used with me before about what the office means to them. Because I think it’s about it being more than a functional space.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, I’m big on community and making sure that people feel happy and comfortable to come to work, and that feels like something that they enjoy doing. So yeah, you spend how many hours of the day doing your job. There’s a line, but you don’t want it to just be doing a job. You want it to be all these other things as well.
LOUISE CASELLA
Did you get good separation between work and home when you were at home all the time?
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
I was more fortunate than other people in that I had a space where I could close the door.
LOUISE CASELLA
Right.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
And that’s definitely something that other people didn’t and still don’t have. But psychologically, even then, not the same-- not for me. So I guess, you know, like I said, I do feel comfortable and reassured by the fact that we are going through whatever this looks like together. And I feel like that’s a collective thing, even though you’re leading the way on it, I guess, in terms of actions for kind of what does that look like going forward.
LOUISE CASELLA
I suppose for me, it’s about keeping my mind open to what are the circumstances people are living through, as well as being in the office now, so that we make sure that the office environment works for everybody. So perhaps one of the actions for me is to make sure we’ve got a good variety of voices involved in that planning.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Yeah, definitely. I know we’re having this conversation today, but we’re having this conversation because I’m more comfortable after having this conversation with you. And there are so many people who perhaps aren’t getting their voices heard, potentially. And it’s about finding other avenues to reach those people.
LOUISE CASELLA
That’s a really useful thing for me to take away and to consider how we open up enough ways for people comfortably to get their voice heard. Thanks, Alayla.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
OK.
LOUISE CASELLA
Thank you.
ALAYLA CASTLE-HERBERT
Thank you for taking the time.
End transcript
Download
 
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

What might this mean for your organisation, what policies and procedures might be required?

How flexible can you be as an organisation, both for employees and for students?

How can you ensure the best experience for those within your organisation?

Comment

Much of the focus of this model appears to be based on those workers who have some control over their work, but what does this mean for those who need to be onsite and have ‘prescriptive’ tasks – for example ‘on site catering roles’.

What could be the challenges if an organisation focuses on those who can work more flexibly, while not considering the impact of those in ‘constrained’ roles?

As ways of working change, it is important to consider all the stakeholders in an organisation, and what you are required to by law to consider/adhere to. While in some areas employees can work more flexibility, others either due to their ‘job’ or their individual needs cannot. It is essential to consider equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility when developing your organisation.

To explore this further, the following articles from McKinsey provide further insights into employee’s needs.

Three types of modern flexibility today’s workers demand | McKinsey & Company

This time it’s personal: Shaping the ‘new possible’ through employee experience | McKinsey