"'Flexible Work' Organizations Grow Faster... Attracting Diverse Talents"[Jjinbit]

Asia Economy 34th Anniversary Interview
Brian Elliott, Chairman of Future Forum USA (Slack Senior Vice President)①

Brian Elliott, Chairman of the Future Forum USA (Senior Vice President of Slack)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] "The fierce competition among companies for flexibility will continue for the next several years. About five years from now, I believe the results will show how much faster companies adopting future-oriented and flexible approaches grow compared to those that have regressed to industrialized methods."

Brian Elliott, Chairman of the U.S. Future Forum (Senior Vice President of Slack), cited ‘flexibility’ as the core of the work environment transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a written interview with Asia Economy on the 13th, Elliott emphasized, "Flexibility is no longer a privilege but a competitive advantage." As chairman of Future Forum, a consortium on organizational culture established by Slack in September 2020, he closely observed changes in work environments in major countries including the U.S. during the pandemic and recently published a book titled How The Future Works based on these insights.

◇ Flexibility is an Inevitable Trend

Elliott stressed, "Providing flexibility not only attracts a more diverse talent pool but also retains existing talent, accommodates various work styles, and broadens the talent pool. Executives who limit flexibility are likely to lose out in competition with rivals offering flexibility to attract talent." This highlights the crucial role of flexibility in securing core workforce for companies.

This situation is already unfolding. As companies declared office returns this year, conflicts have arisen worldwide. At Apple, AI expert Ian Goodfellow, who was in charge of machine learning, opposed the company’s three-day-a-week office attendance policy and moved to Google. Some big tech companies, including Airbnb, are offering ‘lifetime remote work’ conditions to secure talent. In South Korea, Naver and Kakao have declared the abolition of mandatory office attendance and institutionalization of remote work, with ongoing discussions on implementation methods.

Elliott said that the COVID-19 pandemic gave corporate leaders an opportunity to redesign rigid work practices rooted in norms over a century old and pursue structural changes. He stated, "They realized the need to shift from a traditional C-level executive-centered approach to an employee-centered one and understood that work environments must be suitable for everyone, not just a selected few." He added, "Ultimately, leaders must build trust through flexibility, lead organizations, create inclusive work environments, and provide connectivity even when employees are away from physical offices."

Elliott pointed out, "Unlike in the past, knowledge work has become more complex, requiring rapid responses, and the concept of stable teams has weakened," making it difficult for department managers to track employees’ work and progress. He continued, "Managers need better training and tools," and "They should be taught clear processes for asynchronously updating status without requiring employees to provide excessive updates, thus avoiding a kind of Zoom fatigue, while clearly sharing team priorities."

◇ Investment in Digital Headquarters Increases Sense of Belonging

When asked if organizational culture weakened during the pandemic due to the impossibility of face-to-face work, Elliott responded, "Organizational culture continues to change and evolve even during remote work, and organizations must invest significant time and energy to recognize and lead these cultural changes in new directions." He cited Slack’s research, noting that employees who pursued flexibility in where and when they worked in Q4 last year showed higher belonging, stronger bonds with the company, and greater loyalty to the organization.

Elliott proposed digital investment as a way to build organizational culture in remote work environments. He said, "Investing in a Digital HQ can help drive these changes. In organizations investing in technology, employee belonging increased by over 100%, and overall job satisfaction nearly doubled." He explained that building a Digital HQ is not just about converting face-to-face meetings to video calls but also includes using tools for brainstorming in virtual spaces and asynchronous collaboration.

He also mentioned that leaders frequently contacting team members can help shape organizational culture. Slack changed from holding one hour of face-to-face meetings per month to biweekly 20-minute online calls from home, communicating in a manner similar to town hall meetings.

◇ "Japan Has Lower Remote Work Rates Compared to the U.S. and Europe"

Since September 2020, Future Forum has examined quarterly changes in work environments in six countries: the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K. When asked if there were any peculiarities in Japan, the East Asian country most similar to Korea, Elliott said, "Japan showed the lowest remote work rate compared to other countries and also had the highest rate of office returns recently."

Future Forum Survey Results

According to a survey released by Future Forum in April, Japan’s full office attendance rate was 50.9%, significantly higher than the global average of 34.4%. Regarding plans to find a different job within the next 12 months, 53.4% responded ‘No,’ exceeding the overall average of 45.3%. Although there have been many reports of Japanese companies attempting to introduce a four-day workweek to enhance work flexibility, the overall work environment remains more conservative compared to other countries.

◆ About Brian Elliott…

- Current Senior Vice President of Slack and Chairman of Future Forum / Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, MBA from Harvard University / Former Head of Google Express / Former Partner at Boston Consulting Group / Author of the book How The Future Works

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.