For finance, hybrid work is here to stay.
Such is the resounding message from our wide pool of informants that provided us with in-depth insights for this research. When it comes to understanding the nature of hybrid work and how it links with cost efficiency, productivity, teamwork, innovations, organisational culture, digital technologies, employee well-being, and DEI, our research shows that the evidence is nuanced.
Defining hybrid work.
Participants had a common understanding of hybrid as a combination of working from home/other remote location and being intermittently present in the office to work face-to-face on-site. Additionally, we confirmed that all modes of work — hybrid, remote, distant, face-to-face, or on-site, and their combinations — imply a degree of flexibility, which reflects the true nature of tasks and relationships underpinning the work in finance. This is linked to the dynamism and fluidity faced by the profession, as evidenced in our emerging theme report ‘The Changing Role and Mandate of Finance’. This report factors in the expanding finance role, as well as the spirit of collaboration, business partnering, and continuous learning that has been reiterated throughout the entire Future of Finance 2.0 research. The reports in this series all reflect the reality of our work and life now and into the future.
Although many finance professionals report using hybrid, how it is implemented varies. In other words, whether the number of days in the office is mandated or colleagues are given discretion to decide on it individually is not universal and aligns with industry norms and organisational and cultural specifics. Therefore, our conclusion is that there is not proven optimal application for hybrid in finance yet. It needs to ensure coordination and efficiency, but also leverage interactions and business partnering models so that the social fabric of the organisation is enhanced. Notably, a small portion of our participants reported that their finance teams work entirely remotely because this ties in with the entity’s business model. Their experiences of socialisation and efficiency in the workplace are also evolving.
Participants agreed that working in the office has great benefits because it improves collaboration both within and outside the finance team. In-person exchanges tap into formal, informal, verbal, and nonverbal communication, facilitating idea generation and sharing and, from there, co-learning. Working in the office with other colleagues can foster productivity, creativity, and innovations in a way that is difficult to replicate remotely. This is particularly important for new hires’ learning and acculturation.
Leading in hybrid
The best practices of leadership skills and communication skills probably stay the same, but the online environment is just making them more challenging.
The pandemic has given us a space to experiment successfully with remote work. Finance teams proved that they can adapt and be efficient in different modalities of work. Their information technology competencies and reasonable level of organisational digitalisation supported that. However, the transition was more challenging for leaders. Managing and coordinating remotely requires even more skillful leaders. Participants noted a positive change in how remote and hybrid work normalised limiting micromanagement and relying more on colleagues’ proactiveness. When working from home, employees are relied on to lead themselves productively and resourcefully, making reasonable decisions about when and how to communicate or escalate information or ideas. And although it may appear that remote work deflates one’s enabling skills, because of the isolation, the opposing view was confirmed; to be aligned and efficient in that mode, finance professionals need even more enabling skills. Participants pointed specifically at leadership, online and in-person presentation and communication, data storytelling, interpersonal and teamworking skills, self-directed learning, and digital aptitudes as particularly relevant and sought after.
Productivity and collaboration in hybrid
Hybrid — one aspect which is difficult to manage, build and to keep is team building, integrity, creativity of the team. And from one side, hybrid is more flexible, more efficient. But from another, when you have something new, when you have new people in the team, to build that community, joint community with common goals, purpose, and feeling for the company, the ownership with company [is difficult].
Remote work can be more productive because employees avoid lengthy commutes and some unwelcome distractions in the office. But when discussing how the finance team can use it optimally, we found that opinions vary with their level of seniority. Those who execute routine, transactional work may no longer see a reason to be in the office. At the same time, leaders, concerned with collaboration and team learning, recognise the loss of creativity and spontaneity. As noted by a finance leader from the Czech Republic energy sector, ‘you can’t really do brainstorming over Zoom’. Thus, many participants felt that natural opportunities to learn, develop the team, and resolve conflicts are missed in remote working. Opinions were divided at the end of the pandemic, and some employees needed to be persuaded to switch from remote to hybrid mode. Leaders fear that unless hybrid is harnessed, new workplace practices may negatively affect the culture. As observed by a financial analyst from the professional services sector in India, ‘everyone is functioning from a cocoon’. Remote work was the best solution during the pandemic and many teams operated successfully in it, but the general view is that hybrid better suits the needs of the modern workplace and what finance professionals are aspiring to achieve in it.
The hybrid workplace — a melting pot for professional and social exchanges
Whether hybrid work ultimately results in cost efficiency is yet to be confirmed. Obviously, less presence on-site calls for optimisation of office spaces. This includes not only the square footage used, but also the need to reconfigure the office to reflect its new and emerging purpose as a melting pot for professional and social exchanges: a space for human interaction, collaboration, brainstorming, workshops, and connection. In addition, investments in information technology, hardware, or data security systems may be required.
One of the few positive things I think happened from COVID is, the things we considered impossible before are possible [now].
One advantage of the hybrid mode is that it brings access to a wider pool of talent. Businesses can now recruit people who live outside the immediate proximity of the office but are willing to commute occasionally. This may help organisations engage skillful finance professionals and give them the opportunity to develop. But according to our participants, how and when such solutions materialise is unclear, and we will continue discussing that with leaders and finance professionals.
Hybrid work raises several other important questions:
How will hybrid working continue to affect team cohesion and finance business partnering? Do organisations need new performance measures to capture the reality of hybrid work and outcomes achieved in this mode? How can leaders motivate people to step up when working from home? Can office-based collaboration be enhanced?
These are important reflection points that need to be addressed and will be explored further in our ongoing research initiatives.
Work-life balance, career progression, and DEI in hybrid work
Messages around work-life balance in remote and hybrid work are again mixed. Some participants say it contributes to the type of ‘always on’ culture by making them feel pressured to respond to queries at any time of the day — a consequence of the accessibility and connectivity that may have become normalised during lockdowns. Others found that the new workplace improves their well-being by giving personal preference and choice. This comes from both reduced travel time, but also acceptance of online communication as equally professional and credible. Overall, the remote work during the pandemic forced employers to factor in more well-being and work-life balance, and those changes stayed after lockdowns lifted. Most of the participants think that requiring 100% on-site work dissuades job candidates.
You can get the silver medal, but if you want the gold medal, you need to be in the office, so you can build the rapport.
Isolation during lockdowns highlighted the importance of in-person communication. Finance professionals value and benefit from such opportunities. Shared knowledge, experience, and ideas allow for learning, which is difficult to replicate in the online mode. The leaders we spoke to believe that colleagues who attend the office have better chances of being promoted because they find themselves in the middle of all the critical conversations and situations, which opens opportunities up to contribute and upskill. This assumes that most of the leaders and colleagues are frequently in the office and that the office has transformed into a social hub for dialogue and co-creation.
Whether this discriminates against posts that are offered as completely remote, depriving colleagues of peer learning and mentoring, remains to be answered. There is a question also about whether hybrid work facilitates unconscious bias towards people that you see in person and how it affects presenteeism (working long hours in the office without being productive). We encourage you to engage with these questions and consider your own circumstances.
Hybrid work and Gen Next
Interteam collaborations are a critical part of the learning journey towards becoming an effective business partner. When discussing the next generation of finance professionals and their induction into the working life during the pandemic, our participants raised many questions. Did the experience make them more self-absorbed, given that they worked in semi-isolation? Have they managed to build collaborative working relationships? Did they get to grips with how the business and culture in the organisation work? These are critical questions that require additional evidence and a longer time horizon. We will continue to explore them in the light of organisational values and how finance professionals contribute to positive developments and value creation.
Hybrid and business partnering in the workplace of tomorrow
Accountants are not associated with purpose and empathy and all those things that matter in the world basically as well. So, putting in those nonfinancial aspects of hybrid working. … But partnership in this space, I think is going to be huge … The skills on how to invest in creating the workforce of tomorrow.
You’ve got to sort of teach accountants that an important part of the information gathering and analysing and judgement that they need to use, it comes from interacting outside of the accounting function.
With their competencies and strategic and collaborative approach to business operations and opportunities, finance professionals contribute to both performance results and positive organisational culture. Working remotely during the pandemic taught us to be more proactive and confidently lead the way to resolving critical situations. To facilitate the practice of close communication, proactiveness, and productive relationships, finance business partners rely on presence and in-person communication. From our research, of all the roles in finance, this one relies heavily on the immediacy of communication and ‘being there’ physically to maximise active listening, brainstorming, and timely interactions.
The conclusion from our research is that the hybrid evolution is underway, and finance teams have an important role to play in it. Hybrid policies and practices are changing both from regulatory and management perspectives, which requires organisations to empower their people to experiment and monitor results until a desired and mutually acceptable model crystallises. Trust and collegiality will support the integration of new policies and practices into an environment in which finance partners drive value creation. This defines the workplace of tomorrow.
