From smart working to hybrid work and the new professions: not only companies but also the liberal professions in the future will be influenced by new working habits.

Even in the moderately short term, the trends that will characterise and shape the world of work outline the prospects. In addition to theartificial intelligencewhose effects in business and professional environments will in many cases be very considerable, an important weight will however also be played by the hybrid work.

Having emerged as a 'life-saving' resource during the pandemic period and gradually enhanced by further advances in digital technology, millions of people today are changing their habits precisely because of the operational flexibility granted to them by their companies. This trend, according to various authoritative studies (including one by Stanford University), is destined to strengthen in the future, with around a third or more of high employment profiles, the so-called 'white collars"will continue to work both in presence and remote mode in the long term.

Reading a recent report of IWGone of the world's leading providers of smart working spaces (it owns brands such as Regus, Spaces and Copernico), which put under the magnifying glass some of the components that make up the "hybrid working', the dimension of the subject appears. Large companies, as well as large professional firms, identify a new professional figure: the "Chief Hybrid Officer". Innovative companies such as Meta, Doist and GitLab have already placed their bets on this figure, and more and more realities will use a CHO to supervise and optimise hybrid work environments and processes in the years to come, with the aim of balancing employees' needs between home and office without jeopardising productivity and overcoming logistical criticalities. Next to the Chief Hybrid Officer, IWG's experts also see another emerging professional, named 'Office Synchroniser' and tasked with finding the most appropriate solutions to ensure the most effective collaboration between different colleagues.

 "The hybrid model,' Mark Dixon, Founder and CEO of IWG, emphasised in a note, 'is radically changing our approach to work, and companies that adopt it will attract the best talent and get the most out of their human resources, while reducing costs. The pace of this change will continue into 2024 as more and more workers and organisations realise the obvious benefits in terms of culture, sustainability and beyond.".

In short, the game is now more alive than ever, and one of the priorities that companies must look to is (not surprisingly) the search for the 'perfect' balance between increased flexibility and time, a balance that can act as a stimulus for open collaboration and communication between people and a cohesive and shared commitment on their part. The adoption of hybrid work, this is the assumption, is thus not only synonymous with greater operational flexibility but also a driver for the development of a dynamic and inclusive corporate culture, capable of fostering the growth of diverse perspectives and contributing to improved people satisfaction.

A more 'holistic' attitude towards employees, partners and among partners themselves.

Embracing a hybrid work model will mean, for companies and managers, for firms, partners and collaborators, adopting a more holistic approach to the needs of staff who also work remotely and, consequently, paying more attention to innovative benefit packages that could become mainstream and make a difference in the talent race. We are talking specifically about benefits such as pet care and leave for caregivers, and more generally about company policies that can meet workers' expectations of greater wellbeing, from increased parental leave to interventions to address the burnout with adequate mental health support. Companies will also be called upon to play an increasingly active role in addressing the childcare challenge and provide concrete support to parents working remotely, a requirement deemed essential to maintain a diverse and skilled workforce.

Diversity and more generally DE&I strategies (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) will also have a significant impact on the design of office space and furniture in the near future. Noise and lighting management and the creation of more comfortable environments will increasingly be a feel-good factor for employees working in presence while, in concert, hybrid work organisation will make progressive contributions to environmental sustainability (according to recent research by IWG and Arup, drastically reducing commuting can help cut harmful emissions by up to 70% in the UK and up to 87% in the US).

In short, hybrid work also as a recovery of the quality of life that can only be reflected and matched by greater efficiency, higher labour productivity and greater profitability for companies and consultancy firms oriented to the new frontiers of the professions, in view of the challenge launched by artificial intelligence.

Law & Consulting