Hybrid Work is Here to Stay with Elizebeth Varghese

It's estimated that 50 percent of the workforce comprises freelancers, contractors and temporary employees. That's right – the days of traditional full-time employment are numbered. So, what does this mean for managers and HR professionals? Join Elizebeth Varghese and host Shari Simpson as they discuss thinking about work in a new way.

Guest: Elizebeth Varghese, Global Business Leader I People & Technology Strategist I Board Director I Author

Elizebeth leads and transforms organizations to achieve powerful business outcomes. She is a global business leader and advocate of servant leadership, a trusted C-suite advisor and a board director. Elizebeth furthers People, Technology and HR strategies with solutions in artificial intelligence, Blockchain and robotics - for organizations that operate worldwide and in Space. She is recognized as a global Top 100 Influencer for her continuing work as a futurist and thought leader. She is a #1 best-selling author on management and leadership. Elizebeth brings creativity and a thoughtful, collaborative approach to inspire, uncover the best thinking and exceed business results. Elizebeth is on the Council of Advisors for the SETI Institute, which works with NASA and other space agencies to explore, in understand and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe. Elizebeth champions space exploration education and programs. She is a Board member at SAYA, a non-profit organization providing after-school programming, education and college support.

Mentioned in the episode:

• Book: [Block]Chain Reaction: The Future of How We Live and Work https://amzn.to/3hHbuKE
• S.E.T.I.: https://www.seti.org/
• Website: https://elizebethvarghese.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizebethvarghese/

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
(upbeat music)
- Hey, and welcome to "PCTY Talks."
I'm your host, Shari Simpson.
During our time together,
we'll stay close to the news
and info you need to succeed as an HR pro
and together we'll explore topics
around HR thought leadership, compliance,

(00:22):
and real life HR situationswe face every day.
Joining me on the podcasttoday is Elizabeth Varghese.
She is a global business leader,
people and technology strategist,
board director, and an author.
Elizabeth, I'm so excited tohave you on the podcast today.
- Thank you so much for inviting me.

(00:42):
This is a great topic
and so much to discuss
and I really appreciatebeing include, Shari.
So looking forward to this.
- As I was looking at yourbio in prep of our call today,
I am just fascinatedat all the work you do.
One of the things that you do
is you're on the Council ofAdvisors for SETI Institute
which works with NASA.

(01:03):
That's really fascinating,I'd love for you to start
maybe just how you got into that space
and how you got into the space
where we talk about thefuture of work in general.
- So yeah, so I am involvedin the SETI Institute.
Fabulous organization thathas worked for decades,
really focused on understanding
the meaning and originof life in the universe,

(01:24):
looking at astrobiology,
and the SETI Institute is fascinating
because it's really asking the questions
that they work on in partnership
with the leading space agencies
and companies like IBM and Intel.
So they really work at theintersection of what we do know
and work on with technology
and the questions andanswers we need to resolve.

(01:46):
I really got into the space of space,
to use that bad pun,
because well, candidly, I'vealways been a space enthusiast.
I grew up in India in the 70s and the 80s
where looking at and understanding
what could happen in outer space

(02:08):
with astronomy was really just a glimpse,
a window into all the possibilities
that were available toall of us, me included.
So I grew up reading a lot,
being interested in astronomy,
and that's really howI got into that area,
and then engage with the SETIInstitute over the years.
I've also recently just published a book

(02:29):
on commercial space exploration
and the implications on geopolitics law.
Organizations and leadership talk about
hybrid and virtual work,right, in our space.
So the book is called"Stellar Singularity."
It's available on Amazon.
We'll have the paperbacks out shortly.
But the reason why again, I wrote the book

(02:51):
is because it lays outsome of the considerations
and things we are seeing withthe acceleration of technology
and where we are are moving
as not just a business community,
not just as a global community.
But as a civilization,technology is transforming us
and it's transforming usin different arenas, right?
It's transforming us in outer space
as I write about in the book,

(03:12):
but it's also transformingus in how we interact
and how we work
which kind of brings us back to the point
of yes, the future of work isimpacted by all these things
and I'm fascinated at thedifferent variables coming at us
and trying to make sense ofwhat that all looks like for us.
- As you think about the future of work,
what are your thoughts on hybrid work?

(03:35):
And the reason I ask that question
is 'cause I think as talent is evolving
and as we have gone through
this pandemic slash endemic now,
there is this situationpotentially brewing
between those who can work remote
and those who cannot,
and how we deal with ahybrid work environment.
How do you see that evolvingover the next several years?

(03:55):
- So the truth is thatwe've always had people
who could work moreeffectively in the office
and those who struggled with it, right?
For a variety of reasons,
for a variety of personalchoices or life situations.
We've always had peoplewho were primary caregivers
and had to drop the kids offat daycare and pack lunches,

(04:18):
and you had people who couldjust show up in the office,
la di da, without a care inthe world, and that's okay.
Or you might have had people,
I use that example in thecase of gender roles, right?
So you always had womenwho were doing some of that
and then showing up into the office.
You had men who maybeweren't doing as much,
but again, not trying to draw lines there.

(04:38):
But we did have those instances
as the working world has evolved
and you also had peoplemaybe with disabilities
or other new atypical challenges
may have struggled withcoming into the office, right?
Or found that more uncomfortable
then working virtuallyor working remotely.
But the pandemic has shown as I think

(05:00):
is that the requirements to be tethered
to a particular work location
are not really a function of technology
in the sense that cantechnology make this happen.
That discussion's goneinto the trash, right?
Can do, it can be done.
It's not also a question ofcan people work remotely?

(05:22):
Yes, people can collaborate remotely.
They can contribute,they can be ambitious,
they can be productive.
And what it's really shown all of us
is that that decision onwhether we bring people
and tether them to aphysical work location
is sometimes a functionof the work itself, right?
You might postal employees
or retail employees whoneed to stock shelves,

(05:44):
but a great part of itfor the working population
in the developed world,in the formal economy,
it's a question of choice.
It's a question of decision,rights, and governance.
Somebody somewhere is thinking
okay, I need people to be in the office.
I need to see what they're doing.
So the pandemic kind of showed us that,
showed us what's required,
what's not required, and what's possible.

(06:06):
So in that context, I think it's forced us
or helped us to reallyunderstand questions,
some of those paradigms
and those assumptions we've made
about remote and hybrid work
which I personallybelieve is a great thing
because now we are moreintentional about requiring
somebody to be in the office
or even confronting our own inherent bias

(06:28):
about someone who is in the office or not.
So I think that's actuallybeen very beneficial
and we'll see moreconversation on those topics
which I believe again, is partof what kind of sets us free
and helps us be more productive.
- What other changes haveyou seen in the workforce
as a result of the pandemic?
- I think the pandemic highlighted

(06:49):
and magnified a lot of things
that unfortunately already existed.
Now of course, there were some new things
that the pandemic causedus to come to terms with.
I won't discuss those,
but the truth is that the conversations
we had around how work needs to get done

(07:10):
or where it needs to get done
has always been a point ofcontention and discussion.
We've always had multi orintergenerational differences
in how people have perceived work,
how they've perceived theemployment relationship.
The pandemic just magnified
or just shown a lighton all of those things.

(07:32):
It didn't really necessarilycreate some of those things.
Now one example I giveoften when I talk about this
is when I worked with aconsulting firm many years ago,
pre-pandemic, a good decadealmost before the pandemic,
we had started seeing thistrend where senior managers
who were the cusp of making partner
were not really as engaged by the idea

(07:54):
of just the corner office
and the idea of justmaking partner, right?
It wasn't just about progression
and working for the gold watch.
People had already started asking, right?
What is the meaning of thisprogression, this career path?
Is it meaningful to my work-life balance,
to my personal goals?
Is getting that corner office

(08:15):
really worth all these other things
I may have to set aside on the way,
and people were making choices.
So I think that became something
we were talking about already, right?
We talked about the Gen Xs, the Gen Ys,
the Millennials, et cetera.
So that's kind of my viewon how this is evolving
and in terms of where I thinkthings are gonna go further

(08:36):
is that we are going to seemore and more technology
allowing us to one, ensuretrust in the sense that,
and I'll explain that in a second,
and also in some ways monitor trust.
Trust really becomes the biggest variable
that helps organizationsdecide what to do.

(08:57):
And when I talk about enabling trust
is that one, technology's like blockchain,
I write about that in my book.
Blockchain reaction provides
much more validation ofcredentials identity.
So that's gonna allow us to actually have
more trusted remote work, right?
Because you can havetechnology validate people.
On the other hand,

(09:17):
we are starting to see
more and more at least conversations
around monitoring keystrokes
and productivity of employees,a contentious topic.
But people are also sayingokay, you know what?
Maybe it's okay to use some of these
or people really don't care that I have,
because you know what?
They don't care about cookiestracking their activity anyway
and we've always had companies that said

(09:39):
you can visit a type of siteduring work hours, right?
So they're just also kindof starting to extend that
a little bit more in termsof monitoring activity.
So anyway, so I think we'reseeing both those things
which again, in my humble opinion,
just an exacerbation of oldthings, nothing very different.

(09:59):
- You mentioned a couple things,
blockchain, monitoring software.
I think about other thingslike Bitcoin and Web3
and all of this technologythat's coming out.
How do leaders prepare for this new next
when it comes to all of this technology
if they don't even know where to begin?

(10:20):
I think we reach those points.
I'm in my 40s
and so these are new terms to me,
and I'm like okay, now I needto do some more research,
whereas my children are getting inundated
with this kind of technology now.
So how do we prepare our leaders
for now for some of these things
and for the future skillsetsthat they're gonna need

(10:41):
in a more technology-utilized environment?
- When I talk to clients andCIOs about the future of work,
one of the things that comes up a lot
is cloud-native skills orcloud-native development
which is basicallydeveloping or building things
that are accessedthrough the cloud, right?
And I kind of think ofthat as a good example

(11:03):
of almost the generational differences
'cause I'm in my 40s too,
and I have teenagersand younger kids, right?
And the way they approach technology,
they are technology natives, right?
And I am admittedly not,
but I've kind of embraced it.
I've immigrated or migrated into that
because of my interest or by necessity.

(11:24):
So I think it's importantfor us as leaders
and business folk to really understand
that there is this kind of state of mind
where you are technology native.
Now you may not be bornlike that if you're from
a different discipline, for example.
If you're in the arts
or from a different generation
or time of exposure to technology,

(11:46):
or it might be just by choice
or the circumstance ofyour employment journey.
But you can immigrate
into that world of being atechnology native, right?
You can learn, you can absorb,
you can network with peoplewho you can assimilate, right?
And I kind of use that example
because they are in some waystwo different states of being,

(12:09):
but we kind of all need tobe technologically native
especially as we are seeing an increase
in the ubiquitous of technology,it's everywhere, right?
We talk about augmented intelligence
or artificial intelligence.
And as technology becomesmore useful to us,
it's really importantfor us to really know

(12:29):
that it should not operate as a black box.
We have to know what's inthere, what's driving it?
Who's setting up the cookies
and what do they do on our laptops, right?
So that's I think kind of the landscape
of what we are journeying through.
And for leaders, I think the folks
who are in different places, right?
With this technology in nativity,

(12:52):
some of it is really understanding
that you do have to study it.
You do have to be interested in it.
You have to be accepting of it.
And again, if I use theimmigration analogy, right?
You move from one country to another.
You have to understand andwant to understand the culture.
You have to understand
and be interested in what opportunities
it can provide for you.

(13:13):
So I think if you kind of adoptthat mindset, it's important
and if leaders don't,
I think the risk is that one,
from a business organization perspective,
you could just get left behind.
You're not gonna be onthat spaceship to success
if you're not gonna be interested,

(13:34):
and two, I think, and we'veseen this a lot, right?
With organizations thathave adapted their strategy
differently to theevolution of technology,
you're just not gonna have,
not evolving, gonna be static.
And I'll say one other thingin terms of the evolution
and the adoption of technology, right?

(13:56):
We are seeing that traditional consulting,
for example, right?
Or we had all these strategyconsultants who would sit down
and say oh, what's your business strategy?
What's your market, competitive approach?
How are you going to getahead of everybody else?
And then they would come upwith a technology strategy
that helps you implement that strategy.

(14:16):
What we are seeing today isthat your business strategy
is actually defined by thepossibilities of technology.
They're inextricably linked, right?
So if you understandwhat technology can do,
you can actually come up withan entirely different radical,
completely successfulbusiness model, right?
So that complete integration

(14:39):
of technology with business strategy
I think is a big part of what we're seeing
and again, leaders needto understand that,
and we can all learn it, right?
So it's not a closed boundarythat nobody can cross.
We just have to want to get there.
- The example you gaveabout going to a new country
and wanting to learnall about that country,

(15:01):
that really resonates with me
as we talk about learningtechnology, right?
It's this desire to justinundate yourself in a culture,
in everything about the culture.
How does it work, what's the politics?
How does transportation work?
All of the inner workings ofa culture that you think about
is a really great way to thinkabout learning technology,

(15:22):
so I super appreciate that example.
As you think about thisnext chapter and work
and the marriage to technology,
what are you most excited for?
- I'm personally very excited
and inspired by the fact that technology
is bringing us to a pointwhere we can allow access

(15:43):
to opportunity to be untethered
or unfettered by one, whereyou sit while you work, right?
You and I, we are still working together
and having a great conversation,
so technology is helping us do that.
And when that happens,
it's going to ensure that the best

(16:04):
and the brightest of our global community
can tap into opportunities
and access the same kindof jobs, and education,
and collaborative cohorts that they
may have been restricted to
by their physical orgeographical location.
So I think technology is reallydemocratizing opportunity.

(16:26):
And I mentioned my work on blockchain
and the use of digital credentials
and digital wallets for skills
will ensure that if you andI are looking for a coder,
we can find the best coder
no matter where they sit in the world
and we can figure out a wayto work with them, right?
We don't have to worry aboutflying them into New York
or wherever we are.

(16:47):
And the second is that as we are moving
increasingly to a skill-based economy,
technology is gonna helpus validate the credentials
of these people around the world
and really ensure thatremote and hybrid work
is not just feasible,
it's also something weare comfortable with
and we all use as needed sothat we can also kind of have

(17:07):
a better, richer life on many levels.
- Well, Elizabeth, Icouldn't agree with you more.
I'm so excited to see whatis in our future for work
and how we intersect with technology
on an everyday basis in our organization.
So thanks for taking a fewminutes to chat with me.
- Of course, this was so much fun.
Thank you so much, Shari.
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(17:30):
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