Now in year three, COVID-19 continues to persist, and its outlook for the remainder of 2022 remains unclear. However, it is clear that much of the pre-pandemic world has faded away and that the “new normal” described in last year’s report is beginning to take shape. One area that appears forever changed is the workplace. New Ardent Partners research (see figure below) from ‘The State of ePayables 2022′ reveals that post-pandemic, the workplace for most AP and Procure- to-Pay (P2P) pros will mean some version of hybrid work. Less than 10% of P2P teams plan to return to the office full time, while only 6% plan to be fully remote. Given the potential impact of a permanent shift to hybrid or remote work on employee productivity and morale, workforce-related decisions should be clearly explained and closely managed
AP leaders should use the next few months to test different strategies so they will be better-equipped to manage a potential fall or winter COVID surge, while working to improve workplace culture and worker engagement. These strategies include:
- Developing a clear but flexible in-office schedule by determining which teams and/or staffers require in- person collaboration (and at what frequency). Workers that crave a hybrid workplace model will be much more productive if they know that their in-office days are centered around required meetings, rather than spending time on tasks and projects that can be managed remotely
- Evaluating the overall culture of the AP department and working proactively to positive engage and support the staff. Culture will be an important element to departmental success in 2022, and generally plays a vital role in talent attraction and retention. Does the organization’s culture reflect rigidity and an unwillingness to be flexible? How does that impact morale? Now is the ideal time to experiment with hybrid and remote models, and measure their effectiveness on the overall mood of the workplace.
- Creating a “beyond perks” program that is attractive to both in-office and remote workers. Some businesses are offering meal plans to those who commute to the workplace every day while supporting fully-remote workers with financial support for home office supplies. These small tokens may seem trivial; however, they can go a long way in helping workers feel appreciated.
- Developing “safety-first” plans for high-risk individuals. While most communities have opened up, many workers are still at risk of severe virus outcomes (i.e., immunosuppressed, etc.). Forcing high-risk workers into the office can create many potential problems and liabilities and erode team confidence in management. Smaller and mid-sized organizations can handle these situations with detailed remote and/or hybrid plans, while leaders of teams at large enterprises should review HR policies to ensure that the overall guidelines can be applied to any high-risk AP staffer.
- Using this interim period to harness the power of ePayables technology. Digital workspaces have become a necessity in today’s flexible business world. Since remote workers continue to require access to systems, data, and intelligence, businesses will need to enhance their workspace technology. They must ensure that professionals can tap into the power of a more secure, flexible, and agile cloud technology infrastructure that is accessible from anywhere.
- Developing new strategies and approaches to foster collaboration. Business leaders uniformly understand that collaboration is an effective way to elevate teams to the next level of performance. In a permanently-remote or hybrid environment, collaboration will be even more important than ever for AP organization seeking to build value-based partnerships with key stakeholders and functional partners (like treasury and procurement) and among members of the AP team.
While enterprise-level workplace strategies are being reviewed and updated to reflect the changing work environment, AP leaders can fine-tune their department’s approach to ensure that staff productivity is optimized and worker satisfaction is maximized (an increasingly important factor to success amidst the highly-competitive job market and “The Great Resignation”).
