The Future of Work – What’s Next?

We were delighted to host a ChapmanCG Global HR Leaders Roundtable in Frankfurt in partnership with SAP, an excellent opportunity for a diverse group of international HR leaders to learn from peers and share their experiences on "The Future of Work: What's Next?".

SAP’s Chief Future of Work Officer Dr. Christian Schmeichel kicked off the session by sharing the company’s holistic future of work agenda with its Pledge-to-flex approach for hybrid work in the post-pandemic era. He highlighted that in light of skills shortages and intense competition in the labour market, it is imperative for many organisations to get the next world of work “right” while acknowledging that the future of work goes far beyond flex work. In the end, it all comes down to creating a next-generation people function that can make the company “future-ready” – including talent and skills, but also new organisation models, culture and diversity – aiming at world-class business performance.

Kerstin Eiternick,HR Director at PepsiCo, shared her experiences and the programs in place at PepsiCo. While working remotely provides flexibility, the risk of isolation increases. To help mitigate the risks, PepsiCo entices team interactions by encouraging its employees to come together to create, collaborate, connect and celebrate. Employees are also encouraged to structure their days spent in the office to ensure colleagues meet up.

The discussions showed that the issues and ideas for solutions apply uniformly across companies, from small start-ups to big corporations and across industries. Some topics included the legal implications of flexible and remote work, such as the tax and insurance coverage when working from "anywhere". The participants felt yesterday's laws are not addressing today's situation. They discussed ways to address the manifold issues to provide attractive and engaging solutions to the employees.

Flexibility to employees who don't benefit from the usual "flex benefits", particularly blue-collar employees, e.g. in trade, transport and production, was also a topic of discussion. Some suggestions included flexible shifts, resting/sleeping pods and wellness facilities for manufacturing site workers.

We were pleased to see the intense engagement from all HR leaders present; the exchange of visions and ideas was incredibly inspiring. We look forward to hosting more opportunities for thought leadership and best practice sharing for our HR community in Germany and Europe in the coming months.