Riding The Workplace Revolution Wave With Ryan Stoltzfus From ADP

A workplace revolution is going on right now and it’s unlike anything we’ve seen since the Industrial Revolution. Employers are struggling to find the right direction in an effort to develop new workforce strategies in the still evolving post-pandemic world.

Ryan Stoltzfus, the Director of Human Resources Business Partner at “ADP” and founder and Chief Career Strategist at the “Job Hackers Network”, aims to satisfy stakeholders while keeping the workforce happy to avoid suffering from the resignation revolution. 

With extensive experience mentoring business leaders on various career strategies, Ryan offers invaluable guidance to businesses faced with post-pandemic work-setting struggles.

 Join us as we discuss:

• How return-to-office plans and protocols are affected by the way that work gets done 
• The disparities between leadership and what they expect from returning workers
• How the future of the workspace will never snap back to pre-COVID

We are currently in a post-COVID world, which means many changes are happening in the workforce landscape.

After the pandemic, more companies are altering their office layouts, building new processes for their teams, and slowly resuming normal work.

ADP’s Journey Through The Pandemic And Beyond

Before the pandemic, ADP was an in-office organization with a significant physical footprint. 

They had tremendous gains with everyone working closely in-office five days a week. ADP was thriving in an environment conducive to collaboration. Honing in on knowledge banks, the organization was thriving.

Suddenly, COVID forced the world to shift entirely to remote work. What ADP once thought they could never do was what they had to do. While skeptical, ADP eventually found the right balance.

When offices started to open back up, businesses faced a challenge – people didn’t want to return to the office full-time. 

While Ryan wanted to return to the in-office setting of the pre-COVID world, he realized that might not be fair or easily attainable.

“The way that work gets done is something that needs to be considered now more than ever.”

He had to figure out how to best serve his stakeholders and employees. This involved one essential skill: active listening.

After hearing about his employee and stakeholder values, needs, and concerns, ADP took an important decision. They adopted a hybrid work schedule. 

By establishing a hybrid work policy that enforced employees to work three days in the office, and two at home, ADP retained the in-person collaboration while satisfying everyone involved.

By coaching company leaders to capitalize on this system, ADP achieved high success. Human relationships are vital, Ryan explains. Finding the balance between satisfying what the individual and the company needs is key.

Ryan offers some guiding questions to help business leaders find the best system for them:

• Does an individual need to be present for a project to be completed?
• Does it require physical stakeholders?
• What does it take for this work project to get finished?
• Are there disparities between leadership expectations and employee preferences?

The Workforce Requires More Transparency Than Ever Before

In today’s workforce landscape, employees must understand the ‘why.’ Modern employees value flexibility. Without an explanation of the work environment, they may search elsewhere for employment.

That’s why explaining to employees why they need to be in the office is essential. With proper explanation, individuals are more likely to agree that to deliver a certain level of service, they need to physically visit those “knowledge banks” and create “in-tact teams.

“The way in which employees expect to not only serve the workplace, but the workplace to serve them has changed.” 

Employees have new power in their decisions, and leadership needs to listen to foster retention. 

Employees must see value in their work and feel connected to and appreciated by leaders. Ryan urges organizations to develop a peer-to-peer relationship and foster it from the beginning.

The Workplace Revolution Sparked By The Pandemic

According to Ryan, the workplace will never snap back. Employees have decided they enjoyed their flexibility at the height of COVID, despite the surrounding fears. 

Workers have a new view on life – they can still earn money and have a healthy work/life balance.

People everywhere learned that work doesn’t have to be completed in the office to be high quality. 

Having gained an appreciation for flexibility, employees may incorporate this into their job search. The bottom line is that designing a workplace advantageous to both employee and employer is not impossible.

“Pause. Think about what is foundational and what is emotional. Figure out what your North Star is, figure out what you want to accomplish from a goal’s perspective.”

People realized they have a choice, and employers have found that hybrid and remote working don’t condemn quality or productivity. 

Because of the pros of remote working, the workforce will never look the same. The world is more connected than ever before, but it took a revolution to arrive here. Like it or not, some of the changes are here to stay. 

Technology-wise, these changes necessitate the use of reliable hybrid work software if you want your organization to thrive.

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