On March 31st, Dow and HPE hosted a webinar on Moving Beyond Work-life Balance. This was a highly engaging opportunity for the Women Empowerment Council (WEC) community to share best practices, learn from each other’s growing pains, and feel empowered to influence their own work environments.
To kick off the session, Michael Zhu, Global VP and China Managing Director at HPE, welcomed everyone and surveyed participants with a poll. It turns out, 90% of the audience believed that Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) make employees happier and more productive while 10% disagree. To give participants an idea of what FWAs exist, Zhu introduced HPE’s Edge to Office structure.
HPE realized that Covid provided an opportunity to reimagine the way we live and work, so it conducted multiple surveys to understand what team members prefer and how HPE can help.
HPE found that team members prefer to have the flexibility to work in and outside of the office and they want the office to not only be a place to work, but also collaborate and build social connections with colleagues. With HPE’s Edge to Office structure, 50% of global employees can work outside of the office including places like cafes and public libraries, not just homes. Inside the office, the workspace is designed to accommodate five different modes: focus, learn, collaborate, create/co-create, and recharge. This hybrid model drives continuous innovation while also supporting physical, mental, and financial wellness.
At Dow, Selena Chu, Vice President of Dow Greater China, shared that employees also have flexibility through a structure and culture called Design Your Day in which employees are trusted to decide where, when, and how their work will be done. In this model, Dow and its employees have shared goals that drive accountability and trust. Design Your Day also ensures competitive talent, a balance between workload and stress, continuous innovation, and a collaborative culture. Chu shared that when implementing Design Your Day, employees asked questions related to how they would be monitored or exact times they can work at home or in the office. To address this learning curve, Dow emphasized that Design Your Day is not a policy, but rather a culture that also emphasizes physical, mental, financial, and community wellbeing.
To get more input from the audience, Chu asked participants what word best describes work-life balance in 2022. Answers included “efficiency,” “flexibility,” “opportunities,” “discipline,” “challenge,” “change,” and “necessary” to name a few. During breakout sessions, participants further discussed solutions to address well-being, how to create an inclusive and equitable culture, policies that accommodate different work environments and roles, how to address career development with the future of work, and components of an ideal smart workplace.
Here are some tips from the participants:
- Define wellbeing and productivity for yourself and your role
- Build trust with your employer
- Be flexible and open to change
- Create boundaries and clear working hours
- Do something fun at the end of the day to relieve stress
- Use flexible furniture in the office
- Provide digital tools and training for employees
- Lead by example at top levels of leadership
- Host online activities for employees to connect
- Stay disciplined
- Communicate with leaders when you need support
- Keep in touch with colleagues and turn your camera on when possible
- Make sure people are at the center of workspace design
This webinar provided thoughtful insights into work-life balance in the age of Covid, which feels more relevant than ever. The WEC hopes that these learnings are helpful and that all in lockdown are staying safe and well! For more information about the WEC or how to get involved in similar forums, contact info@womenempowermentcouncil.com.