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24 February 2022

Comms and hybrid workplace trends: are you ready?


What are the biggest hybrid workplace trends, challenges and opportunities facing communicators in the year ahead?

That’s the question host and award-winning communicator Kate Goodman posed to Sequel’s Head of Insight Paul Jones in the latest Sequel Presents webinar.

Conversation centred on Sequel’s 2022 Trends Report, which predicts a year of rapid transformation as the brakes come off communications following the uncertainty of the global pandemic.

The report takes a close look at the modern workplace and digital transformation and asks how business can use effective communications to promote authentic leadership, inclusion, wellbeing and diversity, as companies battle to avoid the threat of the great resignation.

With business’s continuing to navigate the move towards a more hybrid way of working, here’s the advice our speakers offered to communicators on driving a successful transition:

1. Start by understanding your audience

Avoid returning to the pre-pandemic normal, but appreciate that, what works for one audience won’t work for another, especially if remote working isn’t possible for all your people.

2. The proof is in the comms planning

The rapid digital transformation we’ve seen in recent years has seen businesses introduce multiple new tools, sometimes without the support needed for employees to use them effectively and consistently.

3. Have clarity of purpose

With 2022 seeing a lot of movement in the jobs market, businesses need to ensure they live up to their values and communicate their culture. Employees are increasingly likely to make career decisions on ethics, not salary, so build a culture of care.

4. Authentic leadership communication is a good thing – don’t go back

Recent years have seen a shift towards more open, authentic leadership communication. Ensure your leaders are supported to continue this, so they never return to death by PowerPoint.

5. Support the frozen middle

Communicators have a big role to play in making sure line managers are supported and prioritised to encourage collaboration in a hybrid workplace.

6. Assess everything you do

Listen more, talk less, spending more time on regular measurement and acting on those insights.

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To find out more about hybrid workplace trends and the advice our speakers offered to communicators, request the full recording here.