Future of Work

Employer’s Edition
Pulse Check

OCTOBER 2022
Executive Summary
We surveyed executives from 350 companies on 12
critical dimensions of the future of work.
Organizations are in early stages of creating new work
models and addressing other future-of-work dimensions.
Most organizations are focusing on office-based
employees rather than making work better for their
“deskless” workers, such as factory or frontline workers,
who cannot work remotely. Industries such as energy and
consumer products, which have a higher share of
deskless workers, are lagging.
Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Executives say creating stronger, more generative
leaders, building new flexible talent models, and
ensuring always-on learning are the most important
dimensions, yet companies have made little
progress addressing them.
Executives worry about hybrid work’s negative
impact on employee satisfaction and sense of
belonging, but remote/ hybrid workers report positive
sentiment on these issues.
Future-of-work initiatives fall into four broad categories and 12 dimensions

How we work How we lead How we organize What we need

Embrace disruption Empower and inspire Responsive and resilient Set the stage
· Customer relationships · Generative leadership · Adaptive organization · Employee value proposition
· Work models · Purpose-driven culture · New and diverse talent · Location, space, design,
· Ways of working · Societal impact models and travel
· Always-on learning · Tools and technology

For details, see Appendix on slide 13.

Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Companies are not investing equally in all 12 dimensions
FUTURE-OF-WORK READINESS PER DIMENSION (%)

4 5 3
10 13 12 10 12 9
18 18 12
25
31 25
29
38 35 36 30
34
34 33
38
65
49
52
38 53
38 44 44 48 51
43
32
22 20
11 14 9 13
5 5 9 6 6 9
Adaptive New diverse Space and Always-on Generative Tools and Employee ESG Customer Ways of Culture Work
organization talent location learning leadership technology value relationships working models
proposition
We are industry leading We are trying, piloting, rolling out We are starting to explore We are nowhere

Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Note: Readiness possible answers were: We are nowhere; we are starting to explore; we are trying, piloting, or rolling out; and we are industry leading.
Many of the most important dimensions, such as generative leadership, require
greater focus
STARTING

Readiness
TO EXPLORE
Key gaps to address
Adaptive organization
New and diverse
Always-on learning talent models
Location, space, Tools and technology
design, and travel Generative
Societal leadership
impact
Employee value
proposition
Customer relationships
Ways of working

Purpose-driven culture

Companies advanced,
room to improve
Work
TRYING, models
PILOTING,
Importance
ROLLING OUT
SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT VERY IMPORTANT
Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Note: Matrix represents a zoomed-in view into aggregated readiness-importance priorities for all respondents. Importance scale consists of: Not important, somewhat important, important, and very Important. Readiness scale consists of: We are
nowhere; we are starting to explore; we are trying, piloting, or rolling out; and we are industry leading.
Beyond the “big picture” dimensions view, companies face three overall struggles
related to future of work

01
CEO attention drives initiatives forward, yet main
Key initiatives are not on
topics are still not on CEO agendas
CEO agenda

02 Companies and industries with a high share of deskless

Deskless worker-focused workers are falling behind companies with more office
initiatives are falling behind workers in implementing future-of-work initiatives

03
Leadership is critical to success, but many companies
Leadership is stuck in the
are not doing enough to support their leaders
say-do gap

Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
CEO support matters, yet many critical future-of-work dimensions are not
on the CEO agenda

SHARE OF RESPONDENTS WHO VIEW SHARE OF RESPONDENTS WHO SAY READINESS OF FUTURE-OF-WORK
DIMENSION AS IMPORTANT (%) DIMENSION IS ON CEO AGENDA (%) INITIATIVES (%)

Generative
93 19
leadership 52

Always-on
92 11 39
learning
33
6
New and
diverse talent 91 7 On CEO agenda Not on CEO agenda
models
Trying, piloting, rolling out Industry leading

Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Note: Readiness scale consists of: We are nowhere; we are starting to explore, we are trying, piloting, or rolling out; and we are industry leading.
 Industries with lowest future-of-work readiness have highest share of
! deskless workers
Laggards Leaders

Future of work readiness by industry Telecom

Technology
Professional Insurance
Travel and services
Financial
institutions Tourism
Industrial
Health goods
Retail care
Consumer
products
Energy

59 69 64
54 48
27 35 27 26
15 18

Share of deskless workers (%)

Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Note: Readiness scale consists of: We are nowhere; we are starting to explore, we are trying, piloting, or rolling out; and we are industry leading. Y-axis plotted based on average future-of-work readiness score of the industry.
Deskless-worker initiatives are a much lower priority than other initiatives

WORK MODEL DIMENSION READINESS (%)

100 of organizations are not yet implementing

38% new initiatives, such as flexible schedules,
differentiated benefits, or frontline-first
culture for deskless workers1
62
50
We are industry leading
58 We are trying, piloting, of deskless workers are at risk of leaving
or rolling out their jobs in the next 6 months2
30 37% The top 3 reasons are lack of flexibility,
0 4 limited opportunities for career
Desk-based Deskless advancement, and compensation.

Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Note: Readiness scale consists of: We are nowhere; we are starting to explore, we are trying, piloting, rolling out; and we are industry leading.
1
BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; 38% represents organizations responding as being nowhere or starting to explore work model initiatives.
2
BCG Future of Work Deskless Worker Sentiment Survey.
Despite importance of leaders, companies are inadequately supporting them

But few companies do what is needed to help

them succeed

20%
View changing the culture and behaviors

93%
of senior leaders to role-model flexibility
and agility as a CEO priority

of executives
say leadership is
15%
View reskilling managers to lead,
important
inspire, and coach distributed teams
as a CEO priority

8%
View amplifying support for the front
line as a CEO priority

Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Demographics

Respondents

350
38% C suite
25% Executive level
senior 21% Senior manager
leaders 13% Manager
4% Other

Represented across all industries From

23% Financial institutions and insurance
20% Technology, media, and telecommunications
47
6+
countries
14% Consumer goods
13% Healthcare
million 10% Retail
employees
9% Professional services
6% Public and non-profit
6% Energy
Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.
Appendix: Details on the 12 dimensions of the future of work
How we work How we lead How we organize What we need
Customer relationships Generative leadership Adaptive organization Employee value proposition
· Rethink personalized relationships · Reimagine businesses to serve · Adopt more flexible operating models · Create meaningful employee
· Remove friction; create all stakeholders (platform, agile at scale, fractal segmentation
convenience · Enable leaders for mixed-work organizations) · Rethink pay and benefits
· Build virtual go-to-market methods models · Update core management · Foster growth, development, and
· Manage engagement across all · Empower and support the processes (QBRs, OKRs, talent opportunity
channels front line marketplaces) · Reimagine career paths and mobility

Work models Purpose-driven culture New and diverse talent models Location, space, design, and travel
· Desk-based: create flexibility within a · Reinvigorate purpose · Adopt skill-based workforce · Rethink location strategy, including
framework for remote, hybrid, onsite · Articulate, activate, and embed management hubs, satellites, co-location, and
· Deskless: Redefine labor strategy and culture · Source talent in new ways remote-only
potential for flexibility in time and place · Build mechanisms to drive · Make talent more fluid, flexible, · Right-size real estate footprint
· Optimize for productivity and talent affiliation and mentorship in and gig-like · Create safe, smart, and right
needs mixed-work models · Digitize and AI-enable talent journey workspaces

Ways of working Societal impact Always-on learning Tools and technology

· Prioritize what matters; remove waste · Scale employee well-being · Co-create solutions and experiment · Adopt collaboration and remote tools
· Embrace agile, iterative teaming · Drive diversity, equity, and on new ways of working, leading, and · Enhance virtual, metaverse, and
· Foster virtual, hybrid, synchronous, inclusion organizing mixed-modal experience
and asynchronous collaboration · Reduce carbon footprint · Invest in learning and upskilling · Strengthen cybersecurity and data
· Digitize, automate, AI-augment work · Ensure compliance at scale privacy
· Apprentice continuously on the job

Sources: BCG Future of Work Global Employer Survey 2022; BCG analysis.