What's Working and What Isn't: The State of the Workplace

It wasn't long ago that association leaders scrambled to shift to (near) fully remote workplaces to resume operations during the pandemic. As Michigan reopened for business, leaders shifted yet again to understand and respond to employee expectations about the workplace post-pandemic. Now that the dust has settled a bit, how are leaders feeling about their post-pandemic workplaces? Are partial and fully remote workplaces serving their organizations well? Achurch Consulting recently conducted a pulse survey of association leaders on the issue. (MSAE members are familiar with Achurch - its team members shared their expertise with us a few years ago at OPSCON and, more recently, at Annual Conference.) As a consultancy that supports remote workforce teams, they are well-grounded in the complex dynamics of remote and hybrid workforces. 

Top Concerns 

According to the study, remote and hybrid workplaces are working for associations, but not without creating some significant worries for leaders. The greatest points of concern in remote and hybrid work spaces for leaders center around employee interaction and organizational culture. Nearly 70% of leaders identified the lack of in-person interaction/spontaneous communication as their top concern, immediately followed by a potential change in workplace culture/morale at 60%. Other principal concerns included challenges related to effectively onboarding new employees (47.14%) and an overall decrease in employee collaboration (45%). 

Missed Opportunities 

While leaders reported being deeply satisfied with employee productivity (95.68%), the study goes on to identify workplace space design and policy as areas of missed opportunity for associations. The Executive Summary provides much greater detail, but the general gist is that by more effectively utilizing resources such as in-person work spaces and workplace policies, association leaders could improve employee satisfaction and retention while mitigating their own concerns about remote and hybrid work. This information may be helpful food for thought for association leaders as they tweak your association's workplace. Download your own copy of the State of the Workplace Pulse Survey here.