UCL School of Management Associate Professor Anthony Klotz has recently featured in an article by HR Magazine to discuss the impact of inflation on the workplace. Entitled ‘Inflation threatens workplace progress made in pandemic’, the article investigates the extent to which employers are scaling back on important parts of post-pandemic workplace culture to accommodate rising costs.
With household bills growing exponentially and the Bank of England expecting inflation to peak at 11%, research from LinkedIn suggests that employers are considering reversing changes that were made to the workforce as a result of the pandemic. Flexible working, skills development and employee wellbeing schemes are all at risk, yet the demand from employees for these benefits remain high, with more than 20% of applications on LinkedIn requesting fully remote roles.
Outlining why he believes companies should continue prioritising employee wellbeing, Anthony said, ‘Leaders are caught between the allure of returning to old ways of working, and the challenge of looking forward to the future and rethinking how they lead and how their employees work. As LinkedIn’s study indicates, some of those in positions of power are opting out of the opportunity that this moment presents.
But it’s those that embrace the mantle of leadership and turn into reality the vision that so many workers can clearly see – a future in which employees’ relationships with their employers are a source of wellbeing – who will come out stronger. It is these visionary leaders who are positioning their companies and their employees to thrive in the long-term’.
