The Grand Redesign: The Antidote to the Great Resignation

Tim Sanders, Upwork Vice President of Customer Insights

Even before the pandemic struck, companies everywhere were suffering sudden and prolonged disruption to their business continuity and growth plans because of talent gaps and skills shortages. Their strategic error was that they took a reactive approach to the challenge instead of looking for preventative measures upstream. In other words, they were waiting until something was broken to fix it. 

The Great Resignation is a disruptive force that emanated from the pandemic, and there’s multiple reasons for it—some workers wanted more flexibility and balance, others enjoyed the shift to remote work and some decided that a traditional job just isn’t worth it anymore. No organisation is immune to its effects. But with this disruption comes a generational opportunity for leaders to do things differently.

In response, we should embark on the Grand Redesign. To do it successfully, companies need to reconsider their approach to the workplace, workflow and workforce. 

The good news is many of us are already redesigning our workplace because of the pandemic, which forced us all into the great remote work experiment of 2020. For many workers, there’s simply no turning back now. Companies everywhere are adjusting to this by going remote-first, like Upwork. Other businesses are creating hybrid workplace strategies that balance flexibility with the need to spend some time together in person. They understand that a permanent redesign of the workplace is necessary to create a better employee experience and drive more engagement and productivity.

Redesigning the workplace has opened the door to other types of redesign, including workflow. Too often companies make the fatal assumption that they have the skills and talent needed to achieve their goals when launching projects. As things start to go off track, they realise they miscalculated and scramble for a solution. And it’s a challenge only made more acute by the Great Resignation. 

That’s why companies need to redesign workflows to include the sourcing of independent talent from work marketplaces at the launch of a project. This approach leaves full-time team members to manage the process. It also builds in flexibility from the outset. There are no unexpected skills gaps mid-way through. Some of Upwork’s most successful clients are already doing this with great results. Independent talent is part of their “water supply”—they can turn the tap on or off as skills requirements change during a project.

Lastly, we need to redesign the workforce. For more than a century, companies have approached staffing through a full-time-first mentality. And when full-time staff are overwhelmed, only then do companies consider staff augmentation. The Grand Redesign means a complete reversal of this approach, seeking first to bring on talent on a fractional basis, and using a data-driven approach when determining when and if full-time hires should be made. 

To do any of this successfully requires a flexible mindset on your part. Be willing to challenge and then change your established frameworks when it comes to resourcing the work. Employ designing thinking along the way, which puts empathy at its centre. Do this, and you’ll emerge stronger, sustainable and more competitive for years to come.