The End of Boomer Business Culture
Whilst workplace culture had been slowly on the change, it took a pandemic to hit a giant reset button on the way professional business culture looks. In this Good Axe blog, co-founder Iolanthe reflects on the bad old days, and how flexibility is now on the ‘must have’ list for business owners, employees and clients alike. A generational change in the way business is done is well underway, and quite frankly, it is long overdue.
Do you remember those first few months of COVID-19 hitting the Australian economy? I do. We’d just moved into our new home in Coburg, and I was also in the early stages of pregnancy. My business - Ruby Assembly - was based at a premium coworking space in Melbourne’s CBD. Happily, my organisation (a digital strategy agency) was designed around flexibility for both myself and my colleagues; this meant that a transition to more permanently working remotely was less painful for our team and client base.
I do know that many clients in the professional services categories Ruby Assembly service (legal, property, accounting, software, finance and similar) initially found it challenging to set up systems on the fly that would help their teams stay connected whilst working from home. Gladly, our clients are generally pretty forward-thinking folks and they adapted to the new normal swiftly; Zoom, Teams, the Cloud, the whole deal.
I also observed the struggle that some business owners and corporations had when ceding their sense of control over employees. Particularly in industries where hours at desk are viewed as badges of honor, or reflective of a dedication to career or culture. Some businesses refused to take COVID-19 seriously, endangering their employees by asserting their roles could only be completed in-person. This was unfortunately endemic in the legal category (although it was present in many other professional verticals as well).
The reason why? Boomer business culture - which is what I”ll coin a series of unhelpful business attitudes for the benefit of this article. Let’s be clear: boomer business culture is present in practices small and large. Leaders of any age or gender can conform to this archaic model of management. And frankly, it’s gotta go. As you’ll have noticed, it’s already on its way out - as evinced by shifting power relationships between employers and employees and The Great Resignation. Here are some indicators that you’re working in a boomer business culture.
A heavy weight of value attributed to being physically present in a business.
Highly stratified management system with a low degree of transparency.
Lack of interest in designing communication for their clients and employees.
Little or no business development.
Intense focus on ROI, with artificial goal-setting imposed upon workforce.
Lots of old white dudes preventing succession plan development or modernisation around technology solutions.
No parent’s room amenities, and little career progression for female employees post childbirth.
Sounds familiar? I bet it does. BUT. Things are changing, fam. The good news is that we’re on the cusp of a huge intergenerational shift in wealth and assets. This is an amazing opportunity for a new generation of leaders whose attitudes towards the employee-employer relationship will in no small measure be informed by business post-pandemic.
Boomer business culture did not serve our community. Structurally, it made no room for those who could not physically be present to do their work. This directly disadvantages women (many of whom have carer roles at the peak of their career growth) and disabled individuals (who may not be able to make it ‘in’ to work in the same way as their able-bodied colleagues). Whilst the pandemic was undoubtedly a terrible, horrible, hot sh*t taco, it also made room for many of us to reconsider the way we work and the way we live.
Employers are taking notice. (At least, those who want to have thriving talent-filled businesses in the future are doing so.) In PWC’s most excellent What Works Want whitepaper report, they uncover a treasure-trove of stats on changing attitudes towards the workplace. Did you know that 38% of workers are planning on leaving their roles in the coming year? And that the second most important factor for employees in their professional role is wellbeing? 37% of employees consider their employer the main source of support for their mental health. If that doesn’t change the way a business thinks about its obligations towards their workforce, I’m not sure what would.
Other key attitudes to pay close attention to:
22% of employees value support of their wellbeing above all else.
Women are 10% more likely to choose an employer if wellbeing is a cultural value.
Higher income workers place value on autonomy and flexibility in workplace choices.
6 in 10 people have left workplaces because of a break in the ‘psychological contract’ of promises made by an employer.
The whole report is fascinating, and if business culture is your jam it’s a must-read. These stats drive home the fact that toxic boomer business culture traits are untenable. Employees (and employers) no longer want a dynamic that pretends to be black and white. Embracing the grey of work-life balance is a more complex task for both manager and employee, but it’s a challenge of the future workplace that will define the success of our businesses.
Yule and I decided to bring Good Axe to life as we identified a need in the professional community to enjoy their workday life with all the benefits of an elegant CBD space without the schlep to the city, or burden of lengthy complex leases. More than ever, businesses at all stages need the flexibility to scale up and down in size. The best of them will prioritise their employee wellbeing by acknowledging that life and work are in close concert with one-another. Increasingly, they’ll provide access to coworking environments like our own as a principal place or work or an alternative space for employees for whom long travel times simply don’t make sense.
The benefits of collaborative professional spaces are multiple and I won’t go into those today; yet the appearance of workspace offerings like Good Axe are the hopeful beacons that represent a new era of trust between employer and employee, of respect for time and acknowledgement of the multitude of roles we all play in life. It’s the end of the boomer business culture; we’re no longer to be judged by our hours on the ground, but by our contribution to the whole.
Learn more about Iolanthe Gabrie here.
