Employees prefer a workplace that reflects the diverse communities around them and where everyone feels seen, heard, valued, and empowered to succeed.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we work as most workforces moved remote overnight. You and I were willing to do whatever it took to keep our families and ourselves safe. To perform our jobs and to help our customers. With this, we all gained clarity on one thing — the undeniable interconnectedness of work and life. Eventually, adrenaline goes away. And you are left with feelings of exhaustion and burnout. It took us a while to understand that success is not a location: you can move your career forward from anywhere if you know how to do it. No matter how long work from home lasts, the goal is to live and to work in a way that is sustainable. And to show up at your best consistently.

Organisations play a critical role in helping their employees succeed while working from home. It took us a while to understand what communication meant in the new normal. Enabling success for your entire organisation means addressing the two questions that worry every executive and every employee:

- How do I know my employees are working?

- How does my manager know how hard I am working?

Knowing employees’ output and productivity is important to the business and that is not going to change. But how you empower that output is key to your entire organisation’s success. The secret to improved employee engagement is something all leaders are revisiting and understanding.

But, employee benefits and satisfaction is a measure that has evolved since the pandemic and for every working individual, a good work-life balance and more meaningful benefits became as important as a good salary and a couple of days off in the week. Benefits have evolved to become more meaningful, valuable, and holistic to employees understanding their unique needs. I am encouraged to see that companies are responding - benefits are truly no more free food and ping pong tables.

Organisations have recognised that employee benefits can be life-changing for their workforce, especially those centred around care, flexibility, and mental health. According to an SHRM 2020 report, by 2025, Millennials or Gen Y are projected to be 75% of the workforce. When it comes to the expectations they have from their employers, it remains a persistent and universal demand in terms of equality. They want distinct and transparent policies that complement this ethos.

The performance and profitability of an organisation are closely connected to how engaged its employees feel at work.

It is essential for organisations to build a culture centred around the core values that engages people. Organisations like Salesforce believe that in today’s world, work is about meaningful work, purpose, and belonging, which is cultivated through transparency in business processes, philanthropic models, and initiatives on wellbeing and equality. These organisations promote inclusivity at the workplace in all its forms — gender, LGBTQ, or racial by empowering, supporting, and investing in the global community. They listen to their LGBTQ+ community and work on a set of safe and accessible new benefits to support the unique needs of the transgender and non-binary community.

Businesses can be powerful platforms for social change and it is the responsibility to further Equality for All. Creating a culture of Equality is not just the right thing to do; it is also the smart thing. It empowers us to innovate, build deeper connections with our customers, and ultimately become a better company. Employees prefer a workplace that reflects the diverse communities around them and where everyone feels seen, heard, valued, and empowered to succeed. Organisations must strive to create a workplace that reflects this and eventually enables more creativity, innovation, and growth for both the business and its employees.