A LinkedIn study – shared exclusively with Marketing Week – highlights concerns of chief marketing officers regarding hybrid working models.
Around 58% of senior marketers believe the COVID-19 pandemic has weakened social ties between staff as some team members have never met in person. More than two-thirds of CMOs are concerned that less time in the office with colleagues would negatively impact creativity.
86% of businesses in Europe are planning to offer employees greater flexibility around where they work. As a result, top-level marketers fear that this could lead to employees feeling less comfortable with each other, impacting their ideas generation. A third of marketing leaders also believe hybrid working models could make it challenging to build meaningful relationships.
Despite all challenges and concerns, most marketing leaders acknowledge flexible working is key to attracting great talent and improving workforce diversity – both of which lead to bolstering creativity. Establishing new ways of working and helping employees to adapt would be the top priority of more than three-quarters of marketing leaders.
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions EMEA and LATAM senior director Tom Pepper said, “Creativity is crucial to brand building and an essential part of being a marketer, so it’s only natural that marketing leaders are concerned about how hybrid working will impact this important skill.” As a result, brands like Unilever and Henkel are already experimenting with new working patterns to overcome these challenges and provide employees with a better work/life balance post-pandemic.
[3 minute read]
