Has hybrid working killed the office?

I find this topic fascinating, and not just because of the employment/talent impacts, but because the knock on effects impacts real estate, retail, hospitality, our communities, cities, investments, and the whole future of the built environment, construction and it's (large) carbon emissions. It's a huge topic that goes way beyond the headlines.

Let's start with our area of expertise, talent acquisition and retention. Anecdotally, at Hyperion about 80% of our mandates (senior roles, across all disciplines, across EMEA, in cleantech companies) are hybrid or remote. We'll do some detailed analysis to back this up. 

The majority of candidates we work with and speak to do not, many will not, entertain a fully office/location based role. There are of course roles that do require this, CTOs, Heads of Engineering and other lab/site biased technology roles and companies, but many of these we still see as hybrid. 

It is still a talent acquisition and retention premium to offer remote/hybrid and more flexible working. This is a big one. People often assume money is what motivates people to leave/stay with an organisation. It's not. I've been in search over 30 years, it's usually in the top 3 reasons, but very seldom number one, even for sales/commercial hires. Autonomy, challenge, growth, mission are all primary factors, and you can add location/remote/hybrid to this.

The good news is, as a start-up or smaller company, you can 'out hire' competitors with higher salaries through a combination of flexibility, mission and culture. Much more to be said and shared on this, but this topic. These working practices impact on so much of our society and economy, much like the electrification of everything and the death of fossil fuels, it's a complete change to the way we live, and to my mind, and it seems for the majority of our clients and candidates, one for the better.

If you are hiring senior roles in cleantech and want to know more about why talent leaves/stays an organisation, happy to have a coffee and discuss.