Top HR insights: 7 future of work quotes

What happens when industry leaders gather to discuss the future of work? They talk about the challenges, solutions, and goals to create a better working environment. They remind us how important these discussions, all from varying perspectives, are to change and innovation. At a 2022 HR Leaders Workshop in partnership with Safeguard Global, Preparing for a new Future of Work: Work in Any Way – Now and Into 2023, HR executives from around the world shared their insights on how to prepare for the future and best position your organization for success in 2023.

The two panels are available for you to watch, but before you do, we're featuring a few memorable quotes that really captivated us and help explain what it means to work in any way. Here’s what today’s HR thought leaders said about the future of work being people-centric, unbound, and flexible.

“I just want the best talent. Period. I don't mind where they're based. I'm going to recruit the globe.” – Bjorn Reynolds, CEO Safeguard Global

“There was always some resistance to [remote work]. With the pandemic, particularly the lockdown, it pushed us into the future. And it made us realize, hello, yes, we can do it.” – Badia Rebolledo Abud, Chief People Officer at Krispy Kreme

“Let’s be honest, remote work is here to stay. I don't think we're ever going to go back to how it was two years ago full time.” –Grace Lee, Senior Vice President, Chief HR Officer at Lumentum

“It’s not just the where you work, but it's the, how you work. It's the why you work at this point. That's the future.” –Joseph Sangregorio, Chief HR Officer at Curia

“What's the minimum viable environment that gives employees the chance to choose how, and when they work? Maybe you take a couple hours off to give your kids a bath and a bedtime story and put them to bed and you'll hop back on later, but that's not what somebody else is doing. We can work asynchronously as well as remote, and it really can work very well. This isn't a problem as much as it is an opportunity to rethink and offer an even improved employee value proposition.” –Richard Taylor, Senior Vice President, People Experience & Diversity at Nasdaq

“[Workers] amongst themselves volunteered because some would rather work during the day and be home at night with the family. In other cases, they said, I'd rather be home with the kids because they have no choice during the day. So, I'll take that night shift because that works best for me. We were able to accomplish two things, give the employees what they want, but still have the service that we needed to our customers.” –Joseph Sangregorio, Chief HR Officer at Curia

“Technology is allowing us to really organize way better than even in the office. In Office 1.0, there wasn't always a central place to look on the wall and see all your projects and all your calendars and all your due dates. So in a way, being remote and even asynchronous has allowed us to get better organized.” –Richard Taylor, Senior Vice President, People Experience & Diversity at Nasdaq

If we’ve learned nothing else from these discussions, it’s that there will be a continued evolution of the workplace, and it begins with a mind shift in management.