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When the pandemic hit in 2020, Blackbaud, a global cloud software company that's driving digital transformation in the social good community, thought of itself as a predominantly “in person” culture. Like many companies, Blackbaud learned to pivot to a new way of working 100 percent remote, or distributed digital, during the pandemic. As the pandemic wore on, leaders began a deliberate process to reimagine the future of work; they designed a new, flexible, digital, and productive culture with transparency, employee input, care, and intention. “We built it on a premise of trust and wellbeing, which is really key,” said Maggie Driscoll, chief people and culture officer.

The company initially planned to transition to a hybrid model of work in mid-2021. But as the pandemic dragged on, and as leaders continued to ask employees about their preferences and continued researching best practices, in November 2021 they decided instead to formally transition to a flexible, digital,.

The decision has yielded surprising benefits to diversity, equity, inclusion, talent acquisition, and internal upward mobility: No longer will positions be assigned by office locations or tied to Blackbaud’s headquarters in Charleston, S.C.—not even leadership roles. That opens opportunity for those who, often because of family responsibilities or personal reasons, couldn't physically move in the past. “No longer do we look at a role based on location and geography. We look at a role based on experiences, skills, and execution,” Driscoll said. Both employees and the company are reaping the benefits. In 2021, applications were up more than 50 percent, she said, with an increase in diverse candidates, 80 percent of new hires went into distributed digital, or remote positions, and 40 percent of Blackbaud employees saw career progression.

Some other key lessons Driscoll said the company is learning as it redesigns work:

• Communication and Connection. CEO Mike Gianoni began weekly 30-minute virtual sync meetings with about 175 of the company’s top global leaders every Monday to share business updates, strategies and answer any questions in real time to make sure managers have what they need to support employees. The company instituted monthly live town hall meetings to discuss timely topics and give employees an opportunity to ask questions. In addition, Blackbaud's quarterly all-hands meeting, which include customer presentations, went virtual.
• Listen. Learn. Act. Adjust. The company engaged employees from the very beginning, Driscoll said, asking what challenges they were experiencing, particularly with caregiving, and what they needed. The company responded in kind. They created cross company teams, like Together Anywhere, focused on ensuring employees had the right tools, technology and resources to succeed in a digital setting. When school closures and the childcare crisis upended the lives of many employees and their families, the company shifted to further support caregiving employees’ schedules and workload, and launched an innovative virtual after-school program, taught by volunteer Blackbaud employees and customers.
• Be Willing to Pivot. Even after deciding to move to a hybrid work model, the Workforce Strategy team continued researching and surveying small groups of employees about what they wanted. And when the team decided, with employee input, that digital, or remote-first, would be a better option than hybrid, they enhanced the leadership training curriculum with Engagement Labs to figure out how best to do it. “One of the learnings of the last two years is that it’s OK to say you don’t know the answers,” Driscoll said. “To stop, pivot, and change, and let your people know why.”

To navigate through the pandemic, Deloitte, the global audit, consulting, tax, and advisory professional services network, drew on key lessons learned through its own consulting work with other companies and, perhaps most importantly, saw the challenges presented by the pandemic as an opportunity to take equity and the way they worked to the next level.

“We have so much opportunity to take this and make it amazing,” said Denise Shepherd, Deloitte’s Workforce Strategy and Solutions leader. “For my internal team, our whole tag is ‘Better in Hybrid.’ Our lens is always the combination of these two things—virtual and in person—can actually drive a result that’s better and more equitable.”

As Shepherd explained, hybrid’s virtual element opens up new possibilities beyond geography for connections and mentoring. It can level the playing field for many professionals, including caregivers who may need more flexibility in their schedules, or who may prefer working in a distributed digital manner. And, she said, hybrid forces teams to think through the life cycle of a job and decide when they really need to be together to move projects forward, and when it’s better that they’re doing head-down concentrated work on their own, a philosophy Deloitte calls “together when it matters.”

Some other key lessons Shepherd shared include:

• Focus on Human-Centered Solutions. Throughout the pandemic, Deloitte has relied on a series of personnel surveys, virtual huddles, debates, and town halls to better understand what employees are grappling with and how the organization could support them. In response, the organization offered $500 “productivity subsidies” so professionals could better outfit their home or digital work set-up, in addition to a commuting subsidy for those who work in an office to commute in a safe way. “That was important to create equity,” she said.
• Build With Your Workforce. “Sometimes organizations have a tendency to think about change from a top-down lens,” Shepherd said. “We flipped that. One of the things we’ve learned is if you use your people's collective knowledge and wisdom, you’re helping yourself on the back end. People already know what you’re trying to accomplish, and it limits the risk that you’re going to introduce something that’s not going to work. We learned that lesson from our clients.”
• One Size Does Not Fit All. When the organization decided to transition to a hybrid model of work, Deloitte’s surveys showed that, in general, people did want to be together some of the time—though not as often as leaders might have expected. So, instead of coming up with a one-size fits all solution, Deloitte came up with a framework that gives teams autonomy to think about when to be “together when it matters.” To make it work, teams must set and communicate explicit norms and expectations for the moments that they would benefit by being together in person, such as brainstorming, collaboration, or fostering culture and connection.
• Use Data to Monitor, Assess, and Adjust. Deloitte plans to use data proactively, to better match professionals’ hybrid work preferences with client project opportunities that match those preferences. Data from a newly created hybrid workplace index also will be used to watch for any potential challenges. “We’re trying to drive this equitable experience,” Shepherd said, “so we can both serve our clients effectively and have our people feel included regardless of whether they’re in the room or not.”

Long before the pandemic, Jen Piallat, the then-owner of Zasie, a French bistro in the Cole Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, decided to treat restaurant workers with respect. Restaurant workers, the majority of whom are women, with Latinx women the most represented, are notoriously underpaid and as the general workforce. They’re often given unpredictable schedules with little notice, kept in limbo, on-call, or sent home with no pay if demand drops. In contrast, Piallat paid a living wage and offered stable schedules, paid time off, 60 percent off meals, and a host of other benefits.

When she became concerned that hardworking front-of-the-house servers benefit from tips while the just-as-hardworking back of the house kitchen staff typically make much less, she decided that all 38 members of the staff should reap the benefits of their labor. She raised menu prices by 25 percent and shared the proceeds with the workers: servers get 12 percent of their sales for the day, and kitchen workers 12 percent of the entire restaurant’s sales. Now, at the top of their menu, a note proclaims, “Zasie is Proud to be Tip Free! All of our menu prices include a living wage, revenue share, paid family leave, fully funded health & dental insurance, paid time off, and a 401(k)—with employer match for all of our hard working employees. No Tips Expected.”

So, once the pandemic hit, the restaurant was able to pivot and survive on take out and outdoor dining. Even as workers quit their jobs at unprecedented rates and “help wanted” signs littered the doors of restaurants and retail stores across the country, Zasie lost only four employees—two who wanted to return to Mexico, and two who switched careers. “They don’t move to other restaurants, because we’re as good as it gets,” said Megan Cornelius, a one-time Zasie server and now one of three co-owners, along with long-time Zasie General Manager Mario Rojas and Executive Chef Francisco Romero, who bought the restaurant from Piallet in January 2020. “We were doing a lot of things right before the pandemic,” Cornelius said, “so watching them be so effective during the pandemic was another reassurance that we were doing the right thing.

Some key lessons Cornelius said she wants others who employ hourly, retail, frontline, and essential workers to know:

• Value Humans. “We just don’t value humans enough—people’s time, their efforts, the things they have going on in their personal lives. In this industry, in particular, you do feel expendable,” Cornelius said. At Zasie, before the pandemic, valuing humans meant making sure the jobs and working conditions were good. Knowing everyone’s names, birthdays ,and families and caring about their lives. Closing the restaurant and throwing a killer staff Christmas party. During the pandemic, that meant giving grace to employees who felt uncomfortable coming in, not firing them, as others may have. That meant paying 75 percent of employee salaries even when the restaurant was closed, while many waited for unemployment benefits. And offering workers weekly free staples and groceries from the restaurant.
• Be Honest. During the pandemic, Zasie owners shared transparently with staff about finances and the sacrifices they were all making and how they were supporting staff. Employees responded in kind, sharing reduced hour shifts, even working on cleaning and refinishing projects to help the restaurant make it through.
• Doing Right by Workers is Good Business. “If you’re doing the right thing for employees, the right thing’s going to happen to your business,” Cornelius has learned. When Piallat raised prices before the pandemic, business didn’t drop off because the restaurant was transparent that the money was going to make workers’ jobs better—and clients not only liked that, but became even more fiercely loyal. (A lot of children and pets in the neighborhood are actually named Zasie in honor of the place, Cornelius said.) “A lot of times, business owners say they’re investing in business. But investing in employees is one of the best investments you can make. It can be expensive. But turnover is expensive,” Cornelius said. “It costs a lot of money to retrain people constantly. And we don’t have to do that.” Restaurant sales are back to pre-pandemic levels, even as all Covid restrictions have yet to be lifted.

“So many companies say, ‘I could never do this.’ Well, we’re doing it,” Cornelius said. “I get that small businesses feel stretched. But these corporations, I don’t really get it. They make money hand-over-fist, and I just don’t understand how they can’t treat people better. It’s about reprioritizing, and a lot of people don’t do that because the industry has been the same for so long. People say that we’re so innovative,” she added. “But treating people well shouldn’t be innovative.”