This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, recently, at our Bloomberg Live Work Shifting two point o event that Tim and I participated in, there was someone else there. Jared's Pitaro. He's corporate VP of Microsoft and Modern Work. He provided an update on what they're seeing when it comes to how the world is working post pandemic, and we've reached out to him several times over the last
couple of years to figure out what's going on. Yeah, they've got some great data. The reports surveyed thirty one people in thirty one different countries. It just came out a few days ago. Uh. The question is, you know, how can we make remote work or hybrid work work across different sectors and across different regions. Jared's Pittaro is, as Carol mentioned, corporate vice president from Microsoft three sixty five. He joins us now. Jared, good to talk with you again.
Great expectations. Making hybrid work work is the subject of your report. What did you learn after surveying thirty people? Well, great to be here with you. You know, the big takeaway for us is that we're just not the same people who went home to work in our expectations about what work is, what role plays in our lives, and kind of what we're willing to give up for our professions and careers has really changed over the last twenty four months. I think that was one of the most
surprising things for me is I looked at the data. Well, it's interesting, you know, we're we're finding out to what really matters too workers, right, And I think for such a long time in our world, Jarred, it was all about money and making as much money as you can. We know that that's certainly not the case anymore. Yeah, that's right. We asked employees, so again, thirty one people across thirty one country, so a really nice swath of people across the planet, trying to get a sense for
how their priorities have changed. We asked them, he besides pay, what is important to you? Here's what they told us. Number one was a positive culture, Number two well being, three a sense of purpose and meaning, and four flexible hours. So you can see there that there's been quite a shift. We also asked them kind of if they changed in their attitude towards work of the people we surveyed said that they're more likely to prioritize their health and well
being now overwork when compared to before the pandemic. So some big shifts in the mindset. Okay, Jared, So we know what you gathered with the survey, We know the takeaways. What about the takeaways for managers for companies here, what do they need to do in order to make sure that in this incredibly tight labor market they're tracking and retaining talent. Yeah. One of the things that surprised me the most was really the friction that we have set
up between employees and their managers. Are leaders in particular, we found that even though employees want this flexibility that we talked about, they're very focused on well being. Over fifty percent of leaders told us that they're planning to go back into the office five days a week, full time, no flexibility. So there is this sense that we're going to be set up for a little bit of a showdown. To be honest with you, and again, if you're a manager,
want to think about you know, what to do. We think it's important to just understand that minds at Yeah, that's right. I think there is a little bit of a shield down coming here over the next few months as we all work this out. Well, So, how do leaders kind of make it worth it to a worker who says, listen, I can work at home such as you know, as easily I can be as productive. How do leaders and companies make it worth it to say, Nope, get on the train and get in your car, come
to the office. Yeah, I think that is the big question. You know, we have people who are already working hybrid, so they sometimes have gone into the office. Those people have told us, in fact, the largest percentage of them told us, Hey, I'm thinking about stopping the hybrid thing going into the office. I think I'll just be remote.
And we asked them why is that the case? And what they've said, Carol is while go into the office and I sit down, and I'm on a team's meeting, and I'm you know, working through zoom with all the people that I know, but they're not here physically, and so there's there's really a need for managers and leaders to start to think differently about the office, the physical space and help people understand why they would come back together. And the big finding from the report is social capital
or these connect shoes. We create one more in person matter a lot, and they actually really are formed best when you're in person. So we don't think that all hyper, they're all remote, were all in person. We think a combination is important. Jared, a very wise individual said to me,
what's interesting is that? And I think this was Frank Kassudis at Cisco and said that coming into the office was more important for men because so much of their social network was the case and forgive me, friend, if it wasn't you, it might have been somebody else at work shifting, and that for women that we tend to have a pretty vast social network outside of the office. And that's why there's still a lot of men running companies who are like, get to the office. Why can't
we be in the office. I'm curious your thoughts on that, or if any of your data shows any inside on that. Well, we did show that friendships at the office are important and that they're impacted when you're not physically there, so that that much is true. I can't comment on the men women's but I can also they'll comment on something that jumped out at me, and that's how people felt
about their productivity. Eight percent of the people that we survey said that they've been as productive or even more productive at home. But over fift those managers that we servey said no, not so fast. We don't think so. We think there's been a drop in productivity. So there's a lot going on. I think it's friendships. Like you're saying, the social aspect. I also think it's kind of a hard nosed looked at productivity, and leaders are are a
bit worried about that. Hey, Jared, I want to go back to what you said about these about the social capital here and how that looks in a hybrid world. How do you create those connections physically if let's say people are required to come in three days a week, but they're not coming in on the same team those three days. Yeah, this has been the really big question for these folks who are starting to experiment. What we found is that things like team agreements, they're quite simple,
but can make a big difference. I know on my team is a simple example. We have what we call team Thursdays and parts of the team, so they're just saying, Hey, on Thursdays, why don't we get together. I'll be there. You can count on me being being there in the office if you show up, and that's a bit of a draw for people because the last thing that you want is to show up and John and Sally aren't
there when you're when you've been expecting them. All right, So I have a question for you, Jared, and I keep wondering. It's a really tight labor market, and you ask any leader of an institution or CEO of a company that one of the things that's always on their minds is making sure they have enough access to talent getting the workers that they need right now. That's that's what's potentially holding them back. If, if anything, so, what happens in a looser labor market? Does all of this
go away? And companies are like, you want a job, you've got to be in the office. And I don't mean when do we get to that looser labor market? But everything is a cycle, right, So I'm just wondering, if that happens, is it like all of this that we've been talking about goes away? You know? That is probably the single most frequently asked questions that I get
from business leader CEOs on down. And what I would say is this, if if if we have been experiencing this for three months, maybe six months, it would have been something that we all kind of just waited our way through. At this point, what we're seeing, and that's the big finding of the report, is that people's mindset have changed. In fact, even deeper, their values have age.
As a simple example, fifty two percent of gen Z and millennials told us that if they don't get the flexibility they're looking for, they will leave and go find it elsewhere. And that's not a statement about, you know, what a tough labor So we think that employers who are smart are just going to realize, oh, we should think of this as part of the deal we can
offer to create a differentiated employee experience. As you think about it that way, I think it's less about the labor market type we're not much more about how you're attracting talent. I love that you guys found that meetings now start later on Mondays and finish earlier on Fridays. There are fewer meetings at lunch time. To note, eleven am is the most used meeting time. Two to three pm is rising in popularity. Right, yeah, me too. It's okay, I'm okay with it. All right, Jared, thank you so
much there for hanging around for us today. We really appreciate Jared's Pitaro. He's corporate VP over at Microsoft. Through via zoom from Redmond, Washington. What do you think do like I wonder in a tighter labor market? Absolutely, you know it's not gonna it's gonna change a little bit. It has to write. Yeah, unless it's just so hard to imagine a tighter labor market, unless you already place
right and it's just entrenched to the system. All Right, we're almost there, bebe almost almost a Friday, alright, everybody, have a good and safe evening. This is business week.