By Leagh Turner, president and chief operating officer, Ceridian
Like many reading this, the daily discussions I've been having with colleagues, partners, and other business and public sector leaders around the globe have taken on a much different tone — the world is never going to be the same, and accelerating complexity and change is the new normal.
Before the pandemic, we were already living in a historically fast-paced environment. For instance, take technology adoption in US households over time. It took landline telephones over 70 years to reach a 90% household adoption rate, while cellphones penetrated 90% of homes in under a decade. Yet 2020 has shown this pace will only accelerate.
Previously kept at arm's length by many industries before the onset of COVID-19, remote working has skyrocketed. For instance, a recent McKinsey study showed the share of US employees in professional and business services working remotely has increased since the lockdowns by a staggering 69%. Each day it seems more tried and true notions are challenged and felled, while the latest ideas and data points are relevant for even shorter periods of time.
In under a year, the future of everything has been thrust upon us. And with each day that passes, it becomes clearer that the only future-proof path forward is to put even more space between ourselves and conventional ways of thinking and working to redefine what we consider possible.
In the world of work, this notion applies particularly well to digital transformation. Eight months into a global pandemic, many have relied on a digital experience for continuity in our lives and our work, showing that large scale transformation can happen, and happen quickly.
For instance, a recent article by MIT's Erik Brynjolfsson, featured in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review, estimated that "31% of workers who were employed in early March had switched to working at home by the first week of April." No small feat and something that could have easily been dismissed as impossible in 2019. The public sector turned heads as well when New York City's public school district moved 1.1 million students to remote schooling in just two weeks.
The manufacturing sector also rose to the occasion in headline-grabbing fashion. Almost overnight, many pivoted their operations to produce personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment. DeRoyal Industries, a manufacturer of over 25,000 different products, quickly adapted their production lines to create anti-fog, anti-glare face shields, a project that started in the gym of their corporate building. They now produce 50,000-60,000 face shields per day.
Though some got there out of pure necessity, the speed in which public and private institutions moved to a digital-first model is a bright silver lining in a challenging year. This embrace of modern workforce technology has enabled complex businesses and organizations to stay employee-centric while responding to disruption strategically and with purpose. They chose to view disruption as an opportunity for value creation and growth and did so with encouraging results.
The global health crisis and our new economic reality have heightened the need for organizations to master this approach and become smarter and more nimble. Though everything around us continues to change at an unprecedented rate, these experiences allow us to take heart in one truth that will stand the test of time. As 2020 has shown us, the intelligent use of technology and data will be at the core of all winning strategies moving forward.
Learn how Ceridian can help your company adapt to change.
This post was created by Ceridian with Insider Studios.
