'We’re getting used to it,' and seeing the benefits associated with it: Prudential Financial Vice Chair on remote work

Vice Chair at Prudential Financial, Rob Falzon, joined Yahoo Finance Live to break down what the future of work will look like after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Video Transcript

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ADAM SHAPIRO: OK, 15 minutes to the closing bell. Let's bring in to the stream Rob Falzon, vice chair, Prudential Financial. Good to have you here. And a lot to talk about as we look at these markets, but there's also the work you've done, which is showing that 87% of people want-- who do work remotely want to work remotely at least one day a week post-pandemic. You think that's going to have an impact on-- well, it's going to have an impact. What's it going to look like for most of us?

ROB FALZON: Yeah, so, you know, I think a couple of interesting observations about that, Adam. First, that number has been steadily climbing through the pandemic. So when we first started doing this survey early on in the pandemic, that number was closer to around 50% of employees that we surveyed would say they view remote as being a permanent component of the future. And that's now up to 87% number that you cited. And so, this is clearly something that as we've been working remotely, we're getting used to it. And we're seeing some of the benefits that are associated with that. And individuals will expect that to be part of for their future work dynamic.

It means that, on average, people are going to be in the office, you know, our organization about half the time and about half the time outside. And it also means that that office dynamic is going to look very different than what it did before-- you know, when people left the office and what they come back to, it's going to need to look very different to accommodate what people want to do when they actually go into the workplace. I jokingly tell people that the workplace is not going to be for doing work, or at least, not traditional work. It's actually going to be a place where people want to get together for ideation and learning and planning and conferencing and those types of sessions.

SEANA SMITH: So, Rob, from a leadership perspective then, what can companies do, what can executives do just in order to better support this remote work environment?

ROB FALZON: So there are investments, Seana, that need to be made both in the office and in the remote environment. And a lot of that is around technology. So for instance, in the office, there are going to be any given day, there are going to be individuals who are going to be at the workplace, having meetings. They're going to be with people who are there and the people who are not there. So every meeting space is going to need to anticipate that someone is going to be remote. So you're going to have to have that capability in every conference room.

We were looking at doing this. We're redoing every floor in all of our buildings right now in anticipation of bringing people back. And I asked them to make sure that-- I didn't care if it was a three-person conference room or a 30-person conference room-- that we needed to ensure that we had a virtual capability there so that people can be videoed in, and they're not there simply on a telecom and then feel like they're actually not part of the meeting. And then when people are working from home, they have to have the technology that supports them working remotely to make them feel as if they're actually part of the office when they're not there.

ADAM SHAPIRO: You also found that in order to retain and attract workers, flexible work schedules is going to be the number one thing. 31% of the people said that's what they want. So what does that look like when 5 o'clock comes around if you've been working since 8:30 in the morning? Some companies say you should stop at 5:00-- wink, wink. And you're still working. I mean, how do you when you're at work from home literally shut the computer and I'm done?

ROB FALZON: Yeah, you know, I think the problem we've got, Adam, is just, as you pointed out, is that people were not ending at 5:00. In fact, the shoulders to the beginning and the end of the day have completely disappeared. And they're working earlier and working later. And so people need to be coached, actually, when they're working remotely how to manage their work-life balance a little better than we've experienced to date in the pandemic. Now I do think that's been made worse by virtue of the exogenous circumstances associated with the pandemic, no child care, no elder care, you know, isolation. There's lots of reasons why it's been more difficult for people to operate in this environment.

But from a management standpoint, I think the flexibility needs to be demonstrated both from a geographic standpoint, so accommodating people who want to do this hybrid work environment and from a timing standpoint. So, recognizing that the 9:00 to 5:00 work time is probably not the right answer for everyone on a go-forward basis. And so you need to figure out how you can do meeting and planning and ideation in a way that hits when people are available and can engage in the office, and then giving people flexibility outside of those times to pick and choose when they can engage and when they can be most productive.

ADAM SHAPIRO: And the best part of the work from home situation is that nobody knows if you do the three-martini lunch. We appreciate your being here.

ROB FALZON: Yeah, although, you know, I don't know how much of an issue that is. Because what we clearly see as through the surveys, productivity is actually up in the pandemic, which is sort of a little counterintuitive. But it's up, and it's up measurably. And so I think the problem we've got is we need to encourage more of them to take some time off for lunch, as opposed to worry about how much time they are taking off for it.

ADAM SHAPIRO: I worked with a guy named Don Webster who would say it was the three-martini lunch that made people more productive. We'll be right back.