"Only in Name? Establish 'Guardrails' to Prevent Fake Flexible Work"[Jjinbit]

Asia Economy 34th Anniversary Interview
Brian Elliott, Chairman of Future Forum USA (Slack Senior Vice President)②

Brian Elliott, Chairman of Future Forum (Senior Vice President of Slack)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunjin Jeong] As the need for flexible work has increased since COVID-19, domestic and international companies have introduced various systems and conducted numerous experiments. In this process, although systems that appear to have flexibility on the surface have been introduced, the risk of “fake flexibility,” which is not truly flexible, has increased.

Brian Elliott, Chairman of Future Forum (Senior Vice President at Slack), said in a written interview with Asia Economy on the 13th that to prevent this, "appropriate guardrails must be used," and "a framework should be provided to protect against double standards experienced in flexible work environments so that the principles of flexible work can be implemented and maintained." As chairman of Future Forum, an organizational culture consortium established by Slack in September 2020, he closely observed changes in work environments in major countries such as the U.S. during the pandemic and recently published a book titled How The Future Works based on these insights.

The guardrails proposed by Chairman Elliott are divided into three aspects: leadership, workspace, and culture. Leadership guardrails mean that corporate executives themselves must lead by example to create an atmosphere for adopting flexible work environments. He explained that if executives do not adhere to the system they have established, employees will find it difficult to genuinely experience a flexible work environment. A representative example is Brian Chesky, co-founder of Airbnb, which adopted a permanent remote work system, announcing plans in January to work for several months while traveling to Airbnb locations worldwide.

Additionally, Elliott envisions guardrails that make the workspace itself adaptable for flexible work and reshape the culture formed through work processes such as meetings and discussions to align with flexible work. Elliott said, "There is a common complaint in corporate culture: there are too many meetings," and added, "The culture must be changed so that meetings only occur when truly necessary." He emphasized that all aspects of work methods must be redesigned?from defining how to measure organizational success beyond merely offering remote work to training managers accordingly. Companies should establish principles that focus not on the number of times employees attend the office but on the results employees produce, sharing higher-level goals.

Furthermore, he pointed out the need to educate managers on how to demonstrate leadership. Managers should understand what it means to lead teams based on results rather than merely monitoring employees in the office, and they should be trained to create an atmosphere where team members can share ideas and differing opinions while accepting risks. He added, "Coaching and appropriate success cases must be supported, and a network to support managers should be established."

◆ About Brian Elliott...

- Current Senior Vice President at Slack and Chairman of Future Forum / Bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, MBA from Harvard University / Former Head of Google Express / Former Partner at Boston Consulting Group / Author of the book How The Future Works

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is short for 'Hyunjin Jeong’s Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a section that showcases trends in corporate management such as organizational culture and HR systems. Based on analyses from foreign media and major overseas institutions that have not received much attention so far, we will deliver fresh and differentiated information and perspectives.