How the Future Works

Conclusion: Making a Difference

We believe that flexible work is the future, and there are a lot of reasons why businesses need to start embracing that future now. We have already talked through the top ones, including:

• Your people want it. Many of them need it. And increasingly they are going to expect it, or they will find it somewhere else.
• It's a competitive advantage that opens up your hiring pool far beyond commuting distance from the office. It makes it easier to attract, retain, and engage diverse, top talent.
• It helps unlock potential in more of your people, fostering inclusion and leveling the playing field, which leads to better outcomes.
• It's an opportunity to move to new ways of learning, connecting, collaborating, managing, and measuring that better supports your people and your business. Knowledge work has transformed businesses, but many business practices simply haven't kept up.
• A number of companies have already started down this path, and they are seeing higher employee engagement and better outcomes as a result.

But there's another reason, too, one that we have only touched on throughout this book, but that we think is worth considering before we send you on your way: Flexible work can make a real difference in people's lives, including your own. It has certainly made a difference in ours and many of the people we have encountered while focusing on this work.

That includes Erin Defay, Vice President of HR Tech at Dell Technologies. The company introduced ...