As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to discuss the Future of Work for small businesses. In this series, we tackle two of the biggest challenges facing California small businesses and others across the USA: navigating staffing shortages and the ongoing return-to-office debate. Here’s how to position your business for success in 2025. 2025 Hiring Challenges: Addressing Staffing Shortages The 2025 Salary Guide from Robert Half highlights ongoing staffing shortages in sectors like technology, finance, accounting, and healthcare. According to the report, 73% of managers struggle to find skilled candidates, driven by: Technological Advancements: Rapid tech changes mean skills [...]

With apology to Mark Twain, have the reports of the death of post-pandemic commercial office space been greatly exaggerated? We say yes! At the same time, we also acknowledge the profound changes the traditional office model has undergone over the last four years. As we explored in our Future of Work: Part 2, hybrid work environments can most certainly thrive – and, we believe, are here to stay, regardless of current ‘return to office’ mandates. This resonates with Mark Rauch, Principal at commercial real-estate firm Cresa. He sees the continuation of the three main models coming out of the pandemic [...]

4 Must-Have People Practices for Remote Teams: Welcome back! Let’s quickly recap Part 1 of our series on the Future of Work. The clash between employee demands and employer needs, viewed through the lenses of different generations, has given rise to ‘The Great Compromise1.' Employee expectations of employer support are growing. At the same time, new 2023 research shows that productivity is high for companies with a remote component – and highest of all for businesses that are primarily remote. Yet some leaders still think a full return to the office must happen for businesses to be successful. What’s a [...]

Looking Back at 2023: With 2024 around the corner and Covid’s debut increasingly in our rearview mirrors, Peoplescape reflects on the evolving hybrid and remote work landscape. In just three years we have gone from uncharted waters to ‘The Great Compromise,’ a delicate dance between employee demands and employer needs. This clash between leadership and employee mindsets and expectations gets even more challenging when seen through the differing lenses of Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials (Gen Y), and Gen Z – all in one workplace, sprinkled with residual pandemic trauma on top. In this post, we share our top takeaways [...]