The three things CEOs should stop doing in 2024
- Champa Ha
What are things that CEOs should embrace in 2024?
For Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Owl Labs, a firm that makes video conferencing equipment, CEOs should embrace three big things that he believes would make organisations more effective: embracing flexible work, not micro-managing employees, and a comfortable dress code at work
Weishaupt shared these concepts with CNBC, borne from more than 20 years of executive experience at organisations ranging from startups to Yahoo, and observing the shifts of work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Firstly, he shared that the tradition of working in-office should no longer exist, citing that while he enjoyed in-office participation, he appreciated it more when it was organic. “The office has a role, but mandating that you must come into the office on this day, at this time, and leave no earlier than this time — that is a dead concept.” Flexibility, he says, is key, and choices should be given to employees on how they work and where they do it.
Next, with the advent of flexible work arrangements, organisations should embrace a more casual dress code. Weishaupt extrapolated on the increase in productivity he observed when employees can incorporate casual wear into the office, along with an increase in relaxation and a reduction in restriction.
“When it comes to dress codes, people want their environment to mimic the comfort that they have in an alternative location, whether that be home or somewhere else,” he said, especially since many workplace dress codes can have exclusionary or discriminatory undertones for people of different genders, cultures and ethnic backgrounds.
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Lastly, Weishaupt called for organisations to ditch tracking systems and tactics as it can hurt trust between bosses and their employees, and deter prospective talent from seeking employment. “Employee activity is a slippery slope where you’re going to lose trust … And it wouldn’t be my first stop to go somewhere where they said, ‘Hey, just want to let you know, before you start, that we’re going to be monitoring your activity at all times.’”
