Future of Work Leadership Forum

Welcome to the Future of Work: Leadership Forums content session day. We’ll kick off the day with the top trends we’re seeing across industries.

Coronavirus restrictions have drastically limited the physical spaces that people can occupy while the struggle for racial justice has raised questions over who feels welcome in shared spaces. The shift to remote work and rising concerns over employee well-being created an opportunity for Audible to reimagine the workplace for COVID-19 and beyond. As a mission-driven company devoted to cultivating a sense of belonging both among its employees and with its local communities, Audible developed innovative ways of working to foster connection and collaboration across our global entities. In this session, two leaders from Audible will engage in a discussion on how they approached this challenge head-on to accelerate changes and create solutions to the question, “if space is virtual, what is our place?”

2020 brought about myriad challenges for businesses; among them, managing and maintaining employee wellbeing and mental health. Getaway, the company that offers mindful escapes to tiny cabins in the woods, is on a mission to help its guests combat burnout, spend time in nature and disconnect from technology – and it wants its employees to reap the same benefits, especially in the current climate. This session will dive into how leaders can give their employees the time, space and permission to be off in an authentic way, as well as offer advice on how to maintain a healthy work/life balance in the “new normal.”

How do you ensure you get the most from your team when they’re working remotely, while also ensuring their personal lives and mental health are taken care of? 2020 has been a year where flexible working became the norm with parents taking a more equal share of childcare than perhaps ever before. In this session we’ll discuss what opportunities have been opened up for better equality as a result of the enforced remote working conditions in 2020, and how can they be maintained through 2021.

As female tech professionals navigate their career paths, they are increasingly prioritizing an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workspace. But how do you successfully create an impactful DEI program, and what should a leader be thinking about when working to further empower women in tech at your own company?
Shruti Jain, Global Head of Acquisitions and Diversity Council Lead from Google’s Online Partnerships Group, will discuss the value of DEI programs and what makes them impactful, as well as insights from her 13+ year career in tech, spent mainly at Google. Shruti will also discuss her perspective on leadership, and how mentorship can effect change in the workplace and help global teams grow and succeed.