The future of work is being reshaped by technology, hybrid models, and changing workforce expectations. Andrew Stephenson, Chief People Officer at Equiniti, discusses how the organisation is navigating these shifts—by investing in skills, driving inclusion, and using innovation to connect teams across borders.
1. What are some global workforce trends that Equiniti is proactively adapting to?
The increasing prevalence of technology, particularly AI, is fundamentally changing the world of work. It will take away many lower levels tasks. In many ways this is a great opportunity, it helps us take jobs from ‘menial to meaningful’ however it also means there are less ‘entry level’ roles for people to start their career. We therefore need to ensure companies training and development adapts to give people more strategic skills than perhaps they would have previously started careers with. We also need to adapt to the multi-generational nature of the workforce. Creating opportunities for people across demographics to collaborate and learnings from each other’s unique skills and perspectives will ensure we maximise the productivity of the company and deliver the optimal service to our clients and customers.
2. What is Equiniti’s approach to hybrid working across its UK, US, and India offices? Is it uniform or tailored by region?
Our approach isn’t tailored by region but more by function and the needs of the business. Some roles are simply performed better in an office, there is more opportunity for collaboration and innovation. It is also easier to learn new skills from more experienced colleagues when they are in the same location. Many of our operational roles fall into this category and are therefore close to 100% office attendance, this is the same whether in India or other locations such as the UK or USA. However, there is no benefit to a person coming into the office if they are going to spend the whole day on Teams calls with colleagues and clients in other countries. In this case people may be better saving the commuting time and using it more productively for their own development or for personal benefit. We therefore have a range from almost zero office attendance through to permanent. The average Equiniti colleague would be in the office 60% of the time, wherever they may be in the world.
3. What steps are being taken to create a sense of inclusion and engagement across geographically dispersed teams?
We invest heavily in Inclusion and Engagement, indeed many of our programmes have won multiple awards. We have active “inclusion” and “multicultural” communities who operate through face to face colleague meetings and through their own digital communities that operate on our Intranet. These communities activity contribute to decision making in our business ensuring that we truly are an environment where people from all backgrounds are able to thrive and build their careers. We are independently assessed by the Top Employers Institute in several countries, including India, and our scores for Diversity and Inclusion are well above benchmark levels.
4. Are there any innovations or tools that have significantly enhanced how teams connect and deliver across borders?
As a technology business it is inevitable that we lean on technology to deliver across borders. Many of our teams are global with managers and colleagues in different locations. The power of the internet means we can still live our values of being collaborative despite distance. As well as direct connections via tools such as Microsoft Teams we regularly use live broadcasts around the world. Recently many members of our leadership team were in Bengaluru and we hosted a “Global Connect” session that included live input from New York (USA) and London (UK). There were hundreds of people in the room and colleagues virtually joined us in 7 further countries so through technology we can all stay connected.
5. Has hybrid work influenced your approach to hiring, onboarding, or talent development globally?
Hybrid work means we have to work extra hard to keep the culture of innovation and collaboration alive. With less opportunities to connect in-person the more informal elements of a culture can be impacted. We ensure we have good levels of office attendance, and make the physical environment of those offices conducive to wanting to be in, therefore ensuring people stay connected. The major benefit though is the ability to access a wider talent pool than if every role required permanent on site attendance, it gives us greater access to those who may have caring responsibilities or other reasons they need some flexibility. Fundamentally we want the best people to work for us, so a mix of in office and offsite maximises the talent pool available.
6. Do employees have a voice in shaping the future of hybrid work at Equiniti? If so, how is feedback collected and actioned?
Employees have a voice in everything at Equiniti. We survey colleagues every month and almost 90% of people around the world give us feedback each month, it is tens of thousands of comments. As well as managers reading comments, we use AI to help us identify trends in the data and take action based off that feedback. Several times a year the Executive Management, including the CEO, will conduct a live broadcast to colleagues where we will explain what action has been taken. On top of this we have colleague forums (inclusiveness, wellbeing, ESG and multicultural) where representatives can talk about how various topics (including hybrid) work impact the particular group they represent. This way we ensure everybody’s perspectives are included.
7. If you had to summarize your people philosophy for the future of work in one sentence, what would it be?
Colleagues want to work “with” the company not “for” the company and we need to help them do that by creating an environment where success is inevitable.
