The Future of Work
Designing Work for What’s Next: Key Takeaways from Amanda Schneider
Women in the Floorcovering Industry recently welcomed Amanda Schneider, founder and president of ThinkLab, for a WIFI Power Hour focused on how workplace expectations, communication, leadership, and engagement are changing.
ThinkLab is a research organization dedicated exclusively to the built environment, helping companies better understand the forces shaping the future of design, work, and business. Amanda is also the host of the top-ranked Design Nerds Anonymous podcast, a TED speaker, and the author of Work for What’s Next.
During the session, Amanda shared research and practical ideas to help leaders, employees, and sales professionals prepare for a workplace that is increasingly digital, flexible, and multigenerational.
Gen Z Is a Prototype, Not a Stereotype
Amanda encouraged attendees to stop viewing generations through broad stereotypes. Instead, Gen Z can serve as a prototype that helps organizations see where workplace expectations may be heading.
Their experiences provide a fresh perspective on systems and practices that were often created for a different era. The goal is not to redesign work exclusively for younger employees, but to use their insights to create better workplaces for every generation.
Trust Is Becoming a Critical Workplace Issue
One of the most striking findings Amanda shared involved trust in hybrid workplaces. Her research found that 24% of Gen Z respondents identified trust as the hardest part of working in a hybrid environment, compared with only 12% of baby boomers.
This trust gap can affect relationships between employees, managers, organizations, customers, and sales professionals. Leaders must be more intentional about building trust through transparency, consistency, and clear communication.
Workplace Culture Must Catch Up with Technology
Technology has changed how quickly and where people work, but many workplace expectations have not evolved at the same pace.
Employees may collaborate across multiple locations, communicate through several digital platforms, and work outside traditional office hours. However, many organizations are still relying on unwritten rules created for an eight-to-five, in-office workplace.
Amanda challenged leaders to identify and rethink these outdated norms rather than simply transferring old practices into new technology.
The Future Is “Phygital”
Amanda described the future of work and sales as “phygital,” meaning organizations must intentionally combine digital and physical experiences.
Digital communication can help initiate relationships, share information, and create frequent points of connection. In-person interaction can then strengthen those relationships and make them more meaningful.
The goal is not to choose between digital communication and face-to-face engagement. It is to use each one strategically. As Amanda explained, digital interactions can spark the relationship, while meaningful human experiences help it stick.
Employees Need a Reason to Stay
Younger employees are often described as disloyal, but Amanda offered a different interpretation: they do not lack loyalty; they lack blind loyalty.
Employees today have greater access to information about salaries, opportunities, workplace cultures, and career paths. Remaining with an organization simply because it is expected may no longer feel reasonable.
Employers must provide a compelling reason to stay by offering meaningful work, competitive opportunities, professional growth, trust, and a workplace experience that reflects current realities.
Leadership Is Shifting from Directing to Empowering
Expectations of effective leadership are also changing.
Amanda shared that baby boomers may be more likely to view good leaders as people who direct, while Gen X tends to value coordination and millennials value guidance. Gen Z is more likely to define good leadership as empowerment, while Gen Alpha may increasingly look for leaders who inspire.
Organizations that begin adapting leadership practices now will be better positioned to attract, develop, and retain the next generation of managers.
Hybrid Work Requires Clear Agreements
Flexibility can be valuable, but it can also create uncertainty and an ongoing feeling that employees should always be available.
Amanda recommended using team-level agreements to define expectations around communication, availability, response times, work hours, and successful performance. Clearly stating “what good looks like” can reduce the mental burden employees experience when work can happen anytime and anywhere.
The Flooring Sales Playbook Is Changing
These workplace shifts are also influencing how flooring professionals communicate with customers.
Amanda shared that sellers now spend less time face-to-face with clients, presentations are becoming shorter, decision-making groups are larger, and many younger specifiers begin their research digitally.
Sales professionals must rethink how they use both digital and in-person interactions, communicate efficiently, establish trust, and provide value throughout a more complex buying process.
Preparing for What Comes Next
The central message of the session was clear: organizations cannot create the future of work by continuing to rely on systems designed for the past.
Preparing for what comes next will require leaders to question unwritten norms, build trust, communicate intentionally, empower employees, and thoughtfully connect digital and human experiences.
WIFI thanks Amanda Schneider for sharing her research, ideas, and practical strategies with the flooring community.
