Harley To Reinvent Its Headquarters As the World Changes

Fundmental Shift

From the onset of the pandemic, people and companies made fundamental shifts in the way they operate with a large percentage of the population working from home. With COVID in our rearview, many companies have opted to stick with remote work or hybrid schedules, at the very least, and that's precisely what Harley-Davidson is now planning to do as it reinvents its headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Assembling Talent

In fact, H-D CEO Jochen Zeitz has determined that letting employees work from home moving forward is the right call. “Having the ability to just push a button wherever that person sits, get that person online, or create a meeting - that is not defined by which floor you sit on and who’s in the corner office,” Zeitz said in an interview with Bloomberg recently. “It democratizes the way we work together and allows you to bring the best talent into the company, no matter where they sit.”

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Useful Tool

Remote work is rather appealing to a lot of workers these days, whether it be because it allows them to spend more time with their families or if they just free up some time to do things besides work and commute to and from the office. This is particularly important as Harley works to attract talent in a fierce job market ripe with competition.

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Integral Piece

Zeitz plans to follow up this revised work schedule by making some additional changes to the company's 500,000-square-foot headquarters, though he hasn't revealed what those changes might look like just yet. However, he did say that the building will remain an "integral" part of the company moving forward.

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Different Agenda

This is key because Zietz believes that there is still a place for face-to-face interactions in the workplace. However, he also knows that those meetings can't just be dumbed-down presentations that could have easily been sent out electronically. "I don’t want to see the exact same agenda we would have if we were on a screen," he said. 

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Trusting Employees

At the same time, such a move requires a company to trust its workers, as well as hire folks that can be trusted to be left to their own devices. "You can sit in an office and be very disengaged - instead of working on your computer, you just play with your games,” Zietz said.  “We need to trust our employees, that’s critical.” 

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Different Approaches

Hybrid and work-from-home schedules are all the rage these days, but companies are taking very different approaches to it, with some requiring workers to be in the office even though many don't want to be. With any luck, Harley's willingness to let people work remotely will help it attract some top tech talent moving forward.

Photos: Harley-Davidson

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