Redefining the Employee-Employer Relationship in 2024

It’s fairly common for the HR and TA communities to spend the first few weeks of a New Year focused on analysing and forecasting the emerging trends we expect to see play out in the world of work over the coming 12 months, and early 2024 has been no exception. It’s looking like the dynamic landscape of work is set to witness significant transformations.

Recently I had a great podcast chat with Neil Pickering, Senior Manager of HR Innovation at UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group), and we talked about the key trends we expected to see over the upcoming. We identified these four main themes for 2024:

1. The Year of Trust: Redefining Employee-Employer Relationships

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, employee preferences regarding when, where, and how they work have undergone a radical shift. Whilst my own research from 2018 indicated that these trends already existed, the Covid pandemic definitely accelerated them. The focus in 2024 has now shifted to redefining the employee-employer relationship, with the overarching theme being trust – Neil’s research indicating that employees are seeking increased trust in their employers and organisations.

This is underscored by a growing emphasis on personalisation of the employee experience. Multi-generational workforces are now the norm, and individual priorities – especially regarding mental health and well-being – are taking centre stage. The challenge lies in delivering unique and personalised experiences tailored to each employee’s needs.

Some of this can be achieved by encouraging more regular manager/employee check-ins, empowering our people to provide feedback, and enabling self-service wellbeing options to help create a more personalised work experience.

2. From Buying and Borrowing to Building and Mining

Our second key trend revolved around talent strategies, which we see shifting from traditional hiring practices to a more holistic approach. Organisations are moving beyond simply buying or borrowing external talent and instead focusing on building and mining talent within their existing workforce. This approach involves identifying and utilszing the skills, capabilities, ambitions, and passions of their current employees.

Our workforces are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of growth opportunities, and expecting organisations to enable their personal and professional development. Part of this will include identifying individual passions outside of work and aligning them with organiational needs and priorities.

We see a need for genuine employee resource groups, and transparent communication channels to encourage employees to share their interests to help facilitate a collaborative, growth-oriented environment.

3. AI, Personalisation, and the Future of Workforce Management

During our conversation Neil highlights the growing role of AI in shaping the future of workforce management. The focus is shifting from process-oriented approaches to outcomes, with generative AI streamlining complex processes behind the scenes. This shift enables employees to experience positive outcomes without getting bogged down by intricate procedures.

Processes like self-scheduling, shift swapping, and accessing information about policies such as leave entitlement, will become seamless with the integration of AI, allowing organisations to prioritise outcomes, ensuring employees can navigate administrative tasks effortlessly, which will lead to increased productivity and an enhanced employee experience.

4. ESG Reality Check: Transparency, Trust, and Employee Expectations

The final major trend we covered was the increased prominence of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives in the corporate landscape. With the EU introducing the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in 2024, organisations will be under increased scrutiny to deliver on their ESG promises. This trend won’t only be influenced by external factors (such as financial markets and regulatory requirements) but also driven by internal expectations from employees and consumers.

The emerging workforce are likely to become active participants in holding their organisations accountable for their social commitments. Businesses will have to be transparent about the outcomes of their ESG initiatives and swiftly address any shortcomings. Authenticity is paramount – we believe employees and consumers will increasingly be looking for tangible proof of an organisation’s commitment to social responsibility.

The world of work in 2024 is poised for some transformative shifts, emphasising trust, personalisation, talent development, AI integration, and ESG initiatives. To thrive in this evolving business landscape all organisations have to display authenticity and a genuine commitment to employee wellbeing. The key to a successful future for businesses in 2024 and beyond lies in embracing change, fostering transparency, and building resilient, adaptive workplaces.

ukg-2024-megatrends-the-year-of-trust-infographic-ukDownload

Navigating HR Trends in 2024: A Holistic Approach to Employee Lifecycle

I was recently invited on to the HR Superstars podcast by Adam Weber of 15Five. He called our podcast chat “Keeping the Humanity in a Humanless HR World” which chimed with the parallels I drew between the much discussed AI driven concept from 2023 of ‘Recruiterless Recruiting’ and why the increasing use of AI in our day to day HR operations would create the need for much more humanity in our organisations, rather than usher in an era of ‘Humanless Human Resources’.

We talked about the emerging HR trends shaping the employee lifecycle in 2024. Our discussion covered a range of topics, and I think we shared  some valuable insights into the evolving landscape of HR practices. I was certainly keen to share some of the latest research I’d been involved with and particularly summarise the key trends and conversations that I’d had during last Autumn’s busy conference and expo season.

For me, there are 4 key areas for HR to focus on in 2024 and beyond. Over the last couple of years we’ve been overwhelmed by conversations around remote, flexible, hybrid and asynchronous working, not to mention the relentless progress of AI into our daily interactions, so the adoption of a more human, compassionate and supportive approach to work should be very much on the corporate agenda.

The four key points we discussed were: 

From Management and Direction to Support and Enablement

Our historic approach to our workforce has been what I often refer to as management and direction. We manage processes, people, their careers, their performance and day to day involvement. We direct people. In fact, we have directors of most parts of their career lifecycle. It’s all a bit autocratic. Yet our digital talent are keen to learn and figure things out for themselves. A phrase I often use is ‘Digital talent has intellectual curiosity’. 

They know their roles are evolving and changing and want the opportunity to discover and explore the opportunities. They don’t want training courses, but access to self-directed learning. Our role is to support them, to create an environment where our people feel empowered to perform, learn, develop and achieve their best results.

Multifaceted Nature of Engagement

Engagement is a much used term for a myriad of things. Engagement isn’t something we can create. It isn’t a management directive. It’s the outcome of treating people well and with respect, recognising them, giving them opportunities to learn, grow and reach their full potential. Creating positive work experiences. 

Key to this is recognising the importance of our workforce’s wellbeing. All of it. Mental, physical, intellectual, emotional, physical, digital, and in particular right now – financial. Is ours a culture where people can ask for help? Without being judged? Do we have managers and leaders trained to help and understand when they might be needed? Can people raise a concern in private and know that it will remain private?

Flexibility and Recognition

Our people want agency in how, when and where they work. For many, whose job is location specific, this will manifest itself in flexibility of hours and communication. For the others, it will centre on the flexible, remote, hybrid and asynchronous working debate. Flexibility itself is a crucial aspect of supporting employees in the modern workplace. 

Managers need to perfect a number of different approaches that can give their people access to what they need and input to the way they work. Not least when it comes to support and recognition – the latter playing a key role in creating a positive, diverse, engaged, happy and productive workforce. Personalised recognition, at an individual level, fosters a positive work environment for everyone.

Evolution of the Employee Lifecycle 

We had a good conversation on the evolving nature of the employee lifecycle, which is now accelerated by technological advancement. Anyone familiar with my co-authored books – Digital Talent and Exceptional Talent – will know I believe in the growing concept of a seamless talent journey. This journey emphasises the need for positive experiences all the way through the key touchpoints – from recruitment, through onboarding, development and right throughout the employee journey. The emergence of career experience managers and talent experience managers within organisations highlights a growing focus on overseeing the holistic career experience for all employees.

As all HR professionals embrace 2024, I hope the podcast conversation and the insights I’ve shared can provide a compass for navigating the evolving landscape. I believe that by prioritising a human-centric approach, embracing technological advancements, and ensuring continuous support and enablement throughout the employee lifecycle, we can foster a thriving, profitable workplace for years to come.

Hope you enjoy the chat!

Rethinking Interviews: The Future of Assessing Candidates

In today’s rapidly evolving job landscape, the interview process remains a crucial element in the hiring cycle. However, traditional interviews are often riddled with challenges, leading to mismatches between candidate performance and actual job capabilities. 

In a recent HR Means Business podcast I had a conversation with Stephane Rivard, CEO of Hiring Branch, a company offering skills based hiring assessments, and our discussion centred on the need to overhaul the way we approach the interview process to enable a shift towards more practical evaluation methods.

We covered 4 key points:

  • Shift Towards Work-Simulated Assessments: This represents a move away from traditional Q&A style interviews towards work-simulated assessments. This approach allows candidates to actively perform tasks related to the job they’re applying for, helping to provide a more accurate evaluation of their abilities. Leveraging AI to gauge how candidates express themselves, especially focusing on essential soft and robot-proof skills, is at the core of this framework for job success.
  • Identification of ‘Soft’ Skills: ‘Soft’ skills – which I prefer to call ‘Robot-proof’ skills as soft implies they are easy to master when, in fact, they are quite hard to perfect – are increasingly recognised as pivotal for job success, especially in customer-facing roles. These skills encompass fluency, building rapport, active listening, empathy, and probing abilities, among others. Many organisations are beginning to prioritise these competencies, as they can have a significant impact on employee performance.
  • Challenges with Traditional Interviews: Our conversation covered the limitations of conventional interviews, which too often rely on structured questions that fail to reveal the real person behind the candidate. Human biases, whether conscious or unconscious, significantly influence interview outcomes. Moreover, candidates can often provide misleading information during interviews, leading to a mismatch between their interview performance and actual job performance.
  • Customisation and Bias Elimination: The approach advocated by Stephane Rivard in our chat seeks to eliminate biases by focusing solely on candidates’ skills and capabilities. By customising assessments to specific roles, businesses can delve deeper and evaluate candidates on higher-level skills, ensuring a better match for the job requirements.

Work-simulated assessments can be particularly significant as they are able to provide a more accurate overview of a candidate’s potential. This approach, utilising AI to measure crucial soft skills, can address the shortcomings of traditional interviews that often fail to uncover the real attributes of candidates.

Robot-proof (soft) skills such as fluency, empathy, active listening, and probing abilities are key components driving job success, especially in customer-facing roles. For these positions, conventional interviews usually prove less effective, often fall prey to human biases and inaccurate representations or explanations by candidates.

We also touched on the customisation of assessments based on specific job roles, which enables a deeper evaluation of the higher-level skills required. Elimination of biases is key to this so that evaluation is purely done candidates’ skill sets.

Overall, Stephane makes a strong case for needing a paradigm shift in the interview process. By incorporating work-simulated assessments, organisations can better identify candidates whose skills align with job requirements, leading to improved performance and reduced biases in the hiring process.

Here’s the podcast…hope you enjoy the conversation….

https://mervynn.podbean.com/e/rethinking-interviews/

Improving Culture, Experience, Leadership, Opportunity and Flexibility in 2024

One of my favourite HR events each year is Influence Greatness. Hosted near Salt Lake City by O.C. Tanner the event brings together leaders, analysts, researchers, practitioners, tech experts and consultants for a 3 day exploration of the latest trends in Global Workplace Culture centred around the O.C. Tanner Institute’s research and latest Global Culture Report.

The report always offers insights on evolving employee priorities and preferences, as well as guidance on the key elements of a thriving corporate culture and the 2024 Global Culture Report (published in September 2023) highlighted a number of actionable insights, people-centric solutions and common sense interventions whilst also sharing insights on some of the key aspects that are impacting workplaces globally. 

I’ve recently hosted an HR Means Business podcast chat with Robert Ordever (Managing Director O.C. Tanner Europe) and Stuart Cheeseman (European Strategies O.C. Tanner) about some of the key findings and opportunities. To accompany the podcast, I’ve tried to summarise what I think are some of the key messages from the research. I’ve chosen three of the six categories – you can read about all of them by downloading the report at https://www.octanner.com/global-culture-report

Practical Empathy

A major revelation from the research is the concept of practical empathy in leadership, and how it is falling short. 41% of employees feel that leaders’ expressions of empathy are basically empty gestures, lacking meaning. Yet a survey of 150 CEOs by Harvard Business Review found 80% of them saying empathy was a key to success. O.C. Tanner’s data showed that people working for empathetic leaders tend to be more fulfilled, have a sense of belonging in their workplace and feel a stronger connection to the organisation

The 6 components of practical empathy at work they identified were: 

Focus on the Person – prioritising individual’s needs, challenges and potential

Seek Understanding – getting proper input and feedback on policies and programmes, and a real understanding ding of the day-to-day employee experience. 

Listen to Learn – active listening to our people and their concerns  

Embrace Perspectives – leaders and mangers need to be open to, and accepting of, different perspectives and experiences

Take Supportive Action – showing concern is one thing, but can be an empty gesture if not backed up with real action

Respecting Boundaries – resources for support need to be in place, not reliant on leaders’ intervention

Practical Empathy is about listening, understanding, and empowering leaders to make meaningful contributions to their teams’ well-being. It can improve the sense of belonging and connection employees have, improving business outcomes too.

Skill Building vs. Skill Development

The emphasis on “skill building” instead of traditional “skill development” signifies a shift in perspective. Employees increasingly perceive learning and skill enhancement as self-driven contributions rather than imposed obligations. This shift acknowledges the evolving nature of jobs and encourages individuals to proactively enhance their skills for better contributions and adaptability within their roles.

Employees know their roles are changing and want access to the knowledge and learning necessary to help them. Research from the Global Culture Report shows that they are happier and more productive when they have skill building opportunities, in fact 83% look for these opportunities when changing jobs. For organisations, this is also a solution to addressing talent and knowledge shortages. Giving employees options and integrating some form of recognition for those who embrace can help hardwire this into culture.

Experience of the 80%

80% of the Global workforce don’t work at a desk. It’s sometimes hard for those who are white collar knowledge workers, whose daily conversations around technology and work location fill the digital narratives online, to grasp just how many of the global workforce are frontline workers, deskless and often offline, and usually removed from corporate culture. The Global Culture Report research found half of frontline employees feeling expendable at work, ignored and undervalued, lacking opportunity, technology and autonomy in the vital jobs they do.

During the Covid pandemic, this segment received unprecedented acknowledgment and support. However, research indicates a gradual fading of recognition for these workers, emphasising a need to address this disparity, underscoring the importance of acknowledging and celebrating the part of the workforce that keeps essential operations running.

The research also found the 80% less likely to think their employers care about them, and also less likely to

Trust their leaders

Have a strong sense of connection to the organisation

Feel seen and valued

Have a positive employee experience.

The saddest indictment was the finding that only 1 in 10 believe they have access to the tools, technology and opportunities necessary for advancement, or to have any kind of influence or voice over their work.

The key to improving engagement, belonging, connection and a sense of community and fulfilment is to help them feel seen. The data indicates that improving access and enablement, providing meaningful recognition, and understanding and addressing what matters to them can help the 80% have a sense of belonging, feel a connection to their leaders and the organisation, and foster a strong desire to remain with the organisation in the longer term.

Creating a Resilient Culture of Equitable Flexibility and Empathetic Leadership

To understand more about the research, and the potential opportunities for embracing a more enlightened and inclusive approach to improving our workplaces, listen my podcast conversation with Robert and Stuart……

Building a Culture of Retention

Employee turnover is on the rise. Whilst many analysts and commentators regarded trends such as ‘Great Resignation’ and ‘Great Reshuffle’ to be reactions to how the Covid-19 pandemic had offered employees the potential to find alternative ways of working, research regularly shows that a stubbornly high proportion of workers remain open to exploring different opportunities. After several months of stability in the UK job-to-job resignations data, the latest figures show resignations are increasing again. For all organisations, addressing Employee Retention remains a priority.

US research from 2021 showed the top reasons employees gave for changing jobs as being low pay, lack of opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected at work. If we are to engage and retain the talent we need then we must understand what they want from work, the opportunities, and the experience. For example, most research I have seen and been involved with has consistently shown that the number one reason why someone will join a business, and stay, is if they believe they have the opportunity to grow, develop and learn new skills. 

In our most recent book, Digital Talent, co-author Matt Alder and I explored what our talent looks for, which is vital if we want to attract and retain them. Firstly, they have Intellectual Curiosity. They know their roles – and the skills they will need – are changing and evolving and they want real-time access to the knowledge and learning that will help them develop and meet new business challenges. Hence the need to have growth and development opportunities.

Workers want agency

Secondly, they want agency in how, when and where they work. This isn’t purely a post-Covid development – in 2017 we surveyed 14,000 jobseekers across Europe and found over a quarter saying that opportunities to work from home would make them choose one company over another, whilst for 61% the opportunity to work flexible hours would be most important in choosing their next role. Interest in remote, flexible and hybrid approaches to working is something that has been growing in importance for several years and is now a key consideration.

Thirdly, engagement and opportunity. The best-selling author on relationships Esther Perel addressed a senior HR audience at the Workhuman conference in San Diego earlier this year and told them “We used to leave our jobs because the factory closed. Today, we leave jobs because we aren’t being recognised”. Rather than looking for stability employees now prioritise different things such as how they are treated, the opportunities that may be available, and the connections they build with colleagues and management. We all want to be recognised for who we are and what we can achieve.

If organisations are to embrace a culture of retention, they need to look at the experiences they offer their people and the opportunities they can give them. The starting point is to create a culture of support and enablement. Traditional structures have typically relied on a leadership approach of management and direction, in which they were reviewed (often historically) and had their performance and career growth ‘managed’. Our employees are now more interested in the opportunities created for them, the connections they make, how they are supported in their mental, intellectual, and financial wellbeing, and the access they have to learning and knowledge to enable their progression. 

A large part of this support comes from evolving workplace technology which can give people access to the knowledge they need, as and when necessary, as well as to create a culture of internal mobility, in which employees feel they are able to move within an organisation to improve their knowledge and skills. Within organisations we have seen retention improve through the creation of ‘Career Experience’ managers, who oversee our people right across their journey with the business, helping to improve engagement, wellbeing, and retention.

Management and leadership

The vital role that management and leadership can play is to help create an exceptional employee experience in which people feel supported and able to achieve their best work. This style of compassionate and supportive leadership is often hard to deliver in a results-driven business so senior leadership need to look at how managers are hired, promoted, and rewarded. 

For example, one common mistake leaders can often make is to reward managers for having high performing teams rather than for producing high performing teams. This approach often leads to favouritism and creates a culture in which managers try to hold on to their top performers which can result in them leaving if they feel blocked from other opportunities within the organisation. Instead, managers should be rewarded for producing high performing teams in which individuals feel they have opportunities to progress elsewhere within the organisation.

There are three key actions that leaders can start taking to improve the employee experience with their businesses and help foster a culture of retention:

  1. To understand the ‘moments that matter’ to their people, and to try and maximise them. These are often referred to as micro-experiences – the daily interactions our people have with leadership, technology, clients, and each other, some lasting only seconds, but which cumulatively create their perception of happiness, contentment, and engagement with the business. Use every opportunity to create a positive experience. 
  2. Personalisation. For our people, work is often more about the experience than the process, and how they can achieve their personal and career goals. Their consumer experiences are hyper targeted, and we need to personalise their employee experiences to help support them in their own growth and development.
  3. The Power of Recognition. Whether it’s simply a ‘thank you’ or a ‘you’ve done well’ there is much research to show that cultures of recognition help create the kind of environment that leads to retention. Latest research from Workhuman shows that simple regular recognition can make employees 5 times less likely to leave, and 5 times more likely to see growth opportunities.

(A version of this post originally appeared on HR World)

Humanity, Energy, Respect & Recognition at #WHLive2023

“We used to leave our jobs because the factory closed. Today, we leave jobs because we aren’t being recognised”

Ester Perel, the best selling author on modern relationships, was an interesting choice of keynote speaker for the opening day of Workhuman Live 2023. Her research puts her in a good position to look our wider relationships, including the ones we have with work. She told us that we used to leave marriages because we wanted to be happy – now we leave them because we believe we could be happier. She then continued on to the world of work with the quote at the start. 

There has been a change in how, when, where, and why we work. Previously we would have stayed with an organisation for most of our careers, but now we don’t just look for stability, but for different things such as how we are treated, the opportunities that may be available, the connections we build with colleagues and management. Most research that I have seen in recent years has shown that the top reason for joining – and staying – with an organisation is having the opportunity to to grow, develop and learn new skills. We want to be recognised for who we are and what we can achieve. Connection is important, with Ester telling us how relational energy is crucial to unleashing the potential within everyone inside an organisation.

The themes of Workhuman Live 2023 were very much around humanity, energy and respect. Workhuman CEO Eric Mosley opened the conference by talking about bringing humanity back to the workplace. Their research showed almost half of our workforces (43%) feel invisible, unseen, and feel like they don’t matter. Simple regular recognition can make employees 5 times less likely to leave, and 5 times more likely to see growth opportunities. Regular recognition can cut employee turnover in half. Humanity in the workplace also helps improve wellbeing, mental health and resilience. We need to let people bring ‘who they are’ to work and not expect them to leave it at the door.

Recognition also impacts the giver, not just the receiver. Research showed that those who had given recognition in the previous 2 months were more likely to love their job, recommend their company to others, be highly engaged and say they have a positive work experience. After the period of change and uncertainty for individuals and businesses that has followed the Covid pandemic and current global cost of living concerns, it is the stability that leadership can bring which many need. It was concerning to see research that found 43% of employees feeling invisible at work – employees who don’t feel seen, feel like they don’t matter.

Energy was also at the forefront. Speaker Geoff McDonald told us: “Your people aren’t the most important asset.  The energy of your people is your most important asset. We cannot be energised without being healthy, physically and mentally, so why isn’t wellbeing a strategic priority?”. Whilst author Simon Alexander Ong asked us: “Why are you holding your most important meetings on Mondays when we know energy won’t be as high that day?”.

Maybe HR teams can provide the answer – although one of my favourite event quotes, from HR legend Steve Browne, sounded an appropriate word of warning – “If people say “I have to go to HR” you are not part of the company. You’re outside the company”

The Workhuman conference itself was as enlightening, motivating and through provoking as ever. And this year I was also able to record 2 podcast interviews in my ‘HR Means Business’ series to dive deeper into the research and analysis around the power of recognition.

What Experience Are Our Employees Getting at Work?

For the last 15 years, Workhuman have produced research on the Evolution of Work. This year I was able to chat with Senior Research & People Data Analyst Isha Vicaria about the latest findings. 

The key points in our conversation are:

  • Importance of recognising employee work preferences
  • Finding flow when mixing office & remote locations
  • The value of Employee Resource Groups
  • The need for psychological safety at work
  • Being human at work
  • Managing stress

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-5wsn8-13f2034

Helping Business Leaders to Understand the Power of Recognition

Sometimes one of the most difficult parts of implementing recognition programmes is to get full leadership buy in. For my second podcast I spoke with practice leader Brenda Pohlman about the best way to achieve this. 

The key points from our conversation are:

  • How technology can erode the personal
  • Why recognition needs its own currency
  • The problem with cash awards
  • Specificity of recognition messages
  • Creating recognition experiences
  • Detail matters for real engagement

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-c5n3n-13f9455

Hope you enjoy the conversations. There was a committed, energetic, knowledgeable and downright fun group of bloggers, analysts and influencers at Workhuman Live 2023 – not least from the Humareso team! – so make sure you also check out:

Visibility and Intention: Talking about #WHLive2023 (Humareso)

Workhuman Live 2023 Recap (Humareso)

Workhuman Live 2023 Recap (Sarah Morgan)

8 Ways to Improve Hiring and Retention

Almost every piece of research covering the priorities of business leaders and senior HR professionals will conclude that recruiting and retaining the people they need is the top priority and main challenge. Research covering aspirations of employees and jobseekers will usually find opportunities for personal growth and professional development as the main drivers behind the decisions on whether to join a company and if to stay.

Over the last two years – whilst researching the book Exceptional Talent, and collaborating with HR and recruitment technology businesses and suppliers on a range of qualitative and quantitative research projects – myself and co-collaborator Matt Alder have seen how many of the traditional ways we approach hiring, development and retention are being overhauled.

Not by every business, obviously. The lived work and job hunting experiences of most employees can still leave a lot to be desired. However with more jobseekers now basing their application and joining decisions on what they perceive a company is like to work for, how they are treated during the hiring process, and what opportunities they have for growth, it will become increasingly important for every business to look at the way they approach hiring and development.

There are 8 areas that we particularly need to transform:

Workforce planning and skills forecasting

Businesses must know the skills and capabilities they will need. HR and recruitment teams should think like curators of skills, not just acquirers and developers of skills, and to do that they must understand what skills are likely to be needed and when. This calls for a more integrated approach to forecasting and planning with each area of the business encouraged to look at what they will need over future business periods. Without this it will be hard to break away from a reactive, transactional approach to hiring. This will involve looking at potential contingent solutions too — a common observation we hear from procurement and strategic workforce professionals is that HR show little or no interest in this area.

Define what you mean by talent

What makes for a successful person within the business? Forget job descriptions that are no more than lists of skills and duties that someone thought necessary years ago. Find the answers to questions like, what is the job? What will someone do? What support will they have? Is there another way for the role to be covered within the organisation? What is the growth potential?

And then look at what ‘potential’ means within the organisation. Attraction and assessment approaches need to reflect the type of business you are, and be able to identify the people who can grow within the business.

Be a place where people want to work

One thing that recent research has shown us is that over 90% jobseekers look for some form online validation of what you are like to work for. This mainly comes from looking at what employees have said on sites like Glassdoor or more general searching through Google and Facebook. Over half said the main factor in deciding if to apply for role is how the business treats its staff, which ranked higher than any other factor.

This means looking at your employee experience. Are you a place where people want to be? This is more important than engagement initiatives and having an active social scene, it’s how people feel about working for you. Do they feel supported and valued? No employee demographic is hardwired to change jobs on a regular basis. Increasingly though they do want be in organisations that are good companies to work for, and that treat them well.

Improve your recruitment process

Whether the design of your application and interview process was based on the Labours of Hercules or a less violent version of Game of Thrones, it should be a way of identifying potential rather than finding the last person standing.

Lack of feedback, too many steps, and under-prepared or disinterested interviewers all registered highly in recent research on jobseekers’ biggest frustrations. As did a feeling of being undervalued and not having their experience recognised. Three quarters drop out of application processes either because of the way they are treated, or it is too long. How a business hires is the first key component in its approach to employee experience, so design an approach that really reflects the values and culture that the business does.

Integrate effectively

Probably the most important part of the employee cycle is the on-boarding phase. Some find the expression clunky, but whatever you call it, the journey from interested applicant to successful and productive employee is one that businesses are increasingly investing in.

The main reasons why people leave jobs within first 6 to 12 months can all be traced back to how they are on-boarded or integrated. Some of it is quite simple, and again should be the outcome of treating people well rather than trying to test them. Start early, make sure that everyone has all the information they need so they don’t feel either overwhelmed or uninformed when they start, give them clear goals and milestones in their first few months, and make sure managers spend time talking to them and talking through how they are settling in.

The period between accepting a role and starting is often the time when a new hire feels they get the least information, yet it’s also the time when they need most reassurance.

Enable people to grow and develop

Increasingly becoming the most important part of employee experience, 70% of employees say that learning opportunities are essential when choosing where to work and 98% that they’re key in deciding if to stay. Many also say they need more learning to help them do their jobs. And a third don’t think they skills they already have are being utilised properly!  Business leaders are regularly worried about the skills base and knowledge in their organisation, in fact two-thirds say learning is key for business performance, so it stands to reason that supporting employee growth should be a major priority.

One way to help people develop is through internal mobility. The best new hire that one of your teams may make is likely to be someone already in the business. Help the people you already have to find new roles within the business. Futurestep found 87% of companies believing that having a strong internal mobility programme helps with attraction and retention, and OC Tanner’s research showed 3 out of 4 employees who work on special projects, outside their core role and teams, feel they grow in ways that their day to day jobs cannot offer.

Create a learning culture

A learning culture is essential. Employees expect to be able to access information and knowledge as and when they need it, to help them do their jobs well, and reach performance expectations. Make learning available across platforms and at all times – only 1 in 6 favour face to face learning with a tutor. 60% want to learn in company time, at their own direction, and 24% in their own time. Different approaches to performance management are well documented, though its apparent that outside of the case studies, conference presentations and business magazine articles, many organisations still struggle to do this effectively, leaving employees feeling that their employers don’t value employee development. 25% of employees see no value in performance reviews in the format their employers conduct them.

Rethink retention

There are several reasons why retaining relationships with ex-employees makes good sense for the business, but none of them will happen unless we get better at exiting people from the business. If it’s a performance issue then address performance and don’t make it about the person. If we don’t want to lose them then we need to leave the door open rather than sour the relationship.

Ex-employees are validators and ambassadors of the employee experience, advocates for the business itself and part of our extended knowledge network. Alumni networks play a key role in sharing product information and company news, referring and recommending prospective employees and future customers, and may well return to work for us in some capacity again.

Many companies now look to formalise these relationships through what is increasingly known as off-boarding* with tech solutions to support managing the relationship and sharing information.

More than three quarters of employees say the reputation of the company where they work impacts their job satisfaction, and 85% that how they were treated during the application and interview process determines if they decide to accept an offer.

The way you attract, hire and develop people will go a long way to determining if you retain them. Workers believe they need more learning to help them perform their jobs better. This boost to performance will help improve rewards, satisfaction and engagement. Which means they are more likely to stay, and their managers better placed to achieve successful commercial results

(Our two most recent research projects, which provided many of the statistics quoted, were with Kelly Services – involving 14,100 job seekers across 10 European countries – and with Bridge, with whom we researched a population of both HR and Learning & Development professionals, and employees)

*(and yes, I know, if you don’t like the term on-boarding you won’t like this one either)

 

Under New Management

This weekend sees the start of the new Premier League football season and I, for one, can’t wait. Regular readers will know that I’m an Arsenal fan, who’s been following them home and away since my early teens. But this weekend is a little more unique. For only the 4th time in all my years of watching Arsenal they will be starting the season with a brand new manager. A couple of times they have changed manager during a season, but I have to say that during my years of support they haven’t had that many managers.

I’m not usually one for waxing lyrical about what business/HR/recruitment can learn from sport, but having done some writing and research around leadership and management recently I’m interested in the rituals and actions by which new managers establish their style and vision, and differentiate themselves from their predecessors.

Most people want to work for leaders who are accountable and honest. In the UK we also like them to be decisive. Football managers will always be accountable – to the fans and the Board who hired them. Our new manager seems like an honest guy, and has a decent record of winning at other clubs, so what’s he done so far to make an impression?

He has a plan and strategy.

He knew what had been going wrong. The new managers that I’ve seen have all come in at a time of stagnation. The team hadn’t evolved or developed over the previous few seasons. Earlier glories had not been matched. Outgoing managers hadn’t refreshed the squad, or been coaching existing players to improve performance. Individuals have been allowed to make mistakes, and abandon their responsibilities to others in their team. This summer was no exception.

For the new guy though, it seems he had already done his homework. At his interview he showed a deep knowledge of not just the more senior and experienced players, but also the younger up and coming ones. He had a plan to help experienced players improve their performance and a strategy for developing the less experienced ones. He’s let the group know what he expects from them and how he wants them to achieve it.

Previous new managers haven’t always done this. Maybe this time was a more rigorous approach to interviewing – previous newcomers had their own ideas and style, and maybe there was little focus on how they were going to improve what was already there.

He believes he can coach them and make training fun. Lots of pictures have been shared by the club of training sessions. Players are laughing. The other coaches are joining in. Everyone looks like they’re enjoying themselves. Can’t say that’s been seen in pictures from training sessions over the last few years.

Expectations are raised but not heightened to something that’s unachievable. There haven’t been any ‘statement signings’. A couple of previous new managers have gone out and broken the club’s transfer record before they’ve even managed their first game. If you take over a team, and immediately make a high profile hire – a bigger name than anyone else in the team – then you are setting expectations very high.

And it might not be you that reaps the benefit. Over a ten year period one of those statement hires (Denis Bergkamp) went on to be come one of club’s greatest ever players – but the manager who signed him only lasted a year and barely gets a mention when previous managers are discussed.

In the case of this new manager, expectations are sensible and no supporters are expecting immediate miracles. They know it may well take a couple of years or more to begin to properly move forward. They would be very mistrustful if he had came in and promised immediate results and success. Few managers are able to achieve that.

He acts like he knows what he’s doing. Actions speak louder than words. As I wrote earlier, he looks like he has a plan, and he seems confident. Often with a new manager you hear a lot about what they are going to do – this time around he seems to be just getting on with it. Individuals in the team are making the right noises about how positive they feel.

Of course in the world of football, unlike business, these things can also be short lived, and fans can be fickle. A few poor results – not uncommon with a new manager who wants his team to play differently to how they have before – coupled with some underwhelming individual performances, and I might by holding up my own #EmeryOut banner!

Thoughts From Jobseekers on How Work is Changing

It seems that barely an hour passes on digital communication channels without predictions, opinions and discussions appearing about the future of work. Those last three words alone now appear on bios and as individual specialisms. The battle is often between a dystopian view of the future where AI-powered robots have made all jobs obsolete and a more optimistic view where technology creates huge opportunities to bring more meaning, fulfilment and improved well-being to working lives. And amongst the unknown there are many commentators, bloggers and analysts who see certainty.

But how is work changing now, and what issues do employees face? We need to look more closely at the world of work as it is now and understand the trends, attitudes, and, behaviours that are currently driving change and that will continue to drive change.

To find out more about this reality, and rely less on the myth, Matt Alder and I partnered with Kelly Services to research more than 14,000 jobseekers across 10 European countries, capturing their experiences, hopes and opinions. The findings from this extensive quantitive research will be captured in a series of reports.

The first one has just been published. There were three key topics that jobseekers seem focused on – the quality of their work experience, the capabilities of their leaders, and the opportunity for some flexibility within their work.

A few of our findings:

  • How a company treats their employees is the main factor influencing someone on whether to apply for a job.
  • How they are treated during the application process will impact the decision on whether to join for 86%.
  • The number one thing people are looking for from their employers is the opportunity to learn new skills, which is ranked more important than salary increases.
  • There are no clear cut preferences on flexibility. For some it is location and for others hours. Whilst 58% felt working from home would improve their work/life balance, 48% believe that working from an office helps to keep work and home life separate.
  • The option to work from home wasn’t available to 61% in our survey, although 70% believed they had the technology to enable it.
  • The most important leadership qualities are accountability and honesty (except the UK where its awareness and decisiveness)
  • 53% of respondents had considered self-employment, but only 18% have any plans to become self-employed

One of our main conclusions was that for employees and jobseekers the reality is more about how they do their day to day job, and the ways technology may make their daily routines easier and more engaging whilst offering greater choice over how and where they work. Certainly the way they are treated and supported is much more important to them than working for businesses who embrace the latest fads and trends.

You can download a copy of the report here – hope you find it interesting.

I’ll write about some more findings when the next report is available.

Technology, People, Recruitment and The Tipping Point

The recruitment ecosystem is constantly shifting shapes and dynamics, and ameliorating in new and different ways. Technology is driving much of this. The simple days of agencies, internal and advertising platforms (be they print or digital) have changed. Consolidation and collaboration is now happening on an almost weekly basis. Recruit Holdings can buy Indeed and Glassdoor, and have a significant foothold in the way people search for jobs. Although the search more often than not starts on Google.

How are we responding to jobseeker behaviour? Research I have recently been involved with from 14,000 European jobseekers showed 63% saying that online reviews are influential when deciding to apply for a job, 55% that the main thing they want to know about a company when applying is how it treats its staff, and 24% dropping out of an interview process after the first interview because they saw negative online reviews.

External reviews are now an integral part of the job hunt. So is automation. And after years of debate about whether recruiters should think and act like marketers, or be a part of marketing, how do we now connect and engage with potential candidates? How do we find, develop  and retain the people we need? Will technology replace people in the recruitment process?  And is it conceivable that data will replace people as an organisation’s ‘greatest asset’?

I’m looking forward to finding out more on June 20th when I’ll be co-chairing the first Talent Tipping Point Conference.

Across 8 hours internal talent teams, recruitment agencies, HR, tech suppliers and RPOs will come together from all corners of the Talent Acquisition and Recruitment community, to talk and debate about the impact of technology on talent acquisition. How are we responding, how are we collaborating and how can technology help us to create better talent outcomes for businesses, workers and jobseekers. Opening keynote is from Lord Chris Holmes and during the day we’ll have views and insight from many industry leaders including Robert Walters, Fleur Bothwick, Kelly Griffith, Kevin Blair, Adrian Thomas and Janine Chidlow.

As part of the event preparation, research was conducted across a large range of employers, recruitment agencies, RPOs and hr/recruitment tech companies to gain an overall feel for how they felt about technology, employment models, diversity and whether the future was in collaboration. There were some interesting findings:

  • 44% of in-house recruiters think that technology will become more important than people in recruitment within the next 5 years; for agency recruiters and RPO the figure is 27%
  • Half of all recruiters do not see permanent employment as the default option for workers in future
  • 53% believe technology to be more effective than humans in the unbiased assessment of candidate’s, although only 7% think it more effective for determining culture fit
  • Almost 40% don’t believe that their current recruitment (whether direct, though agency or RPO) is as effective as it should be, with over two thirds believing that recruitment suppliers (tech vendors, agency, RPO) need to be better at collaborating

The pace of digitisation in recruitment is quite varied, governed by size, needs, budget and management capability. Yet cognitive solutions and AI are now being used all the way through the hiring process. With technology becoming increasingly integral to how we live, and the way we consume and do business, its impact on the way we attract, hire, develop and retain our people can’t be denied.

Want to join me at Talent Tipping Point? Recruitment International UK has a limited number of half-price tickets remaining for the event. Simply enter the code RITP when you register to save £250 on the regular price. Order yours today – https://lnkd.in/eUdSjNG