What does it mean to be employee-obsessed? How can leaders balance business performance with employee individuality? Why is intersectionality so crucial to understand? These are all questions business leaders should ask themselves as they head into the future of work.

On Thursday, 24th November, Robert Half hosted a future of work event at Banking Hall in the heart of London, moderated by Sky News political editor Beth Rigby. It was studded with unique insights and perspectives from our keynote speaker Fiona Hathorn (CEO of Women on Boards UK), and a panel of thinkers on the future of work. These included Jennie Barker (Chief Talent Officer at Trustpilot), Humayun Khader (Vice President of Growth at Dare), Sharon O'Dea (Digital Workplace Expert and Co-Founder of Lithos Partners) and Peter Richardson (Architect of Future of Work at Protiviti).

Here are some of the insights they shared and how business leaders can act on them to prepare for the future of work.

Top 3 factors impacting the future of work

1. Diversity and inclusion

Generational differences have come under the microscope following the pandemic. Each generation deals with a specific set of challenges (both at work and home), and employers must recognise and accommodate this.

2. Human engagement at work

“There's a lot of value in bringing people together for collaboration,” says Peter, “And we've gone into this debate around forcing people to come into an office, rather than creating environments where people naturally collaborate and work together and get value out of being together.”

3. People-centric office design

Peter also encourages employers to think about how office design can support, affect, and influence the way people work. He says, “We need to now think in everything we do, in every way we design our offices, change our operations, implement our systems, how it affects and influences and supports our people.”

Changing employee expectations in the future of work

Job description clarity

“The new generation’s expectation is transparency and structure in their career — they want to see where they can go over the next couple of years,” says Humayun. He advises setting out a clear offering to avoid miscommunications throughout the hiring process, so the job the candidate applies for is the job they get.

Entice don’t force

Now that the workplace is beginning to return to normal, employers and employees also face a disconnect about spending time in-office. Sharon recommends tempting employees back by offering things they can’t get at home — like person-to-person connection and the opportunity to work in an individualised way.

How can organisations differentiate employer value propositions?

Grant autonomy

Employee expectations are rising, making it harder for employers to meet the different needs of current staff or attract top-performing talent from the job market. Jennie believes autonomy and personalisation are great places to start.

“Employees aren’t interested in being told you can work two days at home, and those are on a Monday and a Friday,” she says. “They're interested in figuring out what works for them. And they're interested in making a decision each day; what's going to work best for me today in terms of what I've got to get done.”

Offer flexible benefits

Jennie believes that true differentiation comes from giving employees flexible benefits. To offer autonomy over their working patterns and which religious celebration days they’d prefer to take off. This comes with a caveat — organisations shouldn’t try to be all things to all people. The key is to focus on your offer and communicate that clearly and honestly.

How to attract the best talent in a digital world

Hire for core skills

Humayun says there are two main things to consider when attracting the right talent to the opportunity: advertising the role within the right community and advertising it in a way that resonates.

“When we're looking to fill roles or fill departments, we look for the core skills of the individuals that we need,” he says. “We won't just throw the job description into the ether and hope those people find us. What we do is find those communities that we think fit the profile.”

Live your values

It’s also essential for businesses to live the values and ethics they advertise. Humayun says, “if you're not wearing your culture on your sleeve, how can candidates assign to it? Salaries and titles bring people in, but culture is why they stay.”

Building on the pros and cons of flexible working

Lead with clarity

Without in-person contact acting as a guiding touchpoint, leaders need to focus on clarity to ensure workers know what they’re supposed to be delivering and how the team operates. It’s harder to catch miscommunication in a remote work environment, so setting out clearly from the start is essential.

Learn to listen

Jennie advises business leaders to listen. Aside from implementing employee feedback surveys and open dialogues, she encourages leaders to check in regularly with their people.

She says, “You have to both ask more regularly, and you have to create a safe space for people to feel comfortable to talk about what's going well and what's not going well. And leaders should be at the forefront of that.”

Create a sense of connection

Jennie also encourages employers to focus on creating a strong sense of connection and belonging for remote employees. She recommends finding ways to bring company culture to life in a virtual world or by creating employee resource groups and community groups.

How can leaders balance high performance with employee individuality?

Invest in upskilling

“We need to make significant new investments in soft skills, in engagement skills, in communication skills, and listening skills,” says Peter.

“I think that's probably part of a retention strategy that will work for most organisations. Equipping people and enabling them to be upskilled, I think is a significant part of enabling the organisation to be high performing, too.”

Set clear, meaningful goals

Organisations shouldn’t approach this challenge by thinking about how much more they can squeeze out of their workforce. Instead, Jennie advises setting clear and meaningful goals for employees. According to her, these are the environments in which employees truly thrive.

Equip your team for success

To drive higher performance, employees need to be properly equipped for the job at hand. However, the ‘right tools for the job” may differ from employee to employee, depending on age or experience.

Sharon says, “I guess the role of leaders there is to have a much greater understanding of what the potential expectations of work are today, but also in the medium-term future.”

 

The future of workforces and workplaces | Moderated by Beth Rigby - Sky News

 

Key pieces of advice for preparing for the future of work

Peter says: “One: be employee obsessed. And two: in order to face the change environment that we're all going to have to deal with, we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

Humayun says: “I think you have to be truly authentic in all parts of your processes and all parts of communication. So, then the people that join you join for the right reasons and then you grow together. And I think if you grow together, you don't have that revolving door of people leaving every couple of years and costing you lots of money.”

Jennie says: “Think about your people as individuals and then really listen to them. Let the employees guide us as organisations in terms of the way that we navigate this difficult time ahead.”

Sharon says: “Flexibility. We don't know what's coming down the road. But if we ensure we have the right decision-making processes, technologies, and so on, we can adapt when it does happen, because the future is on its way.”

For more insights on the future of work, visit the Robert Half blog or read the free report now.