Deloitte´s Global Human Capital Trends 2024 are out ...

Mercer looks at what helps employees thrive and there´s so much more to read this week: How to reduce attrition with new employees in their first six months as well as a book recommendation plus, plus, plus ... Enjoy the read.

What Helps Employees Thrive?

Mercer recently published their 2024 Global Talent Trends Report – lots of interesting findings with one key question in mind: What helps employees thrive?

“Despite some softening of the labor market, organizations still struggle with their talent pipeline — elevating the importance of retention and putting the onus on managers to ensure that their people leave work feeling good about their day and energized for tomorrow. What drives a sense of thriving varies, but a regression analysis shows that 42% of this variance can be accounted for across five dimensions.” According to Mercer, these are financial stability, psychological safety, sense of purpose, digital enablement as well as skills growth and job security.

On top of these five dimensions, they have looked at what gets in the way of doing a good job – in other words, what are the biggest drains on employee productivity? More than half of the respondents report that they work longer hours than ever before.

In addition, the report looks at the six dimensions on flexible working. What are the key questions when it comes to any kind of flexible work arrangements? Here they are:

This is what they say: “Flexible working continues to deliver a productivity boost. While it may seem that employers have finalized return-to-office plans and codified their post-pandemic flexible working policies, in fact 41% are planning further changes this year. The good news is that conversations have moved beyond location-based considerations to include other forms of flexibility. For the 10% that are moving to more onsite work, opportunities to learn corporate behaviors and increased cyber risks from remote work are driving their decision. The technology industry is leading the way in moving to more onsite work, But the majority of those making changes are more fully embracing flexible working for all. Their main driver is increased productivity, which aligns with the 64% of workers who say they are more productive when they work remotely. Other top drivers are increased employee engagement and improvement in the organizational culture. Today, the dominant model is onsite full-time (38% of workers, plus an additional 16% onsite most of the time), followed by 27% in a 50/50 hybrid model, and 10% remote full-time (with an additional 10% remote most of the time). Interestingly, only 22% of organizations are expanding their flexible working options to better attract top talent, reflecting a shift in employee preferences for “together time.”

At the end of 2021, a staggering 62% of employees said they would only join or stay with an organization if they were able to work remotely at least some of the time. This year, that number has dropped to 41%. Overwhelmingly, people want some degree of social contact, with 46% preferring to work onsite most or all of the time, even if their job could be done remotely, and 27% saying their ideal would be a 50/50 hybrid arrangement. Only 10% wish to be fully remote — and this is consistent across geographies, generations, and genders.” Read the full global trends report here.

In Germany, Emotional Connection Declines Further

Gallup Germany reports some alarming figures – the emotional connection from workers with their employer is declining further. Here are the headlines:

Reducing Attrition: The Impact Of Employee Onboarding

While the Gallup numbers show what a high emotional connection can deliver to the employer, many firms are still not leveraging the on-boarding phase to solidify the new employees´ connection to their employer. That is dangerous – since high attrition rates within the first six months of any new employment can be easily avoided. Korn Ferry have recently revealed some of the most common reasons employees reported on why they resigned within the first six months:

• Not understanding what the employer expects of the employee
• Discovering the tasks and/or responsibilities were not as expected
• Lack of friendly or helpful co-workers
• Not enough attention from managers and co-workers

The good news: these attrition challenges can all be addressed by improving the onboarding process, starting from the day the contract is signed. Correct. Onboarding does not start on the first day of coming to the office or factory. It starts when the contract is signed.

“The time before an employee’s start date is a crucial time that can also be used to prepare the employee by providing clear and honest insight as to what to expect in the days and weeks ahead. Many new employees are keen for information before they start, so do share any relevant info that you can,” Jake Zabkowicz (VP and GM at Global RPO) says. “But don’t pressure new hires to give up their free time to review it all before their first day. They might be juggling other jobs and responsibilities.” You can find all details here.

Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2024 Identify 7 Key Trends That Matter

Always worth looking into are the annual Global Human Capital Trends which Deloitte Consulting have recently shared. This time, they have identified these key trends that impact work-life around the world:

1. Embracing Human Sustainability
2. Moving beyond productivity to measure human performance
3. Balancing privacy with transparency to build trust
4. Overcoming the imagination deficit
5. Creating digital playgrounds to explore, experiment, and play
6. Cultivating workplace microcultures
7. Making the shift to boundaryless HR

These seven trends are all important in their own right and I truly recommend reading this study as they all reveal critical aspects that leaders need to be aware of when they are taking their organization to the next level.

One of the most important findings however confirms what some other studies from EY and McKinsey & Company have already stated: while executives think that their organization is advancing human sustainability in some way or another, workers don´t see it as positive as their leaders:

The increasing work stress which is leading to worse mental health is the top challenge that workers feel needs to be addressed. These are the seven top challenges from the perspectives of the people in the offices and factories:

The study concludes that while 76% of leaders recognize the importance of the subject, only 46 % say that their company is doing something, but only 10% are doing something great. Given that many studies have already explained the connection between a thriving work-environment and high-performance, these numbers leave a sad taste… There is a lot to do!

There is so much more that is important for leaders in this study - you can download the entire study here.

The 7 Types Of People You Need In Your Life To Be Resilient

I just came across this article from authors Rob Cross and Karen Dillon who upfront ask the real critical question: “When you say you have ´work stress,´ what exactly do you mean?”

Most of the time, it´s not the life-changing moment that´s creating a stressful situation, but rather what they call microstresses: “Those countless small moments that occur in every workday and drain you of time, energy and enthusiasm.” In their new book “The Microstress Effect”, they identify 14 common microstresses, along with tactics to minimize them.

Definitely worth a read – here are the types of people that help you deal with those microstresses:

1. People who give you empathic support
2. People who inspire you to see and pursue a path forward
3. People who provide perspective when setbacks happen
4. People who help you manage surges at work or at home
5. People who encourage you to laugh
6. People who can make sense of people or politics
7. People who encourage you to unplug and take a break There´s more details about this book when you click here.

Employee Recognition: Whose Recognition Matters Most?

One of the most important things as a leader is to recognize what others are contributing to the success of your organization. Saying “Thank You” matters – we all know how it feels when others are not saying those two words to us when we think we have done something that qualifies for a simple “Thank You”.

Companies with soul have established a culture of recognition. Not just those “once-a-year-townhall-meeting-recognitions”, but a regular culture of recognition across all levels. Here are some data on the subject.

“Recognize Me” is the key theme that leaders need to understand and practice with their teams. Beyond the fact that it happens in the first place, there are differences in the perception of whose recognition matters most.

Smart leaders know how to manage this to the advantage of the individuals, the teams and the overall organization. It´s not difficult – however why are so many leaders struggling to do it?

How To Identify A Toxic Employer During The Interview Process 

When some of my former colleagues learnt about the book “Building Corporate Soul”, they asked me “How do I know whether my future employer has a toxic culture?” In a recent Harvard Business Review post by Mita Mallick , three key points were identified:

1. A bad interview process Poor communication from recruiters, ghosting, and endless interviews are a few signals that there may be something broken in the company you’re applying to. Other signs include being inflexible on interview dates and times and pressuring candidates to accept offers the day of.
2. What current employees say (and don’t) Listen carefully to the responses current employees give when you ask questions about the role, the specific team you’d be joining, and the overall organization. Watch out for vague or coded answers — and, of course, dodged questions. Don’t be afraid to ask follow-up questions to get more clarity.
3. High turnover. An abundance of job openings could be a sign of growth, but it could also suggest that the company struggles to retain its employees. Track which roles are being posted and how often. If you notice the same roles going up regularly, that can be another red flag that the company’s culture is toxic.

I completely agree with them, but in addition I recommend to ask a simple question during the interview process: “Can I talk to your companies most happy employee please?” You´ll see from the reaction to this question whether the hiring manager and the team manager have ever thought about the concept of a “happy employee” in the first place. Read the entire article.

OKR´s For HR-Departments: How To Implement Them?

HR OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) help HR teams set structured and data-driven goals and help them quantify their results. They provide a framework for establishing human resource objectives, observing key results, and achieving goals within the HR function that impact the organizational goals. The AIHR | Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) has recently shared useful information:

Here are the key take-aways: “HR OKRs provide you with a framework to set strategic HR goals. Using OKRs as a framework offers advantages including:

• Articulating goals – Setting concrete, realistic goals with your HR team helps you understand what you’re striving for and create a roadmap for how to get there.
• Keeping focus – Having clear goals helps you stay focused on your priorities. Oftentimes, HR is guilty of wanting to achieve too much in a short time, which can be unrealistic. Human Resources OKRs help prioritizes what is important. It gets everyone on the same page – particularly in a function like HR, which comprises several sub-departments (e.g., Talent Acquisition, Organizational Development, Learning and Development, Employee Relations, etc.).
• Tracking and measuring progress – You’re able to prioritize resource allocation by setting specific objectives and key results, track how you’re doing, and make HR’s impact on the business more measurable. Furthermore, using OKRs also helps keep individuals and teams accountable. Because they are measurable and should be transparent, OKRs create a clear outline of who is responsible for what.”

They conclude: “These gains and decreases in trends may signal a shift in what people want in their work experience. It is no longer enough to have just the rocks and the pebbles — people want to feel understood and cared for by their leaders and aligned to their organizations in a meaningful way. Yet many organizations are falling short in meeting these demands, with just over half of the respondents in our research indicating that they feel their organizations are delivering on the experience they were promised. Find all the details of this informative study here.

What Is “Purpose-Washing”?

So, what is it? And as important: how to avoid it? Faisal Al Salim and @Michael Etter of King's Business School have recently launched a very good paper on this subject.

Green-washing, woke-washing and band-wagoning are three terms that expose companies which use their corporate purpose in a way that is actually not truthful.

Their article is not just about aligning business practices with corporate purpose and being aware of blind spots, but also about communicating in the right way. Because addressing the right issues to the right audience at the right time and with the right nuances is crucial to avoid accusations of image laundering or purpose washing. Read the entire paper here.

This has been the 61st edition of the newsletter - let´s  make soulless companies a thing of the past this year! The next edition of the Building Corporate Soul newsletter will be in your mailbox on April 14.