I’m sure that the end of any year, not just 2021, warrants some level of deep reflection. However, the year that we just collectively experienced certainly calls for some retrospective insight, doesn’t it? 2021 marked the second full year of the worst public health crisis of our lifetimes and along with it, many transformations in how we all viewed both our personal and professional lives. From the business perspective, 2021 brought a host of talent-, technology-, and forward-thinking-led shifts that have forever altered the way we conduct business. Here’s what we learned:
- No matter how rooted a business leader is to pre-pandemic times, remote and hybrid work are now foundational facets of the working world. Unified communication tools, better collaboration between leaders and their staff, and the general shift towards “flexibility” are all attributes of the new world of work.
- Call it “The Great Resignation” or the “The Big Quit,” but what’s really happening is a true revolution of talent. The “talent revolution” is occurring all around us, with millions of talented professional voluntarily leaving positions in search of better working conditions, more flexibility, more empathy from leadership, more inclusive workplace culture, and, of course, better pay. The talent revolution is a stark reminder that leaders must reimagine talent engagement and talent acquisition if they are to thrive in the new year.
- The extended workforce drives the Future of Work. Nearly 47% of all talent today is considered part of the extended workforce, a 10% leap from where it was at the every beginning of the pandemic. It’s not just a matter of tapping into the “evolution” of contingent labor, but rather truly robust communities of talent that take various shapes, including talent pools, talent marketplaces, niche staffing suppliers, personal and private talent networks, etc. Today’s extended workforce is a key element in how work gets done.
- Empathy is a key Future of Work attribute. Leaders have to be in tune with the “human” side of its staff, as workers across the globe face personal and professional challenges that continue to eat into their thinned patience after 20+ months of pandemic ramifications (including severely ill relatives, lack of daycare, remote schooling, facing COVID themselves, etc.). Empathy-led leadership is, essentially, the only way forward.
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) aren’t just buzzwords, but rather truly impactful pieces of the Future of Work movement. Let’s say it again: a diverse talent pool is the deepest talent pool. Bringing in diverse talent sparks innovation by bringing in new voices to the table, including talent from various genders, cultures, and nuero-diverse backgrounds.
- Direct sourcing has become a transformational means of finding, engaging, and retaining top-tier talent. By the end of 2022, nearly 30%-to-32% of all talent will be engaged and acquired via direct sourcing, according to Future of Work Exchange research. Direct sourcing isn’t just a way to segment “known” talent into talent pools, but rather a strategy, program, and set of automated tools to develop true talent sustainability via recruitment marketing, leveraging the power of enterprise branding and culture, and cultivating deeper relationships with candidates.
- Services procurement strategy is due for an overhaul. Collaboration, rather than control, is the Best-in-Class way to enhancing management of an extended workforce category that sometimes (or, often) dwarfs traditional staff aug from a spend perspective. Procurement executives must reevaluate how they approach SOW management and services procurement in 2022.
- Talent communities will be more critical than ever in 2022. As we wrote recently: “The power of talent communities is driven by the innovative ways businesses are leveraging talent pools, talent networks, and talent clouds, converging with the nuances of the employer brand, social and emotional connections with both active and passive candidates, the the ultimate development of omnichannel, experience-driven candidate engagement.”
- Business leadership needs to change its mindset heading into a new year. The talent revolution, combined with the pressure of a new coronavirus variant in a globalized yet disruptive world, means that leaders and executive personnel cannot go into 2022 with archaic strategies for managing operations and staff. Whether it entails “reimagining” or “rebooting” core leadership strategies, aspects such as inclusion (i.e., inclusive workplace environments), flexibility, agility, and a better understanding of employee emotional wellbeing (yes, including empathy!) are all necessary moving forward.
- Technology is often considered central to the Future of Work movement, and 2022 proved that many times over. From digital staffing and direct sourcing to artificial intelligence and blockchain, the pathways of technological innovation all lead back into the very idea of work optimization.
