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Christopher J. Dwyer

Why the Healthcare Workforce Burnout Issue is a Wake-Up Call for All Businesses

Business LeadershipTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

I subscribe to several daily newsletters from various news outlets, including The Atlantic, New York Times, The New Yorker, etc. For the past several weeks, and, in particular, the early days of 2022, there was a commonality in each news roundup: the effects of the Omicron coronavirus variant on hospital staffing and the continued healthcare crunch.

The United States is bracing for a seven-day rolling average of over 700,000 cases, nearly three times that of the worst of the 2020-2021 winter surge. Even though there has been scientific evidence of Omicron orienting itself as a “milder” strain of the coronavirus (mainly by sparing the worst of lower respiratory effects as in other previous variants), the sheer transmissibility of the new mutations heavily outweighs any mildness the virus may bring. Tripling the number of daily cases seen during previous waves means more strain on the healthcare system.

What’s happening with the healthcare workforce is a direct reflection of what happens when the world around us causes severe disruptions in the labor market. Now, I completely understand that hospitals and healthcare facilities are directly on the frontlines, and, as such, will always bear the unfortunate burden of having to face the worst of the pandemic nearly two years into this crisis. The fallout, however, is something that will become commonplace across the globe within many other industries.

Healthcare workers are operating under several challenges, including major burnout, long hours, and, worst of all, mental health issues that could eventually force them to leave the industry altogether. More and more nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals (all of whom have spent many years of their life not just in their roles, but also in the preparatory times preceding their careers in school and training) are expected to leave the industry as the physical and mental toll of the pandemic continues on in 2022.

Imagine spending years of your life dedicated to helping other people, and, after all of the time doing so, on top of the years of schooling required to get there, decide to leave the industry altogether? It’s disheartening on many levels. And it’s something that isn’t just specific to the healthcare industry.

The Future of Work Exchange has written about worker burnout and mental wellbeing in the workplace before; however, with an Omicron surge forcing isolation and quarantine for millions of professionals across the country, those are lucky enough to dodge infection are actively feeling the brunt. In warehouses, where workers are often operating side-by-side, just a small percentage of quarantined individuals means that others have to pick up the slack. In veterinary medicine (which hits close to him, since my wife has been in the field for two decades), a range of veterinarians and veterinary technician staff have to pick up extra hours and scramble for coverage in overnight shifts, weekend hours, etc. Worse yet, many veterinary hospitals have had to defer care when staffing shortages at their worst, meaning that only a sliver of specific emergencies (read: life-or-death instances) are seen during particular blocks of time.

Light industrial will feel the brunt over the next several weeks, as will retail, hospitality, and other industries that cannot work remotely. Omicron’s transmissibility means that millions of Americans will become infected throughout the mid-winter weeks, forcing them into isolation and causing ripply disruptions in productivity. Workers that were already unhappy in their positions will contribute the ongoing “Great Resignation” as they are forced to work more hours in unsafe conditions without the flexibility and benefits they desire.

Longer-term, what is happening within the healthcare workforce will be an omniscient preview of how other industries may come out of an Omicron winter. Why is this such a “wake-up call?” Simply put: the last thing any business leader should desire right now is a loss of talent, be it voluntarily or because of COVID. Extreme burnout isn’t occurring in every industry and certainly not at the scale of the healthcare space, however, the deeper Omicron digs its heels into viable hosts over the next several weeks, the more that non-infected workers have to boost their own productivity under existing mental and physical strain.

We’re already dealing with massive levels of resignation across all sectors. The best-aligned talent is harder to find, and, with literal millions of job openings available, it’s going to become more difficult for businesses to engage well-aligned skillsets and expertise. Even though the healthcare workforce is currently experiencing an extreme form of burnout, it doesn’t mean that the same ramifications won’t be present in other industries. Seeing medical professionals with decades of experience up and leave the profession should cause chills across the greater business spectrum, with a clear message for everyone that actively witnesses the burnout and fatigue on display in the nation’s medical facilities:

This could happen to you and your workforce unless you prioritize the wellbeing of your talent.

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FOWX Notes: January 7 Edition

General Insights by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Some picked-up pieces, news, and insights from across the evolving world of talent and work:

  • According to the United States Department of Labor, a record 4.5 million individuals resigned from their jobs/positions in November 2021, a figure that is a touch higher than the previous high (September 2021, in which 4.4 million workers quit). As I discussed yesterday on the latest episode of the Contingent Workforce Weekly podcast, there’s so much more to the so-called “Great Resignation” than just workers leaving their jobs over compensation concerns. Plenty of individuals are worried about workplace conditions and equitable treatment, disillusionment with career trajectories and company culture, and a general unhappiness given the stakes of the pandemic. It’s no longer a question of when workers will come back, but rather how: two questions must have the proper response for workers in 2022: 1) “Is this what I want?”, and, 2) “Is this what I need?”
  • Instagram’s former Global VP of Marketing, Melissa Waters, joined Upwork as its new Chief Marketing Officer. Exciting times continue for the digital staffing giant as they continue to innovate around the evolving world of work and talent, especially on the heels of several new executive additions last month to its product and experience (PEX) and engineering teams.
  • It’s refreshing to see some new takes on the workforce management technology industry, especially from tech veterans like Utmost’s Annrai O’Toole. Annrai’s recent “2021 recap” included a thought that the Future of Work Exchange is incredibly passionate about: getting work done. “You need to step back and think about the core problem: a manager is simply looking for the best way to get work done. What is the fastest, most cost-effective way to get a task performed?”
  • Vaccine mandate legal drama takes center stage again today as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments (after cutting their holiday period short) on two separate accounts. There’s not so much clarity on exactly how these short-term cases will proceed given that they are part of the court’s “shadow docket” and not its regular calendar of hearings/issues, but rather, as succinctly stated by CNN, how “the ruling may provide a window into the court’s thinking that may be instructive to lower courts and serve as a precursor of what will happen when the court is faced with the same or a similar issue in the future.” In short: action coming out of these two arguments may influence how other court and legal systems around the country deal with vaccine mandates when they face their delayed rollout next month.
  • Pediatric hospitalizations and COVID cases in children are on a worrisome trajectory, meaning that the specter of remote school still hangs in the air. Some school districts across the United States are shuffling between remote and traditional in-person learning, with some major universities delayed a return to live classes until late January (many, many elementary, middle, and high schools have also delayed post-holiday returns to the classroom). While I don’t believe that we will see full-scale, longer-term remote learning as we did throughout the 2020-2021 school year, there is something here for every business leader to keep an eye on. Working parents are already stressed over exposure in the classroom; adding the pressure of a possible return to remote learning is, frankly, devastating. Business leaders must be prepared to offer more flexible working environments in the event that schooling changes ebb-and-flow over the next several weeks as Omicron blazes through the population.
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Why Going “Beyond the Brand” is Critical for Direct Sourcing 2.0

Uncategorized by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The direct sourcing arena is a frequent topic here on the Future of Work Exchange and rightfully so: direct sourcing represents a critical avenue from which businesses can enhance their talent engagement and talent acquisition strategies, especially given the unique circumstances surrounding 2022.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research has frequently pointed to direct sourcing as a major catalyst of the Future of Work movement, owed to its ability to bring together (“curated”) known and vetted workers (as well as those opting in via job portals), who are then “nurtured” and engaged in a manner that promotes a positive candidate experience. While some businesses (25%-to-27%) have had a direct sourcing program in place for more than two years, for the most part, the majority of business leaders are just beginning to tap into the relative power of such a strategy (over half of all enterprises plan to implement such a program by the end of 2023).

And this, right here, is where there needs to be a reimagining of how direct sourcing fits into the next great era of work and talent…and that’s by implementing “Direct Sourcing 2.0” capabilities and strategies. The upcoming Ardent/FOWX research study, Direct Sourcing 2.0, points to two attributes that are representative of the next “wave” of direct sourcing: (1) going “beyond the brand” regarding talent attraction and retention, and, (2) mapping candidate “personas” for better project-to-talent fit.

It is no longer enough for a business to simply lead with a prominent brand as it had done in the past. An employer’s brand is important to most talent, but businesses must continually and comprehensively assess their processes, culture, and workplace to define the characteristics of the candidates who will be the best-fit from both a cultural and skills perspective. Which behaviors are the strongest match for the business at-large? Which skillsets will thrive in a specific environment? How will talent pool candidates react to a change in a team or department’s work location strategy (fully-remote, hybrid, or in-office operations)?

Businesses that traditionally defined the skill and experience requirements for a new role or project should expand their definitions to include soft skills, emotional intelligence, empathetic fit, and other modern worker attributes as a way to develop stronger placements and greater success of newly on-boarded candidates, as well as combat the growing risk of talent fraud. The platforms today that can leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other forms of emerging innovation are well-positioned to assist businesses in enabling the most critical pieces of Direct Sourcing 2.0 approaches.

These teams should also analyze how current hiring processes, such as onboarding and training, impact the overall candidate experience, and make any necessary adjustments. A successful Direct Sourcing 2.0 program builds upon its experience and prioritizes the factors that resonate well with current and prospective employees.

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Six Big Future of Work Predictions for 2022

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsUncategorized by Christopher J. Dwyer on

It’s impossible to capture every single possibility for the Future of Work in a single article. What we can do, however, is pinpoint five of the biggest possibilities for work optimization in the year ahead.

Before the path to predictions start, I think it’s important to chat about some caveats here. We are in a much different place than we were a year ago at this time. So, in talking about the future of remote work, the year ahead isn’t going to revolve around whether or not it’s beneficial and viable (which, yes, IT IS!), but rather transforming non-traditional workplace environments into more effective and productive settings.

Without further ado:

  • Since we teased it above: the digital workplace and the digital workspace will converge. There’s a stark difference between the “digital workplace” and a “digital workspace.” Digitization, as part of broader digital transformation initiatives, has long entailed replacing core pieces of enterprise operations and processes with repeatable, scalable, and interconnected automation. The digital workspace, on the other hand, involves the enablement of truly digital, virtual, and automated access to productivity and collaborative tools for workers no matter where they are located (in the office, on the road, in their home offices, or at their kitchen tables).
  • The solution to the “Great Staffing Shortage” and “The Great Resignation” revolves around worker prosperity. The one thing that is maddening around the so-called “Big Quit” is that there are so many leaders around the world that cannot grasp the reality of why workers are leaving; on the surface, there are a variety of reasons that include equitable treatment, better compensation, better working conditions, more flexibility, etc. However, dig deeper and “worker enlightenment” shines: the workforce wants to prosper.
  • Data remains important, but intelligence becomes the gamechanger. In today’s talent tech ecosystems, there are several key platforms from which data flows freely: VMS, HRIS, extended workforce systems, direct sourcing platforms, and proprietary tech offered by MSP solutions. The candidate, FTE, non-employee, freelancer, and professional services data that can be extracted from these solutions presents businesses with an opportunity to derive true total intelligence and allow hiring managers to execute real-time decisions based on the depth of skillsets and expertise within the company’s total talent network. In an age when staffing shortages are the norm, a difference of just a day or two can have major ramifications on the success of a new project or initiative.
  • Culture becomes the most critical non-technological Future of Work attribute in the year ahead. Businesses have long been successful despite their culture; in 2022, the average enterprise will thrive because of their culture, not in spite of it. Empathetic leadership that converges with an inclusive workplace, environments that promote the power of the worker, and an overall positive, engaging candidate and worker experience are factors that will enable businesses to retain talent, drive talent attraction, and, most importantly, attain true talent sustainability.
  • The extended workforce continues to grow. This is a prediction that I’ve been making every year for the last dozen or so years, and, I don’t see it changing in 2022. The extended workforce is founded on agility and flexibility, consequently the two biggest areas of need for businesses as they traverse yet another pandemic-led year in which work and talent evolution is the norm. Closing in on half of the globe’s entire workforce, the extended workforce will become even more of a competitive differentiator in addition to the business continuity and “elasticity” that it drove over the past two years.
  • “Adaptation” molds the way businesses adopt, leverage, and scale innovation. I remember becoming a bit bored of the “digital transformation” discussions of a few years ago, with too many conversations around automating pieces of the business that should have been automated years and years ago. When the pandemic hit, enterprise technology took on a whole new meaning, one that unified the way businesses interacted with customers, suppliers, and their remote workforce, while also developing a culture of real business agility that could help the greater organization better adapt to changing times. Whether it’s core workforce management technology, blockchain-enabled operations, AI-fueled analytics and data analytics, or digital staffing, businesses in 2022 will find that the way they adapt to evolving times will dictate and shape the very ways the harness the power of innovation.
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Forget About Resolutions…Let’s Optimize 2022

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

In the early evening hours of December 31, 2020, I gathered around a fire pit with my wife, children, and dear friends from around the neighborhood. When we made a toast, I said, “Good riddance, 2020.” The stress, the trauma, and the uncertainty of what was probably the most anxiety-inducing year of our lifetime was ending, and, on the horizon, a 2021 filled with hope and optimism.

Just a couple of months later, I stood in line in the upper concourse of Gillette Stadium (home of my beloved New England Patriots) and awaited the first of my (now) three jabs of the groundbreaking Moderna vaccine. To me, it wasn’t just a vaccine, but rather a representation of how we could collectively move forward from everything that pushed us to our emotional limits in the year that was 2020. Of course, we know what happened next:

  • The biggest vaccination campaign in our lifetime kicked off in early 2021 and provided the world with some measures of optimism entering the spring and summer months.
  • The Delta variant upended some (or most) of those “hot vax summer” plans and caused COVID cases to surge across the world.
  • Talented professionals began leaving their roles in droves, kicking off what is still referred to as “The Great Resignation,” although should now be considered “The Talent Revolution.”
  • More focus than ever before was placed on DE&I, empathy-driven business leadership, and the shift to remote and hybrid work.
  • Vaccine mandates became sources of political, business, and social disagreements.
  • Another coronavirus variant, Omicron, proved to be the most transmissible of all variants to date and is now responsible for hundreds of daily cases in the United States alone.

We’re about to enter the third full year of a global pandemic. We’re still dealing with large swaths of the workforce voluntarily resigning and leaving their jobs. We’re fighting a battle for equity and inclusion. We’re feeling the ramifications of extreme staffing shortages. We’re continuing to battle for true workplace and workforce flexibility. We’re continuing to feel, hear, and see the exhaustion in the essential workforce community. And we’re still experiencing (even at this point) blow-back to the benefits of remote and hybrid work.

All true. All true. However…

We have the most innovative tools ever designed to better manage talent and talent engagement. We know that empathy is the heart and soul of the best mode of business leadership. We understand what we need to do to solve staffing shortage issues. We have the ability to open our minds and hearts to do the right thing. We have the ability to build digital workplaces and digital workspaces. We know that a diverse talent community is the deepest talent community. We know that the extended workforce represents nearly half of all global talent for a very good reason. And we have access to solutions that can provide next-level, AI-fueled data to help us make better business decisions.

The phrase “work optimization” is frequently used in our industry (and here on the Future of Work Exchange) to describe the essential goals of the Future of Work movement: get work done in the most effective way(s) possible. And as the calendar flips to another year, I believe we should take those ideas a step further.

Let’s optimize 2022. Entirely.

That’s right…let’s optimize everything about the year ahead. Let’s look at our talent, how we acquire that talent, how we manage that talent, how we treat that talent, and optimize it all. Let’s optimize the use of technology and automation. Let’s review the ways we manage our staff and the benefits we offer them. Let’s take a long, hard look at just how truly diverse our workforce actually is. Let’s continue to lean on remote and hybrid workspaces to boost both safety and productivity. Let’s take that great leap and get closer to being a truly “digital enterprise.” Let’s rethink how technology aids talent engagement. Let’s enable our hiring managers, talent acquisition leaders, and other stakeholders with real-time, AI-fueled total talent intelligence that can revolutionize workforce decision-making.

Let’s focus on how we enable our workers to prosper. Let’s think about the human side of business and how we can improve the emotional connections between leadership and the workforce. Let’s prioritize employee wellbeing and mental health. Let’s take a new approach to enterprise operations and ensure we are embracing change, progression, and evolution.

Let’s make 2022 a time to thrive. Let’s optimize the year ahead and push the Future of Work movement into a new stratosphere.

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Happy New Year! 🥂🎇

Uncategorized by Christopher J. Dwyer on

The Future of Work Exchange would like to wish all of our readers a very happy and safe New Year’s weekend. Thank you to each and every one of you for taking the time to make this site what it is today and for all of the time you’ve spent reading our coverage of the evolving world of work and talent.

Extra special thanks to PRO Unlimited, Utmost, Prosperix, and Beeline for supporting the Future of Work Exchange these past several months.

We have some VERY special things on tap for 2022. The Future of Work starts here!

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THE BEST OF 2021: Once More, With Feeling: Empathy Is the Only Way Forward

Business LeadershipGeneral InsightsTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

[We hope you are having a great holiday season! This week, the Future of Work Exchange will highlight the “Best of 2021” as we feature some of our favorite pieces from the past five months since the site launched.]

The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy, we can all sense a mysterious connection to each other.” – Meryl Streep

Over the past several months, there’s one word that has popped up more than so many others in my conversations with hiring managers, business leaders, HR practitioners, and talent acquisition executives. It’s a word that hasn’t been used very often in the corporate world, but it’s a concept that we are learning has such a profound effect on how work gets done. It’s at the very heart of who we are as humans and it’s a reflection of the energy we put out into the world around us. And, as we are finding, it’s a foundational way for businesses and their leaders to build long-lasting relationships with their workforce.

Empathy.

Many of us knew exactly what it would be like when the biggest remote work experiment in history kicked off in the dark days of March 2020. However, many others struggled with newfound responsibilities within their home as kids shuffled no further than the kitchen table and a laptop instead of to the bus. Many of us waded in the collective, anxious waters of a global pandemic that forced us indoors and to shutter social interaction. And too many of us still bear the scars of the most dangerous public health crisis in our lifetimes.

All of this means one thing: empathy must be the root of how we move forward. It must be the foundational layer to how we approach how work gets done and how we structure a workplace environment that is both inclusive and safe. It also means that, in the face of the Delta variant’s rampage across the country (and world), we as business leaders and we as business workers must prioritize empathy in nearly every facet of how we address our roles, our jobs, and our communications with each other.

Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research finds that 77% of businesses expect more empathy-driven leadership moving forward within their organizations, proving that “cold” and archaic modes of leadership, particularly instilling a culture of fear and rigidity, are detrimental to the overall enterprise. In order to retain talent and reengage key workers when needed, business leaders must create, foster, and deliver on the best possible workplace culture. By reinforcing expectations, practicing transparency, promoting positivity, and leveraging accountability (for both workers and managers), business leaders will ensure that empathetic efforts will help their organizations improve the talent experience for its total workforce.

Empathy within the workplace (and the workforce) has incredible benefits:

  • Empathy-led leadership will help business execs develop long-lasting relationships with its workforce. Workers that can perform their tasks with a touch of flexibility whilst feeling comfortable and safe within an inclusive environment are more likely to want to have a better relationship with their managers. Workers will be more apt to open additional lines of communication with their leaders and be honest about their workloads and any pressure they may be feeling about their roles. These long-lasting relationships can be especially critical when workers have opportunities outside of the organization, and, could potentially be a deciding factor on taking their talents elsewhere or staying put.
  • Leveraging empathy as a core Future of Work tenet will result in more productive workers and teams (and better business outcomes). Appreciation is also another factor that can catalyze a workforce. Workers that feel appreciated, along with a sense of physiological safety in an empathetic environment, are more likely to perform at a higher level due to a better overall employee experience. If they truly believe in what they are doing and feel that they are appreciated in how they perform their jobs, that extra level of value certainly cascades into the ultimate completion of the project. “Better business outcomes” has long been a goal for organizations, and empathy as a foundational workplace facet can be a critical contributor to achieving this initiative.
  • Empathy fosters a better connection with workers that can help stave off potential issues before they are exacerbated. Workers that have an open line of communication with their leaders will always feel that they can discuss major personal and business issues without fear of scrutiny or reprisal. In these scenarios, simply talking about problems, especially before they become worse, can potentially stave off detachment from the role or even resignations. Leaders pushing empathy can foster stronger relationships with their workers and ensure that these unions are robust tools in boosting the overall talent experience. In age that some have dubbed “The Great Resignation,” anything that executives can do in terms of empathy, flexibility, etc. will go a long way towards key talent retention.
  • Empathy-led leadership is one of several solutions to worker burnout. Think about the world we’re currently living in. The pandemic has been nothing short of an anxiety-ridden rollercoaster ride. Some of us have lost loved ones, others have been sick and experienced COVID first-hand. Many of us still battle with the lingering personal ramifications of this public health crisis. As we discussed recently, worker burnout is an epidemic on top of a pandemic; business leaders are the essential front-line of defense when it comes to curtailing this major issue. Empathetic and inclusive workplace environments (including, yes, remote environments!) can help curb some of the worker burnout issues that plague today’s talent by helping employees feel that 1) they are not alone in what they are doing, 2) they can reach out for help if they are overwhelmed, 3) they can establish flexible boundaries for when personal issues need to be prioritized, and, 4) they can work effectively with their leadership team to construct the best possible work-life balance for the maximum productivity and wellness.

A phrase known as “compassion fatigue” has been uttered lately as more and more leaders tire of the past eighteen months and the changes they’ve had to make in how they manage their workforce (it’s also a phrase thought of and spoken by medical workers that are rightfully exhausted at the thought of caring for unvaccinated individuals as hospitals begin to surge once again across the country). The FOWX theory is this: if business leaders are tiring of pushing empathy and rooting it into the foundation of their workplace environments, they shouldn’t be surprised when productivity wanes or workers begin to quit.

The COVID-19 pandemic (an ongoing pandemic, I may add) has been stressful for everyone, no doubt. However, empathy is the only way forward for the world of business. It’s the only way that workers will have a sense of inclusion, wellness, and appreciation. Leaders must respond to challenging times with empathy and flexibility, not just for themselves, but for their direct reports, as well. According to Future of Work Exchange research, nearly 70% of businesses expect leadership to focus understanding the perspectives of the workforce as they adapt to personal and professional change over the next 12 months. When the public health crisis is in the rear-view, it will be those businesses that have led with empathy and truly understand the human elements of their workforce that will retain their top talent.

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THE BEST OF 2021: Let’s Not Ignore Worker Burnout

Business LeadershipTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

[We hope you are having a great holiday season! This week, the Future of Work Exchange will highlight the “Best of 2021” as we feature some of our favorite pieces from the past five months since the site launched.]

In late spring 2004, I graduated from Suffolk University with a degree in print journalism. In-between traversing between temporary accounting and finance gigs, I knocked on the doors of every local newspaper in the North Shore area above Boston. Some editors gave me a firm “no” while others offered poorly-paid freelance opportunities to write an article or two week per week. I eventually stumbled into a newspaper office in a larger Boston suburb and spent 45 minutes with the owner and publisher chatting about newspaper layout, local politics, the Red Sox, and more. When he found out that I could write, edit, and design (a “three-tool player” in the world of journalism, a rarity), he hired me on the spot.

During my first couple of weeks, I thought I landed a dream job…right out of college. I was covering political issues, police budget cuts, school committee meetings, and so much more. During my second or third week as “designer version” of my role, when I had to put together nearly 50 pages of ads, stories, features, pictures, etc. using Microsoft Publisher, the owner saw me yawn and rub my eyes. “You’ll do great in this industry, kid,” he said. “As long as you don’t get tired, you’ll be fine.” I thought he was joking, so I smiled. And less than a year later, I left the industry for good.

I clocked more 18-hours days than I could remember. I once worked 28 straight hours because a co-worker up and quit during an argument with the owner. In order to attend a Red Sox game (during their magical 2004 season, no less!), I had to make up the work when the game was over (at 10:30pm). When those same Red Sox won the World Series for the first time in 86 years, I wasn’t at home celebrating; I was in front of a desktop computer putting together my second of three newspapers that evening. At the age of 22, I was burnt out, unhappy, and regretting having a dream that involved writing for a newspaper.

Nearly 17 years later, the very problem of worker burnout is unfortunately all too-common.

Business professionals are facing an epidemic on top of a pandemic: extreme burnout and work fatigue. Eighteen months of combating an increased workload on top of managing remote learning, an extreme lack of social interaction, and a rollercoaster ride of anxiety during the worst public health crisis our our lifetime. Some industries (such as healthcare and human medicine, veterinary medicine, light industrial, etc.) have experienced such an increased level of work that employees are facing the worst burnout issues of their careers. Staff shortages have been to blame for the majority of burnout cases, as businesses are often forced to “do more with less” in a period of continued uncertainty. And, within sectors that have experienced “boom” times over the past year, there has been a greater demand for products and services, resulting in organizations placing even more pressure on their workforce to perform.

In addition, workers that have moved to fully remote or hybrid models still routinely face a “blurring” of work and life balance, with care for children and their homes (on top of an additional workload) contributing to late nights on the computer, extended time on mission-critical projects, and work on the weekends. Worker responsibilities have surged, as well, as businesses seek to align staff shortfalls with the existing workforce.

Unlike pre-pandemic times (when burnout was still very much an issue), employees facing the epidemic of burnout now also have to contend with additional social, political, and health issues that are all comprise the world that is 2021. And it’s so much more than simple “stress,” too: mental anguish stemming from a workplace environment (and YES, a home office counts!) can have significant ramifications on business professionals, including irritability, physical illnesses, mental health issues, waning productivity, and, worst of all, a constant questioning of if the position/role (or, even worse, the career itself) is worthwhile.

Here at the Future of Work Exchange, we’ve talked at-length about the value and impact of flexibility and empathy in how executives manage their workforce. Business leaders can extend these concepts to ensure that they address the core issues behind worker burnout and improve overall work-life balance. To start, organizations must:

  • Institute deeper communication between managers and staff. Workers aren’t always willing or able to give away information in a conversational setting with managers, and, managers shouldn’t be playing coy with their workforce’s emotions. Open up the proper channels of communication and get right to the issues at hand: leaders asking if their employees how they feeling and allowing them to freely discuss the physical and mental impacts that all avenues of work are having on their work-life balance. Communication may seem like a gigantic obstacle, but more often than not, once the gates of discussion are open, both sides will begin truly understand the perspectives of what is occurring from a burnout perspective.
  • Provide a more flexible system of paid time off, vacation, and mental health support. Scroll through LinkedIn on any given day and you’ll read about various companies taking a progressive approach to workforce management, whether it’s offering extended time off, additional benefits for fully-remote workers, and services/offerings for mental health support. No worker that’s currently clocking 60-hour weeks will turn down an opportunity to develop a better plan for vacation or time off. Although workers with mental health issues may be hesitant at first, once they feel comfortable taking advantage of such benefits, they should utilize whatever the enterprise offers for mental health support.
  • Consider a dramatic short-term shift in the overall workplace structure. The long-vaunted “four-day workweek” has been effective for some businesses over the past several years, however, not all organizations could shift to this model and be successful from a productivity perspective. With that said, though, running such a dramatic short-term experiment could reveal so much about its longer-term success a viable option…quite simply: if you haven’t tried, how do you know it won’t work? Now is the perfect time to move to a four-day workweek, especially with many return-to-office plans on hold due to the continued impact of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. If a two-month experiment reveals that workers are happier, more productive, and better engaged with their roles and with each other, then it’s an experiment worth conducting.
  • Develop a direct line of collaboration regarding upskilling and reskilling opportunities. Although not a front-and-center issue when it comes to worker burnout, there is sometimes a hidden root cause: a misalignment between a worker’s total skillset and the work they are performing within a stressful or demanding environment. It’s not so easy juggling a career with an anxious home life in what was supposed to be the waning months of a pandemic but has now turned into a horrifying repeat of the early months of 2021. Managers must institute a direct line of communication about career paths and “where” workers want to be in the future. If there is an opportunity to undergo training for a different unit or department, there’s no better time than now to kickstart that initiative before burnout gets worse. The last thing executives want to experience is another period like this past spring, which were the largest on record regarding worker resignations across the United States. Existing experience and expertise is always going to be an incredible benefit, even if the long-term fit between the worker and his or her current role isn’t set up for long-term success. Employers must give these workers the opportunity to leverage their unique talents and apply those skillsets to other facets of the greater business.
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THE BEST OF 2021: What is the Future of Direct Sourcing?

Direct SourcingTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

[We hope you are having a great holiday season! This week, the Future of Work Exchange will highlight the “Best of 2021” as we feature some of our favorite pieces from the past five months since the site launched.]

Businesses learned a harsh lesson in 2020: those that could not adapt to the major shifts in work optimization were the ones that could not survive months of extreme disruption. As 2021 careens towards its end, another new year is on the horizon, and businesses must prepare for perhaps the most critical period of their history given the direction of the economy and the labor market.

The shift towards “flexibility as the Future of Work” means that enterprises must execute in a more dynamic manner. The companies that thrived and continue to thrive are the organizations that understand and embrace 1) how they want to get work done, 2) the talent and technology needed to get that work done across both the short- and long-term, and 3) the proper balance between human and automation.

In looking at various perspectives in how work was transformed over the past 18 months, there is one strategic program that businesses seem to gravitate towards in convergence with the talent-led world in which we now live: direct sourcing.

Going into 2020, direct sourcing and talent pools were the #1 and #2 (respectively) priorities for businesses; even the most forward-looking organization could not imagine at that time just how critical a program it would be in the face of unprecedented change. Even the most basic direct sourcing programs drive table-stakes value to their owners through a combination of on-demand, plug-and-play talent and a level of hard cost savings. However, many attributes of the world of work and talent were fast-tracked over the past 18 months due to the most serious public health crisis of our lifetimes and its long-ranging ramifications across the scope of business, worker, and personal perspectives.

Direct sourcing went from being an additional way to find talent to a revolutionary means of tapping into the extended workforce to drive better business outcomes. As the business world continues to evolve, even in the throes of a “Great Resignation,” the lowest unemployment since the pandemic began, and “power” shifting to the worker, the continued transformation of talent engagement is now a standard. The question then becomes: How do businesses continue to respond in the wake of being forced to reimagine talent acquisition, human capital, and the agile workforce?

Direct Sourcing 2.0.

“Direct Sourcing 2.0” follows the next generation of direct sourcing strategies and is fundamentally rooted in the linkage between key technological arenas, a renewed focus on the candidate experience, a seamless connection between talent pools and the projects and roles that require specific expertise, and a retooled “hiring manager experience” that takes into account Future of Work-era innovation.

Why the shift to Direct Sourcing 2.0? Isn’t direct sourcing effective in its “1.0” version? Of course. Direct sourcing and its traditional phases (including talent curation, talent pool segmentation, integration into core recruitment streams, talent nurture, etc.) are driving increased value within those organizations that are currently leveraging standard programs. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t evolve. Take into account the major shifts in both business and candidate behavior over the 18 months, and, especially, over the past several months:

  • The “candidate experience” is far deeper than we ever imagined. It’s not just about ensuring that candidates have a positive experience when engaged, but rather extending that experience into areas such as when they are engaged, how they are engaged, the communication methods used for reach out, methods of onboarding and offboarding (seamless, digital, and virtual!), etc. Recruitment marketing automation, digitized referral campaigns, and a mobile-optimized means of communicating with hiring managers all contribute to the next great era of the candidate experience.
  • Hiring managers should be engaging and sourcing talent in a consumerized and enhanced manner for the sake of efficiency and quality. This doesn’t mean that we have to completely meld e-commerce technology with direct sourcing platforms, however, it does translate into taking into account just how effective existing processes are within the hiring managers’ total workload. The greater business must provide hiring managers with the necessary trust and education to ensure that these leaders are converging the company’s main goals and objectives with how they find, engage, and source talent (which will result in superior role-to-candidate matches). In addition, harnessing the power of next-gen direct sourcing automation, recruitment marketing technology, and similar solutions will boost the hiring manager experience.
  • Businesses must go “beyond the brand” and prove that they are fostering truly inclusive workplace cultures that resonate with candidates. An organization’s “brand” can be a powerful tool for direct sourcing; candidates tend to flock to those companies that align with their own beliefs and values. However, businesses must move beyond the brand and incorporate deeper elements of the organization in how it applies Direct Sourcing 2.0 strategies, including communicating its purpose and vision (and ensuring that it resonates with candidates) and how well its preferences in how work is done are broadcast to workers (fully-remote, hybrid, on-site, etc.). A purpose-driven organization wants to establish a more trustful relationship with its candidates, share its core cultural values with them (particularly on the DE&I front), and communicate how open it is to the attributes desired in today’s “Age of the Worker,” such as flexibility, career development opportunities, and the enablement of core skills growth.

Look for the new Ardent Partners/Future of Work Exchange research study, Direct Sourcing 2.0, in January 2022.

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