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Sustain the Leadership Evolution

Business LeadershipDiversity and InclusionGeneral InsightsHRUncategorized by John Yuva on

What the previous three years have shown is that enterprises are resilient. The ability to turn on a dime operationally and transform from an in-person to a nearly fully remote workforce is a stunning achievement. It is the ultimate in change management execution, forever altering the Future of Work paradigm and business leadership as we know it. In defining the Future of Work movement, the Future of Work Exchange identified the transformation of business leadership as one of its three critical pillars.

Workplace Humanization Arrives

How has business leadership transformed? Quite simply, leaders today have a newfound focus on “humanity,” and the need to be more talent-oriented to thrive during uncertain times. During the height of the pandemic, there was no separation between how leadership and employees experienced this global event. Everyone went through it together and had similar fears, anxiety, and concern for others. Many leaders recognized this fact and rebooted their workplaces by retaining employee flexibility and remote/hybrid models once the world started to normalize.

Bridging of Human and Skills-Based Objectives

Along with the humanization of the workplace, the need for skills-based talent became apparent as well. The criticality of enterprise agility, flexibility, and business continuity is now a central part of talent acquisition strategies. It is no longer about filling a job role, but rather hiring candidates that bring specific skills and competencies while also being a good cultural match. Business leaders today actively bridge the human aspect with skills-based execution. Understanding, for example, the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of the cultural fabric, leaders have integrated DE&I into hiring and operational objectives.

Business Leadership Evolves

The Future of Work Exchange and Ardent Partners have identified five ways business leadership is evolving.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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Is It Time to Reintroduce Ourselves to Total Talent Management?

Contingent WorkforceHRTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

For the past decade, the very concept of total talent management has been akin to the Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster of the business arena: a mythical idea that has only seen slivers of reality across global organizations. Sure, we’ve seen dribbles of total talent programs in some enterprises, as well as specific elements of these initiatives (i.e., total talent acquisition, total talent intelligence, etc.) offered by some of the industry’s more progressive workforce management solutions.

However, on the whole, total talent management itself has still not yet experienced its true arrival as we all would have anticipated. Back in 2011, I wrote perhaps the industry’s first full research study on total talent management, which found that there was extreme desire for such a program; the caveat, however, was that the tools weren’t quite there yet…and neither were the foundational elements required to make such a program successful.

So, here were are in 2023, with a toxic workplace environment (due to many, many workplace culture issues), a volatile labor market, and a Great Resettling that represents a continued revolution of talent. There may or may not be a recession swirling around us like a dooming specter. And, above all else, enterprises realize that they require the right talent at the right time at the right cost to get work done in an efficient and optimal way.

Dare I say that we should reintroduce ourselves to the idea of total talent management? Should we truly flip this concept from theory into reality? Here a few reasons why:

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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Unconscious Bias Restrains DE&I Efforts

Business LeadershipDiversity and InclusionGeneral InsightsHR by John Yuva on

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is widely regarded as a critical component of a Future of Work vision. It is an important initiative for enterprise and employee unification, engagement, and inclusion for workers of all backgrounds and demographics. Despite those positive intents, DE&I is under greater scrutiny from local and state governments that view such programs as part of a “woke” agenda. However, understanding its value and reward, enterprises across the U.S. continue to foster DE&I principles and integrate them into their recruitment and workforce engagement strategies.

With the current political and social polarization that exists, HR and managers must maintain the momentum of DE&I and further drive its criticality within the organization. Two areas that are extremely relevant today are unconscious bias and employee resource groups. The intent of addressing these two areas is to bring greater awareness to our own biases while recognizing the needs underserved employees in the enterprise who may be impacted by unconscious bias themselves.

Address Unconscious Bias

The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) defines this concept as “Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Everyone holds unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from one’s tendency to organize social worlds by categorizing.”

One interesting aspect of unconscious bias that UCSF points out is that it’s “…far more prevalent than conscious prejudice and often incompatible with one’s conscious values.” This is an important statement for HR and managers because it means with engagement, employees can better recognize and quell unconscious bias in their own interactions.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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Skills-Based Is the New Workforce Frontier

Business LeadershipDirect SourcingDiversity and InclusionGeneral InsightsHRTalent AcquisitionTechnology and InnovationUncategorized by John Yuva on

We have recently talked about gamification and digital credentials as strategies for greater employee engagement, collaboration, and skills development. As enterprises re-engineer their workforce architectures toward a skills-based organization, these strategies will play a critical role in that initiative.

Why is skills-based the next workforce frontier? Simply put, traditional, antiquated job description-defined roles are ineffective in today’s volatile business landscape. Enterprises require agility and flexibility to respond appropriately to operational and market changes. A skills-based workforce architecture supports that requirement by aligning employee skills with project-focused initiatives. Deploying employees with specific skill sets to solve problems and ensure business continuity is a Future of Work vision.

Purpose of Work Redefined

With a nimble and responsive workforce, enterprises can leverage their talent using a more holistic approach while generating a greater sense of work purpose for employees. According to an article in Training magazine, “Skills-based organizations have a more agile and employee-centric approach to work where employees are valued for their skills rather than their job title, level, or educational qualifications.”

“It is a new operating model of work where employees are matched to tasks and projects based on skills, capabilities, and interests. Focusing on skill sets instead of job experience can help organizations optimize their talent pool.”

However, the success of this workforce model depends heavily on the ability to define work within the enterprise. What is the work that can ultimately provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace? Where in the organization does the most critical work reside? What skillsets and capabilities are most valued to accomplish the work required? How does the enterprise capture, structure, and utilize skillset data?

The critical answers to these questions are all part of the foundation of a skills-based structure.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

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Candidate-Centricity Should Be the Nexus of 2023 Hiring

HRTalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Sometimes it can be incredibly taxing on our minds to configure the many, many ways the Future of Work influences the way we live, the way we work, and the ways those two intersect. From new technology and innovative platforms to conscious leadership and overall business transformation, the very notion of the “future of how we work” involves so many intricacies that it can make our collective heads spin.

However, in a vacuum, we have to look at the future (and, in this case, the very near future) and configure specific aspects of corporate operations in such a way that they align with the external forces now driving success…or failure.

Talent has become the top competitive differentiator in a market that is increasingly globalized, unpredictable, and disruptive. Businesses that source the best talent, utilize that talent to get work done effectively, and retain that talent are always going to be the ones that thrive in a business arena that is evolving at a breakneck clip.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

read more

Is It Time to Reintroduce Ourselves to Total Talent Management?

Contingent WorkforceHRTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

For the past decade, the very concept of total talent management has been akin to the Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster of the business arena: a mythical idea that has only seen slivers of reality across global organizations. Sure, we’ve seen dribbles of total talent programs in some enterprises, as well as specific elements of these initiatives (i.e., total talent acquisition, total talent intelligence, etc.) offered by some of the industry’s more progressive workforce management solutions.

However, on the whole, total talent management itself has still not yet experienced its true arrival as we all would have anticipated. Back in 2011, I wrote perhaps the industry’s first full research study on total talent management, which found that there was extreme desire for such a program; the caveat, however, was that the tools weren’t quite there yet…and neither were the foundational elements required to make such a program successful.

So, here were are in 2023, with a toxic workplace environment (due to so-called “quiet quitting” and “quiet firing”), a volatile labor market, and a Great Resettling that represents a continued revolution of talent. There may or may not be a recession swirling around us like a dooming specter. And, above all else, enterprises realize that they require the right talent at the right time at the right cost to get work done in an efficient and optimal way.

Dare I say that we should reintroduce ourselves to the idea of total talent management? Should we truly flip this concept from theory into reality? Here a few reasons why:

  • The technology is finally there to support TTM. A decade ago, the phrase “extended workforce” didn’t exist…nor did the proper technology to make total talent management a reality. Contingent workforce management (CWM) was just beginning its ascent to true strategic imperative, while less than a quarter of the total workforce was considered “non-employee.” Today, the story has evolved: extended workforce systems are innovative offshoots of Vendor Management System (VMS) platforms that can easily integrate with the core human capital systems (ATS, HRIS, etc.) for true visibility, management, and oversight of both contingent and FTE labor. Point-of-entry automation for new requisitions and talent requests can access various forms of talent, including the ever-important talent communities developed by direct sourcing solutions. And, most importantly, today’s workforce management technology can easily help businesses understand their total workforce, an attribute which allows them to pinpoint the best-aligned talent (be it contingent or an FTE already on staff) for a given project or role.
  • Functional collaboration today is a must-have capability. Unlike in years past, it is much more common for businesses to experience core cross-functional coordination; procurement and finance tackle their problems together, for instance, for the sake of the bottom-line. HR, talent acquisition, and procurement have all experienced challenges and pressures over the past two-and-a-half years, each unit emerging from the acute pandemic phase stronger than ever before. As such, the idea of collaborative strategies is much easier to maintain in today’s business environment: in the quest for survival during those scary days of 2020, enterprise functions learned that they needed each other to thrive. And, today, these three distinct groups now understand that, in a world where talent is an incredible competitive differentiator, they must work together to bridge the gaps between extended workforce management and traditional hiring. By combining efficiencies and blending strengths, the triumvirate of HR, procurement, and talent acquisition can form a formidable backbone of total talent management.
  • Aspects such as purpose, flexibility, and empathy boost the importance of the candidate experience, with the notion of “engagement” playing a critical role in total talent acquisition. No longer does a great hourly rate set the tone for freelancers, contractors, and other types of non-employee talent when choosing their next destination. Workplace culture (and leadership style) are more crucial now than ever for hiring managers to hook new talent; as such, the idea behind total talent acquisition (a key phase within TTM that involves a centralized, standardized set of guidelines and processes for engaging and sourcing all types of talent) becomes one of engagement, as well. True total talent management programs harness the power of employee engagement and candidate experience tools and tactics to ensure a steady approach towards talent acquisition for both contingent and FTE talent populations.
  • The need for business agility, combined with the volatility of the labor market, translates into the perfect gateway for total talent management. Simply put: total talent management is needed today, now more than ever. Businesses must execute lightning-fast talent decisions to thrive in an uncertain economy; the “total talent intelligence” enabled by total talent management programs and associated platforms allow hiring managers and other leaders to understand 1) the current makeup of talent across the organization, 2) the best-fit resources (whether it’s someone in house, a current contractor, etc.) for a new project or role, and 3) provide a dynamic entryway into a truly agile workforce.

Total talent management has been an oft-maligned strategy that has bordered on the hypothetical for over a decade. However, the platforms available today and the transformation of work and talent, combined with the need for such a program, positions total talent management as an innovative strategy for the months and years ahead.

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BEST OF 2022: Candidate-Centricity Should Be the Nexus of 2023 Hiring

HRTalentTalent Acquisition by Christopher J. Dwyer on

[The Future of Work Exchange will be back next week with all-new content and insights to kick off the new year. Until then, enjoy our “Best Of” series that revisits some of our most-read articles from 2022.]

Sometimes it can be incredibly taxing on our minds to configure the many, many ways the Future of Work influences the way we live, the way we work, and the ways those two intersect. From new technology and innovative platforms to conscious leadership and overall business transformation, the very notion of the “future of how we work” involves so many intricacies that it can make our collective heads spin.

However, in a vacuum, we have to look at the future (and, in this case, the very near future) and configure specific aspects of corporate operations in such a way that they align with the external forces now driving success…or failure.

Talent has become the top competitive differentiator in a market that is increasingly globalized, unpredictable, and disruptive. Businesses that source the best talent, utilize that talent to get work done effectively, and retain that talent are always going to be the ones that thrive in a business arena that is evolving at a breakneck clip.

We’ve witnessed (and, more importantly, experienced) the highs and lows of talent engagement, hiring, and talent acquisition over the past two-plus years: pandemic-led layoffs, the rise of workforce agility, The Great Resignation, The Great Resettling, quiet quitting, quiet firing, and worker empowerment. It’s surely been a roller-coaster for talent acquisition execs, hiring managers, HR leaders, and other executives that hold some responsibility for workforce management within the typical organization.

At the end of the day, however, all of these talent-led transformations lead to one conclusion that should form the foundation of talent acquisition strategies in 2023: a candidate-centric model is the best path forward, considering the risks of an economic recession, continued global disruptions from war and supply chain issues, and, critically, the ramifications of the “talent revolution” that businesses have experienced since March 2020.

There are many reasons why running a candidate-centric hiring model makes sense in the year ahead:

  • Workers are done with being overpowered by their managers and employers when it comes to poor working conditions and a lack of appreciation.
  • Talented professionals have undergone a mental transformation during pandemic times that have forced them to reevaluate the impact of “work” and “career paths” on their personal lives as humans, leading to a desire for more purposeful work.
  • Workers desire true flexibility, not just a free weekly lunch or a ping-pong table in the break room. The flexibility for personal care, child care, elder care, etc. is all-important in today’s workforce; professionals crave the ability to attend their children’s’ events or harness the real power of remote and hybrid work to ensure that they have a proper work-life integration.
  • Candidates have more choices than ever before, regardless of the state of today’s economy. Businesses must stand out from the pack and offer a truly emotionally-engaging experience for their potential workers that leaves a real impression; will candidates gain a sense of trust, as well as an understanding of workplace and corporate culture?
  • Building on the above attribute, candidates desire a seamless and frictionless experience when applying for a job, negotiating terms, and following through the onboarding process. These may seem like more tactical aspects than strategic, but they go a long way towards developing a positive candidate experience for potential workers.
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is one of the most crucial elements of workforce management today. As frequently stated on the Future of Work Exchange Podcast, “A diverse talent pool is the deepest talent pool.” Candidates want to know that they will be part of a diverse workforce that also includes a truly inclusive workplace culture.

There’s more to developing a talent-oriented hiring strategy than just being committed to the candidate; enterprises must look to the aspects above and understand that, in a volatile labor market, they need to do so much more than they have ever done before to attract the best-fit, top-tier talent, skillsets, and expertise. The candidate experience is paramount and candidate-centricity hiring models are essential to thriving in 2023.

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Employee Engagement Still Lacks Execution

Business LeadershipContingent WorkforceGeneral InsightsHRTechnology and Innovation by John Yuva on

Today’s enterprises can be characterized as fast-paced, ever-evolving to effectively respond to a more dynamic marketplace. Within the hustle and bustle lies a critical workforce need that is often overlooked: employee engagement. The concept can be confused with simply offering employees certain monthly perks identified from a quick survey. However, it goes much deeper than that and reaches beyond permanent, full-time employees to those in the extended workforce, as well.

A well-rounded definition of employee engagement comes from Engage For Success: “Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organization to give of their best each day, committed to their organization’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being.”

Powerful, Yet Underutilized

It is that commitment toward oneself and the enterprise that makes employee engagement such a powerful workforce approach. Yet, as a Gallup survey indicates, only 36% of U.S. employees are engaged in their work and workplace. The number is even lower on a global scale, with only 20% of employees engaged at work.

However, for those enterprises with a fully entrenched employee engagement system, the results speak for themselves. According to Gallup, those leading organizations are experiencing the following benefits:

  • An increase of 18% in productivity (sales)
  • An increase of 23% in profitability
  • A decline of 40% in quality issues (defects)

Achieving these results requires engagement with every worker. With nearly half (nearly 48%) of today’s enterprises comprised of contingent workers (per Ardent Partners and Future of Work Exchange research), employee engagement must include this critical workforce segment. When faced with the possibility of losing extended talent following a project or other initiative, employee engagement could be the competitive differentiator to retain them.

The rest of this article is available by subscription only.

Introducing a New Subscription Model

To continue providing valuable insights and resources on the future of work and extended workforce management, we’re transitioning our site to a paid subscription model. While some posts will remain free, subscribing will grant you exclusive access to in-depth analysis, market research, expert interviews, and actionable strategies that will help improve your business. Solution providers and practitioners are invited to join today and gain a competitive edge by tracking the industry’s important innovations, emerging trends, and best practices.

Click here to learn more.

read more

Future of Work Predictions for 2023 (Part II)

Business LeadershipDirect SourcingGeneral InsightsHRTalentTechnology and Innovation by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Welcome to an exclusive series here at the Future of Work Exchange that will feature predictions, insights, and trends for 2023 that will shape the Future of Work in the months ahead. We polled technology and solution provider executives and asked them how they believe the world of work and talent will continue to evolve in 2023 and beyond:

Kevin Akeroyd, CEO, Magnit

“2023 will mark the year when the three largest opportunities within contingent workforce management stop being ‘discussions’ and ‘buzz words’ and start gaining real adoption and driving real value for companies. The C-suite is finally paying attention and necessary corrections are coming fast in these critical areas:

  1. Direct Sourcing. In the current economic environment, saving $300-$400 million out of every $1 billion in staff augmentation contingent spend that goes to the disintermediary vs. to the talent or the enterprise’s bottom line is simply too much to continue to ignore.  
  2. SOW. This another area where $300-$400 million out of every $1 billion in professional services procurement contingent spend in known/acknowledged waste is simply too much to continue to ignore.
  3. Data/Analytics. The industry spends billions on annual survey data to edify FTE salaries, which is 50% of their workforce. They spend virtually nothing to edify Contingent Labor rates, which is the other 50% of their workforce. That has to, and will, change, starting in 2023.”

Amy Doyle, and Global Leader, Talent Solutions TAPFIN

“Talent practices and strategies will need to keep better pace with increasingly rapid evolution of work. What worked to get us here is quickly losing impact.  Mere execution – driven by growth of our ecosystems is not enough; organizations and solution partners alike are prioritizing the value of strategic partnerships in enabling agility and collaborative innovation.”

Kevin Poll, SVP of Strategy and Business Development, WorkLLama

“I think a big trend for 2023 will center around how companies are branding themselves to all talent and delivering similar experiences to candidates, regardless of how a person engages with the company (full-time, SOW, contractor, freelancer). As companies move towards an omni-channel talent acquisition strategy, a consistent candidate experience is critical. Not only does it increase engagement and referrals, but a positive candidate experience can also turn even rejected candidates into brand ambassadors, increasing the quality of future candidates and lowering cost-to-acquire. Without a total talent approach to finding, attracting, and nurturing candidates, companies lack a holistic talent strategy, which can hurt their bottom line.”

Sunil Bagai, CEO, Prosperix

“2023 will be about volatility as some companies downsize and others ramp up. Amidst this chaos, businesses will be seeking to increase workforce productivity in lieu of financial constraints, improve visibility and insights into their entire workforce, and find a balance between local, remote and offshore teams. 

A few tenets will remain strong in 2023, including the intentionality of remote work so it is flexible and meets the social and performance needs of the business. Additionally, the pursuit of meaningful work will be more prevalent as bad managers, lack of business transparency and poor culture drive individuals into new work environments that are more aligned and enriching.”

Jessica “JJ” Reeder,

“Productivity is passé. As the world faces a global crisis in employee engagement (Gallup reports only 20% of workers are engaged) and as many companies tighten their budgets, the question to ask is not “How much are we producing?” but “Are we producing the most effective outcomes?”

Organizations with people-first organizational cultures are attracting the world’s best talent by promising healthier work-life integration, flexible schedules, and an investment in professional development. What that translates to is employees exerting a greater sense of control over when, how, and where they work, but with a higher quality of output and higher probability of long-term retention.

In 2023, companies that want the best people doing their best work will understand the importance of planning, goal-setting, and focus on shared objectives. Rather than overworking people to the point of burnout, we’ll see more great leaders steering their teams toward a vision, and empowering them to reach it.”

Steve Dern, EVP of Talent Solutions, Evaluent

“Direct sourcing will include not only technology implementation, but the strategic inclusion of diversity EOR/AOR suppliers who can provide curation services, allowing traditional talent acquisition teams to focus on the internal hires that remain mission critical.  As direct sourcing yields benefits to evergreen hiring needs, these solutions will expand their reach across the enterprise.  A key component of this success will rely on the proactive marketing of the brand and culture of the organization, positioning itself as a destination of choice for both potential employees and contingent workers alike.”

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Flexibility Shouldn’t Go Backwards

Business LeadershipHRTalent by Christopher J. Dwyer on

Take a trip back to a moment in time with me. It’s around this time last year, and you may be in the grocery store, at the mall, or catching the last few hours of Black Friday sales. Facial coverings aren’t as prevalent as they were a year prior, an era before COVID vaccines, treatments, etc., however, many people still feel more comfortable wearing masks in any public setting.

It’s sometimes hard to believe that we’re well over two-and-a-half years removed from the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many of us, we can still close our eyes and recall the anxiety, the worry, and just how uneasy everything felt.

Of course, in late 2022 now, we can look back on the scariest of those times and point to them as a dawn of a new era of work, talent, and business. Future of Work accelerants were already well in play when the country (and world, for that matter) began to “shut down,” however, it was the pandemic’s quick impact that kicked many of those concepts into high gear.

Perhaps the biggest Future of Work accelerant to arise was the global notion of flexibility. With newfound measures to keep in-person contact to an absolutely minimum, those businesses that once eschewed remote work were now forced to allow their employees and contractors to telecommute and work virtually. Those enterprises that had long embraced these work models, on the other hand, found it easier to survive in chaotic times.

The first rumblings of “return to office” planning occurred at the beginning of 2021 when the United States government rolled out the biggest vaccine campaign in medical history. Many executive leaders were eager to “get back to normal” and began the process of shifting from remote-heavy environments to hybrid workplaces.

While these blended models were ideal for balancing proximity collaboration and in-person coordination with the many advantages of the remote work environment, some leaders took encouraging virus occurrences (such as lower case rates, enhanced uptake of vaccines, etc.) as a sign that the global workforce was ready to the office full-time.

As we discussed here on the Future of Work Exchange oh so many months ago, that very notion of flexibility wasn’t a fad, nor was it a temporary state of workplace thinking. The move towards enterprise flexibility was a permanent one that could not be reneged, renegotiated, or scaled back in any profound way. One of the positive outcomes regarding the workforce over the past two years was hidden under the guise of The Great Resignation; people weren’t just quitting their jobs…they were sparking a talent revolution.

In 2022, and certainly even more so in 2023, workers demand better working conditions, enhanced benefits, empathy-led mentorship and leadership, and, most importantly, flexibility. This concept of flexibility doesn’t just translate into allowing professionals to sometimes work from home or build in specific remote days around in-person office days. No, flexibility is so much more than that, and, until executive leaders understand that flexibility is a path forward that cannot be reversed, there will continue to be staffing shortages, dearths of expertise, a lack of effective skillsets, etc.

Those leaders that are clamoring for a full return-to-office plan in January (or even sooner, if you’ve purchased a social media giant and want to destroy its culture) are banking on economic uncertainty to re-balance the scales with the workforce-at-large. However, with nearly two job openings for every available candidate in today’s market (a fluctuating number based on fluid conditions), there won’t be a labor market crunch anytime soon. So, in essence, flexibility is an attribute that every worker will want now and forever, leaving business leaders in a position in which the culture of its workplace becomes ever-so-critical when engaging the top-tier talent they need to thrive.

Workplace culture cannot be forced. And this is why the realm of flexibility is so critical to enterprise success today and in the future. Enterprises that preach and practice flexible workplace conditions have embraced the transformation of work; the idea of flexibility, then, can’t be jammed back into its bottle. Workers have realized that flexibility is what they want, desire, and require…and there’s no turning back from that.

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