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New Kids on the Block — Gen Z in the Workplace (Part Two)

Business Leadership Contingent Workforce General Insights HR Talent Talent Acquisition Uncategorized by John Yuva on 10/10/2023

In part one of our two-part series exploring the pandemic’s effects on Generation Z in the workplace, several studies revealed Gen Z endured learning challenges and subsequent skills deficiencies. Soft skill inadequacies make it difficult to adjust to today’s workplace demands.

Today, we feature part two, exploring how enterprises can most attract and retain Gen Z employees. Not surprisingly, those strategies are closely tied to offering programs and services associated with the lasting emotional impacts of the pandemic.

Gen Z Represents a Large Talent Pool

As Gen X begins retiring from the workforce, Gen Z is quickly filling those gaps. According to Homebase, Gen Z comprises 30% of the world’s population and is slated to make up 27% of the workforce by 2027.

Based on results of a Paychex report titled, “The Rise of Generation Z: A Paychex Special Report,” Frank Fiorille, vice president of risk, compliance, and data analytics for Paychex, says, “Our data clearly supports the fact that the workforce composition is shifting as more Gen Z members seek full-time and long-term roles, more members of Gen X begin to retire, and Millennials enter their prime earning years,” he said.

“Considering these facts, employers need to develop recruiting and retention strategies that keep Gen Z at the forefront, appealing to their values-based approach and celebrating the unique contributions this group brings to the table.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Adam Smiley Poswolsky, a keynote speaker on fostering belonging and human connection in the workplace, in his Harvard Business Review article “Gen Z Employees Are Feeling Disconnected. Here’s How Employers Can Help.” He writes, “It is imperative that leaders and managers do more to connect and support young employees in these volatile times, not only as a means of engaging the next generation of talent, but as an investment in a collaborative future.”

Recruiting and Engaging Gen Z Workers

When it comes to Gen Z workers, Future of Work tenets, such as empathetic leadership, coaching and mentoring programs, and cultural initiatives, speak strongly to this demographic. Understanding how to attract and retain this growing workforce subset is critical to enterprise competitiveness.

Both the Harvard Business Review article and the Paychex report offered several Gen Z talent strategies. Let’s take a look at some of the more critical ones.

Focus on Mental Health

The pandemic was a life-defining event for Gen Z — they witnessed the deaths of parents and grandparents as a result of COVID-19. It was also life-altering from social and academic perspectives with the overnight move to remote learning and social distancing from friends and family. As Gen Z enters the workplace, HR and business leaders must consider the lasting impacts of those experiences. “A culture built on mental health and wellness goes beyond offering a meditation app; it infuses mental health throughout the organization through policies and programs that take care of your people,” Poswolsky writes.

Mobile Recruitment Strategy

Gen Z was raised on technology. The ability to adopt new technologies and platforms to solve challenges is a skill for many incoming Gen Z workers. For that reason, Paychex advises enterprises to focus on the social and digital aspects of recruiting for this demographic. “Build a strong brand and have mobile-friendly content (e.g., videos) on your website,” the report says.

Onboarding as Community Building

The sense of belonging and community that Gen Z craves should be integrated into the employee onboarding process. For many young employees, onboarding might be their first or second experience ever in a professional setting, says Poswolsky. “It is incredibly important, especially in a remote or hybrid workforce, that onboarding establish a container of mutual support.

Embrace the Entrepreneurial Spirit

The Paychex report revealed that many Gen Zers aspire to own their own business. Having a sense of ownership over a project or initiative can appeal to that entrepreneurial spirit. Look for opportunities to foster those entrepreneurial goals and provide areas of personal growth. While they may be the youngest generation in the workplace, it doesn’t mean Gen Z employees and extended workers can’t make process improvements or contribute to innovative decision-making.

Gen Z enters the workforce with some uncertainty and disconnectedness. Enterprises have an opportunity through coaching/mentoring, team building, and personal recognition to bring workplace balance and a sense of belonging to Gen Z workers. Recruiting contingent and FTE Gen Z talent requires going below the surface level of this workforce demographic to truly understand what drives their interests and motivates them. This is a unique moment in workplace history to blend four generations of workers. Gen Z is poised to take on this moment and deliver at the highest levels.

Elevate Your Workforce Through Upskilling

Business Leadership General Insights HR Talent by John Yuva on 08/31/2023

“Upskilling, reskilling, and continuing one’s education journey — traditional or not — has the potential to serve as a great equalizer, providing opportunities for anyone at any stage of their career.” Par Merat, VP of Training and Certifications, Cisco U.

Workplace culture is a major determinant for candidate attraction and talent retention. Enterprises with a strong focus on professional development and organizational growth — upskilling — are reaping the rewards of higher levels of employee engagement, worker satisfaction, and sense of belonging.

Upskilling is akin to learning new skills to better perform your job — not to be confused with reskilling, which is investing in skills for a different job. How critical is upskilling? According to its 2021 report, Upskilling for Shared Prosperity, the World Economic Forum states that the U.S. could add $800 billion to its GDP by 2030 through upskilling efforts.

Companies have too much to lose by not offering upskilling opportunities and programs. In the Harvard Business Review article, “How to Build a Successful Upskilling Program,” the authors state, “Upskilling is a longer-term investment in augmenting the knowledge, skills, and competencies that help employees advance their careers. When employees are offered and encouraged to take advantage of upskilling opportunities for their personal and professional growth, people metrics, such as employee engagement and retention, also go up.”

Takeaways to Maximize Upskilling Effectiveness

Upskilling is not a workforce strategy reserved for managers and senior leadership. It is imperative for jobs on the factory floor to the corner office. Every worker can benefit from upskilling. It generates a sense of accomplishment in expanding one’s skill sets and future career opportunities.

When evaluating upskilling as an individual or company, consider these takeaways to maximize its effectiveness.

Take the Initiative for Your Career Development

Unless your company is forward-thinking and makes workforce planning a strategic imperative, the responsibility lies with you to make career-progression commitments. Identify how your role is evolving in the industry and where your skills compare to what’s expected in the future. Are there specific leadership skills you need to hone (e.g., communication, critical thinking, teamwork, etc.) or hard skills such as using specific software or understanding emerging technologies? Make the business investment in yourself to upskill and forge your future career path.

Evaluate Potential Skillset Gaps in Your Workforce

The business landscape evolves quickly, and companies must react to remain competitive. Upskilling is a proactive approach to ensure a balanced workforce. However, it is only effective if you understand where your industry is heading and the current skillset of your workforce. Are there strategic roles that need to be established? What skillsets are workers lacking in their toolsets? Upskilling cannot be approached blindly. While certain skills may be absolute in one industry, it doesn’t mean they translate or are relevant across every sector. Industry knowledge, competitive intelligence, and internal communication are essential to an effective upskilling initiative.

Set a Methodology for an Upskilling Program

When companies decide to initiate an upskilling program, it must be done with purpose and with performance milestones clearly communicated. HBR’s article emphasizes the need for a road map. Employees want to know the objectives and process of an upskilling program. Why is this necessary? How will this training better prepare me for my future with the company? What advancement opportunities does the training provide? Communicating the program milestones and performance metrics are also critical to being transparent about potential promotions and raises. Employees want to know they have a role in their advancement. A well-devised and communicated upskilling program leads to increased company loyalty and employee satisfaction.

Use a Variety of Resources to Upskill

Workers now have a variety of sources to upskill and expand their knowledge. First and foremost, look internally at cross-operational training opportunities. Often, upskilling is learning aspects of the role you want to achieve. There’s no better way than to receive training from those already working in those positions. It also creates a critical backup plan if and when it’s needed.

Other sources to utilize when upskilling are online training and certificate programs, such as LinkedIn Learning. Many are self-directed courses that accommodate work schedules. Also, don’t overlook community college programs for in-person training, particularly for hard skills where exposure to new technologies, software, and equipment are required.

Upskilling reignites the passion in work and provides motivation to strive for the next level while helping companies retain talented employees and prepare strategically for the future.

Strategic Workforce Planning Impacts MSP Effectiveness

Business Leadership Contingent Workforce General Insights HR Solution Providers Talent Acquisition Technology and Innovation by John Yuva on 06/27/2023

The Future of Work is an all-encompassing paradigm that transcends any one area of talent acquisition and talent management. Thus, when developing a workforce planning strategy, it must comprise every department and role in the enterprise. Yet, few organizations approach such a strategy from a holistic perspective. This can be detrimental to an organization’s skills development initiatives, talent retention efforts, and overall collaborative effectiveness with MSP and VMS partners.

Lack of Enterprise-Wide Approach to SWP

A study released by eQ8, which provides a dedicated end-to-end SaaS solution for strategic workforce planning (SWP), revealed the criticality of having an enterprise-wide approach toward SWP. Here are a few of the major takeaways from the study:

While all areas surveyed saw a greater increase in meeting their objectives using an SWP provider, the relative difference in forecasting future skills between those leveraging SWP technology and those who did not was 135%.
While one in two companies report focusing on upskilling and reskilling their current workforce, only 18% report having an excellent view into skill gaps through workforce planning to achieve future success.
Despite the increase in investment in the Future of Work with 72% of companies reporting increased investment, 60% of companies do not feel prepared.
While 85% of companies reported increased investment in SWP, only 52% are creating a consistent, company-wide approach, and only 14% of companies take a strategic, long-term approach to their workforce planning initiatives.

According to Alicia Roach, CEO and co-founder of eQ8, “Strategic workforce planning is all about driving a fundamental shift where organizations see their workforce as an asset,” she said.

“When we treat our workforce as something that creates value, achieves strategic and operational imperatives, and delights customers, we are better situated to meet our long-term goals for success. There is an innate knowing that the organization cannot get where it needs to go without its people.”

SWP for Effective Partnership Execution

Employees are a critical piece to workforce planning execution, as are managed service providers and vendor management system partners. These external partners rely on an effective workforce planning strategy to meet the talent needs of the organization. The following are several ways a holistic SWP initiative is not only necessary but essential to MSP and VMS partner effectiveness.

First, workforce planning helps MSPs and VMS providers align the demand for contingent workers with the available supply. By analyzing historical data, market trends, and client requirements, these partners can anticipate the need for specific skills and adjust their talent pool accordingly. This ensures a quick response to client demands and delivers the right talent at the right time.

Second, MSPs and VMS providers can better optimize talent acquisition and management costs through an effective and enterprise-wide strategic workforce plan. By forecasting demand and analyzing labor market conditions, they can identify cost-effective sourcing strategies, negotiate favorable rates, and avoid excessive labor oversupply or shortages — leading to controlled expenses and consistent service quality.

Third, SWP leads to the development of a diverse talent pool. MSPs can identify skill gaps, assess future talent needs, and implement strategies to attract, recruit, and retain skilled professionals. By nurturing relationships with candidates, they can build a strong talent pipeline, ensuring a steady supply of qualified workers to meet client requirements.

Lastly, workforce planning plays a vital role in ensuring compliance with labor laws, regulations, and client-specific requirements. MSPs and VMS providers need to navigate complex legal and regulatory landscapes, such as employment contracts, tax obligations, and worker classification. Integrating compliance considerations into their planning process can mitigate risks and avoid potential legal and financial consequences.

While on the surface, workforce planning can appear as a step within the Future of Work paradigm. However, it goes much deeper than that. Enterprise-wide SWP is foundational for Future of Work execution. Without it, organizations and their MSP and VMS partners are throwing darts in the dark to decide what skills exist, where talent resides, and how best to deploy it. Gain control and a proactive approach to SWP with a holistic mindset that includes input and sharing of information with MSP and VMS partners.

HR and Procurement Align for the Future of Work

Business Leadership Contingent Workforce General Insights HR Procurement Talent Talent Acquisition Technology and Innovation by John Yuva on 02/16/2023

It makes sense to assume that the ownership of Future of Work execution rests in the hands of HR executives. With much of the focus on total talent management and talent acquisition strategies, HR spearheads much of the decision-making in those areas. However, another business function also plays a critical role in the Future of Work paradigm — procurement. Shifts in global supply chain dynamics and the transition from cost- to value-based supplier management, means Chief Procurement Officers and their teams are well-positioned to support Future of Work initiatives.

Traditionally, procurement focused on cost savings in the supply base and was measured against those numbers annually. However, over time, CPOs realized the criticality of supplier relationships and the resulting innovations that enabled greater marketplace competitiveness. Rather than squeezing pennies from suppliers, the relationships evolved into collaborative, value-added partnerships.

With a value-based approach, procurement is positioned to lead and support various aspects of Future of Work strategies. Let’s look at what both procurement and HR core enterprise contributions entail, followed by how the two functions intersect to complement Future of Work initiatives.

Procurement Brings Cross-Functional Knowledge and Expertise

In terms of its enterprise reach, procurement is a cross-functional partner to many departments, managing critical supplier contracts and relationships. New product development activities, digital transformation initiatives, and strategic sourcing measures all involve procurement’s insight and expertise. What makes procurement such a valued partner is its enterprise knowledge and involvement. Whether it’s sourcing services and raw materials or overseeing essential negotiation, contracting, and payment processes, CPOs and their teams respond to the pulse of the organization.

Procurement also provides vital market intelligence around emerging trends and supply base resources. Enterprises are now always thinking about the next innovation and associated resources. Where do those concepts come from? Which suppliers are required to execute such initiatives? Who will manage these relationships to ensure the greatest value within the budget? What supply chain considerations must be addressed? All these questions involve procurement’s input and, in many cases, direct involvement and oversight.

HR Maintains Workplace Consistency and Execution

Human capital is the competitive differentiator for today’s enterprises. And the Future of Work movement represents one of, if not the most, transformative periods in HR’s history. HR executives must balance in-house, remote, and hybrid work models alongside the essential integration of the extended workforce and the technologies to streamline those processes. Visibility into total talent management is imperative to ensure the needed skillsets, not just a headcount, are accounted for and available. This is crucial to executing next-level innovative planning.

When it comes to talent acquisition and management, HR owns this responsibility within the organization. Establishing talent pipelines using direct sourcing, talent marketplaces, digital staffing, and talent communities contributes to best-in-class recruiting. Like procurement, relationship building with in-house and contingent workers plays a major role in talent intelligence.

It is also HR’s role to establish consistency regarding onboarding processes and policy guidance. Talent retention strategies begin during the candidate experience phase and continue throughout an employee’s tenure with the enterprise. Consistency in how HR policies are communicated and enforced is also important to retention goals and healthy employee well-being.

Intersection of Procurement and Human Resources

With the essence of procurement and human resources laid out, where do these two functions intersect to leverage their strengths with Future of Work initiatives? Several areas can benefit from procurement’s involvement, allowing HR to tightly focus on its core capabilities.

Sourcing expertise allows relationship building. Human resources rely on a vast supplier network for total talent management requirements. Procurement can lead the search and selection of a managed service provider (MSP), for example. Expertise with supplier selection and relationship management pays dividends when procurement leads this effort — cost awareness, contract management, payment efficiencies, and relationship building with the MSP and other vendors.

HR can then focus on talent strategy and building relationships with candidates, full-time employees, and contingent workers who are users of the technologies. Any functional issues are reported to procurement to address with the supplier. Procurement should also collaborate with IT to ensure recruitment and talent management applications and platforms (e.g., ATS and VMS) integrate well with the larger enterprise network.

A centralized, single-view supply base adds efficiencies. Centralizing the supply base by integrating HR’s suppliers provides procurement transparency into those vendors, leading to cost efficiencies in scale and scope, as well as providing consistency in supplier management. This strategy is particularly important for global enterprises where regional locations may contract for the same technologies with the same or different vendors.
Expand talent intelligence in the enterprise. For procurement to best serve HR in technology selection and supplier negotiations, CPOs and their teams must have workforce intelligence as part of those processes. Thus, collaborate with HR to understand the talent needs of the enterprise. Where are there gaps in specific departments? Are there major initiatives with vacancies in key roles? Does the organization need additional support for promotional or seasonal purposes. Procurement complements HR in this effort because of its cross-functional relationships and deep understanding of operations and ongoing product development. Leverage those relationships to glean insight into talent issues and where the organization could use support. Talent committees with representation from various business units can also transform talent intelligence into an enterprise-wide strategy.
Share risk mitigation responsibilities (and harness the collective power of artificial intelligence). A close collaboration between HR and procurement means sharing information to mitigate risk. Much of HR is technology driven — for example, utilizing digital platforms for total talent management/intelligence as well as Industry 4.0 technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics) to anticipate potential workforce challenges. HR is becoming more proactive in assessing and planning against those risk scenarios. Procurement is also well-versed in the use and potential of AI and predictive analytics. Sharing how each department utilizes technology applications and platforms for risk mitigation is essential. Where do opportunities exist to further leverage AI to achieve talent management objectives? How far can predictive analytics provide mitigation against critical talent shortages or succession dilemmas? Imagine using a digital twin to simulate the workforce needs in the next decade. With both HR and procurement accountable for risk mitigation, it becomes an enterprise imperative that spreads across the organization.

Ultimately, HR and procurement need to deliver on enterprise objectives. HR must secure the talent to deliver competitive workforce outcomes, while procurement produces supplier results based on value-added solutions. Both HR and procurement have complementary goals and objectives that span the enterprise and supply base. It’s only natural that these two business units collaborate. Alignment is inevitable. Success is essential.

Upskilling Is a Workforce Imperative

Business Leadership General Insights HR Talent by John Yuva on 10/10/2022

There is little doubt about the impact technology will have on the Future of Work. Technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are now utilized in nearly every industry. What does this mean for the workforce? Undoubtedly, many workers are concerned about the viability of their roles amid an increase in automation. Most experts agree that automation will transform how some jobs are performed, leading to a greater focus on upskilling as workers strive to remain relevant and competitive in their career fields.

Upskilling is akin to learning new skills to better perform your job — not to be confused with reskilling, which is investing in skills for a different job. Both are important Future of Work strategies, but upskilling is the subject of this piece. This leads to an important question: how critical is upskilling? According to its 2021 report, Upskilling for Shared Prosperity, the World Economic Forum states that the U.S. could add $800 billion to its GDP by 2030 through upskilling efforts.

Company and Employee Incentives to Upskill

Companies have too much to lose by not offering upskilling opportunities and programs. According to statistics from the Society for Human Resource Management, the cost to replace an employee can be six-to-nine months of that employee’s salary — a conservative number depending on the role and salary level. Thus, employee retention is critical at a time when talent is scarce and recruitment and training costs are exorbitant. The need to retain, coupled with employees’ desire to upskill, is likely to generate positive outcomes.

In the Harvard Business Review article, “How to Build a Successful Upskilling Program,” the authors state, “Upskilling is a longer-term investment in augmenting the knowledge, skills, and competencies that help employees advance their careers. When employees are offered and encouraged to take advantage of upskilling opportunities for their personal and professional growth, people metrics, such as employee engagement and retention, also go up.”

The results of upskilling are just as positive for employees who make the investment. Gallup’s report, The American Upskilling Study: Empowering Workers for the Jobs of Tomorrow (commissioned by Amazon), cites several promising employee statistics.

U.S. workers who recently participated in an upskilling program have, on average, annual incomes $8,000 higher than those who did not — the equivalent of an 8.6% salary increase.
A majority of those who participated in upskilling programs report improvement in three areas of their lives. More than seven in ten (71%) report greater satisfaction with their jobs. Nearly as many (69%) say their quality of life has improved, and 65% report their standard of living has increased.
Among workers who have participated in an upskilling program, the vast majority (75%) report some type of advancement in their careers.

Upskilling Takeaways to Maximize Effectiveness

When evaluating upskilling as an individual or company, consider these takeaways to maximize its effectiveness:

Take the initiative for your career development. Unless your company is forward-thinking and makes workforce planning a strategic imperative, the responsibility lies with you to make career-progression commitments. Identify how your role is evolving in the industry and where your skills compare to what’s expected in the future. Are there specific leadership skills you need to hone (e.g., communication, critical thinking, teamwork, etc.) or hard skills such as using specific software or understanding emerging technologies? Make the business investment in yourself to upskill and forge your future career path.
Evaluate potential skillset gaps in your workforce. The business landscape evolves quickly, and companies must react to remain competitive. Upskilling is a proactive approach to ensure a balanced workforce. However, it is only effective if you understand where your industry is heading and the current skillset of your workforce. Are there strategic roles that need to be established? What skillsets are workers lacking in their toolsets? Upskilling cannot be approached blindly. While certain skills may be absolute in one industry, it doesn’t mean they translate or are relevant across every sector. Industry knowledge, competitive intelligence, and internal communication are essential to an effective upskilling initiative.
Set a methodology for an upskilling program. When companies decide to initiate an upskilling program, it must be done with purpose and with performance milestones clearly communicated. HBR’s article emphasizes the need for a road map. Employees want to know the objectives and process of an upskilling program. Why is this necessary? How will this training better prepare me for my future with the company? What advancement opportunities does the training provide? Communicating the program milestones and performance metrics are also critical to being transparent about potential promotions and raises. Employees want to know they have a role in their advancement. A well-devised and communicated upskilling program leads to increased company loyalty and employee satisfaction.
Use a variety of resources to upskill. Workers now have a variety of sources to upskill and expand their knowledge. First and foremost, look internally at cross-operational training opportunities. Often, upskilling is learning aspects of the role you want to achieve. There’s no better way than to receive training from those already working in those positions. It also creates a critical backup plan if and when it’s needed. Other sources to utilize when upskilling are online training and certificate programs, such as LinkedIn Learning. Many are self-directed courses that accommodate work schedules. Also, don’t overlook community college programs for in-person training, particularly for hard skills where exposure to new technologies, software, and equipment are required.

Upskilling reignites the passion in work and provides motivation to strive for the next level while helping companies retain talented employees and prepare strategically for the future.

Develop Your Soft Skills for the Future

Business Leadership General Insights HR Procurement Talent by John Yuva on 09/29/2022

When I think about the Future of Work, communication, collaboration, and innovation immediately come to mind. There is an elicited sense of interconnectedness between companies and their suppliers, leaders and their workforce, and among employees themselves. What is the success enabler of the Future of Work? If you tear back the curtain, it’s soft skills that are driving business outcomes and workforce interactions.

Think this is a new revelation? Not quite. In 1918, the Carnegie Foundation published Charles Riborg Mann’s A Study of Engineering Education, which cited that 85% of a person’s job success is a product of soft skills and that only 15% of success is based on technical knowledge. Even more than 100 years ago, the criticality of workplace soft skills was being emphasized. However, the pandemic helped bring soft skills into sharper focus as other Future of Work elements (e.g., flexibility, remote work, empathetic leadership) became mainstream concepts and areas of importance.

Soft Skills in the Age of COVID-19

Our new normal is a volatile, fast-moving business environment. Companies must adopt a more proactive approach toward market change and customer demand. As such, the silos that exist within the four walls of many enterprises must come down. Workplace silos are the barriers to soft skill execution.

Even leading up to the pandemic, LinkedIn’s 2019 Global Talent Trends report revealed that soft skills (91%) were the top trend transforming the workplace as cited by talent professionals. Soft skills, such as creativity, adaptability, and time management, are critical to the future of recruiting and HR. In the same LinkedIn report, several vital statistics emerged:

Eighty percent of survey respondents said soft skills are increasingly important to company success.
When hiring talent, 91% of respondents said soft skills were as important or more so than hard skills.
In the case of a bad hire, 89% agreed that the employee typically lacked soft skills.

Since the pandemic, the need for soft skills has only amplified. The remote workforce environment during the previous two years brought soft skills into the spotlight as employees adjusted to communicating and collaborating virtually with colleagues and partners. Learning to work together on a project as a remote team or understanding the emotional needs of your team members amid a pandemic reinforced why soft skills are essential. For some, it brought attention to further invest in their soft skills toolset.

Essential Soft Skills for the Future of Work

Navigating today’s workplace with both a remote and in-person workforce requires a host of soft skills to operate efficiently and productively. The following are several soft skills and how they affect the Future of Work.

Emotional intelligence. At its core, emotional intelligence is the ability to make human connections and understand the perspectives of others. This soft skill is essential from the highest levels of the enterprise downward. Empathetic leadership is now a desired trait for senior leaders and people managers. However, without possessing emotional intelligence, it will be difficult for those managers to grasp how their actions affect the team dynamic or to sense the feelings of others. It is crucial that employees at every level continually develop their emotional intelligence skill set. How you react to challenging situations or adapt to change speaks volumes about your level of EI. Do not underestimate the consequences of hiring candidates who lack emotional intelligence.

Creativity. Some may consider creativity a soft skill reserved for the marketing department or other content/design-oriented functions. Not so. Creativity refers to assessing a situation or challenge and developing a solution that’s unique or outside the box. Consider procurement and its ability to devise alternative sourcing channels in the face of adversity. Often, those solutions are outside what companies have considered in the past. Automation continues to replace certain job tasks; however, technology lacks the ability to “think” creatively like humans. Thus, creativity is a soft skill that will always trump the “0”s and “1”s of a machine. Seldom does a situation not benefit by asking: Have you thought about doing it another way?

Critical thinking and analysis. Data is all around us. How we gather data and interpret it to make decisions is a valuable soft skill. Procurement and HR receive an abundance of data on workforce output and operational needs. Critical thinking and analysis can lead to the discovery of significant productivity trends the company can then address. The ability to use data to evaluate situations and offer solutions is a soft skill that will always be in demand. You want those people who can find an outlier among a sea of data and propose innovative solutions.

Adaptability and learnability. Technology is evolving quickly and processes are redesigned frequently. The ability to roll with changes and adapt is a vital soft skill. There’s no longer room for the excuse “we’ve always done it this way.” In some cases, companies must reinvent themselves to survive a market or industry transition. Adjusting successfully to change of any magnitude can help put employees on the path to leadership roles.

Learning what needs to be known is also a soft skill imperative. When companies seemingly overnight went remote operationally, it forced those who are uncomfortable with change and learning new skills to make that transition. Going forward, companies should use the pandemic as an example to motivate employees about their ability to adapt and learn.

Assess Candidate Soft Skills

With just a few soft skills described previously, how can companies assess the soft skills of job candidates? In the 2019 LinkedIn report, 57% percent of respondents said their company lacked a formal process for soft skill assessment. While it can be challenging to assess, there are methods to evaluate a job candidate’s soft skills.

First and foremost, companies should identify what soft skills are most pertinent to their workforce. Company surveys and interviews can help HR determine those specific skill sets to then build questions into talent screening and interviewing processes. LinkedIn identified online tools, such as Koru and Pymetrics, that screen candidates for soft skills.

During the interview process, not only ask candidates what soft skills they think will benefit the role but prepare an exercise to put those skills into action. It may be a project that requires working alongside potential team members to gauge collaborative and teamwork effectiveness. Introduce problem-solving challenges that are specific to the role to ascertain candidates’ critical thinking and cognitive flexibility soft skills.

Technical skills and knowledge (hard skills) remain important workforce attributes. However, soft skills enable employees to learn hard skills if they don’t already exist. A workforce with strong soft skills can weather the storms with adaptability, critical and creative thinking, collaboration and coordination, and compassion.

Business Leadership Priorities for 2022

Business Leadership by Christopher J. Dwyer on 12/16/2021

We recently discussed the workforce management imperatives for businesses as they enter 2022 (and, next week, we’ll talk technology priorities for the year ahead). Today, we tackle what should be on the radar for every business leader as they seek to navigate an evolving talent landscape and the changing world of work:

Empathy must become more central of an approach in business leadership. As the competition for talent remains tight, business leaders should develop an inclusive workplace culture that encourages and prioritizes the human connections between leaders and their staff (such as scheduling more video conferences, checking in with workers more frequently, and developing “safe spaces” for workers to speak their minds and offer critical enterprise feedback). With so much of the Future of Work revolving around productivity and business outcomes, enterprise leaders must ensure that they are designing flexible work environments that allow an “elastic” means of getting work done.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion should be the “beating heart” of all talent- and work-led initiatives. DE&I is not just a response to corporate social responsibility or a checked box in regard to the major societal issues happening within the world at-large, bur rather an all-encompassing theory of change that involves the breakdown of barriers across the traditional workplace environment. Businesses must formulate work- and talent-based strategies around becoming an inclusive enterprise while developing a diverse culture that is open to new and innovative voices and candidates.
Prioritize the value of employee wellness. Mental health, as well as employee wellness must be melded into core workforce strategies, similar to how new technology and new talent acquisition approaches have become key pieces of the Future of Work puzzle. The very essence of the Future of Work is to optimize how work is done and enhance the productivity of both talent and technology. Mental health is a critical factor in just how productive, creative, and innovative the workforce can be in how work is addressed and ultimately optimized. Executive leaders must cultivate an environment in which all workers, regardless of position, feel “physiologically safe,” as well as restructure paid time off (PTO) policies to ensure that workers can take the time they need to maintain a healthy work/life balance.
Develop the ideal “worker-to-workplace environment” over the first few months of 2022. Heading into a new year, there is still very much a need, and, more importantly, a desire, for remote and hybrid work models. However, as the Omicron variant begins to cause surges of infections, there will be initial confusion and resistance over what really works and what is truly productive for both leadership and its talent as return-to-office plans face another barrier. Executive leaders still have the time and the ability to experiment with various work models and develop the best “worker-to-workplace environment” that is conducive to flexibility and strong business outcomes. Business leaders should continue to experiment over the next several months and track what is working, what is helpful for productivity, and how the workforce responds to these new environments. It will be especially critical to allow workers to have a voice and influence on the work models of the future.
Cultivate an ecosystem of “talent sustainability” that contributes to overall workforce agility. Beyond talent acquisition initiatives, leaders must take a long, hard look at the most prevalent skill gaps within their businesses and understand how current and future changes in the market will affect the talent that is needed to successfully lead product development, sales and revenue, and overall enterprise operations. A deeper analysis of total available skillsets (both FTEs and non-employee) and resources available via private networks, talent clouds, talent communities, and talent pools will provide the necessary intelligence to determine which elements must comprise a sustainable ecosystem of talent. Which workers are engaged in an “agile talent” model that is repeatable? Which professional services are utilized on a regular basis? How will shifts in economic modeling alter how the overall business address how work is done? These are questions to ask and then answer to build true talent sustainability.

FOWX Notes: December 10 Edition

Business Leadership General Insights HR by Christopher J. Dwyer on 12/10/2021

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

I’ve often written about the “human” side of the business arena, with aspects like empathy-led leadership taking center stage as an indicator that the balance between “people” and “technology” is what the Future of Work movement is founded upon. This week’s news that Better.com’s CEO fired 900 employees via a single Zoom call last week is the complete opposite of the progress leaders have made over the past two years. It’s not surprising to see several of the company’s high-profile execs leave the firm in the wake of the Vishal Garg’s blunder, and his apology for the way the terminations unfolded are actually undone by the fact that he accused hundreds of the terminated employees of “stealing” from the company by “working two hours per day.” Even though Garg and his team utilized productivity data to formulate their decisions (for roughly 250 of those 900 employees), the behavior here is exactly why more and more workers are growing disillusioned with archaic leadership traits.
The U.S. Senate, unsurprisingly, voted to repeal the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate that would take effect on January 18, 2022. As reported by NPR: “Getting vaccinated should be a decision between an individual and his or her doctor. It shouldn’t be up to any politician, especially in a mandate coming down from that highest authority, the president,” Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., who led the effort to overturn the requirement, said during the Senate debate.” The thing about vaccination mandates is this: it’s not about control or authority, it’s about workplace safety. No matter if the Omicron variant is less severe or not (it already appears to be much more transmissible than the Delta variant), the last thing employers want to deal with is another winter surge that will tax the health care system. Vaccine mandates serve two purposes: increase the overall rate of vaccination across the country, and, ensure that workers operating within in-person locations are safe from infection. It’s not an overreach, nor is it an authoritarian play by the government.
Longtime Freelancer Management System (FMS) and workforce management platform Shortlist recently rebranded to Worksuite. The solution’s new name reflects the platform’s volume of functionality, including direct sourcing and talent pool technology, global freelancer payment management, as well as all of the hallmarks of the Shortlist offering (such as SOW management, services procurement, deep workforce analytics, compliance and risk mitigation tools, etc.).
The first company-owned Starbucks store voted yesterday to unionize. While the size of the store and its workforce are small, this is a major sign that more and more workers, no matter the industry, will see 2022 as a turning point for the transformation of the traditional employer-employee relationship. “Every social justice movement has started from the ground up, from a handful of people who stepped forward to demand change,” U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, said in a statement” (and reported by The Buffalo News). The two key words there? Demand and change. The talent revolution is happening; expect similar instances as we head into 2022.
Something that’s not on the business radar for 2022 but should be: employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS). While eNPS has been around for several years, not enough businesses are leveraging this quantitative means of capturing the qualitative aspects of the employee experience (and employee experience). The Future of Work Exchange estimates that less than 10% of businesses are actively leveraging employee Net Promoter Scores in their greater workforce planning; by understanding the perspectives and feelings of staff, business leaders can formulate the best approaches to talent retention and talent-to-project-alignment.

Workforce Management Recommendations for 2022

Contingent Workforce Direct Sourcing HR by Christopher J. Dwyer on 12/09/2021

The extended workforce has, for several years, represented the natural advancement of contingent labor and its greater impact on critical enterprise objectives. Coupled with a sharply shifting business landscape, changing market dynamics, and the reimagining of how work gets done, today’s organizations must harness the influence of the symbiotic relationship between talent, technology, and business leadership to usher in a new era of work.

Heading into 2022, businesses in the throes of workforce planning are facing pressure-filled quandaries: how will the pandemic affect their operations in the new year? Will scalability be as critical as it has been over the past two years? How does technology and innovation influence talent acquisition and talent management? The below recommendations will assist enterprises as they continue to plan around the inherent agility of their extended workforce and its impact on the greater business:

Embrace the extended workforce as a means of tapping into top-tier talent and fostering enterprise flexibility. The past 20+ months have shown adaptability is key weapon in changing times. There is a major reason why 82% of businesses expect an increase in the utilization of non-employee labor in 2022. The extended and agile workforce enables organizations to better access top-shelf skillsets, deep expertise, and a dynamic relationship that is founded on flexibility. Short-term engagements and mission critical projects supported by agile talent is specifically what empowered business during the pandemic…and that will not change in the months and years ahead.
Prioritize dynamic channels of talent, such as talent communities, to fuel critical business endeavors. Real workforce agility is developed through dynamic outlets of talent that can be engaged in a real-time and on-demand way. Talent marketplaces and other digital staffing channels offer simple “search and select” functionality within their deep networks of expertise that allow organizations to build remote teams of appropriate and well-aligned skillsets for crucial corporate initiatives.
Develop a strategy to boost the impact of direct sourcing and talent pools. Direct sourcing emerged as a viable talent acquisition strategy within the United States several years ago (after more than a decade of massive adoption in Europe) allowing businesses to act as their own recruitment firms, saving dollars and time on talent engagement. In a post-pandemic world, direct sourcing can help businesses bypass traditional talent acquisition processes (which are often slower and more manual in nature than direct sourcing initiatives), nurture candidates in a meaningful way, and tap into top-tier skillsets as specific needs arise. Direct sourcing can also empower the enterprise brand and culture to attract candidates, a differentiating factor that can be incredibly effective way to attract top talent in competitive markets.
Continue to lean on the extended workforce to support business continuity and market competition. The year ahead brings a wealth of optimism to the world of work even though fears of a new coronavirus variant are sparking surges across the world. As such, the global market continues to face considerable risk as these emerging coronavirus variants, particularly Delta and Omicron, continue to raise concern. If the winter brings new surges, businesses will be able to replay the strategies of 2020 and adopt a flexible mindset towards its workforce; the agility inherent in the extended workforce will support (once again) business continuity and allow enterprises to remain competitive.
Rethink the application of core skillsets and expertise towards enterprise roles and projects. When markets shift, businesses must frequently pivot to new work models to get work done, survive challenging scenarios, and/or keep up with the demand for products and services. “Work models,” in this instance, are not limited to where work is performed (i.e., remote work or distributed teams), but also include the strategies that apply core employee and non-employee skillsets in a way that promotes flexible alignment between open roles/projects and available talent. In addition, the executive team should invest in upskilling and reskilling opportunities for its workforce to keep up in an age when digitization is a crux to relevancy.