Reimagining your workplace with humans at the centre

As work flexibility shifts, the war for talent intensifies and organizations must adapt to remain competitive.

Office-centricity is officially out. Hybrid models are definitely in. Employee—and employer—needs and expectations have changed. Organizations that embrace this fundamental shift by recognizing the significant role employees play, and reimagining work with humans at the centre, can unlock powerfully positive business outcomes.

Work has shifted from being a place people go to, to an activity carried out anywhere, anytime. Whether someone’s looking for a ‘digital by default’ job that offers full-time flexibility to work from home, or a remote work opportunity that’s do-able from any point on the globe: employers and employees now have a whole lot more choice. 

As the labour market heats up and the war for talent intensifies, organizations must adapt to retain, recruit and compete effectively. Doing so as part of an integrated business revival transformation plan that underscores people as your best organizational asset is a step in the right direction.

How can you execute the transformation strategy best?

1. Future-proofing your workforce. What if you could identify the capabilities you have, the talent you’ll need and how to get there efficiently? Outline the skills you’ll need in the future. Then, close those gaps. That could mean retaining the talent you have through new opportunities to learn, grow, or work flexibly. It could also mean recruiting differently. As the constraints of the physical office space disappear, you can tap into a broader talent pool than ever before. The right approach to work can make you an employer of choice for a wider range of recruits.

2. Purposefully build your culture and leadership to sustain new ways of working. What if you could drive behavior change at scale and at pace to better create and protect value through your people? Maybe that means creating a safe place where everyone has permission to try, innovate, fail and try again. Perhaps it’s about tying performance to a culture of experimentation and innovation. You need a culture that supports the work framework you’ve created. Walk the talk at every level of the organization to show you mean what you say, and reward achievement and commitment to wellbeing in equal measure. It starts with leaders not only providing air cover and support, but actually modelling new culture and behavior so everyone shows up at their best.

3. Build resilience through continuous learning to enhance the employee experience. How do you help people succeed in ways that are personalized to them? What do they value now and how can you deliver that best? Enhance the work experience for your people while generating an in-house spirit of innovation and learning. With the launch of EY Badges program, a new way was created for EY people to upskill capabilities, for free, at work. Through EY Tech MBA, we’re providing the first-ever fully accredited corporate MBA entirely free to all more than 300,000 professionals in 150 countries, allowing them to learn virtually in ways that works for them, and EY as an organization. Build a system to learn in the flow of work, using a blended experience that leverages digital learning technologies with social learning and mentorship to drive mastery in new competencies and skills.

4. Embrace digital so HR and people leaders can deliver the employee experience and unleash human potential. What if you could transition your HR team from an HR function to a human value activator? Looking internally at the human capital function/HR operation that administers everything from recruitment and performance management to very traditional functions. This team is already well positioned to operate as a strategic partner to the business, driving value and enhancing your competitive edge. Empower them with the tools and resources to operate accordingly.

5. Deliver a change experience to engage employees along the way. What if you could listen to your employees and adjust your change program to build engagement and drive retention? As employers grapple with defining their new work model, employees are carefully watching the market and competitors to understand where they will find the best work model that will work for them. You need to balance employee preference with business requirements but can land in a place where employees feel engaged in the process, understand the rationale and can help shape the model to make it work for them and their employers.

Work—and the way we engage our workforce—isn’t reverting to what we once knew. Acknowledging the massive role employees play, and transforming the talent agenda accordingly, is the first step to reimagining work for the post-pandemic market. Put your people at the heart of your design. Align cultural values and leadership with purpose. Facilitate continuous learning. Activate a growth mindset. And then? Open yourself up to the remarkable possibilities that a truly engaged and leading workforce can inspire.

References

[1] EY LLP, Physical Return to Work Reimagined (PRWR) survey and JAM analysis, 2020