I had the great pleasure of welcoming Jane Betts (CPO at Findex) as our key speaker for our recent HR now event and thought it is timely to share some of my key takeaways from the session. The subject of the session was the ‘hyper-personalisation of the workplace’.
Flexible work is here to stay and the recent government WEAG report tells us that more than 98% of organisations offer their employees some kind of formal or informal -flexibility. Gartner research has found employee attitudes have shifted around work due to the pandemic and over 65 per cent of the employees are rethinking their work life balance and the importance of work and 62 per cent saying they will make big changes. The issue facing us now is how we navigate this new way of working, recognise the changing landscape of work requirements, maintain productivity, connectivity and engagement with our teams.
Some of the key takeaways:
it’s not just working from home
Hyper-personalisation is not about if the person can work at home and establishing minimum days for office and home. It is about personalising the individual approach to working life which means they can work anytime and anywhere.
make it very personal
The solution will look different for everyone but may include having more choice about the type of work you do and how you do it, about when and where you work, about the digital equipment you use to do the job and how often and how you communicate with colleagues and managers. There needs to be a very robust conversation to work out the details and then the conversation needs to be revisited regularly to make sure it meets changing needs.
attraction
Organisations are competing to attract and retain employees, so an individualised working experience is a differentiator in the market.
- 71% will leave for more flexibility if it is not offered in their current workplace.
- Younger employees (18-34) were 59% more likely to leave for flexible arrangements than older workers (55-64).
- Women were 10% more likely to leave for flexible arrangements than men.
inclusivity
An inclusive culture is increasingly a competitive advantage in retaining and attracting talent and the data demonstrates that:
- There is a 47% more chance of somebody staying with an organisation if it is inclusive.
- There is 90% more change that a colleague will help out their colleagues in an inclusive organisation.
job crafting
Findex have found that job crafting across their roles balances the employees needs to autonomy, contribution, belonging and security. Consideration needs to be given to:
- What kind of work the employee finds engaging?
- Where does a person’s strength lie?
- What level of responsibility does the job need and the individual want?
- Where does the person work best and how?
- What outcomes does the organisation need from the role?
great conversations
The crafting of a new way of working that suits both the individual, the teams and the organisational needs requires a lot of collaboration and structured conversations to explore all options and to give each party a voice.
leader support
Supporting leaders is paramount to ensure success. You must build a great set of tools for leaders to help them with all aspects of the process. From how to have the conversation individually, how to engage the whole team in the process to how to use digital support and team-based events to encourage engagement.
this is not a one time event
The process of engagement around hyper-personalisation will be as individual as the people involved. There is no set and forget or cyclic HR rhythm to this process. It is about tackling the conversation when they arise and having a change mindset.
The future of work is that you should be able to work anywhere, anytime, be focussed on outputs not traditional hours or timing, use any digital device and create and manage your own career ladder.
Employers who don’t get this right will risk losing talent and find it harder to attract talent.