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The workplace chrysalis
by Linda Gately * MGL Consulting * Corporate Communications

There has been a quiet revolution shaping the workplace over the past decade. The Internet has broken free of its technology cocoon and is now embedded in our lives both at work and play. The very notion of work has changed with our growing reluctance to "live to work”. This in turn has pushed organisations to place an ever increasing emphasis on "engaging" employees.  The concept of HR branding has emerged and led organisation’s to develop an Employment Value Proposition (EVP) to drive attraction and commitment in the labour market.  Post the global financial crisis (GFC) the revolution continues with the top six attributes that drive our commitment, or engagement, in the workplace changing. 

 
So what are the key “conquests” and corporate implications of this revolution?
 
Understanding the new notion of work
While social media is the trend that will define our workplaces over the next decade, it has been the relentless march of the Internet over the last decade that has shaped, cajoled and forever altered, today’s workplace.
 
No longer are employees chained to their desks and phones or even limited by global location. No longer is work done only by employees, but more and more, it's done by third parties such as independent contractors, temporary workers, consultants and vendors. Performance is no longer judged on the number of hours but on the quality and quantity of an individual’s output. Even face-to-face meetings are becoming an oddity. Some organisations are even terminating, or making redundant, employees via text messages and e-mail.
 
This will have an enormous impact in some industries particularly those where clients are billed by hours rather than by outcomes.
 
Engaging employees
As companies ramp up production and put new business strategies in place to compete in the changed landscape post the GFC, the need for the best employees, all functioning at their best, has never been more important. The "trust relationship" between employer and employee is critical as companies strive to accomplish their strategic goals.
 
"Now," says leading US futurist Joyce Gioia, "companies understand that it's not just holding onto people, but it's making sure they are engaged when they are working with you. This is what makes the biggest difference in terms of the bottom line."
 
The GFC has taken a toll in many organizations. Those employees who have survived rounds of redundancies often feel beaten down and stretched too thin for far too long. According to a recent study, the number of disengaged workers has doubled in the past year to a startling 20 percent and one in 10 employees are currently looking for other opportunities.
 
Companies that survived the GFC by cutting back may have won the battle, but they now risk losing the war if they can't match the intense competition that's soon to come.
 
Perhaps more critical, many high-potentials i.e. employees who hold the key to a company's ability to rebound, are itching to leave their organizations.  Nearly one-quarter of high-potentials are already actively looking for new jobs.
 
To make matters worse, employees at many organizations are ill-prepared to carry out the new business strategies CEOs and their executive committees are now working so hard to develop.  In recession-altered workplaces, employees are often adrift, without well-defined roles or managers who know exactly how all these new strategies should be executed.
 
A recent survey of senior leaders disclosed that the majority admit they have a "less than ideal emotion connection and alignment" to their organisations. And what happens at the top is a good barometer for what is happening at lower organisational levels. In response to this sentiment and growing productivity and innovation demands, HR leaders are refocusing their efforts toward employee engagement.
 
Many of the nation's largest companies are now exploring new ways to attract the best employees, keep them engaged and prevent the cream of the crop from jumping ship. Initiatives range from making it easier for employees to move within the company to sending positive messages to employees, the public and shareholders by putting in place executive-compensation structures that match pay to performance and minimize risk.
 
Some of the top drivers of employee commitment have shifted significantly. As the GFC limited opportunities for development, workers have come to consider other things more important.  The following table highlights the top six factors and shows the movement over the past 2 years (Corporate Leadership Council).
 
2010 Ranking
EVP
2006
Ranking
1
Jobs-Interest alignment (i.e. whether the job responsibilities match the individual’s interests.)
3
2
Manager Quality (i.e.the quality of the organisation’s managers)
5
3
Co-worker quality (i.e. quality of the co-workers in the organisation)
16
4
People Management (i.e. the organisation’s reputation for managing people
4
5
Respect (i.e.the degree of respect an organisation shows its employees)
1
6
Collegial Work Environment (i.e. whether the work environment is team-oriented and collaborative)
14
 
According to the same study, other factors that have shifted considerably are Jobs Impact (i.e. the level of impact the job has on outcomes) has jumped from 17 to 8 and Work/Life Balance has jumped from 27 to 20. On the flipside Development Opportunities (i.e. the developmental or educational opportunities offered by the job and by the organisation) has slipped from 2 to 17.
 
Many senior managers are not aware of these shifts and in particular, how critical their own management skills are in the equation. During the downturn, many managers
often took the position that workers shouldn't worry about rewards and recognition; they should just be lucky to have jobs. Indeed some companies have stopped differentiating between high and low performers, since they have had fewer resources to spend on rewards.
 
This lack of differentiation has hurt engagement levels. Research has found that, when employees believe the best people will be rewarded, discretionary effort by a company's workforce rises by 11 percent.
 
The Employment Value Proposition (EVP) Model
During 2010 this will become increasingly importance. This model consists of a set of attributes that the general market, as well as employees, perceives as the value of being employed in the organisation. The five key attributes in the model are Rewards, Opportunity, Organisation, Work and People with many sub headers under each.
 
Organisations with an effective EVP are able to source more deeply within the talent market by increasing access to passive candidates. When potential candidates view an organisation’s EVP as attractive they demand less of a compensation premium when deciding to join. Perhaps most importantly, an effective EVP has an enormous impact on employee engagement. Organisations with the most effective EVPs have 30%-40% of employees displaying high levels of commitment compared to less than 10% of employees in less effective organisations. The impact on the bottom line is enormous.
 
HR Branding
Beginning in the late '90s and continuing through the first decade of the new century has been the trend towards thinking about recruiting as marketing or HR branding. 
Coinciding with an emphasis on HR branding has been the increased level of importance CEOs have placed on recruiting and retention. Retention was a concept that emerged in the late '90s.
 
As lifetime employment continues its fade into the history books, the concern about succession planning and management pipelines has increased. Companies, more and more, are looking to balance internal development of talent with the attraction of new talent.
 
The revolution will continue on through the next decade. Organisations who do not recognise the new workplace will simply be constrained behind out-dated barricades.
 

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