Empower your employees to improve co’s bottom line
Flexible Work
Policies, Constant Feedback Engage Staff
The 2018 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report shows a
profound shift in organisations. It is the rise of the ‘social enterprise’. It
reflects the importance of combining management of stakeholder expectations
along with profit and revenue generation.
Three major factors have contributed to this shift: The power of
the individual is growing with millennials at the forefront, businesses are
being looked up to for filling the leadership vacuum in society, and
technological changes are creating major impacts on society, with increased
opportunities to achieve sustainable growth.
It falls back on the leadership to relook at the way an
organisation works through — creating meaning, communicating it and addressing
purpose in all that it does. It means redesigning programmes, digitalising
processes and creating a culture that builds a social enterprise for today and
tomorrow — something that millennials seek.
A few transitions have been made that are significant. One that
instantly comes to mind is the performance management system that has
fundamentally transformed the way we look at assessing performance and
conducting appraisals. A deeper focus on technology, and making the connect
easy and instant create meaning. A rising population of young professionals
constantly seeks feedback. Appraisals are no longer year-end exercises in
futility that fit a bell curve. Meaningful conversations and updates on an
individual’s performance creates engagement. An agile performance management
system is needed for a development-focused and feedback-centric conversation.
This brings us to the subject of employee empowerment. Employees
need flexibility. With organisations becoming increasingly agile, mobile and
digital, there are different ways in which increased freedom and autonomy are
provided to employees. This includes a choice of projects that professionals
are offered to work on for a certain period, remote working and flexible hours
to help employees manage their personal responsibilities, and avoid difficult
commuting conditions.
Today, it is not uncommon to have part-time work arrangement
especially for new mothers and fathers or even caregivers. Such flexible
working conditions, coupled with a culture where professionals can set their
priorities, their own pace and flexibility, give employees a sense of
empowerment. It takes a lot for an organisation to allow for such changes and
encourage it. Often, it is a culture that has to come from the top.
A natural derivation of the flexible work conditions is the gig
economy. This structure includes professionals working on project-to-project,
contract and part-time basis. It has changed the face of the traditional
employment world as we know it.
But with challenges come many benefits, such as immense
cost-effectiveness, added expertise for a specific project due to availability
of a more condensed talent pool, and a variety of solutions and ideas. Building
culture in a moving population becomes even more challenging.
Work is changing as is the workforce and the workplace. In this
environment, it is very important that leadership and HR leaders strike the
right balance between focusing on the bottom line and investing in the broader
social ecosystem, starting with an organisation’s own employees.
The author is partner and chief talent
officer, Deloitte India. Views are personal
S V Nathan
TAS 11JUL18
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