Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #117

Covers Microsoft's hybrid work report, 6 workforce trends from Gartner, how the CHRO role is changing, research on hybrid work, and a podcast on work without jobs.

May 08, 2022

Welcome to this week’s issue of Talent Edge Weekly—the weekly newsletter for human resources practitioners, bringing together insights about work, the workplace, and the workforce from various sources.

If you find value in this issue or any of its resources, please share them with your network by using the social media icons at the top of the newsletter.

Have a great week, and I look forward to sharing more ideas in next week’s Edge!

Brian 

Brian Heger is a human resources practitioner with a Fortune 150 organization and has responsibilities for Strategic Talent and Workforce Planning. To connect with Brian on Linkedin, click here.

THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

  • Microsoft's New Future of Work Report 2022 | Microsoft | A newly released 111-page report that provides one of the most comprehensive reviews of hybrid work from researchers at Microsoft and around the globe.

  • 6 Future of Work Trends Reshaping the Employee Experience | Gartner May Issue of HR Leaders Monthly | A 36-page issue that includes 6 articles on how technological change and the evolution of the work will impact the employee experience (EX). The first article focuses on 6 workforce trends influencing the EX.

  • The Chief People Officer of the Future | Adecco Group and Center for Leadership in the Future of Work | Shares the opinions of 122 global executives in human resources on how the Chief People Officer (CPO) role continues to shift.

  • Working Paper: Is Hybrid Work the Best of Both Worlds? Evidence From a Field Experiment | Harvard Business School | A new 86-page research paper that explores the optimal mix of hybrid work days (days in office vs. home) and its impact on measures of performance.

  • Webinar: Imagining Work Without Jobs | MIT Sloan Management Review with Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau | A 1-hour webinar conducted on April 27, 2022 where Ravin Jesuthasan and John W. Boudreau share ideas from their book, Work without Jobs: How to Reboot Your Organization’s Work Operating System.

THIS WEEK'S EDGE

This newly released 111-page report provides one of the most comprehensive reviews of hybrid work from researchers at Microsoft and around the globe. The report is organized by changes in work practices at four different “scales.” 1) The individuals scale considers topics like the effects of remote and hybrid work on productivity and wellbeing, as well as the evolving relationship between work and ‘life’. 2) The teams scale covers topics like patterns of collaboration, the role of different tools, meetings and asynchronous collaboration, and virtual and mixed reality. 3) The organizations scale explores topics like social capital, crossteam communication, systemic loneliness, office space, employee expectations, and the Great Reshuffle. 4) The society scale considers topics like the changing geography of work and remote work, disparate impacts, and sustainability. Each of these sections is replete with data points and research. The report concludes with a section (page 86-105) that forecasts future challenges and opportunities related to hybrid work. One forecast is “we are likely entering the biggest period of experimentation in work models in decades.” Some companies will try new things as a differentiator in a tight labor market, such as alternative pay structures—where they base pay on a certain output from employees rather than time spent working. Other ideas are discussed.

This 36-page May 2022 edition of Gartner’s HR Leaders Monthly Magazine includes six articles on how technological change and the evolution of the work will impact the employee experience (EX) in the months and years ahead. The first article (starts on p.4) outlines six future of work trends reshaping the EX. They include: 1) Well-Being Is the New Employee Metric. 2) DEI Outcomes Will Worsen if Employers Don’t Act. 3) Turnover Will Continue to Increase in a Hybrid Environment. 4) Managers’ Roles Are Changing. 5) Gen Z Will Want In-Person Work Experiences. 6) Shorter Work Weeks Become an EVP Offering. Concerning #6, the authors note that “if inflation continues to rise, compensation will be worth less, and not all employers will be able to attract and retain talent on the basis of compensation alone.” As a result, a segment of firms is rethinking its employee value proposition (EVP) by offering employees reduced hours—such as a 4-day work week—for the same amount of compensation as a 5-day workweek. Regarding technology, Page 11 shows a bullseye map into the adoption, current value and areas where employees would like to see future investment in HR tech innovations throughout the entire employee experience life cycle (e.g., recruiting, L&D, performance management, etc.). Other ideas are discussed.  

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This paper explores the opinions of 122 global executives in human resources on how the Chief People Officer (CPO) role continues to shift. Together, they are responsible for over 3 million employees in various sectors, from finance to retail to aerospace. These CPOs mainly see their roles transforming in three key areas. 1) using data and technology while remaining attuned to fundamental human concerns; 2) addressing employees’ emotions and wellbeing at work; 3) and attracting skilled employees from more diverse backgrounds. These HR leaders cite two primary areas where they expect to spend more time: 1) engaging with data; 2) driving organizational change and culture. When asked about tactics to recruit talented workers, especially from diverse groups, these CPOs mention returnships as one viable practice. These returnships make it easier for workers — who took a career break for childcare or other personal reasons—to return to the workplace without the stigma that often comes with a break in one’s career. As a side note, it would be interesting to see how CPO views about their role align with the expectations their CEOs have of the role; as noted in the Chief Executive article, The CEO-CHRO Partnership, there can sometimes be a disconnect between the CEO and CHRO on the areas of the CHRO role that add the most value.

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While much research has focused on workers' preferences for flexibility and hybrid work, there has been limited research on the impact of hybrid work on worker outcomes, such as performance. This new 86-page research by Harvard Business School explores the optimal mix of hybrid workdays (days in office vs. home) and its impact on intra-firm communication or novelty of work output. Workers (n=130) were categorized into three groups based on how many days they were randomly assigned to work from the office over a nine-week period: 1) High WFH (0-8 days in the office, corresponding to 0-23% of workdays in the office), 2) intermediate WFH (9-14 days in the office, 23-40%) and 3) low WFH (15+ days in the office, greater than 40%). The intermediate group (translating to a day or two per week) turned out more original work than the other groups, and “this difference was significant,” according to the authors. Overall, findings show that output and creativity thrive in a hybrid work environment— with just one or two days in the office being the ideal setup for hybrid work. While the research is not without limitations (e.g., sample size, limited outcome measures, etc.), it provides research-based insights from which firms can draw as they make decisions about hybrid work.

In this new one-hour on-demand webinar conducted on April 27, 2022, Ravin Jesuthasan and John W. Boudreau share ideas from their book, Work without Jobs: How to Reboot Your Organization’s Work Operating System (released March 29, 2022). The main point of their book is that organizations must embrace a new “work operating system” that deconstructs or unpacks jobs into specific tasks and uses them (not job descriptions) to unlock new options for organizing work and sourcing, rewarding, and engaging workers. By applying this concept of deconstruction, firms can better match ”melted” jobs (tasks or projects) with melted job holders (skills and capabilities) with greater agility. During the webinar, Ravin and John cover the seven key elements of this new work operating system and what it means for workers, the work ecosystem, and management.

MOST SHARED RESOURCE FROM LAST WEEK

A 14-page paper that includes a framework and underlying questions for understanding the interplay between workforce strategy, business strategy, culture, and technology.

CHRO APPOINTMENT OF THE WEEK

This past week, 34 Chief Human Resources Officer announcements were posted on CHROs on the Go – a subscription that provides the easiest way to stay informed about CHRO hires, promotions, and resignations. This week's CHRO highlight is:

To learn how to gain access to all 34 detailed Chief Human Resources Officer announcements from this past week and +1600 archived announcements, visit CHROs on the Go .

If you are already a member of CHROs on the Go, you can log in to access all announcements and site functionality.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

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OUR RESOURCE LINEUP

​​brianheger.com provides free access to +1,000 curated articles, research reports, podcasts, etc. that help practitioners drive better business results through strategic human resources and talent management.

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​Talent Edge Weekly is a free weekly newsletter that brings together the best talent and strategic human resources insights from various sources. It is published every Sunday at 6PM EST.