TALENT EDGE WEEKLY - Issue #20

Welcome to this week’s issue of Talent Edge Weekly - the weekly newsletter for strategic human resources practitioners, bringing together talent and HR insights from various sources.

As a reminder, you can still access archival COVID-19 HR resources in issue # 6, COVID-19 Resources for HR. These resources were gathered from March through May and contain 150+ references that can be leveraged as HR practitioners continue to lead their organizations through the recovery phase and beyond.

You can also access other HR content at www.brianheger.com

For this week's issue, I cover the following resources:

  • Post-pandemic Planning Framework | Gartner | includes a supplemental video resource

  • Pandemic Pushes the ‘Reset’ Button for HR - What Comes Next? | Diginomica

  • How to Manage Performance Management in 2020 | Talent Strategy Group

  • Impact of COVID on Employee Experience: 2020 Employer Branding Report | Bluivygroup

  • The ROI of Internal Networking and How It Leads to Retention | TLNT

  • Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters | McKinsey & Co.

If you enjoy Talent Edge Weekly and aren't yet a subscriber, please sign-up so that it can be delivered to your email inbox each Saturday afternoon.

Have a good weekend everyone and please be safe.

Brian

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

THIS WEEK'S EDGE

During the pandemic, there have been various frameworks available to organizations as they make resource and investment choices that shape paths and outcomes as they emerge out of the pandemic. This report by Gartner provides five main paths that can be used to represent most of the journeys an organization will take during the pandemic. The paths aren't a destination in themselves but rather a track that can be used to effectively plan. They include 1) Return - these organizations faced a temporary change but will return to the pre-pandemic activity level. Action is to plan for a gradual and dynamic return to regular operations 2) Reduce - firms that are returning to lower levels than before the pandemic due to low demand, low supply capacity to fulfill the demand, or because the firm has made a choice to reduce operations in a part(s) of the business. 3) Retire - business can no longer be sustained, post-pandemic. These may have been organizations that were already struggling prior to the crisis or who have made the choice to sunset part of their business and reinvent. 4) Reinvent - cases in which the current business model is under pressure from COVID-19 and a need or opportunity is identified to change the business or operating model. For example, many organizations are leveraging digital channels to deliver their services, such as medical practitioners offering telemedicine, fitness centers that offer online classes, and restaurants with "delivery only"models. 5) Rescale - these are organizations who have benefited from the shutdown and will continue to accelerate newfound growth, such as remote work providers (e.g. Zoom, Webex). Organizations can use this framework and other insights in this report to determine workforce planning implications and responses for each path. As a supplement to this article, I am also including a separate link to a 5-minute video from Gartner that aligns with a few of the concepts from the report.

In previous posts, I have mentioned how times of financial crisis place a CFO in the spotlight, whereas times of human crisis do the same for CHROs' and their HR teams. This article, based on a conversation with Josh Bersin, reinforces how HR has been catapulted into the spotlight the past few months during the coronavirus pandemic. Virtually overnight and at scale, CHROs and their teams have had to help restructure the workforce, redesign the workplace and the employee experience, support remote work, and ensure the wellbeing of the workforce, to name a few. HR has even been required to do things that they might have never done before, such as studying public health and even further integrating with other parts of the business, such as IT and Legal. As challenging as this time has been for many--both on a personal and professional level--it presents an enormous opportunity for HR to bring innovative and simplified workforce practices that enable new ways in how work gets done, where, and how teams collaborate--both now and the future. Whereas previously it might have taken years from the time that an idea is generated, socialized for support, transitioned to the design phase, tested, refined, and implemented with robust change management plans-- innovative HR solutions will now require fast and accelerated delivery (sometimes in weeks)--where ideas are quickly implemented and iterated as we go. Organizations are both ready and expecting this approach because it is necessary. I am excited by all of the innovative HR practices that this reset and new environment will bring. What opportunities do you have for accelerating your organization through the recovery phase and beyond through innovative and disruptive HR practices?

As organizations continue to determine 1) how and if they should adjust performance goals and, 2) how and if they should adjust how they evaluate and reward employees, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, this article by Marc Effron provides guidance. And while there are several insights in the article, a central premise is that organizations will fall into 1 of 3 categories, and each category should help guide organizations to make PM decisions that fit their situation rather than simply adopt what other companies are doing. The three categories include: 1) Damaged: company is in an industry (e.g., airlines, hotels, restaurants, etc.) that have suffered severe, long-term damage from the global shutdown. It will not recover or be on a clear path to recovery by the end of 2020. GUIDANCE: It’s an “all bets are off” situation companies in this category. Restart goal process and likely adjust the what/how to balance when they evaluate results. 2) Challenged: company is in an industry (e.g., manufacturers, portions of retail, professional services, etc.) that temporarily lost a meaningful percentage of its revenue, but it will be able to mostly return to business as usual in the 2nd half of 2020. GUIDANCE: These companies need to walk the fine line between adjusting goals when warranted and giving a free-pass where existing goals are still valid. 3) Fortunate: company is in an industry (e.g., health care and pharmaceuticals, technology, etc.) that either experienced little impact or thrived during the shutdowns. GUIDANCE. These companies need to manage expectations for evaluating performance in a strong year that they had no part in creating. Aside from the "process" side of PM, there is also the human element that must be factored in to decisions. There have been job losses, the strain on emotional and physical wellbeing, and the stress of working at home while caring for children, to name a few. These factors need to be considered when determining how to handle PM in an unprecedented year. Said differently, "2020 will need to be a year where the crisp lines of meritocracy are balanced with the unique challenges that individuals have faced."

During the coronavirus pandemic, employers and HR leaders have been faced with various talent management challenges ranging from restructuring, layoffs, and transitioning staff from the office to home-based working environments in short timeframes. As organizations continue through the recovery phase and beyond, they are simultaneously envisioning and preparing for what the "new normal” will look like. This new normal is heavily driven by workers’ expectations of their employer and views about workplace culture. Undoubtedly, an organization's ability to understand employees' expectations and use this information to help guide organizational responses is critical. This survey report looks at how COVID-19 may have changed employees' expectations of their leaders and workplace. A few insights include: 1) Workplace culture is more important than ever - e.g., the personal support offered by a company, its leadership team, and managers are among the most valued attributes an employer can offer. 2) People above profit perceptions now a driving force in brand reputation - e.g., workers now expect a workplace culture that is kind and caring (over profit-driven) and one that also offers employees greater flexibility and work-life balance. 3) Direct managers must take on the role of delivering a meaningful and branded employee experience - e.g., workers have a greater expectation of their managers to communicate more frequently and consistently, ensuring that messages reflect and reinforce the corporate vision and culture. Other insights are provided including a top 10 list on page 13 of outstanding ways companies have stepped up during this crisis, such as providing reimbursements for setup costs related to home offices.

Organizations are continually seeking ways to develop talent, increase job performance, engage workers, and retain talented employees--all while optimizing costs. And while making progress in any of these areas can have a meaningful impact on an organization, the ability to simultaneously influence these outcomes can accelerate the delivery of an organization's talent strategy; one lever for doing so is internal networking. The term "networking" usually has an "external" connotation (e.g., networking through social media, conferences, or meeting workers from other companies), but can also be applied within an organization. The ability of workers to broaden their internal network provides endless opportunities for accelerating development, increasing productivity, fostering a sense of belonging, driving engagement, and improving retention, to name a few. This short article provides a few ideas for jumpstarting internal networking within an organization, such as 1) establishing cross-functional internal networking initiatives, 2) leveraging business resource groups (BRGs) for internal networking initiatives (veterans, LGBT employees, generational, cultural, etc.), and 3) offering learning and development opportunities that teach employees how to network internally and why it is important. One untapped opportunity that is not on this list and that I think is essential for organizations to consider is a technology capability platform that enables workers to "identify" and "connect" with other internal workers who want to network and have mutual interests. Such a platform that "matches" workers or brings them together for networking is scalable, fast, increases the number of networking opportunities, enables efficient tracking of utilization, and provides analytics and ROI capabilities. Further, with the current coronavirus crisis making it increasingly challenging to network through in-person interaction, such an approach enables these connections to happen, and can provide a capability that transcends the pandemic.

This 50+ page survey report on Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) by McKinsey reaffirms the strong business case for both gender diversity and ethnic and cultural diversity in corporate leadership—and shows that this business case continues to strengthen. Some starting insights include 1) Companies in the top quartile of gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to experience above-average profitability than peer companies in the fourth quartile. This number was up from 21 percent in 2017 and 15 percent in 2014. 2) Companies with more than 30 percent of women on their executive teams are significantly more likely to outperform those with between 10 and 30 percent women. And while the report contains various stats on the impact of I&D, its value is found in the actions that organizations are implementing to drive I&D, including overviews from Citigroup, Pentair, Target Corporation and Lockheed Martin. Before looking at the practices, I recommend that organizations use the framework beginning on page 26 to determine which of the five cohort types best describe their organization's approach to I&D. 1) Diversity Leaders, 2)Fast Movers, 3) Moderate Movers, 4) Resting on Laurels, 5) Laggards. Once organizations determine the cohort to which they belong, they can reference page 45 for suggestions and actions that are most relevant to that cohort type. This report is replete with insights and will take time to comb through all of the findings.

WHAT I AM READING

I am still bouncing between different books I have referenced in previous newsletter issues. You can find my summary of these books through my website links below.

OTHER RESOURCES

If you are looking to catch-up on ideas from some great business books, I recommend that you try two of my affiliate partners:

Soundview Executive Books Summaries which provides 7-8 page PDF summaries, and audio summaries, on the newest ideas and strategies from the best business books. They offer both individual and corporate plans, which can be monthly or yearly. One free sample is available for download.

Audible, who offers a 30-day free trial where you will get two free audiobooks immediately. You get to keep the two free audiobooks even if you decide to not purchase a monthly or yearly Audible subscription.

BECOME A SPONSOR

If you are an organization or HR service provider that would like to sponsor an issue of this newsletter and feel that 1) your services or offering fits in line with the topics of Talent Edge Weekly and 2) the interests and needs of HR practitioners, please send me an email at [email protected]

JOB SEARCH

If you are someone with whom I worked or that I know and are currently in a job search, I am here to help you in whatever way I can. Feel free to send me an email at [email protected]

Also, if you are a subscriber to this newsletter and are searching for an HR-related role, I am more than happy to list your name, a link to your Linked In Profile, and a sentence or two that describes what you are looking for, in a future issue of this newsletter. If interested, please send me an email from the email address that you used when signing-up for this newsletter.

FINAL COMMENTS

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I look forward to sharing more ideas in next week’s Edge!

Have a nice weekend everyone and, again, be safe.

Brian