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Welcome to Talent Edge Weekly!

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Brian

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Let’s dive in.

In the Changing Role of the Office, It’s All About Moments That Matter | Microsoft Work Lab

Numerous organizations continue to mandate that employees return to the office, typically for at least a few days each week. This article underscores the significance of setting "in-person" office expectations based on "moments that matter" instead of enforcing a minimum number of office days. It suggests that teams should customize their approach to suit the nature of their work, pinpointing key occasions or reasons for in-person meetings. The article highlights research identifying three scenarios where in-person connections offer distinct advantages: 1) Strengthening team cohesion, especially vital in the context of increasingly dispersed organizations. 2) Facilitating effective onboarding for new roles, teams, or companies, as face-to-face interactions foster trust and relationship-building during the initial stages of a new job. 3) Initiating a project, particularly in its early phases, to align team members, stimulate innovation, and share tacit knowledge. Regarding projects, I am sharing a Gartner article illustrating one example of how a team embarking on a six-month, five-phase project could convene in person at pivotal points during the project. While this approach may not be universally applicable, it offers an alternative to the prevailing "days per week" model many organizations have been adopting. As suggested in the Microsoft article, organizations should ask: "What are the moments that matter for us?" This answer can provide guidance for determining when in-office interactions are likely to be meaningful and deliver value.

Remote Work Isn’t Going Away — and Executives Know It | Harvard Business Review

I recently shared an HBR article that explored varying perspectives on hybrid work across global regions. Drawing from a survey conducted by the INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute and Universum involving 651 managers from 50 countries spanning EMEA, APAC, and the Americas, the results show that while some similarities emerged, such as positive impacts on work-life balance and carbon footprint, a few differences are evident, including: Desire to Return to a Physical Office: APAC displays a stronger desire compared to EMEA and the Americas. The Americas region was more positive about remote productivity. In this additional newly released article, Nicholas Bloom and his colleagues explore remote work from a different angle: senior management perception on the return-to-office push. The article discusses how CEOs are publicly advocating for a return to the office, but privately, they expect remote work to continue growing. A recent survey conducted in July 2023 reveals that senior executives at various U.S. businesses anticipate both fully remote and hybrid work models to increase in the next five years. Several factors contribute to this expectation, such as employees value remote work as much as an 8% pay increase. As the debate on remote work continues, here is my one-page curated playlist of five resources to help leaders evaluate different aspects of remote work. While some resources are more recent than others, they all address essential topics in the ongoing discussion on remote work.

Augmented Work for an Automated, AI-driven World | IBM Institute for Business Value

This 32-page report delves into AI’s impact on company business models— focusing on how AI integration will affect business operations, job roles, and skills. Drawing insights from surveys involving 3,000 C-level executives across 28 countries and 21,000 workers in 22 countries, the findings reveal that 40% of executives foresee the need for workforce reskilling within the next three years because of AI adoption. Encouragingly, 87% believe that generative AI will enhance job roles instead of replacing them, reinforcing the notion of the “augmented workforce.” This collaborative synergy between humans and machines has the potential to unlock productivity and deliver substantial business value. For instance, as technology becomes more user-friendly, employees can achieve more with less technical expertise (e.g., using no-code software development platforms). And as machines assume routine and mundane tasks, there is a growing emphasis on essential people skills like team management, effective teamwork, communication, and adaptability to change. Figure 2 illustrates how these people skills are becoming increasingly critical for workers to possess, considering advances in AI and technology. Beginning on page 22, the ‘Action Guide’ offers practical strategies for organizations navigating this evolving human-machine partnership. Several other ideas are discussed.

Some Employees are Destroying Value. Others are Building It. Do You Know the Difference? | McKinsey Quarterly

Employee engagement and productivity remain pressing concerns for organizations, especially with ongoing changes in how, when, and where people work. Recent research by McKinsey sheds light on six distinct employee personas, each exhibiting varying levels of satisfaction, engagement, and performance. And while I don’t prefer the names of the labels used, the archetypes are: 1) The quitters (estimated at around 11%) are those on their way out or already gone. 2) The disruptors (estimated at 10%) are actively disengaged and likely to demoralize others. 3) The mildly disengaged (approximately 32%) are performing at the minimum level. 4) The double-dippers (about 5%) spread across the satisfaction spectrum, including full-time salaried workers who hold two or more jobs simultaneously, often without their employers' knowledge. 5) The reliable and committed (about 38%) consistently going above and beyond. 6) The thriving stars (4%) are the top talent in an organization bringing disproportionate value. While employee archetypes and frameworks have existed in the employee engagement domain for many years, these classifications can sometimes help pinpoint talent risks and strengths, guiding tailored talent actions. The article outlines actions for each archetype. As a bonus, here is my employee retention risk template, which can help identify and address unwanted retention risks.