Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #27

August 08, 2020

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.

The following resources are covered in this week's issue:

  • It’s Time to Get Rid of Employee Surveys | Wall Street Journal | Peter Cappelli

  • Why Work From Home Isn’t Necessarily Good for Women | Harvard Business Review

  • Pandemic Could Worsen the Gender Pay Gap | SHRM

  • Return to the Workplace Planning Guide for Employers | Mercer

  • How Companies Are Using Talent Marketplaces to Promote Internal Mobility | myHRfuture

  • Global Insights on the Multigenerational Workforce (with Focus on Older Workers) | AARP

  • Podcast: Why You Should Apply Analytics to Your People Strategy | McKinsey Podcast

You can access additional resources and articles at www.brianheger.com

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Have a nice and safe weekend everyone.

Brian

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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 EDGE

During a time when employee sentiment and listening strategies are essential, employee surveys(ES) –when done well–can be a useful tool for collecting feedback in a scalable and efficient manner. And this is why I was initially surprised when I saw the headline of this article. However, as I dug into the article, the criticism of ES was more about ending the “annual ES” in favor of more frequent pulse surveys, a practice that I believe is well underway in many organizations. The article also argues that organizations have new and more efficient ways beyond ES to understand worker sentiment. These tactics include using exit interview data to understand why employees are leaving or analyzing employee benefits choices during open enrollment to determine what employees value, to name a few. These are all effective strategies, AND well-designed and executed ES and listening tools can augment them. Another issue to underscore when it comes to obtaining employee feedback is creating a culture of psychological safety (PS)- where workers feel they can openly share what they are feeling. Without PS, employee surveys, or any employee feedback mechanism for that matter, will yield marginal value. In case you missed it, you can check out a podcast where Amy Edmondson and David Green have a discussion about creating PS in organizations. (Please note that I have a WSJ subscription, so you may not be able to access the full article given the recency of its publication).

As workers continue to work-from-home (WFH) at scale, many have argued that this trend is helping to remove the stigma associated with WFH. According to this article, this new view of WFH can help "women hold on to full-time jobs and avoid losing traction in their careers during their caregiving years." However, it also notes that there are three obstacles to overcome before the potential of WFH is realized, particularly for women. 1) Work/family conflict. WFH can increase the domestic burden on employees, mostly on women, according to a few reports. 2) Access to informal networks and critical assignments. WFH might widen inequality by reducing opportunities for face-to-face networking that lead to opportunities. 3) A new form of “presenteeism.” If women disproportionately WFH over men, this can create even more bias towards women - where an "out of sight out mind" mentality takes hold. The article provides seven tactics for overcoming these obstacles, including one that I especially like: Focus on output. "Unless companies learn to evaluate output, rewarding people for what they contribute rather than for the show they put on, a world of mostly remote work may increase organizations’ bias for rewarding those who are present, disproportionately harming women."

While the pandemic continues to impact the lives of many in a variety of ways and at varying levels of magnitude, much has been reported about the disproportionate impact that the crisis has had on working women. In many cases, working women are more likely to have to take time off from work or resign from their positions to care for children and other family members. And as the pandemic continues, this issue will become more acute, exacerbating the pre-COVID gender pay disparity. This article highlights a few studies on this topic, including one by Payscale that found that women often incur a pay penalty on returning to work after a prolonged absence—earning 7 percent less on average than men in the same position. The gender pay gap is wider for women of color, women in executive-level roles, women in certain occupations and industries, and some US states. The Payscale report also looks at the top 20 jobs with the highest gender pay gap. As referenced in this article, "the pressure is on business leaders to reassess their compensation systems to create an equitable environment for women within their companies and to keep society from taking major steps back in gender equality."

Organizations continue to plan and help their workforces navigate a return-to-work strategy in light of the pandemic. In making these decisions, firms are simultaneously considering the human and business risks associated with returning to the workplace. This planning guide walks you through questions to help your business leaders, HR, Finance, and response teams organize your employees’ return to the workplace when COVID-19 circumstances allow for it. This editable PDF helps strategists to capture thoughts on 1) guiding principles that can be used with leadership teams to clarify and simplify decision-making,  2) decision criteria for bringing employees back to the workplace, and 3) worker and manager responsibilities that are required to manage our employees’ health and well-being. The remainder of the document focuses on a “Return to the Workplace” that is centered on three areas: Workplace and Worker Readiness, Workforce Support, and Enterprise Resilience. In case you missed it, you can also see my recent post that contains a similar editable workbook that was created by Deloitte. 

As organizations continue to find ways to efficiently redeploy their workforces, when and where needed, a capability known as internal talent marketplace (ITM) can help drive these efforts. This article discusses the importance of an ITM in effective talent management. ITM “enables managers throughout the entire organization to post listings for open positions, temporary assignments, short- and long-term part-time projects, mentorships, and any other initiative.” AI then helps to match talent to opportunities in a scalable and efficient manner. One example of a successful ITM implementation is Unilver, where it enrolled 100,000 employees across 12 business areas in 90+ countries into their ITM platform, FLEX Experiences, since 2018. The impact has been greater visibility into employee skills, improved engagement and satisfaction, and unlocking 30,000 hours of workforce capacity. The article also cites three components of culture that support ITM adoption, including independent minded employees and open-minded managers.  This component emphasizes that employees take responsibility for their growth and development, and managers are expected to share (not hoard) talent. One way Google prevented talent hoarding in one department was to make the process of internal mobility (shifting into a new role, project, or team) mandatory three times a year. To learn more about ITM, you can also check out a podcast by Josh Bersin where he elaborates on the topic and a post on how Schneider Electric launched its internal mobility platform, Open Talent Market.

According to this AARP report, "people ages 60 and older continue to outnumber children ages 5 and younger, and the 60-plus population is growing at a rate four times faster than the overall global population." And as the proportion of older people and the length of life increase throughout the world, this trend has implications for an organizations' workforce and talent strategy. This report, based on responses from 5,998 employers across 36 OECD nations, confirms that older workers are in the workforce in larger proportions. While 83 percent of global executives recognize that a multigenerational workforce is a key to business growth and success, only 6 percent have implemented unbiased recruiting processes. And, with the Covid-19 pandemic serving as an accelerant for forcing companies into many flexible work situations, this could be an opportunity for organizations to get creative and establish effective policies and practices that support and leverage older workers. The last page of this 8-page report provides a few high-level suggestions on how employers can strengthen existing policies and practices. While not in the report, other ideas can include creating a re-entry program for retired workers who want to come back to work in some capacity. Talent strategists should factor this important workforce segment into their talent plans.

THE SOUND OF INSIGHT

In this episode of the McKinsey Podcast, the panel discusses why people analytics matter even more in a world abundant with data and more advanced computing and analytics capabilities. Although this 37-minute podcast was conducted well before the COVID-19 pandemic, it includes insights that can help organizations leverage people analytics to make better business decisions during the pandemic and beyond. It includes a few use cases as well as a transcript of the discussion.

OTHER RESOURCES

Recommended Tools I use for my personal learning and productivity.

Book Recommendations on HR and business topics, including:

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

WHO IS IN THE HR JOB MARKET?

If you are a subscriber to this newsletter and 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.

  • Scott Hall - is looking for an Analytics leadership position in a diverse array of areas (HR, Industrial Engineering, Logistics/Supply Chain, Workforce Mgmt.,Workforce Planning). Thoroughly adept with Excel, Tableau, and other data analytics and visualization tools. Virtual position, greater central FL, or hybrid travel position.

  • Serguei Zaychenko - is looking for an Executive Recruiter/Talent Acquisition Recruiter role in the metro New York City area. Serguei worked both for large, Fortune 500, as well as small, entrepreneurial companies and thrives in hyper-growth environments.

  • Nora Kinsela - is currently seeking a mid/senior level Talent Management/Development role in the Greater Boston area. The ideal company is one that looks to create an engaged workforce by providing career development opportunities needed for them to thrive and be their best selves.

FINAL COMMENTS

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

Have a nice and safe weekend everyone.

Brian