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

• Six Emerging Human Capital Management Technology Trends | Gartner for HR | Highlights six emerging HCM technologies that are either in the early proof of concept stages or have had some success stories in the media.

• Executing the CEO’s Agenda Through Targeted Learning | MIT Sloan Management Review | Offers four actions for driving a firm's strategic agenda through targeted learning--learning that focuses on the way people work together when executing business priorities.

• Decoding Global Ways of Working | BCG | 24-page report that summarizes how worker preferences and attitudes are changing on various workplace topics across several countries and regions.  

• Future Skills Pilot Report: Thinking Outside the Box to Reimagine Talent Mobility | Unilever and Walmart Collaboration | Shares results from an AI-based pilot study to identify innovative ways of preparing people for new career opportunities based on their interests and skills. 

• Dismantling the Glass Ceiling | IBM Institute for Business Value | Offers six actions and supporting tactics that firms can take to advance gender equality in the workplace, ranging from understanding the impact of gender bias to using technology to reduce discrimination.

THIS WEEK'S EDGE

Six Emerging Human Capital Management Technology Trends | Gartner for HR 

This paper highlights six emerging HCM technologies in the early proof-of-concept stages or have had some success stories. It includes a “hype cycle” that organizes each trend in five phases of a technology’s life cycle. These phases range from an innovation trigger (a breakthrough or product launch that generates interest), the trough of disillusionment (technology does not live up to its overinflated expectations and interest can wane), to the plateau of productivity (real-world benefits are accepted and there is mainstream adoption). The HCM technology trends are 1) Virtual assistants in HCM, 2) Internal talent marketplaces, 3) Employee productivity monitoring, 4) DEI in HCM, 5) Blockchain in HCM, and 6) Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality applications in corporate learning. The paper summarizes each HCM technology’s benefits and offers considerations (e.g., for employee productivity monitoring, ensure that the technology is implemented ethically by testing it against criteria and design principles). This resource will help firms consider, evaluate, and implement various HCM technologies.

Executing the CEO’s Agenda Through Targeted Learning | MIT Sloan Management Review 

This article explains how CEOs and business leaders can advance their strategic agendas through targeted learning. It argues that while traditional approaches to learning focus on individual aptitude and skill, targeted learning focuses on the ways individuals work together — and disrupting and rewiring social norms. It’s a process that improves the way people collaborate in day-to-day execution. The authors offer four actions for driving targeted learning: 1) Develop a holistic view of strategy execution challenges. 2) Use targeted learning to intervene in the places that matter most for the CEO’s agenda, 3) Measure impact through leading metrics linked to execution, 4) Position the learning function to address strategic problems from the outset. Concerning #3 (measure impact through leading metrics linked to execution), it emphasizes how learning professionals need to understand what behaviors and ways of working must shift to enable execution. Then, targeted learning focuses on accelerating those changes, and the degree of behavioral change becomes the measure of impact. Other ideas are offered for transforming the learning function.

Decoding Global Ways of Working | BCG 

This 24-page report summarizes how worker preferences and attitudes are changing regarding a variety of workplace topics. It is based on responses from a 40-question survey of 209,000 people in 190 countries. A few of the many covered topics include Page 10 (Exhibit 8) how workers’ remote work expectations across 20 different job roles (e.g., consulting, science and research, customer service, manufacturing, retail, etc.) continue to increase. "Even workers in manual, healthcare and social jobs want to work from home occasionally." Concerning flexibility of work hours, 64 percent of workers would prefer flexible hours, and only 36 percent want a traditional 9-to-5 job. Besides flexibility in when and where they work, respondents indicate that financial compensation has increased in importance, particularly in China, Poland, and Russia. Simultaneously, longer-term benefits, such as learning and skills, have declined in importance (See Exhibit 11 p.14.) These trends are likely due to the economic threats and uncertainty people have faced in the past year. You can see the top worker preferences across six major regions and 20 countries on page 16 of the report. 

Future Skills Pilot Report: Thinking Outside the Box to Reimagine Talent Mobility | Collaboration with Unilever and Walmart 

This report shares ideas from a cross-industry pilot program initiated by Walmart and Unilever and intended to identify innovative ways of preparing people for new career opportunities based on their interests and skills. The pilot hypothesized that “opportunities are hidden from viable candidates because of ingrained thinking about experience and qualifications and firms could overlook outstanding candidates simply by failing to look in new places.” Using an AI-based platform, the pilot found that hidden skills could be uncovered. Specifically, when individuals self-report their skills, they impose limitations by identifying 11 skills on average. However, that number increases to 34 with AI’s help, which opens up possibilities for moving talent to nonobvious projects, roles, functions, etc. While an AI-based technology can help unlock hidden skills at scale, this capability’s potential is realized only when a firm’s culture enables it. For example, managers who have talent needs should consider “nonobvious” talent that has the right skills but may not “check-the-box” on traditional talent criteria/requirements. Other ideas are discussed.

Dismantling the Glass Ceiling | IBM Institute for Business Value 

With over 5 million women leaving the US labor force alone in 2020, the female participation rate is now at 59 percent—the lowest since 1998. And with almost 70 percent of women feeling that gender bias and discrimination have held them back, this report offers six actions that firms can take to advance gender equality in the workplace. They include: 1) Help women maintain work-life balance, 2) Understand the impact of gender bias, 3) Empower women of color, 4) Train men to be allies, 5) Use technology to reduce discrimination, and 6) Make STEM careers more accessible and inclusive. The report has a “how-to” section that offers suggestions for implementing each action. For example, given estimates that women do at least two-and-a-half times more unpaid household and care work than men, one step firms can take to promote better family-work balance (action #1) is to “redefine success so that promotions and project assignments aren’t defined by the number of hours someone spends in the office.” Each of the steps provides helpful ideas on how firms can drive more meaningful progress toward advancing gender quality in the workplace.

YOUR VIEW -  Poll Results

As vaccinations get administered and pandemic restrictions ease, company leaders continue to plan for their organizations’ optimal mix of remote work and the guidance they will provide to their workforce. I asked readers:

Given that three-quarters of respondents say that workers (in jobs that lend themselves to remote work) will work remotely regularly, firms will need to think through and answer questions about remote work expectations, such as:

• Are there a certain number of days (e.g., two days) a week that a worker is expected to be in the office?

• Do workers get to choose what days they will be in the office as long as they meet the minimum standard? Or, will they be required to be in the office on certain days that might be deemed "collaboration days" with their colleagues?

• Is being in the office less about frequency and specific days and more about being there when there is a critical meeting?

• When working remotely, are employees expected to be available/online during certain hours to enable collaboration? Are there hours during the day where they have greater flexibility in their schedule?

• Since it is important for new workers and those in a new role to build relationships and gain knowledge that can be accelerated through an in-office environment, what will your remote work expectations be of these workers? Do these expectations change after these workers have been with the company or in a role for a certain period?

While leaders and managers do not need to be overly prescriptive when answering these questions—and firms should assume that workers can apply sound judgment—aligning on these and other questions can enable a smoother transition to a remote and hybrid work environment.

This Week's Poll Question

There have been recent articles and reports suggesting that firms may be at risk of losing critical talent (e.g., top performers, high-potentials, those in critical roles, successors, etc.) as we get closer to a full return-to-work. With this as the backdrop:

Upon casting your vote, you can view the most recent results. I will share the final results in next week’s newsletter.

If there is a poll question you would like to see in an upcoming newsletter, you can submit your question HERE.

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