Talent Edge Weekly - Issue #92

Covers factors to consider when developing a location-based pay strategy, DEI, project-based work models, skills-based talent practices, and the gender promotion gap.

November 14, 2021

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

  • Developing a Geographic Pay Philosophy: A Tool for Building a Resilient Workforce | BDO USA | Shares ideas on factors to consider when developing a geographic pay philosophy and offers alternatives for applying geographic pay differentials, such as national averages.

  • 6 Articles on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | Gartner's HR Leaders Monthly - November 2021 | A 35-page issue containing 6 articles on how to speed up DEI efforts in organizations. Topics range from HR leaders’ role in organizations’ ESG initiatives to how organization design can hinder the advancement of underrepresented talent.

  • The Project Economy Has Arrived | Harvard Business Review | Presents suggestions on how firms can enable a project-based work model. I offer a few questions for firms to consider as they organize work by projects vs. simply roles.

  • Skills: The New Workforce Operating System | Deloitte Blog: Capital H | Provides ideas on how firms can incorporate a skills-based approach in each of their talent practices through four distinct phases.

  • “Potential” and the Gender Promotion Gap | Working Paper from Yale, MIT, and University of Minnesota Researchers | Shares a 60-page research study showing that women that got higher performance ratings than men, were consistently—and incorrectly—assessed as having less leadership potential. 

THIS WEEK'S EDGE

With remote work becoming more common, organizations are increasingly determining how geography might affect the compensation of remote workers. I mentioned in a previous post how firms have taken different stances on this topic: while Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, and Google will base pay on geographic location, smaller companies, including Reddit and Zillow, have shifted to location-agnostic pay models. Zillow’s CHRO, Dan Spaulding, wrote “when you work for Zillow, your long-term earning potential is determined by how you perform, and will not be limited by where you live.” Proponents of location-based pay say that if an employee was paid a premium due to living in a high-cost area, the premium should discontinue when an employee moves to a location with lower labor costs. Opponents argue companies are paying workers for their skills and output, not their location. But as noted in this article, “the issues are more nuanced than one might realize and have implications that may not be immediately apparent for either the employer or the employee.” The article helps firms consider various factors when developing a geographic pay philosophy and offers alternatives for applying geographic pay differentials, such as national averages.

As organizations prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals, HR leaders play a vital role in helping their organizations navigate this area. This November issue of Gartner’s HR Leaders Monthly includes six articles to speed up DEI progress in organizations. The topics range from HR leaders’ role in organizations’ ESG initiatives, how organization design can hinder the advancement of underrepresented talent, to how to engage the board of directors in DEI. Page 13 begins an article on how data can help mitigate biases found in organizational talent processes. Within this context, Figure 1. on p.14 shows how Eli Lilly uses research and data to create employee journey mapping to identify barriers that underrepresented talent groups face throughout various talent practices. One example is how Hispanic employees encounter obstacles in recruiting, rewards and compensation, and performance evaluation due to feeling less comfortable with self-promotion because humility is a valued cultural characteristic. The journey maps provide the firm with insights to design or refine talent processes with these unique challenges in mind. The six articles offer several ideas on how firms can make meaningful progress in DEI in the year ahead.  

Many organizations are moving towards a project-based work model versus one that is solely role-based. As work becomes more project-driven, one key benefit of the project model is it enables organizations to effectively and efficiently redeploy the skills of their workforce—where and when needed. This model also unlocks internal mobility opportunities beyond the constraints of a “job.” Despite these and other benefits, this article points out that nearly two-thirds of efforts to move to a project-based work model will fail. It offers suggestions for how firms can enable a project-based work model. Here is also a bonus podcast where the author expands on the points from the article. A few starter questions I believe HR leaders and their teams should ask in this context are: What skills should we build in our teams that enable them to operate and execute in a project-based model successfully? How do we equip leaders to be sponsors of projects? How do we utilize internal talent marketplace technology platforms to identify “hidden” internal talent to serve on projects? How will performance management change as we increasingly move towards project-based work? How does a project-based model change the type of skills we hire for? The answers to these questions can help shape aspects of a firm’s talent strategy.

I have made several posts highlighting thought leaders’ views on how skills—rather than jobs—are increasingly redefining and reimagining every talent practice. However, given the various talent practices skills touch, it is challenging for firms to know where to start when integrating a skills-based approach into core talent practices. This article provides ideas to help firms shift to skill-based talent practices through four phases: 1) Inching, 2) Progressing, 3) Transforming, 4) Actualizing. For each phase, there are figures that highlight which talent practices are most likely to be influenced by that phase. For example, it’s recommended to start with talent practices that have the most apparent connection with skills in the 1) Inching Phase: examples include learning and development or talent acquisition, or where talent practices are “based on more mature technologies readily available as upgrades to existing HR information systems.” Firms can affect other talent practices, such as workforce planning and performance management, as they progress through each phase. This phased approach provides a practical framework for incorporating skills across most talent practices.

A firm’s ability to accurately identify and develop high-potential employees is a key outcome of talent management. Simultaneously, fairness and objectivity are critical to all talent practices, and organizations place priority on DEI. In a study by researchers from Yale, MIT, and the University of Minnesota, assessment and promotion records for nearly 30,000 employees from a large retail chain were analyzed. The study found that while women got higher performance ratings than men, they were consistently—and incorrectly—judged as having less leadership potential. Women are 14% less likely to be promoted at the company each year, and differences in potential ratings account for 30-50% of the gender promotion gap. As HR leaders and their teams refine 2022 priorities, one area of focus might be to revisit their high-potential selection criteria. They can use people analytics to determine where assessment biases disproportionately and unfairly affect certain employee groups, including women. And while refining assessment criteria is one solution, I have posted previous research showing that women get less honest performance and development feedback than men. HR teams should consider this feedback component as they develop holistic strategies to address barriers to women’s career advancement.

MOST SHARED RESOURCE FROM LAST WEEK

Provides research results of 100 durable skills—categorized by ten major themes—that are foundational to most workers’ success regardless of role. Shares which of these skills are in most demand.

PINNED POST

Although I stopped updating this list 4 weeks ago, many of you have asked if I could continue to provide the link to this reference--so here it is!

TWEET OF THE WEEK

BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

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