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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Here’s a glance at this week’s content. A deep dive is in the section that follows.

• Future of Work Report: AI at Work | LinkedIn Economic Graph | A new 35-page report that explores the evolving landscape of work shaped by AI.

• How to Start Smart With a Talent Marketplace | MIT Sloan Management Review | Shares Booz Allen's experience in launching an internal talent marketplace, including key lessons learned during the first year of the project.

• Build a Recruiting Function That Scales With Your Hiring Demand | Gartner | Shares tactics for scaling hiring plans up and down quickly amidst shifting business conditions.

• Why Talent Management and Succession Bench Building Aren’t Working Today: As Least Not as Well as They Could! | IHRIM | Dave Ulrich, Allan H. Church, Bob Eichinger, and Roger Pearman offer their collective perspectives on the obstacles hindering talent management and succession.

• Return-to-Office Plans Don’t Have to Undermine Employee Autonomy | Harvard Business Review | Highlights the potential conflict between mandates for returning to the office and the values espoused by organizations.

Also, check out the 2023 job cuts tracker & Chief HR Officer hire of the week.

Let’s dive in.

THIS WEEK'S EDGE 

Future of Work Report: AI at Work | LinkedIn Economic Graph

LinkedIn Economic Graph just published its second quarterly AI at Work report, a follow-up to its initial release in August 2023. Drawing data from over one billion professionals and 67 million organizations within LinkedIn's platform, this 35-page report explores the evolving landscape of work shaped by AI. One projection is that by 2030, the skills required for jobs will change by up to 65%, affecting over half of LinkedIn's members whose jobs will witness AI disruption or augmentation. Such a projection raises critical workforce planning and talent management questions, such as: 1) What will be the impact of AI on skills for our organization? How will this change employee roles? What roles will be newly created? Which will become obsolete? 2) How will our work processes and workflows need to be altered in response to these changes? 3) What is our plan to upskill and reskill workers? 4) In what ways will we need to change our talent processes, such as recruitment, performance management, and career development? The report emphasizes that as AI helps workers be more productive and spend less time on repetitive tasks, it will make unique people skills like leadership and creativity even more valuable— both in individual organizations and the broader talent market. Other ideas are discussed.

How to Start Smart With a Talent Marketplace | MIT Sloan Management Review

Internal mobility—the movement of employees across various work opportunities within an organization—is a critical component of a talent strategy. Organizations are increasingly leveraging internal talent marketplaces (ITMs), hosted on tech platform, to connect employees with diverse opportunities (like full-time roles or projects) for fostering career growth and efficient talent deployment. However, establishing an ITM presents challenges, demanding careful planning. This article delves into Booz Allen's initial year experience in launching an ITM, highlighting hurdles faced, strategies applied, and key lessons learned. One takeaway emphasizes the necessity for significant cultural shifts to effectively overcome ITM challenges, including 1) managers' reluctance to release their talent to other parts of the business, 2) employee hesitancy to seek reassignment for fear of appearing disloyal to their current supervisors, and 3) hiring biases, where receiving managers of internal talent are hesitant to accept workers who they don’t know or who may not “fit” all of the criteria that managers desire in candidates. One tactic used to overcome manager concerns involves creating skills-based talent profiles to provide clarity on individual capabilities. Other tactics are discussed. In case you missed it last week, check out Edie Goldberg's new article on internal talent mobility. The link also includes my template to help identify and mitigate non-technological barriers to internal mobility.

Build a Recruiting Function That Scales With Your Hiring Demand | Gartner

An organization's hiring needs can change quickly due to economic uncertainties and shifting business conditions. To adapt to these changes, recruiting functions need to be able to adjust and scale up or down accordingly. This Gartner article provides three strategies for enabling this adaptability: 1) develop a flexible forecasting process, 2) make resourcing decisions with flexibility in mind, and 3) protect investments in talent attraction. Regarding hiring forecasts, instead of relying solely on top-down projections (e.g., business leaders work with finance, and projections are sent to recruiters), talent acquisition teams are encouraged to take a bottom-up approach, where they periodically gather input from stakeholders closer to the work (e.g., hiring managers, HR business partners). One way the Commonwealth Bank of Australia accomplishes this ongoing bottom-up approach is by using “demand-shift triggers,” such as a high variance between projected and actual job requisitions. This trigger prompts talent acquisition to meet with the business stakeholders to discuss unexpected hiring surges and determine options for managing these shifts (e.g., service trade-offs – such as increased volume but slower time to fill, or deprioritizing noncritical requisitions to meet the demand of high-priority ones). Moreover, during economic downturns, if a business unit experiences lower-than-average attrition, recruiting leaders might anticipate a surge in attrition (and hence hiring demand) once economic conditions improve. For more Gartner HR resources, visit their website.

Why Talent Management and Succession Bench Building Aren’t Working Today: As Least Not as Well as They Could! | IHRIM

In this article, four respected thought leaders—Dave Ulrich, Allan H. Church, Bob Eichinger, and Roger Pearman—offer their collective perspectives on the persistent obstacles hindering talent management and succession. Among various highlighted reasons are 1) resistance to scientific evidence, 2) attraction to superficial or trendy approaches ("Bright Shiny Objects"), 3) over-reliance on singular tools or vendors, and 4) short-term focus rather than alignment with future capabilities. Regarding scientific evidence, they note: “we are amazed at the number of “repackagers” who don’t produce or even refer to the foundation science but use new words for old ideas. Sometimes, this is intentional, but other times, they don’t know or care to know the past science, research, and insights already available.” The article includes recommendations for overcoming these challenges and includes a list of a few of the elements within talent management that have been confirmed through science. These aspects span from “three-point scales don’t work well to self-assessments are often suspect, mainly when used as the only input.” One suggestion I have to encourage greater adoption of scientific research in organizational talent practices is simplifying the presentation of scientific research studies, focusing on practical, real-world implications rather than complex formats and language. This approach has the potential to substantially benefit practitioners by significantly enhancing the value derived from scientific research.

Return-to-Office Plans Don’t Have to Undermine Employee Autonomy | Harvard Business Review

As organizations continue to navigate the return to physical office locations, this new article emphasizes the need for organizations to align their return-to-office transition with the values they advocate to their workforce. It highlights the potential conflict between mandates for returning to the office and values such as employee flexibility, inclusion, well-being, empowerment, and autonomy if not approached strategically and transparently. The paper identifies three imperatives to guide leaders in navigating this transition to reinforce rather than undermine employees' connection to the organization and its values. One key aspect highlighted is the impact of the return-to-office on fostering an inclusive culture. The authors note that despite the initial belief that mandating onsite presence creates inclusivity, remote workers actually experience 10% higher inclusion than those onsite, mainly due to feeling more authentic in their remote environments. Sixty-two percent of employees reported they feel they can be themselves best in a remote environment, where they have privacy and control over their workspace. Additionally, it highlights how introverts and neurodivergent individuals may favor a quieter, less socially stimulating environment that remote work often provides. Considering the multifaceted aspects influencing remote work decisions, I am resharing my one-page playlist featuring five resources to help organizations intentionally evaluate various aspects of remote work.

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MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

Set the Right People Priorities for Challenging Times | BCG and World Federation of People Management Association

A new 23-page report that shares an analysis of the perception of 6,893 leaders across 102 markets (93.5% in HR roles) regarding the future importance of 32 HR and people practices for their organization and their company's current capability in those practices. You can also view my post on LinkedIn related to this resource so that you can join the discussion or reshare it with your LinkedIn network.

2023 JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

A few firms that announced job cuts this past week include:

• Citigroup (NYSE: C). Has announced plans to cut management layers from 13 to eight as part of its biggest overhaul in decades. The company started announcing the cuts — which impacted workers (estimated to be roughly 300) two levels below the executive management team.

• Origin Materials (NASDAQ: ORGN). The world's leading carbon-negative materials company has conducted layoffs that have impacted 30% of its workforce. The cuts are part of a larger restructuring effort. The company expects to incur $2.7 million in charges connected to the job cuts.

• PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The global accounting firm has cut 2% of its workforce in Canada as high interest rates push the nation’s economy toward a recession.

Click here or the image below to access all listed announcements from 2023.

CHIEF HR OFFICER HIRE OF THE WEEK

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA) [NASDAQ: PYPL] announces the appointment of  Isabel Cruz as Chief People Officer, effective November 27. Cruz joins PayPal from Walmart, where she was most recently SVP and People Leader for Walmart's Global Technology, Services & Corporate teams, leading talent strategies and people initiatives supporting more than 30,000 associates, globally. Cruz previously led the people function for Walmart's U.S. e-commerce business. Cruz succeeds Kausik Rajgopal, who has been appointed EVP, Strategy, Corporate Development, and Partnerships.

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FROM X (FORMERLY TWITTER)

TALENT EDGE WEEKLY REWIND

Reducing Information Overload in Your Company | Employee Experience Magazine

Addresses the root causes of information overload in organizations, its effects, and strategies for reducing it.

THE BEST OF OCTOBER

Did you miss the “Best of October” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #206, which includes 16 of the most popular resources from October. 

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