Today, 84% of the organisations are defining a vision for how technology contributes to the overall employee experience. That was the focus of the People Summit 2024, hosted by SAP and the Top Employers Institute, which took place on June 12, 2024, at the SAP Labs Campus in Bengaluru, Whitfield in India.
And we’re delighted to share some of the resources shared during the People Summit:
World of Work Trends 2024
Top Employers Institute’s World of Work Trends 2024 analyses the latest trends in people strategies and practices from leading organisations globally. In the report, our analysis showed five significant trends affecting workplaces in 2024. Those trends are:
Empower through AI
The Future Defined with Purpose
Dialogue for Transformation
Evolution of Wellbeing Effectiveness
Broaden the Horizon of DEI
These trends were unpacked by Adrian Seligman, Executive Board Member at the Top Employers Institue. You can download the report here, and watch Adrian’s Keynote here:
Throughout the People Summit, insights were shared by SAP which also featured many insights from the research they’re doing into the future of work. SAP have identified future of work trends three strategic dimensions. You can access an array of resources shared by SAP during the conference here:
Future-Proofing HR: Trends and Transformations in India
The People Summit also featured a wonderful panel discussion on future-proofing HR and discussing trends and transformations in the Indian Landscape. On the panel was Kavita Kurup, Global Head HR and Corporate Communications at UST, Shilpy Sharma, Regional HR Head at Empower, Kiran Sn, Vice President – HR, HCLTech, Shweta Mohanty, Head of Human Resources: India at SAP and Billy Elliott, Regional Director Asia-Pacific, Top Employers Institute.
They addressed the integration of technology, the distinction and enhancement of employee experience vs. engagement, the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DE&I), and strategies for skills development and talent management.
Key points included:
Technological Integration: Shilpy Sharma highlighted the evolving role of technology in HR, emphasizing advancements that boost organizational efficiency while considering potential drawbacks like job displacement and privacy concerns.
Employee Experience vs. Engagement: Kavita Kurup differentiated between the two concepts, sharing successful UST initiatives to enhance both through personalized approaches and flexible work arrangements.
Skills Development and Talent Management: Kiran SN discussed HCLTech’s approach to upskilling and reskilling, aligning talent initiatives with strategic goals, and addressing challenges like budget and time constraints.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusivity: Shweta Mohanty shared effective strategies and impactful programs at SAP to promote DE&I, acknowledging challenges like unconscious bias and tokenism.
HR Practices to Elevate Your Workforce: Insights from Asia-Pacific’s Top Employers 2024
This year, we’ve certified 369 organisations in Asia-Pacific as Top Employers, and we have curated a selection of best practices from these esteemed organisations to inspire you. In this comprehensive resource, you’ll find insights and exemplary practices that have not only raised the global standard of HR excellence but also set the benchmark for others to follow.
Download the ebook now to uncover invaluable insights. Here are some highlights you’ll find inside:
Learning and Development – Discover how AstraZeneca fosters a culture of lifelong learning to support its 2030 Bold Ambition. Learn how their 3Es Learning Framework (Experience, Exposure, and Education) empowers employees to embrace a ‘learning mindset,’ focusing on real-time application and long-term development through coaching and feedforward. Explore how initiatives like Degreed, P100, LEAP 50, and the Accelerate program enhance skills, broaden perspectives, and accelerate leadership development. Discover how AstraZeneca’s commitment to everyday development experiences drives innovation and delivers life-changing medicines to patients, reflected in high engagement scores and strong business performance.
Onboarding – Discover how NN Life Insurance Japan has transformed its onboarding process by integrating digital tools with personal communication. Learn how new hires benefit from instant access to essential information and e-learning resources, coupled with personal interactions such as welcome sessions with senior management. Explore how these efforts enhance talent retention and engagement by fostering strong connections within the organization.
Performance – Discover how Lyreco Thailand’s Performance Development Review (PDR) promotes ongoing learning and development. Learn how this holistic procedure integrates self-assessments, open communication, constructive feedback, and personalized development plans to align individual goals with company objectives. Explore how Lyreco’s PDR process, implemented through the Workday platform, has enhanced employee growth, reduced turnover, and increased engagement and satisfaction.
Sustainability – Discover how CHEP Australia fosters a culture of sustainability throughout the employee lifecycle. Learn how their sustainable practices are embedded from recruitment to onboarding and beyond, promoting a nature-positive economy through their pooling model. Explore initiatives like their annual Sustainability Week and Helping Hands program, which support employee engagement and community involvement, contributing to their ambitious sustainability goals.
Leadership – Discover how Servier Philippines anchors its leadership on the company value of CARE, fostering a highly inclusive and psychologically safe working environment. Learn how their transformation journey prioritizes acting on feedback, with initiatives like “You spoke, we listened” promoting open communication and continuous improvement. Explore how their psych safety training programs and workshops have built trust and collaboration, leading to high engagement and recognition as a Top Employer.
Talent Acquisition – Discover how GSK Indonesia’s Talent Pipeline strategy shifts from reactive to proactive recruiting, building relationships with passive external talent for future opportunities. Learn how this approach has streamlined the hiring process, reduced costs, and improved the quality of hires. Explore the steps of identifying, assessing, and engaging potential candidates, ensuring a ready pool of talent for critical roles.
Career Development – Discover how DLMI Malaysia supports employee career development through initiatives like Personal Development Plans, continuous dialogue, and career coaching programs. Learn how their internal digital career marketplace facilitates mobility and advancement, enhancing employee engagement and satisfaction. Explore how their annual Talent Reviews and Succession Planning process ensure the development of talents for critical leadership roles.
Offboarding – Discover how GEP India’s Alumni Network on LinkedIn keeps ex-employees connected to the organization. Learn how this professional network facilitates brand advocacy, rehiring of boomerang employees, and networking opportunities. Explore how GEP maintains relationships with former employees through engaging content and periodic alumni events.
How to Build a Strong Company Culture in a Global Organisation with NTT Data
Every organisation has a culture, whether it was intentionally or passively created. A healthy workplace culture is one of the fundamental elements of a successful company. In today’s global landscape, businesses extend their operations across borders and cultivate diverse workforces. Developing and maintaining a strong culture in this context presents some unique challenges. A positive work environment benefits a company in numerous ways, which is why it is essential to build that culture rather than leave it to chance.
During our insightful conversation filled with personal anecdotes at the 2023 Top Employers Inspire event, Kim Curley, VP of People & Organisation at NTT DATA, shared valuable perspectives and actionable strategies on the art of crafting and nurturing a strong corporate culture. Kim’s role is unique in that she’s responsible for NTT DATA’s internal change management process and for the organisation’s consultancy services in that space, which she called “the personal side of business where all the wonderful messy, human things happen.” Experiencing change from the inside and managing it as a third party for other organisations has given her great insight into how to successfully build a strong culture.
Crafting a Culture
Like many companies, NTT DATA re-evaluated its priorities and values during the massive societal and workplace changes brought on by the pandemic. Kim explained, “We had been through a tremendous amount of change in the past three years and we wanted to assess what aspects of our culture had weakened that we needed to strengthen.” Trust, community, and success were the three values identified through their discussions.
The next step was deciding how to strengthen those values in their workplace culture. Kim shared that the discussion began with a guiding question: “How do we define these values that make us special and make us a place where people want to come work and a place that clients want to hire?” Three strategies emerged as important aspects of crafting their culture.
Involve employees in developing initiatives around the three core values. If culture is not built from the ground up, it will be very difficult to enforce it from the top down.
Create a social accountability contract. Foster a sense of responsibility among employees to embody and uphold the core values.
Anchor to a career coach model. Resources extend beyond hierarchical, mentor-like relationships to help employees develop across the different roles they hold as consultants and over the arc of their careers.
Changing people’s mindsets is one of organisations’ most significant challenges when implementing new initiatives. “It takes a tremendous amount of energy not only from the people trying to encourage the change but also from the brave souls trying to make the change. That’s always the hardest part, to be a supporter and to step into that new space,” said Kim. This process was an excellent opportunity to lean on the social accountability contract and encourage employees to support one another as they adapted.
Silos
Silos are another familiar challenge companies face, and this challenge becomes even more pronounced when a company operates on a global scale. One of the significant problems posed by silos is their potential to impede the growth of a company-wide culture. To confront this issue head-on, Kim’s team developed a proactive strategy. She described their process, “We look at what our company values mean for each team. What can be done to make these values come to life in our individual geographies, business units, and ways of working?” For example, the community looks very different for a team co-located in the same geographic area with an office space than for a remote team working from different countries. Community is equally essential in both scenarios, though initiatives to cultivate a sense of community will look very different.
Organisational Hurdles
Aligning policies and procedures with company culture is essential to NTT DATA’s success. “When you’re trying to change culture, one of the things that will trip you up the fastest is if the organisational elements of your business do not support the cultural change,” Kim said to elaborate on this point. Changes to a company’s infrastructure have far-reaching effects and can either support or hinder how the culture evolves. Therefore, it is critical to be intentional about company policies and structure them in a way that supports the culture.
Kim compared their approach to caring for a garden to summarise how her team fosters a strong company culture. “You have to constantly nurture it to help it grow and be very aware of what you add to it,” she explained. Ultimately, a positive company culture is a constant work in progress. Although building it requires time and effort, the long-lasting benefits are immense. Low turnover rates, boosted productivity, and high morale are all results that help a company achieve success.
One of the things I enjoyed most about our discussion was hearing about Kim’s personal experience with NTT DATA’s cultural changes and how those changes impacted her daily workflow and her relationships with colleagues. I encourage readers to check out our full conversation for even more insights and a personal perspective on what a strong culture can mean to employees.
Artificial Intelligence at Work: How to Enhance the Employee Experience
Increase employee engagement and boost morale by implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies.
Engaged employees are essential to an organisation’s success. Employee engagement is the emotional investment employees make in their role and organisation. This personal investment is reflected in how employees execute their responsibilities and contribute to company culture. Unsurprisingly, organisations with high engagement outperform those with lower engagement levels.
Organisations have traditionally struggled with defining and quantifying engagement. Despite sincere efforts and investments of time, effort, and money, achieving high employee engagement can remain an elusive goal that is difficult to measure. Thankfully, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is changing that.
AI tools are revolutionising the workplace landscape by changing both employer and employee expectations. The benefit most quickly recognized is increased productivity. However, that’s just the beginning of how AI-power tools can enhance the employee experience. This article will explore other benefits AI can provide for the employee experience like expedited access to support, data-driven insights into employee sentiments, and personalised learning and development opportunities.
Four Ways AI Enhances the Employee Experience
Increased Productivity
By automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks, AI tools give employees more time to focus on complex matters. The majority of their energy can be devoted to problem-solving, innovation, critical thinking, and relationship building. For example, AI algorithms can analyse large data sets and generate insights, saving employees numerous hours of data collection and entry. Using AI for this type of task also offers the added benefit of reducing inevitable human errors.
Streamlining administrative tasks is another way AI can increase employee productivity. Virtual assistants can organise documents and schedule meetings, enabling teams to focus on more meaningful tasks. Algorithms can also analyse team members’ skills and availability to recommend employees for upcoming projects.
Expedited Support
Chatbots are a valuable resource that can help employees instantly access critical information. These tools can search through the organisation’s repository of knowledge and policies, reducing time spent searching for information or waiting for colleagues to respond. If an answer is not available, the chatbot can alert the appropriate Human Resource (HR) team member to answer the employee’s question. AI chatbots also help HR teams deliver information like policy updates, professional development tools, benefits information, and more.
In addition to expediting HR services, AI chatbots are an efficient way to collect anonymous feedback. AI can easily synthesise this feedback with data from other sources like performance reviews and exit interviews to generate insights about areas of concern or opportunities for improvement. Regularly monitoring feedback data ensures employees remain engaged and enables organisations to identify potential red flags early.
Data-driven Sentiment Insights
Employee engagement efforts are traditionally focused on promoting positive morale. Prior to AI-power technologies, organisations had very few ways to gauge employee engagement beyond surveys and other types of self-reported feedback. Through data mining and machine learning, AI tools can analyse and predict employee needs and behaviour.
Sentiment analytics software offers detailed insights into what impacts employee morale across various themes like compensation, professional development, and benefits. As themes are identified, comments on surveys can be categorised and compiled. Then, comments in each category can be tagged with a sentiment–positive, negative, or neutral–offering the HR team a useful data set to review and act on. Automating the process of compiling and analysing data gives the HR team more time to focus on personal interactions and strategic initiatives.
Personalized Learning and Development Programs
AI-powered learning platforms offer an unparalleled level of personalisation. Each employee’s skills, pace, and learning methods are assessed by the platform. Based on that information, the platform generates a customised study program for each person, recommending relevant courses and resources.
As employees advance through their training, the platform continuously adapts to their progress, suggesting new content and challenges to keep them engaged. Such a tailored approach ensures that employees acquire the necessary skills for their role, keeps them motivated, and enables them to effortlessly take ownership of their professional development.
Organisations using AI-based learning platforms often notice the added benefit of promoting a culture of continuous learning. The platform can automatically generate recommendations for additional opportunities once a study program is complete. Because the platform understands the employee’s preferred learning method and desired skill set, these recommendations are personalised to their needs and preferences, increasing the likelihood that they will continue training.
Read More:
Factors to Consider Before Launching AI
Before introducing any new technology or tools to employees, there’s a lot to consider. With such incredibly powerful AI-based technology available, organisations need to carefully vet platforms to minimise security and privacy risks and develop training resources. Organisations that wait too long to introduce AI-power technology may find that employees are using these tools on their own or that their competitors are already reaping the benefits of this technology.
To successfully integrate AI-based tools, carefully evaluate how well they will fit employees’ needs. Here are key factors to consider:
Ease of Use: Ensure the platform is intuitive and will not require extensive training to use. Assess how well the platform will integrate with other software systems already in place. A positive user experience will expedite adoption across the organisation.
Scalability: Tools need to be able to serve employees’ needs today and grow with the organisation. Finding a platform with robust and flexible features will ensure the technology has long-term value and aligns with the organisation’s growth trajectory.
Data Analytics: Confirm the selected platform has the ability to capture the desired data. For example, is the motivation primarily to collect data on employee sentiment or provide more personalised professional development opportunities? It may be necessary to launch several tools, rather than expect one platform to meet all of the organisation’s needs. Defining metrics for success will help evaluate the technology’s impact.
Internal Trust: The prospect of automating tasks is often associated with the idea that jobs will be eliminated. However, these tools are meant to support employees, not replace them. Organisations can reduce anxiety about job displacement by clearly stating the purpose of launching these tools and implementing reskilling and upskilling programs to equip employees to thrive once these new technologies are in place.
Maintenance and Support: Someone in the organisation will have to manage this technology and troubleshoot when issues arise. Identify and properly train that person or team before all employees start using it. Create on-going training opportunities for the support team to ensure the technology scales along with the organisation to fully maximise its capabilities.
Organisations are still in the early phases of adopting AI-powered tools in the workplace. As a result, the list of benefits and possibilities are constantly expanding. This huge potential means it’s even more important for leadership to have a clear understanding of why the organisation is implementing these tools. Ultimately, any technology is only as effective as the strategy behind it.
While the implications and applications of these technologies are constantly evolving, one constant is how these tools enhance the employee experience by giving them more time to focus on strategic initiatives. This shift fosters innovation and creates a more enriching work environment. Many employees are pleasantly surprised when they see that introducing AI-based technology in the workplace actually makes it more human.
Whitepaper | A Step-by-Step Process to Driving ROI and Growth through Effective Wellbeing Practices
Employee wellbeing is not just a trendy buzzword but a critical factor that directly impacts organisational success.
Employee wellbeing is not just a trendy buzzword but a critical factor that directly impacts organisational success. Over 95% of Certified Top Employers understand wellbeing’s importance as a strategic priority.
While many organisations are working to embrace effective wellbeing practices, they are still weighing up the return-on-investment on these initiatives.
In our latest whitepaper, A Step-by-Step Process to Driving ROI and Growth through Effective Wellbeing Practices, we are diving into the data around wellbeing with practical actions that businesses can put into practice to get the best out of their people.
Download the whitepaper for free to discover:
How employee wellbeing is critical for the success of an organisation.
A data-driven approach to making wellbeing decisions that involves three pillars: a holistic strategy that covers the health of body, mind, and spirit; predefined metrics to measure and track wellbeing trends; and regular evaluation of the utilization and satisfaction of wellbeing programs.
How to effectively evaluate wellbeing programs with information about how organisations should define objectives, identify root causes of problems and challenges.
Finding Balance: How to Navigate a Global-Local Strategy with Dana Incorporated and JYSK Hungary
Combining global and local strategies is crucial for organisations operating in multiple markets and cultures. While doing this, how can organisations balance the benefits of standardisation and maintain a sense of authenticity in each location?
We spoke with Zsolt Tánczos, Compensation and Benefits Europe for Dana Incorporated, and Ágnes Nyester, HR Manager for JYSK Hungary, during the 2023 Top Employers Inspire event to learn more about this topic. Both companies have been navigating the global-local balance for years. Dana Incorporated has over 40 000 employees in more than 30 countries, and JYSK has 3 100 stores in 51 countries.
Through our discussion, we gleaned some practical tips and examples of creating a successful global-local strategy, which I will highlight in this article. Watch the complete discussion for more details about Zsolt and Ágnes’s experiences and actionable plans for replicating their success.
Integration & Differentiation for Multinational Organisations
Multinational organisations must decide how much to integrate or differentiate activities and policies across locations. Integration refers to standardising processes, systems, and policies to create efficiency and consistency. Differentiation means customising those aspects of an organisation–processes, systems, and policies–to meet the specific needs of each office.
As a conceptual retail company, JYSK has carefully considered the balance between integration and differentiation in their offices and stores. Ágnes explained why they chose to integrate their recruitment process, “Whether you are in Hungary or Spain, the recruitment process is the same, which means it’s transparent. This makes the process easy to measure, and progress is trackable from year to year.” If one location achieves notably higher or lower metrics, headquarters can gain insights into what’s happening and adjust accordingly.
Similarly, this unified approach helps the organisation retain talent. “Our policy is that 80% of open positions need to be filled with internal candidates. This helps us develop our future talents and support existing staff,” Ágnes described the reasoning behind their approach. If it is not possible to fill the position internally, then external candidates may be considered.
Zsolt gave examples of when differentiation is beneficial. “Local regulations need to be considered. If they aren’t, it can be a very painful situation that will block the entire process,” he explained. For example, he mentioned how data protection rules vary from country to country. Involving local experts and engaging key stakeholders early in the implementation process is essential to successful local operations.
Limited resources are another standard challenge organisations face on the local level. Zsolt described how this challenge often plays out, “if a local office is told to implement a change, the key questions are really: who and when? Because they might not have enough staff support, or it might be a bad time because they have other projects.” So, considering the dynamic of each office is essential while trying to implement policies across multinational organisations.
Global-Local Challenges For Multicultural Organisations
Navigating cultural differences is challenging for international organisations, especially when determining global-local strategies. Ágnes described a time when offices in three countries had the same management team. “We took the collaboration quite seriously. We had cultural training to better understand our different perspectives and motivations. We talked about the business plan and how to make it work in each office, and we met several times to keep things going smoothly,” she explained. Regular communication was the key to their success. Although it sounds simple, having good communication requires intentional effort to bridge cultural divides.
Zsolt described how fostering relationships between country offices is advantageous. “There were some production problems in our Belgium office. Because there was a good relationship between the Belgium and Hungary offices, we were able to quickly move some employees from one to the other to resolve the issue immediately while working on a more long-term solution,” he said.
As a multicultural and multinational organisation, Dana Incorporated knew the relocated employees would need help settling into their new environment. Zsolt elaborated, “We supported our colleagues with housing, tips about the local community, and connected them with colleagues through a kind of buddy system to help them have a smooth transition.”
While developing a global-local strategy, organisations must remember it’s a balancing act. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Considering local dynamics helps avoid operational issues and creates a positive, efficient work environment, ultimately giving organisations a competitive advantage.
Artificial Intelligence and Talent Acquisition
How AI is Transforming the Recruitment Process in 2024
The talent market is more competitive than ever. Organisations are finding it more challenging to get the best candidates for the role, and prospective employees find the hiring process more arduous than it was years before. The difficulties in the talent acquisition process are due to several factors, including the lasting effects of the pandemic, younger generations entering the market, and more significant global shifts in recruitment from law changes, among others.
Despite these challenges, the recruitment industry has only recently moved away from established ways of working, as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are beginning to enter the game. While artificial intelligence and machine learning may still be new for many people, more and more organisations are investing in artificial intelligence systems and other digital tools to stay ahead of the market and leverage the tools to streamline their operations.
It is no wonder that AI is beginning to reshape the talent acquisition landscape. HR teams must be aware of many challenges when integrating AI into their recruitment strategy.
Some of the areas where AI is transforming the talent acquisition process or will soon be implemented in talent acquisition strategies include:
Candidate Sourcing: HR teams can utilise AI tools to search through online job boards, professional networking sites, and social media platforms to identify potential candidates based on specified criteria. These tools can assess candidates’ online profiles and professional backgrounds to identify potential candidates.
Resume Screening and Candidate Matching: AI-powered applicant tracking systems (ATS) and talent acquisition software (TAS) can analyse resumes and job descriptions to identify relevant skills, experiences, and qualifications. By leveraging natural language processing algorithms, ATS platforms match candidates to job requirements, enabling recruiters to focus on the most suitable applicants.
Candidate Assessment and Screening: AI assessment tools are starting to administer psychometric tests, cognitive assessments, and job simulations to evaluate candidates’ competencies, personality traits, and job fit. These assessments give the recruiter objective insights into candidates’ abilities and suitability for specific roles, helping them identify top performers more effectively.
Predictive Analytics: AI analytics can analyse historical recruitment data and performance metrics to identify patterns, trends, and predictors of successful hires. By leveraging predictive analytics, a hiring manager can potentially forecast talent needs, optimise sourcing strategies, and make data-driven decisions to improve hiring outcomes.
Reporting: AI tools can generate reports about candidates for internal senior leadership and legal teams. Those reports can analyse the success of recruiting campaigns to a broader team, streamlining the talent acquisition process.
Benefits of Implementing AI in the Talent Recruitment Process
The benefits that can come to an organisation that decides to implement AI in its talent acquisition process include the following:
Improvement in the Time Needed to Hire New Employees: Using AI tools for recruitment can expedite the recruitment process, shortening time-to-fill positions and ensuring that critical roles are filled promptly, minimising productivity losses and revenue impact.
Data-Driven Decision Making: AI analytics tools offer hiring managers valuable insights into recruitment trends, candidate behaviours, and performance metrics, enabling them to make informed decisions, optimise recruitment strategies, and forecast future talent needs.
Efficiency: AI can streamline time-consuming tasks for a talent acquisition team, such as resume screening, candidate sourcing, and initial assessments, significantly reducing the time and effort required to identify suitable candidates.
Competitive Advantage: By embracing AI in the recruiting process, organisations can gain a competitive edge in attracting and retaining top talent, stay ahead of competitors, and position themselves as innovative employers in the marketplace.
Enhanced Candidate Quality: AI-driven algorithms can identify candidates whose qualifications match job requirements, leading to higher-quality candidate pools and improved hiring outcomes.
The Challenges of Implementing AI Tools in the Recruitment Process
Implementing AI in talent acquisition is challenging, especially as the technology is still relatively new. Some of these challenges include:
Ethical Considerations: AI raises ethical dilemmas related to using candidate data, algorithmic decision-making, and the potential impact on employment opportunities and socio-economic disparities. Organisations must navigate ethical considerations, uphold principles of fairness and integrity, and prioritise ethical AI practices to build trust and credibility in their recruitment processes.
Overreliance on Technology: While AI streamlines recruitment processes and enhances efficiency, an overreliance on technology may need more attention to human judgment, intuition, and empathy in assessing candidate suitability and cultural fit. Hiring managers and recruitment teams must balance technological innovation and human-centred decision-making to achieve optimal recruitment outcomes.
Candidate Bias: Despite efforts to mitigate bias, AI algorithms may inadvertently perpetuate or even exacerbate biases in the data used for training the models. AI systems may inadvertently discriminate against certain demographic groups without careful monitoring and intervention, leading to fairness concerns and potential legal repercussions.
Data Privacy and Security: AI recruitment platforms rely on vast amounts of candidate data, raising concerns about privacy and security. Organisations must ensure compliance with data protection regulations, implement robust security measures, and establish transparent data handling practices to safeguard candidate information from unauthorised access or misuse.
The possibilities of utilising AI tools and leveraging them for the talent acquisition process can help hiring managers streamline recruitment processes, enhance candidate experiences, and make more informed decisions, ultimately driving organisational success and competitiveness in the talent marketplace. However, organisations need to balance the benefits of AI with ethical considerations, transparency, and human-centred principles to ensure fair, inclusive, and responsible recruitment practices.
Paradigm Shifts: Agile HR Practices and Skills-Based Organisations
To close the 2023 Top Employers Inspire event, I sat down with my colleague Quinton van Es, Director of Research & Insights for Top Employers Institute, to discuss two closely linked topics –the funadamental shifts in HR practices and the rise in skills-based organisations. These ideas are reaching a tipping point in business practices and creating paradigm shifts.
At Top Employers Institute, we certify organisations based on best practices, which requires us to look ahead at developing industry trends and consider those that are proven successful. Agile HR practices and skills-based organisations are becoming more mainstream when there are many disruptions and uncertainties. From a business perspective, now more than ever, organisations need to be resilient, adaptive, and human-centric. We discussed how these two practices are enabling organisations to do just that.
From the basic tenets of each to the more significant industry implications to our personal experiences with each principle, our discussion covered a lot of ground. In this article, I’ll summarise the highlights of our conversation. You can watch our discussion in full at the end of the article.
What Are Agile HR Practices?
Working agile has long been established as a best practice for IT where rapid innovation was a necessity. Gradually, the ability to quickly adapt has become a strategic imperative for organisations, causing agile practices to spill over into other areas and functions. In HR, operations are moving away from a rules- and planning-based approach toward a simpler model based on feedback.
Organisations can struggle with agile HR operations because many things, like payroll, feel fixed–there is no trial and error. However, the application is more of a big-picture consideration. Quinton explained, “When it comes to working agile, we are used to seeing these principles applied to projects. In the context of operating models, a lot of organisations are more agile than they realise because they already have a continuous feedback loop in place.” The essence of this approach is about regularly receiving and responding to feedback rather than specific tasks.
There are considerable variations in how organisations apply agile principles to their HR operations. Quinton gave examples, “some organisations focus on the mindset and values. Other organisations are taking a more methodological approach and just implement scrum.” Each approach has its pros and cons. There is no one solution, which is part of what makes this paradigm shift so interesting.
Skills-based Organisations
Historically, jobs were the dominating structure for work. Job descriptions and titles defined who did what and how their work was managed and evaluated. This approach is falling out of favour because it hinders many organisational objectives, including growth, innovation, agility, and the ability to offer employees a positive work culture.
“A job-based approach is very linear and predictive but it’s also a reductive view of work and the individual. In contrast, skills-based organisations zoom in on specific skills and the whole person to consider how an employee’s talents may best be applied. It’s a more human-centric approach,” Quinton said to highlight why this paradigm shift is happening. Another reason it’s gaining popularity is that it offers a great deal of flexibility and adaptability.
As jobs shift from being the primary construct for work to being one of many factors, organisations must adapt their HR practices. HR writes job descriptions, sets compensation, and manages performance reviews–all tasks based on defined jobs. Skills-based organisations thoroughly shake up this model, reimagining employee management, which is partly why agile HR practices and skills-based organisations are often closely linked.
Benefits of Shifting
Working agile means iterations happen quickly–things are done slightly better each time. Employees do not have to wait long to see their feedback in action. Additionally, employees get used to adapting and a certain level of ambiguity. This model fosters a culture of continuous improvement and creates better engagement.
A human-centric skills-based approach supports employee well-being. It considers the whole individual, not just their education and experience. As a result, organisations can tap into larger talent pools, and current employees have a greater sense of mobility. “A famous example here is Google,” explained Quinton, “They acknowledged that they made a mistake by just relying on credentials because performance dropped. They figured out that they needed to consider motivation and individual skills more than specific credentials.”
Advice for Getting Starting
Starting small always helps ease the transition–it creates less of a shock to the system. “Why not put someone from IT that’s used to working agile on the HR project team and see what comes from that,” Quinton suggested.
It is also helpful to identify your value proposition. A clear understanding of your business case for making these changes will justify the required resources. A valuable next step could be a readiness assessment. This process will let you see if your organisation is ready to move into that domain and identify potential challenges.
From my experience during transitions, the art of letting go is essential for leadership. As you guide your organisation through significant operational changes, accepting uncertainty is a requirement. If you don’t, progress is seriously inhibited.
I invite you to watch our complete discussion to hear more examples of how organisations that are Certified Top Employers put these principles into action. The applications are quite varied and continuously evolving, making agile HR operations and a skills-based approach to work exciting trends to follow.
Key Takeaways | World of Work Trends 2024
Top Employers Institute’s World of Work Trends 2024 analyses the latest trends in people strategies and practices from leading organisations globally. The report, which came out recently, is available to download now. The report showed the five most significant global workplace trends in 2024. Those trends are:
Empower through AI
The Future Defined with Purpose
Dialogue for Transformation
Evolution of Wellbeing Effectiveness
Broaden the Horizon of DEI
The release of our annual World of Work Trends 2024 was followed by an online live briefing on the 7th of December 2023, with Quinten van Es and Emily Cook delving deeper into the trends. In their discussion, they touched on real-life examples of the trends and broke down the tactics organisations will need to take in 2024 to succeed.
If you missed out on the session, you can watch it now by filling in the form on the side of the page.
Make sure to unlock the core HR trends affecting organisations across the globe. Watch the session now.
Amgen FlexSpace: Taking Flexible Work to the Next Level
Amgen’s cutting-edge flexible work model offers innovative ways organisations can modernise their approach to remote work.
During the pandemic, many organisations learned out of necessity that remote work can be highly effective. Even after offices were able to re-open, remote work widely remained an option because it was so popular with employees. Amgen Spain & Portugal, a Certified Top Employer, had already learned this lesson well, having adopted a remote work approach in 2004, long before it was mainstream. During the pandemic, they began to offer employees even more flexibility. Sandra Vicente, HR Director for the organisation, spoke with me about their best practices during the 2023 Top Employers Inspire event. Their ideas and fresh perspectives will inspire companies looking to meet the needs of a remote workforce better.
Making the Transition
Amgen Spain & Portugal was able to swiftly adapt to a 100% remote workforce when the pandemic struck because of three factors.
Because the organisation had offered flexible work arrangements for fifteen years, managers and teams had already honed their remote work skills and were well-prepared to continue working from home. The transition from a partial to completely remote dynamic was not difficult for the company.
Amgen had recently provided employees with a stipend to create a functional home workspace, including screens and ergonomic chairs. As a result, virtually everyone was already equipped with a suitable home office setup by the time the pandemic hit.
The organisation had a robust culture of trust because of their long history with remote work. This trust was critical in facilitating a smooth transition to fully remote work and the company’s confidence in everyone’s ability to thrive in that model.
In 2021, Amgen refined its approach to flexible work by establishing FlexSpace – a novel way of working that combines the traditional practice of face-to-face office meetings with remote work. Unlike a more conventional approach to hybrid work, where companies allocate specific days for remote work and office attendance, FlexSpace empowers employees to make that choice for themselves. “The main driver of that decision is the purpose of their activity,” Sandra explained.
Practically, this means that employees have the ability to select which work environment best aligns with their daily responsibilities. For instance, employees might opt for remote work when tackling tasks requiring intense focus, such as preparing presentations, budgets, or brand plans. Conversely, activities like strategic meetings, brainstorming sessions, or welcoming a new team member thrive on face-to-face interactions. This modern flex work model offers employees even more flexibility and autonomy in their work life.
As part of the FlexSpace initiative, the organisation thoughtfully designed a new open-concept office space to cater to a diverse work styles and objectives. Workstations were not assigned to specific employees. Instead, the variety of stations remained available to anyone in the office. This way, employees have an adaptable environment for whatever needs might arise.
Transitioning to an open-concept office space necessitated a mindset shift. The first step was for employees to understand the dynamic nature of this type of open space. Throughout the day, people have the freedom to reconfigure their surroundings. If someone needs a whiteboard for a brainstorming session or if working alone at a desk for a couple of hours is required, dedicated spaces that cater to those needs are available. Regardless of the task, adapting to the constant background noise of conversation in an open-concept office is essential, and employees always work from home if they need a reprieve from the frequent office activity.
Over the years, Sandra shared that they have identified three key factors for a successful flexible work environment:
Asynchronous work,
Intentional socialisation, and
Maintaining a strong company culture.
Asynchronous work is a natural extension of a remote work model. Just as employees do not need to be in the same place to get work done, they often also do not have to work at the same time to get things done effectively. Using collaborative tools like Microsoft Teams helps make this asynchronous approach function.
Working at different times, however, means that colleagues will likely have fewer direct interactions with each other. This dynamic means employees need to be intentional about socialising with each other. Sandra elaborated, “When you are in the office every day, socialising happens organically. You chat with people when you get a cup of coffee or when you see each other in the hallway. So, now when people come into the office for some reason, we encourage them to take into account the importance of socialising and set aside time for that.”
The importance placed on socialising is part of the company’s culture. “Company culture needs to be a lived experience,” Sandra explained, “Our turnover is very low, only 3% in ten years, so most employees know the culture very well and embrace it.” In performance management discussions, employees frequently cite the positive culture and flexible work approach as pivotal factors influencing their choice to remain with the company. The extremely high retention and employee satisfaction rate Amgen Spain & Portugal has achieved undoubtedly has numerous positive ripple effects across their operations.
World of Work Trends 2024
Top Employers Institute’s World of Work Trends 2024 analyses the latest trends in people strategies and practices from leading organisations globally. In the report, our analysis showed five significant trends affecting workplaces in 2024. Those trends are:
Empower through AI
The Future Defined with Purpose
Dialogue for Transformation
Evolution of Wellbeing Effectiveness
Broaden the Horizon of DEI
Read more about each trend in our article below or get in-depth insights by completing the form on the left and downloading the report for free.
The speed of innovation in AI has opened doors to a revolution in how we work. The shifting cultural landscape has enabled leaders and employees to drive meaningful societal impact. And the growing awareness of different identities and wellbeing needs has made inclusion non-negotiable. The organisations that will be most successful in this new world of work capture these opportunities purposely, thoughtfully, and ethically.
The sweeping global financial, technological, and political changes that have been happening worldwide will bring attention to people’s complexities and unique value. The year 2024 will see people firmly recentred at the heart of the workplace – and the five key trends of the coming year reflect the growing realisation that whilst AI will support and optimise, the real competitive advantage is found in the creativity, passion, and partnership between employees.
Trend 1: Empower through AI
The release of ChatGPT in November 2022 prompted a wave of excitement about the potential of generative AI and considerable concerns about its impact on employment. As we enter 2024, the conversation will become more grounded. Organisations will look to implement more ethical stewardship of their potential in the year ahead and start with a clear vision for human-AI synergies.
Many organisations are still in the exploratory stages with AI, and in 2024, the discussion will shift from what you can do with AI to what you should do with AI. An ethical framework for AI adoption will, therefore, become central to HR Digital strategies – and we see this happening in three ways:
Organisations take a responsible approach to how data is used to track employee behaviour or sentiment. HR leaders must prioritise AI’s ethical, explainable, and transparent roll-out.
HR will see how technology can be used and deployed around the employee experience. When poorly implemented, AI could cause employees to lose a sense of meaning in their work.
HR will look to see how AI can support, rather than challenge, the interaction between humans. Humans want to work with humans. And whilst AI offers HR innovative new routes to tracking and personalising offerings, face-to-face contact will become a greater imperative.
How will organisations begin to do this? The answer starts with leaders, the subject of our next trend. You can find more details on this trend by downloading the full report now.
Trend 2: The Future Defined with Purpose
Last year, in the World of Work Trends Report 2023, we predicted the growing importance of a “lived” purpose – one that comes straight from the heart of all those who work. This sense of purpose will remain a constant in their everyday decisions. More recent research conducted by Top Employers Institute shows that organisations will only see the benefits of a solid organisational purpose if they have the right leaders to bring it to life.
Purpose-driven leadership is critical to success. So, what do employees want from their leaders in 2024?
On big-picture issues, they want leaders to be situated in the real world, speaking about real-world problems, just as their employees would. They should think beyond immediate business concerns to offer more to their employees.
Empathy is also at the heart of purpose-driven leadership. Leaders will need this trait as much as their business acumen in the coming year.
Empathy requires a genuine two-way dialogue. Leaders must listen more – employees expect an authentic voice in important decisions.
Organisational purpose is an evolving and collaborative process that demands the commitment of every employee. That leads us to our third trend. You can find all the details about this trend and more in the complete report. Download it now!
Trend 3: Dialogue for Transformation
Employees who feel genuinely listened to by the organisation are more likely to be engaged, and organisations orchestrating meaningful employee dialogues are reaping the benefits. Our latest Top Employers data shows that almost every HR practice encouraging employee involvement in strategic decisions helps to drive business success metrics.
A Dialogue for Transformation has two elements:
On an individual level, employees need to see their input applied practically in business decisions – those who feel empowered to influence how their work gets done experience far higher performance levels and job satisfaction.
Beyond the individual, collective intelligence describes the alchemy that happens when diverse perspectives meet collaboratively. It represents the sum of individual intelligence and the additional innovation sparked through their combination.
Empowerment plus collective intelligence has helped to drive new ideas for organisations, often above and beyond the scope of regular day-to-day business.
Moving the needle on what matters will demand ever closer and more constant conversation with employees. Transformational dialogue will be foundational for the last two trends. Download the full report to find out more.
Trend 4: Evolution of Wellbeing Effectiveness
Many organisations struggle to balance their HR budgets while still trying to enhance employee wellbeing. In 2024, therefore, wellbeing will be about getting the most suitable offerings, not the most. Research carried out by Top Employers Institute last year demonstrated that additional wellbeing programmes provided little or no additional benefit to employees beyond a saturation point.
Most Top Employers actively promote their wellbeing programmes through organisation-wide strategy, assessment and metrics.
Organisation-wide total wellbeing strategy. Nearly four in five (79%) organisations have a coherent overarching approach to all dimensions of wellbeing (up four percentage points since our last survey).
Wellbeing programme assessment. Nearly three in four (72%) organisations regularly conduct an ’employee wellbeing needs assessment’ to identify employee needs, interests, likes and dislikes and adjust their offerings where appropriate (up five percentage points).
Wellbeing metrics. We have also seen a significant increase in the use of metrics, with over two-thirds of our Top Employers consistently using them (68%, up eight percentage points), along with the accountability of over half (54%) of leaders to meet wellbeing targets (up seven percentage points).
With this, there may be specific wellbeing challenges for new demographics, which takes us to our final trend.
Trend 5: Broaden the Horizon of DEI
In the last year, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have also come under budgetary pressure, so organisations are looking for these initiatives to impact their workforce positively. In 2024, the tight talent market will grow as employers become more open to “non-traditional” candidates.
We think DEI approaches will change in three ways:
The consideration of diversity will expand far beyond demographic segmentation. Whilst groupings, such as gender and race, will continue to be areas of focus, 2024 will see a shift towards a more nuanced approach to DEI. For example, expect the importance of neurodivergent talent (and its link to higher levels of creativity and innovation) to grow.
DEI analytics and the metrics used will become more sophisticated. Not all demographics are straightforward to capture. However, we have learned from progress in gender representation that data is critical to improvement.
The “majority” will be actively included in DEI strategies at some point in their career journey, with different experiences increasingly acknowledged. A more holistic inclusion strategy will likely be adopted to complement the ongoing targeted initiatives for under-represented groups.
Download a copy of The World of Work 2024 by filling out the form now.
How Generative AI is Impacting Personalised Learning and Development
How HR Teams are Embracing Technology to Change their Approach to Career Development and Learning Programmes
Over the past few years, Human Resources professionals have begun to embrace several technological tools to assist in both short and long-term objectives at work. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has yet to be integrated into many HR plans, this has been the year for HR professionals to learn more about generative AI’s capabilities and the effects it could have in the near future.
As seen already at the end of 2023, the integration of generative artificial intelligence could begin to reshape HR learning programmes by offering a dynamic and personalised approach to employee development.
In this article, we will be looking at what effects AI may have on HR, with a particular focus on how it may affect learning and development programmes.
Additionally, we will explore the potential benefits and challenges for HR professionals seeking to create a future-ready workforce.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI is a subset of artificial intelligence that, unlike other AI systems, can autonomously create content, including texts, audio, code, images, text, simulations, and video.
In Human Resources, generative AI revolutionises processes by offering personalised solutions, streamlining tasks, and enhancing the overall employee experience. We explored some ways that AI is changing HR in a previous article that you can read now for more general context on the new relationship between AI and HR.
Personalised Learning and Development in 2024
In the annual World of Work Trends Report 2024, one of the significant trends we identified was that there would be a shift in how HR professionals understood learning and career development programmes. That change would be a move towards a more personalised approach that would give employees more of an active and empowered role in advancing their careers, often through the use of digital and personal resources so that they can develop the competencies and skills needed for the future.
To make the employee experience of attaining new skills more individualised, many organisations are developing easily accessible and on-demand micro-learning tools to allow employees the opportunity to learn ‘just in time’ when needed while it can also be integrated into their other everyday tasks.
Generative AI could empower HR learning programs to move closer to the personalised learning approaches we noted in the World of Work Trends Report.
This tailored approach ensures that employees receive the most relevant and effective training, enhancing their skill development and overall job performance.
How Generative AI Tools Could Impact Learning and Development Programmes
Improving Personalised Learning Paths: AI in talent acquisition can be impressively useful,Generative AI algorithms can analyse individual employee insights, including learning preferences, strengths, and areas for improvement, to generate personalised learning paths. That work empowers HR learning programmes to move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches and move closer to the more individual training programmes that HR leaders hope to get.
AI-Powered Virtual Mentors and Coaches: Generative AI is already giving rise to virtual mentors and coaches that could provide real-time guidance and support to employees. These AI-driven mentors can answer questions, offer insights, and provide personalised feedback, creating a virtual learning environment that complements traditional mentoring programs. This approach ensures that employees have access to guidance whenever needed, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Improving Adaptive Learning Modules: Traditional training modules often follow a fixed structure, regardless of an individual employee’s learning speed and style. Generative AI can introduce adaptive learning modules that evolve based on an employee’s progress. By continuously assessing a learner’s comprehension and adjusting the difficulty level accordingly, HR professionals can optimise the learning experience and improve knowledge retention.
Gamification for Enhanced Engagement: Gamification has proven an effective strategy for boosting employees’ engagement in learning programs. Generative AI can take gamification to the next level by creating personalised game scenarios based on individual employee profiles. By integrating elements of competition, rewards, and social interaction, AI-driven gamification makes learning more enjoyable and motivates employees to participate actively in their development.
Challenges with Implementing Generative AI in Learning and Development Programmes
Generative AI in HR learning programs holds immense promise, but HR professionals must navigate potential challenges and ethical considerations. These include:
Ensuring data privacy.
Addressing algorithmic biases in learning recommendations.
Employee trust and adoption.
And maintaining a balance between automation and the human touch in the learning experience.
Ensuring Data Privacy
One of the most challenging aspects of implementing generative AI tools into an organisation’s strategy is the aspect of data privacy, especially as organisations are still relatively early in their adoption of AI tools.
As AI programmes rely heavily on collecting and analysing vast amounts of employee data to personalise learning experiences, HR professionals must establish robust data protection measures. HR leaders should ensure that they comply with data protection regulations by obtaining informed consent and adopting encryption protocols. These are essential steps to mitigate the risk of unauthorised access or misuse of sensitive employee and organisation information.
Mitigating Algorithmic Biases
It should be common knowledge that generative AI systems are not entirely unbiased. In fact, they are only as unbiased as the data they are trained on. HR professionals need to be vigilant about potential algorithmic biases in learning recommendations.
If the training data used to develop AI models contains biases, the algorithms may perpetuate or even exacerbate existing inequalities. Regular audits of algorithms, diverse and representative training datasets, and continuous monitoring for bias are crucial to ensure fair and equitable learning opportunities for all employees.
Employee Trust and Adoption
Introducing generative AI into HR learning programs may raise employee concerns about job security, privacy, or the perceived objectivity of AI-driven decisions. HR professionals must proactively address these concerns through transparent communication and educational initiatives.
Building trust in AI technologies requires demonstrating their value, emphasising their role as tools for empowerment rather than surveillance, and involving employees in the process to alleviate apprehensions and foster a positive reception.
Balancing Automation and Human Interaction
While the automation capabilities of generative AI can significantly enhance the efficiency of HR learning programs, it is imperative to strike a balance with human interaction. Employees still value the human touch in learning experiences, and specific aspects of development, such as mentorship and interpersonal skills, may be better served through direct human engagement.
HR teams should carefully design AI-driven learning initiatives to complement, rather than replace, the essential human element in the learning journey.
Final Thoughts: Became an employer of choice to embrace HR AI trends before your competition
Generative AI in HR represents a significant leap forward in redefining the employee experience. Organisations can harness AI’s power to streamline processes, enhance employee engagement, and contribute to their overall success.
They must do this by being aware of the ethical practices and staying attuned to the evolving landscape.
Organisations can begin to navigate this transformative journey in the hopes of creating and maintaining workplaces that thrive in the digital age. By joining Top Employers Instite you will access a library of HR AI best practise and anticipate all its trends. Get in touch for free today, become an employer of choice!
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