As we slide into 2019, employers should be aware of some workplace trends that pertain to distributed, flexible workforces. To get the lay of the land, I asked Greg Pryor, senior vice president of people and performance at Workday, for his perspective.
Below are some highlights of our conversation that reflect specific strategies companies can leverage to address top career trends that are already starting to shape 2019:
Master people enablement.
When it comes to workers and workplaces, we’re in a new era that Pryor calls the age of people enablement. “In this age, employees operate more like free agents looking for new skills, the best fits, and continuous learning, and they want employers that enable them to be their best selves,” he explains, noting that this is “hugely different” from previous eras through 2010, in which companies managed people.
As context for these assertions, Pryor points to research from global management expert Tammy Erickson, which indicates that what happens in the world during our formative years shapes psychological narratives that we use to process the rest of our lives. Millennials entered the workforce during the uncertainty of the Great Recession, which may help explain findings from a recent Deloitte survey that found just over a quarter of millennials (28%) plan to stay in their current role for more than five years—which means that the rest plan to move on. “They now want to amass skill sets that will give them options when it comes to surviving the next great uncertainty,” notes Pryor. “With this in mind, companies need to enable people—not manage them—to compete for the best talent because employees want to be seen as partners.”
Create a culture of optionality.
Studies have also shown that for companies to attract and retain the best talent, salary remains important—but pay on its own is an insufficient talent magnet. To stay competitive, Pryor advises today’s employers to also offer “optionality” in the form of professional development opportunities to help employees move their careers forward, and flexible work cultures. Managers also need to look at their people as true partners, not just as resources.
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“This means encouraging employees to expand their skill sets while they are inside the enterprise,” Pryor elaborates. “By encouraging internal mobility, companies will keep their best people and ensure that they are engaged with work they are passionate about. I see this as a ‘tour of duty’ philosophy.” To pull this tour off successfully, he suggests that managers become more like coaches, and executives should reward managers who help propel their team members forward: “At Workday, we think of employee career aspirations in terms of experiences, not ladders.”
Understand the new career currency.
Pryor states that capabilities are the new career currency for employees: “Workers want to ensure they remain relevant and marketable in evolving economic environments and are preparing themselves for the future. Workers want more control over how their work connects to their careers and their lives.” In thinking about how these trends affect traditional workers as well as independent ones, Pryor notes that in some ways, the gig economy doesn’t just pertain to employees working outside of companies as contractors. “Internally, employees also want gigs that enable them to deepen their skill sets and have a variety of work experiences,” he says.
Think more of assignments, less of jobs.
Organizations should actively support their employees’ desire to expand their skills and take on new challenges: “I see innovative companies using more organic teams, which form around projects, then disband when the project is done, only to have new teams form for new projects,” says Pryor. “By encouraging this flow, companies will feed acceptance of internal mobility and recognition of the need for new career experiences for individuals.”
Be transparent about opportunities.
A culture of transparency in which managers freely share information about opportunities makes internal mobility more possible. Pryor suggests that employers can facilitate this goal by adopting technology that helps employees access information about projects, jobs, and teams. He gives an example of Workday’s Opportunity Graph, which offers employees a personalized view of career paths within their companies by revealing the job moves of others who have held the same role. “With this information, workers, known as ‘Workmates’ at Workday, can more easily see how they might want to structure their career paths and determine who to connect with,” explains Pryor.
Rethink learning.
Millions of people have enrolled in online courses over the last few years, and over a billion learning-related videos are viewed daily on YouTube. Pryor mentions that these trends show that people want to learn about what interests them, and companies can help provide that: “By creating a consumer-like approach to learning, companies can engage workers with the content the workers want, delivered how and when they want it. This will be far more effective than the traditional stand-and-deliver classroom lecture, whether in person or online.”
Embrace self-driven development.
Another link in the chain of self-development is arming employees with tools and knowledge to help them pursue their desired skills and competencies. Workday recently rolled out personalized training through Agile Career workshops, modeled after agile software development, which teach people how to pursue their own Career Sprints. “Through career sprints, employees pick and focus on growing one capability and one connection that will help them achieve their career interests,” explains Pryor. “During a sprint, employees identify where they are in terms of career interests and goals, and what career accelerators would help them pursue those goals. They then plan with their manager to build those experiences into their work, and track progress.”
While change always brings new challenges, successful employers will view these trends as opportunities. Enabling enterprises that meet employees where they are—and help them get where they want to go—will be best positioned for success.
Photo Credit: bigstockphoto.com
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