Chapter 15
Elephant: You Resist Emerging Work Trends
If you want to attract the top talent of today, you have to stop thinking like the people leaders of yesterday.
For example, what aspects of a working life do you consider a “given”? Do you believe that having a job means you’re in the office every day from 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.? What’s your expectation of paid time off (PTO)—ten days a year? More, if your time-off policy is especially liberal? What benefits automatically come with a full-time job? You likely expect that your company will offer a retirement plan—but what about help repaying student loans?
People leaders of any organization today find themselves helming a work force of unprecedented diversity. This diversity comes in several forms. There’s the kind we discussed in Chapter 10—of gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. But age is also an area of increasing diversity. Baby boomers are living longer and working longer; three out of four Americans report that they plan to continue working past age 65. Millennials are maturing in their careers and rising to positions of leadership. Gen Z is entering the work force. Each generation brings its own expectations about what makes for meaningful work.
In this chapter, we will look at seven major work trends I have experienced with my Silicon Valley clients and their brand-name digital competitors for some time, although they might still be new to you. Some of these we’ve touched on in previous chapters, so this space will serve as a review. This chapter will also aim to give you a better picture of the work landscape from a candidate’s point of view. From there, you can capitalize on whichever trend best aligns with your mission and vision.
Seven Emerging Work Trends You Should Be Paying Attention To
Work trends come and go—they are trends, after all. But some have staying power. I have noticed seven in particular in my work as an executive recruiter that indicate a move toward a new way of working. Any company looking to scale and stay relevant should pay attention to them. You shouldn’t feel pressured to completely overhaul your company’s “style” to attract unicorns, but you may recognize some things your organization is already doing well and lean into them. Since the world of work is increasingly diverse, your unicorns could be attracted by any one of dozens of attributes.
Flexible Working Hours
As a population, we’re long past the concept of the 9-to-5, 40-hour workweek. The ubiquity of technology has resulted in most professionals performing work functions outside working hours—in the evenings, first thing in the morning, on the weekends, etc. In many ways, we’ve moved past the need for a physical, central work space (though we haven’t outgrown the need for human interaction, as evidenced by the emergence of shared work spaces). The gig economy has also elevated the role of freelancers in large organizations. Thus, the boundaries between work and other aspects of life have become even more porous.
Do your company policies recognize this flexibility? Professionals increasingly expect their employers to offer benefits such as working one day a week from home or flexible start and end times. For example, Student Loan Hero, which helps recent grads organize, manage, and repay student loans, has an entirely remote work force—and they didn’t lose a single employee in their first five years, as reported in a Gusto article by Kinjal Dagli Shah. It’s a truly mind-boggling statistic that illustrates how flexible work arrangements communicate to your teams that you value their time and trust them to do their work. Such a vote of confidence goes a long way.
Emphasis on Financial Wellness
Speaking of student loans, according to Debt.org, the total U.S. student debt currently stands at about $1.54 trillion. Trillion. A graduating member of the class of 2016 owes on average more than $37,000 in student loans, according to Ivy League executive coach Aviva Legatt. The crushing student loan debt of American students in particular has been described as a type of financial trauma. In an April 2018 Business Insider article, Judith Ohikuare reported on companies that have realized that offering assistance to workers with student debt gives them a competitive edge in the marketplace. Companies like accounting firm PwC and fitness company Peloton offer employees $100 a month toward their student loan principal. A common trend is to cap payments at $10,000. If you have an employee coming in with $30,000 in student debt who sees an opportunity to erase $10,000 of it over seven years, that’s hugely motivating. It’s a brilliant strategy that provides a win-win: debt relief for your team members and employee retention for the organization.
Mental and Emotional Wellness Takes Center Stage
Besides student loan assistance, PwC is also leading the way in offering emotional and mental health assistance to its employees. Beth Taylor is the mental health leader at PwC. She has helped launch an initiative to name six PwC leaders as “mental health advocates.” Struggling employees are encouraged to reach out to one of these advocates, who have been trained in empathy and nonjudgmental listening. As part of this initiative, PwC has begun “Green Light to Talk” days. Participants wear green ribbons to indicate they are available for conversation about the importance of mental well-being. The point is to destigmatize mental illness.
PwC is just one example of a company that has made mental wellness a priority. People leaders of today should be aware that younger workers have come of age with words like “mindfulness,” “wellness,” and “emotional health” as part of their lexicon. They’re most likely accustomed to talking openly about their experiences in therapy, and yoga has never been an exotic concept for them. If you have any hang-ups about discussing mental and emotional health, you’d be wise to move past them and see how you can prioritize wellness in the workplace, or have someone else in company leadership drive such an initiative.
Timely Performance Reviews
In Chapter 8, we talked about the need for managers to deliver ongoing feedback to their direct reports. Feedback should be given as often as possible so that direct reports can course-correct as needed—or so they can receive affirmation for work well-done and be incentivized to do more. (Remember: Managers should be receiving feedback from their direct reports as well and must take the time to make this a regular feature of the workplace. This two-way communication establishes trust.)
More and more organizations are adopting this approach. The result: 8 to 12 percent of Fortune 500 companies have eliminated annual performance reviews (as of 2014) and 29 percent are thinking about eliminating them. Leaders at top organizations have expressed their frustrations with the old model. The yearly performance review creates excessive paperwork, restricts creativity, causes undue stress, requires a huge time investment for limited gains, etc. The primary difficulty with the yearly review is that it evaluates work done in the past, rather than focusing on how the team member can grow in the future. The tension between yearly performance review proponents and those who espouse the ongoing feedback model aligns with the fixed mindset vs. growth mindset debate. Do you believe that employees’ talent is fixed—that “you get what you get” when you hire someone? Or do you value the potential in your direct reports and believe each could rise to positions of increased leadership and responsibility?
More companies are embracing a growth mindset these days, and that requires regular, ongoing feedback, which allows for quicker improvement and growth. If you’re still doing a yearly performance review, I invite you to reconsider your methods. I truly believe it will soon be relegated to history.
Prominent Use of Artificial Intelligence
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. This is where the war for talent is especially hot; companies are courting AI engineers and tech specialists (and offering them exorbitant salaries) to compete. One example of AI becoming more commonplace in the work force is chatbots. When is the last time you interacted with a chatbot? Chances are it was very recently. Chatbots have become key for customer relations, and they will only become more prominent: In 2018, research and advisory company Gartner predicted that by 2021, 50 percent of enterprises will spend more on developing chatbots and other bots than mobile apps.
AI is the new electricity. It will revitalize almost every service available today. In Chapter 14, we looked at how new recruiting software uses artificial intelligence to match candidates with employers as well as to predict companies’ future needs. Recruitment technology is one area in which AI is already front and center; there are now dozens of programs that will do the tedious work of scanning resumes. Today’s recruiters can spend their time doing the human-centered work of educating candidates and working with hiring managers to meet current needs.
I mention recruiting to illustrate a larger trend: We needn’t fear AI. Culturally, we’re moving past the doom-and-gloom thinking that previously dominated any attempt to have a meaningful conversation about it (thank God). Humans working with AI systems have the power to advance society in ways that capture the imagination and inspire hope and excitement. CEOs and other people leaders still stuck in fear mode would do well to educate themselves and start dreaming about the possibilities.
Embracing an Aging Work Force
Over the past 100 years, we have increased our life expectancy by 50 percent. One result of this astounding achievement is that more workers are staying on the job past the “traditional” retirement age. There are a number of reasons for this. Older workers may be supporting children facing enormous student loan debts, or they may still be rebuilding retirement savings they lost in the 2008 recession. Many see no point in retiring at 65; they’ve attained status and respectability in their careers and remain healthy and interested in the work, so why quit for a retirement that could last decades?
How well does your workplace accommodate older workers? Are you actively working to prevent ageism in the office? Look to Germany to see what fighting ageism in the work force looks like. Car company Daimler has 136,000 employees; the average age is 44.7. Emma Thomasson, reporting for Reuters in June 2018, described how Daimler established an exhibit to bust stereotypes about age: Participants enter the exhibit through “young” or “old” doors, based on their personal feeling (not their actual age). Inside, they are tested on things like memory, grip strength, how high they can jump, etc. They are then given an “emotional age” and a “biological age.” The exhibit is meant to show that many stereotypes of aging are out of date and that diversity of age means diversity of experience.
Also in Germany, tech company SAP runs a “mature talents” program, a two-way mentoring program between younger and older employees. It is designed to ensure that employees who are about to retire effectively transfer their knowledge to the next generation of workers.
In meeting the needs of older workers, communication is key. For example, absenteeism is a common problem with older workers that may be due in part to more physical ailments or chronic illness. It’s important for people leaders to keep lines of communication open to understand why their older workers are absent (if this is, indeed, a trend in your company). Could you make some simple modifications to their job functions or automate some tasks to ease physical strain? Would more PTO be attractive to your older employees?
Attracting and retaining younger employees is vital to your company’s success, of course. Yet older employees represent a treasure trove of knowledge and experience. Looking to the needs of an aging work force so this knowledge can be used and ultimately passed on should be a facet of your strategic planning.
Increasing Reliance on Freelance Workers
Particularly in the U.S., the “gig economy” is huge. Caleb Gayle reported for The Guardian in June 2018 that 16.5 million Americans are working in “alternative” or “contingent” roles. That number is still just an educated guess; there’s no way to know the exact percentage of the labor force working in freelance roles. Many people freelance as their primary means of employment, while others pick up side gigs like driving for Lyft or Uber in addition to their full-time jobs. Workers may opt in to the gig economy for many reasons: They see more earning potential than in a full-time job, they need a side hustle to pay off debts like student loans, they desire freedom and flexibility in their work schedules—the reasons are as varied as the individuals themselves. Whatever the causes of the gig economy’s rise, it’s not going away anytime soon. To ensure your processes run smoothly, you need to make accommodations for freelance workers to avoid continual interruptions whenever one employee leaves for another gig.
One way to do this is to create a remote, virtual workplace in which freelancers can learn the necessary skills fast. Managers also need to be able to continuously deliver feedback, even without the face-to-face, trustbuilding relationships that take place in an office.
Above all, you must embrace and attend to the needs of your freelancers. How you treat freelancers is as important to your employer brand as how you treat your full-time employees. Whatever you do, don’t discount the contributions freelancers make to your company. Even though they don’t have salaries, freelancers may prove to be some of your most valuable employees.
Creating the Workplace of the Future
PwC published a 2017 report, “Workplace of the Future,” in which it attempted to analyze the work landscape of 2030, drawing on research conducted from 2007 to 2017. The report is rich and wide-ranging but can in essence be boiled down to a few key messages for people leaders:
▶ Act now: The future is here, and the rate of technological evolution is only accelerating.
▶ Recognize that the future is not “fixed”: Plan for a dynamic rather than static future. Employ the motto “No regrets and bets.”
▶ Go “bigger” and think in radical leaps rather than baby steps.
▶ Immerse yourself in the “automation debate.” If you leave it to HR and technological specialists, you will be left behind.
▶ Protect people, not jobs. Nurture people’s development through re-skilling; make adaptability a core virtue.
▶ Contextualize work with a clear narrative. Recognize that employees feel anxious about losing their jobs to automation; create open dialogue around this and continually include them in the story.
The report is worth reading in its entirety. In one especially interesting feature, researchers proposed four plausible futures for the work landscape of 2030:
1. A “gold” future in which humans come first, and social services/community-centered businesses prosper
2. A “red” future in which innovation rules, individuals and corporations race to give consumers the best products and services, and niche markets prosper
3. A “blue” future in which “corporate is king,” and individual preferences take precedence over social responsibility
4. A “green” future in which “corporations care,” and businesses take the lead in driving social change on issues like climate change and health care
Which future would you like to live in? How could you, as a people leader at your organization, with your team members and your particular set of opportunities and challenges, begin living in this future right now? The report urges, “This isn’t a time to sit back and wait for events to unfold. To be prepared for the future, you have to understand it.”
I tip my hat to that. “Emerging work trends” or “the future” in general needn’t be seen as an elephant blocking your way. A more helpful analogy might be to view it as a wave to be ridden.
When you catch a good wave and ride its crest, picking up speed and distance the longer you stay up—so much faster and more thrillingly than your arms and legs could have ever taken you—true magic happens.
The Emotional Intelligence Factor
Adapting to emerging work trends is not easy. Change never is (for most of us, at least). People leaders poised to weather changes in the work force must engage fully the decision-making component of emotional intelligence. You must problem solve—one of the subcategories of decision making, which means you anticipate the needs of the market and pivot the company as required to meet them. You must also test reality, another pillar of decision making; it’s imperative that people leaders be clear-eyed about the changing work landscape and see things as they really are. There’s no sense in wishing for a bygone era or crossing your fingers in the hopes that things will continue exactly as they are. Successful people leaders are always looking to the future and trying to determine what’s just around the bend. With astute observations and counsel from trusted business partners and mentors, you can anticipate shifts in the marketplace and change course as needed.
The stress-management component of EQ is also put to the test when adapting to the changing work landscape. Flexibility is a pillar of stress management. An effective people leader in the fourth industrial revolution can hold his plans and ideas in an open palm. He must be committed to success but flexible with the plans he will implement to achieve that success. People leaders must also stay optimistic, another pillar of stress management. This optimism is not a “pie in the sky,” delusional sort of hope but one that is rooted in reality. That old saying is true: “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.” Do you dread the future or anticipate it? Remember that if you’re leading from a place of worry and stress, that negative energy will leak all over your company, and your forecast of doom will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even in the midst of vast upheaval and change, you can hold on to the practices and people who remind you of your essential humanity. Thus, you create spaciousness in your day, your week, and your life. (Go back and reread Chapter 13 if you need reminders on how to do this.)
As a people leader, it’s important to keep constant watch on the horizon. What does the future look like for your company? How can you stay ahead of the curve so you can recruit unicorns who can, in turn, help you enhance your company? Ask yourself and your team these questions:
▶ What kind of “future organization” are you creating, as defined by PwC? (See “Creating the Workplace of the Future” on page 140.)
▶ How are you fostering a feedback culture?
▶ How do you want your organization to stand out from a mental health and emotional wellness perspective?
▶ How will you prepare your organization for remote workers?
▶ How can you support your employees’ financial wellness?
▶ Do you have a bias against flexible working hours? Examine and, if need be, reevaluate your attitude.
▶ How can AI help your organization compete?
▶ Is ageism (against older or younger workers) a problem in your workplace? If so, what are some creative ways you could counter it?