Human Capital Trends
The focus of this year’s Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends – Leading the social enterprise: Reinvent with a human focus – is about reinventing the workplace through a human focused lens. A telling data point is the response from CEOs on their most important measure of success for 2019, the top issue is “impact on society, including income inequality, diversity, and the environment.” While this type of response is expected, the pressure to take action on it, and not just pay lip service, has reached critical mass.
As companies are evolving to keep up with technology changes, including automation, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence, among others, a new term encapsulates this metamorphosis, social enterprise. Deloitte defines a social enterprise as, “A social enterprise is an organization whose mission combines revenue growth and profit-making with the need to respect and support its environment and stakeholder network. This includes listening to, investing in, and actively managing the trends that are shaping today’s world. It is an organization that shoulders its responsibility to be a good citizen (both inside and outside the organization), serving as a role model for its peers and promoting a high degree of collaboration at every level of the organization.”
The ethos supported by the social enterprise is growing. 44% of respondents said it is more important that it was three years ago, and 56% said it will be more important in three years compared to today. The report also highlighted the pressure employees are under mentally and financially. 40% of the US workforce is working on a contingent basis, and more than 66% of millennial and Generation Z workers also have a side hustle to make ends meet. Interestingly, the report notes that the fastest growing segment of the US workforce is age 55+.
Other statistics from the report highlight the need to focus on people to remain competitive.
- 86% of respondents said they must reinvent their ability to learn
- 84% of respondents said they need to rethink their workforce experience to improve productivity
- 80% of respondents said they need to develop leaders differently
- 85% of employees around the world are not engaged or actively disengaged from their jobs – the number one reason people leave a job is their inability to learn and grow
To address these challenges, Deloitte recommends five human principles for companies to benchmark progress:
- Purpose and meaning
- Ethics and fairness
- Growth and passion
- Collaboration and personal relationships
- Transparency and openness
Going a step further, they also define three categories for 10 human capital trends
- The future of the workforce
- Alternative work arrangements have become mainstream
- Technology is creating a new level of jobs called “superjobs”
- Leadership requires new competencies that complement traditional skills
- The future of the organization
- Put meaning into the employee experience, creating the human experience
- Focus on teams over hierarchies
- Align reward and incentive structures with employee expectations
- The future of Human Resources
- Find new ways to access talent
- Improve learning opportunities at work
- Consider internal mobility for career paths
- The cloud is just the beginning for HR
All of this information is helpful for companies that are looking to reinvent themselves, but getting started is daunting. Deloitte outlines three alternatives to help you.
- Refresh – Updating and improving your current systems
- Rewire – Finding and creating new connections that change your strategic direction
- Recode – starting from scratch
The key to any of these methodologies is that they involve technology and are bold enough to create real, lasting change. As the report says, “tinkering at the edges” is not going to cut it.
For more details, we recommend reading the report in its entirety. And if you have questions or want to discuss how you can work with your executive team to address your specific human capital challenges, send us note. We’re happy to provide our insight and expertise on hiring, training, and culture assessments.