The future of work: shaping workplaces

The newly released Workforce 2024 Report from global consulting firm Korn Ferry is a comprehensive analysis of the future of work, anticipating the trends and challenges that will shape the future of work and workforce landscapes in the years to come. The report delves into several crucial aspects of workforce planning, offering insights into talent availability, skills demand, and the impact of technological advancements. Our recent eBooks on workplace hospitality and workplace trends shared similar key themes. We explore two of these, in this blog.

Attracting and Retaining Top Talent

One of the central themes in the Korn Ferry report revolves around the evolving talent landscape. There is a critical need for organizations to attract and retain top talent in an increasingly competitive market. With demographic shifts and changing employee expectations, businesses are urged to adopt new strategies for talent acquisition and development. The report highlights the importance of understanding the preferences and motivations of the workforce to effectively engage and retain key talent.

Attracting and retaining top talent can be fully realized by creating a workplace culture that keeps employees happy, motivated and productive. In our Complete Guide to Workplace Hospitality, we explore the growing use of hospitality as a people strategy, in the context of the future of work and the workplace. It’s a familiar concept for most of us, but it’s historically been associated with hotels where they leverage services and amenities that make their accommodations attractive to guests to lure them in and keep them coming back.

Offering hospitality services in the workplace creates a culture that is warm, comfortable and welcoming. It delivers a personalized, consistent experience to all employees and guests so that attracting — and keeping — the skilled talent you need to stay profitable and sustainable is within reach. Workplace hospitality services can range depending on the geographic location and demographics served, but often include:

• Welcome services like greeting, badge support, wayfinding, offering refreshments, luggage handling and more
• Employee and guest services that provide a personalized experience (based on their unique preferences) including luggage handling, pre-arrival communications, introductions, space tours, meeting escorting and more
• Amenity management to provide work-life balance benefits like dry cleaning and laundry services, notary services, errand running and more
• Concierge-style services to secure tickets, make dining reservations, plan travel, provide local information, buy flowers, find special gifts and more
• Meeting and event services that help with room bookings, meeting room set up, invitations (and responses), event planning, audio-visual needs and more

Organizations who embrace an employee-centric approach using workplace hospitality have evolved from the ‘one-size fits all’ mindset to using personalized experiences that will enhance the workplace experience. Not only does this keep employees feeling valued, but it also sends a message to potential employees that they, too, will be valued and appreciated.

Culture As a Currency

In addition to talent, the Korn Ferry report underscores the significance of organizational culture and leadership in shaping today’s modern workforce. A key takeaway is the imperative for leaders to cultivate a work environment that fosters collaboration, agility, and diversity. The report advocates for inclusive leadership practices and a strong emphasis on employee well-being to drive engagement and performance. The role of leadership in driving change and aligning the workforce with the strategic direction of the organization is key.

Circles explored that concept our recent Q3/4 2024 Workplace Trends Report, validating the growing importance of work culture in organizations and emphasizing the need for positive, supportive environments that can connect remote and hybrid employees while combatting toxic culture. In preparing our trends report, we found research from SHRM (The Society of Human Resource Management) indicating a concerning trend of employees feeling emotionally drained, burned out, and disconnected from their work culture. Low employee engagement levels are contributing to high turnover rates and reduced productivity, with U.S. workers experiencing an 11-year low in engagement.

Employers are facing challenges in boosting engagement through traditional methods like pay increases, as economic uncertainties lead to wage stagnation. The future of work is shifting towards fostering a thriving culture as a form of currency to enhance the employee experience, boost engagement, and spur business growth.

A thriving culture should include:

• Clear values that employees can align with
• Strong leadership that embodies those values
• Transparent communication with purpose and meaning
• Collaboration and teamwork are encouraged and supported
• Learning and growth opportunities (especially internal promotion) are available
• Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are core values
• Work-life balance to support employee health
• Health and safety for employees (both at work AND at home) are a top priority
• Sustainable leadership pipelines within the organization

Compensation is evolving

Employers and employees, by definition, have a transactional relationship. Companies financially compensate workers for their time, energy, and effort; workers supply those things to benefit the company. Employers are expanding the concept of ‘compensation’ to include non-monetary benefits and benefits like work-life balance programs, flexible work arrangements, on-site amenities and so forth.

This compensation can and should be an integral part of an organization’s employee value proposition (EVP) — the unique value an employer offers to employees in return for their skills, experience, and loyalty to the organization. A strong EVP can create a culture that inspires valuable talent to want to work at an organization, while simultaneously helping to retain the talent you already employ. Attracting and retaining employees are table stakes for running any business. Keeping employees happy is what helps organizations succeed.

A strong EVP treats people like people, not just workers and includes:

• Clear articulation of why the organization is a great place to work, including the company mission, vision, values and anything that differentiates it from the competitors
• Authenticity with regard to brand values
• Commitment to brand reputation (walk the walk, not just talk the talk)
• Employee-centric benefits that align with employees’ wants/needs and shows them they are valued as humans, not just means to an end
• Opportunities for advancement and career growth
• A positive work environment and work culture, one that values diversity and make everyone feel included and a sense of belonging

Ultimately, placing an emphasis on cultivating a great culture can lead to mutually beneficial outcomes for both employees and employers by creating a thriving work environment that facilitates loyalty, improved performance, and innovation. Get three trending strategies for fostering a great work culture in our Q3/4 2024 Workplace Trends Report, and a “how-to” guide for creating a workplace that fosters connection, provides socialization and promotes collaboration in our Complete Guide to Workplace Hospitality.

By addressing critical areas such as talent management, organizational culture and leadership now, organizations can begin navigating the dynamic and transformative nature of work in 2024 and beyond.