6 different employees

As the economic and social landscape of our times change, one sees 6 different employees emerging on the horizon. Their differences are widening by the day and Human Resources for them mean different things.

Firstly, what is changing in our eco-social landscape?

I believe the global economy is getting back to growth; however, it is doing so in parts. Geo-political tensions (Iraq, Ukraine-Russia) will introduce new dynamics in the global economy. A digital revolution is sweeping the world accelerating the pace of globalization across product, labour and financial markets.

Equally, big changes are altering the eco-social landscape altering how people seek employment, in what mode they choose to be employed and why they do so.

Workplaces are more transparent: Employers can see more of their talent and so can talent see more of their employers, warts and all. The levels of information and hence the power is shifting in favor of talent than employers. Is your organization just about coping with this change or is ahead of the curve, for it alters the way you source talent.

Work is just part of a portfolio: The dominance of work identity in the overall identity of workforce is diminishing. One sees“contractual commitment” vs “an intrinsic commitment”. The organization has become another network for the individual. This certainly shifts the paradigm on engagement, performance and rewards

Definition of Good Talent: Shortening the cycle time from concept-to-deployment is the new competitive advantage. Organizations now need to abandon the search for “all weather leaders” in favor of leaders who will take their firms from point A to point B. In the extreme, Boards could appoint even CEO's to perform a task

Motivators: As workplaces become more individualized (bring your own device, work from anywhere), each individual will be moved by a cluster of passion drivers. It could be sense of achievement, sense of mastery, architecting the future or pursuing work-life integration.

Performance, Effectiveness & Contribution: Depending on the employee group, 3 questions will become relevant – how will my output be used, how many likes I have in my network and Am I an employee or ideapreneur?

To take advantage of these changes, 6 different employee segments need to be recognized. They need to be sourced, contracted, engaged and measured differently.

Rainmaker: Someone who can get business with her networking, selling and negotiating skills. The Return on Investment is the key variable to manage the rainmaker

Leadership: Who would take the firm from “point A to point B”. Their effectiveness question is always “what is the trick I am missing”, their engagement question is “Do I have the freedom to paint this canvass”, their development question is “how can I use feedback to become a more worthy leader to my team”

Middle Manager: Their engagement and retention question is “Will I be at my best in this eco-system of talent, process and governance?’, or, in motivation theory terms: “Does my effort lead to output, do the output lead to results and do the results lead to rewards”. Their career question will be to ask “how do I learn to take useful leadership calls?”

Expert: They will be working across organizations and will produce superior solutions by cross-pollinating ideas from different contexts. Communication and virtual working will be a sought after development offering for the expert, so their output does not get lost in translation. They will “report” to a work manager and they will ask of him or her; is she helping me become effective?

A variable workforce: This will become up to a third or more in every industry, including knowledge industries in the service sector. The key HR questions to make them productive would be – how do we onboard the variable workforce in the shortest possible time?’, how do we ensure their job specifications are clear, how can we treat them with respect and dignity, how do we equip them with the necessary information.

Traditional Employee: The one who is not described in the above archetypes is the current “traditional employee”. They will constitute only half of the current workforce. Their key results would be dependable execution, learning agility for future skills. They would demand a transparent contract, including clarity on how will they grow? Their motivations will peak if their workplaces allow them to be themselves, if their work has intrinsic meaning and if they are learning every day

It would be a challenge to create talent pipeline for each of the employee groups. This will involve re-thinking of our sourcing, selecting, on-boarding, engaging, and rewarding systems. At the heart of such re-thinking would be to recognize that there is not one but 6 different employees in your workforce

Do you agree?