EVIDENCE The Talent Landscape is NOW your Biggest Threat, or is it?

In 2010, I founded HRBoost and I had a big vision. I aimed to bring JOY and PURPOSE to people through their work. Today, I have over twenty (20) Boosters that are more than employees, they are people I respect and admire. I pray each day they see me as more than a “boss” and rather someone they can respect and admire. When HRBoost was founded, it was the only HR Shared Services firm of its kind. A firm that blends virtual service with embedded presence, providing a dedicated team and at the clients’ pace and budget delivering strategic HR. We like to say, strategic HR, day one, employee one!

Back then, my first client was my first-born child. I had earned the privilege to consult and work on my own terms. Little did I know, I was not the only working mother who had earned skill through years of experience/education that desired to be “mommy” and yet still exercise intellectual potential all the while not sacrificing my earnings. Today, nearly every person on my team is a parent, and some are even grandparents.?I am humbled to see them deliver excellence to our clients while playing in our intellectual playground a.k.a the “office”. For us, the word “office” became a verb long ago and performance is measured by impact. Commitment is not measured by physical presence but rather the level of collaboration against execution through the work itself.

Amidst the Pandemic, something fascinating has taken place. The world is acknowledging the challenge of working families and the fact that they represent a third of the workforce. Recently, I discovered Maven, the largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health. They partnered with a Great Place to Work? to conduct the largest-ever study of working parents. The data says it all. Parents are diverse and families can be made up from any subset of humans. What once was standard benefits plan design (e.g., Compensation, Fair Management, Participation/Involvement, Opportunity for Advancement/Career Path as well as the benefits themselves) is no longer going to be enough to retain your skilled talent. Nearly every company has changed and/or adapted their policies amidst Covid-19. Some were legally required while other, newer programs and benefits emerged to become the new, must haves to achieve talent retention. The need for businesses to invest in the challenges their talent has been facing has been critical to not only keeping the business alive but also keeping the people that serve the business working. Women have long been an opportunity for businesses. The fact remains that 57% of women that become mothers fail to return to work after taking their initial maternity leave[i] . So, gender equity has always been a factor, but in the United States there is even more happening. ?Racial unrest has been an ongoing wave, comprising protests and riots, against systemic racism towards black people in the US, notably in the form of police violence[ii] . The impacts of these events have confronted the business community to act. Diversity and Inclusion officer and management positions were staffed, donations, public statements and commitments were made. The fact remains that the results of these events will reveal for years to come as decisions are being made now. The now evidence however is that the events of late have resulted, despite years of progress, in gender and diversity taking a direct negative hit. In fact, we are now back at the level’s women participated in the labor pool back in 1988. While a record number of women were elected to Congress in 2020, there are other statistics that tells us that 80% of the talent that left the labor force by September 2020 were in fact women. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides that this includes 324,000 Latinas and 58,000 women of color. Maven translates this data to result in four times (4x) more women than men have dropped out of the available talent pool these past 12 months. This is compounded by the reality that despite what many think, this is not a temporary trend.

The shift of human capital will not bounce back as easy as economists forecast business to bounce back in coming years. I believe that the exodus of talent shifting in the marketplace is a trend that is actively shifting to men as well and some may ask why? Well, burnout is a real problem, and it is still unraveling before our eyes. Maven reported a 320% spike in mental health appointments in recent months. Not surprising, as I have declared to my own team that mental health can no longer be taboo in the workplace. ?I have personally been witnessing real burnout among the caregivers inside businesses; be it your manager, your CEO, or your HR representation. Everyone is tired and resilience is being tested. Everyone everywhere is getting through this and the future of work has not only changed, but we must accept it is also evolving. It is all happening so fast in real time. I have an 11-year-old child that is on Zoom two times (2x) weekly with a one-on-one instructor based in Mumbai, India. For many of us, it is beyond comprehension. In fact, the way many adults worked a year ago has altered in such a way, they are still wrapping their minds around it.

The new must-haves for sustainable productivity in business, let alone retention of talent, include real advocacy for mental health and safety at the forefront. The impacts on the next generation are hard to measure right now but we all know it will surely be impactful on the future. Childcare and back up care as well as long term care resources like EAPs have been seen in some larger businesses for years. Nonetheless, the creativity of some of the best leading companies include exploratory new programs and solutions to meet the talent where they are, at home. Pivoting to provide virtual and/or onsite learning resources at a discount or even for free. This was necessary as children came home and for many the end is far from sight. Companies were forced to act and adapt to keep their talent working when many felt like throwing in the towel. I was even onsite at a client in the essential sector this past week and I walked past cubicles with children in them. Remember, take your child to work day? An actual national day declared to be April 23rd each year. It’s laughable now and that may be a good thing. It was wonderful to witness all the pets and children that interrupted our meetings this past year. Suddenly, real life is okay. Finally, people are realizing we do not need to be compartmentalized to be professional. We are who we are and Amen. And for all to feel this, not just men or women, but all!

And some who were ahead of the curve can now help the rest of the majority to make the necessary transitions. For example, mentorship programs have morphed into businesses formally identifying internal coaches and advocate programs. One of my favorites is offered by a recognized leader in engagement, PwC who pivoted by offering Parent Flexibility Champions to provide support to working parents in developing their own flexible working arrangements. This requires greater communication and transparency in businesses and among teams. While many employers had to be flexible during the lockdowns and shelter at home orders, there were many essential businesses that never closed. I found myself serving them in person and the businesses that had me onsite were investing in listening to the heart of their business. Leading companies believe in and support two-way conversation and no decision isolated to the top executives will serve all in your organization well. How could it??More than 75% of working parents surveyed cited their employer’s programs to be ineffective for working parents. Meanwhile, the response to parents was so mainstream that many who were not parents suddenly felt less important at work and this is a whole new subset of generational upset. This finding leads me to believe that everyone is feeling the priorities.?Unlike the equal opportunity and same general brush approach to all the programs and work assignments of the future must set forth the need for businesses to meet talent wherever they are in the life stage. It is now necessary to create custom and/or elective options for people depending on their life stage. By only speaking to one segment of your workforce, be it women or working parents, inequalities will be felt. It is imperative that every business speak to each demographic in order for them all to feel heard and acknowledged. Most parents fall into much of the available workforce given Millennials now make up 50% of the available talent pool and Gen X’ers comprising a third of the current talent pool domestically. It is essential to attract new Generation Z talent coming out of college. In fact, this talent is career minded and fiscally conservative like the greatest generation was. The key difference is these young professionals are tech savvy and globally networked. ?Point being, while nearly all your talent is likely in the years of raising a family, your current talent on payroll is not your future talent nor the talent you are trying to keep working longer. Reality tells me that many companies are still figuring out how to adapt. As for the talent, many will choose to never come back, and some made choices to switch jobs, move out of state and even change careers just to get access to virtual work. I find some leaving full time work to go to part time work to care for their family members, be it an older grandparent, an ill spouse, or a child. You hear it clearly in job advertisements of growing companies now offering sign on bonuses and agile shift scheduling as well as full benefits for part time workers. I feel many businesses will fail to adapt and keep pace with this shift in practice. ?Many will even underestimate the impact of how the realities of the pandemic hit home. While the truly best companies retain talent successfully by providing flexibility, resources, and support; I feel that employees will not be as generous with their discretionary effort. Discretionary effort is what people choose to do when no one is looking. Like the executives I spoke with in March that didn’t like how their employer handled the workforce during the pandemic. Discretionary effort is the energy they reserve to fuel their sense of passion, accomplishment or something that makes them feel good. Thus, if getting something done makes them feel good, the question remains will it be for home or work? Home will win 9 times out 10 but the challenge will be for employers to make the life of an employee so seamless in their transition between home and work that the two are integrated. Work life integration makes space for physical health, mental well-being, and overall self-actualization.?When people are enabled and empowered through work to do what is best for them, discretionary effort is realized. If personal values align with organizational values, then what is best for them is in fact the best for the business in which they work as well. Imagine your talent being enabled to achieve excellence in both places and feel good rather than feel the need to choose and sacrifice one for the other.??Imagine if your business had a hand in making that a reality for everyone. Unless the businesses really advocate for shared leadership across demographics and a shared fate to affect the greater good overall, businesses that conduct business as usual when we all know it isn’t usual, will lose. In essence, gone are the days of just providing benefits. Truly caring for people is not a perk you get at work. Truly caring is essential to any relationship and businesses need to start to recognize the relationship they have with everyone on the team. This requires leadership at all levels.

The evidence in other areas I witness leads me to believe that what I once thought about freelancers has been firmly set into motion. Freelancers were to comprise about 50% of the available talent pool by 2027. Yet, as of 2021, 48% of the US based talent pool is virtual and for those that have now experienced and lived more productively working remote, ordering remote, picking up curbside everywhere, it seems prudent to say that the talent will seek their employers to sustain the “good part of remote work” whatever that may be at your business. In fact, as companies consider their return to work strategies it is important to emphasize that employers should make decisions about the future only after they have derived their employee inputs. To return to work without employee input in some form or fashion, will lead to talent making shifts that may not be favorable to the business world. Many could jump to the freelance market independent of any employer.?The reality is while talent seeks flexibility, they also require increased earnings opportunities. According to Maven, a working mother needs an average of twenty (20) additional unpaid days beyond standard PTO (Paid Time Off) programs. Yet, a recent Deloitte survey conducted on over 1000 full time professionals found burnout has no borders. The survey results show that 77 percent of respondents say they have experienced employee burnout at their current job, with more than half citing more than one occurrence of this. The survey also uncovered that employers may be missing the mark when it comes to developing well-being programs that their employees find valuable to address stress in the workplace[iii] .?

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Even before the pandemic, the freelance employment sector was the fastest growing employment sector. It represents 35% of the global workforce which translates to approximately 1.1 billion freelancers currently around the world. In 2019, before the pandemic, 57 million people worked from home in the US. Even then, 75% say they “wouldn’t trade their freelancing career for other types of work.” Key factors in leaving the role of employee to date include: the need for flexibility (68%), and I argue the second factor for career driven professionals is the opportunity for advancement to increase personal income while exercising freedom. This is supported by the fact that 55% of the freelance market comprises of people who are still working full time. That’s right, your employee is busy on the side investing their discretionary effort into their dream, not yours. The three largest freelance platforms are Upwork.com, Freelancer.com and Fiverr.com. The fact that 65% of this segment of freelancers is still working full time while freelancing on the side tells me that there are many more who will more aggressively shift their work to match their life as they gain confidence earning money and seeing past the risks. If employers do not tap into their talent’s hearts and minds there is nothing to keep them in their current jobs. The truth is clear as that same Deloitte survey found 84% of those experiencing burnout have no passion for their job. It would seem businesses need to prioritize their strategic culture plans. Otherwise, their strategic and operational plans could find real challenges.

Outsourcing has been a trend since the 1990’s when US based companies sourced foreign workers instead of Americans. Many of those early shifts were seen in the manufacturing sectors while call centers and service-based roles were staffed in other countries. Today, outsourcing is even more present but in a more localized context. Outsourcing fuels the freelance market as startups and emerging markets compete. There are four industries commonly found to be outsourced (i.e., technology, call centers, human resources, and manufacturing). However, a small enterprise like my own secures outsourced financial expertise, graphic design, lead generation, PR, virtual assistance, legal assistance, and the list goes on and on. The time is now to incorporate not just intrapreneur strategies in your business but also augmented talent attraction strategies for freelance and/or skilled resources. With culture being the new organizational structure, the benefit of access to freelance expertise in various areas of business will be not just desirable but necessary. This can be beneficial for businesses too. Businesses that are good at building a framework to uphold the culture as a common language and experience for all their resources working in synergy with clear focus to a shared goal, well then, business can acquire what is needs at a fraction of the cost. This can help fuel a growing business and when done right, it can improve efficiency and contribute to the economy.

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None of us can foretell the future. I am confident however that the talent won years ago. Despite the current unemployment rates you hear about, the skilled talent is at work and resources are skim in several industry verticals. Get ready to witness people making life changing decisions. People who are purpose driven to claim their joy through flexible work that fuels their intellectual passions is now at the forefront. The new evolution will be seeing this take place from the former bread winners in families who no longer fear the risk in the face of uncertainty, knowing nothing is more important than their well-being and the well-being of their families. The hospitality industry is already painting the future with staycation retreats because working from home can be great especially when it is not mandated. The talent of the future will seek to work from anywhere and on their terms. I feel this is all evidence enough to put every business owner on notice. If you did not know it when I wrote, The Talent Emergency in 2015, then heed my notice to you now. The talent still has the upper hand and women remain an opportunity! Now, I would like to pose to you… is the talent landscape a threat or an opportunity?

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[i] Parents at the Best Workplaces (The Largest Ever Study of Working Parents, Rep.). (2020). Great Places to Work. doi:https://www.mavenclinic.com/

[ii] 2020 United States racial unrest. (2020, December 18). Retrieved December 20, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_racial_unrest

[iii] Workplace Burnout Survey: Burnout without Borders [Web log post]. (2020). Retrieved December 20, 2020, from https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/burnout-survey.html

Authored by Nicole Martin, Chief Empowerment Officer

HRBoost? LLC

Published by PWN 2022 Copyright ?2022