Stage 4 Solutions' January 2024 Newsletter: Getting the Job Done in 2024

Happy New Year! We are excited about 2024, and the encouraging signs and data paint a picture of growth. The job market is resilient with more companies hiring and job postings increasing on major job boards such as LinkedIn. Additionally, the Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates and the steady decrease in inflation are poised to foster economic expansion.

Reflecting on the past year, 2023 was rewarding for Stage 4 Solutions. Our achievements were acknowledged as we secured a place among Silicon Valley Business Journal’s lists of Silicon Valley's Largest Asian-Owned Businesses , Largest Women-Owned Businesses , and the Fastest-Growing Private Companies . Our company continued to grow, setting the stage for an optimistic outlook in 2024.

We are expecting a strong year ahead and are excited about continuing to help our clients fill critical resource gaps across their teams. Here's to a year of prosperity, growth, and mutual success!

Can your executive “team” get the job done?

In many companies, it’s the executive group that least meets the standards we hold for teams.?

But does it matter? Is having a team at the top—a group of people who make a shared promise and coordi-nate to fulfill it—so important to company success that it’s worth the hard work to make it happen?

Our experience says yes. The more the top group of executives meets the definition of a high-performing team, the greater the organization’s performance— and satisfaction.

Let’s consider how executive teams fulfill the two actions that define a team:

First, teams make a shared promise. They promise to produce a certain type of future for their organization.?

For top management teams, the promise of the team reflects the entire promise of the company. Here’s what investors, customers, employees, regulators, and communities can expect from this entity. The more the entire team shares the promise and commits to creating that sort of future, the more likely they are to achieve it.

What happens when executive group members are not fully invested in the commitment to create a shared future??

Here are the breakdowns we see across all sizes and structures of companies:

• Top executives don’t have a common picture of what they are aiming to accomplish.

Often, they don’t even know that they’re not aligned. So, as these leaders work across the organization, they create misunderstanding, waste, gaps in operations and service, and needless conflict, as the middle levels aim to reconcile different directives.

• Top executives may share a common picture of the intended future, but they aren’t each highly committed to creating that future.

They’re committed to something else, such as making a name for themselves (for example, becoming known as the CTO who created the best AI implementation in this industry), maximizing their compensation (often linked to share price and individual targets, rather than fulfilling the overall promise of the company), or making sure that if a big error occurs, it doesn’t come from their group. This sends mixed messages across the company, resulting in more confusion, slow performance, and waste.

Now let’s look at the second criteria of a team: they coordinate effectively to create the future.

What happens when executives don’t coordinate well? Here are the most common breakdowns:

• Something goes wrong, and the blame game fires up.

As you’ve no doubt experienced, breakdowns happen all the time. No plan is ever implemented as originally conceived. In the absence of clear and supportive (meaning constructive, not “nicey-nice”) top team conversations, people across the organization tend to over- or under-escalate breakdowns, aim to pin the problems on someone else, misalign funding with investment needs, and slow down implementation.

• “Fatal drift” occurs, and the senior group doesn’t address it.

Drift happens when people critical to projects are pulled away to other initiatives—usually because an executive moves on to the next bright shiny goal without revoking or re-resourcing the last one. We also see drift when senior teams don’t keep track of commitments and hold themselves accountable for achieving the results intended. Drift happens because senior team members act as customers accountable only for their own functional initiatives, not for the organization’s overall commitments.

• The overall implementation plan doesn’t work and needs to be revised.?

Forging a real team at the top addresses each of these breakdowns.?

When senior leaders are uniformly committed to creating a shared future and staying in valuable conversations to achieve it, you can feel the energy throughout the company. Yes, it takes work, but it’s worth it.?

And, as a CEO or senior team member, you are there to make it happen. So what can you do??To learn more, please check out the full article.?

Employee View Poll: Top Workplace Considerations in 2024

In recent years with the global pandemic, shifting demographics, and technological advancements, the priorities of employees within the workforce have undergone a profound transformation. Today's professionals, regardless of generational differences, are driven by a desire for well-being, and a sense of purpose, and are increasingly seeking more than just a traditional job. Organizations must recognize these changing priorities to attract and retain top talent.

An appealing compensation package continues to be a key factor in attracting top talent and reducing employee turnover, however other factors are equally impactful. We wanted to understand the top workplace perks employees would most like to receive in 2024 and polled our community for their insights.

Which of the following workplace perks would you most like to receive in 2024? (single answer)

• Remote flexibility - 66%
• 4-day workweek - 24%
• Unlimited PTO - 9%
• Employee discounts - 1%

The majority, 66% of respondents, chose remote flexibility as the most desired perk. Despite the heightened prevalence of remote work during and after the pandemic, there appears to be a shift away from this trend, contradicting the preferences expressed by employees. According to WFH Research, conducted by Stanford University and the University of Chicago, 59% of full-time employees have returned to a 100% on-site work model, 29% have adopted a hybrid arrangement, blending remote and on-site work and 12% continue to work entirely remotely. Predictions from a report by Resume Builder uncover a staggering 90% of companies planning to implement return-to-office policies by the end of 2024. Nearly 30% of these companies intend to use the threat of termination to enforce in-office requirements.

As the future of remote work remains uncertain, a full-time return to the office seems to be unlikely due to the mismatch between employees' and employers’ expectations. Realizing the demand for remote work, companies embracing flexible workplace policies can be better positioned to attract and retain top talent in 2024 and beyond.

24% of respondents marked a 4-day workweek as their top preferred perk for 2024. A recent UK trial with over 60 companies showed promising results. Various approaches, such as a coordinated extra day off, staggered schedules, or an annualized 32-hour week, were implemented while maintaining pay. The outcomes were encouraging, revealing decreased worker stress and improved work-life balance. Businesses witnessed a 57% reduction in attrition and a 1.4% average revenue boost, as reported by Gartner.

Numerous trials of a 4-day workweek have been conducted globally. Countries that have implemented a 4-day workweek include Belgium, the United Arab Emirates, France, Lithuania, and Iceland. According to data, several other countries across the world and states in the US are trialing 4-day workweeks. Despite the overall positive trend, industry-specific considerations and role-based dynamics play a crucial role in adopting a 4-day workweek. Industries such as healthcare, where continuous availability is vital, can face challenges in making this shift. Similarly, roles heavily reliant on customer interaction, high-care components, or meeting quotas within a traditional five-day model may find it difficult to embrace a compressed workweek. While the shorter workweek may not be universally applicable, global momentum is evident in sustaining this experiment.

9% of respondents consider Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO) as the top employee perk they would like to receive. This policy, allowing employees to take unrestricted time off without affecting their work, is praised for its potential in recruitment, retention, and combating burnout while saving costs. However, data suggests that employees with unlimited vacation benefits don't seem to be taking significantly more time off than those with traditional benefits. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2021, the average private sector worker received 11 days of vacation after one year of employment. A recent survey revealed that individuals with unlimited paid time off (PTO) were taking an average of about 12 days of vacation per year. Given this data, the appeal of unlimited time off may be more of “employer” marketing rather than an actual benefit for employees.

The 2023 SHRM Employee Benefits Survey highlighted that merely 8% of employers currently provide paid open or unlimited leave. The cautious approach suggests that, despite its potential advantages, the implementation of Unlimited PTO remains a nuanced decision for many organizations.

Only 1% of respondents expressed employee discounts as the top perk they would want to get in 2024. This preference highlights the changing preferences of the workforce towards more flexibility and work-life balance.

Offering the right perks not only distinguishes organizations from competitors but also enhances productivity and employee engagement. There are numerous employee perks that companies can add to their lists based on their unique industries and business needs. What perks is your organization planning to offer in 2024 and beyond? Please share with us.

Our Value

We fill gaps in marketing, technology and operations teams. Since 2001, we have served over 125 organizations. We are the trusted, flexible resourcing solution for global organizations. We provide the right professionals to ensure successful project outcomes for short-term and long-term projects, and contract to perm needs.

Can We Help?

Let us help accelerate your initiatives!

Contact:

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.stage4solutions.com