Reimagining your workplace with humans at the centre

As work flexibility shifts, the war for talent intensifies and organizations must adapt to remain competitive.

Office-centricity is officially out. Hybrid models are definitely in. Employee—and employer—needs and expectations have changed. Organizations that embrace this fundamental shift by recognizing the significant role employees play, and reimagining work with humans at the centre, can unlock powerfully positive business outcomes.

Work has shifted from being a place people go to, to an activity carried out anywhere, anytime. Whether someone’s looking for a ‘digital by default’ job that offers full-time flexibility to work from home, or a remote work opportunity that’s do-able from any point on the globe: employers and employees now have a whole lot more choice. 

As the labour market heats up and the war for talent intensifies, organizations must adapt to retain, recruit and compete effectively. Doing so as part of an integrated business revival transformation plan that underscores people as your best organizational asset is a step in the right direction.

What should you consider as you seek to transform work experiences?

Ninety-percent1 of employers believe they prioritize employees for long-term value creation while making decisions. But, only 69% of employees agree that their organization has made employees the priority. There’s no room in today’s working world for ways of working that are developed at the top and implemented without understanding the dynamism and diversity of the actual workforce. You must know what your own people think to put them at the centre of your strategy. The old norms and practices were developed based on an office environment, which does not necessarily translate into today’s hybrid or remote work environment. EY research highlights six imperatives employers should consider in their organizational transformation strategy:

• Design a culture that promotes and rewards flexibility and wellbeing to encourage employees to disconnect, take time off, and recharge – this will be extremely important for employees going forward.
• Establish new workforce planning and analytics capabilities to help proactively understand key talent competencies and skills gaps.
• Develop learning platforms to enhance the use of technology and support a continuous learning system in the flow of life and work. Leverage a blended experience to learning to adapt and appeal to different learning personas and their respective needs. This will support continuous upskilling and help retain talent.
• Create new work policies to support hybrid working models with the right tech and security requirements.
• Asses your real estate footprint to understand what you’ll need in each market or for specific types of work as hybrid models are introduced.
• Re-evaluate mobility strategies to assess business travel requirements as your people and customers adapt to virtual engagement and work from anywhere policies and perhaps more importantly, their implications.

Putting those theories into practice begins by using solid data and information to determine how your specific way of working must change. Armed with that intel, you can reimagine work in direct alignment with your workforce’s specific needs and expectations. Then, bridge from that work transformation strategy to execute exceptionally well.

How can you execute the transformation strategy best?

1. Future-proofing your workforce. What if you could identify the capabilities you have, the talent you’ll need and how to get there efficiently? Outline the skills you’ll need in the future. Then, close those gaps. That could mean retaining the talent you have through new opportunities to learn, grow, or work flexibly. It could also mean recruiting differently. As the constraints of the physical office space disappear, you can tap into a broader talent pool than ever before. The right approach to work can make you an employer of choice for a wider range of recruits.

2. Purposefully build your culture and leadership to sustain new ways of working. What if you could drive behavior change at scale and at pace to better create and protect value through your people? Maybe that means creating a safe place where everyone has permission to try, innovate, fail and try again. Perhaps it’s about tying performance to a culture of experimentation and innovation. You need a culture that supports the work framework you’ve created. Walk the talk at every level of the organization to show you mean what you say, and reward achievement and commitment to wellbeing in equal measure. It starts with leaders not only providing air cover and support, but actually modelling new culture and behavior so everyone shows up at their best.

3. Build resilience through continuous learning to enhance the employee experience. How do you help people succeed in ways that are personalized to them? What do they value now and how can you deliver that best? Enhance the work experience for your people while generating an in-house spirit of innovation and learning. With the launch of EY Badges program, a new way was created for EY people to upskill capabilities, for free, at work. Through EY Tech MBA, we’re providing the first-ever fully accredited corporate MBA entirely free to all more than 300,000 professionals in 150 countries, allowing them to learn virtually in ways that works for them, and EY as an organization. Build a system to learn in the flow of work, using a blended experience that leverages digital learning technologies with social learning and mentorship to drive mastery in new competencies and skills.

4. Embrace digital so HR and people leaders can deliver the employee experience and unleash human potential. What if you could transition your HR team from an HR function to a human value activator? Looking internally at the human capital function/HR operation that administers everything from recruitment and performance management to very traditional functions. This team is already well positioned to operate as a strategic partner to the business, driving value and enhancing your competitive edge. Empower them with the tools and resources to operate accordingly.

5. Deliver a change experience to engage employees along the way. What if you could listen to your employees and adjust your change program to build engagement and drive retention? As employers grapple with defining their new work model, employees are carefully watching the market and competitors to understand where they will find the best work model that will work for them. You need to balance employee preference with business requirements but can land in a place where employees feel engaged in the process, understand the rationale and can help shape the model to make it work for them and their employers.

Work—and the way we engage our workforce—isn’t reverting to what we once knew. Acknowledging the massive role employees play, and transforming the talent agenda accordingly, is the first step to reimagining work for the post-pandemic market. Put your people at the heart of your design. Align cultural values and leadership with purpose. Facilitate continuous learning. Activate a growth mindset. And then? Open yourself up to the remarkable possibilities that a truly engaged and leading workforce can inspire.