Speaking at the virtual event, Bryan Hancock, global leader of McKinsey & Co.’s global management practice, said companies are adopting automation and digitisation much more quickly, largely driven by the Covid-19 pandemic. Nearly seven out of ten companies McKinsey surveyed said they had increased their use of automation since the start of the pandemic.
Introduction of automation can be met with a chilly reception by employees, who believe it can lead to job losses. However, automation is largely replacing workers for competitive tasks, freeing workers for those tasks that require cognitive skills. Although about 5 million current manufacturing jobs will be lost between now and 2030, the firm believes about 4.7 million new jobs will be developed due to industry growth.
Hancock urged conference attendees to identify the skills that they need more of in their organisations, then to determine the training investments needed as well as looking for more creative and diverse ways of finding employees with the desired skills.
Today’s employees also want flexibility in how often they come into the workplace, going in only when necessary for training, team collaboration or hands-on work that can’t be done remotely, Hancock added.
Leaders Don't shy away from conflict
Janyne Peek-Emsick, president of Your Executive Coach, said: “The most effective, most highly admired leaders in an organisation are those who deal with conflict early and head on. According to a Stanford Business School study, conflict is the number one reason CEOs seek out executive coaches, and it's why boards seek out coaches for their CEO.”
Conflict can result in employees wasting as much as three hours of each work week, so stopping conflict early makes for much more productive organisations, Peek-Emsick added.
Peek-Emsick explained that conflict at the relationship level is a symptom of a misalignment in goal clarity or role clarity – which results in people stepping on one another's toes.
A Culture of diversity and inclusion strengthens companies
Lauren Gardner, Microsoft’s vice president for talent acquisition, said: “We truly believe in the transformative nature and power of diversity and inclusion. It's only by actively engaging the different perspectives can we challenge and stretch our thinking and reduce the experience of our employees and we'll talk at a quick moment about our own mission, which is empowering every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.”
Organisations that do not follow diversity and inclusion practices can lose many of their valued employees, Gardner cautioned.
“70% of millennial employees now as well as Gen Z's would leave an organisation for a more inclusive one.
“There are billions of people who want to achieve more, but they have a different set of circumstances, abilities, skills and experiences that can often lock them out of participating in the world that is happening around them.”
Leverage local workforce alliances
Keith Lawing, president and CEO of the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas, said, local elected officials, labour, economic development agencies, educators and community leaders, local workforce alliances foster high growth career opportunities for workers. They also help to meet the needs of businesses seeking qualified workers to meet their present and future needs.
Through such agencies, Lawing emphasised workers acquire skills for employment opportunities to meet a region's workforce talent and employer skill needs.
Funding priorities for these agencies, which have been supported by Democratic and Republican administrations alike, are based on a broad range of worker issues that consider wages, job mobility, access and equity by analysing data and working with local businesses workforce to understand what skills are most in demand. Then each local agency develops the necessary training and credential programmes, using outcome data to advise employers, policymakers and communities about what approaches are successful, Lawing added.
Get Strategic about employee sourcing
Chris Czarnik, CEO of Career Research Group, told the AEM summit that organisations should consider the following ways to source great employees.
He advised it’s important to understand why job seekers contacted your company. It could be they have acquired new skills or now have the experience to seek out your company, or a host of other factors. If you like what they have to offer, ask about their previous job. This can help you identify ways to recruit similar candidates, but also the types of companies that provide the skills sought.
Czarnik's recommendations also included interviewing the best employees hired over the last 18 months to learn why they sought the company out as an employer, the preconceived notions they had about the company and what they think it takes to be successful in the firm.
