The real competitive advantage in any business can be summed up in one word - people.
It’s amazing how the nature of work has changed over the course of two to three years. It is no longer just a destination but rather a pot of productivity distributed to people and companies.
What’s ahead for our talents with the advent of emerging technologies that have uprooted in the last few years?Are considerations being made for the “now” or for the “future”? Both are equally important for what happens now is what would determine the future, especially in emerging sets of creativity and new areas of exploration.
Below, I will be share my thoughts on areas where talent and technology are amplified together and areas where one overrides the other.
Looking back a decade ago, if someone had told you that you would have all this information about yourself shared publicly for the world to read, see and hear,you would have possibly thought them to be crazy. Now look at where we are today. Not only are we comfortable living more public lives; we are also building communities; sharing, communicating, collaborating, and accessing information; and shaping our own personal experiences.
All these new behaviours are cascading over organisations, which are forcing them to make changes.
Breaking barriers...Collaborative work spaces need to move beyond proximity-based parameters (common areas) in order to encourage cross-geographical, cultural,and hierarchical interactions.
Work– Rethinking all possibilities
We now realise and acknowledge how the nature of work is no longer constrained to a neatly arranged desk space; it is a construct of ideas, teamwork, and workflows with the focus being on employee experience.
These employees are the determining factor if a solution or tool needs to survive, evolve or cease to exist.
Our Malaysian organisations are adopting to this paradigm shift, especially the new-age thinking companies on how to create, adapt and preserve company culture in the workplace while evaluating the impact of new technologies. Globally conducted surveys on the future of work found that C-suite executives across geographies and company sizes share a common vision for the future of work. Over two-thirds of the executives surveyed agree that company culture, specifically in the area of communication,will be the cornerstone of their organisation’s success in the long run.
And thus emerges new communication efforts like “Employee Coffee Corner”, “Open space to design thinking” and gaming-based employee surveys.
Keeping employees happy...workplace flexibility along with compensation and benefits are the top considerations for accepting a job offer and staying on with an employer.
Work– Collaborating in One view
More and more leaders are consistently evaluating how their talents interact with both the community of employees and the work itself, to create a conducive environment for collaboration. As digital transformation continues to foster a consumer mindset in the workplace,collaboration is key to aligning how work gets done across various technologies, people and boundaries. In most ASEAN traditional organisations,collaboration efforts are inconsistent and largely left to a by-chance attitude.
To tackle this, organisations must clearly define what collaboration means for their employees, what are the right tools to use, and how to deploy them in the most effective manner. Collaborative work spaces need to move beyond proximity-based parameters (common areas) in order to encourage cross-geographical, cultural, and hierarchical interactions. Think “virtual”water coolers where team members miles apart can “chat” with each other and build relationships that translate to trust and productivity.
Work– Fronted by Flexibility
A study conducted by Ernst & Young found that 76 percent of employees find it difficult to manage personal, family and work commitments. This is a primary reason why workplace flexibility along with compensation and benefits are the top considerations for accepting a job offer and staying on with an employer. With over 78 percent of millennials being part of dual-career couples, parents are more likely to take time off to care for their children. This is why flextime and telecommuting are becoming almost a prerequisite for employees.
Workplace flexibility today isn’t just a “good to have” perk anymore, it’s good business sense .Organisational culture experts have long since attested that employees, given flexibility and freedom, tend to not only outperform their clock-punching counterparts but are also happier and healthier both in their professional and personal lives. By embracing flexibility, organisations can drive productivity and also manage to reign-in the skyrocketing cost of healthcare.
As long as you can connect to the internet, the chances are that you can access the same people and information as if you were working in an office building. We are connected anywhere and everywhere we go, be it at 35,000 feet in the air or in a coffee shop down the street.
A two-way relationship...With the consumerisation of the workplace, the measure of an employer is now the cumulative experiences of employees.
Work– Emphasising the Employee Experience
With the consumerisation of the workplace, the measure of an employer is now the cumulative experiences of employees. Having received the opportunity to speak with several new-age companies, I learnt that they now allow their employees the chance to rate and review their organisations based on facets that include compensation, benefits, management and organisational culture.
Regular surveys and power hour talks on a balanced work-life environment have made it critical for talent management teams to take employee experience seriously. Many of our very own Malaysian companies need to become more proactive in providing the best experience possible to their employees be it SMEs or large corporations.
Moreover, organisations must ensure that their culture is conducive towards creating a desirable identity for themselves. Larger corporations are better equipped to analyse, manage, measure and map various touch points within the employee experience to measure Return on Investments (ROI) on being a preferred organisation to work for.
Substantial changes in workplace technology, work force demographics, and employee preference are transforming the workplace.Cultivating a stronger engaging relationship with employees through effective the C concepts is key: Collaboration, Communication, Career building and Caring for the employee.
It’s not just technology disruption we are looking forward to, but skills disruption too. So are we ready to “look for new talents”, “tailor reward mechanisms to employee growth/needs” or simply “promote a culture of learning and adapting”? That is the question we need to ask ourselves today.
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A contribution by Helen Selvanathan, who heads the business development and marketing for the SAP Asia Pacific & Japan ISVs Business Unit and leads the SAP Business Women Network Malaysian Chapter.
