Experience, Inc.. Jill Popelka
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pandemic, including significant job loss and small business closures
widespread protests over racial and economic issues, leading to greater awareness and action about social justice
extreme political polarization and paralysis
Any one of these forces is enough to meaningfully impact the labor market and society as a whole. We find ourselves at a tumultuous, pivotal moment for business, for organizations, and for society.
I believe, and will argue in this book, that we are entering a more human-centric era for work. And that's good for business.
The Challenge and the Opportunity
What will the near future look like for the global economy and labor markets? What will it look like for individual industries? For the way we work? Of course, there's much we don't know (as the Danish physicist Niels Bohr noted, “It's difficult to make projections, particularly about the future”), but the winners of tomorrow will almost certainly be those best prepared for it. As renowned business management consultant Peter Drucker liked to say, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Research highlights some of the most important trends:
Workers – everyone – will be on the move like never before. The average amount of time that a technical skill remains relevant is approximately five years.4 The average American moves their place of residence 11.4 times over the course of their lifetime.5
Workers will not be office-bound or 9-to-5-bound. Almost three in four employees said that flexible work arrangements increased their satisfaction at work; almost four in five said “flexible work arrangements made them more productive.”6 The pandemic has supercharged this.
Workers are fearful and unsure. Slightly more than half of U.S. employees fear that their job will eventually be lost to automation.7 Over half of current students in primary school will work in jobs that don't yet exist.8 Because of the speed of technological advancement, the risk today is greater than in 1890 that workers will fall behind as work moves forward without them. Some jobs, like truck driving, will largely disappear because of the savings that automation (self-driving trucks) provides; those millions of truck drivers, it is said, will be poorly positioned for reskilling. In a fast-moving, digitally mediated labor market, how can individuals keep their skills up-to-date? Will taking a different path preclude the employee from enjoying certain professional opportunities and success?
Workers are overwhelmed. Senior executives now receive 200+ emails daily.9 The amount of new information produced in the world continues to double every 18 months.10 So many of us suffer from “information anxiety,” the fear that systems we rely on are fast outstripping our ability to comprehend and manage them.
Business leaders and Human Resources departments are overwhelmed. How will companies know which mix of skills they need? Because of the sheer number of different credentials, employers struggle to understand what exactly they're looking for – not just because of uncertainty caused by technological shifts, but also because it's difficult to standardize the description of skills and jobs even across the different parts of a single organization. How can HR know that workers have truly earned the credentials they claim? And will this complicate their efforts to diversify the incoming workforce?
Schools are overwhelmed. From universities to coding academies, there is similar uncertainty about what to offer, even when there's a strong desire to teach to near-term market demands.
Parents are overwhelmed. Whether it's the need for childcare or their kids falling behind in competing in the global economy, parents feel fear and uncertainty about what may lie ahead.
In my role as president of SAP SuccessFactors, I see countless companies struggling with these changing dynamics and competing forces. How could they not?
My team has access to research and data that allow us to spot organizational and industry trends. This is what we see: Employee experience has become a business imperative. It's not something that companies can say they would “like to do better.” To survive or thrive, it's required.
For as long as there has been business, there has been a focus on growing revenue, capitalizing on new markets and customers, and innovating faster than competitors. Finding high-performing, highly skilled employees was up there, too. But truly engaging employees – helping people to have a work experience that fulfills them – was not.
Now it is.
Employee experience should be at the top of the priority list. It is the dimension by which all other business objectives will be met. If businesses don't elevate its importance in today's world, they will struggle to compete.
This book will focus on the principles around employee experience. It will not provide a magic formula. But my belief is that by having the key issues in mind, business leaders can begin to solve their design problem: how to create a superior environment for workers, one that helps them to recruit and hire the best talent, retain it, and have them work productively and innovatively. This is a leadership issue, not a Human Resources issue. It's not something that can be delegated or relegated. Nothing could be more important for those hoping to compete in the global market of the future.
The realist out there might be thinking: I've got too much going on as it is. Now is not the time to follow the next fad.
Or you may wonder: Can I seriously take the time to focus on employee experience and still meet my business results?
Absolutely. Investing in employee experience makes everyone's lives easier and more rewarding. For employees, customers, and leaders. Get this right and your company has an opportunity to lap the field.
This book brings together insights from my own experience, as an employee and a leader; SAP’s work with thousands of customers; our extensive, ongoing research on the subject of employee experience; outside research; and interviews we've conducted with managers and employees, at various levels, industries, and regions – in technology, finance, medicine, education, retail, construction, media, design, law, and more.
For businesses to succeed in the coming years, they need to understand the issues around employee experience and address them, because a new era is here. It's great for the employee, and way past time. It's also great for employers and businesses, because improved employee experience translates to an improved bottom line.
What is it that employees want more than anything? We've known for decades that good working conditions are necessary to attract and retain talent. Fair compensation, a safe and stable environment, career growth. All of that is sufficient to attract and retain talent in the current economy – but not enough. Smart companies and good leaders need to fully engage and unleash people's potential. To do that, leaders must go beyond the basics of good working conditions to provide four pillar notions. These are based on our findings, from working with customers and dedicated research, and have been corroborated by others.
So, what do employees want?
Purpose. Agency. Belonging. Recognition.
Purpose: to find meaning in their work
Agency: to have some say over how, when, and where they work
Belonging: to feel part of a community, even if they are remote, freelance, or part-time; to be part of a diverse community