HR Bulletin Volume 117

HR

Quiet quitting does not happen overnight but occurs over time as an individual becomes disillusioned with the organisation's perceived disinterest in them Signs of quiet quitting may include refusing to work longer during peak periods or declining to respond to email, chat, or other messages outside standard business hours An example of quiet quitting is an employee who was previously known to work late and deliver outcomes that exceed expectations now working only scheduled hours and completing the bare minimum needed to perform their role “This disengagement typically occurs when employees, or managers, feel the organisation's leaders are not listening to them, are not inclined to help advance their careers, or are not interested in investing in developing their skills,” said Luke Amundson, Regional Director, Peakon, a Workday company.

“The shift to hybrid working means many people spend time working alone at their computers. If an employee only engages with people such as colleagues, customers, and their manager via chat or digital meetings, they may become increasingly disconnected and susceptible to quiet quitting.” Amundson delved into the concept of quiet quitting as disengagement and how employers can work to turn the tide in this exclusive interview with People Matters

How can employers win back their most valuable players in the team? Luke Amundson of Peakon weighs in.

When your star employee is ‘quiet quitting’

Which employees are most likely to 'quiet quit' and what drives them to this point?

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of hybrid and remote work and showed workers how to balance their personal and professional lives. As offices and other workplaces reopen, some employees are questioning how they work and whether their employers value them and their contribution. People who feel their work life balance is skewed, or that their employer does not value them, or is unable to help them realise career ambitions are those most likely to 'quiet quit.'

So how do employers meet the quiet quitting challenge? The answer is by engaging with employees and actively listening so they can determine how best to support them For example, employees may want to retain the autonomy, and work life balance achieved during the pandemic and feel that their employer does not support this approach Or they may feel isolated from the business and its culture and mission or fail to see a future within the organisation They may also believe their skills are stagnating and the organisation is not interested in their development Understanding these concerns and addressing them can build employee motivation and engagement maximising the value of people to the organisation and helping insulate the business against the global skills shortage and war for talent.

How do health, wellbeing, and outlook drive better productivity and performance?

People are at the centre of successful organisations, and employee wellbeing is a key enabler of business performance. Organisations need to facilitate the fair exchange of value between themselves and the individual to maximize employees' contributions. Getting this exchange right means employees feel their work has meaning and are motivated to improve their productivity and performance.

Employee well being extends well beyond traditional approaches that focus on productivity alone and employers need to adopt a holistic approach that prioritises mental welfare and physical health by introducing flexibility that enables individuals to manage their workloads more effectively By doing this, employers can help their people achieve a sustainable balance between work and other priorities

Read more: The good and the bad of quiet quitting

At Workday, we recognise that the happier our people are, the better equipped they are to look after our customers. We apply a holistic approach to employee wellbeing through an internal programme that focuses on four core pillars: happiness, health, movement, and nutrition. We bring this approach to life through a range of wellbeing programmes and we listen closely to employee feedback so we can fine tune the programme to be even more effective. Businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of employee wellbeing to business performance. For example, Chorus, a New Zealand telecommunications and infrastructure provider, implemented Workday's Voice of the Employee platform and fundamentally changed the perception and management of wellbeing. This has positively impacted the team and the business Shaun Philp, Chief People Officer at Chorus, says, "Workday has brought cultural engagement to the forefront of all our people, leaders, jobs, and responsibilities It is allowing leaders to track engagement from a team level, but most importantly, it also allows the board and executive team to track overall engagement because it's engagement that drives culture, and it's culture that drives business performance "

How can employers combat quiet quitting?

Quiet quitting may appear to be surging. According to a World Economic Forum article published early in September, the hashtag #quietquitting had attracted 17 million plus views on TikTok by early September (a number that grew to over 115 million views just a few days later). The article also notes a McKinsey statement in July this year that 40% of the global workforce was looking to quit in the following three to six months. However, employers can turn the tide. Active continuous listening facilitated by technology enables employers to monitor sentiment and act accordingly. These actions may range from standard weekly one on one conversations with team members to more sophisticated, organisation wide programmes to address post pandemic mental health concerns Intelligent listening tools allow business leaders to capture employee feedback in real time and respond with sophisticated measures that support employees and address quitting before it becomes a significant issue Ultimately, by placing people at the centre of the business, listening to them, and acting to improve engagement, productivity, and fulfilment, organisations can inoculate themselves against quiet quitting They can position themselves instead to unleash the productivity, performance, and innovation that a motivated, hungry workforce

Bridging the hiring-retention gap: How do we secure Tech Talent for the long term

In this exclusive webcast in partnership with Scaler, industry experts come together to address retention challenges and unlock impactful solutions

The retention hassle is rampant due to competition in the tech jobs market. Hiring cycles have extended and recruitment costs have gone up in a market which is already inflated It is no longer enough to deliberate on hiring tech talent; ensuring that they stay on in the company is key to driving long term growth and innovation To take this conversation forward and gather expert insights from HR leaders, this session moderated by Abhimanyu Saxena, Co Founder, InterviewBit and Scaler and joined in by Abhishek Mehrotra, CHRO, Yubi; Shyam Krishnamurthy Country Head, airasia Super App; Akash Chauhan Head of HR, cure fit (cult fit); and Sameera Singh, Head Director Learning & Development, Razorpay dives deep into empowering retention in the blazing tech skills market Key retention challenges

In a skill based industry like tech, skill waves come and go leading to a struggle with talent for hot skills. Abhimanyu believes that so much has also to do with a massive growth in role opportunities in tech which is definitely a sign of a growing economy. However, securing talent for the long term will be critical to creating impact. For Abhishek, that very retention boils down to a few core questions “Are we able to articulate clearly what we are expecting talent to do?”, “What is the organization going for and what and why are people working for?” and “What is the impact they create on the ground?” Also, organizations must understand that reduced tenures are a reality, and hence focus on making the next 2 years fruitful for both the parties involved “Plan the talent supply for continuity”, says Akash Shyam shares that a talent mix of senior experienced folks plus campus hires for internships works well The organization listened and understood the problem when Covid struck the travel industry, HR partners manoeuvred policies for changing times, and people were provided with a happy workspace environment “People need to come to office feeling they are doing something impactful for customers, build that story into everything you do..

The ‘Great Disconnect’between reporting managers and new hires

For HR leaders and reporting managers, hiring new employees has a unique set of challenges, especially when these are young and fresh graduates, and need hand holding/more focus/attention.

Almost all (100%) managers value reliability, ability to collaborate, and a learning mindset as the three core skills that a new employee must have in order to be successful at work However, in contrast, an astonishing 97% of new employees believed intelligence to be the top skill they needed, with resilience cited by 83%, and honesty by a distant 60%

These are the findings of the Great Expectations survey, conducted by Harappa, an online learning institution for behavioural, social, and cognitive skills. The survey, which covered 56 reporting managers and 72 young professionals across seven industries, indicates the considerable mismatch between the skill expectations of managers and freshers.

For HR leaders and reporting managers, hiring new employees has a unique set of challenges. This is especially true when they are recruiting young and fresh graduates into their companies. Whether a new recruit will be able to meet the job requirements and justify what is on their CV, whether they will be able to emotionally integrate into the larger culture of the company such questions are a constant source of anxiety for HR personnel as well as reporting managers

For a young employee just entering the job market, the transition from campus to career is a massive change, too Undoubtedly, they carry with them certain notions about the skills that are essential to achieving success at work without having them validated through a reality check Among top five attributes mentioned by both managers and employees, only intelligence, reliability and collaborative ability were found to be common, with the other two being eagerness to learn and resilience by managers, and honesty and cheerfulness by fresh recruits.

Transitioning towards formality: How do we break down informal work arrangements?

As we debate and deliberate the new forms of working across the business landscape, we cannot overlook the need to strengthen formal working arrangements and advocate the rights of the informal workforce.

After multiple disruptions across the business landscape, especially during and post pandemic, the ILO Recommendation 204 on ‘Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy 2015 (No. 204)’ continues to be critically relevant. It drives its purpose through a three fold objective which emphasises facilitating the complete transition of workers from the informal to the formal sector, promoting the creation, preservation and sustainability of formal sector jobs, and preventing the informalisation of formal sector jobs. So does the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration) At the United Nations Responsible Business and Human Rights Forum, APAC held this September in Bangkok, representatives from the government, businesses, trade unions, civil society and international organisations came together to share lessons learnt and strategies that can help address the challenges of vulnerable populations and businesses in the informal economy Reports pointed out by the panellists at the session on ‘Combatting Informality and Spurring Formal Employment to Achieve Decent Work and Social Justice’ showed the concerning situation wherein more than 68% of the workforce is employed in the informal sector across the APAC region. In certain countries, such as India, the rough estimate goes up to 90%, while in Bangladesh, it s 85.1%. What makes these numbers concerning is how vulnerable these populations continue to be, absent from policies that protect their socioeconomic rights and offer them reliance during times of distress like the pandemic. It becomes urgent then for social dialogues comprising representatives of various stakeholders plus businesses and workers in the informal sector to come together and chart an alternate, equity drive, inclusive, rights respective future of work

What is design thinking

and how can it transform HR management?

Design thinking in HR relies on observing empathetically the interactions of people with their environment, and uses a hands on approach to developing innovative solutions. People Matters delves into the concept

What happens when a company keeps losing talent or clients and often fails to meet employee expectations? How is this problem solved when all other methodologies fall short?

One option is the concept of agile methodology, which requires cooperation with stakeholders and constant improvement in different aspects such as management and creative thinking. Through agile methodology, the company must adopt new ways of thinking and create new HR management strategies that can solve multiple issues. With agile methodology comes design thinking. It is an innovative approach to problem solving. In this article, we discuss what design thinking in HR management is and how it can transform the field What is design thinking in HR?

Design thinking is a complex process that focuses on human oriented solutions, tapping into employees’ creativity and innovative skills According to Enrique Rubio, founder of Hacking HR, design thinking is an extremely versatile and powerful approach It can be applied across various fields of knowledge to solve problems that need more than simple, visible solutions.

At its essence, design thinking depends on observing empathetically the interaction of people with their environment. It uses a hands on approach to producing innovative solutions. How is design thinking transforming HR management?

According to Josh Bersin, founder and CEO of HR advisory firm The Josh Bersin Company, design thinking shifts the role of HR from being a “process developer” into an “experience architect.” Indeed, design thinking enables HR to reimagine every aspect of work the workplace; the interaction of …