HR Bulletin Volume 123

HR BULLETIN

As organisations grapple with quiet quitting, here are some key strategies that can help them retain talent by building a desirable, fulfilling and engaging employee experience for the dispersed and distributed workforce

Quiet Quitting, a term loaded with multiple definitions and perspectives, continues to trend on the internet. And while employers perhaps view this trend with negative connotations, one cannot deny that every challenge in the workplace also presents an opportunity for growth and transformation. In this case, keeping a pulse on practices that hint at employee disengagement and quiet quitting offers organisations the opportunity to relook at their talent practices and identify employee experience gaps. Moreover, ensuring that your talent retains has become even more pertinent as the market becomes more volatile and businesses grapple with economic turmoil and slowdown In conversation with leading industry experts at Central Test, People Matters dives deeper into exploring what drives quiet quitting For Nishita Paul, an R&D Occupational Psychology Consultant at Central Test, “quiet quitting is equivalent to rejecting hustle culture and prioritising the self ”

This is true as talent market trends continue to highlight employees’ need for work life balance in an increasingly digital world that expects them to be available at all times An absence of work life balance can result in stress, exhaustion and greater dissatisfaction with life and is detrimental to employee engagement combined with other factors such as low pay, poor organisation culture, bad management and lack of career progression. In addition, investing in the right talent management strategies will go a long way in designing an employee experience that is fulfilling and motivates your employees to continue to give their best in the long term. Here are some steps we suggest to truly make a difference:

Strengthening a listening culture: Keeping a pulse on employee feedback Cultivating a space for honest conversations with employees tends to positively impact employee loyalty, motivation and engagement. This is because it continuously reinforces the idea that your employees inhabit a psychologically safe work culture that thrives on trust and transparency To achieve this, investing in intelligent listening tools and survey tools like 360 Feedback can drive employee engagement by allowing them to share their opinions regularly on the people policies and practices in play, along with meaningful discussions on their strengths and areas of development Building a culture that makes your employees feel seen and heard is one of the fundamental steps to tackle demotivation and disconnect at the workplace

Becoming an accountable leader: Aligning employee organisational goals

Managerial support becomes fundamental to driving home the benefits of a listening culture, especially when aligning employee and organisational goals in supporting career growth journeys. Supportive leadership is fundamental in creating the right work culture and driving employee engagement. Leaders at every level of the organisation need to design people strategies in line with employee feedback and ensure that it is implemented to create that desired impact. Assessments such as MOTIVATION+ can play a critical role by enabling the employer to understand the various drivers of employees and thereby set up action plans or policies that consider the factors rated as the most important motivators by the employees

Prioritise employee well being for the long term

The role of leadership also becomes fundamental, especially in implementing wellness frameworks

Tze Kwan Lau, R&D Consultant at Central Test, also reiterates how, with the rising prominence of mental health and well being, employees have also started to prioritise these over work She adds, “Employees are putting themselves first; they actively think and speak for themselves. ” And so organisations also need to align to this and recognise the critical value of a healthy work environment. Addressing burnout, going beyond presenteeism, and setting clear expectations for teams and individuals become key in a hybrid workplace. Days also need to be set aside for individual development and growth, along with days when employees are flexible in deciding how they work. ‘No meeting days’ or ‘Recharge’days, for example, help employees to have a day to themselves where they can plan and prioritise their work according to their priorities.

Championing flexibility: Making room for asynchronous working Flexibility is one of the greatest demands of employees today as they tend to work from home or embrace hybrid working patterns Championing asynchronous working styles and empowering employees to strike a work life balance becomes essential, especially for a distributed workforce that tends to work across multiple time zones Going back to traditional working styles will no longer be feasible, and the pandemic has also shown us that flexibility, in no way, hampers employee productivity and output It is time that organisations get on board with these new age working practices and design an experience that prioritises the value of flexibility.

Celebrate your people: Recognise their efforts, Reward their achievements

As we make way for new working styles, performance management systems and Rewards & Recognition (R&R) frameworks must be redesigned to accommodate these new age practices. During these turbulent times, leaders have to make consistent efforts to appreciate their people’s efforts, as a lack of respect and appreciation contributes tremendously to quiet quitting…

Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/culture/quiet quitting heres how you can design fulfilling work experiences in 6 steps 36082

Hiring to remain challenging in several countries in upcoming years: Indeed and Glassdoor report

A recent report by Indeed and Glassdoor suggested employers to prepare for evolving expectations in a changing workforce. There will also be a persistent tight supply of workers in the upcoming years

There will be a tight supply of workers for years to come in key economic sectors Without sustained immigration, an increase in labour productivity, or a focus on attracting workers on the sidelines of the labour force, many industrialised countries will continue to face challenges in the labour market Indeed and Glassdoor’s 2023 Hiring and Workplace Trends Report outlined five key labour market trends for the coming years These are said to persist beyond the near term fluctuations in the business cycle and likely withstand even a potential global recession. The five key trends include:

1 Tight labour supply

Demographic shifts and ageing populations mean workers will continue to have the leverage to demand change in the workplace. Hiring will remain challenging in some industries for several years, as labour supply issues persist.

2 Remote work is here to stay Remote work will continue to thrive in occupations where it is an option. This trend will also impact the estimated two thirds of occupations not suitable for remote work, as employers trying to fill in person jobs struggle to attract workers who may gravitate toward work that lets them stay home

Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/news/recruitment/hiring to remain challenging in several countries in upcoming years indeed and glassdoor-report-36088

Supporting single mums in the workplace

Companies must acknowledge that single parent, particularly single mum, families must be supported

It’s true what they say: it takes a village to raise a child Even if a single parent raises their child on their own, they will still need the assistance of the community around them Support from friends, other family members, local single parent groups, places of worship, and others can be sources of help What about the situation of single parents inside the workplace? How can companies support them? As of June 2022, there are one million single-parent families across Australia, which accounts for 14 2 per cent of all the families in the country And about 82 8 per cent of this number are single mum families These families need support, particularly single mum families.

Unfortunately, among single parent families with dependants, about 162,000 are jobless. At least 89 per cent of these single parent families had children aged 15 below. This equates to an estimated 276,000 aged 0 14 children in these single parent families.

Companies must acknowledge that single parent, particularly single mum, families must be supported. In an interview with Harvard Business Review, solo parent, and journalist Tanzina Vega said that a lot of organisations still assume that all parents are in couples, so there’s that assumption that the parent will there be at home

“Companies have to acknowledge there are unique issues that single parents will run into,” said Vega

How your organisation can support single parents

Single parents often experience stress and burnout because of the demands given to them by managers

To Hustle Or Not To Hustle: Beating Burnout In

Grinding hours is a sign of mistrust and lack of clarity, often leading to employee burnout

The start up ecosystem has always been known for its hustle culture, the rising attrition rates and the hire fire model of work. But shifting talent priorities have led to emphasis on well being, and work life balance, away from the ‘hustle culture’

Terms such as ‘productivity paranoia’ were coined post the pandemic, as new work models such as work from home led to little visibility of teams functioning Leaders were left wondering whether people are really engaged and delivering

Contrary to this belief, fast growing companies can achieve their goals at speed and scale without compromising employees’ work life balance, by changing the ways of working and sensitizing leaders In a recent webcast, Gautam Saraf, CHRO, FnP and Anilaja Durbha, Assistant Manager, Customer Success, Keka discuss how. The changing ways of working “Not being present in front is creating a dearth in peoples’ mind”, believes Gautam Saraf, CHRO, FnP. Remote working has led to micromanagement. Anilaja Durbha, Assistant Manager, Customer Success, Keka, shares an example wherein they developed a productivity tracker tool that allowed leaders and managers to visibly monitor employees’ work.

After rolling it out to a few customers, they realised trust issues arose between employee and employer, leading to employee anxiety and dissatisfaction. Indeed, in today’s knowledge economy, employees are core company assets, and if trust is lost, companies will lose employees to competition…

Understanding the role of 5g in redefining skill-based training

The corporate learning and training landscape is accelerating towards its own digital transformation with the advent of 5G technology Experts explain how 5G will help leaders deliver significant performance and Quality of Service (QoS) for an improved future of work

Learning and skill development initiatives have undergone a significant transformation today. Whether it is a fresher looking to equip his/her tech skills or an existing corporate workforce aiming to upskill or reskill to remain relevant, there is a widespread reliance on digital learning. This is where the 5G network is going to redefine the experience.

Currently, telecom giants like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are rolling out 5G services in Indian cities. They are also gradually expanding 5G support to new cities as they are becoming 5G ready. Therefore, now more than ever, companies need to attract and utilise the skilled labour required to implement the new technology According to the telecom skills body, technologies like IoT, AI, machine learning, big data, cloud computing, and robotic process automation will require 22 million workforces to skill or upskill themselves to match industry demand by 2025 Commenting on the advent of 5G in India, Amit D Mishra, CEO and Founder at iMocha said, “A technology like 5G will ensure greater access and a superior experience for trainees in the corporate world Smarter training rooms and classrooms at professional training institutions will enjoy increased bandwidth, reduced latency, and more robust support for the security framework. Using digital training and skill assessment, platforms will deliver a highly immersive, convenient, and memorable experience for corporate trainees.”

Since the last year, employee training has had to evolve because the workplace has become complex…