Black History Month creates space for all to reflect on the struggle of Black Americans and Black people across the world to get to where they are today. Battling through constant, overt oppression to be able to have the same rights that were automatically extended to their white counterparts has made it possible for Black people to gain access to many more opportunities than were previously within their reach.

However, racism runs deep; while activists such as Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Rosa Parks paved a path for a better future, there is still work to be done now to continue to eradicate the oppression that black people face across the globe.

Just as the world has modernized, so has racism. What was once brashly overt has now evolved into more subtle, micro-aggressive tendencies.  The disconnect occurs because these microaggressions are broadly considered ‘less racist’ than things were fifty years ago, so it’s not seen as racism at all – which gives these behaviors the power to continue.

The workplace is a prime example. Many companies are more intentional about creating hiring targets to diversify their workforces – and this is great – but we’re also seeing that they are significantly pulling funding on their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. It seems that just as the workplace begins to take a step forward, it takes two steps back. Without a comprehensive DEI change initiative and commitment to link the initiative to the mission, vision, and values of the company, this creates an environment where microaggressions will emerge and those employees of color will not truly feel that they are valued members of the team.  

Microaggressions are indirect, subtle, or unintentional discriminatory actions against members of a marginalized group. Some examples of these behaviors are not introducing specific people in a meeting, praising an idea from one person and ignoring the same idea when presented by another, speaking with a condescending tone, consistently mispronouncing someone’s name, confusing a person of a certain ethnicity with another person of that same ethnicity…the list goes on. A recent study even discovered that 25% of black women have been sent home from work because of their hair. These actions may seem small if you do not regularly experience them yourself, but the racial undertones that they hold are problematic and create a tense and unproductive culture.

For example, Dr. Claudine Gay was the first black woman to be selected the president of Harvard University by the Harvard Corporation – comprised of 12 board members responsible for university affairs and three members of the second-highest governing Board of Overseers –  and yet not even a year later and she has been forced to resign due to incessant plagiarism claims from her academic dissertation from 1997. Upon further exploration, most of the “errors” that have been identified are pedantic. Additionally, the few that have been raised as cause for concerns were not only deemed understandable by those she quoted, they were also completely missed by the institution under which she wrote it, along with the Harvard PhD committee who failed to highlight these when awarding her the Toppan prize for the best political science dissertation in 1998. Regardless, Dr. Gay has come under fire, and the microaggressions in this situation are rampant; after all, we haven’t seen any other Harvard presidents be picked apart for their academic writings from two decades ago.

If this situation was copy and pasted onto a white man, it is very likely that the outcome would be entirely different, and it’s these systemic barriers that employers need to recognize and challenge to truly further the progress of the many Black transformational leaders who fought for civil rights and equality for all Americans. 

The first step to challenging these inequities is acknowledging that they exist in the first place. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of Black employees experienced racism in 2021, and this number is only going to begin to decrease if companies can successfully identify these microaggressions and uproot them. We know that diverse companies are more profitable, but in order for employers to unlock these benefits they have to successfully foster a safe and inclusive environment. This starts by acknowledging that racism is still an open wound in the world of work, and that putting a band aid on it doesn’t help it heal. They must clean it out, and slowly begin to sew it up – which requires organizations to break the habit of assuming that the wound has already healed.

If you would like to discuss how we can help further your DEI strategy and help foster a culture that unlocks the best out of all your people, please get in touch with me at marty@orgshakers.com

Working in a remote or hybrid setting has entered the mainstream for the world of work.  Navigating applications like Zoom and Teams has become routine, water cooler chats rely on DM, and family members or pets are a common sight while working. That said, there are still the occasional mishaps. For example:

A few years ago, a group of legal workers were discussing a civil procedure over video call when their colleague Ben rose from his seat to reveal that he was, in fact, stark naked. In a similar and more recent blunder, a Social Democratic councillor from Romania thought his camera was off and that he was muted when he took his laptop into the bathroom and began to shower…but he was sadly mistaken.

I found myself dealing with a similar instance not too long ago where an individual was in a team call, accidently switched his camera on, and revealed he was taking nude photographs of himself. While these instances may seem amusing and are sometimes laughed off, it does beg the question for employers: How do we respond? Is policy applicable? And if none exist, do we need to create one?

Since remote work was introduced on a mass scale in 2020, it has become much more normal for employees to dress comfortably and casually for work.

A poll from People Management confirms this, as it found more than half of respondents (56%) wore jogging bottoms or leggings while working remotely, and the average employee spends 46 days a year working in pajamas. 29% of employers surveyed, however, stated they had enforced a strict dress code in response to this change or would if they could.

Ideally, an organization’s dress code can be applied across a variety of work situations and locations. Companies that have embraced remote or hybrid work can mitigate risk and inappropriate behavior by ensuring their workforce policies make sense in multiple settings. Rather than having separate dress code policies for different workers, for example, an organization can have a single comprehensive policy that applies to different situations.

The way we dress to work has always had a big influence on personal brand, company brand, and productivity. It’s the old adage that dressing smartly makes you think and act smartly. Dress helps someone differentiate when they are in work mode and when they are not. Post-pandemic saw these lines blur; the home, which was typically a place for comfort, merged with the workplace. And while dress code expectations may have been clear for working in the office, have employers been clear in what the expectations are surrounding working from home?

When reviewing dress code policies for use in remote or hybrid settings, start by defining what a company deems acceptable as ‘working attire’ when working from home. Consider how ‘dressed’ a remote employee needs to be. If someone on a zoom call is clad in a shirt, tie and even blazer from the waist up, but wearing pyjama bottoms from the waist down, is this unprofessional?

It’s important for employers to partner with HR when determining employee dress expectations. Appropriate attire doesn’t necessarily mean forcing workers to wear business professional clothing at all times, as contextually this may not be beneficial for the desired result.

For example, if a team is brainstorming ideas, an imaginative and innovative process, some individuals will do their best creative thinking when they can dress (and feel) comfortable. In part this is because, psychologically, what we wear can have a huge effect on how we think. One study found that wearing a suit or smart attire made 52% of people feel more productive, 59% act more decisively, and 78% felt more authoritative. And yet, a different study at the University of Hertfordshire asked a group of people to wear a Superman T-shirt, and concluded they believed they were stronger as a result.

Context of the desired result is therefore key when it comes to creating policies around dress codes and video call etiquette. Having a set of standards on what is acceptable – and what is unacceptable – will help mitigate the blunders mentioned earlier. There also needs to be an element of flexibility incorporated into these standards based on the task at hand; creative tasks may require more comfort. After all, if wearing a Superman shirt makes you feel strong, being comfortable can make you feel comfortable, too – and this can encourage some of the best and most honest thinking.

It all comes down to being intentional with the dress code, which will help to ensure clarity around those blurred lines of remote working and home life, while also taking into account the fact that the way someone dresses can have a real effect on their work results.

If you would like to discuss how we can help your company create and optimize these policies, please get in touch with me at amanda@orgshakers.com

What is the office actually for?

What was once seen as a logical and efficient way of working has now been brought into question by the sudden and mass shift to remote and hybrid work.

So, to work out where we’re going – we first need to rewind.

The ‘office’ has always been in a shifting state, all the way back to its conception in the 15^th century, where medieval monks created ‘scriptoriums’ to copy manuscripts. From that point onwards these proto-offices slowly evolved as the introduction of artificial light, telephones, typewriters, elevators, and computers eventually spawned sky-scraping office buildings which defined the urban landscape.  

Then BOOM! Lockdown. And everything changed.

What had been a slow and gradual evolution was jolted in a radically different direction. Those that could, worked from home. And for many of these individuals, working life became more productive, and more rewarding, to the point where today nine in ten jobseekers say hybrid work is now as important as financial benefits.

These new expectations mean that employers now need to be considering how they can most effectively use their office space to optimize the productivity of their people when they are in work – while also meeting their wellbeing needs when they are working remotely.

The best way to do this? By focusing on policy, place, and purposeful leaders:

Policy – Clarity is key when it comes to creating policies for hybrid and remote work, and so is the consideration of time. Your policies will outline when you expect people to be in, and when they are permitted the freedom to choose whether they use the office or work from home.

How flexible are your working hours? Are there core working hours that everyone needs to be available for? Being clear about what your policies are and why you have chosen them is important when it comes to building trust and loyalty with your staff, as well as lending to your attractiveness as a company.

Place – Different people are going to want/need to use the office for different reasons. For some, they may want to be in everyday as they cannot find a quiet space to focus at home. For others, they may only want to come in once a week, as they can do their individual work from home but enjoy face-to-face contact for more collaborative tasks. The point of this is that you have to be able to offer a place that can accommodate for both.

Will you have a Superdesk in one area to encourage collaboration and cubicle spaces for those who need to concentrate? Or will you try and adopt a more creative approach, with nap pods and sofas scattered about?

There is no ‘best way’ to do it – a recent study found that actively trying to make creative office spaces could be stifling creativity, whilst another discovered that changing from cubicles to open-plan saw a 70% drop in face-to-face interactions.

It all depends on your people’s needs; let them guide how your office space takes shape, and this way, it will ensure the optimization of their productivity.

Purposeful Leaders – Your leaders will play a huge role in bringing these policies to life –  as well as ensuring that the office space you have is delivering a return on your real estate investment.

If you decide that you want all employees to come in once a week, then it falls to team leaders and line-managers to highlight why people should adhere to this. If you force your staff to come in only for them to do the quiet, concentrated, individual work they can, and would most likely prefer to, do from home, then you are not optimizing the space around you. These days should be dedicated to collaborative tasks, to nourishing the company culture and strengthening the relationships between colleagues. If this is done correctly, people will stop viewing coming into the office as a chore and actually start wanting to be there, but your policies can only be as good as your managerial facilitation.

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Employers need to accept that hybrid and remote work is, for the majority of workers, desirable and beneficial, and begin leveraging this opportunity to optimize productivity rather than seeing it as an obstacle standing in the way of ‘the old way of work’.

The purpose of the office is changing, so now it’s a matter of leading this change rather than being led by it. And this is where we can help – we can assist in optimizing your organizational effectiveness when it comes to hybrid work, helping to craft policies and coach leaders to ensure that your company’s individual needs are met, and simultaneously align with the needs of your workforce.

To continue this conversation, you can either head over to our contact page, or reach out to me directly at andy@orgshakers.com

The HR is focused on managing every aspect of an organization’s ‘human’ capital.

As the importance of this historically under-optimized resource has been realized, however, we have seen the role of HR grow exponentially, especially as the scope of diversity, equity, and inclusion continues to expand alongside the almost perpetual introduction of new and emerging technologies.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that a fifth (22%) of HR directors are feeling ‘very stressed’, and almost three in ten (28%) feel there are too many demands on their time. The survey by Barnett Waddingham went on to reveal that 17% were unable to keep up with the pace of change at work.

And this raises an age-old question for HR professionals: when we start to burn out, who is our HR?

The answer can differ depending on what type of HR professional you actually are.

For those in-house corporate HR leaders, there are likely going to be internal support networks at the company they work for which they will have access to. Just as they will assist in implementing strategies to help reduce burnout amongst employees, these same strategies can be used to help alleviate their own stresses. Additionally, those that are members of the CIPD have access to a 24/7 helpline for any support they need (and for those HR professionals over in the US, SHMR members are offered a similar service!).

What can also be extremely helpful for those working in corporate HR is the recalibration of their role expectations. The world of HR is always expanding, and so as new considerations begin to come under HR’s scope of operation, it is important for these professionals to re-evaluate their job role with their employer and determine whether the increased workload needs to be distributed differently.

However, managing burnout when you are an independent HR consultant can be slightly trickier.

HR consultancy continues to gain popularity as a way of working for HR professionals (76% of organizations currently outsource one or more major HR function) which is why I founded the Leap Into HR Consulting programmes back in 2019 …to help senior HR professionals make that transition from corporate to consulting life (much like I did!).

A key part of the support we offer is understanding what you can do to alleviate stress and ward off those feelings of burnout that can come creeping in.

For one thing, being a consultant can often be perceived to be isolating. You do not have a team of head office functions behind you – so everything falls to you.

Juggling these many roles can be overwhelming, and what I have found to be truly effective in mitigating this sense of isolation is joining a community of consultants (either online or in person).

Having a sense of kinship can do wonders for your mental health, and it is so important to upkeep this when working in a consulting position.

Which leads me nicely onto my next point – you need to be in tune with yourself.

Understanding your needs and what makes you feel happy, healthy, and stimulated are going to be imperative tools for when you do feel a sense of burnout incoming. Be honest with your capabilities and set appropriate boundaries around your work to ensure that a work-life balance is being maintained that prioritizes your health and mental wellbeing. And considering that independent consultants have the additional worry of client retention and their own financial wellbeing on top of the burgeoning responsibilities that now fall to HR, it is imperative to have a wellbeing strategy in place for yourself.

If you would like to discuss HR wellbeing in greater detail and what services myself and OrgShakers can offer you, please get in touch with us.

Sarah Hamilton-Gill FCIPD

Managing Director

Globus HR Consulting Ltd

sarahhg@globushrconsulting.co.uk

Sarah-Hamilton Gill is the Founder and Managing Director of Globus HR Consulting Ltd. With over 29 years of experience in HR consulting, Sarah is widely regarded as an expert in the field of coaching HR professionals who are taking the leap into the HR Consulting world.

If you ever find yourself feeling anxious, sad, and/or stressed out as your Sunday comes to a close, you may be experiencing the Sunday scaries.

These feelings can be brought on for a number of reasons, whether that be stress from the week of work one has ahead of them, sadness about having to say goodbye to the fun, relaxing weekend, or angst from personal problems that have to be shelved as the working week begins again.

This phenomenon is more common than employer might think; one LinkedIn survey found that 75% of working Americans say they experience the Sunday scaries. This is an alarming amount of people who are starting off their work week on a bad note, and this can translate into productivity and engagement levels.

Setting the right tone for the week ahead can make all the difference with keeping a team engaged. After all, studies show that happy employees are noticeably more productive, and so employers should be considering what they can do to change that feeling of dread Monday brings into a feeling of excitement.

This is where the Monday Mantra comes in; employers should start considering creating their own unique mantra’s that they can use to bring the team together and ensure that the working week is starting off on a positive, stress-free note. This can take shape in a number of different and creative ways:

• Do a quick team meeting to start the day – this would see the team leader start Monday off by bringing everyone together and having an open discussion. Set goals for the week, ask what anyone in the team might need assistance with and where, and top this off with a fun and inspiring mantra that is rooted in the company’s mission. This can really help to recalibrate employees as they wean off the weekend and ease them into the week ahead, while also making it seem significantly less daunting.  
• Check-in with 1:1s – it’s very likely that a company will have a system where they set up one-to-ones, and these are a great opportunity to discuss in a more private and confidential setting about any feelings of angst or stress someone may be having. It can sometimes be difficult for someone to switch out of their personal life persona and switch into their professional persona, especially those who have other responsibilities beyond the workplace, such as childcare or caring for a family member. If team leaders are able to discuss these needs openly and sensitively, they will be able to better offer support where they can.
• Be clear about the support available – make sure that staff are aware of the mental wellbeing support that is available to them, whether that be an employee assistance program, externally outsourced support, or wellbeing apps such as Calm or Headspace to help manage anxiety.
• Introduce ‘No Meetings Monday’ – a more creative approach to warding off the Sunday scaries could be the introduction of a ‘no meetings Monday’, as this has been seen to help improve productivity and ease employees back into work mode.
• Have a ‘desk yoga’ session – Yoga is well-known to be an effective destressing tool for the body and the mind, so why not try and incorporate it into a Monday Mantra? Desk yoga is a fun new exercise which has been designed for someone to be able to do at their desk, making it perfect for setting the tone on a Monday morning!
• Plan ahead to Monday – team leaders can also be coaching their employees to plan their Monday’s before they leave work on Friday. Part of the angst can come from the element of feeling a sudden flood of responsibility after a weekend away, and so if employees are planning out what their Monday will entail, this will likely make it much more approachable as a task.

In some instances, employees who are frequently feeling the Sunday scaries may be a symptom of a deeper problem. This can either be an issue rooted in the company culture that is making them not want to come to work, or it could be a lack of motivation for the work they do. In both instances, we can help by conducting a cultural audit to identify where the issue may be and create strategies to tackle this. As well as coaching leaders to consider new ways of innovating the workday, such as creating ‘squiggle room’ with job crafting to breathe new life into a role.

If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at victoria.sprenger@orgshakers.com

Ah, January.

After a month packed with festive traditions, colorful lights, and more food than many of us would care to admit, it is quite natural to find yourself in a bit of a slump as the new year kicks off.

This feeling is known more commonly as the ‘January Blues’ (or the ‘Winter Woes’ if you love a little bit of alliteration). This is a common phenomenon where individuals experience a sense of depression, lethargy, or just a general decline in mood during the first month of the year. If we think of December as a rush of adrenaline, January is that feeling when the adrenaline wears off and reality comes creeping back in.

Whilst this sense of ‘feeling down’ can usually fade after getting back into the groove of things, for some it can linger longer. For example, financial stresses that may have been exacerbated by the holiday period are not going to vanish when we tip over into February. Equally, those that suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) tend to struggle during these winter months.

So, when looking to re-engage employees in January and support their wellbeing during this post-festive slump, it is important for employers to view this month as a springboard for the momentum of their wellbeing strategy for the entire year, and not just fixate on wellbeing in January and then let this momentum wane as the year goes on.

And, let’s be honest, we can all be a bit guilty of this at this time of year! Some of us will have signed up for that new gym membership and started taking part in Veganuary only to discover that these resolutions quickly fizzle out. Suddenly the gym membership is just another card cluttering your wallet – and no amount of carrots and hummus can stop you daydreaming about cheese!

But in the same way persevering with the gym will improve your health, companies that maintain their wellbeing efforts throughout the whole year will find themselves with the strongest and most productive workforce, and will avoid falling into the trap of ‘wellbeing washing’.

Wellbeing washing is essentially when companies express their passion towards mental and physical health but don’t actually demonstrate this through their practices or actions. One study found that more than a third (35%) of businesses are perceived by their employees to be wellbeing washing.

The key to avoiding this slippery slope is consistency and clarity. Wellbeing is an issue that has moved up the corporate agenda in recent years – especially post-pandemic – and so it is important for employers to be consistent in their efforts to support the wellbeing needs of their workforce all year round.

And while having happy, healthy workers is already going to be good for brain health, innovative thinking, and boosting productivity, a study by Mind also discovered that 60% of workers think that if their employer made steps to support their wellbeing at work, it would increase their motivation and the likelihood of them recommending their company as a great place to work.

The best thing employers can do is be aware of those looming January blues and make it clear to their staff what support is on offer (either internally or externally) and how these services will help them with their specific needs. This keeps organizations true to their promises of bringing wellbeing to the forefront and creates a culture that promotes the mental and physical health of employees – all of which promotes a healthy business for the year to come.

If you would like to discuss how we can assist your business with its wellbeing strategies, please get in touch with us.

The integration of biometric data in the workplace is not just a futuristic concept; it’s a present reality reshaping HR practices.

Employers are increasingly turning to biometrics for accurate attendance tracking and security, with technologies like facial recognition and fingerprint scanning becoming commonplace. This evolution promises unparalleled efficiency and precision in employee management, but raises critical questions about privacy and data security.

Consider the example of TechForward Inc., a leading tech company that implemented facial recognition for attendance. This move streamlined their attendance process, reducing manual errors and administrative work. Employees quickly adapted to this change, appreciating the added efficiency in their daily routines. TechForward’s experience highlights biometric technology’s potential to enhance operational efficiency.

However, the journey wasn’t without its challenges. Initially, there was apprehension among employees about privacy and data misuse. To address this, TechForward adopted a transparent approach, conducting informational sessions that explained the technology, its usage, and robust data security measures. They ensured compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation and other privacy regulations and made employee consent a cornerstone of their policy. This approach not only alleviated concerns but also fostered a culture of trust.

Another inspiring case is HealthCare Plus, a hospital that introduced fingerprint scanning to access its pharmaceutical department. This move significantly enhanced security, ensuring only authorized personnel could access sensitive areas and medications. It provided an additional layer of safety, which is crucial in healthcare settings.

Yet, the path to implementing biometrics has its ethical quandaries. A study by the HR Tech Council revealed that 78% of employees favoured efficiency and security, and 65% expressed privacy concerns. Balancing technology and ethics is, therefore, paramount. The key lies in creating a dialogue around these technologies, involving employees in the conversation, and continuously evolving policies to protect their rights.

As we forge into the future, it’s clear that biometrics will play a pivotal role in HR. However, this technological leap must be underpinned by a commitment to transparency, security, and respect for employee privacy. By navigating this path thoughtfully, HR can harness biometric technology’s power to create a workplace that’s efficient and secure but also respectful and empowering.

If you would like to discuss this topic in more detail, please get in touch with me at sayid@orgshakers.com

As we counted down to the new year in December, we adopted the theme of looking forwards. What are the essential topics of focus for employers to be considering in 2024?

Well, in case you missed any of them, here’s a summary of our essentials:

• The Disability Pay Gap – an analysis from the Trades Union Congress discovered that disabled workers effectively work for free for the last 47 days of the year due to the sizable pay gap between disabled and non-disabled workers. With 17.8% of England’s population being disabled, working towards closing this gap should be a priority for organizations so to attract new, diverse talent and to plug talent shortages that continue to effect employers – read the full piece here.
• Decision Intelligence – for our monthly reading recommendation, we recommended a book that all employers should get their hands on: Decision Intelligence by Thorsten Heilig and Ilhan Scheer. It acts as a practical and comprehensible guide for professionals who are navigating the decision-making and AI landscape by exploring the intersection of behavioral science, data science, and technological innovation. Check out our full summary here!
• Weaving AI into Learning and Development – Access Partnership’s survey found that 93% of employers expect to be using generative AI in the workplace in the next five years. It has therefore become an essential point of focus for employers to be weaving AI-centric learning and development (L&D) opportunities into their L&D strategies – read the full piece here.
• Leadership Legacy – with the average turnover rate for leadership roles at an unprecedented 18%, now is the best time for leaders to take a step back from thinking about where they are going next and, instead, take a moment to consider what it is they will be leaving in their wake. The impression that they leave, and the legacy of their practices, can make a big difference to the health of a company – so how do they want to be remembered? Read the full piece here.
• The HR Fundamentals – Our Founder David Fairhurst identified four key areas of focus that he believes are essential for HR and employers to be preparing for in order to ensure organization sustainability:
  • The Workforce Cliff – the first is the Workforce Cliff, which predicted that around this time, we would start to have more jobs than we had people to fill them. To avoid the cliff’s looming edge, employers must be expanding their search and tapping into all pools of talent…read the full piece here.
  • Humans and Technology – The second point of focus will be the relationship between humans and technology. As organizations begin to introduce generative AI into their workplaces, HR will play a pivotal role in supporting these new technological co-worker relationships in order to successfully optimize its capabilities. Read more here!
  • Redefining Place and Time – With the mass adoption of remote and hybrid working styles, we are seeing the previous boundaries of time differences and geographical distances evaporate, opening companies up to a new, global pool of talent…and to embracing the concept of asynchronous work. Read on for the full piece.
  • The End of Jobs – in order to successfully respond to the rapid increase in the pace of organizational change, employers will begin to recognize that a more flexible and responsive methodology is needed to keep up. This will take shape in the form of adopting a skills-based approach to managing work and workers – read the full piece here.

If you would like to discuss the services we offer in regards to these essentials – or wider areas of HR – please get in touch with us.

Last year, we asked the OrgShakers team what practices and ideologies they thought employers should be leaving behind as they ventured into the new year.

Now, as another year comes to a close, we wanted to see what they believe should be left in 2023 in order to help propel sustainability and growth in the year to come:

• Victoria Sprenger believes that employers need to leave behind their hesitancy on the use of AI, and instead begin to channel this tool for positive, impactful and productive work – it’s time to start working smart!
• And with new technology emerging, Sayid Hussein believes employers – especially those in the realm of remote work – must pivot away from outdated technological practices to stay ahead. The key lies in transitioning from multiple communication tools to integrated platforms that merge messaging, video calls, and project management, thereby enhancing efficiency. Outmoded legacy systems should be replaced with modern, cloud-compatible solutions, and the manual handling of data should give way to automated processes powered by AI and machine learning. It’s also crucial to ensure that technology is optimized for mobile use, catering to a flexible and dynamic workforce. Customizable tech solutions are vital in addressing the diverse needs of today’s employees. In the cybersecurity arena, regular, updated training is essential to keep pace with evolving threats, moving beyond traditional physical security measures to comprehensive digital strategies. By embracing these changes, employers can significantly boost the productivity and security of their remote teams, aligning with the fast-paced, digitally-driven work environment that 2024 will definitely bring.
• Speaking of the realm of remote work, Andy Parsley thinks that employers need to stop treating remote and hybrid working as a ‘problem’. Through 2023, countless politicians and senior business leaders have gone public with their unease about remote and hybrid working, urging workers to “get back to the office”. I hope that in 2024 they’ll come to realize that, managed correctly, these flexible working patterns are better for both workers and their employers. Nick Bloom, professor of economics at Stanford University, estimates that people value the ability to work from home two or three days a week about the same as they would an 8% pay rise. And, if organized effectively, remote working can be good for productivity too. Indeed, there is a growing realization that asynchronous work – work that is done independently from others – is often more productive than synchronized work alongside colleagues in the workplace. So, in 2024 organizations should focus on optimizing the working patterns of their people – and ignore those who are arguing for a retrograde step back to a five-day-a-week, 9-5 culture.
• Amanda Holland believes that organizations need to stop lamenting the workforce shortage. The world of work is undergoing several transformational changes including the dearth of workers, the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the massive shifting of duties and roles across most industries.  Leading-edge organizations and executives are focused on charting new paths that capitalize on the opportunities coming from these disruptions. They have let go of rehashing how challenging the current workforce shortage has become. Instead, they are acknowledging that traditional talent management strategies have become less productive and it’s time to think ahead, rather than continuing to look behind. 
• And speaking of talent management, Brittany Burton thinks that it’s time for employers to leave behind quiet quitting. This can be done by engaging their employees, conducting frequent check-ins, encouraging open communication about concerns and actively listening. To combat quiet quitting employers should also address workload issues, promote a positive work environment, think strategically on career path planning, and stay attuned to warning signs such as disengagement, decreased productivity, increased absenteeism or changes in behavior.
• Finally, Marty Belle believes employers should leave behind the perspective that their organization is colorblind and that differences should be erased. Instead, they must accept the reality that people are diverse, and race, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, nationality, ability, and other dimensions of our differences have significance and will all add to greater organizational success.

If you want to get in touch with us surrounding these points, you can do so here.

And from all of us at OrgShakers, Happy New Year!

After discussing the world of HR consulting with Sarah Hamilton-Gill on her podcast, Leap Into HR Consulting, we moved onto looking at the four fundamental shifts that I predict we will be seeing in the near future that HR professionals need to be preparing themselves for.

We discussed the looming edge of the Workforce Cliff, the importance that employers need to be applying to the relationship between humans and technology, and the redefinition of Place and Time in the workplace. The final shift I believe businesses and HR professionals need to be preparing for is the end of jobs altogether.

The ‘job’ – defined as a set of responsibilities assigned to an individual employee – has been the fundamental building block of organizations for millennia. As the requirements of businesses have changed over the years, employers have tweaked and amended the job descriptions of their employees to adapt to these changes.

However, we have seen that the pace of this organizational change has been rapidly accelerated by the influx of new technologies paired with the evaporation of the boundaries of time and geography. Now, employers are beginning to recognize that a more flexible and responsive methodology is needed in order to keep up with this new pace of change, and so I believe we are going to see companies increasingly adopting a skills-based approach to managing work and workers. Deloitte’s 2023 Global Human Capital Trends report supports this notion, as it was discovered that 93% employers believe that moving away from the job construct is important or very important to their organization’s success.

And yet, the research also identified a readiness gap, as only 20% of these employers felt they were very ready to address the movement away from the ‘job’.

This is where HR will play a vital role, as they will be the key to bridging this gap and educating organizations around this new approach to work. And a large part of this will be challenging legacy mindsets and traditional practices that are holding employers back from skills-based work – which Deloitte reported was the main obstacle for 46% of companies.

HR will therefore have to pioneer a shift in the traditional mindset of allocating work to individuals in defined jobs to one where the work is deconstructed and assigned by:

1. Making the starting point for resource allocation the actual work that needs to be done, broken down into the individual tasks which need to be completed to achieve the required outcomes.
2. Identifying the optimal combination of human skill, AI, and technology/automation to achieve the required outcomes.
3. Identifying the optimal contractual engagement model for work that requires human skill, e.g.: employment, freelance, alliances, etc.
4. Allowing human skill to ‘flow’ to the work instead of being constrained by traditional fixed hierarchies and organizational structures.

Rather than viewing workers as ‘job holders’ performing predefined tasks, it is important to recognize them as individuals with unique skill sets. This will enable employers to match each worker with tasks that align with their specific skills. This work can be performed by a single person, a team, or a group of rotating resources, each contributing their appropriate skills while improving their current ones and developing new ones. This approach will enable workers to maximize their potential and contribute to their personal growth. It will also create a more equitable and human-centric work experience.

If you would like to discuss how OrgShakers can help guide and support you on this journey, please get in touch with me at david@orgshakers.com or reach out through our website here.

David Fairhurst is the Founder of OrgShakers. He is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading HR practitioners and is a respected thought leader, business communicator, and government advisor.

After discussing the world of HR consulting with Sarah Hamilton-Gill on her podcast, Leap Into HR Consulting, we moved onto looking at the four fundamental shifts that I predict we will be seeing in the near future that HR professionals need to be preparing themselves for.

The first of these shifts was the Workforce Cliff, and the second was the importance of the relationship between humans and technology. This leads me onto my third fundamental – the redefining of the workplace.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a fundamental reappraisal of both the Place and Time of work. Pre-pandemic, we were seeing the workplace boundaries of time and geography begin to evaporate as businesses were responding to the increasing pace of organizational change. The pandemic, however, catalysed this shift even further and has seen it accelerate on a global scale.

The most obvious impact has been to the Place of work – pre-pandemic, it was relatively unusual for workers to be working remotely, with Pew Research Center discovering that before early 2020 just 7% of workers worked from home full-time. Now, over one-third (35%) are working remotely on a full-time basis, with many more employed on hybrid contracts.

This forced reinvention of the Place of work has now spawned a reappraisal of Time of work. Before lockdown workers synchronized their time with colleagues by working the same set office hours which would be punctuated by face-to-face meetings. However, with the introduction of home working came the ability for these individuals to flex their working hours to accommodate their personal schedules.

This led to the realization that asynchronous work – work that is done independently from others – was not only possible, but often more productive.

So, what are the implications of Place and Time for HR?

As Lynda Gratton explores in her book Redesigning Work, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to optimizing Place and Time in the workplace. Instead, HR needs to assess the positives and negatives of each to determine the opportunities that can be created – and the trade-offs that would be made.

And now, as Place and Time become more flexible, so do the importance of policies that are applicable on a global scale. With the boundaries of Place and Time being broken down by remote work, employees can now operate from anywhere in the world, meaning that asynchronous working patterns may soon become the normal style of work. Therefore, employers who are actively engaged with optimizing their Place and Time, as well as harnessing AI-driven technologies to help employees become their best selves, are the ones who will find themselves at a more comfortable distance from the edge of the Workforce Cliff. If you would like to discuss how to begin strategizing – and optimizing – the Place and Time of your workplace, please get in touch with me at david@orgshakers.com

David Fairhurst is the Founder of OrgShakers. He is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading HR practitioners and is a respected thought leader, business communicator, and government advisor.

After discussing the world of HR consulting with Sarah Hamilton-Gill on her podcast, Leap Into HR Consulting, we moved onto looking at the four fundamental shifts that I predict we will be seeing in the near future that HR professionals need to be preparing themselves for.

The first shift was the Workforce Cliff, and the second is the relationship between humans and technology.

There has been a lot of scaremongering in the media about the effects that AI integration will have on jobs – the most notable statistic being that 300 million jobs are predicted to be lost in American and European markets, according to a report from Goldman Sachs.

However, if you dig a little deeper into this report, you discover that the authors predict that just 7% of current US employment will be fully substituted by AI, with 30% being unaffected, and 68% being complimented by its introduction.

If we take a stroll back through history, there have been many instances where workplace automation has actually resulted in either the creation of new roles or the technology becoming ‘co-workers’ with us.

A great example of technology as ‘co-workers’ is the introduction of the ATM (automated teller machines) in the US in the late 1960s. While the initial objective was to replace bank tellers and reduce the real estate needed for bank branches, the graph below highlights how, in fact, the opposite happened:

As the number of ATMs increased, so did the number of branches being opened, and the number of bank tellers. The key to this relationship being successful was employees understanding how to work with this new technology in order to deliver greater efficiency and better customer service (e.g.: the ATMs handled the basic transactions freeing up the bank tellers to deliver higher-value customer services).

As organizations introduce AI into the workplace, HR will play a pivotal role supporting these new co-worker relationships. As Melissa Swift describes in her book Work Here Now, HR will be ‘couples counsellors’ for humans and technology, coaching employees on how to successfully interact with newly integrated tech in order to optimize its (and their) abilities.

As AI has the potential to become a disruptive force within organizations – changing their structures, workflows, and processes – HR will be responsible for ensuring these changes are implemented in a way which maintains employee morale and productivity, and which secures a pipeline of future talent through enhancing a company’s reputation.

By acting as a pillar of this newly found co-existence with expanding technology, HR professionals will demonstrate how AI tools can help employees become their best selves. This will happen through nudging them to learn new behaviors, correct old habits, enhance key skills, and free up their time for more meaningful work as it can perform the more admin-based tasks.

As we continue to watch AI integration in the workplace take shape, it is important for HR to get ahead of this curve and be proactive when it comes to managing the impacts of this new technological age. If you would like to discuss how OrgShakers can help you do this, please get in touch with me at david@orgshakers.com

David Fairhurst is the Founder of OrgShakers. He is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading HR practitioners and is a respected thought leader, business communicator, and government advisor.