Happy employees are productive employees – 13% more productive to be exact.

But in days past, keeping an employee ‘happy’ was usually intrinsically linked with the amount of money they were being paid. If their salary was good, and their performance was methodically rewarded, then this tended to spark contentment in the general worker.

However, we are now beginning to discover that making employees happy is no longer that straightforward. Matt Phelan’s recent book The Happiness Index is a testament to this, as it identifies the 24 sub-drivers of happiness and engagement at work. Yes, 24! But of these, there are some that have a stronger driving force than others; a recent survey from Wondr Health discovered that 30.1% of employees believe that building friendships was the key to fostering happiness at work, in comparison to only 12% who cited financial freedom. What’s even more interesting to note is that financial freedom ranked fourth, below physical and emotional health and wellbeing (21.5%) and engaging in activities that spark joy (16.8%).

Our own poll findings affirm this notion, as when we asked respondents what makes them feel happiest at work, 49% said it was the people they worked with, and 40% said it was the purpose their job gave them.

So, why is salary less of a concern, and what has taken its place as the key factor for fostering employee happiness?

There are two primary forces at play: the post-pandemic mindset and the flood of Gen Z into the workplace.

Since the pandemic, there has been a ‘carpe diem’ mindset emerge. After being faced with our mortality, it’s become common to use this as a point of reflection and determine what we really want to do and achieve with our time. This has driven a major shift in focus towards wellbeing, physical and mental health, and work-life balance. A report from Hays confirms this, as it revealed more than half (56%) of employees are willing to accept a lower-paid job in exchange for a better work-life balance.

What’s working in conjunction with this shift is the fact that Gen Z are now embedded into the workplace, with 27% of the workforce expected to be made up of these younger workers in 2025. With this influx of young talent also comes new ideals and values; Gen Z are the first generation to be socialised in a world with the internet readily available, and so it is no wonder that what they value and expect from work has evolved. For example, 77% of Gen Zers only want to work for a company whose values align with their own. They are more eco-conscious, they don’t shy away from previously taboo topics such as mental health, and they are notably the most diverse workforce in history.

As employers look to attracting new young talent into their businesses, they need to consider that a decent salary – whilst important – is not enough on its own to foster happiness and contentment amongst employees. Instead, salary is playing second (or maybe even third) fiddle to the rising importance of work-life balance and wellbeing support. If you would like to discuss how we can help you implement these changes into your talent attraction strategy, please get in touch with us.

Gen Z are flooding into the workplace, and with this assimilation they bring to light conversations around work-life balance, environmentalism, and the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And it is no wonder we’re seeing the latter take place; a recent study discovered that 36% of students and graduates identify as LGBTQ+.

And yet, a survey by the Williams Institute found that nearly half of LGBTQ+ workers (46%) have experienced unfair treatment at work at some point in their lives – and many reported engaging in ‘covering’ behaviors (that is, trying to conceal their sexual or gender identity to appear heteronormative) to avoid harassment and discrimination at work.

As someone who resides in a relatively ‘prideful’ London, it can be a shock to see that so many LGBTQ+ people are still subject to this discrimination in contemporary society.

With this being the most openly queer generation to date, it is no wonder that those companies who are on top of their inclusion initiatives around LGBTQ+ support are the most favorable workplaces. And with a third of the workforce predicted to be made up of Gen Z workers by 2030, it is so important for companies to ensure they are building a culture at work that is fostering feelings of safety and belonging.

So, what are the key ingredients for reinforcing LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace?

• DEI Programs – whether this be training programs, employee resource groups, or creating mentoring opportunities, it is important for employers to have one or more of these programs in place in order to continue driving their DEI agenda.
• Inclusive Policies – ensure that your policies are inclusive to all when designing them, taking into account specific policies you may need when addressing LGBTQ+ related issues (for example, same-sex parental leave policies, leave for reassignment surgery, bereavement leave for the loss of a child through surrogacy, etc.)
• Role Models – having diverse leaders can really help to highlight that opportunities in your company are available to all and attainable by all.
• Recruit for Culture-Add – hiring for ‘culture fit’ can sometimes feel like the comfortable option, but by hiring a diverse set of people who think differently and have differing life experiences, this can open up opportunities to break into new markets and consider new innovations. At the same time, it will also help to diversify your team and grow the culture of your company.
• LGBTQ+ Workshops – having regular LGBTQ+ workshops throughout the year can be so helpful to stay on top of the most up-to-date and inclusive terminology to be using. These will also promote the use of inclusive language in the workplace to help make everyone feel comfortable (for example, encouraging the use of the term ‘partner’ when discussing your significant other no matter your sexuality can be a signifier to queer people that they can comfortably share parts of their personal life at work).

The future of the workforce is set to be bright (and colorful!), and so fostering an inclusive workplace environment is key to creating a sustainable business. If you would like guidance on creating this inclusion roadmap and implementing this at the core of your company, please get in touch with us.                             

That’s right – another buzzword has entered the mix.

‘Coffee badging’ may sound a bit peculiar, but it is essentially when an employee comes into the office very briefly, taps in with their identity card, then grabs a coffee and mingles with colleagues for a short stint before leaving to work the rest of the day from home.

According to a recent survey of 2,000 full-time workers in the US, more than half (58%) of hybrid workers admitted to coffee badging.

The trend seems to be rising in popularity in conjunction with the increased return-to-office mandates we seem to be seeing. As companies continue to try and force their employees back into the office full-time, employees seem to be revolting against this by poking their heads in for a quick coffee and then slipping back out again.

A huge reason for this is that many employees enjoy having hybrid and remote working privileges; one in five workers dread working from an office, and less than one in ten (8%) want to be in an office every day. One study even discovered that companies that issued return-to-office mandates experienced no improvement in financial performance, and 99% of them saw a drop in their employees’ overall job satisfaction.

The tug-of-war between employers wanting their employees in the office and employees wanting to work from home has been going on since lockdown ended. And whilst some solutions are being trialled – hybrid working where everyone comes into the office the same days, a 4-day working week entirely onsite – we are not seeing any that seem to stick.

What employers need to do is reverse engineer the problem in order to find the solution; in this case, workers are dissatisfied with coming into the office because all the work they do in the office they can do just as easily from home (except at home, they can save money on travel, work more comfortably, and lessen commuting time). It’s no wonder many of them don’t want to come into the office, because there is not a clear incentive to.

This is where companies need to focus their efforts. Demanding employees return to the office without a real reason insinuates a lack of trust in your team. Instead, employers must consider the fact that the role of the office has evolved in the modern working world, and therefore focus on optimizing the areas of onsite working that cannot be mimicked at home.

The most obvious one is face-to-face collaboration. It can be creatively stifling to attempt to exchange ideas over a Zoom call, but in a meeting room you can bounce off of each other. In this sense, the office has taken on the role of an ‘idea hub’ whose purpose is to encourage cohesion and the exchange of innovative ideas – all the while strengthening the interpersonal bonds between colleagues and leaders.

So, if you would like to discuss how we can help assist you in optimizing your organizational effectiveness when it comes to hybrid working, and ward off the coffee badging mindset, please get in touch with us.

In a move that underscores the evolving landscape of workplace benefits, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has recently unveiled a groundbreaking parental leave policy. Effective from 1 July 2024, this policy not only represents a significant step forward in the realm of employee benefits, but also marks an important shift in the paradigm for Human Resources (HR) management worldwide. Understanding this shift is crucial for firms aiming to stay ahead in the competitive global market.

LSEG’s new policy offers an impressive 26 weeks of fully paid leave to all employees with more than 12 months’ service who are welcoming a child into their family. This is irrespective of the parent’s gender, how they become a parent, or their location, ensuring equal opportunity for all LSEG parents to engage in child caregiving. This initiative is a substantial leap towards achieving true Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, setting a global benchmark that other organizations are likely to follow.

Why does this matter for HR?

            1.         Attracting and Retaining Talent: In today’s job market, where competition for top talent is fiercer than ever, benefits like LSEG’s parental leave policy can be a significant differentiator. By offering such forward-thinking benefits, companies can attract a more diverse talent pool and retain employees who value family-friendly workplace policies.

            2.         Promoting Gender Equality: Traditional parental leave policies often reinforce gender stereotypes by assuming primary caregiving roles for one gender over the other. LSEG’s gender-neutral policy challenges these norms, promoting a more inclusive environment that supports and encourages shared parental responsibilities.

            3.         Supporting Work-Life Balance: The addition of an eight-week phased return to work, with employees working 80% of their normal hours at full pay, acknowledges the challenges of balancing professional and personal responsibilities. This approach can lead to healthier, more productive employees.

            4.         Enhanced Support for Neonatal Care: Recognizing the additional challenges faced by families with children requiring neonatal care, LSEG’s enhanced leave policy provides critical support during difficult times. This consideration reflects a deeper understanding of employee needs and a commitment to supporting them through life’s challenges.

LSEG’s policy is more than just a generous employee benefit; it is a statement on the importance of nurturing an inclusive, supportive, and equitable workplace culture. For HR professionals, it serves as a clear indicator of the shifting expectations towards employee welfare and the role of organizations in facilitating this. As firms navigate the complexities of the modern workforce, adapting to these shifts is not just beneficial but essential for sustainable growth and success.

For HR professionals and firms worldwide, this new global parental leave policy highlights the importance of re-evaluating traditional policies and practices to align with the evolving expectations of the workforce. As we move forward, embracing such paradigm shifts in HR will be pivotal in building more resilient, inclusive, and competitive organizations. If you would like to discuss how we can help you with your policy creation, please get in touch with us.

With International Women’s Day on the horizon, and Women’s History Month now in full swing, we have been reading The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It by Mary Ann Sieghart.

Sieghart spent 20 years as Assistant Editor of The Times and is currently a Non-Executive Director of the Guardian Media Group, Senior Independent Director of Pantheon International, Non-Executive Director of The Merchants Trust, Senior Independent Trustee of the Kennedy Memorial Trust, and Trustee of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation – in addition to extensive TV and radio experience. And she has channelled this lifetime of experience into an explosive and important book.

The ‘Authority Gap’ of the title is evidenced in the way women are continually undermined, belittled, and talked over in both their professional and personal lives. However, unlike the gender pay gap, it is harder to measure the authority gap as it is perpetuated by systemic unconscious biases.

Sieghart begins her examination of these biases by exploring whether there is any truth to the idea that women are ‘naturally’ less well suited to leadership in certain traditionally ‘male’ careers, and this is quickly disproven. She has pulled on a wealth of research throughout the book to highlight the hypocrisies women face in the workplace and the wider world, using a mix of academic studies, polling data, and dozens of interviews with pioneering women such as Baroness Hale, Dame Mary Beard, and Bernadine Evaristo.

All of this is combined to unearth the deep-rooted social conditioning that women are subject to from as young as elementary school age – one study cited discovered that elementary and middle-school boys were given eight times more attention by teachers than girls in this age group. Sieghart then opens up her field of enquiry as the book goes on, delving into the rise of online abuse as a way of silencing women, the double-standards of beauty and aging, and the multiple ways that bias against women intersects with other factors such as race, class, and disability.

After bringing all of these issues to light, Sieghart closes the book with her final chapter – aptly titled ‘No Need to Despair’ – where she highlights the changes that need to be made at individual, organizational, and legislative levels in order to close this gap. And the author even goes on to explain how closing this gap is beneficial not just for women, but for all; men in more gender-equal societies report higher levels of happiness and satisfaction in home and work life, and gender-diverse companies are more profitable!

This is an important book for all employers to read, as it expertly uncovers the unconscious bias and microaggressions that women still face at work – and sets out a roadmap for how to ensure this behavior is challenged and changed for the better.

If you would like to discuss how we can help support the diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies in your organization, please get in touch with us here.

And to grab a copy of The Authority Gap, head over here for the US and here for the UK.  

37% of people in their 50s and 60s in the UK have experienced age discrimination in the past year, most commonly in the workplace. And in the US around two-thirds of over-50 adults believe older workers are facing age discrimination at work.

Ageism has always been something that seemingly slips through the cracks. Throwaway comments and outdated assumptions continue to allow this discrimination to be perpetuated, but with a third of the UK workforce being over 50, and nearly a quarter of the US workforce being over 55, employers have a responsibility to be clamping down on ageism at work if they want to unlock the full potential of their midlife workers.

But in order to do this, employers first need to know what to be looking for. Our friends at Rest Less have identified seven common examples of ageism that happen in the workplace:

1. Stereotyping – this can affect both older and younger workers and is where assumptions or judgements are made about people based on their age.
2. Marginalisation – usually the result of stereotyping, and happens when someone is made to feel  less important than others in society. They’re essentially sidelined and made to feel small.
3. Microaggressions – theseare subtle, often unintentional, comments or behaviours that convey discriminatory messages. Both stereotyping and marginalisation can be examples of microaggressions.
4. Bias in Hiring Process – many over 50s looking to transition into roles that don’t directly align with their experience and skill level may also be branded by employers as ‘overqualified’ – and overlooked as a result.
5. Rebranding Roles – role rebranding isn’t unusual and is an example of ageism that sees older employees being informed that their role is being phased out because it’s no longer needed at the company…a company will then advertise the same role under a different title and hire a younger candidate.
6. Redundancy Selection – in situations where companies are making redundancies, some companies will make voluntary redundancy offers to older employees based on assumptions that “they will be retiring soon anyway”.
7. Harassment – age harassment can take various forms, including all of the examples listed above. But, in extreme cases, it may escalate to explicit bullying.

Employers that are well-versed in how ageism presents in the workplace are going to be the ones who are most prepared to challenge it. And by doing so, they will be creating a work environment where everyone feels like they are welcome and that they belong, and this is the type of culture where employees thrive.

This is all without mentioning the many positives that having an age-diverse workforce can bring to a company – midlife workers will have a lot of experience under their belt, as well as age-inclusive perspectives that will help expand their employer’s marketing horizons. This is why it is so important for older workers to also be offered opportunities to learn and develop, as they have so much talent to offer, it may just need to be re-contextualized!

If you would like to discuss how we can help eradicate age discrimination from your workplace and unlock all the potential of a diversely-aged team, please get in touch with us.

The résumé can be traced all the way back to the late 15^th century, when Leonardo Da Vinci sent a letter to the regent of Milan seeking a job and outlining his relevant work experience. It was then a few centuries later that this concept gained real traction, and by the early 19^th century, having a piece of paper that highlighted your experience, skills, and qualifications started to become a prerequisite to getting a job.

But are we seeing the era of the résumé starting to come to a close?

Maybe, but not immediately. Our latest LinkedIn poll highlighted that the first thing the majority of employers considered when hiring someone new was their experience (51%), followed by their qualifications (19%) and then finally their skills (14%). Now, this isn’t to say that all three of these things are not considered, but it was interesting to see that experience outranked all other factors. While this suggests that there is still a place for the résumé, with the working world going through exponential changes – catalysed by the pandemic and its fallout – is it time for employers to consider evolving their hiring strategy to remain in step with the accelerated pace of change?

Well, according to TestGorilla’s The State of Skills-Based Hiring 2023 report, the answer may indeed be yes. Of the 1500 employers and 1500 employees surveyed, 70% agreed that all forms of skills-based hiring are more effective than a résumé. 87% of employers said that they experience problems with résumés, most notably determining whether it is accurate, determining a candidate’s skills, and the struggle to easily rank potential hires to identify the strongest talent.

What we are starting to see is that employers are beginning to adopt a skills-based approach when it comes to identifying the best talent during their recruitment. This would see hiring managers doing away with résumés, and instead employing skills-based assessments to determine which candidates are best suited to the role. These assessments would include cognitive ability tests, role-specific skills tests and assignment or work samples – all of which were viewed as being more effective measures for identifying talented candidates over résumés.

And it is no wonder that employers are thinking this – moving away from the résumé and the ‘degree-inflation mindset’ allows organizations to gain access to a wider, more diverse talent pool, inviting in more opportunities for innovation. There is also a much lower chance of hiring the wrong person as employers would have seen their abilities in action, which helps to avoid the estimated cost of a bad hire (which ranges from five to twenty-seven times the amount of the person’s annual salary).

Experience and qualifications are still notable considerations when it comes to selecting a candidate, but employers who are expanding their horizons to skills-based hiring practices may yield the best – and most economically friendly – results in the years to come.

If you would like to discuss how we can help evolve your recruitment process by infusing skills-based assessments into it, then please get in touch with me at andy@orgshakers.com

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

He may have achieved fame as a country music singer in the 1960’s, but Jimmy Dean’s observation could easily have been about the current state of organizational change.

The winds of change have been howling through the working world; the disruptive forces of new technologies, generative AI, the broadening scope of diversity, equity, and inclusion and the assimilation of hybrid and remote working have created a HR hurricane.

These changes are all potentially positive for business, but they are happening at a pace that has been exponentially accelerated by the pandemic. What would have been a gradual integration of the hybrid working format became a sudden and forced shift to remote working which companies either had to adapt to or be left behind.

And yet, although lockdown posed a situation where employers were forced to adjust their sails, the changes that we are seeing now can be best navigated not just by responding to the direction of the wind – but also by anticipating its patterns so to be one step ahead of it.

Here lies the big question: is your organization ready for change?

A recent report from Gartner discovered that 82% of HR leaders believe their managers are not equipped to lead change – and this is exacerbated by the fact that 77% of employees are suffering from change fatigue.

Change fatigue occurs when the volume and pace of change becomes overwhelming for employees. This can have detrimental affects on employee wellbeing and productivity, but despite this only 8% of workers feel confident in their plan to manage their fatigue.

The pace of change in the working world is not predicted to slow, so for those organizations looking to keep in stride – and get ahead of – this new pace, they need to be building change fatigue prevention strategies into their equation for organizational transformation success.

Currently, most employers will integrate change through clear communication paired with good training. But as we watch the corporate world evolve, so do our approaches to how change is implemented. Weaving change fatigue management into this equation ensures that managers are better equipped to coach their teams on how to effectively identify fatigue drivers, fix any that arise, and start to look at how they can be prevented altogether (this looks like normalizing rest, microbreaks, employee involvement, creating a psychologically safe space, etc.).

What is critical to these prevention strategies being successful is understanding that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to mitigating change fatigue. Different types of employees are going to need different wellbeing support – and if employers are able to look at wellbeing needs through an intersectional lens, then they will be able to efficiently support their people through the intensity of these changes.

An example of this is midlife workers; many of our established wellbeing programs are centred around younger workers (parental leave, childcare support, etc.) whereas older workers will have entirely different needs to this (menopause support, working carers support, etc.). Bridging the wellbeing gap will strengthen your efforts when managing change fatigue and ensure that the other 92% of employees feel confident in their ability to manage their change fatigue as they will have the right support in place.

This will see your business set sail on the high seas of profit, productivity, and employee satisfaction.

If you would like to discuss how we can help implement strategies around wellbeing and change fatigue, 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.

Pancake Day has become wildly popular in British culture over the years. What was once solely a religious celebration for indulging in something sweet before the beginning of Lent has now evolved into a fun and cultural staple that many Britons take part in.

When we think about pancakes, our minds tend to go one of two places – the thin, sugary lemon crepes of France, or the thick, maple-soaked stacks of North America. But what is so interesting to note is that the pancake – something that seems relatively simple in its creation – takes on so many different forms, flavours, and styles across the world. The Japanese have their savoury pancake, called okonomiyaki, the Swedes have grated potato pancakes called raggmunk, and in South India they have thin, savoury delicacies called dosas.

To me, this highlights the power of diverse perspectives. The pancake has been reimagined, reshaped, and reborn in so many different ways across the globe, and now there are so many innovative approaches to one dish. Now imagine applying this mindset to the working world – if employers foster and encourage diverse thinking, what are the benefits that they might be able to cook up?

Well, for one thing, a study published by Harvard Business Review discovered that teams solve problems faster when they are more cognitively diverse. Having a varied set of employees who have been enriched by different experiences in life will invite new ways of thinking and looking at something into workplace discussions. This paves the path for innovation and creativity, as well as being able to expand their customer base into new market territories that were potentially being missed previously.

But it is not as simple as hiring diversly – employers must also strive to foster a culture of inclusion so that each employee feels that they belong. This means encouraging open communication, embracing ‘taboos’, and challenging potential microaggressions that may hinder the assimilation of a diverse workforce. By creating this culture, employers will be able to unlock all of the opportunities that a diverse workforce has to offer, and there are many! In a recent McKinsey report, it was found that successful diverse companies outperform less varied organizations.

So this pancake day, opt to adopt the pancake mindset, and embrace the power of diversity and new perspectives by taking something and seeing its potential to be so much more.

If you would like to discuss how we can help your company diversify its hiring practices and foster an inclusive culture, please get in touch with us.

The evolution of AI and technology is more than just a trend – it is now driving a fundamental shift in the business landscape. Organizations aiming to stay competitive must embrace this transformation – starting with their People.

To begin with, organizations need to be redesigning their structures and processes – and working with someone who has expertise in this field is crucial for smooth and successful implementation.

This is where OrgShakers come in. We can help employers build a foundation to adapt and thrive in a tech-driven future by combining our expertise in leadership optimization, people strategy, and human capital risk management.

Focusing on strategic HR management in this way will see humans align harmoniously with the technology to unlock the full potential of this new opportunity. Our approach encompasses everything from talent acquisition to leadership development and is designed to foster a culture of innovation and adaptability.

And fostering this culture is not just about adopting new tools; it’s about strategic cultural and organizational transformation. This requires an approach which ensures that changes in structure and strategy are deeply rooted in the organization’s culture and values so to ignite a ripple effect that touches every corner of the company.

Embedding AI and new technologies requires a focus on learning and development opportunities surrounding this, as this training will mitigate any feelings of doubt or change fatigue that employees may be feeling when getting to grips with these new additions.

In 2024, staying ahead means embracing the evolution of AI and technology, with a focus on people and processes. Partnering with us offers organizations the expertise and support to navigate this transformative journey. By aligning HR strategies with technological advancements, companies can foster a resilient, innovative, and competitive workforce ready to excel in our hi-tech future.

If you would like to discuss our services in relation to AI and technology in more detail, please get in touch with me at sayid@orgshakers.com  

Inspired by Black History Month, we have chosen to read The Business of Race: How to Create and Sustain an Antiracist Workplace and Why It’s Actually Good for Business by Gina Greenlee and Margaret H. Greenberg.

Gina is a Black business leader with more than thirty years of experience in organizational development, project management, communications, and training. Margaret is a White executive coach and president of The Greenberg Group, a consulting firm that coaches executives and their teams to lead large-scale organizational change. Together, they have pooled their vast amount of knowledge of business and psychology to create a practical guide for employers and employees about how to address race in the workplace.

The core message of this book is that you can’t solve what you can’t talk about, and there is a power in the fact that the book is able to examine the delicate nature of talking about race from both a Black and a White person’s perspective, resulting in an honest and necessary read that really digs deep into the topic.

There has long been a taboo around talking about race at work, and in their book, Gina and Margaret highlight that organizations must be readying themselves on an individual and enterprise level before diving headfirst into such an important conversation. The individual work includes raising our awareness and creating new ways of being, and the enterprise work focuses on how employers must develop and implement strategies, policies, and initiatives to reimagine a racially equitable workplace. But these things are not ‘programs’ that can just be completed swiftly … they are journeys.

This book acts as a guide for starting this journey. It offers a number of practical ways that businesses – regardless of their size – can make positive, sustainable changes that will help to bring more racial diversity, inclusion, and equity into the workplace.

The reader is offered a range of tools to help them start these conversations, comprising a mix of new learning tools such as fostering a growth mindset, with more familiar tools such as strategic planning and project management. Woven amongst these are interviews from more than two-dozen business professionals across diverse industries, fields and organizational levels that bring voices to the challenges and opportunities businesses face every day.

And while this book offers accessible routes into discussing racial inequity at work, it is also honest about the fact that accessibility should not be confused with ease … this is hard work. But with the right set of tools, alongside strategic support from your HR team, employers can start having important conversations about race in the workplace.

If you would like to discuss the services that OrgShakers can offer with helping fuel your diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, please get in touch with us here.

And to get your hands on a copy of The Business of Race, head over here for the US and here for the UK.

It was recently discovered that a whopping 70% of UK staff are planning to find a new job in 2024, and over half (58%) of US employees were intending to make a major job change this year…so if you thought the war for talent was coming to a lull, this may prove you wrong.

Since the pandemic the working world has been in a state of flux – our practices are constantly evolving in response to the rise of the carpe diem mentality that COVID created, and the subsequent shifting needs of the workforce that came with it. With a constant flow of employees in and out of organizations, businesses have been keenly focused on strategies to attract, embed, and retain top talent.

And in 2024, this may mean looking beyond the pool of traditionally qualified workers. The 4-year degree as a job requirement is starting to be challenged in corporate America, and this is in part due to the precedent set by big name companies like IBM, Accenture, Bank of America, and Google doing away with a bachelor’s degree as a requirement for being hired. Now, recent data suggests that nearly half of US organizations intend to eliminate the need for a bachelor’s degree in 2024. And this trend is not just exclusive to the US – LinkedIn data discovered a 90% increase in the share of UK job postings that did not require a university degree.

With the current talent squeeze we are seeing, it’s no wonder that companies are starting to change their tune towards those who take a more untraditional path into the world of work. After all, fewer than 40% of Americans actually hold a bachelor’s degree, which leaves 70 million workers who do not have one being overlooked by so many employers.

But if degree inflation is finally starting to fall, what should employers be doing to ensure they are attracting the best talent?

The answer to this breaks down into two key factors – what the characteristics are for a desirable candidate, and what training pathways employers can offer to their employees. For the former, this will see hiring managers and HR professionals moving away from looking at traditional qualifications and instead measuring the aptitude of a potential hire based on their attitude, their acquired skills, and whether they can enhance the culture of the company. There are so many employees who are eager to learn and develop but for one reason or another have not gone down the 4-year degree education path. Companies that are moving away from the traditional stance of needing a degree are going to gain access to a larger and more diverse pool of talent.

The success of your new hires is then dependent on the training programs that companies have in place for them. One offering that is growing in popularity in the US is apprenticeships, which have seen a 64% rise over the last decade. Apprenticeships have proven to be a great tool for getting fresh talent into roles; for example, in Switzerland 70% of teenagers participate in apprenticeships after finishing high school due to their effectiveness for businesses and their biproduct of creating social mobility opportunities. They can therefore be a fantastic strategic tool for attracting talent, but also lend a hand in increasing retention rates, too, as they foster a sense of loyalty from the onset.

Similarly, employers can create in-house training programs that are specifically tailored to upskill individuals to their working practices, and enrol new hires in certain Bootcamps and external certifications to gain qualifications whilst learning on the job (we are seeing this begin to particularly grow in popularity in the tech world).

And much like Swiss employers, companies who are looking to move away from the degree requirement and create apprenticeship and training programs are going to be furthering their social agenda for their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies, as they will be helping to create more social mobility opportunities.

So, if you would like to discuss how OrgShakers can help you with navigating this expansion of your hiring process and assist you in accessing wider pools of unexplored talent, please get in touch with me at randy.ynegas@orgshakers.com or contact us through our website.