What It’s Like Managing the Needs and Demands of Today’s Workforce
The employee revolution we’re now experiencing has been coming for years.
The “canary in the coalmine” is, and has been Gallup’s Employee Engagement poll which has been flashing red since it’s start. The first year of the poll (2000) showed that only 26% of employees were actively engaged at work, while 18% were actively not engaged (e.g. they were basically looking for another job).
Today’s workforce is changing
At no point over the past 20 years, has engagement ever been higher than 35%. Given the opportunity that a tight labor market presents, and the impact of Covid on the workplace, it’s not surprising we are now seeing record quit rates.
But it’s not just quitting. The real insight is that talent is upgrading their work situation – better pay, more flexibility, and permanent remote working.
We recognized this trend in 2017 and realized that workers had changed their expectations, but companies had either neglected to recognize it, and/or resisted doing anything about it.
As a result, we seized the opportunity to create a new type of work environment built on satisfying those evolving expectations. Our model flipped the script to life-work balance and was built on 5 principles which we believe are what workers desire now – flexibility, trust, autonomy, purpose, and mastery.
It’s been five years since our founding, and we’ve learned a lot about managing the needs and desires of today’s workforce.
What does today’s workforce want?
Here’s what you need to know to make the change:
- Rethink your management style – the first thing that managers need to do is change how they view their relationship with their employees. Ask yourself, “Would these people work for me if they didn’t have to? And then, “What would I do differently?” This is the new reality. With more jobs than people to fill them, you have to reset your management style.
- Acknowledge their efforts – when was the last time you complimented anyone on your team? If you can’t answer that question by saying, “yesterday,” you’ve got some work to do.
- Recognize and accommodate their needs – in this new environment, life comes first. You may have to work around school or practice schedules, without making people feel guilty. Most importantly, you may have to prioritize your employees’ needs over the clients, or at a minimum, find a happy balance. Accepting any request from the client blindly, without considering your team situation, will call into question your commitment to making real change.
- Trust and autonomy– the new relationship between you and your employees will have to be built on trust. Treat employees as if they were professional athletes with contracts. They’re paid to perform, so let them. Be clear in your expectations, and assume the majority of the people want to do their best. This will also help to make you a better manager. Speaking of which, if you’re a micromanager or feel the need to control everything, this is going to be a difficult transition.
- Give them space and opportunity to grow – related to above, you need to give employees the opportunity to grow. Many of the side giggers that work for us are doing so to develop new skills sets. For example, if you’re a copywriter, the tendency is to specialize that person to be a technical, digital, long form or short form writer. If they can write, why not be allowed to do any or all? If you want to retain your best talent, allow them to follow their passions even if it means they might leave. It offers the opportunity for “mastery” which, according to Daniel Pink in his book Drive, is key to engaging employees.
Lastly, understand that this is an exchange of value.
Employees will come and go, but what is of most importance is to realize that at the end of the day this is about the relationship. It’s not just about a salary, it’s also about an opportunity for employees to develop or refine skill sets, gain additional experience, and ultimately advance a career. We ask a lot of our employees let’s make sure we’re giving them equal value.
We founded the company on the idea that if we created an experience and environment that better engaged talent that they would be happier. If they were happier, they would produce better outputs and in return create happy clients. Our client retention rate and Glassdoor ratings tell us that we’re headed in the right direction.
But the one thing we know for certain (and we have the research) is that no two people work the same way. Flexibility isn’t something that is an option today, it’s a requirement. A recent poll by Future Forum of 10,000 employees found that 95% want flexibility hours.
Having a rigid, highly structured, single approach to how work gets done is now obsolete. It’s a “want to” versus a “have to” world. You want employees to work for you and what they want is greater flexibility, autonomy and respect. Give it to them.
