HRM Trends: Part One – Work Trends

Covid at work

  • Reduction in force(RIF), furloughed/aid off workers/downsizing, COVID vaccinations, policy about employees who test positive, safety masks, distancing, controlled facilities, reduced or no business travel, at-home work

  • Psychological contract was violated


Where is work happening now?

  • Share of employees working remotely

    • Pre-pandemic: 8%

    • Start of pandemic: 70% (peak)

    • Now: 27%


Worker preferences

  • For workers with jobs that can be done remotely:

    • Most of them expect and prefer a hybrid arrangement

    • Very few prefer an exclusively on-site arrangement

    • Most are working 2-3 days per week on site


Advantages and disadvantages of hybrid work

  • A: improved work-life balance

  • A: more efficient use of my time throughout the day/week

  • A: less burnout or fatigue at work

  • A: more freedom to choose when or where I work

  • A: higher productivity

  • D: less access to work resources and equipment

  • D: feel less connected to my organization’s culture

  • D: decreased collaboration with my team

  • D: impaired working relationship with coworkers

  • D: reduced cross-functional communication and collaboration

  • D: disrupted processes

  • D: more difficult to coordinate work schedules, tasks, and timelines with my teammates


Work trends

  • Demographic shift, employment relationship, globalization, technology, skills and jobs

    • Aging workforce, diversity, immigration

  • 2016-2026 fastest growing age group is 55+

  • Multiple generations in the workplace with different values

  • Hispanic labor force growing, Asian population on the rise

  • More women in the workplace…47% participation

  • Limited US visas for immigrant workers

  • Millions of undocumented (illegal) workers


Workforce Diversity in the US

  • Having a diverse selection of individuals from different backgrounds and experiences allows businesses to more efficiently market to consumers from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds, genders, ages, and sexual orientation

  • Workforce diversity and inclusion are key drivers of internal innovation and business growth


Workforce diversity benefits

  • Innovation and better decision-making

    • Local market knowledge and insight make a business more competitive and profitable

    • Cultural sensitivity, insight, and local knowledge mean targeted marketing

  • Drawing from a culturally diverse talent pool allows an organization to attract and retain the best talent

  • Financial impact and value

  • Possible when employees

    • Build trust and create a workplace where people feel free to express themselves

    • Actively combat bias and systems of oppression

    • Embrace a variety of styles and voices inside the organization

    • Seek out employees’ identity-related knowledge and experiences to learn how to best accomplish work


Conversation with Ellyn Schook, CHRO of Accenture

  • Velocity of change–skate to where the puck is going and not where the puck is

  • Democratizing learning

    • On-demand training, enables the pairing of generations, technology will elevate and not eliminate humans, intellectual curiosity for reskilling, and practice skills right away, generational diversity is an advantage

  • HR plays a huge role in diversity and inclusion. Leaders set the tone, we need to drive change. How do you discover new sources of talent, recruit them, and make sure people are advancing in their careers? How do you ensure pay parity? We must tap into the human emotion of belonging so people can show up and be their authentic selves.


Work trends

  • Demographic shift, employment relationship, globalization, technology, skills and jobs

    • Outsourcing, automation and AI, gig economy, and union participation

  • Jobs that are not critical are sent to third-party vendors

  • Many jobs are automated or eliminated 

  • On-demand workers, the gig economy, and “precariats”


Gig Work

  • the number of self-employed has increased in the last few years significantly…some estimates say 30%

  • 16% of the total workforce has had a gig job

  • ↑ greater flexibility, more variety, independence, work-life balance

  • ↓ income volatility, no benefits (e.g., sick leave), fewer strong work connections, lack of security and predictability


Work trends

  • Demographic shift, employment relationship, globalization, technology, skills and jobs

    • Cost control, offshoring, cultural competencies


Partnering externally or moving work internally

  • Outsourcing

    • Delegation of non-core work activities allows the company to focus on core

    • Access to specialized expertise outside the company

    • More economical than hiring or investing internally

  • Offshoring

    • Labor arbitrage provides savings

    • Access to new talent pools for hire into the company

    • Keeps business processes internal, but moves them to a low-cost location



Work trends

  • Demographic shift, employment relationship, globalization, technology, skills and jobs

    • Flexibility, social media, obsolete jobs, AI, Data analytics, cybersecurity



Work trends

  • Demographic shift, employment relationship, globalization, technology, skills and jobs

    • Growth mindset, agility, interpersonal skills


Challenges for today’s managers:

  • Recruit, train, and engage diverse talent in a fast-changing environment of work

  • Create and manage self-directed teams with autonomy and empowerment

  • Navigate the changing demographics, age, diversity, employment types

  • Maintain high ethical standards in a global environment

  • Align employees with overall goals through people management practices

  • Identify how to keep independent contractors engaged


HRM Trends: Part two – linking people and strategy


Strategy: fit for purpose

People management philosophies are context-dependent

Ex. commitment vs control

  • Commitment: broadly defined tasks, high employee participation, highly skilled workers, extensive training, high wages, high benefits

  • Control: narrowly defined jobs, low participation, low skill requirements, intense supervision, limited training, low wages, low benefits

Commitment vs. Control Summary

  • People strategies are best designed and implemented for a particular job or set of jobs

  • Your philosophy may differ across company, differ for employee segments, or be applied differently within one job

  • Few firms manage all of their employees the same way

    • Recruited differently

    • Paid differently

    • Trained differently

  • These strategies will have a direct and tremendous impact on the culture of the organization and the ability for a company to recruit and retain good talent