OF INTEREST

• 14th March 2022 Comment on thisFive “P”s for Inspiring Employee Commitment and Engagement in Today’s Hybrid, Remote World

  Plus a “C” for weaving them all together.

  Managers, there’s more you can do to help your workforce succeed in today’s hybrid, remote world.

  But done right, the approach I outline below won’t just serve your employees and boost your team’s performance—it might just ease your mind and lighten your load.

  In my last blog, I talked about three vital practices for managers in this moment. The three were based on the collaborative practices that high-performing leaders use to build agile, successful teams: paying attention to the structure of the team, the quality of relationships on the team, and how the team fits within a wider ecosystem.

  Today I offer another view of what effective management looks like.

  I’m going to focus more on the ways managers work directly with team members to foster engagement and high performance at a time of remote and hybrid work arrangements.

  I’ve read many business articles tackling remote workplace culture, reviewed relevant research funded by IRC4HR, and reflected on my career as a mostly remote employee at several large consulting firms.

  Taking it all into account, I see five critical conditions managers can create to engage employees and drive better results. Call them the 5Ps: Psychological Safety, Purpose, Professional Development, Parity, and Power. Here is more on each:

  Psychological Safety. This was vital to engagement and high-performing teams pre-pandemic. I’m talking about a climate where employees can bring their full selves to work, they feel included, and they are able to express themselves without fear of being mocked or marginalized. Where it’s safe to share an opinion, to not know something, and to engage in respectful debate. And psychological safety is even more important now. A climate where it is Ok to say you’re not Ok is especially critical, in part because of the stresses that built up for so many people over the past two difficult years.

  There’s another facet of psychological safety that applies as companies move to bring at least some employees back to the office: speaking up about physical safety concerns. If your organization doesn’t listen to employees who raise questions about COVID-19 masking protocols or inconsistent application of safety rules, you can count on problems with morale, performance, and attrition.

  In short, as Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic shared in a recent Fast Company article, “however (and wherever) people work, it is essential that their voices are heard, and that they feel empowered to speak up, to disagree, and to ask difficult questions.”

  Purpose. This is another perennial piece of the engagement puzzle that has become more important during the pandemic. Purpose has been established as a critical driver of individual motivation, and we also have learned that meaningful work is vital for attracting and retaining employees. Over the past two years, people’s attention to purpose has intensified. Nearly two-thirds of US-based employees surveyed by McKinsey said that COVID-19 has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life.

  Cultivating a shared vision and mission is challenging when employees are scattered across the city, the country, and the globe. But it can be done. As Rob Cross and Inga Carboni put it in a recent paper: “Use one-on-ones and periodic career discussion to establish drivers of purpose. Allocate up to a third of these meetings to understanding aspirations and priorities. Identify what purpose means to each team member and how it relates to the group’s work.”

  Professional Development. It’s easy to skip or skimp on employee development during chaotic, turbulent times like the ones we’re facing today. But it is a big mistake. Learning opportunities have long been an underutilized retention and capacity-building tool—just before the pandemic, 94% of employees said they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their development. Amid the pandemic, employees continue to want to grow. Of the 26% of workers who are reportedly planning to switch jobs post-COVID, most are doing so because they’re concerned about career advancement.

  How do you effectively develop employees when they work remotely? Thankfully, virtual learning technologies and online courses are widely available inside and outside organizations. And finding opportunities for your folks to work on assignments where news skills can be developed and/or applied remains a critical vehicle for development. I also suggest a tactic used by a major consulting firm I worked for two decades ago: expect employees to demonstrate their learning progress and their contributions to the learning of others as part of regular performance reviews. Ask employees to develop and share new areas of expertise, and then give them time and space to do it.

  Such a policy both enabled and nudged me to build my reputation within the consulting organization and develop thought leadership, while also supporting the development goals of colleagues. It was a true “win” for me, my colleagues, our clients, and our business.

  Parity. I’m talking here about paying attention to the fairness of your decisions and an equitable experience for all members of your team. Failing to ensure parity in the workplace has long caused employees to disengage and quit. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the Black Lives Matter protests after the murder of George Floyd, and heightened awareness of injustice overall, employees are even more attuned to bias in the workplace. To leaders playing favorites. To discrimination. To microaggressions.

  Responding effectively when members of your team commit microaggressions takes discernment and courage. And overall, stewarding a culture where everyone is treated equally requires self-awareness and discipline. This is especially true in hybrid work arrangements.

  Managers must remember that team members working from home or in other locations may be left out of important conversations. Even impromptu office discussion can lead to major opportunities that will impact someone’s career. At one of my former consulting firms, I had a boss who would walk over to our section of the office when he had a burning idea. If you were present, you got picked for the assignment. If you weren’t there, you missed out.  “Proximity bias” is a real thing. In addition to being mindful of this phenomenon, one thing a manager can do is schedule periodic “virtual watercooler” interactions: short video chats to mimic the ones that take place in person.

  Power. Employees need a real voice in decision-making. While managers providing direction in terms of defining objectives and purpose – the “what and why of work” – is helpful, people want and need to make decisions about how their work gets done, along with other aspects of their work environment.  For too long, many employees have received more “what and how” than “what and why” when it comes to manager direction. That approach makes little sense in the emerging economy, in which human attributes such as creativity, a collaborative spirit, and empathy are differentiators.

  What’s more, younger employees, especially, expect to have a say in their organizations. But for all employees, having some authority and autonomy at work is part of a “good job,” as defined by scholars of this topic, including Jen Gresham, whose organization Work for Humanity is helping small businesses generate good jobs.

  Work-from-home arrangements and other distributed forms of teams are intensifying the need for organizations to distribute authority more widely. And employees don’t want to give up the greater autonomy many of them experienced while working remotely during the pandemic—during which time much of the workforce demonstrated higher levels of productivity.

   

  Put me in Coach!

  If there’s one specific practice that ties the five “P”s together, it is a “C.” I’m talking about coaching—managers evolving from top-down bosses who give directions to guides-on-the-side who encourage, inspire, develop, support, and listen to employees.

  This shift in leadership – and employee – mindset is the goal of Jen Gresham and her collaborators in a new program funded by IRC4HR. Together with WORC, Work for Humanity has launched “Bounce Forward: Helping Small Businesses & Workers Thrive Together.”

  Jen’s  “Bounce Forward” pilot is based on research that shows high-involvement work practices and increased coaching capacity not only result in more engagement, productivity, and satisfaction for workers, they also allow owner-managers to focus on more strategic aspects of the business. The result is that workers have a more fulfilling work experience and the ability to contribute more value to the business, owners are freed up to pursue more value-added tasks, and the business performs better.

  As one participant shared, “I’m really grasping that it doesn’t take more time to coach than it does to tell. So, what I’ve been practicing is when somebody brings me a situation or a problem, I’ll ask ‘Okay, well, what do you want to do about that?’ And then listen to what their own problem solving came up with and just give feedback off of that. It’s worked very well because they always have some idea.”

  This positive coaching relationship can take place virtually or in person. It leads to employees feeling empowered, developing new skills, and being more engaged in the business. What’s more, anecdotal evidence suggests employees are less likely to leave their “coaches” and their wider team for a different job.

  And this gets to the all-around win of the five Ps and the single C. These steps don’t just benefit employees and boost performance. Managers, they also help you. Reduced turnover cuts down on the time you spend filling empty positions and reduces disruptions to team collaboration and productivity. More effective teams and individual employees mean more peace of mind for you. And by distributing decision-making through smart coaching, you free yourself up to focus on other value-creating tasks that support your own development and performance.

  Good for your employees, good for your organization…and good for you.

  Jodi Starkman is Executive Director of the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources.

• 31st January 2022 Comment on thisThree Critical Practices for Managers in this Moment

  

  Let’s help them answer today’s call for network-savvy leadership

  They say the presidency doesn’t change people so much as reveal who they are.

  The same can be said for the pandemic and managers at all levels.

  We’ve heard plenty about how COVID and a slew of other crises over the past two years have transformed how we work. That’s certainly true. But when it comes to leadership, the disruption has also exposed and intensified challenges managers have been wrestling with for many years.

  In essence, the pandemic has forced organizations and managers to put more attention than ever on questions such as:

  • How do we orchestrate distributed teams effectively?
  • What role do managers play in the increasingly networked nature of teams and organizations?
  • How do managers help their teams become more agile and successful in our more dynamic and interconnected work world?

  These are tricky questions. It’s no wonder manager burn-out jumped 78 percent at the start of COVID. But I believe there are good solutions to these problems. Research—some dating to before the pandemic and some hot off the presses—points to wise approaches and best practices.

  The new management landscape

  For starters, we need to update our notions about work teams and how we regard managers. We are now operating in organizations that are rapidly moving away from traditional, fixed hierarchies centered on functional silos. Instead, work is increasingly done in teams that cross functions and form and dissolve quickly based on rapidly changing goals and needs. As a result, employees are on many more teams―twice as many as they were five years ago.

  In effect, organizations are becoming networks of networks. These include connections and affiliations that extend outside the walls of the business to create eco-systems of contractors, vendors, suppliers, and partners. What’s more, even before the pandemic, teams were becoming increasingly distributed—often with members spanning time zones if not countries and continents.

  What does all this mean for managers? For decades, top performers were promoted to management roles, where they directed work and served as an expert resource for junior members of their department or team. This top-down boss role is becoming obsolete. Managers in a networked, distributed world are more coaches motivating and developing team members than generals issuing commands to the troops. More facilitators of effective collaboration than masters teaching apprentices.

  Another manager metaphor that has fit for the last 5 to 10 years is that of an orchestra leader coordinating talented musicians. This task becomes especially difficult when the different players are spread across the country, stressed out about a deadly pandemic, and reflecting on the meaning of their work more than ever. Nearly two-thirds of US-based employees surveyed by McKinsey said that COVID-19 has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life. 

  Empathy, transparency, and meaning matter more than ever

  So what are managers to do? Much of the guidance and wisdom has to do with leading with compassion, clear communication, and clarity of purpose.  As the authors of a recent Harvard Business Review article put it, “it’s less important to see what employees are doing and more important to understand how they feel.”

  There’s heightened need for frequent check-ins and ad-hoc meetings, even if they are virtual. “The geographic reality of working with a distributed team necessitates a more intentional approach to communication,” Forbes contributor Geoffrey Michener writes.

  It’s even possible to blend communications about the personal and professional to good effect. Giving middle managers themselves space to talk about the range of their burdens can help ease their minds. “Private conversations about your workload plus public conversations about your [company] priorities really help with the stress level,” says Brian Elliott, VP of the Future Forum, a consortium launched by communications tool Slack to help companies reimagine work.

  A less-discussed set of management skills that I believe is also vitally important has to do with what scholars Inga Carboni and Rob Cross call “collaborative practices.” In a report that came out in mid-2020, Carboni and Cross identified three critical strategies for leaders seeking to foster agile, successful teams.

  The research—funded by my organization, the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources (IRC4HR)—involved interviews with more than a hundred high-performing leaders. The conclusion? Managers ought to pay attention to internal network structure, relational content, and external ecosystem.

  The details:

  1. Optimize Your Team’s lnternal Network Structure. The patterns of interactions in teams matter. A lot. Among the ways to make those patterns healthy and effective are:
  2. 1. Manage the “center” of the team to prevent cliques, reward collaboration, and identify influential members.
     2. Integrate the “edge” of the team to incorporate newcomers, engage remote workers, and ensure high-performers are available to help others.
     3. Minimize silos by facilitating connectivity and preventing subgroups.
     4. Generate agility by engaging key contributors and reducing workloads.

  2. Build Quality Relationships Within Your Team. A positive structure is important but not enough. The content of the connections in your team also is vital. To foster high-quality bonds, take these steps:
     1. Cultivate awareness of team expertise.
     2. Build up trust, energy, and purpose.
     3. Discourage difficult team members from undermining morale.
     4. Combat risk-averse beliefs and behaviors.
     5. Minimize stressors on team members.

  3. Proactively Shape Your Team’s External Ecosystem. A striking finding from Rob and Inga is that effective leaders spend up to 60 percent of their time managing external relationships. That’s how vital it is in today’s interconnected work environment. Some key tactics to improve your team’s external stakeholder ties include:
     1. Shape the nature of the work that comes into the team. Actively “source” and design the team’s tasks, obtain resources, and engage influencers early.
     2. Drive innovation, efficiency, and engagement. Reach out to leaders in similar roles, stimulate innovation by locating complementary expertise, and help team members connect to others in the enterprise.

  If you’re intrigued by any or all of the three critical practices and the steps to achieve them, check out the full paper. It not only offers details on all the points above, but includes compelling stories that breathe life into these vital strategies.

  Perhaps most important, though, is that we all move away from old models of teamwork and management. The stakes are high that we notice the new networked nature of teams and work. As Inga and Rob put it in their paper: “people are more dispersed and needing of leadership and guidance more than ever.”

  There’s a flip side of that coin. The pandemic has made plain that we need to help managers answer the call of the people they lead. Let’s help leaders at every level gain the skills that will enable their people and organizations to thrive.

  Jodi Starkman is Executive Director of the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources.

• 19th December 2021 Comment on thisWorkplace lessons and silver linings

   

  

  Looking back at 2021 and thinking about what to bring with us into the new year. 

  It’s been quite a year.

  A political insurrection, a continuing pandemic, extreme weather events, and a Great Resignation—something I prefer to call the Great Workplace Reinvention.

  That renaming might suggest I’m an optimist (or simply naïve). I think it would be more accurate to say that I often first notice what’s wrong about a situation and then immediately look for a related learning or change opportunity. I see the mass quitting in America as a rejection of an unacceptable status quo and a sign that we’re creating a better future of work. In a similar fashion, I recognize the loss and grief of the past year and also see some hopeful new possibilities.

  In short, I see workplace lessons and silver linings. Four major ones.

  1. From Fixed to Fluid. As painful and traumatic as the Covid pandemic has been, it has shaken us out of old assumptions about what is possible. Allow most employees to work from home? Invite staff to share their emotions during work calls? Raise wages well above minimum wage for front-line workers? “Out of the question!” is how many business leaders viewed these practices a short three years ago. Or as Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack, recently put it in an interview with the Washington Post, “If you asked [me] in February of 2020, could the whole company go remote and maintain the same level of productivity? I would have said no. When something you thought was impossible turns out to be possible, you’ve got to ask yourself, what else do I think is impossible that could actually be possible?”

  Covid unfroze many assumptions and beliefs. And not only did ‘fixed’ policies become ‘fluid,’ we saw better ways emerge. People could be trusted to work without bosses watching them. Feelings did not get in the way of work so much as facilitate greater psychological safety, and therefore productivity. And not only did we realize that companies can turn a profit when paying a living wage—but we saw evidence that fair compensation can result in greater retention and resiliency. In fact, today’s tight labor market makes raises all but inevitable.

  2. From Ego-system to Eco-System Thinking. Another good thing about a global pandemic: it reminds us that we’re all in this together and our fates are mutually dependent. Our collective failure to vaccinate people in poorer countries helps explain why the new omicron Covid variant surfaced and spread worldwide. It’s a similar story with other worldwide challenges. The supply-chain disruptions pulled back the curtain on our highly interdependent global economy. C-suite leaders historically removed from the reality of their front-line employees realized just how dependent they are on cashiers, delivery truck drivers, and janitors. And amid wildfires, floods, and drought, the perils of global climate change became tangible.

  Taken together, these crises related to disease, the economy, organizations, and the climate have awakened us to the shortcomings of what I believe has become an overly self-interested approach. As individuals and as organizations, we can no longer pretend to operate in a vacuum. Instead, we have been prodded to embrace the ideas of thought-leaders like Roland Deiser, head of the Center for the Future of Organization at the Drucker School of Management. In research sponsored in part by IRC4HR, Roland has been highlighting the importance of a shift from ego-driven decision-making to focusing on the collective interests of the wider eco-system and its stakeholders.

  “Mindsets that are anchored in zero-sum thinking and that pursue egocentric advantage are incompatible with the win-win attitude that is indispensable for successful ecosystem engagement,” Roland says.

  I believe this mindset shift encompasses the growing interest in “stakeholder capitalism.” That is, an economic system where companies recognize they can’t succeed unless all their stakeholders—including employees, customers, and communities—succeed. Eco-system thinking, therefore, has broad application to workplace reinvention and creating the future of work.

  3. From Transactions to Relationships. Perhaps more than anything else, the past two years have clarified that when people come together to get things done, the quality of the human bonds are central to our success. While there is much to be learned about optimal ways to structure our organizations and work processes, the painful crises of 2020 and 2021 have highlighted how impoverished a purely transactional approach to work is. We’ve seen that workplaces ultimately are about human beings connecting and collaborating. Organizations that demonstrate care and foster trusting ties find rewards. Those who come off as callous are punished.

  The increased attention to relationships dovetails with the recent work of scholar Rob Cross. In research supported by IRC4HR, Rob has discovered that positive social connections in organizations not only boost business results but are critical to individual wellbeing. As communicated in the title of one of his papers, Rob’s research has shown that resilience is a team sport. And this discovery is coming just as business leaders are recognizing the importance of employee wellness to organizational success.

  4. From Moment to Movement. The Great Resignation has puzzled economists. How could so many people leave the workforce for so long? It turns out that the disruptions of 2020 and 2021 have prompted a profound reassessment of what works means and how it aligns to life priorities. And it’s not just workers. Companies, public officials, and investors also are refashioning their relationship with work and business. They are actively, in real time, experimenting with the social contract that has governed employment in America for most of the past century.

  This is what I mean by the Great Workplace Reinvention. It is a hopeful moment in history. But it could be wasted. It would be easy for organizations and other stakeholders to slip back to old ways of doing things. It would be easy for all the wisdom and the experimentation and the energy to dissipate. After all, all these silver linings have been responses to crises. What’s needed next is intentionality—a commitment to preserve the positive developments and continue evolving them.

  That has me wondering how we transform this moment into a movement. One with enough momentum to deliver a better, inclusive future that works for all. How do we create a shared vision, with an affirmative story that captures the imagination and fuels reform? How do we gather the right people together? How do we draft and refine a new social contract around work, one that takes into account major forces such as widening inequality, demographic shifts, evolving automation, and other important trends?

  What do you think about the lessons and silver linings I’ve outlined above? Do you see different ones? I’m especially curious about your views on #4. Do you agree a movement is needed now? Are you interested in connecting to discuss or convening with others to explore what we can do together to create lasting change? Please comment here or drop me a note at jodi.starkman@irc4hr.org.

  In any event, thank you for reading my takeaways from a remarkable year.

  I wish you and your loved ones a joyful, restorative holiday season and a healthy, happy, and peaceful New Year.

  Jodi Starkman is Executive Director of the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources.

• 26th October 2021 Comment on thisThe great workplace reinvention

  

  We’re witnessing the prospect of reform that allows all workers to grow into their potential, enables organizations to thrive, and permits us to produce shared, sustainable prosperity.

  It’s been called the Great Resignation, the Great Reassessment, even an opportunity for a Great Retention.

  I have another suggestion for naming the upheaval under way in how employees, organizations, elected leaders, and investors are thinking about the way we work: the Great Workplace Reinvention.

  I think “reinvention” is a helpful term for understanding what’s happening now—and what’s possible.

  It’s too simplistic to say people are resigning from their jobs en masse. Although some Americans seemed to choose more generous unemployment insurance rather than urgently seek new work, that’s not the whole story. In fact, evidence suggests that cutting off those bigger benefits did not prompt workers to rush back to work.

  Instead, people are reassessing what work means to them. The pandemic, racial reckoning, political turmoil, and the ravages of climate change are all prompting reflection about personal purpose, collective responsibility, and how jobs align with deeper priorities.

  But it’s not just workers who are assessing and reflecting. So are companies, public officials, and investors. I see something more interesting and profound happening.

  All these stakeholder groups are refashioning their relationship with work and business. They are actively, in real time, experimenting with the social contract that has governed employment in America for most of the past century. They are tinkering with the very foundations of our economy.

  And that gives me hope.

  I believe we are witnessing a long-overdue rebalancing of interests and influence. And as employees use their new-found voices – and leverage – in this moment, I see the prospect of reform that will allow all workers to grow into their potential, enable organizations to thrive, and produce shared, sustainable prosperity for society at large.

  The pandemic prompts reflection

   Everyday employees kicked off this process of reinvention. They are looking to change jobs – a striking 65 percent of employees are doing so.

  What the pandemic provided was an opportunity for people who received unemployment benefits (that, in some cases, exceeded their typical paycheck), as well as for many people who continued working, to reevaluate their lives, the things that matter to them, and how they want to spend their time.

  And no wonder. Decades of declining job quality have left many people with low wages, little say over their work, and few opportunities for growth or upward mobility.

  A “good job” provides personal and professional development, fair pay, purposeful work, a sense of belonging, and a feeling of dignity.

  Creating good jobs in the growing “gig” economy is part of the reinvention of work under way.  Some freelancers love their flexibility and independence. But many elements of a good job are out of reach for gig workers. Despite the growing number of workers engaged in this newer sector of the economy, we haven’t yet figured out how to make it work for all parties.

  Workers seeking a full suite of positive job benefits have typically had to turn to large companies. But approximately 20 million workers in the US are employed by businesses with fewer than 20 employees. Many of these employees don’t have a college degree and have little prospect for higher-wage employment. Among low-wage workers, nearly 54% are women and 45% people of color. If we could transform these jobs into good jobs with opportunities for continued professional growth, perhaps we could begin to close equity gaps in America, while enhancing the vitality of small businesses.

  In a project newly funded by my organization, IRC4HR, researchers Jennifer Gresham and Ellen Frank-Miller are exploring how small businesses can create good jobs and contribute to what they call “Collective Thriving.” Jen and Ellen are taking a systems view of this challenge (see Figure 1.) and will be tackling workers’ and employers’ mindsets and skillsets while reimagining the employer-worker relationship.

  

  Figure 1 – Theory of change for creating a more inclusive economy. Courtesy of Work for Humanity.

  Where are the workers?

  While millions of people are seeking better jobs, business leaders are sounding alarms. Among the many articles and studies on “The Great Resignation” was a recent Deloitte report that noted talent supply is a major concern for business leaders today. From the report: “seven in 10 employers globally [say] they are struggling to find workers with the right mix of technical skills and human capabilities.”

  Yes, there is a mismatch between the demand and supply of various skills and capabilities, and a need to better align our education system with the needs of the job market. At the same time, when I hear business leaders complain of a “talent shortage,” one of my first responses is “really?” Are you sure it’s a shortage of talent? Could it be a wage issue? Are you a “high road” employer that treats employees with dignity? Do they have agency, flexibility, and opportunity to develop the skills and capabilities you value? Have you helped them see how their work connects to the broader goals and mission of your organizations? Are you even looking in the right places to find them?

  Today’s recruiting practices and related technology solutions filter out a lot of potential talent.  These “hidden workers” are eager for jobs but haven’t found a way to overcome challenges including skills and capabilities they have that don’t match the precise language of the automated filtering/ranking process, educational degrees that are part of standard job descriptions but often not required to perform the work, caregiving duties, and language barriers.

  But leading companies are forging new programs to uncover missed talent pools, close skill gaps, and improve diversity. That’s the conclusion of a new report, Hidden workers: Untapped talent, co-authored by IRC4HR board member Eva Sage-Gavin of Accenture. The authors explore how companies can benefit from often-overlooked talent such as veterans, the previously incarcerated, and people with disabilities.

  Organizations across the economy are moving in this direction, and they are reporting an attractive return on their investment. From the study: companies that purposely hire hidden workers “report being 36% less likely to face talent and skills shortages compared to companies that do not hire hidden workers. And they indicate former hidden workers outperform their peers materially on six key evaluative criteria—attitude and work ethic, productivity, quality of work, engagement, attendance, and innovation.”

  A new view of employees

  Corporate programs to expand opportunities for historically marginalized groups are encouraging elements of the reinvention of workplaces that is under way.

  These initiatives also signal to me that a subtle shift in the balance of power is taking place in this moment. For decades, we have seen the position of workers weakened in the workplace. But employees are finding their voice and recognizing the clout they can have through joint efforts.

  It’s encouraging to see high tech workers banding together to raise concerns, ranging from pay to workplace harassment. Collective employee efforts at icons Google and Apple are a sign that employers may want to adopt a suggestion from USC professor John Boudreau. He argues organizations ought to view employees today akin to the way they now view customers—not just as buyers but as collaborators and recipients of great service.

  “The goal is to better understand the evolving needs and desires of workers, rather than how to dictate the terms of employment or other work relationships,” Boudreau wrote on LinkedIn recently. “It is helpful to ‘Retool’ this HR issue, by using the analogy of customer relationships, but reframed with work as a ‘product’ and the worker as the ‘customer.’”

  Government action also is part of the Great Workplace Reinvention.  Georgetown University professor Harry Holzer calls for a variety of government interventions to increase both worker power and employee skills in a recent essay in The Hill. His suggestions range from taxing worker displacement and subsidizing retraining to giving tax breaks and technical assistance to companies with “high road” practices such as higher wages and generous benefits.

  Already, we’re seeing elected officials play a more assertive role in reshaping the social contract around work. The extended, increased unemployment benefits during the pandemic were one major example. And proposed legislation could more permanently alter the employment landscape. The push to increase the national minimum wage to $15 per hour is one such measure. Although some business groups warn it will cost jobs, others view it as having the potential to dramatically reduce racial and gender inequity.

  Meanwhile, the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill working its way through Congress would signal government willingness to put Americans to work on a scale not seen since perhaps the New Deal public works projects.

  Investors weigh in on the workplace

  It’s not just elected officials, employers, and employees who are reinventing workplaces today. Investors increasingly are weighing in on the matter. Thanks in part to a 2020 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requirement that publicly traded companies disclose information on human capital, the investment community has been putting a spotlight on matters including the development, safety, engagement, diversity, and retention of employees.

  The treatment and welfare of employees is part of a wider movement on the part of investors to look at companies’ environmental, social, and governance metrics. Two years ago, this ESG emphasis, along with societal pressures for companies to be better corporate citizens, led the Business Roundtable to abandon the shareholder-primacy mindset in favor of a “stakeholder” model.

  There’s a debate today  over whether that shift was just lip service, and whether the ESG field is a “dangerous placebo” that obscures the damage capitalism is doing. Count me among those who see value in stakeholder capitalism, ESG metrics, and increasing human capital disclosures.

  In particular, I agree with a recent Fortune essay by Martin Whittaker and Peter Georgescu of JUST Capital, a non-profit firm that conducts research and rankings to help companies measure and improve their performance in the stakeholder economy. Whittaker and Georgescu wrote that stakeholder capitalism “represents a more evolved form of capitalism that creates good jobs and empowers workers; that provides for upward economic mobility and equality of opportunity for all; that builds healthy, prosperous communities and safeguards our planet; and that supports profitable businesses, integrity of leadership, and long-term investor returns.”

  From reinvention to movement?

  So, the Great Workplace Reinvention is under way. And it seems promising. But how can we accelerate it? What will it take for each of the stakeholder groups to recognize they are parts of wider systems? For organizations to move away from zero-sum thinking and “ego-system” leadership to an “eco-system” mindset?

  I believe it will take a movement. Stay tuned—I’ll share more about this in my next blog.

  Jodi Starkman is Executive Director of the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources.

• 24th August 2021 Comment on thisLet’s choose a “good jobs” future of work

  We can use the crises of the past eighteen months to reform and upgrade a capitalist system that has let too many workers down.

  A close relative of mine is a young man who regularly rails against capitalism.

  He has a point.

  After all, for all the good our U.S. economic system of free enterprise has done, it also has produced growing economic inequality, reinforced racial disparities, and led to financial insecurity for millions.

  These deep flaws in our economy were exposed and exacerbated over the past year and a half.

  I heard an earful from my relative as the COVID pandemic took the greatest toll on the physical and financial wellbeing of the poorest Americans and the killing of George Floyd underscored how people of color have long experienced discrimination in the workplace and beyond. Amid all the injustice, many companies raked in record profits, he noted.

  Still, I push back in my conversations with my younger relative.

  I believe capitalism can be reformed. I believe we can use the crises of the past eighteen months to modify and upgrade an economic system that has let too many workers down. We have an opportunity to choose a future of work that is defined by “good jobs,” where organizations and people both thrive.

  Actually, it’s not merely an opportunity – it’s an imperative. For one thing, my relative isn’t alone. Young people in general are skeptical of capitalism, with roughly half having a favorable impression of socialism. What’s more, if we fail to change course, we face a future of extreme inequity and wasted human potential.

  Let’s create the future of work

  So, what’s the alternative?

  Researchers – some of them sponsored by my organization – and forward-looking organizations have given us a clear picture of positive options.

  In fact, it’s important for us to begin by recognizing we do have options. We have the power to craft the future of our organizations. “The road ahead isn’t a problem to solve; it’s an invitation to create,” says Jen Gresham, a scientist and entrepreneur who has gathered experts to imagine what “Work for Humanity” could look like. Jen adds: “Building a future of work that serves us under these challenging conditions will require nearly everyone’s contribution.” And it starts with the question, “what do we want the future of work to be?”

  Thanks to Jen and many others in the field, a consensus is emerging that good jobs today, and in the years ahead, require several things. These include fair pay, opportunities for individual development, purposeful work, a sense of belonging, and a deep feeling of dignity. Jen’s current work is focused on helping small businesses create good jobs by addressing workers’ and employers’ mindsets and skillsets, and reimagining the employer/worker relationship.

  MIT professor Zeynep Ton and her colleagues at the Good Jobs Institute have found that decent work meets “Basic Needs” such as physical safety and financial security as well as “Higher Needs” such as belonging, recognition, achievement, and personal growth.

  Healthy, trusting relationships at work also are vital. Researchers Rob Cross and Jean Singer studied 100 men and women in 10 organizations and found that people’s connections with others underpins well-being in areas including physical health and resilience.

  A voice in decisions at work is another characteristic of good jobs and great workplaces. Millennials and Gen Z employees, who were educated in interactive, participatory ways, all but expect to have a say in their organizations. And they are speaking up to demand their organizations align with their values on matters including social justice and environmental sustainability.

  The good news is that good jobs aren’t just good for employees. They are good for employers as well. MIT’s Ton, researchers at consulting firm Great Place to Work, and others have found that high-trust cultures with good jobs lead to better business results. The old adage is true: happy workers make for happy customers.

  Better job design, a positive voice in public policy

  To be sure, there are challenges ahead. As automation continues to transform work – and eliminates some jobs – we need to reimagine and redesign work to be human-centered, so people can continue to add value and find value in what they do. This means a much more robust approach to retraining and continuing education – within organizations and through institutions such as community colleges and online academies.

  It also means we need to recognize that just as we have the power to craft the future of our organizations, we have a choice to make about how technology is deployed by our organizations. Those choices are heavily influenced by public policy we all have a role in influencing. For example, if tax policy favors investments in capital rather than labor, we can change that.

  Public policy also is essential for tackling thorny questions of wealth disparities, social justice, education, job creation, and decisions about the balance of investments in capital and labor. Organizations alone can’t fix such issues. But companies can play a constructive role in societal questions touching on work.

  A good example is the CEO Action for Racial Equity effort. Spearheaded in large part by professional services giant PwC and its top executive Tim Ryan, the group is focused on advancing and advocating “public policies that will root out and end systemic racism.”

  More generally, companies can help convene an overdue, all-stakeholders conversation about the future of jobs and the economy. Corporate leaders can use the recent crises as a catalyst for updating and improving the social contract. Along these lines, authors Thomas A. Kochan and Lee Dyer call for a renewed collective agreement in their 2020 book, Shaping the Future of Work: A Handbook for Action and a New Social Contract.

  “What are the mutual expectations and obligations that workers, employers, and their communities and societies have regarding work and employment relationships?” they write.

  I believe employees in particular need to have a stronger voice in the discussion. But it will take the collective effort of all the major stakeholder groups – employers, workers, consumers, investors, and public policy-makers – to create a better future; one in which multiple interests, goals, and expectations are realized.

  The time is now

  Even if the work ahead on work is challenging, business leaders have little choice but to roll up their sleeves. A widespread rejection of the status quo is already under way. It’s been dubbed “The Great Resignation.” People aren’t walking away from work. But significant numbers are leaving their jobs as they reflect on what’s most important to them and assess if (and how well) their values align with their work and the organizations that employ them. They are seeking increased flexibility, more dignity, better pay, opportunities to grow, and greater happiness. In short, they are seeking “good jobs.”

  To my relative, it’s a sign we need to replace capitalism.

  To me, it’s a call to reform it. Perhaps we should rename this time “The Great Reassessment.” Let’s build a more inclusive economy where people are eager to apply to good jobs everywhere, and where organizations of all shapes and sizes are creating them.

  Jodi Starkman is Executive Director of the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources.