As employees ride the wave of the “great resignation”, not all is lost on the side of the employer. Today brings the onset of a company-wide reset, an introduction of new expectations through a newfound sense of clarity. Organizations best take this time to redefine who they are as an employer; how they wish to conduct work, where it will take place, and by whom.
One must not forget, nor take lightly, the incredible feat organizations encountered at the onset of the pandemic. Let's face it: none of us truly thought that within mere days we’d be cut out from going to the office and forced in some capacity to adapt to a remote setting.
Settling into a new normal now may, in fact, seem unsettling, especially with a strained labor market coupled with increasingly high demands of the employee (e.g. more pay, better benefits, and guaranteed protections). To some extent, being acutely aware of these stressors enables us to be more pragmatic and thoughtful in how we tackle the issues by adopting an integrative approach. Planning today for tomorrow's future considers the interconnection among work, labor, and rewards elements.
Firstly it is work planning. Is your business model the same as it had been pre-pandemic? Have your product and services evolved or possibly changed and how do you plan to execute in the short and long term? Addressing the purpose you serve as an organization and the details of how tasks should be done is critical. Awareness of key work functions and activities enables you to define the kind of work being done and put in place the type of worker you may need. This connects us to the second planning phase, your labor.
Who or what will do your work? This is the question tied to our second planning component. While there might be a war on talent and a trend of employees wanting workplace flexibility, let's not forget that there are individuals, possibly a fair percentage of which may prefer coming into the office.
Don’t be afraid to define a workplace culture and environment that differs from the new normal. Being descriptive in knowing the kind of talent you need, whether it be a contractor, robot, a human on-site or completely remote, enables us to better refine our search and deliver on productivity too.
Finally, it is your rewards planning. Optimum rewards achieve business alignment by defining the way you work and what you value, and the labor behind this productivity informs us to strategically design and purposefully cater to the workforce. Through the precursor planning activities, you may find select roles have become obsolete or even redistributed to AI and contractors, which in turn affects your emphasis towards who will get rewarded.
Embracing this planning period and diverting from the typical run-of-the-mill incentive programs facilitates a new total rewards unveiling, one that creates a clear line of sight, performance differentiation, and a repurposed employee value proposition.
The road ahead won't be easy, but putting some thought and laying the groundwork in careful planning will hopefully be the framework we need to create a new sense of forward direction.
Reena Paul (CCP, GRP) works as a Senior Compensation Consultant. She is passionate about all things “total rewards” and has experience in dealing with all stakeholders of an organization and strategizing optimum client-focused solutions. A lover of data and the story it tells, Reena enjoys the exploration of presenting and discussing compensation with a fresh perspective. Connect with Reena directly on LinkedIn.
Image source: Unsplash image with credit to Brett Jordan.
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