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Welcome to the fifth article in our series for Liftoff, an annual event featuring thought leaders, pioneers, and rebels that are making the world of work better. In this series, we discuss the future of work and organizational culture with these leaders and dive deeper into the evolution of culture, communication and engagement in the workplace.
Founded in 1948, Robert Half is the world’s first and largest specialized staffing firm. The company has more than 300 staffing locations worldwide and offers job search services.
We spoke with Deborah Sim, Sr. Vice President at Robert Half Management Resources, about workplace culture value alignment. Read on to learn more!
Rapidly advancing technology has some companies scrambling to keep up. However, staying on top of digital disruption isn’t simply a matter of migrating to the cloud, transitioning routine tasks to robotic process automation, or experimenting with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. It’s also about helping today’s employees evolve into tomorrow’s professionals. And a key question on many employers’ minds today is, “What do we need to do to build our workforce of the future?”
In Robert Half’s new report, Jobs and AI Anxiety, we explore the impact of technological innovation on jobs and emphasize the importance of embracing change in order to succeed in the workplace of the future. Here are a few ways technology is predicted to impact work in the future:
Our research for the Jobs and AI Anxiety report finds that managers in Canada see evolving workers’ tech skills as a collaborative process. Their top response to the survey question, “Whose responsibility is it to help employees gain the skills needed to work with new technologies?” was “Primarily the company’s, but with some help from the employee.” The survey of more than 300 Canadian managers also suggests that many companies recognize the importance of investing in their current employees as a way to build their workforce of the future. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of managers surveyed said they intend to train their current staff to ensure they have the requisite skills to take advantage of new technologies.
Creating a positive corporate culture is top of mind for employers looking to recruit and retain talent, according to a new study from global staffing firm Robert Half. The research, which surveyed Canadian and U.S. senior managers and professionals, examines why workplace culture is increasingly under the microscope; it’s featured in a report, Organizational Culture: The Make-or-Break Factor in Hiring and Retention. Key findings revealed 40% of workers in Canada wouldn’t accept a job that was a perfect match if the corporate culture clashed. 90% of Canadian managers said a candidate’s fit with the organizational culture is equal to or more important than their skills and experience. While workers in Canada and said their ideal corporate culture is supportive or team-oriented, most described their company as traditional.
Today’s professionals are looking to do more with their careers than satisfy a job description; they want to be part of an organization whose values align with their own and feel inspired with a sense of purpose in the workplace. And they’ll leave if they don’t find it. Turnover in today’s tight hiring market is nothing any employer can afford. The wrong person in the wrong job can also contribute to a decline in staff morale, collaboration and productivity. Whether the new hire is a toxic employee or simply a poor fit for the position and the team, the cost of a bad hire can be surprisingly high. No part of the hiring process should be left to chance. You can take steps to ensure your preferred candidate and your organization’s corporate culture are an ideal match. Here are a few suggestions:
While technology is expected to improve the hiring process, advances in artificial intelligence, for instance, will also allow hiring managers to devote more time to the vital “human” aspects of recruitment, including assessing a candidate’s organizational culture fit. (Robert Half knows the value of using AI in the hiring process firsthand: We leverage AI technology, machine learning and big data to help us make better job matches. We are both high-tech and high-touch). Assessing a candidate’s interpersonal skills, negotiating compensation and persuading candidates to accept a job offer are all examples where human interaction and judgment are crucial — and where AI technology has yet to crack the surface. Over time, well-trained AI may be able to take on some of these tasks, but it’s hard to imagine completely automating the very human process of hiring humans.
Our best piece of advice is for organizations to strive for a happy workforce. Workplace happiness was once viewed as an abstract, touchy-feely, nice-to-have for employers. But today, there’s a powerful case for making employee happiness one of your top organizational priorities. Happy employees are more engaged, more loyal, more creative and more productive than their less satisfied counterparts. And there’s a growing body of research — and a lot of successful companies with happy employees — to attest to that fact. In our research, we found that the top three drivers of workplace happiness across North America are:
1. PRIDE in their organization
2. FEELING APPRECIATED for the work that they do
3. Being treated with FAIRNESS AND RESPECT
These elements can be found in a strong corporate culture that promotes professional development, wellness, work-life balance and more. When trying to define your organizational culture, answering this question can be a helpful starting place: Why do people want to work for our organization? In other words, what makes your workplace culture attractive not only to job seekers but also to the people who already work for you?
This article is provided by Deborah Sim CPA, CA, a Senior Vice President with Robert Half Management Resources in Canada. Founded in 1948, Robert Half is the world’s first and largest specialized staffing firm. The company has more than 300 staffing locations worldwide and offers job search services at roberthalf.ca. For additional career and management advice, visit the Robert Half blog at roberthalf.ca/blog
To learn more about Robert Half, please visit their website, follow them on LinkedIn, and check out their blog. Meet the Robert Half team at Liftoff 2019 and purchase your ticket at https://www.liftoffcon.com/
Kudos® is an employee engagement, culture, and analytics platform, that harnesses the power of peer-to-peer recognition, values reinforcement, and open communication to help organizations boost employee engagement, reduce turnover, improve culture, and drive productivity and performance. Kudos® uses unique proprietary methodologies to deliver essential people analytics on culture, performance, equity, and inclusion, providing organizations with deep insights and a clear understanding of their workforce.
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