Unit4: Entering the ‘people-powered’ era of business
How should companies prioritize their people in the future of work?
Why You Should Care
The 'Great Resignation' is not over yet.
Unit4 worryingly found that many companies are not getting creative with their recruitment and retention strategies.
But a more promising sign is that organizations are focused on company culture and tech adoption.
The ‘Great Resignation’ is showing no signs of slowing down or coming to an end. The US actually saw the highest quit rate in the 21st century in September 2021.
Despite these realities, Unit4’s business future index, which surveyed more than 3,000 global workers, found that companies are confident about their recruitment and retention strategies.
Although 90% are facing challenges in retaining and recruiting talent at the moment, only 25% of decision-makers surveyed thought there was room for improvement in their strategies. This compares to just 12% of non-decision-makers.
Improving recruitment and retention was not a top-three priority for the next 12 months. The top three areas of focus are operational efficiency, increasing productivity and attracting new customers.
Only 20% of those surveyed ranked recruitment and retention as a top-three priority, and even fewer focused on reskilling.
But this is bad business sense, according to Unit4. “Overall, we have a perpetuating cycle – businesses who don’t factor in retention and reskilling enough see these very things hold them back when it comes to achieving those bottom-line impacts.”
The report added: “We’re moving into a ‘people-powered’ era of business, where the workforce must be prioritized alongside the profit and productivity that is so carefully managed”.
Importance of tech adoption and culture
The companies that are getting this right, however, are doing it with the help of technology.
“Organizations should be looking to adopt industry-specific technology strategies that are right for their businesses, because as our study shows, those that get it right see positive impacts across talent recruitment and retention, workplace culture and trust in leadership,” explained Unit4 CEO Mike Ettling.
Unit4’s research found promising interest in tech adoption and noted that this is important as it helps to upskill and reskill the workforce. This is particularly as businesses are focusing on adopting data management tools (45%), workflow automation (36%) and artificial intelligence and machine learning (27%).
The report noted: “It is crucial that businesses adopt technology in order to update processes, improve efficiency and offer greater opportunity to their staff, but they must also factor in how much they may need to upskill their workforce in order to utilize it to best effect.”
However, as well as focusing on technology, Unit4 recommended that companies should also prioritize workplace culture.
Therefore, it is promising that the index found that 69% of decision-makers and 43% of employees say developing an workplace culture is a top priority for the leadership team in the next year.
It is clear that companies need to rethink their company culture in the realities of hybrid working as 72% agree that staff may feel disconnected from the organization will working from home and 53% think that culture has been negatively impacted by pandemic remote working.
The report concluded: “Outperforming businesses are far more likely to have a leadership team that prioritizes workplace culture – there is a link between making sure your staff are fulfilled and valued, and their productivity and the subsequent profits that can be gleaned.”
Ultimately, happy employees are productive employees.
