Protiviti: ‘Involve your people in creating the employee experience they want’

It can be incredibly difficult to ensure employees are fully satisfied. 

Whether this is helping them strike a healthy work-life balance, or ensuring they’re continuously learning and upskilling, it’s important to remember the pivotal role HR plays in fostering employee wellbeing, productivity, and retention. 

Protiviti’s Scott Redfearn

Describing his role as EVP of Global Human Resources at Protiviti as “one of the greatest jobs in the world,” Scott Redfearn is dedicated to prioritizing employees by overseeing all aspects of human resource development, employee experience, and talent management at the company.

To explore how Redfearn has been achieving this throughout his 17 years at the company, UNLEASH sat down with him to have an exclusive conversation.

Maintaining a work-life balance and employee wellbeing

To begin our conversation, Redfearn was sure to make one thing clear – it’s less about “work-life” balance and more about “life balance”. 

“We can’t forget that work is a part of life, so the two things cannot be entirely separated as much as people try to do so,” he begins.

“In the same way, day-to-day interactions within our company can impact our everyday life, there are also things that happen that aren’t considered “work” that still impact your job.”

He therefore believes it’s the duty of HR leaders to think about people’s lives beyond simply being an employee, whether that’s providing flexibility to prioritize family time or offering fitness-related benefits. 

To achieve this, leaders need to consider what will make employees’ overall life experience better – not just their work experience.

For Protiviti, this means that employees should receive more benefits, while also making the company a more desirable place to work which, in turn, helps attract and retain high-quality talent.

Another way in which Protiviti prioritizes employees is by ensuring there is ample room for internal growth. Part of this is by helping to develop skills, rather than focusing on knowledge-based candidates. 

“When I was starting my career, we were looking for ‘opportunity,’ meaning that employees would have the opportunity to grow their career within the company. 

Today it is all about ‘skills,’ and Gen Z is looking to work in an organization that has a rich environment of developing skills.

“They have a strong aversion to getting “stuck”, even for a little while. For them growth is about learning new and relevant skills.”

As a result, career growth is now defined by learning, and the new generation is focusing on the skills they will need to have in the future to succeed – especially amidst the rapid acceleration and adoption of technology. 

This always-learning environment requires flexibility and agility – from both the employee and the company. 

Redfearn shares: “In addition to focusing on what our people know today and how they performed over the past year, HR activities need to orient more around employees’ future.”

This includes answering questions such as: Where is our business going, what skills will help us get there, and how do we help our people acquire those skills? 

“We need to see the potential of our people and create avenues where they are gaining the skills they want to learn,” Redfearn adds. “This is a very different way of thinking about talent management.”

In addition to technical skills, Redfearn highlights the importance of human-centered skills such as communication, listening, innovation, teamwork, critical thinking, and leadership. 

“The way our team members work together will determine our success. Ensuring we are providing the new generation with the resources, experience, and coaching they need to develop their skills will also be pivotal in their long-term success and retention.”

Accelerating the pace of upskilling and reskilling

For Redfearn, one of the most pressing topics currently for HR leaders is workforce planning. 

He believes that the available workforce has been shrinking as older workers retire and birth rates decline. 

“Technology is reshaping work,” he says. “Remote work has affected the dynamics in how people work together. 

“Workplace stress continues to be a great concern for overall wellbeing, employee-centric regulations are growing and the pace of change is accelerating.”

These factors call for HR leaders to become more proactive in engaging with other executives to ensure the company is going to have the workforce they need to achieve their business plans. 

Skill building, upskilling, and reskilling need to happen faster and with more precision to accelerate, or even maintain, market relevance,” Redfearn adds. “Identifying the true educational requirements for various roles may open up the funnel for hiring from new channels. 

“Managers need to position team members where they can best contribute. Businesses will need more leaders and succession planning will help identify and develop a strong, focused pipeline of future leaders.

“We cannot assume that we will always be able to hire the talent we need in the time frame we need them. These are the kinds of opportunities we can address with a fresh focus on workforce planning.”

But of course, AI also needs to be mentioned. 

“The opportunity for HR is to help introduce new technologies that not only fit into the flow of work but also have the right guardrails in place to mitigate risks,” Redfearn shares. “The productivity gains coming from new technologies free employees to do the work that human beings do best.”

To support this, he provides the example of screening employees. Although the technology can help to streamline the process, Protiviti views human interaction with candidates as part of its differentiation. 

While automation will become a part of everything the company does over time, human factors, such as caring and collaborating, will continue to shape company culture and be irreplaceable.  

Take home points for HR leaders

When rounding off our conversation, Redfearn was keen to share three key pieces of the audience. 

The first being that HR leaders need to ensure their strategy aligns with the business’s strategy. 

As HR leaders, we have a seat at the table and can talk about the business, so we should all be thinking about how HR and a strategic people strategy can lead to positive business outcomes,” Redfearn says. “

“It’s important to bring forward fresh ideas that are grounded in industry benchmarking and supported by your company’s data.”

Secondly, he moves on to discuss arming the workforce with the right tools. He explains that the acceleration of technology has put more tools at business’ disposal to help develop the most in-demand skills.

Leaders should therefore be continually re-evaluating tech stacks to ensure that they are effectively setting up their employees for success. Collaborate with HR peers whose companies are using the same platforms to compare notes.  

Finally, Redfearn highlights sponsor leadership development programs for team leaders. 

“Ask your employees for feedback and then always follow-up with them on what you learned,” he concludes.

“Involve your people in creating the employee experience they want. Keep an eye on stress and burnout. Encourage in-person experiences for your employees to help them build deeper connections.”