AI-powered <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/importance-of-investing-in-employees.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22">opportunity marketplaces</a> that divide work into tasks, projects, or roles that can be matched with people from anywhere in the organization.

Match opportunities with talent

To develop its COVID-19 vaccine in record time, for example, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca mobilized employees into cross-functional tiger teams rather than according to functional expertise. But it also tapped its ecosystem, collaborating with academia and regulatory agencies and employing new ways of working.

Make cross-functional teams 

When hiring, consider such segments as alumni, workers who have taken career breaks to be caregivers, people in untapped geographies who can work remotely, the long-term unemployed, immigrants and refugees, and those with physical disabilities or neurodiversity challenges

Hire creatively 

<ul><li>When employees are empowered to make decisions about where and how they could work, engagement and productivity increase.</li><li>That should also involve training managers for hybrid work so they focus on outcomes, not in-office face time.</li></ul>

Empower employees with where and why of work

<h2 itemprop="description">To prepare for a future in which crisis may be business as usual, companies have an opportunity to shift their thinking on talent and many other aspects of work.</h2><figure><img srcset="https://djcs-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/public/blogs/deloitte/blogs.dir/4/files/2021/11/The-Great-Resignation-IMAGE.jpg 900w" src="https://djcs-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/public/blogs/deloitte/blogs.dir/4/files/2021/11/The-Great-Resignation-IMAGE.jpg" alt="" title="" width="620" height="235"></figure>Many senior executives are struggling with an urgent talent crisis: the Great Resignation. The COVID-19 pandemic has induced waves of people to quit their jobs, seemingly in search of more meaning, more money, and more flexibility, among other wish-list items. The labor and skills shortage is now so severe that CEOs rank it <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/chief-executive-officer/articles/ceo-survey.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22" dir="ltr">as the No. 1 external issue</a> they expect to influence or disrupt their business strategy within the next 12 months.But there’s an upside to this upheaval. The steps companies take now to stop the bleeding can also stand them in good stead for an even bigger shift. Call it the Great Reimagination: a fundamental reexamination of workplace systems that can help businesses weather the future shocks sure to arise.“As organizations act to retain and attract talent today, they can also lay the groundwork for the Great Reimagination that’s on the horizon,” says Jonathan Pearce, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP.Here are four key shifts to consider.From Jobs to SkillsThe Big ShiftCompanies should shift from thinking that the best way to connect people with work is through static jobs to reimagining work as a landscape of tasks and skills that dynamically evolves with business priorities.Getting started:<UL><LI> 






 Identify adjacent skills. To expand the candidate pool, look at skills and adjacent skills instead of academic degrees or previous experience. About <a href="https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/resources/blogs/use-skill-adjacencies-upgrade-reskilling-efforts/" dir="ltr">46% of high-performing organizations work</a> to identify adjacent skills to inform reskilling programs, while only 26% of other organizations do. Consider Avionos: To address the Great Resignation, the digital commerce and marketing solutions company looks for <a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/whats-the-fix-for-the-great-resignation-hire-generalists-and-train-them/" dir="ltr">generalists instead of specialists</a> to expand its candidate pool and trains new hires on the enterprise’s best practices and methodologies.








 </LI><LI> 






 Use AI. Leverage AI to enable recruiters to find candidates with the skills for specific needs, while being careful of AI bias.








 </LI><LI> 






 Seek out untapped capabilities. Companies can build nimbler workforce capacity by gaining a deeper understanding of the skills they have on board, so they can quickly match expertise with business needs and move talent to high-priority areas. One approach is to introduce AI-powered <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/importance-of-investing-in-employees.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22" dir="ltr">opportunity marketplaces</a> that divide work into tasks, projects, or roles that can be matched with people from anywhere in the organization.








 </LI></UL>From Employees to Workforce EcosystemsThe Big ShiftLarger, more diverse, and dynamic <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/future-of-work-workforce-ecosystem.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22" dir="ltr">workforce ecosystems</a> can be pivotal to an organization’s ability to thrive but likely require revising management and talent practices.Getting started:<UL><LI> 






 Tap a broader talent pool. To fill urgent business needs, reach out beyond your employees to contractors, gig workers, organizational partners, or even AI and automation. To develop its COVID-19 vaccine in record time, for example, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca mobilized employees into cross-functional tiger teams rather than according to functional expertise. But it also tapped its ecosystem, collaborating with academia and regulatory agencies and employing new ways of working. Although <a href="https://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/workforce-ecosystems-a-new-strategic-approach-to-the-future-of-work/" dir="ltr">46% of organizations are now using online platforms to access external talent</a>, far fewer have robust practices to enable external workers to ramp up quickly to productivity.








 </LI><LI> 






 Rearchitect critical work streams. Identify the outcomes to be achieved—then get creative about the resources needed to produce them. This tactic can also help leaders recognize the key capabilities required to drive future growth and prioritize workforce segments based on the skills necessary to drive it.








 </LI><LI> 






 Explore untapped talent segments. When hiring, consider such segments as alumni, workers who have taken career breaks to be caregivers, people in untapped geographies who can work remotely, the long-term unemployed, immigrants and refugees, and those with physical disabilities or neurodiversity challenges.&nbsp;The German IT and software corporation SAP, which introduced its Autism at Work&nbsp;program in 2013, says it has a&nbsp;90% retention rate&nbsp;among employees on the autism spectrum.








 </LI></UL>From Flex Work to Flex EverythingThe Big ShiftCompanies should move from a focus on engaging employees for the benefit of the company to creating value for workers as whole human beings and key stakeholders.&nbsp;
 “Companies should shift from thinking that the best way to connect people with work is through static jobs to reimagining work as a landscape of tasks and skills that dynamically evolves with business priorities.”
 Getting started:<UL><LI> 






 Conduct a pay audit and adjust pay to ensure compensation is fair in a rapidly evolving market. Consider spot bonuses for hot skills to quickly keep pace. But research shows that money isn’t everything. Greater choice, flexibility, and stronger relationships at work are also important, as are expanded opportunities for promotions. More than twice as many respondents to <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/importance-of-investing-in-employees.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22" dir="ltr">a recent survey</a> say it’s easier to get a new job outside their organization than within it.








 </LI><LI> 






 Offer to flex the “where” of work—e.g., with <a href="https://deloitte.wsj.com/articles/returning-to-the-office-isnt-business-as-usual-01624302094" dir="ltr">hybrid work models</a>—and the “why” of work—e.g., offering options to perform work aligned with people’s personal motivations. When one company recently introduced a flex program that empowers employees to make decisions about where and how they could work, engagement and productivity increased. Additionally, let people disconnect from work at designated times and ensure managers and leaders model similar behavior. That should also involve training managers for hybrid work so they focus on outcomes, not in-office face time.








 </LI><LI> 






 Flex the “what” of work. Let employees carve out a portion of their jobs for a project outside of their core job responsibilities related to their passion or to learning desires—and then recognize them for it.&nbsp;&nbsp;








 </LI></UL>From Prediction to Rapid ExperimentationThe Big ShiftIn an increasingly complex and unpredictable world, companies should stop trying to predict the future and instead develop an ongoing culture of experimentation, testing, learning, and iteration—creating incremental change over time to allow for constant adjustments.Getting started:<UL><LI> 






 Use the data you have now to develop insights into the root causes of attrition. Leverage newly available data from the “digital bread crumbs” of remote work performed on digital platforms to identify the people whose departures could cause a disproportionate loss of value. Then target these vital players with appropriate retention activities.








 </LI><LI> 






 Engage in predictive modeling and scenario planning; for instance, analyze <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22" dir="ltr">various employee-employer relationship scenarios</a>. For those who lack a strong analytics capability, harness internal skills (borrowing analytics skills from the marketing function, for example) or external partnerships.








 </LI><LI> 






 Focus on launching experiments to learn rapidly and build organizational momentum, communicating success and failures along the way. And place clear guiding principles, rather than vague pronouncements, at the center of any experimentation. “Companies that have done this better have based their experimentation on foundational organizational values,” Pearce says.








 </LI></UL>In the last two years, the world has faced a series of crises—COVID-19, the accelerating impacts of climate change, a reckoning with racial inequity. Addressing the next, inevitable crisis and preparing for the Great Reimagination will likely require a fundamental change at the highest levels—a long-term, sustainable, cross-functional collaboration across the C-suite. Says Pearce, “HR can’t do this alone.”—by Anne Field, writer, Deloitte Insights in The Wall Street JournalCopyright ©2022 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8<div dir="ltr">
 PUBLISHED ON: <time dir="ltr">
 Nov. 3, 2021 3:00 pm ET
</time>

 </div>This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.About DeloitteDeloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the “Deloitte” name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/legal/about-deloitte.html" dir="ltr">www.deloitte.com/about</a>&nbsp;to learn more about our global network of member firms.Copyright © 2021 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.

Talent is one of the biggest issues facing C-suite executives today. Leaders should not only understand the big shifts at play but also reimagine workplace systems, policies, and culture to deal with the current crisis and withstand future shocks.

To prepare for a future in which crisis may be business as usual, companies have an opportunity to shift their thinking on talent and many other aspects of work.

Many senior executives are struggling with an urgent talent crisis: the Great Resignation. The COVID-19 pandemic has induced waves of people to quit their jobs, seemingly in search of more meaning, more money, and more flexibility, among other wish-list items. The labor and skills shortage is now so severe that CEOs rank it <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/chief-executive-officer/articles/ceo-survey.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22">as the No. 1 external issue </a>they expect to influence or disrupt their business strategy within the next 12 months.

But there’s an upside to this upheaval. The steps companies take now to stop the bleeding can also stand them in good stead for an even bigger shift. Call it the Great Reimagination: a fundamental reexamination of workplace systems that can help businesses weather the future shocks sure to arise.

“As organizations act to retain and attract talent today, they can also lay the groundwork for the Great Reimagination that’s on the horizon,” says Jonathan Pearce, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP.

Here are four key shifts to consider.

From Jobs to Skills

The Big Shift

Companies should shift from thinking that the best way to connect people with work is through static jobs to reimagining work as a landscape of tasks and skills that dynamically evolves with business priorities.

Getting started:

<ul><li>Identify adjacent skills. To expand the candidate pool, look at skills and adjacent skills instead of academic degrees or previous experience. About <a href="https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/resources/blogs/use-skill-adjacencies-upgrade-reskilling-efforts/">46% of high-performing organizations work </a>to identify adjacent skills to inform reskilling programs, while only 26% of other organizations do. Consider Avionos: To address the Great Resignation, the digital commerce and marketing solutions company looks for <a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/whats-the-fix-for-the-great-resignation-hire-generalists-and-train-them/">generalists instead of specialists </a>to expand its candidate pool and trains new hires on the enterprise’s best practices and methodologies. </li><li>Use AI. Leverage AI to enable recruiters to find candidates with the skills for specific needs, while being careful of AI bias. </li><li>Seek out untapped capabilities. Companies can build nimbler workforce capacity by gaining a deeper understanding of the skills they have on board, so they can quickly match expertise with business needs and move talent to high-priority areas. One approach is to introduce AI-powered <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/importance-of-investing-in-employees.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22">opportunity marketplaces </a>that divide work into tasks, projects, or roles that can be matched with people from anywhere in the organization. </li> </ul>

From Employees to Workforce Ecosystems

Larger, more diverse, and dynamic <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/future-of-work-workforce-ecosystem.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22">workforce ecosystems </a>can be pivotal to an organization’s ability to thrive but likely require revising management and talent practices.

<ul><li>Tap a broader talent pool . To fill urgent business needs, reach out beyond your employees to contractors, gig workers, organizational partners, or even AI and automation. To develop its COVID-19 vaccine in record time, for example, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca mobilized employees into cross-functional tiger teams rather than according to functional expertise. But it also tapped its ecosystem, collaborating with academia and regulatory agencies and employing new ways of working. Although <a href="https://sloanreview.mit.edu/projects/workforce-ecosystems-a-new-strategic-approach-to-the-future-of-work/">46% of organizations are now using online platforms to access external talent </a>, far fewer have robust practices to enable external workers to ramp up quickly to productivity. </li><li>Rearchitect critical work streams. Identify the outcomes to be achieved—then get creative about the resources needed to produce them. This tactic can also help leaders recognize the key capabilities required to drive future growth and prioritize workforce segments based on the skills necessary to drive it. </li><li>Explore untapped talent segments. When hiring, consider such segments as alumni, workers who have taken career breaks to be caregivers, people in untapped geographies who can work remotely, the long-term unemployed, immigrants and refugees, and those with physical disabilities or neurodiversity challenges. The German IT and software corporation SAP, which introduced its Autism at Work program in 2013, says it has a 90% retention rate among employees on the autism spectrum. </li> </ul>

From Flex Work to Flex Everything

Companies should move from a focus on engaging employees for the benefit of the company to creating value for workers as whole human beings and key stakeholders.

“ Companies should shift from thinking that the best way to connect people with work is through static jobs to reimagining work as a landscape of tasks and skills that dynamically evolves with business priorities.”

<ul><li>Conduct a pay audit and adjust pay to ensure compensation is fair in a rapidly evolving market. Consider spot bonuses for hot skills to quickly keep pace. But research shows that money isn’t everything. Greater choice, flexibility, and stronger relationships at work are also important, as are expanded opportunities for promotions. More than twice as many respondents to <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/technology-and-the-future-of-work/importance-of-investing-in-employees.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22">a recent survey </a>say it’s easier to get a new job outside their organization than within it. </li><li>Offer to flex the “where” of work—e.g., with <a href="https://deloitte.wsj.com/articles/returning-to-the-office-isnt-business-as-usual-01624302094">hybrid work models </a>—and the “why” of work—e.g., offering options to perform work aligned with people’s personal motivations. When one company recently introduced a flex program that empowers employees to make decisions about where and how they could work, engagement and productivity increased. Additionally, let people disconnect from work at designated times and ensure managers and leaders model similar behavior. That should also involve training managers for hybrid work so they focus on outcomes, not in-office face time. </li><li>Flex the “what” of work . Let employees carve out a portion of their jobs for a project outside of their core job responsibilities related to their passion or to learning desires—and then recognize them for it.   </li> </ul>

From Prediction to Rapid Experimentation

In an increasingly complex and unpredictable world, companies should stop trying to predict the future and instead develop an ongoing culture of experimentation, testing, learning, and iteration—creating incremental change over time to allow for constant adjustments.

<ul><li>Use the data you have now to develop insights into the root causes of attrition. Leverage newly available data from the “digital bread crumbs” of remote work performed on digital platforms to identify the people whose departures could cause a disproportionate loss of value. Then target these vital players with appropriate retention activities. </li><li>Engage in predictive modeling and scenario planning ; for instance, analyze <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends.html?id=us:2el:3dp:wsjspon:awa:WSJCIO:2022:WSJFY22">various employee-employer relationship scenarios </a>. For those who lack a strong analytics capability, harness internal skills (borrowing analytics skills from the marketing function, for example) or external partnerships. </li><li>Focus on launching experiments to learn rapidly and build organizational momentum, communicating success and failures along the way. And place clear guiding principles, rather than vague pronouncements, at the center of any experimentation. “Companies that have done this better have based their experimentation on foundational organizational values,” Pearce says. </li> </ul>

In the last two years, the world has faced a series of crises—COVID-19, the accelerating impacts of climate change, a reckoning with racial inequity. Addressing the next, inevitable crisis and preparing for the Great Reimagination will likely require a fundamental change at the highest levels—a long-term, sustainable, cross-functional collaboration across the C-suite. Says Pearce, “HR can’t do this alone.”

—by Anne Field, writer, Deloitte Insights in The Wall Street Journal

This publication contains general information only and Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor.Deloitte shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.About Deloitte Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the “Deloitte” name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/legal/about-deloitte.html">www.deloitte.com/about </a> to learn more about our global network of member firms.Copyright © 2021 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

From ‘the Great Resignation’ to ‘the Great Reimagination’

Match opportunities with talent

Make cross-functional teams

Hire creatively

Empower employees with where and why of work

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

Four success factors for workforce automation

How to Create a Workplace that Actually Inspires Passion

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It's time to

READ

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A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

From ‘the Great Resignation’ to ‘the Great Reimagination’

Match opportunities with talent

Make cross-functional teams

Hire creatively

Empower employees with where and why of work

IDEAS ABOUT

MORE LIKE THIS

Four success factors for workforce automation

How to Create a Workplace that Actually Inspires Passion

Leadership disrupted: Pushing the boundaries

It's time to

READ

LIKE

A PRO!

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career