2020 Trends. A Year of Unexpected Clarity.
Back in January, naming 2020 as the year of clarity and vision seemed like an excellent intention to set for ourselves. Now this feels like an unamusing joke. Though, some say the pandemic is offering the chance to focus on what is most important in our lives. Others are struggling with uncertainty, unpredictability, and the unknown. Either way, the stakes are high for most of us right now. We are losing work, losing jobs, and we are in fear of not being able to pay the bills.
We know why, and managing through change is easier when everyone understands the “why” behind actions (even if they don’t like the why). People are clear on the need to be incredibly agile and flexible. While stakes may be extremely high, most of us are ready to fight for our companies, for our employees, and for our customers.
Let’s take a look at some of the workforce trends we are seeing, and actions you can take to adjust to the constantly changing workplace and to evolve your culture for the good.
2020 Workforce Trends & Actions
Trend: New Skills are Accelerating Talent Mobility
Jobs are changing quickly, and employees are learning new skills every day to cope with the new reality. Toss those old job descriptions right out the window! Employees are figuring out how to get things done, even if it is outside the scope of their jobs.
Action: Be Ready to Reorganize
Ask employees what they enjoy and what they don’t, and then leverage their strengths and foster their development. Open the doors for talent to move around and up and reward the high performers. Plan to reorganize in response to changing jobs, structures, and business needs. At some point when we get through this chaos, employees will need fair titles and compensation.
Trend: Creativity and Innovation are on the Rise
We have had to change our strategy, our services, and our products quickly. Nurture creativity and innovation in your organization. Encourage employees to come up with innovative and new solutions. Agility is critical.
Action: Give Permission and Space for New Ideas
Create a forum to pitch new ideas. Study both successful creative efforts and the ones that didn’t work. What can you learn? We need all of the creativity and innovation that we can get right now.
Trend: Remote Work and Atypical Office Hours Lead to Productive Work (Surprise!)
Job flexibility drives engagement and employee performance. Gallup Research found that “optimal engagement occurs when employees spend 60-80% of their time working off-site.” [1] Over the last four months, remote work trends have accelerated exponentially, and we’ve seen proof that we can trust employees to work remotely and keep atypical office hours. By allowing flexibility, we are seeing employees deliver in new and unusual ways. Make sure your expectations are clear, and then let employees run with their work.
Action: Have Return-to-Work and Remote Work Policies in Place
Establish expectations and accountability, but at the same time, ask employees what they need to be productive in their home work environment. Do they need a buy a new monitor or standing desk converter? Allocate funds to invest in helping employees to productive, comfortable, and committed. If an employee isn’t delivering what you need, have a conversation with them and find out why.
Trend: Employers Must Commit to Wellness
The turmoil in the world has affected our personal lives and many of us are suffering from anxiety, fear, depression, and illness. We must pay attention to employee wellness. There is a strong correlation between employee performance and their overall well-being. Now is the time to consider providing additional benefits and resources to help employees to take care of themselves, both physically and mentally.
Action: Invest in an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) or a Wellness program
Have a plan in place that is easily accessible. Some companies are also providing and paying for online counseling. Our top leaders should be showing empathy, seeking to understand people’s needs, and taking action to evolve the holistic employee experience.
Trend: Take a Stance on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
Employees are expecting and wanting to hear from the top leaders regarding their philosophy and actions around DEI practices. If you are lucky enough to be hiring, it’s a good time to look at how to better balance the diversity in your company and to look at your compensation practices to make sure pay and benefits are equitable. Companies often fail at the Inclusion level. Think about how you are bringing people into your culture, but also allowing space for employees to evolve the culture. Are you encouraging employees to speak up and being open to differences of opinion? If you aren’t investing time and resources into this area right now, you may be making a silent – or not so silent – statement about your values.
Action: Back your Words with Action
Even if you can’t hire someone to help you focus on DEI, there are many concrete actions you can take as a company. Analyze your employee data and see where there are opportunities. Take a hard look at your hiring, compensation, and promotion practices. Ask for volunteers to form a task force or employee resource group. Ensure your philosophy and actions are known, and be prepared to constantly evolve them. Finally, know that we are all imperfect, and we will all screw up what we want to say at times. Don’t let fear keep you from action. Learn, listen, and adjust. For more tips, read about “Diversity and Inclusion Efforts that Really Work” from Harvard Business Review, or the “Top 10 DEI Trends and Recommendations: 2020 and Beyond” from Medium.
Trend: Future Leaders are Standing Out
You are seeing who the new leaders are. You are seeing people step up, influence, guide, and drive performance. You do not have to directly manage people to be a leader.
Action: Take Note of These People
Foster their leadership skills. Thank them. Reward them. You want to keep these stars, so take care of them. Even better – work on a growth and succession plan for those high performers and future leaders.
2020 has shown us how truly resilient we all are. The pandemic and economic uncertainty have created larger-scale change than most of us have ever seen. Employees are coping with grace, creativity, and perseverance. Cultures are evolving, and by using the above actions to engage your employees, you will inspire them to be more committed to the company.
Keep yourself accountable! Reference the checklist below to make sure that by the time the year ends, 2020 will indeed have been a year of clarity for you, despite the unexpected twists and turns.
