During times of low unemployment, employers need to consider strategies to ensure they can retain their valuable workforce. Managers are increasingly strategizing to create a workplace culture that is resilient, accommodates diversity, and establishes connections and satisfaction among its participants. The 2018 Global Cultural Report by O.C. Tanner identifies global trends in creating an environment that reflects the needs of modern employees. Six “talent magnets” are identified that impact an employee’s decision to join, engage with, and remain at a place of work. A main takeaway is connection: Connection to purpose, achievement, and to other people.
This report has insights that are important when considering digital nomads. A growing percentage of the global workforce seeks variety in their day-to-day job over promotions. The poll of more than 14,000 employees from 12 different countries indicates that employees want special projects, experiences, ongoing education, and variety in their working lives. As the numbers of digital nomads and freelance workers continue their rapid expansion, companies would do well to consider enabling a work culture that takes advantage of this workforce by allowing for variety, to include in work location.
The six talent magnet areas:
1. Purpose
Employees want more than a clear statement of an organization’s purpose. They need to “see, hear, and feel” the influence of purpose during their regular workday and understand how their contributions are directly tied to the overall purpose of the mission. This reflects the growing need for people to feel connection with something bigger and more important than themselves. In particular, the Millennial and Gen Z generations are seeking work with a clear purpose. India was rated the highest in regards to attracting and retaining employees through this purpose metric.
2. Opportunity
Employees still value promotions and salary increases, but increasingly opportunity is viewed as the ability to do challenging work, work on special projects, engage in ongoing learning opportunities, and experiment with new things. Employees also highly value the opportunity to have a voice in the company and have their opinions matter. Again, India leads the globe in this index with a score of 77% compared to the global average of 59% for employee sense of opportunity.
3. Success
How the “success” of a worker is calculated is important to job satisfaction, New management philosophies are shifting away from the annual performance review and favoring continuous performance management with an element of mentorship. Establishing a “winning team” also engenders a feeling of participation and success. The global index score for employee success is currently surveyed at only 60%.
4. Appreciation
The global index score for employee senses of appreciation is 57%. Companies have difficulty prioritizing employee recognition in the face of many other organizational demands, but genuine appreciation promotes connections between coworkers and leaders that strengthen the organization overall. Frequency, sincerity, meaningfulness, and consistency are key aspects of appreciation.
5. Wellbeing
Traditionally, companies focused on physical wellbeing to ensure employee performance and perhaps reduce insurance costs. Current thinking expands wellbeing to include emotional and social aspects. As technology increasingly creates isolation, bonds between workers are important connections for employee satisfaction. The global index score for wellbeing is a low 53%; only 21% of employees worldwide felt their organization considered people a priority. The United States scores most highly in this category at 57%.
6. Leadership
The relationships between leaders and their employees set the stage for all other metrics. If this connection is not positive, employees tend to disconnect from other areas of job satisfaction.
These criteria are important for HR departments trying to recruit and for global job seekers as well. Understanding how a company prioritizes these aspects to build a company culture can lead workers to consider employment in areas or places not previously considered.
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