The workplace has undergone drastic change in recent years, with HR leaders navigating the aftermath of the pandemic and how this has irreversibly changed the world of work. At the same time, ongoing skills shortages, supply chain issues, integrating multigenerational workforces, new technology and economic challenges continue to impact employees and employers alike. In this article, Susan Binnersley, Managing Director of h2h, considers how HR leaders can embrace the power of creative thinking and respond to two of the biggest issues in the modern workplace – AI and the skills shortage – to create a more engaged and productive workforce.
AI anxiety vs opportunity
There is a lot of talk about AI and the threats it might pose to the workforce, and so it is perhaps unsurprising that research shows that nearly 1 in 3 adults (29%) are feeling anxious about AI and experiencing “AI anxiety”. During my career I have seen the advent of email, internet and computers, GPS, automation and robotics, smartphones, virtual meetings and remote working, social media and virtual reality, to name just a few, and many of them were viewed with suspicion in the early stages. It is now hard to imagine a workplace without these innovations and we can certainly work more efficiently and with much greater creativity than before. AI is another opportunity to experiment and improve, particularly when it comes to helping first-line leaders who are typically overburdened with administrative tasks.
According to Gartner, 70% of managers are experiencing overwhelm, while another report of nearly 18,000 global employees found Gen Z (those born since 1997) are the most stressed at work. Line managers are the backbone of most businesses and quite often they are juggling their own work, managing work through their team alongside the burden of administrative tasks such as booking hours, arranging rotas, managing performance and handling communications. One organisation I have worked with has 12 sources of incoming data that employees were checking throughout the day, including email, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, text messages; the list goes on. Monitoring these channels can take the best part of the day, leaving little to no time for the actual day job.
AI has the potential to enhance efficiency, enable creativity, streamline communications and relieve these burdensome tasks, enabling managers and employees to focus on what matters most. HR leaders could survey where employees are frustrated and saddled with tasks that feel like they aren’t adding value, then consider whether AI could free them up to conduct more meaningful work.
Making use of a thriving internal marketplace
The next major workplace challenge to consider is the ongoing skills shortage, with Government data showing skills shortages in this country doubled to more than half a million between 2017 and 2022, and now account for 36% of job vacancies. In spite of this, many organisations are not optimising their own internal talent. Too often it is easier for employees to move to another company than to move to a new role internally within their current organisation; this must be fixed.
A steady stream of fresh talent is important to an organisation, but so is the existing talent who are qualified and experienced to guide, mentor and develop new recruits. HR teams should focus just as much effort on existing talent as the attraction and onboarding of new talent. I encourage all organisations to have a very clear retention strategy that includes easy access to internal career moves. Most people seek a change of direction, role or responsibilities every now and then, so recognising these aspirations and aligning them with gaps in the business can be mutually beneficial for the employee and employer alike.
Bringing in bitesize learning
Similarly, the way learning and development is delivered can be adapted to a more creative, agile approach to suit the needs of the modern workforce. In the culture of busyness that exists, learners need relevant, bitesize, and timely development opportunities available in different formats. Researching the learning preferences of specific groups of employees will help to ensure the learning lands and endures. Take the example of a recent customer I worked with, where we started by exploring the very specific needs of that group of learners. We then created bespoke and focussed content and will offer this in three different ways – virtual sessions, face to face sessions and an online toolkit – to suit them.
The HR landscape is undoubtedly changing and leaders are facing challenges that are both new and sometimes frustratingly familiar. However, the HR industry also has access to more technology and fresh thinking than ever before. By adopting a creative mindset and embracing change, HR leaders can generate new solutions that outsmart the challenges and future-proof the workforce for what lies ahead.
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