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Talent Trends Impacting Your Workplace

As the world evolves so do the ways we conduct business. Employer and employee relationships are shifting and becoming more equal than ever. Employees have expectations for a certain level of fairness, flexibility, and transparency in the workplace, while employers ask more of their workforce in terms of skills and ability. By working together and adapting to change, we all stand to achieve great things—and that’s good for business.

A 2019 report* on global talent trends identified the four trends transforming your workplace. The four trends that over 5,000 talent professionals agree are very important to the future of recruiting are:

• Soft skills
• Work flexibility
• Anti-harassment
• Pay transparency

Assess and Value Soft Skills

91% of talent professionals believe that soft skills are the most vital trend impacting the future of recruitment. As technology advances and techniques and processes continually change, a particular hard skill an employee was hired to perform can become obsolete overnight. However, soft skills will always have value, regardless of the changing landscape that surrounds us.

Soft skills like creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and time management are in high demand as employers put more emphasis and importance on these abilities. Creativity and adaptability help employees solve problems, collaboration helps them build relationships, and the benefits go on—all supporting a productive workplace.

There’s no doubt that any candidate needs hard skills to meet the qualifications required to perform the job at hand, but soft skills are what make them a good hire in the long run. While savvy employers understand this, less than half of the polled talent professionals said their employers have a formal process to assess a candidate’s soft skills.

It can be a difficult task to effectively measure soft skills, as they’re seemingly intangible, but assessing them is well worth the effort. Begin by identifying the skills you’re looking for and ask problem-solving questions when conducting interviews to see how candidates adapt and communicate. Online assessments can also be helpful to assess strengths and weaknesses, while also reducing possible bias.

Recruit and Retain Talent with Work Flexibility

Work flexibility is increasingly becoming the new norm. Flexibility concerning where and when people work is empowering employees to have a better work-life balance and can stand as a major motivator in the recruitment process.

Remote work in particular is a big request today, as commutes and cost of living in many high tech areas continue to rise. While remote work may not always be feasible involving cleared work, it’s worth considering when possible. This flexibility and greater work-life balance not only aids retention and recruitment, but also boosts productivity.

Besides outright security constraints, remote work can be a challenge to team bonding, collaboration, and possible work oversight. However, today’s technology provides a great number of video conferencing and messaging platforms that can mitigate these challenges and help teams connect regardless of what city, state, or even country they reside in. Flexibility can also lead to greater diversity, as it might be a necessity for working parents, military spouses, caretakers, and other candidates you might miss out on otherwise.

Go Above and Beyond Anti-Harassment Policies

Creating and establishing a culture of respect is essential, as workplace harassment has become a topic of international conversation demanding change. High-profile cases and the #MeToo movement have encouraged companies to take action and build respectful cultures, and in turn employees are speaking up, discussing issues, and even changing their own adverse behaviors.

Anti-harassment is not only a moral pursuit, but also a necessity for good business. Safe workplaces improve retention and recruitment and provide a culture that enables productivity and enhanced engagement.

Review your policies and make sure they support your employees to the best of your ability. Find out what they need and how you can adjust accordingly. Provide communication tools, trainings, and exercises that empower your employees. And finally, respond and be sure to follow up when claims are made.

Build Trust with Pay Transparency

Money talks are typically a sensitive subject and in many interviews it’s a battle of resistance to see who will cave and say a number first. However, pay transparency is the fourth trend currently changing the workplace nonetheless. In many industries, employers are often hesitant to be upfront with salary ranges in fear of limiting negotiation, but transparency offers opportunity for a more streamlined process.

Sharing salary ranges at the beginning of the recruitment process filters out candidates that would inevitably decline. This is one area in particular that cleared recruiting leads the way for other industries. This ultimately speeds up the process, allowing you to focus on more probable candidates. It also speaks to a brand and culture of fairness and trust. Furthermore, it avoids misinformation and helps ensure fair pay.

Some companies have gone so far as to share salary ranges or exact salaries of all employed personnel. While the extent of how transparent companies should be is disputable, know that any step towards increased transparency is a step towards honesty, fairness, and equality—all favorable endeavors that support your employer brand.

Are You Trending

Tackling these four trends might be intimidating, thinking of all the managerial conversations often required to enact change. This is an opportunity to employ your own soft skills of persuasion, collaboration, and adaptability to endorse these trends and foster an improved workplace that attracts and retains top talent.

*LinkedIn Global Talent Trends 2019