World Monitor Magazine, Business and Investments WM_march 2019_web | Page 45

EXPERT OPINION
Organizations and individuals race to give
consumers what they want. Innovation
outpaces regulation. Digital technologies
provide unlimited access to information
and leverage for the elite. Specialists and
niche profit-makers flourish.
Socially beneficial and socially-oriented
business is booming. Great importance
is attached to individual's duty to
society/ There are many craftsmen and
manufactures, new unions of workers
emerge. Human qualities are highly
appreciated.
Social responsibility and trust dominate
the corporate agenda with concerns
about demographic changes, climate
and sustainability becoming key drivers
of business.
Applying the scenario analysis of the
future of work, leading organisa-
tions develop a more sharp, forward-
looking and flexible development
strategy, which provides for their
long-term competitive advantage.
What should be done regardless
of the future scenarios?
The recent PwC study, Preparing
for tomorrow’s workforce, today 3 ,
listed the most important organisa-
tional capabilities when preparing
organisations for tomorrow’s world
of work. The report was developed
in collaboration with Lynda Grat-
ton, Professor of London Business
School, and is based on the survey
of more than 1,200 business and
HR leaders from 79 countries of the
world.
Below are the practical steps to
be taken by organisations regard-
less of what the future holds, that
we recommend in this report:
Big company capitalism rules as organ-
isations continue to grow bigger and
individual preferences trump beliefs about
social responsibility.
1) Create a competitive advantage
through a more engaging people
experience. The leading “organisa-
tions of the future” are those whose
employees find themselves equally
developing and deploying both their
technical skills and expertise along
with their human skills, such as lead-
ership, creativity, empathy and curios-
ity. Notably, when we talk about en-
gaging workforce environment, we are
not just talking about the traditional
HR objectives in terms of talent mo-
tivation and development, but we also
mean considering the workload levels,
mental health, working conditions, ef-
fective feedback and communication
between the organisation and its em-
ployees, etc.
2) Use workforce analytics to make
the most of your talent: Despite
the importance organisations attach
to data analytics, the wealth of data
they hold, and the growing sophistica-
tion and usability of the tools on offer,
many organisations tell us they are
falling short on application of these
analytics. While people-related deci-
sions were traditionally largely based
on intuitive opinion of management,
“the organisations of the future” will
also consider factual knowledge and
analytics. Such “useful” data analytics
to be looked into may include: return
on human capital (HC ROI), revenue
per employee, costs per employee,
profit per employee, etc.
3) Bring HR and business lead-
ers together: Leading organisations
adopt a “partnership” model between
HR and the organisation. Stronger
influence of HR on general manage-
ment, on one hand, along with deeper
understanding of HR issues at the top
management level, on the other hand,
is required for effective implementa-
tion of current and future people man-
agement decisions.
4) Tech-savvy HR needs to step up:
According to our report, HR’s ability to
understand the emerging tech land-
supported by EUROBAK
43