Gartner Newsroom

Key Takeaways

• The three new dimensions of today’s employer/employee relationship are radical flexibility, shared purpose and deeper connections.
• “If we adopt an idea of even greater flexibility, even more radical flexibility, rather than just the question of where people work, we can get even more performance out of our workforce.”
• “When we give employees the radical choice, the radical amount of flexibility over where, when and how much they work, we are actually rewarded as employers with more high performing employees, and our employees are rewarded by having more flexibility over what they do.”
• Pursuing a shared purpose that drives beyond messages to real actions and investments increases employee engagement and makes employers more attractive in the labor market.
• HR leaders can build deeper connections with their employees, their families and their communities, and when they do, both the employees and employers are better off.
• “For organizations that have gotten more deeply involved in the lives of their employees, those employees report better financial wellbeing, better mental health, better physical help and better sleep.”

Learn more from the Gartner Opening Keynote in the Gartner press release "Gartner Identifies Three Dimensions That Define The New Employer-Employee Relationship."

Key Takeaways

• "Organizations have critical skill gaps at the same time employees are leaving for lack of career opportunity.”
• “Agile career pathing adapts to changing employee preferences and organizational needs.”
• "Sixty-nine percent of learning leaders said that employees are increasingly putting pressure on HR to provide development opportunities that will prepare them for future roles. Only about a quarter of HR leaders actually think they are effective at identifying internal career moves that employees can make.”
  
• “HR leaders need to start with the employees themselves and work forward to find the right roles for them in the direction they want to go. We do this with employee portfolios that enable HRto customize and personalize their career direction.”
• Capturing experiences, not job descriptions: “Instead of creating paths based on existing structures and hierarchies, which as we know, are changing all the time, we need to move towards creating them based upon experiences in the role.”
• “During quarterly career conversations, help employees reassess their preferences, adjust their career goals and update their portfolios with an eye toward future experiences.”

Key Takeaways

• There is no consensus among HR executives on the primary purpose of the workplace after COVID-19. 
• Nearly the same number of HR executives believe that the workplace should serve as a work space for employees who are not productive at home, a secure work space and a place to cultivate innovations.
• “HR leaders can't wait to act on this question of the job of the workplace anymore because it’s already changing.”
• The workplace must meet two sets of needs in order to satisfy employees: Execution Needs and Emotional Needs.
• “The purpose of your workplace is going to be determined by how effectively you meet employee emotional needs.”
• Visibility into employee emotional needs means HR leaders are uniquely positioned to advise on workplace strategy, particularly as emotional needs and unique experiences become the primary purpose of the workplace.

Key Takeaways

• More than 90% of senior leaders have maintained or increased the use of talent analytics since the COVID-19 outbreak
• Less than 50% of employees trust their organization with their data. “Current efforts to manage their concerns are not sufficient.”
• “There is a need for organizations to operationalize and consistently apply their data ethics strategy to incoming projects.  You need to get this right for the sake of the talent analytics function, for the employees and the entire organization.” 
• “Engaging with legal is essential but it is not sufficient. Regularly involve others across the organizations with different points of view.” 
• “Use a formalized ethical framework to ensure projects fit within your organizational values and ethical guidelines.”
• “Only 10% of employees get information on how their data is used from the talent analytics team.... That needs to change.”