Basil Sommerfeld, Deloitte Luxembourg;
Amid concerns about automation, the need for new skills, an aging workforce and tightening labor markets, the make-or-break issue facing companies this year is the need for realignment among the senior leadership teams to focus on the evolving role of business in today’s society; in its 2018 Global Human Capital Trends report, “The Rise of the Social Enterprise”, Deloitte examines the increasing expectations of the individual and the breathless pace at which technology is shaping organisations’ human capital priorities.
With more than 11,000 HR and business leaders weighing in, this year’s Global Human Capital Trends report is the largest longitudinal survey of its kind. Respondents overwhelmingly point to the need for a symphonic leadership—a team-based, cross-disciplinary approach to tackling complex issues—with 85 percent calling this trend important or very important. Survey results suggest that companies where senior executives regularly collaborate are one-third more likely to be growing 10 percent more than companies whose leadership operates in siloes.
Towards a social enterprise
Increased transparency and heightened political awareness have drawn widespread attention to the role of business as a driver of change in society. Organisations find they are increasingly expected to exercise their ability to do social good, both externally for customers, communities and society, as well as internally for their employees. True social enterprises must take a total stakeholder approach to pressing public issues to maintain reputation and relevancy.
“The external and the internal environments are equally important when it comes to behaving as a social enterprise. Organisations have to listen carefully to not just business partners and customers but all parties in society that an organization influences and is influenced by” stated Basil Sommerfeld, Partner and Leader of Operations Excellence & Human Capital at Deloitte Luxembourg. “Organisations also need to invest in the broader social ecosystem, starting with an organization’s own employees and to actively manage its position in the social ecosystem by engaging with stakeholders and strategically determining and pursuing the kind of relationship it wants to maintain with each.”
New career models
In the past year, organisations have become increasingly focused on how automation-induced job shifts will impact individuals. The Deloitte research shows that more than 4 in 10 companies believe automation will have a major impact on jobs, and 61 percent are now actively redesigning jobs around AI and robotics.
Against this backdrop, companies and individuals realise that the traditional career model is becoming defunct. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed consider building new career models and skills as very important. More than 54% have no programmes in place to build the skills of the future, and only 18% feel they give employees opportunities to develop themselves.
Leveraging technology
With the deployment of AI, robotics, automation, and people analytics showing no signs of slowing down, companies are reconciling a demand for human skills and the need for increased productivity. While 72% of respondents see this area as important, only 31% feel ready to address it.
“Automation is here to stay and will improve scale, speed and quality,” commented Stephan Tilquin, Talent Leader at Deloitte Luxembourg. “But it’s important to remember that as routine work is automated, new jobs will be created—jobs that are more service-oriented, interpretive, social, and play to our essential human skills. Only companies that redesign how work gets done to leverage these skills will be able to stay a step ahead of their competition”.
