Wake up, boss!

You probably know from your own experience that bosses often have a completely different perception of the working conditions prevailing in their company than their employees. You have probably also experienced that HR departments often have completely different views about which qualifications are central to jobs in the company than the people who work in the department in question. But just how infinitely far removed management and HR are from the actual needs of employees is now proven by the Global Talent Trends Study 2017*, which was conducted worldwide: 34 percent of all employees - mind you, worldwide! - plan to leave their current job in the next twelve months, 23 percent because of a lack of long-term career opportunities within the company, 11 percent because of better options on the labor market. 3 percent of the 7500 respondents are completely dissatisfied with their current job.

Change brings spice, and a little shrinkage is always? It's not that simple. The study reveals serious imbalances in the labor market. For example, more than half of the employees surveyed said they had asked for flexible working conditions in the past, but had not been granted them. One in two employees is concerned that part-time or home-office work could have a negative impact on their career, with nearly two-thirds (77 percent) of full-time employees interested in alternative employment arrangements. In contrast, neither CEOs nor HR managers believe that alternative employment will be relevant to their business in the next two years.

We refuse so
long until it cracks.

According to the study, 93 percent of companies plan to significantly change their organization in the next two years. At the same time, however, only 4 percent of senior managers say their organization is systematically driving these change processes. HR leaders in Germany, for example, do not have the topics of "organization" and "adapting role profiles" on their 2017 priority list. Fewer than half of respondents think their company is aware of their individual interests and skills, but 53 percent would like it to be.

What do these results tell us? What we have felt for a long time: that the world of work is changing dramatically and that companies are letting themselves be overwhelmed by the changes instead of working with them. We know this from digitization: We refuse to accept it until it crashes.

But, ladies and gentlemen, change processes are not slowing down because of you. Digitization, robotics and artificial intelligence are challenging traditional business models; for example, writing robots are already taking over news production in some newsrooms. Will this make journalists superfluous? Quite the opposite.

Even in the 21st century, the capital of every company remains good employees who think and care. It is important to encourage and motivate them instead of driving them away with limits, "don't go there" and shrugging shoulders, with micromanagement, administration and cost-center thinking. Failure will come to those who do not understand that it is not higher margins and tighter budgets that bring growth to companies; but that it is the (human) employees who work out the higher margins and create new business. Because they are capable of thinking beyond the learned, beyond the programmed.

Work environments and talent are changing at breakneck speed. Companies that remain rigid will break up.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich, Editor in Chief

f.heinrich@werbewoche.ch

* The study is based on responses from more than 1700 HR leaders, 5400 employees and 400 managers from 15 countries and 20 industries. Bit.ly/job-satisfaction