The power shift in corporates enabled by technology

The global shutdown and travel bans have significantly changed the conventional nature of employment and business relationships. Chasing employee sentiments, following competitors’ actions, and being continuously updated on the marketplace dynamics are the current challenges of the corporate world. Besides, digital transformation has opened a new landscape of remote and hybrid work culture. Workplace technology is fast growing in pace and together, these have created a massive crisis of ‘Talent shortage’ globally. The requirement is continually soaring as Gartner rightly predicted that by 2020 artificial intelligence (AI) will create more jobs than it will eliminate. As a result, the expectations of the talents from their employers have changed dramatically. 

Along with the technological upgradation, COVID-19 had quite an impact on corporate job requirements. Where employees have grown a new prismatic view towards life, work and physical and mental wellbeing, corporates have generated more business opportunities, creating more vacancies than willing joiners. This imbalance of demand has given more power and voice to employees. The power shift is in certain ways relatively minor but in terms of technological aspect and given that the Great Resignation experience isn't slowing down anytime soon, organisations will have to buckle up.

The old style of treating employee sentiment and workplace requirements in a more casual "take it or leave it" manner now poses a real risk of losing talent. This risk is not just limited to the top talent, but also applies to the entire workforce, including junior positions, which traditionally had less bargaining power in the employer-employee relationship.

It is time to see this scenario as an opportunity to widen our horizon beyond recruitment and retention solutions. Human Resource Management practices are known for keeping an eye on employee behavior and being accountable for an organisation’s sustainable growth and competitive strategy. With the power shifting towards the talents, companies must transform their talent hunt paradigm and consider internal prospects to make the most of the situation and explore the company’s inner strengths to deal with the current situation more aptly. 

Powerful management practice in business can not only come up with new talents and help them grow, but it can also help the company to identify the hidden skills of those talents, who can help reduce the rigorous search for new talent.

The current corporate structure leans on a bureaucratic chain of command, discipline, task specialisation, and other aspects of organisational power. In a production-based work culture, where knowledge workers usually take a back seat, the authoritative structure works fine. But rapid globalisation has created space for accelerating innovation, and the increasing competition curving the path for talent up-gradation. It is high time that the management begins viewing their human resource utilisation and treatment differently.

A strong outlook on viewing talents differently and identifying the pain points can solve the talent shortage problem drastically. Redefine the role of the manager with a strong emphasis on practical outcomes and effective communication. In the current corporate world, the manager needs to take charge to be more of a coach than a controller.

Having workers assigned to a tightly knit chain of command in a functional department led by managers restricts collaborative allocation of talent to wherever they are required in the organisation at any time. If the manager is a poor performer, employee-satisfaction challenges in that unit will emerge. The best way to deal with the situation is to work together and exchange knowledge and shed the shell of superiority to maintain a harmonious environment. 

Engaging leaders and employees together can help design the pilot, provide feedback, and actively participate in different aspects that can makeshift the involvement of an employee which will add a more prismatic view towards authority and work.

Few factors proved to be quite effective here. Such as:

• Empowering each member of your team
• Happy professional environment
• Deploying employee education programs (EEPs)
• Encourage certification courses
• Listen to what team members want
• Try offering internal internships
• Train employees on new technologies
• Prioritise employees' personal lives

Upskilling programs in terms of certification courses can eventually widen employee roles, support them in taking on more responsibilities, keep them updated on the latest trends in the market, and witness self-growth. If there is a need to fill a position in the organisation the role requires specific skills, give the employees an internal internship to develop that skill set or provide a path for them to develop it.

Nothing can replace the process of upskilling and reskilling employees using consistent coaching and training as an effort to promote the qualities within to add more layers to their competence. Enabling talents to be proficient in superior tools and technology is a great way to support the talent crunch. Trust your employees to make their own decisions, regardless of whether they are correct or not. Giving your people the complete freedom to make mistakes, as long as they do it in a controlled atmosphere, will provide essential experiences that will far outweigh anything one can learn from afar.

Till the time employers will see the workers as interchangeable and ‘easily replaceable’, talents will be more concerned with the quality of their relationship with their employers. We need to focus on this aspect. This is the time for the employers to set some new ground rules, take a more humane approach, work in harmony and upgrade the talents to fill the gap. At the end of the day, the management requires the right talent who are deeply involved in company growth rather than mass recruitment of mechanised people.