American workers are still showing signs of discontent. While Workday’s Global Workforce Report found the number of job applications is far outpacing the number of job openings, it also determined that so-called high potential workers are thinking about leaving.
Why?
They want jobs with purpose. “The job market is shifting to favor employers, but, at the same time, workers are getting more confident in what they want — competitive pay, clear growth paths, and meaningful work,” Workday Chief People Officer Ashley Goldsmith said. “It’s up to leaders to help employees find meaning in their work in order to retain the high performing people who drive their organization’s success.”
Some employers have figured out how to respond.
U.S. government introduces skills-based hiring for cybersecurity jobs
In the spring of 2024, White House officials announced a new hiring strategy that removed requirements for a degree and emphasized skills for the more than half a million unfilled cybersecurity positions across the U.S. government.
“We need cybersecurity talent in every industry,” said National Cyber Director Harry Coker. “Today we demonstrate the true value that our office can bring facilitating a nation-wide effort to skill-based hiring demonstrating partnership, collaboration and a dedication to building the talent pipeline and open opportunities to good paying jobs in cybersecurity.”
Coker noted dozens of major corporations are also embracing skills-based hiring and reforming their talent practices.
As part of the federal initiative, the National Science Foundation also will launch a program to expand learning opportunities in cybersecurity. Currently, the U.S. Department of Labor does support training and apprenticeships in technical areas for veterans.
Kentucky Fried Chicken believes in people
When David Novak become president of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) 20 years ago, the company was struggling. Same store sales growth had not improved in seven years. Writing this fall in Entrepreneur, Novak says a culture of distrust permeated the company, within corporate headquarters and between KFC and its franchisees.
Novak says there are two theories of management: one that believes employees must be coerced, controlled, and threatened to do good work or take responsibility, and a second that assumes “people are generally creative, ingenious, and ready to take on responsibility — if they are treated accordingly.”
He chose the latter, making it clear to franchise owners and employees that he would listen to their ideas and create a culture where they could innovate. That creativity led to new products, Novak explained in his essay, and sales began growing again as a result.
“Trusting in positive intentions helps us overcome our natural defensiveness and listen with an open mind,” Novak wrote. “It helps us overcome our bias against ideas from people we may not see as ‘on our side’ — which is often just a story we’ve made up about them. When we move beyond that kind of thinking, we’re more collaborative and we get to better action more quickly.”
Sony Entertainment reimagines the annual performance review
In many workplaces, the fourth quarter brings an annual performance review that may or may not result in a bonus.
Sony Entertainment takes a different approach.
According to Inc., “[P]erformance management is defined as an ongoing and collaborative process between managers and their people.” For example, the company’s Global People Promise initiative offers a set of core values and behaviors that are integrated into Sony’s performance management process. The values serve as guiding principles and are meant to foster innovation, creativity, and continuous learning and upskilling.
“Our objective is to empower our people to perform at their best by aligning their efforts with the organization’s strategic objectives,” Sony Vice-President People Experience, Asia and Middle East Marcela Esquivel said.
Employers that are building these types of cultures are likely to experience broad benefits. The job site platform company Indeed examined more than 25 million surveys for its 2024 Work Wellbeing 100 report. Representing the largest global study on work wellbeing, the review found employees who have a sense of purpose and are satisfied with their job help increase firm performance.