I couldn’t have joined LinkedIn Talent Solutions at a better time than during the pandemic and onwards. The world started adjusting to new ways of working and digitalization at accelerated speed. The phases and changes overtime are tremendous if you think about it, reflecting a proper ‘cowboy land’ of rapid evolution.
1. Pandemic: the whole world went remote (WFH).
2. Work from Home (WFH): soon turned into Work from Anywhere (WFA). Law systems soon turned to be outdated, companies seeking out professional advice to align policies, guidelines and contracts accordingly. In my opinion governments still need to get up to rapid speed.
3. The Great Resignation: 74% of employees were unsatisfied with their role, open to opportunity in 2021. Which still is 70% according to LinkedIn a couple months ago.
5. Side Hustles: talent never had more access and opportunity to start a company and build an audience with online presence. The average tenure of talent sticking around has tremendously decreased throughout recent years. Companies like LinkedIn who understand the ‘Next Play’ mentality are ahead of their game when it comes down to cultivating a growth mindset, future opportunity and talent retention.
6. Economic Uncertainty: mass lay-offs, lesser access to (Venture) Capital, churning clients, revised (talent) strategies and automations. WOW that escalated quickly, yet didn’t we print a whole lot of money prior?
7. Return to Office (RTO): some prefer in person, some see better results, some may leverage it as a strategy to lay-off people. Some find it easier to onboard new talent, build camaraderie, find it challenging to retain talent and high standards (of company culture) while working remotely. I personally believe there is a way forward, requiring new approaches and ways of working leading with grit and inspiration.
(Top) talent is seeking flexible and remote work opportunity. HR & Talent Acquisition are holding their hairs fearing talent will fly off when a more flexible opportunity arises. (1) find the talent, (2) onboard and train, (3) get up to high quality speed: (4) repeat.
According to SHRM replacement can cost up to 50-60% of the employees’ yearly salary. However, the actual loss for a company can skyrocket up to 90-200%.
According to Zoom’s recent Workplace Report 36% of employees would love to Work From Anywhere, versus only 22% Work From Home, and only 25% prefers the office.
8. (Flex) Hybrid: how many types do we have now? Data reflects that talent likes to have autonomy over their schedule instead of being pushed to the office, which has a clear negative impact. This showcases increased urgency to create these moments with intention; a place of connection and learning opportunity, again leading with inspiration.
9. Disruption of AI: causing the need to re-evaluate processes, tools, and automations -requiring upskilling at unheard of speed-. LinkedIn has recently shared 70% of the skills will be changed by 2030, this would have taken hundreds of years in the past. Let that sink in.
If your top talent hires were already 400% more productive previously, what does that mean today? Then try and translate that to your business results vs your competitors. Time to move like a cloud child.
10. Global Talent War: only a couple years ago 2 countries offered Remote Worker Visas. Today 60 countries are offering Remote Work Visas. Which was specifically outlined during the Charter Workplace Summit by Raj, professor at Harvard Business School.
Global contracting companies have been shooting out of the ground, obtaining unicorn statuses like Remote within just 2 years!! Followed by Deel becoming the fastest growing SaaS company in the world, while the original goal was set out to become market leader in the USA. That escalated quickly!
In 2022 only 20% of the roles on LinkedIn reflected remote, yet received 80% of the applications. In 2023 applications to remote roles have increased with 146% compared to 2022, versus a decrease of -46% posted remote job opportunities.
On a bi-weekly basis I started receiving messages from my tech top talent network, stating they were moving away from Dublin to start a remote-first role. Add to that I receive remote job inquiries frequently from people who approach me on LinkedIn. This may be talent who is working in your office today, and happily embrace a culture of OKRs and flex, instead of present hours.
If you’re wondering the scale of it, take a look at this extensive list of 72 remote job resources, shared by Kristin Vierra - remote and career fulfillment coach by heart.
11. Absolute explosion of the GIG economy: with more side hustles, economic uncertainty, the desire for freedom and autonomy - this trend will continue to evolve. Reid Hoffman founder of LinkedIn, early tech investor sharing economy, is predicting that 50% of talent within the USA will be freelancing by the end of this decade.
Meaning you are not only competing with other companies for top talent; it has never been easier to set up a company online with access to incredible tools, automations, and flex talent all over the world within the reach of one simple message.
THE AGILE ERA
We have landed into the agile era with complete disruption due to (Gen) AI, digitalization and remote possibility. A time where Human Capital, Talent Lifecycle, People Operations and Culture Managers are a vivid reflection of the present. HR finally obtained a position at the C-level table, may it be in a semi-virtual world ReSocialize. 😉
How to foster agile talent capital building high-impact teams?
1. Leadership needs to be mission driven and inspire a resilient workforce.
2. Company culture is becoming more crucial to build trust, create engagement, attract- and retain top talent. (I’ve seen it in the data ladies and gents, don’t forget about your sustainability goals while driving an impact).
3. Community-, product-, and founder led are highly effective strategies building complete (cult) movements. Providing foundation, breaking down silos while increasing effectiveness and efficiency, and innovate at accelerated speed.
4. Continuous learning should be embedded in your organization by now with focus on training the following muscles to be future ready;
- Creativity
- Critical Thinking
- Human Skills
We need a lot of resilience and future forward thinking. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is predicting that AI will replace 85 million jobs, yet create 89 million jobs.
Oliver Yonchev; thought leader, investor and front-line founder- is publicly guiding talent into the change expressing roles in marketing and finance will go extinct of how we know them today. This opens the career ceiling for young talent who can master these new skills with ease at rapid speed. Confirmed by Microsoft in their most recent Work Trend Index Report.
5. Small teams are achieving big things, and larger organisations will have more decentralized decision making due to the rapid speed of disruption and change. Companies used to plan 4-5 years ahead, which is now less than a year and enterprise sales cycles that could take over a year previously- are implemented within 6 weeks now.
6. Companies will have to start thinking about how they could lean into the strengths of flex talent, and how to retain the best of them- driving value.
The generalists will be your secret weapon; who have the ability to ‘peek behind the curtain in different kitchens’, are highly connected to other agile top talent, and familiar with different optimized processes, combined with an innovative, and critical way of thinking.
On the other hand of the spectrum, we see the increased need for specialists with extreme knowledge in terms of deep tech, such as large language models and quantum technology for example. Cyber security definitely belongs to your top priorities; regardless of where you go, and what you do.
7. Diversity and inclusion are crucial with remote, flex (workers) and cultural immersion taking place at scale. Allowing to amplify creativity, innovation while avoiding loneliness. TechCrunch recently announced that 70% of unicorn founders are ‘underdogs’ (immigrants, women, people of color’). Surprised?
8. Engagement and enablement should be top of mind as we globally leave 8.9 trillion bucks lying on the table due to low engagement, with 44% of employees currently experiencing extreme stress according to the Gallup Workplace Report. Translating to 9.000 grazing unicorns to visualize your perspective. Let go of AI: bend it to the WIN.
9. Companies must cultivate a culture of using AI. Encouragement from leadership helps AI power users to be more productive, innovative and redesign workflows while driving a culture ready for innovation. Companies and talent who prioritize targeted training will thrive in this era of agile talent capital.
In case this is the first time you stumble across our profile..
I’m Gina Schinkel, founder of Driftawave, adventure chaser by heart who has cruised the lands, oceans and skies. During my time at LinkedIn, I got fully immerged and inspired, by the world of tech and the future of work.
Two years ago, I started making miles building my company called Driftawave, a tour operator facilitating workations and offsite for remote-first companies, teams and communities. Fully leaning into something called skill stacking, I’ve embraced the unfair advantage it’s offering today.
Presenting you with a global network of highly skilled talent, who are leaning into the future of work and experiences of a lifetime. While getting inspired and thriving on human connection.. Rituals come to life, and an intentional culture becomes the new norm - building long lasting relationships, trust and camaraderie. Allowing you to achieve more both personally, and professionally.
See you on the flip side!
Passionate with Akubra Hat by Heart, Day & Night, Ready for Rockn'Roll Rolling up the Sleeves.
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