The new
people trends

For each of us, there are a number of threads that pull together to build and define our employee experience. It starts from our very first contact with a potential employer and runs all the way through to the day we leave, if we do, and even beyond.

It is this experience that draws us to a potential employer and keeps us engaged and motivated through our tenure. But that which is most important to me, may not be the same for you. And while a good organisation will aim to provide all manner of positive touchpoints from benefits and learning to culture and community, which we know matter at a macro level, we must never lose sight of the individual. Treating everyone the same may seem efficient but in the long run it fails.

Which is why the role of the line manager is so key. Perhaps more important than it has ever been. These are the people on whose shoulders much rests. These are the people who have the one-to-one conversations with people and who know what makes them tick. These are the people who set the culture and make teams work. These are the people who drive performance.

But I sense something else this year. There is a need for managers to step up as leaders like never before. During the pandemic managers focused on team wellbeing, and rightly so. But, without letting all that good work go to waste, there now needs to be a shift back to the core skills of setting direction, creating purpose and driving performance. And that means not being afraid to say no and not being afraid to have tough conversations when they are needed. Managers will need to manage from the front and with renewed energy. For this reason, managers becoming better leaders is first on the list of my big themes for 2023.

In today’s workplace, managers need a whole raft of different abilities. We expect them to have the skills to hold a range of conversations that matter every day. We expect them to hire the right people, to be coaches, team-builders, enablers, planners, innovators, compliance role models and risk managers. We expect them to deal with under-performance, provide counsel, support their people through difficult times, care about their welfare, challenge them to reach new heights and to be great listeners. And I have barely touched the surface.

But I want to focus particularly on culture. My definition of culture is very simple - it is the behaviours and interactions you experience yourself and observe around you every day. The role of a manager is primarily to set that culture. It explains why some teams thrive and others don’t. There is a great adage, backed up by research, that says an employee leaves their manager, not the organisation. That is why development for managers is so crucial. Aside from the technical skills and knowledge a manager must have, they must also be great with people. We have always asked a lot of managers and today, we need to ask even more.

Feeling you work for a company, a manager and a team that really sees and embraces who you are is what inclusion is all about. Inclusion is to feel heard, to contribute equally, to access opportunity equally - regardless of what characteristics you may have. It is inclusion that will make the biggest difference to a positive culture and that will drive performance.

Diversity is different. Diversity should be about ensuring we have many ways of thinking, a kaleidoscope of different experiences, an array of different skills coming together to create solutions for our customers. Diversity now is defined more as being about the characteristics that make us who we are - whether that be age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexuality or other characteristics protected by law. Many companies, including RELX, have ambitions around increasing the number and range of characteristics in the organisation. While measuring numbers of people with various characteristics is an obvious way to assess progress, it won’t necessarily reflect what organisations have achieved or confirm that they have embraced true diversity and inclusion.

But now our focus needs to shift from the characteristics themselves, to the different experiences and thought processes that having a wide range of characteristics enables. Diversity of thought, particularly, is what makes for breakthrough ideas; it is what enriches discussions, enables constructive challenge and drives better outcomes. Having an organisation that is full of people with different life experiences will enable that richness of thought to thrive. But, coming back to my original point, only if this diverse talent feels included. Which is why inclusion makes my list of top five themes.

Working for an organisation that has a clear purpose and one that resonates with an employee’s values is another foundational thread of today’s workplace.

A purpose-driven business, that makes unique contributions to the communities in which it operates and the world around is a compelling proposition for candidates and employees alike. Increasingly, organisations are being challenged not only on what they do, but why they do it.

At RELX and within each of the market segments we serve, we have a clear purpose - we have a deep connection to the role we play in our customers’ lives, which drives meaning in the work we all do every day and a sense of unity in executing for our customers. In that sense we are fortunate that for all our people the act of simply coming to work is, directly or indirectly, helping to improve society.

Knowing our individual efforts count for something and are worthwhile, matters. Belief in our purpose also drives a sense of team, enabling connections and relationships where we know we are more effective together.

Organisations without a clearly articulated purpose that their people truly support will struggle in the new world of work. It will be harder to hire the right people, keep them or motivate them to innovate.

Another thread that impacts us all is our own growth and development, as people, professionals and in our careers. Historically, people often thought of their career as a vertical ladder. One promotion followed by another promotion. But the most successful people have never wanted to wait; they have realised it was a passive and limiting way of looking at personal growth and success. They have taken a far more proactive approach. This trend will accelerate.

Increasingly, it makes much more sense to think about careers as wall-climbing. Each hand and foothold are a skill or experience that we gain. Success rarely lies in the vertical, straight up approach. Instead, we need to think more about sideways moves, pausing for breath and to consolidate our position or even, at times, backward moves. It is the collection of skills and experiences, built over time, that open career opportunities. Each of us is the owner of our career and our career choices, so a person’s pro-activity is ultimately what will drive success.

People should spend time to properly understand not only their skills and experiences but also their inspiration and motivation at work and then use this learning to push themselves forward for new projects or new roles. I see this happening at RELX as people move between our departments, business areas and geographies. This is people taking control, and I like it. But it only happens when the environment is created to enable it and permission is given to think of the art of the possible.

Organisations have an inherent responsibility to unleash internal talent before they think about looking for it outside. And here we come back to the role of the manager in helping members of their team grow at their own speed and in directions they chose. This means letting go of preconceived ideas and trusting that employees know what is best for them and, with an engaged workforce, knowing that very often what is good for them is also good for the organisation.

But we must pause here for a moment and ask ourselves how all this is changing with our new working patterns. Those informal but developmental conversations in the office are in danger of being missed with so many still homeworking. It is my view that, over time, these small interventions add up and contribute significantly to one's growth. How does that happen now we see each other far less than we used to?

Now, we come to my final theme for 2023. Reward. This is probably the hottest topic of them all. Globally, we are seeing compensation being cited more and more often as a reason why people are looking to leave organisations. In this current climate of uncertainty with rising inflation, commodity, energy and fuel prices, compensation matters. However, I counsel people to think more holistically about their total reward package encompassing the four key elements of reward - pay, benefits, recognition and wellbeing.

We are seeing increased regulation around pay and increasing expectations of employees to understand how pay is structured. Helping employees have trust in reward mechanisms and showing that they are fair and competitive is key, along with continued education. And once again, it is imperative to equip managers to have these conversations.

Our experience as an employee is shaped by so many different things, and these all intersect at various points. Organisations which can deftly create a compelling tapestry with all these different threads and which stay on top of these moments that matter will be the ones having a better chance of winning the hearts and minds of current and future employees.

Managers are integral to this, and so are the human resources professionals who are accountable for many of the strategies, policies and processes that are so influential in the competition for talented people.