In my opinion, the balancing act in HR already addressed in the first part consists of cost reduction on the one hand and revenue growth through investments on the other.

I have already discussed cost savings in HR in the first part. Would you like to add to the listing there? Feel free to write a short comment at the end of the article.
In terms of investments in HR, I focus on three topics: recruiting, training and development, and well-being, EX & engagement.
You can find my viewpoint on current recruiting strategies in the first part of this two-part post. There are already numerous approaches here that are encouraging. In the following, I will focus on the two other topics.

Training and development

Training and development and recruiting can drive business success by sharing insights and innovating to develop and find internal talent:

  • Recruiting, talent acquisition in total, develops a culture and process for internal hiring, prioritizing internal talent as a rich and promising hiring pool.
  • Training and development provides pathways and resources for skill building, creating a pipeline or marketplace of internal talent.

This interaction between recruiting and training and development promotes

internal mobility:

  • Identifying career paths based on corporate goals is both employee- and business-focused.
  • Internal mobility promotes employee retention.
  • By expanding employees’ networks and skills (upskilling), internal mobility also leads to greater flexibility within the company.
  • An agile learning culture is necessary for success. Employees organize their further development themselves, according to their needs and often on-the-job. The company creates an environment that promotes this type of learning.

Integrating learning into the work processes

Effective learning and development programs have the “balancing act” in mind and, according to current research, are characterized by five features:

  1. Context-based learning. Learning that is embedded in employees’ typical work processes promotes retention and application of learned knowledge.
  2. Motivating nudges. Short reminders, sent via email or push notifications, help ensure that the ideas and concepts learned remain embedded in learners’ mind and increase the likelihood that they will actually be used.
  3. Time for reflection. Learners should be encouraged to reflect on how to integrate what they have learned into their everyday work.
  4. Micro-learning experiences. Short online courses and 15- to 30-minute tutorials are often more effective than multi-day workshops. One or two stimuli can be integrated into work processes faster and better than many ideas.
  5. Evaluate progress. Pre- and post-assessments are necessary for this. To assess the overall effectiveness of a learning program, it is helpful to summarize individual results at the team or organizational level. Here, the main focus is on how employees’ engagement or key competencies have changed as a result of the training.

According to the latest Global Talent Trends Report, companies that help their employees learn skills on the job can expect a nearly 7% higher retention rate.

Evaluation

Measuring the impact and ROI of learning and development can be segmented into six categories that cover formal and informal learning:

  1. Alignment: how well learning offerings align with business priorities and identified organizational skill gaps
  2. Impact: indicates change on targeted needs, such as critical skill building
  3. Effectiveness: which courses are most and least effective for enabling new knowledge or skills and the transfer of those items to job performance
  4. Engagement: patterns or trends on how learners are engaging with formal and informal learning offerings, including what learners are sharing, liking, or searching for
  5. Operations: indicates speed to delivery and efficiency of the learning organization
  6. Distribution: insights into which learners you are reaching in the organization and where there is a lag

Specific models for evaluation include the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model and the Predictive Learning Impact Model.
A holistic view of learning measures helps unlock insights to drive targeted talent and learning initiatives and demonstrates learning’s alignment and impact on business objectives, strengthening the partnership with the business.

Well-being, EX & Engagement

Researching the impact of employee well-being and engagement on the outlined “balancing act” between cost reduction on the one hand and revenue growth through investments on the other hand is probably the most challenging part. Nevertheless, I consider it to be very important alongside training and development; also with a view to ESG reporting. I will publish a separate post about this in a few weeks.

Well-being in the workplace

While companies collect a wealth of self-reported data on aspects of employee well-being, they do not link this data to empirical operational data to create a holistic, real-time measurement of well-being across the organization. In addition to measuring workforce sentiment through pulse surveys and interviews, companies can also measure observable indicators that empirically assess well-being; e.g., number of overtime hours, team meetings, and volume of emails on weekends and evenings.

Important work determinants that affect the well-being of workers include:

  • Leadership behavior at all levels,
  • the design of the organization and the workplaces, as well as
  • work practices at all organizational levels.

Bhatt, Bordeaux and Fisher published a maturity model in March this year. At its Transformational level of maturity, the Wellbeing Strategy is integrated into overall talent management and operations, with leaders accountable for making structural changes to improve the wellbeing of their team. In addition to KPIs such as job satisfaction, motivation, etc., key figures on working conditions, health risks and health costs play a central role.

EX & Engagement

I was inspired by a comprehensive WTW study that analyzed corporate financial performance and EX data. As a result, four EX typologies – value drive, value risk, value potential, value drag – and their impact on corporate value. At this point, only this much:

  • 37% of companies are in the “value drive status” and the experience of their employees increases business value. Compared to their colleagues, employees are
    • more engaged,
    • are more likely to stay in the company,
    • are more likely to feel that their voice is important,
    • feel empowered to make their contributions, and
    • feel more recognized for their contribution to the execution of the company’s strategy.
  • “Value-drive companies” are better at inspiring employees and building trust in leadership. Therefore, they are well positioned to grow in their market and to offer employees opportunities for further development. They outperform all other typologies, generate the highest profits and are the only segment with growing revenues and margins.

I have already written several posts on the topic of engagement; the focus was in 2018 and 2019.

One important indicator is the eNPS score. Andrew Marritt has published an interesting article on this. According to his findings, it’s worth taking a look at the text responses of employees who have recently seen a change in their eNPS score or other measured key metrics.

When employees report declining engagement, it’s often about a sense of belonging and seeing a long-term future with the company. The topic of communication, which is the most important topic next to leadership when it comes to driving change in the eNPS, is often associated with a lack of trust and uncertainty. In addition, staffing stands out above all else. This is closely related to workload and employee retention, but also to issues such as mental health and bullying.

Conclusion

Training and development is key to resilience as a business. Investing in your employees’ curiosity, learning and agility will help them recover from setbacks, adapt to change and be better prepared for whatever comes next.

Learning and development programs give employees tools they need to be successful at their jobs and advance their careers. Employers should invest in programs that emphasize ROI and encourage employees to learn not in the abstract, but directly in their work processes.

EX drives business value and is an indicator of business performance, meaning: the only way to increase business value is to attract and retain employees who are more engaged and have above-average intentions to stay with the company.

Only organizations that are value-driven will grow. Organizations that are in a state of value impairment will shrink and generate little to no returns.