Posts in category: Business

48 % des salariés ne s’estiment pas rémunérés à leur juste valeur pour le travail qu’ils accomplissent, et plusieurs d’entre eux sont d’avis que leur salaire ne suffit pas face à la cherté de la vie. C’est ce que révèle la National Employee Engagement Survey. Cette toute première étude nationale concernant l’engagement des employés, un sondage effectué en ligne pendant six mois, a été lancée en mars par Business Mauritius et Wills Towers Watson (WTW), avec le soutien du United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) et du Human Resources Development Council (HRDC). Plus de 300 entreprises et un total de 21 603 employés y ont participé.

Les résultats de cette étude ont été dévoilés jeudi au Hennessy Park Hotel à Ebène. Lors de la présentation, l’accent a été mis sur la nécessité d’une récompense qui ne se traduit pas seulement par un salaire en échange de l’exécution d’un travail, mais aussi par l’honnêteté, la confiance, le respect, la responsabilisation et les «incentives». Car selon cette étude, la principale raison qui pousse les employés à quitter leur poste est la perception négative de la récompense.

Selon les résultats, 85 % des salariés se sentent engagés et accorde un sentiment de but à leur travail. Cependant, parmi les principaux défis auxquels font face les employés : ils ne reçoivent pas souvent un feedback constructif et régulier, et ils ont du mal à faire entendre leur voix et à faire prendre en compte leur point de vue dans la prise de décision.

Cette étude a également révélé, entre autres, que les personnes travaillant dans le secteur de l’hébergement et de la restauration semblaient être les plus heureuses. Cela s’explique principalement par la relation naturelle qui semble exister entre le travail centré sur le client et la satisfaction des employés, ainsi que par la capacité de ce secteur à fonctionner sans heurts après les bouleversements liés à la pandémie de Covid-19. En revanche, les femmes travaillant dans le secteur de la finance et de l’assurance sont les plus susceptibles de quitter leur poste. L’étude révèle que quatre femmes sur dix travaillant dans le secteur de la finance et de l’assurance et ayant atteint le milieu de leur carrière ne sont pas déterminées à rester sur le même lieu de travail.

L’étude a également mis en évidence un écart entre l’engagement des hommes et celui des femmes, qui semble être lié à la culture du travail et qui affecte de manière différente les hommes et les femmes.

https://lexpress.mu/node/527648

Author: Krishan Deeljore [email protected]

Krishan Deeljore is the Founder and Managing Director of BI Instruments Ltd, a boutique consulting and advisory firm providing bespoke services to Clients in the Indian Ocean and East Africa region.

In Part 1 of this article, I described a system which can help CEOs and business owners adopt a strategic approach to managing the value of employee contributions by differentiating between jobs according to their value and cost impact. But for this system to work and bring results a second element is essential; very much like it takes two hands clapping to make a noise. In this second part, we will talk about a second shift in past belief: How Employees should rethink their potential and ensure they are future-ready.

It is common belief that employees are an organization’s most valuable asset. Well, not exactly. In more precise terms, the most valuable asset of a business is its engaged and motivated employees. It is a fact that the last several weeks have been mostly people-led and technology-supported. Amidst the prevailing uncertainty, it is safe to assume that the future will be even more digital and technologically driven than before the pandemic. What this means for employees is a radical shift in the way we choose and manage our careers.

Shift #2: Employees must rethink their potential and switch off the autopilot to ensure they are future-ready

Career growth and development are some of the top things people look for in jobs. Yet, lack of career opportunities is among the top 2 reasons why people leave their job. It is common belief that career management is the joint responsibility of both individuals and the organizations employing them. Yet, for most individuals a productive career conversation with the manager is either a box-filling exercise or just a fallacy.

Truth is, most employees go through their entire professional life on ‘autopilot’ mode and rarely pause to rethink their potential. Whether we have a fulfilling career or not is considered to be a matter of luck or chance rather than choice. Why? In neuropsychological terms, our brain is prewired for routine, familiarity and simplicity. Although we do enjoy the odd dose of new experiences now and again, most of us will choose to stay in a comfort zone which is in fact a survival mode.

Probably the biggest gift of the pandemic has been that it has provided us with the opportunity to:

• Reflect on what is really important in our life
• Realise where we have shortcomings and misalignment
• Reset our priorities and goals

It is probably too soon for most people to realize this, but in a few years’ time, a significant number of people will likely end up in better careers and look back at 2020 as a defining moment in their professional life. You will not get a better opportunity to switch off the autopilot mode and switch on your Career self-management mode. If you want to effective and successful, then you have to start with an End in mind.

10 Powerful Questions to ask yourself when defining your career goals

1. What is my purpose?
2. How do I define career success? What does career success look and feel like for me?
3. What would my dream job/career be like if I had the power to make it any way I wanted?
4. Am I achieving some level of success in my current job? If not, what must I change?
5. What are my personal values? What drives me?
6. Is my career the best fit for by interests and abilities?
7. Do I have a gift or calling? How can I share this gift or best answer the call in a way that will fulfill me?
8. What is the one activity I love most? Is it part of my career? If not, how can I make it part of my career?
9. Where do I want to be in my career in 5 years? In 10 years? In 15 years?
10. Why is this goal important?

Whether you are nervous about losing your job or you are thinking of an opportunistic career move over the next few weeks, you should be in control and in the driving seat when it comes to career decision. Question is: what are you doing to futureproof yourself?

We expect digital transformation to be an even bigger imperative for organizations to survive in the short-term future. Contrary to popular belief, digital transformation is less about technology and more about people. We talk about future skills such as software engineering and data science, yet the key is to find the people who can manage these engineers and scientists and get them to work as a team to outperform our competitors. The digital future of work represents almost limitless opportunities for unlearning, reskilling and upskilling ourselves.

“Everything in business can be copied except for Talent”

Organisations must change the way they measure and manage Talent and Employees must start owning and consciously driving their careers to future-proof themselves for the digital transformation which is underway. In doing so, we depend on two of our most natural abilities – Adaptability and Curiosity. We have shown during this crisis that we can adapt and bounce back from adversity. We must now stay curious, so we always have options, even outside of a crisis.

Reference:

“Digital transformation is about talent, not technology” by Becky Frankiewicz and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, HBR May 2020

Author: Krishan Deeljore [email protected]

Krishan Deeljore is the Founder and Managing Director of BI Instruments Ltd, a boutique consulting and advisory firm providing bespoke services to Clients in the Indian Ocean and East Africa region.

Future value is generally defined as the value of an asset at a specific date in the future. In monetary terms, it measures the nominal future sum of money that a given sum of money is “worth” at a specified time in the future assuming a certain interest rate, or a rate of return. A lot has already been said and written about the future value of investments, money and assets in the post Covid-19 world, but not much yet about the future value of the most valuable asset – Employees.

A company which manages its financial assets recklessly is automatically sanctioned by shareholders, auditors, and regulators for inefficient use of funds. However, we rarely hear about companies being sanctioned for careless or irresponsible management of their human assets. Although it is common belief amongst CEOs and senior executives that employees are crucial to an organization’s success, many companies find it very difficult to quantify and measure their employees’ contributions to the bottom-line.

In my view, this crisis is an opportunity for us to radically improve the way we measure and manage the value of Talent in organisations. And in order to do so, we must challenge two past beliefs. As the title suggests, this article is split in 2 parts – CEOs on one side and Employees on the other (a coin analogy seemed fit). This first part describes the 1^st Shift for CEOs and business owners. In the second part, we will talk about the Shift required for Employees.

Shift #1: CEOs must adopt a strategic approach to measuring, recognising and managing the value of employee contributions.

At the very onset of the lockdown in Mauritius, many companies swiftly opted to guarantee a minimum service to their clients by asking some teams to work from home. In order to do so, they had to select those people who were ‘business critical’. For those who were part of this decision-making process, you will recall that these decisions were primarily based on the role that these employees have and how critical their activity is for clients or cashflow. Whether they were top performers in the company became somewhat insignificant. Similarly, when defining your business continuity plan, you would typically rank your core activities in terms of criticality and then select the core teams based on how essential their roles are in guaranteeing your business continuity.

In ‘normal’ times however, managers would be reluctant to categorise their teams in such a way for fear of sounding biased. In fact, organisations have been designed in such a way that employees are classified according to departments and functions, not according to how essential their roles are to the success of the company. In addition, rewards and recognition programs are most commonly linked to individual performance, without any distinction of business criticality. This is the first belief that businesses must start challenging and invariably it has to start from the top.

Back in 2006, Jeffrey Joerres and Dominique Turcq proposed a model to classify jobs according to the role they play in creating value for customers and shareholders rather than department. They argued that this model could improve the effectiveness of recruiting, training, and deployment. Such a system seemed revolutionary at the time but could have much wider and deeper significance in the current context.

Here are 4 steps to put it into practice:

1. Define every job in your company in terms of the main purpose, required knowledge, experience, technical skills and behavioural competencies. Important to dissociate the jobs from the individuals who perform them.
2. Evaluate the Value of each job by the value impact or cost impact on the organizational performance.
   1. Value impact: what is the risk to the financial performance or reputation of the company if this job is not performed well?
   1. Cost impact: skill complexity and training required to perform the job. Both are directly proportional to cost of employing this skill.
3. Determine the relative Value of each job by comparing to other jobs horizontally across departments
4. Classify the jobs into four categories – Creators, Ambassadors, Drivers and Craft Masters – based on their value and map them in a 4-quadrants diagram (illustrated below).

1. Creators are the mind and brain behind the organization’s business model and strategy.
2. Ambassadors represent the organization’s public face and are directly responsible for customer experience.
3. Drivers represent the largest percentage of human resources in most companies and they keep the business running.
4. Craft Masters are the equivalent of a Control tower. They ensure the quality, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness of the execution of the business strategy.

In the process of reshaping the world of work, this system can guide CEOs and business owners to make several key strategic decisions in an objective way, thus minimising legal and reputational risks:

1. When devising more flexible policies in terms of place and hours of work, organisations can more easily determine distinct strategies for each segment and thus better manage any impact on business output.
2. It provides solid rationale for companies to adopt a more agile mix of part-time, full-time, freelance or outsourced resources. For example, Creators and Ambassadors, would generally be hired and trained as permanent headcount whereas Drivers, may be brought in as temporary or contract workers and Craft Masters engaged as independent consultants.
3. This categorisation can also help companies figure out adequate downsizing and restructuring strategies while preserving and enhancing the value of talent.

In the second part, we will talk about Shift #2: How Employees should rethink their potential and ensure they are future-ready.

Author: Krishan Deeljore

[email protected]

Krishan Deeljore is the Founder and Managing Director of BI Instruments Ltd, a boutique consulting and advisory firm providing bespoke services to Clients in the Indian Ocean and East Africa region.

Author: Krishan Deeljore [email protected]

As much as it hurts to say and hear it, we have to admit it – “Work has invaded our Homes”. Over the past few weeks, people have just been adjusting to working remotely. Albeit without much training and with limited resources. We have called it the ‘biggest social experiment of the century’. According to recent surveys, up to 74% of businesses expect most of their employees to continue to work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. Not as a business continuity plan, but as ‘The New Normal’.

If you are an employer, you have realized that your people work differently when they work remotely. This means that the support you need to provide to them is different, too. Most of us have realized that remote work success is not a given and the effort to be put in cannot be underestimated. It is one thing to work from home as a convenience or a forced alternative, but doing it for extended periods and being consistently successful at it is a totally different ball game.

With the increasing financial pressure, employers will be aiming and expecting to reach equivalent if not higher productivity levels through remote working as quickly as possible. As an employee, how do you ensure you are ready to excel at it?

Behavioural research by leading firm SHL shows that for successful performance in a remote work environment, these three factors are essential and equally important:

• Work Relationships: A sense of isolation is common for remote workers, which can reduce work motivation. Establishing social connections, maintaining open communication, and building strong cooperative working relationships can overcome feelings of social isolation in a remote work environment to enable high performance.
• Work Habits: Many remote workers are more productive than those working in offices. Working independently, managing time efficiently, and staying focused on tasks are critical skills to remain productive in a remote work environment.
• Self-Development & Well-Being: Engagement is increased when workers have opportunities to learn new skills and use those skills to meet challenging goals. Being flexible, willing to take initiative, and looking for opportunities to improve performance are important capabilities to thrive in a remote work environment.

In other words, your readiness to perform productively while working remotely and to be successful at it can be broken down into these 8 behaviours:

1.      Do you put effort into developing and maintaining good relationships with others at work?

2.      Are you willing to share information and offer help and guidance to others?

3.      Are you confident and effective when working in an autonomous way, i.e. without direct supervision or help from others?

4.      Do you manage your own time effectively and deliver work on schedule?

5.      Can you stay focused on tasks over a long period of time without getting distracted?

6.      Can you easily accept and adapt to changes in your work environment?

7.      Do you actively and readily look for development opportunities in order to improve your own performance?

8.      Do you seek additional work and enjoy taking on new responsibilities?

Hopefully, each one of those questions will resonate with you and make you become aware of what is required in terms of behavioural shift. The next step will be to identify your strengths and start working on your areas of improvement. As an employer, it becomes paramount to identify your organization’s strengths as well as potential areas for training and support in this new world of work. This will enable you to plan, prepare and develop your workforce for remote work success.

Author: Krishan Deeljore

[email protected]