Leading your workforce into 2021 - 4 steps on how to to lead with purpose in the new world of work

It’s hard to believe this year is coming to an end—a year marked by unprecedented change and worldwide uncertainty. In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world as people, governments and organizations learned to navigate new realities in public safety, changing consumer needs, disrupted business models and a new world of remote work. What we might have initially thought as a short-term disruption (as we were all coping with a “this will all be over soon” mentality) revealed itself as a catalyst for transformation. 

And transform we did. Despite challenges, Canadians proved themselves to be resilient, especially in the workforce. According to our Canadian workforce of the future survey, employees are adjusted well to a remote-work environment. Productivity hasn’t suffered (75% of employees say their productivity has either improved or stayed the same since the pandemic) and most employees still have a positive view of their leadership (with 86% believing their leadership is effective post-pandemic, down only 2% from before the pandemic).

Canadians should be very proud of how far they’ve come, but make it your New Year's resolution to keep the momentum going and make it sustainable for the long term. Here are four steps you can take to keep your workforce engaged and lead with purpose in 2021. 

1. Prioritize employee well-being 

With the stress of uncertainty and additional at-home responsibilities, employee well-being must be a C-suite agenda imperative. We shouldn’t discount the magnitude of the effect the pandemic and recent social justice movements have had and will continue to have on mental health. It goes a long way to show your people you care and that they’re supported. 

For example, at PwC we launched a mental health first aid training course and rest and recovery toolkit to promote Be well, Work well during the pandemic. 

One size doesn’t fit all when determining the most effective well-being strategy for your people, as what works each employee can be deeply personal. But there are some key principles you should keep in mind:

• Include your people in co-creating your approach.
• Tailor it to different demographics, roles and cultures, as appropriate.
• Integrate well-being policies into everyday policies and behaviours.

Having a well-designed well-being strategy will help your people bring their best selves to work, help you attract and retain the best talent and, ultimately, reduce costs. You can read more on building out an effective well-being strategy in the latest article by Christine Randazzo’s, a partner with PwC’s Reward and Benefit practice. 

2. Facilitate and encourage employee-led innovation 

Employees’ ability to learn and apply new skills, especially digital skills, in many cases will determine their future success in the workforce. The good news is that they’re eager to learn. In fact, 77% of people would learn new skills to make them more employable in the future. Enhancing employee experience through upskilling will be a differentiator for any organization that gets it right. At the same time, businesses will experience the benefits of increased value and higher quality outputs, improved processes and a lower cost model. 

Taking upskilling a step further, leaders who encourage employees to solve real work or client problems using their new skills can help accelerate innovation within their organizations.

At PwC, we’ve introduced our Digital Lab—a central repository that serves as an internal marketplace for finding, building and sharing digital assets created using tools employees have been upskilled on like Alteryx UiPath, Tableau and Power BI. Since launching this summer we’ve already had over 150 submissions that have been used 6,500 times, saving an estimated 52K hours across the firm. 

Leaders who are purposeful in their approach to cultivating a digitally enabled and upskilled workforce will create sustainable change in their organizations and inspire their people to take their organizations to the next level.

3. Reimagine your office of the future 

COVID-19 accelerated the digital transformation mandate for many organizations, and it appears remote work is here to stay. According to our Canadian workforce of the future survey, only one in five Canadians want to go back to the office full time. Although you may have already started evaluating your real estate footprint with fewer people in physical spaces, have you considered how employees experience the digital office? Does your workforce have the tools they need to collaborate and perform their jobs effectively? Are you leaders and supervisors equipped to lead in this hybrid world?

At PwC, my colleagues and I were already used to remote work, and the firm had the technology and IT infrastructure to support the shift once the pandemic hit. But the firm also recognized that not everyone’s home office was properly equipped, so each employee was given additional funds to enhance their work-from-home experience. The investment was more than offset by employee engagement and productivity gains.

Employee listening and an evaluation of operations can provide valuable insight into the digital workplace experience and identify areas and processes that could be improved with new tools and technology. More than surveys, there are many ways to gather feedback on what’s working in your organization.

4. Remingine the employee value proposition 

The option to work from home may no longer be an employer differentiator. As workforce strategies continue to evolve, organizations should take a fresh look at their total reward and performance strategy to make sure they are aligned to their strategy. Using data and including your people in the process will help you better understand what they value and lead to better decisions on cost and value. What’s more, an effective reward and performance strategy can not only help you motivate employees and retain talent—it will also support faster achievement of your strategy, your recruitment efforts and make your organization attractive to skilled workers. 

These benefits are especially important as of recently, when employee burnout may be at higher risk thanks to the pandemic. At PwC, we’ve reimagined the employee value proposition in a few ways as a response to COVID-19 and beyond:

• repurposed our social budgets and holiday parties for meal delivery vouchers and virtual experiences
• expanded our benefits program to include well-being expenses 
• encouraged employee-led innovation with cash-back bonuses for creators and users of employee-submitted digital solutions

Andrew Curcio, PwC’s Global Co-Leader of Rewards and Benefits, outlines Eight ways to reimagine employee reward for the new world in his latest article if you’d like to explore this topic more.

Looking back at 2020, it’s clear the world of work we once knew has been forever changed—and this brought new challenges and new possibilities. Strong leadership is the first step toward building your workforce of the future and will better position your people to deal with whatever 2021 has in store. 

To that I say, “Bring on 2021!” 

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