At Workday Rising Europe, CHROs and leaders from Air Liquide, Ofcom and Puma discussed how they’re embracing more flexible ways of working, retaining and reskilling employees and, in doing so, creating highly adaptive organisations.
In 2013, the boxer Tyson Fury predicted he would one day be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Self-confidence is not an unusual trait in boxers, but Fury put his belief in himself down to his adaptability, something he said had come from growing up in the Traveller community. “Not many boxers have it, but I can adapt before a fight to the opponent, during the fight if necessary.” His prediction was proved right seven years later.
Over the last few years, it’s often felt like as soon as one challenge has been faced down, the bell sounds and you’re back in the ring to confront something entirely different, but equally taxing. For organisations to survive, they’ve had to roll with the punches and like Fury become highly adaptable. For HR leaders at companies like Air Liquide, Ofcom and Puma that’s meant different things; whether it’s creating more flexible ways of working, changing the way people are managed, or holding their own in an increasingly competitive talent marketplace.
“Employees can easily find opportunities beyond borders nowadays. It's so easy to cross borders and find opportunities elsewhere. Every one of us is in a fight for the same talent and the critical skills and competencies that we really need to grow today,” YeeLin Chong, Air Liquide
Dietmar Knoess, global director of people and organisation at sports clothing brand Puma, thought the company was in pretty good shape before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But he soon realised they had to move faster and the inherent danger of standing still. “Constant adaptation, that’s actually a thing. If you’re always on your toes and you’re constantly improving at any moment, you never have to face a major transformation. For Puma, we’re constantly adapting, we’re moving fast. And once you get used to that, you get kind of addicted to it.”
As well as the macro headwinds, YeeLin Chong, head of HR digital solutions at Air Liquide, believes the move to flexible ways of working has also made it more challenging to retain talent. “Employees can easily find opportunities beyond borders nowadays. It's so easy to cross borders and find opportunities elsewhere. Every one of us is in a fight for the same talent and the critical skills and competencies that we really need to grow today. So we found that our priorities are now to reinvent, to change, and to centralise, simplify, and harmonise to keep up with this new world of work.”
“So rather than playing too safe, if you want, we said, how can we create a work environment where people actually love to come in?" Dietmar Knoess, Puma
Embracing flexibility
How does an organisation become more adaptable? “The shackles have to come off,” says Kerri-Ann O’Neill, people and transformation director at media regulator Ofcom. “That adage, that everyone in our organisation is an adult; let's treat them as such, becomes the most important mindset that I think you need to have as a HR department and a business leader.”
Similarly, Knoess thinks that flexibility is key and it was something Puma was prioritising long before ‘hybrid working’ became a buzzword. Puma had a work-from-home policy in place before the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, in March 2020 the leadership team had to decide whether they were going to close the office or not. Unlike their neighbours in the German town of Herzogenaurach - the likes of Siemens, Schaeffler and rivals Adidas - they decided to keep their headquarters open. “We said to employees they could, of course, work from home. People could work as much from home as they wished. But we said that the operation would stay open.”
After just three weeks, Knoess says that people started returning of their own accord. “Why? Because all the restaurants, all the coffee shops were closed. And to be honest, we were probably the most social place around. We tried, within the legal framework, to do everything that was possible. And we tried to navigate as much to the new normal as possible, right? So rather than playing too safe, if you want, we said, how can we create a work environment where people actually love to come in?”
O’Neill admits that she’s no fan of the term ‘hybrid working’. As a research-based organisation, Ofcom is very evidence led and so O’Neill decided to experiment with different working models, with some given complete freedom over where they worked and others told to be in the office for a set number of days.
“Our data showed us that actually, the bits of the organisation that had total flexibility to come in – the ones who invested in why we need to do face-to-face – they were coming in the most. The team forced to do three days, two days, 50/50 – I mean, we had a whole range of things going on – they came in the least, because autonomy was being taken out of the equation.”
Ofcom has since applied what it learned from that experiment. “We now have an approach that says we believe in face-to-face working, we believe in connection. But we're not going to set a rule around that, and that's really working for us. We're seeing people like that and are coming back more and more.”
“I think that quite dry language around competencies that we've had as a profession for the last few decades, I’m pleased that we're moving away from that,” Kerri-Ann O’Neill, Ofcom
Skills and the future of work
When it comes to the future of work, as well as affording employees more flexibility, O’Neill is passionate about moving away from more parental forms of people management. “Before the pandemic, we were already massively into our wellbeing strategy. Ofcom scores 18 points above the benchmark. I'm really proud of that stat. We've been saying to managers that to care more for people you also have to be more candid. And candour about the skillset of the future is where the honesty of the discussion needs to be.”
Knoess agrees that the shift to a skills based workforce will play an important role in helping Puma attract and retain people, which is something he says will come to the fore for most European companies, not just Puma. “When it comes to recruiting, I mean, we know what's happening in Europe over the next 10 years. We will have a massive shortage of talent, which speaks overflow retention, right? Making people stay longer.”
As well as offering flexibility and a workplace experience that people love, Knoess thinks skills are key. “We need to understand more about our people, and certainly data helps to make things visible which are not yet visible for us. And certainly skills, helping people develop their skills, helping them develop within your organisation, you need to do everything to make people stay longer.”
At Ofcom, O’Neill finds herself competing with some of the world’s largest technology companies for talent. As a result, they’ve had to strip things back to their core purpose. “We've had to work on how we attract people who would ordinarily go and get jobs at Google or Facebook or TikTok. How do we attract those people to come to us to help shape those industries for the modern age? We've talked about, come and work for us and answer the big questions in our society. Questions like, how do we reduce hate speech without limiting free speech? So, by repositioning the work we do, we've been able to draw people to us.”
As well as encouraging people through the door, Ofcom has had to rethink the employee experience to ensure it’s as progressive as possible. “We've had to think an awful lot about how we make sure we can compete with some of the most exciting workplaces in the world to come and stay, including management practices and workflow - how can employees get that experience within our organisation so we can keep that talent?"
Like Knoess, O’Neill is also excited about the prospect of moving to a skills-based workforce. “I think that quite dry language around competencies that we've had as a profession for the last few decades, I’m pleased that we're moving away from that. And I think talking to people about the range of skills they need for the job is incredibly liberating.”
Aerospace and power company Rolls-Royce is on a transformational path to leading the transition to net carbon zero. We recently spoke to Alex Kyte, global head of talent at Rolls-Royce to find out how the company is taking an entirely new approach to people development and building a skills-based future.
“Quiet quitting” is a new name for an old phenomenon—employee disengagement. Find out more about what quiet quitting means for your business and why a focus on employee engagement is the solution.
At Workday, we believe understanding employees’ skills is essential to operating a business and imperative for the future of work. We’re introducing next-generation technology that amplifies the impact of Skills Cloud, helping our customers strengthen their foundation as a skills-based organization.
More Reading
Read more on how we’re helping our customers succeed with innovative HR technology.
An SME is a company that has employees, revenue, and assets below a set threshold, but defining that threshold can be difficult. Discover how different regions define an SME, and how your small or medium-sized company can play to its strengths.
Three Pillars of HR Technology Challenges
How AI is transforming the HR world: From employee retention to data protection – innovation for a future-oriented HR department.
