A growth mindset is crucial for both employees and employers

Businesses need to think beyond just attracting new talent and focus on placing employees at the center of their career journeys, according to Lio Smolders of KPMG in Belgium and Karin Van Roy of Arvesta.

For more than three decades, companies have been working on so-called Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) criteria, but rarely have they been as relevant as they are today. In addition to climate change, increased expectations from employees and consumers are compelling companies to look beyond the mere financial gains. Lio Smolders, Senior Advisor People & Change at KPMG in Belgium, assists them in navigating this evolving market. “If you look at a company's role as an employer, for example, there is now more emphasis on the social responsibility to take care of their employees. That social aspect of the ESG criteria is translated into personnel policies.”

According to Smolders, companies in their well-being policies often concentrate too much on secondary elements, such as a ping-pong table or a fruit basket in the office. However, they tend to overlook aspects like psychological safety, continuous learning or clearly communicating to employees how their work truly makes an impact.

A clear mission and vision play an important role, adds Karin Van Roy, CHRO of Arvesta. “We are a true people-centric business, with over 2,000 experts in the field who help farmers and horticulturists with advice and solutions. In recent years, we have focused our communication more on how we contribute to the agriculture of the future. This approached allowed us to inspire people both externally and internally. I’ve heard from so many people that they didn’t know we do so many great things, and that they are proud to work for Arvesta.”

“As always, it's not just about words, it's about actions,” says Van Roy. “We are focusing on ten goals, including an overall reduction in CO2 emissions, and we aim to work exclusively with certified soy in our animal feed by 2026. In collaboration with KPMG, we developed a dashboard that makes it even easier for us to track these objectives.”

This dashboard not only serves to report annually on those KPIs but is also used as a benchmark to make decisions. “I received a slide from my fleet manager last week with data from the dashboard on how much CO2 we were saving so far. Based on that, we can recalculate bicycle allowances and make choices about electrification of cars.”

Employees not only expect more from their employers; finding them is an initial hurdle that companies must overcome. The 'war for talent' may create a competitive atmosphere, but according to Smolders, it doesn't have to be aggressive. “Companies need to focus primarily on how they will put employees at the center throughout the employee lifecycle. Organizations often seek the "white raven," but we should be more willing to assess candidates' potential and subsequently provide them with the right guidance. A growth mindset is crucial for both the employee and the employer. Developing and maintaining a clear understanding of the skills present in your organization today and those that will gain importance tomorrow is essential. Strategic workforce planning assists in achieving this and enables the adjustment of recruitment strategies or the reskilling of employees.

A one-size-fits-all approach is no longer possible, Van Roy and her colleagues at Arvesta realize. “Everything starts with your culture and leadership. We focus on wellbeing in the broad sense of the word, physically, mentally, socially, and financially. This involves activities such as group exercise, providing training through webinars, or participating in initiatives that support charitable causes. Salaries must be competitive in the market, but beyond that, there are opportunities to truly make the employment relationship sustainable. Employees are in control of their own careers, but we as an employer must also be conscious of that. We make every effort to continually upskill and reskill everyone in our workforce.”

This article was created in collaboration with De Tijd and L'Echo.