In this context, cost efficiency is not necessarily a matter of initiating a reduction in force. More importantly, it’s about ensuring the right people are in the right roles to do the right work at the right time.
Talent is one of the keys to establishing and maintaining a competitive advantage. Organizations that attract, engage, develop, and retain top talent through modern and meaningful experiences tend to drive the most productivity increases, efficiency gains, and cost.1 This in turn optimizes and maximizes the potential of their workforce and helps chart a cost-effective path for future growth.
On the other hand, failing to optimize their workforce through human capital programs—implementing cost-efficient, data-driven process improvements to inform strategic decisions, for example—can result in negative cost impacts and long-term repercussions even after the economic downturn subsides.
To avoid that fate, forward-looking companies are going all in on addressing employee-experience. Indeed, in our recent survey of 300 CHROs 61 percent said they need to alter their Employee Value Proposition (EVP) in response to the external labor market. The respondents told us that some of the most important parts of the EVP when attracting, developing, and retaining talent are culture (50 percent), company values and purpose (47 percent), fair pay (34 percent), and offering flexible working (33 percent).2
Getting to that optimized state means more services, and more consumerization of the way employees are treated, and more digital underpinning it all. HR organizations need to deliver that experience in a highly cost effective and positive way that inspires people to focus on doing exceptional work.
Clearly, digital is embedded in virtually every organizational process from front office to back. It harnesses the power of technology to change how people interact cross-functionally. Digital leadership is about understanding how, in concert, these applications can impact the organization at a scale and pace the workforce has not seen previously—but needs now more than ever.