Organisations are not doing enough to prepare for the future of work, finds PwC report

The untapped potential of data and analytics

The survey finds that companies are struggling to use data and advanced analytics to make better decisions about the workforce. The top three ‘at risk’ capabilities all relate to workforce analytics and their use in improving the working environment and people’s behaviours.

Although more than 60% of respondents say using data analytics in workforce decisions is important, only 27% actually use it. In addition, only 38% use data analytics to predict and monitor skills gaps in the workforce, while just 31% use sophisticated workforce planning and predictive analytics and only 28% use data analytics to help limit bias in hiring and to craft incentives tailored to individuals.

The situation in Malta is no different as the lack of ability to capture and analyse HR data was identified amongst the top 3 barriers negatively affecting the performance of the HR function (47%). In fact, although top HR priorities for local organisations remain motivating and retaining staff, retention of key talent and managing employee engagement, improving HR technology and developing HR analytics capability also appear amongst the top 10 HR priorities. Additionally, results depict that HR functions within organisations are not fully exploiting data analytics to improve their recruitment process, gain better insight into effective skill deployment and facilitate performance management. In fact, only 23% of respondents were found to make use of data analytics, such as employee engagement metrics, to inform business decisions and predict employees in flight risk.

Creating the right people experience is vital

Six of the top ten ‘at risk’ capabilities relate to the people experience. In fact, the report highlights that a good people experience can aid organisations keep and attract talent which is still a critical challenge amongst local firms. One area organisations can do more is around managing workloads. While 76% of respondents believe this is important, only 50% say they are doing something about it – making this the #6 ‘at risk’ capability globally. Many people work in extremely demanding work cultures. While the corporate response in recent years has been to provide company wellness initiatives, sustainable change will only occur if work itself is redesigned so that it delivers vitality and an environment conducive to maintaining productive energy levels. Within the local work environment, creating a high performance work culture is recognised as one of the top HR priorities in the Malta HR Pulse Survey. As a result, recent talent attraction activities have been found to include flexible ways of working (63%) and modernising the physical working environment (53%). In fact, aspects of the talent strategies being adopted by local organisations to improve the attraction, retention and engagement of people, also include health and well-being of the workforce (44%).

Some of the other ‘at risk’ capabilities that relate to the people experience include:

• Adaptability and agility: while 78% of respondents believe that developing adaptability and agility in their workers is important, just 52% say their talent practices are designed to nurture this. This will be increasingly important as workers will need to adapt to and thrive through change. Locally, adaptability was recognised amongst the most critical skillsnecessary to today’s work environment with 93% agreeing that it is an important skill.
• Intrapreneurship: Only 56% of respondents say they have avenues present for employees to offer innovative ideas and support them in turning these ideas into action. Organisations that fail to create opportunities for their ‘intrapreneurs’ risk losing innovative team members and their ideas. The Malta HR Pulse survey sheds light on the importance of  creating environments that encourage employees to openly share their opinions and suggestions as such environments improve employee engagement and satisfaction. Additionally, local organisations agreed that developing an innovative culture was part of their talent strategy (22%).
• Autonomy: Providing autonomy over where and when people work is increasingly important in attracting and retaining talent. While 70% of respondents believe this is important, only 45% currently give their employees a high degree of autonomy.
  

Missing out on good ideas and flexible talent

The way people work and their relationships with organisations are becoming more fluid. The numbers of contractors, freelancers and portfolio workers are on the rise, and more and more partnerships between large organisations and smaller start-ups are providing ready access to innovation and talent on demand.

Identifying where and how to engage this flexible talent will become increasingly important for organisations, yet few are prepared for this shift. Only 8% of respondents strongly agree their organisations are able to engage easily with this valuable resource as and when they are needed. In addition, 58% of respondents say they have no capability to use open innovation and crowdsourced ideas and only 9% agree strongly that they can do this. In Malta, 57% of the HR Pulse survey respondents said they actively searched for talent in different geographies, industries and demographic segments. Additionally, 46% of respondents agreed that they have greatly increased reliance on contractors, part-timers and outsourced functions or service agreements.

It’s clear that organisations need to do more to take advantage of the ideas and skills from the wider market – not just from their traditional employee base. In addition, the report highlights that organisations most likely to succeed in the future business environment are those that invest in lifelong learning for their employees. In line with these findings, the Malta HR Pulse survey identifies that 57% of respondents are using continuous learning programmes to develop new skills amongst their workers.

Other key findings from PwC’s Workforce of the Future report include:

• HR leaders are more comfortable about their efforts to prepare the workforce of the future compared to non-HR leaders. In 42 of the 45 capabilities, a higher percentage of business leaders than HR saw their organisation at risk. In fact, the report identifies that there is a real need to get HR and business leaders on the same page to accelerate preparations for the future. This is also necessary in Malta as the HR Pulse Survey highlights that current HR challenges still include hurdles such as management not seeing the potential value of the HR function.
• HR’s ability to navigate the technology landscape is a top ‘at risk’ capability for organisations. But HR and other leaders don’t see it the same way: 41% of HR Leaders are confident that their HR departments are up to speed in this area, but only a quarter of business leaders agree.
• The good news is that the capabilities that respondents rate as the most important are the ones where they are taking the most action. There is no overlap between the top ten ‘at risk’ capabilities and the top ten considered extremely high in importance.

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