The Digital Workforce – The biggest HR challenge for the next 5 years

For those of us who are just a little older in the tooth than the fresh faced, tech savvy, Gen Y hordes that are currently joining the UK workforce it does not seem like very long ago that it was actually in the workplace, rather than the home that we could lay our hands on the cool gadgets and cutting edge tech.  As individuals we couldn’t afford the funky goods on our own salaries and were delighted and excited to go on the training courses that the workplace provided to validate us as experts on a particular device or software programme so we could proudly use the sexy tech in our workplace.   Fast forward what is probably only 10 years and the world has transformed.  Boom, within a decade it is now the average employees who have access to a vast array of very cool kit that is often not freely available in the workplace.  This omnipresent kit is now providing us, as consumers, with a very rich user experience that has transformed and raised our expectations of what tech can do for us and what we can do with tech.   

Unsurprisingly, as employees, we are keen to be able to not only match our “home” tech experience but surpass it in the “workplace” – our expectations are high.  So when these expectations are not met by an employer who is struggling to get a handle on how the new digital technologies have transformed the employee experience it sets up a cognitive dissonance that will not end well for those who are trying desperately to attract and retain the tech savvy Digirati* employees that are in particular demand today.

So, amidst the clamour from employees for smartphones, tablets and cool kit, what is the option for the large, traditional cash-strapped organisations that are saddled with legacy infrastructure and complex security requirements - particularly when pretty much all the spare investment cash is going on regulatory, compliance or digital marketing initiatives?

The business case for transforming the employee experience through digital technology has been a low priority.   In addition, whilst the marketing and finance departments have both eloquently made the case for “digitising” their capabilities – using social media, bespoke cloud solutions and cool big data and analytics solutions – the HRD and COO have been focused on the cost-cutting agenda foisted upon them by a stalled economy and have had to shelve the digital upgrade demands of a workforce that has been grateful to have a job. 

Given this background one option is of course to continue to ignore the employee expectations and requests and press on with further cost-cutting.  However, as the economy turns and the need for digitally literate staff continues to grow exponentially this “let them eat cake” approach is unlikely to be a smart move in anything other than the extreme short term.  Failure to address the digital challenge will simply make it increasingly difficult to attract and retain the required talent who would much rather work for an employer who “gets” digital and can provide an engaging digital employee experience.  A second option is to do what a number of businesses have done to date – i.e. experiment with a relatively disconnected set of potential digital solutions aimed at improving employee productivity – often relating to “employee collaboration tools” e.g. Yammer and sharepoint.  Whilst this “Fashionista*” behaviour seems on the face of it to be a worthwhile move and a step in the right direction, anecdotal evidence suggests that initiatives viewed as piecemeal by the workforce can actually create a negative response from employees who are frustrated at the low level dabbling and the perceived poorer quality interfaces that a number of the “corporate” digital solutions have traditionally provided.  In essence it drives the same outcome in terms of retention and attraction as the first option.  The third option is to realise that it is no longer tenable to ignore the employee experience and begin the serious work required to design a digitally transformed employee experience, capable of attracting, managing and retaining the right talent, enabling low-cost, high productivity working, enabling employee flexibility and mobility and delivering a new level of employee engagement.

It is the organisation that is prepared to rethink how it constructs and delivers a digital employee experience that will win the battle for the hearts, minds and talents of the digital employees.  To do this an organisation must tackle the challenge as a true transformation project and deliver the kind of employee experience currently being created by the Digirati for their workforces. 

Apologies for the advert but it is worth noting that at Capgemini we are currently working with a number of progressive organisations who are boldly redesigning the employee experience in an attempt to define and deliver a “Connected Organisation**”.   What is fascinating is that whilst the focus has been primarily on creating better employee engagement through digital transformation, as the businesses explore the implications of a connected organisation they are also opening up numerous real opportunities to drive cost saving and improve productivity.  If you want to know more do get in touch.

*Digirati & Fashionista are terms defined in the Capgemini/MIT research into Digital Transformation – for details follow the link - http://www.capgemini-consulting.com/digital-transformation-a-road-map-for-billion-dollar-organizations

**Connected Organisation is a term used by Capgemini to describe the modus operandi of the digitally enabled workforce of the Digirati