HRchat Podcast
Listen to the HRchat podcast by HR Gazette to get insights and tips from HR leaders, influencers and tech experts. Topics include HR Tech, AI, Leadership, Talent, Recruitment, Employee Engagement, Recognition, Wellness, DEI, and Company Culture.
Hosted by Bill Banham and other HR enthusiasts, the HRchat show publishes interviews with influencers, leaders, analysts, and those in the HR trenches 2-4 times each week. Shows are typically 15 to 30 minutes.
Past guests are from organizations including ADP, SAP, Ceridian, IBM, UPS, Deloitte Consulting LLP, Simon Sinek Inc, NASA, SHRM, Government of Canada, Hacking HR, Ultimate Software, McLean & Company, Microsoft, Shopify, DisruptHR, Talent Board, Virgin Pulse, Salesforce, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Coca-Cola Beverages Company.
Podcast Music Credit"Funky One"Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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HRchat Podcast
Global Workforce of the Future Report with Gaëlle de la Fosse, LHH
In this episode of the HRchat show, we look at some findings from LHH’s Global Workforce of the Future Report.
The report investigates the changing world of work from the worker’s perspective. LHH surveyed over 30,000 workers across a range of industries, job functions, company sizes, and personal backgrounds to unravel how business leaders, HR professionals, managers, and more can best navigate shifting trends in the workforce.
Joining Bill Banham on the show today is Gaëlle la Fosse, President of LHH and a member of the executive committee of The Adecco Group.
Questions for Gaëlle include:
- What is the Global Workforce of the Future report?
- How can an organization make itself more appealing to top talent while so many workers are nervous about seeking a new position?
- Who's responsible for career pathing and professional development? HR? Managers? Employees?
- PD motivations? Generational differences?
- Shaping company culture - encouraging employees to speak up.
- What does a future-proof workforce look like? How can a leader make sure their company is prepared for change, especially in light of AI’s advancement?
- What are some ways leadership can support internal mobility and ensure employees feel encouraged to stay within the company to grow?
- Why is supporting talent in these ways important?
About Gaëlle la Fosse
Gaëlle is guiding LHH to become the leading provider of professional talent solutions, offering services such as leadership training, professional recruitment, upskilling and reskilling, and career transition & mobility. In just one year at LHH, she transformed the company from seven siloed business lines to all come together and integrate under the same umbrella, providing unique coverage of professional talent needs across the talent lifecycle.
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Welcome to the HR Chat Show, one of the world's most downloaded and shared podcasts designed for HR pros, talent execs, tech enthusiasts and business leaders. For hundreds more episodes and what's new in the world of work, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom.
Speaker 2:Hello and thanks for tuning in. This is your host today, bill Bannam. In this special episode of the HR Chat Show, we're going to look at some findings from LHH's Global Workforce of the Future report. The report investigates the changing world of work from the workers' perspective. Lhh surveyed over 30,000 workers across a wide range of industries, job functions, company sizes and personal backgrounds to unravel how business leaders, hr pros, managers and more can best navigate shifting trends in the workforce. Joining me on the show today is Gael De La Fosse, president of LHH and a member of the Executive Committee of the ADECO Group. Gael, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the HR Chat Show today. Thank you very much for being my guest.
Speaker 3:Thank you, great to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 2:So, beyond my reintroduction just a moment ago, and before you tell us more about LHH, let's get to know you a little bit. Please tell our listeners a bit about your career background and your current role.
Speaker 3:So my career started in management consulting. So I did about 20 years of management consulting in different firms and working around the world on strategy topics, and I transitioned actually to become the CEO of a fashion retailer and now I'm in HR consulting. So actually I'm, some say, the poster child of the skills-based economy, of moving from different roles. But I think the red thread in this is really talent and people.
Speaker 3:I've always been in people organizations and really the reason why I transitioned to HR consulting after management consulting is because, you know, I think talent in organizations is so important to the performance of companies and I've seen that in management consulting as well. So it's important for me because of not only the performance of companies but also the social impact. And you know, like a lot of people nowadays, I think about the purpose that I have in my work and when I think about the workers of the future, when I think about my kids, I wonder what kind of work they will need to have and what kind of skills they will need to be successful. And so really for me, being part of the transformation of the world of work is something that is really meaningful. And on a more personal note, so I am French actually, but I live in New York with my family.
Speaker 2:Which means you've seen your country win two world cups. I'm very jealous as an England fan.
Speaker 3:I have I'm not a I'm not a massive football fan, I will tell you. But my family was very happy, my husband and my children.
Speaker 2:Yes, it must be nice. It must be nice. Okay, if you don't mind, now please telling us a bit more about LHH beyond what was in the introduction there. And then, and also, the focus of course today is on the global workforce of the future report, so perhaps you can link in the mission of LHH and why you guys conduct the report.
Speaker 3:LHH is a professional talent solutions and advisory player. It's part of the ADECO group and our role is really to prepare workers and leadership teams for the new world of work, and our solutions span across recruitment, career transition and mobility, coaching, career transition and mobility, coaching, leadership development and upskilling and reskilling so really a full service provider for the professional talent space. We have about 8,000 colleagues and coaches working in 66 countries and we support about 15,000 organizations and more than 500,000 candidates and employees each year. So that's who we are at LHH, and for the past three years we've actually been working on the transformation of the workforce, and so we've been releasing the Global Workforce of the Future report, which really investigates the changing world of work through the lens of the workers.
Speaker 3:So what we do is we survey workers. We've surveyed this year about 30,000 workers across a very wide range of industries, job functions, company sizes and backgrounds to really get a granular understanding of the issues and challenges that the workers face and how they're navigating the shifting trends. And, as a highlight of this year's report, our biggest takeaways is that employees are really yearning for skills development, career advancement and stability. I think those are really the three key concepts that come out of this year's survey. We're at a critical moment for companies to invest in their existing workforce, and it's not just a way to attract new talent, but it's also to nurture the potential that exists internally within companies, and so what I think you know, our takeaway from this is really the need for companies to prioritize internal mobility programs and create clearer career and upskilling opportunities that can really enable the leaders to build competitive and future-proof workforces.
Speaker 2:And why is that particularly important this year, listeners? Well, because this is I don't know if there's a great resignation, this is the great stay. This is the year where lots of folks are actually staying in their jobs and therefore they are looking for opportunities to to upskill and potentially reskill too. So very, very timely and in that context, with with less folks in many industries moving around this year, how can an organization make itself more appealing to still attract top talent while so many workers are you about moving? They want to stay in a role for longer than they have done, perhaps for several years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think, as the cost of living continues to rise and international conflict continues to drive a lot of uncertainty, as well as economic uncertainty, the emergence of uncertainty as well, as you know, economic uncertainty, the emergence of AI all of that continues to really transform the job market. And we know these things well-being, sense of purpose, career progression is what people are looking for and, as you said, it's not the great resignation anymore, it's the great state, to take your expression. What we see is that only 20% of workers are really now actively one foot out the door because they're interviewing, they're applying to new jobs, they're applying to new jobs. So that is a significant reduction compared to the great resignation. However, if you look more closely at the numbers, the actual reality is that still one third of workers are thinking about their career plans daily or weekly. That seems like a lot, and nearly half of the workers are still looking at open roles externally, so they're not necessarily actively interviewing.
Speaker 3:But I think what the great resignation and changed is the mentality, is the fact that people are more looking outwards than they were before, and so I think for companies it's a massive opportunity, or a necessity even, to keep and attract top talent by providing career guidance and demonstrating that there is a genuine commitment to long-term success and development of their teams.
Speaker 3:I think that is really becoming more and more critical and the issue that we see there is that you know most people they want to look for a job you know internally, let's say but they don't actually know how to start, how to take charge of their career development.
Speaker 3:And you know most people want to change careers or want to. You know a development in their careers, but they don't know what the right path is, know what the right path is, and what we know from our work is that companies aren't really helping them navigate this challenge, because less than 10% of the people we surveyed say that they are actually using some internal platforms or some services that are provided by their companies to identify these opportunities. So, you know, providing these more robust internal career pathing, offering mobility programs to really help workers be empowered and be, you know, in the driver's seat of their careers. And think about nonlinear paths. We talk a lot about how careers have become nonlinear versus historically, they were a lot more linear and I think that pathing, which is very new, companies have a role to play in that. Companies have a role to play in that and I do think that that will drive retention and it's, you know, looking at how the world is moving and talent scarcity retaining key talent is really critical.
Speaker 2:So, on the career pathing piece, what are you saying there? Whose responsibility is it then? It sounds to me like at the moment it still falls on the employee, but perhaps it should be down to the line manager. Where does the HR leader fit into ensuring that people have the professional development and the career pathing to allow them to succeed, whether that's internally for a number of years, or indeed they stay for a while and they move on and they do great things? But who should help with that? Where should the onus be placed?
Speaker 3:I think the ownership needs to be in the three that you just described. The employee needs to know Nobody knows more than yourself where you think you want to go and what you would like to do in your career, what are your passions, what are your skills. So I think it's important that the employees are owning this process, but also, I think, companies, via HR, and the leaders. So I think companies, via HR and the leaders, the line managers, they also play a huge role in this area and it has to be the three working together. It can't be just one and it clearly cannot be only the employee employee.
Speaker 2:I'm glad you said that. I totally agree okay, so the survey covered 30 000 employees, I think you mentioned but we're serving as part of this and you mentioned that you guys, uh, surveyed folks from all different industries and geographies and such. What about generations? What? What about the professional development motivations of different generations? Did you guys look at that, did you? If so, did you notice differences between millennials and and gen z, as say, compared to gen x's?
Speaker 3:we. We actually um did um, it's um, there's, there's a um, if you, if you go back to what are the key issues in terms of generations, what you see is that the you know, the older generations are participating more and we've gone back to pre-COVID levels in terms of how they're participating into the workforce. What we do see is that the younger generation is participating less into the workforce. Into the workforce you have about a 10-point gap between the participation of the workforce between the year 2000 and now in terms of the younger generation. So I think there's a specific issue around attracting and retaining the younger workforce and we know that, and our study shows it, that this generation is specifically interested and motivated by the values, by the culture, by the purpose that companies can portray and can deliver. So that's really what we see in terms of the change or the differences in terms of the generations.
Speaker 2:I'm interested in terms of your personal style. You're a very senior leader in a very well-recognized organization. When you've got new folks entering the workforce, how do you encourage their participation, for them to have a voice to speak up to shape your company's culture?
Speaker 3:Well, we actually, you know, we work a lot on culture for our clients, but we actually did a big culture work at LHH and we, in order to do that, we wanted to hear what all our colleagues had to say, and so we interviewed actually we surveyed all our colleagues around the world to understand what the different culture elements that they thought were in the company and that they wanted for the future, and so we really built our new values and our what we call our culture commitments, with the participation of all the workers and to really be able to reflect the diversity of profiles, of generations, of cultures that we have at LHH okay, rock and roll now.
Speaker 2:Then we can't do an episode of the hr chat show these days, it seems, without talking about ai, so let's talk about ai. Um, in your opinion, what? What is, what is a future-proofed workforce look like, and how can the leader make sure that their company is prepared for change, especially in the light of ai's advancements? Ai is augmenting everything. Yes, it's going to replace 50 of the jobs we don't still don't know what jobs they're going to be in just a few years time. What are you guys recommending in terms of getting ahead of that?
Speaker 3:yeah, I think I think the key word um is agility, um, with without agility, I think it's difficult to think about. You know, future proofing the workforce. There's more and more uncertainty. You mentioned, you know, the number of jobs that are going to be disrupted. I don't think anybody really has the crystal ball. What we do know is that it will require a change and agility, and so, for us, we believe that the strength of any organization will and is directly linked to the success of the team and making the investments necessary in the skill growth, the upskilling, the reskilling of their teams, because that's the only way really to navigate this evolving landscape. So the only thing we know is that it's going to evolve and we need to adapt, and so that's really the competitive advantage that companies need to build today. And you know there's.
Speaker 3:What we see is that there's a big gap in terms of how the skills and the skills assessment is made at different levels of the organization, and what's happening for managers and what's happening for non-managers, and what's happening for managers and what's happening for non-managers. You know, most managers, manager-level employees, are having skills assessment reviews with their senior leaders. So that's happening, I would say pretty well in organizations. But what's not happening is at the lower ranks of the whole organization. Then it's actually tricky to really create the skills programs and the upskilling and reskilling programs that are necessary. So I would encourage every single manager who is not having those conversations with their employees to really have those conversations, because that's really those discussions that are the start, the necessary start, to unlock the potential of of um of their employee base okay, oh, you're not going to believe this, but we are already coming towards the end of this particular conversation, but fear not, listeners, because is going to be joining me on another episode very, very soon.
Speaker 2:Um, before we wrap up, just a couple more questions for you, and the next one almost as a summary of some of the things you've spoken about today. We always like to leave our listeners on this show with some practical takeaways, if you like. So the question for you is what are some ways, some practical takeaways, some practical advice that you'd offer that the company leadership can support internal mobility and ensure employees feel encouraged to stay within the company leadership can support internal mobility and ensure employees feel encouraged to stay within the company to grow and, as part of your answer there, why is supporting talent in these ways so, so important?
Speaker 3:I think this is a critical topic because I would say, you know, these programs, they need to start from the top, and the whole thinking around mobility skills development really needs to start with the CEOs, the leaders and you know, since most employees don't really know, as I mentioned before, they don't know where to start, and most of them actually feel that their managers wouldn't really support them in moving to another role, so they don't really know which skills they have that are transferable, and so I think companies to support the workers should be offering more insight into the development opportunities that exist within the organization and the paths to get there, providing career coaching, driving, skills development programs.
Speaker 3:I think that is really key to start. So that would be my first advice, and why is it so important? It's, you know, we mentioned that we're not in the great resignation anymore, and so it's actually critical to make sure that there is still a skill gap, and so we need to make sure in all organizations that the people that we value and the people that we want to retain actually have a path to stay and that they have a path to develop and that they have a path to work on things that, you know, um, interest them, that, um, and that make them want to really build uh with the company, and that they're not looking elsewhere I love that.
Speaker 2:Okay, and just finally, for this particular conversation, uh, how can our listeners connect with you? So maybe that's, uh, your linkedin, maybe you might want to share your email address, maybe you're super cool and all over instagram and places. How can they learn more about lhh, of course, and how can they access the global workforce of the future report?
Speaker 3:so, um, they can easily access me on on linkedin. That's probably the um, the easiest um and uh, our website, um lhh. You will find everything you need to know about, um, these topics, about career mobility, skills, upskilling, reskilling, as well as you will find the um the global workforce of the future report awesome, well, well, that takes us to the end of part one of a two-part conversation that you and I are having.
Speaker 2:So for this part, kaya, thank you very much for being my guest.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, Bill. Thanks for a great conversation.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the HR Chat Show. If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe and listen to some of the hundreds of episodes published by HR Gazette and remember for what's new in the world of work? Subscribe to the show, follow us on social media and visit hrgazettecom.
