Human Capital 2023: The end of traditional job positions is coming

The notion that we can find an ideal employee through recruitment, the one who perfectly matches our predefined set of skills and experience, is becoming increasingly unrealistic. This is not just because there is a need to stop looking at job positions and their descriptions as we have been accustomed to in the past. The world is changing so rapidly that the current definitions of these positions might not hold true tomorrow. Andrea Černá and Zuzana Kostiviarová from the consulting company Deloitte confirmed this. "The end of job positions is unequivocally the strongest trend of recent times," Kostiviarová said, adding that it's more important to focus on the skills, knowledge, and ability to learn new things in potential employees instead of their experience.

This approach is advantageous since it breaks down stereotypes that may be associated with certain job positions and unnecessarily represent barriers to realizing the true potential of your employees, Andrea Černá added. Tomáš Ervín Dombrovský from LMC supported this perspective in his subsequent presentation. He spoke about the necessity of developing employees of all ages, especially in the context of an aging population. "And please, erase the notion that the term ‘a graduate’ equals a young person fresh out of college. Today, it could very well be a fifty-year-old accountant who has just completed a data academy and wants to change careers," Dombrovský stated, emphasizing that diversity and inclusion also encompass such aspects as an age and not only a gender.

As Černá and Kostiviarová reminded, a new EU directive mandates that publicly-traded companies must have a 40% representation of the less-represented gender in their governing bodies by 2026, which in most cases means women. For domestic companies, implementing these directives remains a challenge, just like the entire topic of ESG reporting. According to the latest Deloitte survey, more than a fifth of companies don't know how to approach diversity and inclusion within their organizations and achieve their set goals. Only 7 % of companies reported measuring the impact of this area on their business results.

The aging population also places a burden on the generation currently spending most of their time in classrooms. Martin Kozel from the Učitel naživo platform outlined the personnel and managerial issues that school principals and teachers face today and how this affects whether Czech children enjoy going to school. Long-term surveys have consistently shown that, compared to other countries worldwide, only 15 % of Czech children like going to school. In conclusion, Kozel urged those in the audience to help school principals in their cities and municipalities utilize their HR tools for recruitment and the development of existing employees, consult with them, or even send their experienced employees to teach in schools.

Technology: A Source of Optimism and Technostress

Miloš Myšička and Zdeněk Jodas from Imper offered a new perspective on existing tools. For example, media monitoring serves not only the marketing or PR departments but HR departments. When local media reported that Česká spořitelna was planning to lay off hundreds of employees while simultaneously hiring IT specialists, it means that your company might have a better selection of potential employees in the near future. At the same time, you should take good care of your own IT department to prevent these specialists from having the motivation to leave for other opportunities.

Radek Šichtanc from O2 opened the often underestimated topic of cybersecurity. He emphasized that, in terms of costs, prevention is much cheaper than addressing a security incident. Besides educating employees, it's useful to establish your own "red team," ethical hackers who test your company from the inside and identify security risks and vulnerabilities. Security specialists are a scarce commodity in the job market, but these services can be outsourced.

An inevitable downside of the dynamic development of technology is technostress. Its causes and impacts were presented by Martina Rašticová from Mendel University in Brno. She also urged people to adhere to working hours in terms of phone and e-mail communication with employees. The awareness of being reachable anytime and anywhere is one of the strongest factors contributing to technostress.

However, digitization is increasingly becoming a necessity and a condition for competitiveness. According to a survey by SAP, which was presented by Michael Evans, the emerging generation is demanding more from their potential employers. "But it's not just a question of Generation Z or millennials; even top managers want to have access to data and information on how their decisions affect business results," Evans stated. He also pointed out the somewhat surprising fact that, according to the aforementioned survey, 80 % of respondents are optimistic about the potential of artificial intelligence. However, they want AI to be a tool for simplifying work and processes, not a factor in evaluating their performance or abilities. This aligns with the findings of Deloitte's survey as well.

When companies have been relying on established procedures they might view digitization only as a necessity due to external pressure and their willingness to change is often not very high. Additionally, there is often no clear understanding of what digitization means for a particular company or institution. Karel Macek, now working at Employability.life, shared his previous experience from a large financial institution. "The key is to create a safe and inclusive environment for the formation of a community where everyone has a chance to learn something new, regardless of their age or prior experience with technology. This can be scaled according to depth and can work with various formats, such as newsletters, links to video tutorials, short half-hour training sessions, workshops, etc. Even shy observers and eager learners should find their place. However, the foundation must be a conscious voluntary act of participation, such as registration," Macek summarized in his presentation.

He also touched on forms of internal communication related to this theme. In the concluding panel discussion, one of the subjects was how to convey important information to employees, such as those in production, who can't easily be reached via e-mail. In the engineering company Družstevní závody Dražice and at GZ Media, the world's leading vinyl record manufacturer, this issue is addressed through a mobile application. Through the app, employees can order a lunch or get in touch with their colleagues. Nestlé, according to Zdeňka Matoušková, leans towards personal communication: "HR professionals who only sit in their offices aren't doing their job well. They should meet people and talk to them." In addition to newsletters and podcasts, Notino, as Jiří Havel mentioned, also uses personal meetings .

Taking Care of Employees in the Modern Era

Benefits have also proven to be a challenge. The idea of what constitutes a suitable benefit varies significantly between employees and employers, as shown by regular surveys by Sodexo Benefits, which is now transforming into Pluxee. At the same time, benefits represent a significant item in the family budget for 15 % of people. "The pandemics of covid-19 has significantly increased the demand for wage equalization during illness and paid leave in the event of short-term illness," Tereza Knířová said. Around a third of employees now value these benefits, which were previously of less interest.

In GZ Media, well-structured salaries without complex mixes of benefits are preferred. "We leave it to people to manage their money themselves," Michal Štěrba explained.

Radek Hábl from the Institute of Debt Prevention and Resolution and Daniel Bradáč from Generations Branding Agency discussed how to foster employee loyalty and make them proud of the brand. The former showed how to lend a helping hand to employees in debt. Ladislav Onderka from IKEA and Olga Kupec from Abydos shared their specific experiences. Abydos proactively approaches employees and has already succeeded in resolving several cases of debt, motivating more people to overcome their shyness and seek help themselves. In IKEA retail stores, employees and their family members in debt receive four sessions with a legal advisor for free.

Daniel Bradáč spoke about helping employees feel proud of the company they work for. He emphasized that the values the brand communicates externally and internally should not differ. Good leadership is incompatible with working from home. "People appreciate it the most when their boss walks around the company and asks them how they are doing. If you want to convince leaders to participate in employer branding, ask them what legacy they want to leave behind," Bradáč said. Notino recently faced the need to change its employer branding when it found that people perceived it as a company where they work for a couple of years to "work hard” and leave. They earn money, gain experience, and then move on. The company has begun to communicate its values more internally, and it has paid off. "In two years, our turnover dropped by 10 %," Jiří Havel explained.

The Human Capital conference, produced by Blue Events, is an event for people in corporate leadership and those directly responsible for employee matters. Every year the program reflects current and strategic subjects and is aimed at those who view people not only as resources but as a long-term investment for the overall prosperity of companies.

Contact:
Kateřina Paterová

PR & Media Specialist
+420 776 117 282

[email protected]
www.blueevents.eu

Do you like our article?

Share it: