2021 Global Human Capital Trends

ready to wrap up another year. But it's a year like no other. I can only imagine some of the discussions that you guys have been having, UH, specifically there at Deloitte UH and what has shown up in this survey. UH. Talk to me a little bit about some of the highlights. Carol, great, great to be back, and I agree it has been an incredible year. I think many of us are happy to see it. In UM. The survey we surveyed UM

over six thousand UH respondents around the world. We had over thirty business executives and what they told us was a few things. UM. Only of them said they were actually prepared for the pandemic which maybe is not that surprising, But what was surprising is that when we asked what is the number one thing that you need to focus on to be prepared for unknown futures moving forward, they identified the ability of their workers to adapt, to reskill,

and to assume new roles. And that's against choices like access to financial capital, access to technology investments. They anchored on what we consider the human aspect at work, what they need for their workers to be able to be prepared for the future. So what happened that was it just Erica that you know, we all realized that when everything is shut down and we all had to work differently, that unless your workers were equipped with the skills, the technology,

whatever they needed, you know, your business shutdown. Exactly. We have seen during the pandemic. One of the things I think we've seen as human potential in spades. We've seen

people in seconds adapt to remote and virtual working. We've seen them take on new roles, new skills, new jobs, work in new industries, and I think it's reminded us all that it's worker potential and human potential that actually is one of the biggest assets that executives have to to really leverage as they try to move forward coming out of the pandemic. Are there any companies that that's

really stand out. I mean, we've been talking to a lot of CEOs at different companies and some of the strategies, techniques, technology, how they kind of made sure their workers were taken care of, had what they needed, and also just to make sure that you know, you're checking in on your employees in a good way and like just to make sure that they're okay. I don't mean necessarily spying, but

also making sure that they're getting the jobs done. We had a great interview with that Bastion, CEO of Delta Airlines, and he talked about just that how they were caring for their workers. They did some extraordinary things, including UM giving leaves to over five thousand workers UM that were older and that we're at risk, UM investing heavily in rapid testing capabilities and helping their workers pivot. You know.

He talked about how some of their UM folks who worked on the airlines had skills that were transferable to healthcare and they helped them to do that and to pivot. And I think it's those types of actions from organizations and CEOs that are so important because they demonstrate not just a responsibility to the workers, but a broader responsibility to the communities and society overall. And I think that's that's a big focus that we're going to see from

CEO is moving forward well. And I do wonder you know what we're learning Rika just watching, you know, as I keep kidding the sausage being made, the sausage being the COVID nineteen vaccines specifically, I mean, there's been so much transparency, but this whole idea of collaboration, a global effort like it's it's a kind of reminder that when communities, countries, the world work together on a problem, you can really

do something significant in a much shorter duration. Yeah, And talking about vaccine development, we had a phenomenal discussion with Astra Zenica and as they were developing their vaccine, what they talked about is how they composed teams, and they

took a very non traditional approach. Um They when they put together their teams, they not only um looked at individuals who had expertise and drug development, but they brought an individuals who just had a passion what they called a passion and an excitement and energy for this effort and they believe that that and including pulling in individuals from outside their organization, from the broader ecosystem into their team, is what helped them with the speed of getting that

drug out and developed. And they think that's the way forward for work. And those are some of the changes that we expect to see as work fundamentally get transformed, reimagined, and what we call re architect and moving forward. Well, push that a little further fundamentally work getting transformed, meaning what specifically, because you know, we've obviously had the debate and a lot of discussions around working from home hybrid and I get lots of different opinions on them. How

does work transform really significantly? That's a lasting change, Yeah, a lasting change. Let's start with it with the most obvious, which is just what you just talked about, which is remote virtual work. We believe that most organizations are going to end up in some type of hybrid model. There was a discussion on LinkedIn today about whether we're going to move to uh a three to two model in instead of a five day work week, and you know, in the office and I think that we have learned

that virtual remote work can work. But beyond that, and I think that's what's important. I think we're going to see the breakdown of organizational hierarchies, and we're gonna start to see many more organizations start to organize work in teams that cross organizational lines. I think we're going to see a lot of organizations change the way work is

designed to reflect well being. They're going to look at how they're scheduling their work, how they're putting teams together, how they're giving people breaks in their day, setting policies on when people need to be on zoom um to get moved past this always on culture. And these are real changes to how work is getting done that I think we can expect to see take hold um as we enter into well was the biggest surprise in kind of talking to companies pulling together your annual report this year.

The biggest surprise was, you know, I'll put in two things. One, how many business executives responded. We've been running our Deloitt Global Human Capital Trends Report for eleven years. This is the first year we had more business respondents than HR respondents, including two three CEOs and twelve hundred board and C suite leaders. That shocked me, especially in the context of a pandemic. Number two is that executives told us that

said they're now focused on work reimagination. That number was pre pandemic, So we saw a doubling of executives saying not only do we need to focus on work, but we need to reimagine work. We need to take a step back and fundamentally think about how work's going to be done differently. That to me is a huge shift. Yeah, I have to say that. One of the things that

I think have always stood out with me. I think about Meg Whitman, you know formly of HP from ly V Bay like, who said I've been working in the office for forty years and now I'm pretty much just working from home and getting as much stuff done. Like it's just interesting the amount of CEOs who said I can do six meetings who top leaders in a morning versus I could do one you know before, and I

had to fly to you see them. It's that has been a significant significant change, and they're thinking and how it applies to workers, and that that's the whole point. I mean, I view this as a moment of worker empowerment. As we've learned that all the rules, the orthodoxies, the procedures that we thought were necessary aren't necessary. That's what

we learned during the crisis. We can work without them all of a sudden, in a world where rules are broken, it's an opportunity for workers to take advantage of that, and I think that's the most exciting thing. Well, really cool stuff and looking forward to seeing how it all plays out in Erica, thank you so much, Happy holidays, have a safe holiday as well. Erica Vellini, Global Human Capital Leader at Deloitte Consulting,