Are leaders delivering on employee expectations?
The uncertainty of today’s economic environment means employees of all ages will be looking for an increased sense of job security. At the same time, younger generations are set to become the dominant demographic within the world of work and are extremely self-aware – they recognise their own value and want to know what their employer can do for them.
And in many ways, the world of work has become increasingly employee-centric, particularly in a post-pandemic world – employees know what they want, they’re demanding it from employers and any business that fails to meet these expectations has found themselves faced with talent attraction and retention struggles.
When asked about their primary focus for this quarter, 22% of employees said they want their leaders to support their career growth, and to create a safe, inclusive and supportive environment (19%). And they’ll be pleased to know that leaders are, for the most part, aligned with them on this.
Both of these desired outcomes are centered on the benefit to employees at a personal, or human, level – there’s a definitive focus from both parties on how leadership is achieved rather than just the end result.
However, in a hybrid world of shifting demographics, are leaders struggling to create and maintain an inclusive culture, and are some individuals slipping through the net when it comes to career development?
Despite positive steps being taken by many organisations to become more inclusive, 68% of employees still aren’t satisfied with their company’s progress in creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. And when you look at the numbers, there’s no surprise why.
Analysis by Robert Walters shows that two-thirds of white-collar workers over the age of 55 have been overlooked for a promotion in the last year, while 37% of professionals under the age of 30 have received a promotion – suggesting a drastic bias towards the emerging youth at the expense of more experienced colleagues. Data from INvolve found that two in three UK workers with invisible disabilities feel a lack of support from their employer, with 37% being reluctant to disclose their disability due to fears of discrimination.
And then, a recent survey found that 41% of executives say remote employees are less likely than their in-office colleagues to be considered for promotion. Not everything can be fixed overnight, but the data is pretty clear – more needs to be done in driving DEIB within the world of work.
But can all of these problems be placed at the feet of leaders with a stern look and a note scrawled – “do better” – or is it more complicated than that?
It has to be said that when it comes to the career growth of employees, the impetus lies just as much with the employee as it does the leader. New data from WFH Research shows that in-office workers are spending 25% more time on career development than their remote counterparts, including 40 more minutes a week on mentoring others, nearly 25 more in formal training and about 15 additional minutes each week undertaking professional development and learning activities.
So, while leaders are responsible for creating an inclusive environment where every employee has equal access to development initiatives, once they do so and certain individuals choose not to engage, it’s then the motivation of the employee that should be called into question, not the quality of leadership.
Then, we have the impact of hybrid working to take into account – after all, it’s not only employees who are feeling disconnected. 1 in 3 managers have said they’re finding leadership more challenging in the hybrid era – with work-life boundaries being blurred and a neglected company culture cited as two of the main difficulties they’re facing.
Plus, the Chartered Management Institute, having surveyed over 1000 line managers, found that 52% now find work lonelier as a result of more colleagues working remotely.
At a time where much of the focus is on employees and their experience of work, it’s important to remember that leaders are human too, and that many are perhaps struggling to drive a culture of belonging and career support because they themselves feel isolated.
Understandably, we look to our leaders as being the ones capable of dealing with these challenges. After all, two of the traits associated with effective leadership are resilience and adaptability – being ready to navigate change and overcome setbacks. But that’s not to say we should expect them to have all the answers right away; rather, let’s at least grant them the time to embrace a mindset of continuous learning and develop the skills needed to lead effectively in somewhat unprecedented times.
As the data says, leaders are mostly aligned with their workforce – they understand what their employees’ priorities are and are looking to facilitate them. But as the world of work changes, so do the expectations being placed upon leaders. These new expectations are emerging at an alarmingly unprecedented rate, and so it’s important we empathise with the fact that leaders will need time to learn how to be the most effective version of themselves in this new reality.
An established UK retailer found that leaders and their teams were feeling disconnected, disengaged and lacking a true sense of belonging, post-pandemic.
In turn, we designed a series of face-to-face development sessions that were focused on enhancing resilience, flexing communication styles to get the best results, and building a greater rapport and connection on a peer-to-peer basis.
