FROM STAGNATIONTO AGILITY
Driving workforce transformation in a flatter world
As organisations navigate an ever-changing workforce landscape, HR leaders are uniquely positioned to address a critical challenge: balancing employee aspirations with organisational needs in order to drive true impact in their business. To...
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Driving agility in a flatter world
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As organisations navigate an ever-changing workforce landscape, HR leaders are uniquely positioned to address a critical challenge: balancing employee aspirations with organisational needs in order to drive true impact in their business. To understand the perspectives of leaders, HR professionals and employees, Right Management worked with Reputation Leaders to survey over 4,000 respondents from across 8 European countries.
This report highlights a significant opportunity to reimagine career development to drive sustainable business growth.
Employees demonstrate strong loyalty, with 77% planning to remain with their current employer. However, internal mobility remains stagnant, with only 18% considering a role change within the next two years. Flatter organisational structures and shifting employee priorities have made traditional career progression less transparent, contributing to a gap in skill readiness and talent alignment – and a ticking time bomb when it comes to organisational growth and productivity. With the European economy growing by 21% between 2010 and 2023, it falls well behind the United States at 34%.
In turn, the US consistently outperforms Europe when it comes to productivity, with 2024 data showing an increase of 6.7% labour productivity per hour since 2019, vs. just 0.9% for the euro area. European businesses need to step up, or risk being left behind.
While businesses recognise retention as a key goal, they often overlook employees' desire for personal growth and skill development. Effective career interventions, such as tailored learning programmes and coaching, emerge as powerful tools for engagement, yet many organisations underutilise these solutions. Additionally, aligning leadership strategies with comprehensive talent assessment and development plans can foster internal mobility and workforce agility.
According to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Europe's freedom depends more than ever on economic strength. Strengthening competitiveness is one of the main priorities of the new European Commission.
Right Management’s focus is on realising an adaptable, future-ready workforce with her clients, to meet both individual and organisational goals, ensuring success in that increasingly competitive environment.
Barbera de GraafRegional Brand Leader,Right Management Europe
Right Management and Reputation Leaders conducted an online survey between September 1st and October 6th, 2024, encompassing a total of 4,216 respondents in eight European markets: the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland.
All respondents were from private companies with over 500 employees. The sample represents a mix of industries with 11-8% coming from each of the following industries: Information Technology, Transport & Logistics, Finance & Real Estate, Consumer Goods & Services, Industrials, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Automotive, Energy, and Communication Services and Materials.
We gathered 500 responses from each market, out of which at least 300 or more were full-time employees, 100 or more were HR leaders and 100 or more were business leaders.
Full-time employees (n=2,476) were defined as respondents in permanent, full-time paid employment on a standard employment screener question. Their job titles were classed as below Director or Head of Department.
HR leaders (n=864) were defined as respondents in full-time employment with a title of Director/Head of Department or above working in a HR function.
Business leaders (n=876) were defined as respondents in full-time employment with a title of Director/Head of Department working in another function besides HR, such as Executive Management, Information Technology or Finance, Accounting and Audit.
The data was weighted to match the labour force of each country by gender and age.
