Using Data to Improve Work With ADP Head of Research, People and Performance Marcus Buckingham
Welcome to the debut episode of Redefining Work. If you’ve been with me for a while, you know that I announced at the end of 2022 that Redefining HR was going to turn into Redefining Work. This season, we’re expanding beyond pure HR coverage to discuss the new world of work from the perspective of leading thinkers, doers and practitioners.
One of those people is my friend, Marcus Buckingham, who is a bestselling author and head of research, people and performance at ADP Research Institute. Marcus is a returning guest, appearing on Episode 111 of the podcast. He's been a leading voice on workplace issues for more than a decade.
In this episode, Marcus and I discuss what he sees for 2023’s work trends, how data can support the shift to skills-based hiring, and much more.
You can also listen/share the episode directly syndicated on any of these channels: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher
Looking at 2023’s Workplace Trends
What’s next for work? The data suggests some clear trends, Marcus says, with the caveat that there’s no guaranteed way to predict the future. The first trend is that many people have become cynical about work since the pandemic. Workers are less likely to buy into the idea that work is like a family, and they’re prioritizing other things.
Meanwhile, other people are looking at how many hours they spend at work and saying, in Marcus’ words, “It'd better be a place in which I get a chance to express the very best of me, and so I want to be seen as a whole human there.”
Employers are also responding cynically. “30% of people had surveillance software on their phones and their computers before the pandemic,” Marcus says. “Now, for white-collar workers, it's 65% or higher.”
Surrounding these trends are a host of other questions facing workers and employers, Marcus says, including the debate over remote, hybrid and in-person work, experiments with four-day workweeks, and an emphasis on wellness and well-being.
Marcus believes that companies that resonate with employees' need for meaning and purpose will be the ones to attract the best talent. "It sure seems to me," he says, "that those will be the organizations that will deserve the best people of these very tight labor markets."
Looking at Underreported Trends
We know about the big trends the media is talking about, but Marcus highlighted some trends in work that he thinks aren’t being discussed enough.
One of those trends is a company’s talent brand, which refers to an employee's ability to advocate for their employer to other people. Marcus says we’re underrating talent brand’s importance compared to the oft-mentioned importance of people’s managers.
“Your ability to advocate the company as a place to work to friends and family is much, much more closely linked to your view of the people policies in the HR function of the company than it is to your manager,” he says.
Another workplace factor that’s overlooked is span of control, especially in industries such as health care and education. The span of control refers to the number of direct reports that fall under one person’s oversight.
Marcus notes that nurse supervisors might be managing up to 60 nurses. Such supervisors can’t possibly give personal attention to each of those 60. These nurses have fewer chances of talking about how they’re feeling emotionally, mentally and physically, and they’re at higher risk of burnout and turnover as a result.
“How can you be well — I mean physically and psychologically well — when no one even notices when you are coming to work? They can’t, because it’s not because the nurse supervisor is a bad human, but because he or she cannot touch base with 60 nurses,” Marcus says.
“What have companies done intelligently to respond to the deeply human need of ‘Can someone please flippin’ pay attention to me?' in a world that's completely atomized,” he adds.
Needing to Improve Skills Measurement in Hiring
Many companies are making the shift from role-based hiring to skills-based hiring. However, on a macro level, Marcus says, people need to look at the data and what can be reliably measured.
For all the emphasis on hiring for skills, Marcus says, too many companies don’t have a good sense of the skills inside their organization, the skills they need or how to measure them. This lack of certainty is even more evident when it comes to nontechnical skills like strategic thinking or empathy.
“Until we actually get honest about what humans can rate other humans on, all of this is just talk,” Marcus says. Otherwise, people are rating other people through the hiring process with faulty data, and we don’t trust it.
“We’re right there where we can gather data,” Marcus says. “But we actually haven’t figured out, 'How can we reliably measure something in someone else?'”
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