Deloitte pegs need for collaboration in C-suite

Executives failing to work in concert amid challenges

C-level executives are not working together despite the need for increased collaboration on human capital challenges, says global consulting firm Deloitte.

Automation, the need for new skills, an ageing workforce and the tightening of labour markets makes the alignment of top level executives imperative.

The company’s 2018 Global Human Capital Trends report, “The Rise of the Social Enterprise,” included more than 11,000 HR personnel, 199 of whom were from Southeast Asia (SEA).

Respondents overwhelmingly pointed to the need for a team-based, cross-disciplinary approach to tackling complex issues within the C-suite. Close to 85% of respondents globally and 89% in SEA called this trend important or very important.

Companies where C-suite executives regularly collaborate are one-third more likely to be growing 10% more than companies whose leadership operates on a more individualistic basis.

But 84% of executives in Southeast Asia (73% globally) say their executives do not regularly collaborate.

“Many leading organisations in Southeast Asia have unique organisational dynamics because of a mix of large global firms addressing local markets alongside large national and regional companies. Large nationals are also becoming increasingly global,” said Mark Maclean, Deloitte’s Human Capital Consulting Leader in Southeast Asia.

As these organisations increase their scale with a shift in focus to inorganic growth, integration across all lines of business is no longer optional, especially at the C-suite level. In order for integration to take place, diversity among C-suite members is essential. They also need to be hyper-focused on collaboration, to understand one another and work as a team, and to be able to contribute beyond their line function.

“These qualities will help create a symphonic C-suite which can bring about truly innovative solutions and integrated organisational strategies to effectively tackle complex challenges from the necessary multiple angles,” he said.

Furthermore, as the future of work impacts the landscape in Southeast Asia, an integrated C-suite is critical in developing the future worker, future workforce and future workplace. For example, CIOs and CFOs must collaborate with their business leaders to develop and implement automation solutions, and more flexible people platforms to attract and retain talent and create workplaces that enable the workforce to flourish.

LEADERSHIP VACUUM

Increased transparency and heightened political awareness have drawn widespread attention to the role of business in society as a driver of change. Organisations find they are increasingly expected to exercise their ability to do social good, both externally for customers, communities and society, as well as internally for their employees. True social enterprises must take a total stakeholder approach to pressing public issues to maintain reputation and relevancy.

With more pressure on businesses to be good citizens and engineer solutions for critical social challenges, citizenship must be a core part of an organisation’s identity and mission. In fact, 81% of SEA survey respondents (77% globally) cited citizenship as important or very important. Millennials’ high expectations for corporate responsibility is a strong contributor, with 76 percent regarding business as a force for positive social impact.

Despite the emerging link between social impact and companies’ financial performance, only 17% of SEA respondents (18% globally) say citizenship is a top priority in corporate strategy. Around 35% (34% globally) have few or poorly-funded citizenship programmes, and 22% both in SEA and worldwide are not focused on this at all.

“Corporate citizenship is now a CEOlevel strategy and critical to a company’s bottom line,” said Josh Bersin, principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP. “Customers and employees alike are holding companies to higher standards than ever before and rewarding companies who demonstrate socially-conscious behaviour with unwavering loyalty.”

Internal and external social forces are also driving attention to an ageing global workforce. Extended life expectancies raise questions on how long careers will last and how ageing workers will impact economies and public policy.

Despite the ageing global workforce and the competitive advantages older talent offers, 35% of SEA respondents (49% globally) said their companies have done nothing to help older workers find new careers as they age, and another 14% (15% globally) say older workers are viewed as an impediment to rising talent. But the ageing workforce remains an untapped resource of experience and knowledge for social enterprises to use to their advantage.

As constituencies look to how companies treat their own employees, tackling the alternative workforce takes centre stage for socially-conscious organisations. By 2020, 37% of organisations globally expect a growth in contractors, 23% in freelancers, and 13% in gig workers.

Despite this anticipated growth, only 17% (16% globally) said they have an established set of policies and practices to manage this variety of worker types. It is critical to successfully implement hybrid workforce strategies because they can have a significant impact on an organisation’s employment brand and external reputation.

HOLISTIC APPROACH

In the past year, organisations have become laser-focused on how automation will impact their workforces. According to Deloitte’s research, more than four in 10 companies around the world believe automation will have a major impact on jobs, and 61% are now actively redesigning jobs around AI and robotics.

Additionally, 78% of HR and business l eaders i n SEA (72% globally) rated the topic of AI as important or very important.

Against this backdrop, companies and individuals realise the traditional career model is becoming defunct. Some 55% of those surveyed in SEA (47% globally) consider building new career models and skills as very important. More than 47% (54% globally) have no programmes in place to build the skills of the future, and only 21 percent (18 percent globally) feel they give employees opportunities to develop themselves.

Espousing their role as drivers of change in the social enterprise, companies need to work to develop and implement robust solutions to decrease the growing skills gaps.

In addition to investing in employees’ professional development, organisations must also rethink how they invest in their employees on a personal level. Around 50% of those surveyed in SEA (43% globally) say well-being reinforces their organization’s mission, 66% (60% globally) say it improves employee retention, and 63% (61% globally) say it improves productivity and bottomline results.

But according to another study only 3% of companies think their reward offerings are very effective at motivating talent. In a new social enterprise, companies must explore more frequent rewards and other incentives like vacation time or student-loan forgiveness.

Similar to the trend seen globally, Southeast Asian organisations are seeing an increased proliferation of alternate workforce and career models.

These organisations are turning to contingent and part time workers and even crowdsourcing to get the critical talent they need. This change requires open talent platforms to be in place. But the technology and business processes in Southeast Asia are struggling to keep up.

“Employers are sensing this change, and are already beginning to react by building more flexible benefit platforms that focus on the individual. They are also beginning to design their organisations with networks of teams, and revitalising their performance management processes to give employees instant and relevant feedback and rewards,” said Mr Maclean.

HR is really the only organisation stakeholder qualified and positioned to make this change.

Managing the increasing fluidity in the workplace requires digital savvy managers who are willing to zoom in on talent strategies and issues, he added.

“This also means helping employees develop leadership capabilities such as coaching, agile project deployment and design thinking. Companies must also strive to create a digital-oriented culture that eliminates fear of failure and promotes innovation and ideas should be on every CHRO’s to-do list,” said Mr Maclean.

LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY

AI, robotics, automation, and people analytics show no signs of slowing down, and companies are reconciling a demand for human skills and the need for increased productivity. While 78% of SEA respondents (72% globally) see this area as important, only 23% (31% globally) feel ready to address it.

Automation is here to stay and will improve scale, speed and quality, said Brett Walsh, Deloitte’s global human capital leader, Deloitte Global.

“It is important to remember that as routine work is automated, new jobs will be created — jobs that are more serviceoriented, interpretive, social and play to our essential human skills,” he said.

Executives anticipate a growing requirement for complex problem-solving (71% in SEA, 63% globally), cognitive abilities (65% in SEA, 55% globally), and social skills (50% in SEA, 52% globally). To that end, 80% of SEA respondents (70% globally) believe workers will spend more time on collaboration platforms in the future and 73% (76% globally) anticipate growth in “work-based social media.”

As a flood of new workplace communications tools augments team-based work, 55% of SEA organisations (47% globally) cite the productivity of the hyper-connected workforce as a very important issue.

PEOPLE ANALYTICS

As technology permeates the workplace, people analytics is at the top of executives’ minds, with 92% of SEA respondents (84% globally) rating it as important or very important. But only 8% of SEA respondents (10% globally) feel very ready to deal with this challenge.

With 62% of companies (64% globally) actively managing legal liability related to their organisation’s people data, only 16% (22% globally) have excellent processes to safeguard this data, exposing them to additional risks that can threaten their status as a social enterprise if not proactively managed.

In the past year, organisations have become laser-focused on how automation will impact their workforces.