Last year the SAP SuccessFactors HR Research Team published eight meta-trends for 2021.  Many of these, specifically employee well-being, hybrid work environments, and internal mobility, are predicted to continue well into 2022 and beyond.  We know these trends are happening, but how can we help ensure employees are given the support they need so that they can bring their whole self to work to help them and their organization be successful?

Trend: Well-being

Like other working parents, work-life balance has always been a struggle for me, and the last two years were significantly more difficult due to increased responsibilities and stress at both work and home. Luckily I was able to work with my manager to manage my workload as much as possible.  How? Through regular 1:1s we established an ongoing dialogue to help me stay focused, reprioritize, and more importantly, depriortize when necessary.  Deprioritizing gave me permission to say “no” to certain tasks, lessen my workload, which helped me achieve a healthier work-life balance.

And let’s face it, some people are better at balancing their professional and personal life than others.  If you know someone like this, reach out to them for guidance.  Ask them to help coach you on how you too optimize your well-being.  It could be as simple as blocking off time in your calendar to step away from your desk and take a break.  Or as many of us are still waiting to return to the office, perhaps a colleague could mentor you on which technologies can help you be more efficient when working from home. Finding mentors who can recommend ways to reduce stress and simplify work can really help make your personal and professional life more enjoyable and productive.

Trend: Hybrid Work Environment

A study by Accenture shows that 83% of employees prefer a hybrid work model. Organizations need to offer this as an option if they want to attract and retain top talent. But how can you help ensure employees are working on the right things and staying on track when they’re not in the workplace?  Again, regular 1:1s with managers can help as it facilitates ongoing dialogue that’s critical in helping people feel connected even though they may be physically separated from each other.  Also, tools that make it easy for employees to track their day-to-day activities as well as give managers visibility into the status of these activities helps ensure employees stay focused no matter where they are.

And timely feedback also helps foster a feeling of connectedness in a hybrid work environment.  Note the emphasis on the word timely.  If feedback is received too late it loses context, relevance, and impact.  When given at the right moment in time, managers can help employees course correct if necessary, or make them feel appreciated for a job well done.  Making sure employees can give or receive feedback anytime, anywhere will result in a more engaged and productive workforce.

Trend: Internal Mobility

Internal mobility has always been important to organizational success but the last two years have shown a spotlight on just how critical it is.  In a paper published by Deloitte, internal mobility is important because, “Hiring people with critical skills is highly competitive; workers who want to reinvent themselves don’t necessarily want to leave their current employer; internal mobility can be a way to embed collaboration and agility into an organization’s culture, which is one of the key attributes of becoming a true social enterprise; and agile organizations and career models dramatically improve employee engagement and commitment.” Internal mobility is good for employees, which in turn means it’s good for business, too.  By leveraging internal talent, you reduce recruiting costs.  And by investing in existing employees you show them you value them which increases employee engagement and their overall experience.

So how can you increase internal mobility?  Start by helping employees create their own career paths, and identify what their next role could be.  Once they know this, they can determine what, if any, areas they need to improve upon.  They can then find learning activities to help address any skills gaps they may have.  This will prepare employees for the next role, keep them engaged, all while retaining your organization’s top talent!

How Technology Can Help

If you’re looking for ways on how to help improve the well-being of your employees, better provide a hybrid work environment and facilitate internal mobility for your workforce, SAP SuccessFactors can help.  Our SAP SuccessFactors Performance and Goals solution provides continuous performance management capabilities for:

• Regular 1:1 meetings where employees and managers can track discussion topics for more structured and productive meetings, including what to prioritize and where employees need support to help improve overall work-life balance.
• Ongoing feedback so employees know what they’re doing well or where they need to improve. This transparency alleviates any unexpected surprises which helps gives employees peace of mind and improves well-being.  Feedback also helps your workforce feel more connected which is critical as more organizations adopt a hybrid workforce model.

And the SAP SuccessFactors Succession and Development solution offers:

• Mentoring capabilities to automate matching mentors with mentees. Whether it’s finding someone to share best practices on balancing professional and personal life, or how to leverage the latest and greatest technology as we continue to work from home, our solution can help.
• Career worksheet to provide career exploration opportunities with suggested roles; assess readiness for the next role; create development plans; and target learning activities for skills gaps to help improve internal mobility for employees.

For more information on these solutions or the SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite, check out our website at www.sap.com/hr.