The role of the CHRO has changed dramatically over the last four years. For the people function, the pandemic meant they were increasingly looked to by CEOs and business leaders to stabilise the workforce. Whether this was navigating the shift to remote working, mental health support, or determining new ways to recruit and retain talent.
The fragility of the workforce was brought to the general attention through headline grabbing phrases such as ‘quiet quitting’, the ‘Great Resignation’, and ‘quiet firing’. During that time, people teams became more powerful across the business. But there are now concerns this is all about to be undone.
The people-first management approaches that once defined progressive workplaces are being deprioritised in favour of hard metrics such as efficiency and impact. However, this shift is short sighted. Employee wellbeing isn’t a ‘nice to have’, it’s intrinsically linked to business success – it just needs to be demonstrated back to the business in the right way.
The way for HR to retain its power
Now more than ever, HR needs a seat at the top table to ensure employees remain a priority. Recent research* found that when employees feel productivity pressure – as they do now in a period of constant change – wellbeing drops 13% and engagement drops by 12%. And given the biggest cost for any company is its employees’ wages, surely it makes sense to spend time prioritising people’s wellbeing, engagement and productivity?
To drive real influence, HR leaders must speak the right language of business: data. But what data do they need? Historically, HR functions relied on sentiment and less tangible data to understand the employee experience (EX), but this has shifted. Organisations are now able to access more credible data to drive decision making, which has been at the forefront of navigating businesses through complex decisions.
Information on productivity levels, attrition, and absence impact as a result of wellbeing are just three examples of the information leaders can now acquire and leverage to understand and improve how employees feel in the workplace. Having the right tools in place to mine the right information out of the organisation will ensure the people team is offering advice grounded in insights, positioning them as credible experts across the business.
Bottom-line impacts to creating a strong EX
Connecting employee wellbeing to business performance isn’t about arbitrary wellbeing scores – it’s about clear impact. Keeping employees engaged means making work easier, and the best employers will focus on making work less chaotic for their people.
For example, the research found that, across the UK, when employees have their expectations met at work, they are 1.9 times more likely to trust their leaders to implement AI. There is no doubt the technology’s potential cannot be achieved without a trusted workforce, and this is where prioritising the EX can pay dividends in return.
While some may argue that organisations shouldn’t need hard numbers to justify taking care of their people, the reality is clear – data elevates the conversation. The companies that thrive in the future will be those that recognise that when employees are well, businesses perform better. It is now up to HR to retain this focus against evolving business needs, by quantifying the employee experience and qualifying their seat at the table.
