Several months ago, when Macy’s Inc. was looking to hire an estimated 40,000 temporary workers for the holiday season, John Patterson, the company’s vice president of talent, made a small request: Don’t post “We’re Hiring” signs.
“Frankly, everyone is hiring,” he said.
To stand out in a tight job market, the company created a “new expression around candidate branding,” Patterson said. Instead of “we’re hiring,” the message “bring your awesome self to work” appeared in job postings in their stores and on the corporate website.
It turned out that a simple language tweak, plus raising the department store’s hourly minimum wage to $15, was the key to fully staffing stores and warehouses ahead of the year-end shopping rush. Macy’s will enter 2023 with 97 percent of corporate jobs filled, and close to that number for hourly positions, Patterson said.
“It’s tough, it’s heavy lifting, but it feels like we have good talent and they stick around,” he said.
For talent leaders, this year was all about crisis management: Workers quit at record rates and labor shortages made those positions hard to fill. Companies scrambled to set new policies on everything from wages to remote work as the fallout from the pandemic made its way into the job market.
Unpredictability will also be a recurring theme in 2023, experts say. Although many companies have solved big questions from the pandemic era, new ones are on the horizon. They include a possible recession that will require layoffs in some areas, even as labor shortages leave some key positions vacant. Keeping employees engaged during difficult times and maintaining a commitment to equity as the energy of the 2020 social justice protests recedes is both a challenge and, in many cases, a mandate.
Here, the BoF explores three workplace themes to watch in 2023.
retention over recruitment
Many fashion companies have spent the last two years responding to talent gaps in areas like supply chain, technology and sales. As labor shortages peaked in 2022 and “The Great Quit” proved that companies shouldn’t presume on employee loyalty, more companies are starting to tilt their talent investment toward retention over recruiting. say the experts.
“Instead of overhiring now or [resorting] to layoffs in a recession, there is a real opportunity to think about how you can groom and leverage your talent or create cross-functional roles in these businesses,” said Lisa Yae, managing partner of the Retail & Luxury Goods Practice at Hanold Associates.
In 2023, companies will need to place greater emphasis on providing opportunities such as educational grants and training programs, building flexibility into all job functions, providing consistent face-to-face time with leadership, and helping their workforce see opportunities for growth long term within the organization.
Macy’s now offers an educational benefit whereby employees can earn four-year college degrees that the company pays for entirely, Patterson said. The company also sponsors certificates, training programs such as “English as a Second Language,” cybersecurity, product management, and courses in other “hot skills” that it believes will be useful in the department store in the future.
At True Religion, Theresa Watts, senior vice president of human resources, diversity, equity and inclusion, said the company has learned that pay increases and fancy job titles alone aren’t enough to keep people engaged at work. .
“In 2023, I am investing in areas like employee relations and giving our people things like paid volunteer hours and more time for personal lives,” he said. “We can’t let people quit without a job lined up because they’re so [desperate] have more time with their families.
As the economy cools, companies must resist the temptation to reduce their investments in talent and, where possible, find ways to utilize existing talent rather than lay off jobs to avoid labor shortages in the future. future, Yae said.
The new suite C
The past year has been tumultuous for fashion’s C-suite: CEO changes occurred at The Gap, The RealReal, Glossier and Chanel, just to name a few, and the turnover trend could accelerate in 2023, experts say. The shakeup could create an opportunity (and challenge) for HR leaders and boards to redefine who should lead a fashion company, said Paula Reid, president of Reid & Co Executive Search.
In a hybrid office culture where employees are set in their expectations for flexibility, effective leaders must be top-notch communicators who consistently demonstrate agility, transparency and empathy, experts say.
“We have always talked about hard skills versus soft skills in leadership; soft skills have really changed in a very significant way,” she said. “Leadership now has much more to do with partnership, creating transparency, and building community.”
New and evolving leadership roles in areas such as diversity, sustainability and environment, social and governance could also take significant shape in 2023 as more UK and US regulations come into force and companies start learn how they can design these features more effectively, Yae said. she said she.
“We’re seeing a lot more of those roles get mixed up,” he said. “Some organizations are realizing that while [diversity, equity and inclusion] ESG and ESG are big issues, there tends to be so much crossover that maybe one [area] could fall under the other.”
However, companies will need to be careful how they allocate their DEI roles next year, as the high turnover that hit the chief diversity officer role in 2022 is a concern for many minority employees and consumers who fear that fashion recedes, said Devin Wheeler, president of Bond Creative Management.
“The investment that we have seen in companies in terms of raising their positioning, their dedication and consideration around diversity is important for many reasons,” he said. “Companies really need to continue to focus and invest in these things.”
Address blind spots
As hybrid work models become the norm and more employees expect flexibility and balance in their day to day, fashion brands will need to pay attention to how new ways of working impact their company culture and ensure that their leaders can foster community and measure employees. performance fairly.
For example, while many companies, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, have embraced remote work in some way, leaders who prefer their teams to be in the office could be biased toward employees who choose to work in person more. than their peers.
“What is the right balance? How do you think about performance in an equitable way?” Yae said. “How do you make sure promotion opportunities are fair when you have half your workforce who elect to come in, half who come in weekly, and half who are completely remote?”
In many cases, new work models require intentionality, agility and openness on the part of leadership, Watts said.
“We have to focus on building culture, developing leadership, mentoring and strengthening connections as people work remotely,” he said.
Source: news.google.com