The need to build an organisation of the future ranks first.
The 2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report is one of the largest of its kind, with over 10 400 executives from 140 countries participating in the global survey this year, including 295 South African business and HR leaders.
They all offered insights on the future of work and human capital’s valuable role in shaping it and Deloitte compiled a list of ten global trends, of which the top 5 for South Africa are listed below.
1. Organisation of the Future: Arriving now
Given the pace of change and the constant pressure to adapt, South African respondents have agreed with global executives who identified ‘Building the Organisation of the Future’ as the most important trend for 2017. The report states that, while global organisations are not only imagining new organisations, they are actively building them. This is in contrast to South African respondents, of which only 11% responded that they are actively building the organisation of the future, compared to 19% globally.
2. The employee experience: Culture, engagement and beyond
Globally this comes out as the fourth most important trend while 83% of South African executives have rated this as the second most important trend for 2017. Culture and engagement are vital to the employee experience and leading organisations are broadening their engagement focus to include an employee’s first contact with a potential employer through retirement and beyond. Culture includes all the behaviours that may or may not improve business performance. Meanwhile, engagement describes “how people feel about the way things work around here,” describing employees’ level of commitment to the company and to their work.
3. Talent acquisition: Enter the cognitive recruiter
While talent acquisition has been a concern for South African executives since Deloitte’s first human capital report in 2013, skill shortages are now a global challenge. Technologies and innovations - including cognitive and artificial intelligence, social collaboration, crowds, and the sharing economy - are reshaping the workforce. So, as jobs and skills change, finding and recruiting the right people has become more important than ever. In South Africa, 81% of executives rate this as very important/important while 57% rate themselves as not ready for this trend. 35% of South African organisations are currently re-evaluating their talent acquisition strategy, while 15% have no plans to update their talent acquisition strategy.
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4. Careers and learning: Real-time, all the time
Learning technology is changing rapidly. Traditional learning management systems are being complemented with and replaced by a wide range of new technologies for content creation, delivery, video distribution, and mobile use. As a result, careers and learning rose to second place globally in rated importance, with 83% of executives identifying these issues as important or very important. Results from the South African survey are summarised as follows: 27% of South African respondents state that they are restructuring their career models; 30% of South African respondents stated that they do not have clear paths in their organisations, while 16% use short term assignments as part of career development; and 8% of SA organisations are helping employees build their skills and 21% are concerned about meeting regulatory compliance.
5. Diversity and inclusion
Fairness, equity, and inclusion are now CEO-level issues around the world. Executives can no longer abdicate diversity strategies to the CHRO or chief diversity officer. A new focus on accountability, data, transparency, and “diversity through process Diversity and Inclusion has been a top-five trend for South Africa since featuring as number three in the top five trends in 2014, with 81% rating this as urgent and important. At that time, 30% rated themselves as not being ready for it and, in 2017, 80% of executives rate this trend as very important/important while 50% are not ready for it. Interestingly, 46% of South Africans rate the CEO as the primary sponsor of the diversity and inclusion.
