“The tensions of the last two years have forced us to reflect on what we really value and have the opportunity, unique for this generation, to rethink our way of working and living”. This is said by Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive, the company that deals with technological solutions for changing behavior. “We were in the midst of a global epidemic of stress and burnout even before Covid – she specifies Huffington -. Then came the pandemic and the well-being and resilience of people entered the agenda of companies around the world ». The big change on the employer front lies in companies’ greater awareness of the “direct connection between the long-term health of their profits and the health of their people.”
Flexibility is important for 96% of workers
In the transition from the health emergency to a new normal marked by more health-conscious behaviors on the part of all, workers are increasingly certain that flexibility is an increasingly important issue because it helps work well-being but also personal well-being. Consequently, the fiduciary relationship and the corporate purpose also become important. ManpowerGroup and Thrive heard 5,000 workers in five countries, Australia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy, where there were 1,000 respondents. In our country 96% consider flexibility important, albeit with different nuances. There are those (51%) who bind it to working hours and the possibility of choosing the beginning and end, those (17%) would like to work 4 days a week and to do so are willing to give up a day’s salary. If these are the new needs of workers, their management becomes more and more complicated.
The pandemic has accelerated change
“In recent years, the needs and demands of people in the world of work have changed profoundly. The pandemic has accelerated changes by helping to put people’s well-being at the center, in Italy as well as in the rest of the world ”, interprets Anna Gionfriddo, managing director of ManpowerGroup Italia. All this is grafted onto “a key factor in today’s labor market, namely the scarcity of talent: in our country, employers expect hires to increase by + 23% for the third quarter of this year, but to this figure, counteracts an increasing difficulty in finding the necessary talent, as reported by nearly three out of four companies. In this context, the attention to the needs and requirements of people, inside and outside the workplace, by company leaders, assumes a fundamental importance in retaining the best talents, attracting new ones and growing with them “.
The relationship of trust grows
Flexibility brings with it the growing importance of trust, between colleagues and with bosses, which is considered important by 82% of Italian workers. And it comes before the fairness of pay (88%), the safety of working conditions (87%), while trust in leaders was considered a necessary requirement by more than two thirds of the interviewees (69%). In the same way, purpose gains importance, because people say (69% 9 want to work in companies whose values and convictions they share and 73% seek personal meaning in their work. These are answers that open a reflection on the work to be done in the human resource management to create the climate and work environment in which people feel better and can be more productive.