The balance between people management, innovation and the future of work for business growth

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In 2021, society and mainly business managers prepared for the resumption of economic activity after the beginning of vaccination in Brazil against the covid-19 pandemic. New work processes and the restructuring of institutions were the goal of management, but it was essential to adapt the processes to take care of the most important: people. After a full year of transformations, discussions, doubts and needs for organizations and leaders, society designs the future of work and its solutions. In the 4th edition of the Research on People Management Trends, conducted by Great Place to Work, the pandemic left four important legacies for People Management: the qualification of leaders, which takes a leading role in the priorities of companies; the redesign of institutions, with the addition of new formats or working hours, which have led to changes in the granting of benefits to employees; the focus on mental health, not only in corporate environments, but as a whole; and the appreciation of the internal communication of organizations.

Looking at the results presented in the research, we saw throughout 2022 a change in the behavior of companies and their managers. The biggest change was in the investment in development and training of leaders, to ensure the construction of emotionally healthy work environments and to achieve strategic results. Among the most valued characteristics in leadership are “resilience”, “alignment with strategy” and “empathy and humanized management’’. However, the market seeks people with skills in very diverse fields, showing the complexity of current times and organizational demands. A curious fact leads us to evaluate the innovation scenario of companies; according to the research, the main obstacle to innovation in institutions was the “leadership mentality”. That is, from what it seems, there is still a discrepancy between the leadership needed for the future and the existing leadership. This proof that there is a path to be followed by the leaders also appeared in the recent research developed in partnership with FGV-EAESP, Grupo Stefanini, Talenses Group and MIT Sloan Review Brasil. The study called “Dichotomies in the Future of Work: Understand how managers can make decisions about the models to be adopted in the midst of so many uncertainties” evaluates the different degrees of agreement of people in relation to themes that permeate the future of work. The researchers interviewed 508 professionals from all over the country about 33 changes that have been presented by scholars as the likely parameters of work in the future. These changes are divided into four pillars: Nature of Labor, Labor Force, Execution of Labor and Education for Work. The objective was to understand which of these changes already obtain great agreement, which generate great disagreement, and which are considered still undefined, something open.

“We measured the degree of agreement with grades 0 to 10 in ascending order and also measured the consistency of responses by a percentage of standard deviation. And that’s how we discovered strong dichotomies. The existence of divergences, especially among executives of the same organization, requires a closer look at the internal alignment and clear identification of problem areas to minimize noise (according to the concept defined by Daniel Kahneman) and ensure that resource allocation decisions have the maximum impact on business results”, explains Paul Ferreira, Professor of Strategy and Leadership at FGV-EAESP and responsible for research and methodology.

Among the main findings of the research are 13 statements that indicate changes that will certainly happen, characterized by a homogeneity in the agreement between the respondents. Among them are: “jobs that require creativity and innovation will be highly valued and well paid”; “there will be major changes in contractual employment relationships towards temporary and flexible contracts”; “technological innovations will require a constant requalification of the workforce”; and “the ‘work from anywhere’ model will have great relevance in the reasons for workers to accept a work proposal.” “It is important to emphasize that the debate on the future of work is essentially a debate about the future of society and to discuss this issue widely becomes indispensable,” argues Marcelo Ciasca, CEO of Stefanini Brazil.

The FGV-EAESP study reinforces what Great Place to Work research had pointed out and shows that another valued factor in the development of people and companies is communication. The adoption of hybrid, remote and flexible formats remains a major challenge for institutions, who need to find the right technologies to maintain the flow of information and find the ideal processes so that all people on the team feel equally contemplated in the exchange of corporate information. In this way, they can guarantee the alignment, sense of belonging and maintenance of organizational culture among all.

It is noteworthy that mental health and well being gain more and more space in the success model of several companies, regardless of their size. They have as a constant challenge to find new ways to offer mental health benefits to employees. The theme is so important that the 26th edition of the ranking of the “150 Best Companies to Work in Brazil” GPTW, announced last October 17th, introduced the “Emotional Health Highlight”, which recognized 15 companies that came out for the great indexes related to the health and well being of their leaders and employees. Among the winners are Mercado Livre, Viacredi and Salesforce and Teltec. The study conducted with the 150 best shows that companies are maturing more and more in their management of people especially in topics such as health and diversity that has been growing both in the strategy and in the actions of companies. 90% of the winners indicated that they have adopted practices related to the theme in the last 20 months.

Regarding the work model, the contemporary dynamics of the professional world is already a reality: 87% of the awarded companies indicated that they have flexible hours for employees in the organization; 77% of the companies indicated that they have hybrid hours, and 62% of these companies indicated that more than 50% of employees are eligible for the practice. In the unpublished research by Talenses Group, the companies claimed the following: 62% have a wellness program, 92% have a program with internal welfare actions, such as lectures and content, 40% have flexible benefits. Among their priorities, well-being appears at 63%, tied with the increase in profit. This shows that investing in people and the socio-emotional development of employees, managers and leaders are part of the new agenda of companies and their growth plans.

According to Luiz Valente, CEO of Talenses Group, “discussing the future of work is highly relevant at this time. This theme branches out in all areas of the corporate world, ranging from the processes and culture organizations need to cultivate so as not to die in a changing world, to the skills that professionals will need to start developing today to continue to be relevant tomorrow.”

Contudo, é preciso lembrar que esse cenário precisa envolver políticas de diversidade e inclusão. Na pesquisa da GPTW, embora a maioria afirme que essa é uma pauta estratégica em sua organização, somente 12,2% respondem que a empresa em que atuam tem maturidade no tema e contribui, de fato, para uma equidade de gênero, racial, geracional, do público LGBTQI+Q e outras minorias. Segundo a pesquisa, o grupo que recebe menos atenção é o de pessoas 50+. Esse dado fica ainda mais evidente quando somado à avaliação dos dados da pesquisa do GPTW, que dá origem ao ranking das Melhores Empresas para Trabalhar no Brasil: apesar de 93% das empresas contarem com alguém responsável por combater a discriminação e promover a diversidade, o menor avanço do tema está no geracional: apenas 3% a 4% da força de trabalho está no 55+ e 12% entre 45 a 55 anos.

“We can say that last year was a restructuring for most companies, that had to understand how they could adapt to new scenarios and adapt their processes to take care of the most important: people. The challenge now is to keep all employees focused on the mission and values of each company in diverse environments, with multiple points of contact and often having to resort to asynchronous communication. The corporate world is striving to answer these questions after challenging but transformative trials that are essential to the future of work,” concludes Ruy Shiozawa, Co-founder and former CEO of Great Place to Work Brazil.

Com esse cenário já é possível encontrar bons exemplos de mudança de gestão que tem como retorno o aumento de receita, e comprova que investir em pessoas pode dar lucro. Esse é o caso do Grupo Linear, pioneira em desenvolvimento de escoamento no país, desde fevereiro de 2022 aderiu ao programa Parceiros para a Excelência (Paex), disponibilizado pela Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC), sendo representada em Santa Catarina pela Fritz Müller – Hub de Conhecimento. Segundo Roni Branco, diretor comercial da corporação, essa ação tem sido uma forma de potencializar resultados de um modelo de gestão que alinha propósito, estratégia, inovação e impacto social. A empresa já está na fase de mentorias, iniciando o processo de reuniões de Avaliações Gerenciais Mensais. “É um investimento que está levando o Grupo Linear a uma nova visão de estrutura gerencial, um novo jeito de encarar o mercado e que vai aumentar o patamar de competitividade da empresa”, destaca Roni. Desde o ingresso no programa os resultados já são visíveis: a receita de 2022 já tem um crescimento acumulado de 30,4%, de janeiro a setembro.

Listening to the collaborators was also a lesson learned and follows in the leadership management maps. At NANNAI Resort & Spa, a hotel group in Pernambuco, the creation of a new STM (Strategic Talent Management) department allowed the opening of a space to listen to employees. They were encouraged to bring to managers the important issues so that their longings could be resolved. Thus, 400 employees of the two hotels of NANNAI Spa&Resort - Muro Alto and Fernando de Noronha were mapped, and it was possible to make the vague/position relationship and behavioral profile, evaluate the performance with algorithms and history to follow the PDIs of each employee. With a more in-depth screening for talent retention, hiring errors were avoided and turn-over reduction was promoted, moving people to the “right stage”, improving their performance. “We had a goal of reducing our staff turnover from 3.4% to 1.6%. And then, the obvious path. It was the strategy focused precisely on them, the people! By offering them benefits and care that we understand to be the same as the ones we like to receive, the account has closed,” said Paulo Amaral, general manager of the hotels.

Changes in the workplace are just beginning, there is a long way to go, but one thing is unanimous among experts: the future of companies depends on people, and they should receive encouragement and investment. Thus, all grow and naturally are promoted the engagement and permanence of talents in the organization, which will bear positive fruit in market expansion and profit generation. Companies that do not direct their efforts to improve the work environment and offer really positive experiences for people will lose space in the market.

Fontes: Pesquisa – A agenda da liderança de RH em 2023 / Talenses Group / Gympass

Estudo – Ranking das 150 Melhores Empresas para Trabalhar no Brasil – GPTW

Pesquisa Dicotomias no Futuro do Trabalho / FGV-EAESP, Grupo Stefanini, Talenses Group e MIT Sloan Review Brasil

Relatório Tendencias de Gestão de Pessoas em 2022 / GPTW