The rise of personalisation at work – and why HR and people leaders need to pay attention.
In the post Covid work world, the age of one size fits all is over.
Employees are demanding more and more that they be seen for who they are, for their values and the contribution that they can make.
And more than this, employees today are also demanding that their employer tailor their role to suit their life needs. It’s not about work-life balance any more – it’s about work fitting in with expectations of what life should look and feel like.
For employers and their organisations, this is also true. Brands and companies are looking to build unique cultures and to drive unique outcomes that differentiate them from the pack. This has always been true for brands, but in the race for the customer dollar, the pace is picking up.
And this is a great thing. Employees who feel aligned work harder, contribute more, and bring their passion. This deeper connection makes it a super interesting time to be in HR, especially if you love data and building a deep understanding of what makes people tick.
Companies and people leaders are moving away from seeing employees as a whole, and are thinking of them as a combination of a whole bunch of interesting moving parts.
Every individual is a beautiful and crazy combination of skills, attitudes, personality, experience and different qualities that help to understand who they are and how they fit to certain roles.
Over the past 18 months, TALY has been out talking to talent teams, HR professionals and industry experts to understand how the people landscape is changing – informing how HR technology can make more of an impact.
Over the next 4 weeks, we’ll be sharing the key trends we’ve uncovered. Today, we start with the rise of personalisation.
Get in touch to find out more about how you can use TALY profiling to give you the insights you need to build great teams - from recruitment onwards! Or Book a Demo today to see how easy it is to start using TALY in your business.
Personalisation is not a new idea - but it’s ramping up!
In a lot of ways, the rise of personalisation at work is just getting started. But in other industries, this trend has been evolving for many years.
Here are a few examples I’m sure your well aware of…
The travel industry has been leading the charge here for years… 69% of travellers will be more loyal to a provider that personalises their experiences.
Fashion and your personal style has always been a space for personalisation, but in recent years this has accelerated even further. This trend has evolved to encompass personalised fabrics, tailoring options, and even smart clothing. Technological advancements have paved the way for individuals to choose fabrics that can change colour based on mood or environment.
Brands and marketing have also always known about the importance of personalisation. But with technology and stronger individualised insights, brands now have the ability to communicate one-on-one on mass, building personal connections. Consumers are drawn to personalised ads that make them feel seen, heard, and understood. 39% of Gen X and millennials say ads that change content or promotions based on specific consumer behaviour are the most effective.
And even brands like Gatorade are changing the merging of sport and consumer goods with technology and wearables… Gatorade has rolled out the Gx System, a wearable that tracks critical body data to offer “intelligence to help them make choices about everything from their fuelling plan to training to recovery… supporting athletes like never before,”
What does this mean for work?
If our lives are evolving to a world of personalisation, we expect the same at work.
For employees today, values matter. They want to be part of a tribe where they feel seen and understood - where they can be themselves in the way that aligns with who they want to be.
It’s all about engagement. Today you can’t just expect employees to work hard - we’re not in the factory any more under the control of the heavy hand where people toil away.
Diversity is real self-expression and individual identity is the norm. This diversity of individuals and character, and also diversity of thought, is great for outcomes and needs to be respected and reflected at work.
In workplaces, this has of course led to the rise of EX – the employee experience. But now it’s heading to a whole new level.
In workplaces, the major trends developing as a result of this focus on the individual include things we all know about - right to disconnect; hybrid working and work from home; 9 day fortnights; a focus on diversity, including neurodiversity; dental, health or other employee well-being programs; and more.
But beyond this, we need to get down deep and really think about job crafting. To start thinking about how you can hyper-personalise your job, consider:
• When and how you work your best, and in what environment
• What you find engaging and meaningful
• Where your strengths lie
• The ideal pace of work and your desired mix of responsibilities
In short, it’s about understanding your personality.
What does this mean for leaders?
The first few months in a new role are critical – but focusing on individual needs and shaping a role that aligns individual needs with corporate needs right across the employee lifecycle is essential.
Employees that feel seen and understood in the first 6 months at work are 80% more likely to stay and 72% faster in getting up to speed. It’s a no brainer.
Recruitment
Build a recruitment process – from sourcing right through to contract – that is open and inclusive. Leverage technology and tools to help truly connect with and understand the individual – and most importantly leave your bias and previous expectations at the door.
On boarding and the first six months
Open dialogue, regular feedback and two-way, honest conversations are an essential starting point. But beyond this, organisations need to start from a position of trust – and add a little more flexibility into their policies and procedures. If workplaces are too rigid, the opportunity for personalisation is killed right from the start.
Staff mobility and retention
Personalisation means thinking outside the box – and that means not pigeon-holing or putting people in a box to start with! As team members grow and evolve, exploring their personality, interests and skills and how these might best align across different areas of the business can help to hang on to great talent – and to keep them firing at a high level.
Leveraging technology to take away the burden and heavy lifting
Obviously the challenge of personalisation is the burden this puts on leaders. Today, leaders are at peak capacity and many are feeling burnt out – so adding another layer of time and effort to shaping the EX for each team member can feel challenging.
AI and HRTech and other tech platforms can take some of this heavy lifting – and the good ones do this without adding more to the leader’s plate.
But ultimately it all starts with why. If we want to build a workplace that respects the needs of individuals – and meets their expectations – we need to create a two-way dialogue that shares openly the purpose of actions. When we align on purpose, we can shape the way we get their to individual needs and let go of the old ways.
The TALY approach to personality profiling brings together a unique mix of Five Factor and Emotional Intelligence profiling to help organisations, hiring managers and teams to make better decisions about recruitment and teams.
Get in touch to find out more… we love talking about this stuff! Or Book a Demo today to see how easy it is to start using TALY in your business.