Speaker 1: And many questions about what working looks like for employees
Speaker 1: in one We've had a lot of discussions here, certainly
Speaker 1: at Bloomberg what trends day with us post the pandemic,
Speaker 1: tracking that as they do every year. Is the global
Speaker 1: consulting company Deloitte back with what their annual survey and
Speaker 1: global human capital shows US. Is Erica Vellini, global Human
Speaker 1: Capital leader at Deloitte Consulting on the phone in Phoenix, Arizona. Hey, Erika,
Speaker 1: nice to have you here. Amazing that we are getting
Speaker 1: ready to wrap up another year. But it's a year
Speaker 1: like no other. I can only imagine some of the
Speaker 1: discussions that you guys have been having, UH, specifically there
Speaker 1: at Deloitte UH and what has shown up in this survey. UH.
Speaker 1: Talk to me a little bit about some of the highlights. Carol, great,
Speaker 1: great to be back, and I agree it has been
Speaker 1: an incredible year. I think many of us are happy
Speaker 1: to see it. In UM. The survey we surveyed UM
Speaker 1: over six thousand UH respondents around the world. We had
Speaker 1: over thirty business executives and what they told us was
Speaker 1: a few things. UM. Only of them said they were
Speaker 1: actually prepared for the pandemic which maybe is not that surprising,
Speaker 1: But what was surprising is that when we asked what
Speaker 1: is the number one thing that you need to focus
Speaker 1: on to be prepared for unknown futures moving forward, they
Speaker 1: identified the ability of their workers to adapt, to reskill,
Speaker 1: and to assume new roles. And that's against choices like
Speaker 1: access to financial capital, access to technology investments. They anchored
Speaker 1: on what we consider the human aspect at work, what
Speaker 1: they need for their workers to be able to be
Speaker 1: prepared for the future. So what happened that was it
Speaker 1: just Erica that you know, we all realized that when
Speaker 1: everything is shut down and we all had to work differently,
Speaker 1: that unless your workers were equipped with the skills, the technology,
Speaker 1: whatever they needed, you know, your business shutdown. Exactly. We
Speaker 1: have seen during the pandemic. One of the things I
Speaker 1: think we've seen as human potential in spades. We've seen
Speaker 1: people in seconds adapt to remote and virtual working. We've
Speaker 1: seen them take on new roles, new skills, new jobs,
Speaker 1: work in new industries, and I think it's reminded us
Speaker 1: all that it's worker potential and human potential that actually
Speaker 1: is one of the biggest assets that executives have to
Speaker 1: to really leverage as they try to move forward coming
Speaker 1: out of the pandemic. Are there any companies that that's
Speaker 1: really stand out. I mean, we've been talking to a
Speaker 1: lot of CEOs at different companies and some of the strategies, techniques, technology,
Speaker 1: how they kind of made sure their workers were taken
Speaker 1: care of, had what they needed, and also just to
Speaker 1: make sure that you know, you're checking in on your
Speaker 1: employees in a good way and like just to make
Speaker 1: sure that they're okay. I don't mean necessarily spying, but
Speaker 1: also making sure that they're getting the jobs done. We
Speaker 1: had a great interview with that Bastion, CEO of Delta Airlines,
Speaker 1: and he talked about just that how they were caring
Speaker 1: for their workers. They did some extraordinary things, including UM
Speaker 1: giving leaves to over five thousand workers UM that were
Speaker 1: older and that we're at risk, UM investing heavily in
Speaker 1: rapid testing capabilities and helping their workers pivot. You know.
Speaker 1: He talked about how some of their UM folks who
Speaker 1: worked on the airlines had skills that were transferable to
Speaker 1: healthcare and they helped them to do that and to pivot.
Speaker 1: And I think it's those types of actions from organizations
Speaker 1: and CEOs that are so important because they demonstrate not
Speaker 1: just a responsibility to the workers, but a broader responsibility
Speaker 1: to the communities and society overall. And I think that's
Speaker 1: that's a big focus that we're going to see from
Speaker 1: CEO is moving forward well. And I do wonder you
Speaker 1: know what we're learning Rika just watching, you know, as
Speaker 1: I keep kidding the sausage being made, the sausage being
Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen vaccines specifically, I mean, there's been so
Speaker 1: much transparency, but this whole idea of collaboration, a global
Speaker 1: effort like it's it's a kind of reminder that when communities, countries,
Speaker 1: the world work together on a problem, you can really
Speaker 1: do something significant in a much shorter duration. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: talking about vaccine development, we had a phenomenal discussion with
Speaker 1: Astra Zenica and as they were developing their vaccine, what
Speaker 1: they talked about is how they composed teams, and they
Speaker 1: took a very non traditional approach. Um They when they
Speaker 1: put together their teams, they not only um looked at
Speaker 1: individuals who had expertise and drug development, but they brought
Speaker 1: an individuals who just had a passion what they called
Speaker 1: a passion and an excitement and energy for this effort
Speaker 1: and they believe that that and including pulling in individuals
Speaker 1: from outside their organization, from the broader ecosystem into their team,
Speaker 1: is what helped them with the speed of getting that
Speaker 1: drug out and developed. And they think that's the way
Speaker 1: forward for work. And those are some of the changes
Speaker 1: that we expect to see as work fundamentally get transformed, reimagined,
Speaker 1: and what we call re architect and moving forward. Well,
Speaker 1: push that a little further fundamentally work getting transformed, meaning
Speaker 1: what specifically, because you know, we've obviously had the debate
Speaker 1: and a lot of discussions around working from home hybrid
Speaker 1: and I get lots of different opinions on them. How
Speaker 1: does work transform really significantly? That's a lasting change, Yeah,
Speaker 1: a lasting change. Let's start with it with the most obvious,
Speaker 1: which is just what you just talked about, which is
Speaker 1: remote virtual work. We believe that most organizations are going
Speaker 1: to end up in some type of hybrid model. There
Speaker 1: was a discussion on LinkedIn today about whether we're going
Speaker 1: to move to uh a three to two model in
Speaker 1: instead of a five day work week, and you know,
Speaker 1: in the office and I think that we have learned
Speaker 1: that virtual remote work can work. But beyond that, and
Speaker 1: I think that's what's important. I think we're going to
Speaker 1: see the breakdown of organizational hierarchies, and we're gonna start
Speaker 1: to see many more organizations start to organize work in
Speaker 1: teams that cross organizational lines. I think we're going to
Speaker 1: see a lot of organizations change the way work is
Speaker 1: designed to reflect well being. They're going to look at
Speaker 1: how they're scheduling their work, how they're putting teams together,
Speaker 1: how they're giving people breaks in their day, setting policies
Speaker 1: on when people need to be on zoom um to
Speaker 1: get moved past this always on culture. And these are
Speaker 1: real changes to how work is getting done that I
Speaker 1: think we can expect to see take hold um as
Speaker 1: we enter into well was the biggest surprise in kind
Speaker 1: of talking to companies pulling together your annual report this year.
Speaker 1: The biggest surprise was, you know, I'll put in two things. One,
Speaker 1: how many business executives responded. We've been running our Deloitt
Speaker 1: Global Human Capital Trends Report for eleven years. This is
Speaker 1: the first year we had more business respondents than HR respondents,
Speaker 1: including two three CEOs and twelve hundred board and C
Speaker 1: suite leaders. That shocked me, especially in the context of
Speaker 1: a pandemic. Number two is that executives told us that
Speaker 1: said they're now focused on work reimagination. That number was
Speaker 1: pre pandemic, So we saw a doubling of executives saying
Speaker 1: not only do we need to focus on work, but
Speaker 1: we need to reimagine work. We need to take a
Speaker 1: step back and fundamentally think about how work's going to
Speaker 1: be done differently. That to me is a huge shift. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have to say that. One of the things that
Speaker 1: I think have always stood out with me. I think
Speaker 1: about Meg Whitman, you know formly of HP from ly
Speaker 1: V Bay like, who said I've been working in the
Speaker 1: office for forty years and now I'm pretty much just
Speaker 1: working from home and getting as much stuff done. Like
Speaker 1: it's just interesting the amount of CEOs who said I
Speaker 1: can do six meetings who top leaders in a morning
Speaker 1: versus I could do one you know before, and I
Speaker 1: had to fly to you see them. It's that has
Speaker 1: been a significant significant change, and they're thinking and how
Speaker 1: it applies to workers, and that that's the whole point.
Speaker 1: I mean, I view this as a moment of worker empowerment.
Speaker 1: As we've learned that all the rules, the orthodoxies, the
Speaker 1: procedures that we thought were necessary aren't necessary. That's what
Speaker 1: we learned during the crisis. We can work without them
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, in a world where rules are broken,
Speaker 1: it's an opportunity for workers to take advantage of that,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the most exciting thing. Well, really
Speaker 1: cool stuff and looking forward to seeing how it all
Speaker 1: plays out in Erica, thank you so much, Happy holidays,
Speaker 1: have a safe holiday as well. Erica Vellini, Global Human
Speaker 1: Capital Leader at Deloitte Consulting,