Louise Aston
Wellbeing Campaign Director, Business in the Community (BITC),
the Prince’s Responsible Business Network
The pandemic and the global humanitarian crises have caused many people to reassess how they think about life, work and what they want out of both.
Since the pandemic, perceptions have changed about what makes a ‘good’ job. Expectations have become more aspirational as to what people want. More jobseekers and employees want flexibility as to how, where and when they work, with many expecting hybrid working patterns as a normal feature.
Businesses are competing for people
With almost one in four employees1 actively planning to change employers, and with more vacancies to fill than candidates, people are no longer competing for jobs; businesses are competing for people.
This paradigm shift has resulted in creating a jobseeker-led market with candidates more discerning as to how, where and when they want to work. Employers need to move beyond the mindset of a “one size fits all” approach. The challenge for employers is to take a personalised and inclusive approach to meeting individual needs.
There is no one way of designing ‘good’ work. Employees should be enabled to take ownership of co-creating their own ‘good’ jobs, based on what is important to them, supported by managers and aligned with organisational practices and policies.
It is critical that employers focus their efforts on the things that can make a real difference – like their culture.
Enable good work to become a reality
The onus is on employers to demonstrate that they genuinely care, by actively listening to their people and providing tailored, personalised solutions that take an equitable and inclusive approach to protecting and enhancing the wellbeing of all employees.
By treating employees as discerning customers who have a choice to work for the organisation or not, this is the moment that businesses reframe their culture and enable ‘good’ work to become a reality.
Therefore, it is critical that employers focus their efforts on the things that can make a real difference – like their culture.
Create good jobs that allow people to thrive
Central to the BITC report, What if your job was good for you? is our Better Work Framework which provides evidence based actions as to how you can achieve a culture that enables ‘good’ jobs and ‘better’ work for all. The framework recognises that to achieve and maintain ‘good’ jobs, wellbeing needs to be integrated into to being a mainstream issue that permeates across every aspect of business.
Those organisations that will flourish are those that are as passionate about employee experience as they are about customer experience. Now is the time to create ‘good’ jobs that enable everyone to thrive and for business to prosper.
