2021 Employment Trends? Soft Skills, Flexible Work Arrangements, Pay Transparency (!) and more!

"I Can See for Miles and Miles..."

Workplace Trends 2021

We found an excellent article entitled 15 Employment Trends Shaping The Future Of Jobs, published on feedough.com in February 2021, and authored by Shubhangi Srinivasan.

Interestingly, it appears to have been written pre-pandemic (in 2019) but, that said, it includes worthwhile information and data. It is fittingly lengthy (big set of topics), so we would break some of the more interesting findings down into bite-size pieces (with some cool pictures!).

Here goes (the large font indicates direct quote from aforementioned article, and red font = links in that article)!

How Are Your Soft Skills?

HR Says: Soft Skills in Job Candidates Are Increasingly Important

According to a survey on global trends conducted by LinkedIn, 92% of the surveyed HR professionals and hiring managers are now focused on soft skills because they are considered more important than hard skills.

If you are wondering, "soft skills are things such as empathy, leadership, teamwork, emotional stability and intelligence, creativity, communication skills, etc. Hard skills are things such as education, accreditations, experience in the field, etc.

Employees Take Control of Their Work Environment, With Management's Blessing

We are all immigrants in America, as you know. Have we ever stopped to think, though, that everyone we work for and with, are employees just like us? You have a car payment - so does the boss. You were forced to work at home during the pandemic - so was the boss. You want control over your work environment - so does your boss.

What Are You Wearing (at Work)?

Can You Hear the Birds Sing as You Type (Like I Can)?

Working from Home is Here to Stay

Flexible work arrangements were on the rise before Covid, and they will continue to characterize American work life in the coming years and decades. The emphasis is no longer on where you work, but on the quality and productivity your work demonstrates. And, that's a good thing.

So 2015!

There is an Emphasis on Ending Workplace Bullying and Harassment

According to the LinkedIn report [the aforementioned survey on global trends], 71% of professionals globally agree that harassment prevention is a very important trend for the present and future of hiring and HR. Overcoming harassment and creating a supportive work culture calls for a combination of policies and action. Improved diversity and inclusion at all levels of your organization can go a long way in creating a safe environment where employees feel safe asking for help.

Not Sure All Would Agree Pay Transparency is a Thing

Does Your Company Have Pay Transparency?

Ha, ha, not so sure about this one!

PayScale asked 93,000 people how well they thought they were getting paid, relative to the overall job market. Two-thirds of the surveyed were wrong with their assessment and most of them believed that they were being underpaid. This problem arises because employees often don’t know how much their co-workers are getting paid, and this can cause trust issues within the workplace.

According to LinkedIn, pay transparency has increased by 136% since 2014. The objective of pay transparency is to ensure that every employee is being paid fairly for the work they put in. Pay transparency ensures that companies tackle inequalities such as gender pay gaps. It also helps in building trust in the workplace and underpinning efforts of a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Pay transparency may be up, but what exactly is an increase of 136% of "extremely rare." We think that companies sometimes insist on pay transparency for lower level employees, so as to "keep them in line" and have an easy answer when someone asks for more money ""We would love to, you deserve it, but with this gosh darn pay transparency, well, then everyone would ask for a raise."

We do not, however, believe that the wage scale for vice-presidents and the like is made public within many offices!

We Whistle While We Work...

Employers Know That Their Workplace Culture Precedes Them in an Interview - Companies Focused on Emphasizing Their Own Soft Skills to Employees and Candidates

As much as an interview is about finding a candidate who will be the right fit for your company, it is also about finding the right company whose workplace culture, wages and opportunity appeal to the job seekers. Employees no longer work just for the money; they want to thrive and be happy at their workplace. Flexibility, holidays and bonuses are a great way to make the job more appealing.

According to LinkedIn, job seekers research the reputation of an organization before they can apply for a job with them. Employer branding is one of the most important factors in play here.

So, unwittingly or not, we are back to soft skills! For a company, "hard skills" are measured in pay scale and benefits. And, that used to be enough. If you want the best employee candidates (based upon their hard skills), pay more money than the next guy or gal. Easy peasy.

Not anymore.

Read: People do not quit companies, they quit toxic work cultures!, by Brigette Hyacinth on Linked In, which begins...

I resigned from a job because of the toxic work culture. Yes, the salary was great but the job was consuming all my time. You do owe your employer your best work everyday, but you don't owe your employer your personal life or health.

A toxic work environment results from a failure of leadership starting at the top of the organization and filtering all the way down. You cannot fix a toxic culture with imposing vision and mission statements. It takes more than some catchy phrases to create a great culture. It's been my experience that toxic work cultures are caused by bad bosses. This is because of their corrosive effects on employee morale and job satisfaction.