Prominent Issues
1. The Future of Business
According to PwC research, five mega trends shape the world: climate change, technological advances, demographic change, polarisation, and social volatility. This dynamic environment of transformation and uncertainty not only tests the agility and adaptability of the business, but also opens the door for new opportunities. Employees are becoming more adaptable in the face of changing conditions and companies are developing flexible strategies to tackle uncertainty. The results of our survey suggest that participants in Türkiye fear for the future of their work. The survey suggests employees have a more positive outlook on the business continuity of their companies than CEOs do. This suggests employees have a positive outlook on the sustainability of their work.
The percentage of participants who believe their sector-based companies will exist in the market for the next decade if they maintain their current conditions:
Questions leaders need to answer:
Is our vision inclusive and inspiring?
Employee perceptions of the sustainability of a company may be linked to how that company manages change and transformation and adapts to the technologies of the future. Successful leaders understand that their transformation plans depend on employees capable of translating the vision into action. Transformation can occur only if employees understand the company transformation, its objectives, and what it means for them. Leaders should construct a story about the company’s vision for the future and align it with the mission of the company. You can help your employees take ownership of the organisation’s vision by creating excitement and motivation through clear and transparent sharing of the vision as well as by encouraging your people to ask more questions and take part in the processes.
2. Competency Transformation
With digitalisation accelerating with the pandemic, and the new ways of working that it brought, along with the rising integration of AI in business and sustainability transformation, the skills employees need and will need in the future in their work also started to change. According to the Future of Jobs report prepared jointly by the World Economic Forum and PwC, it is estimated 44% of employee skills will need to change in the next five years. As the skills required for jobs change in this rapid transformation, the number and accessibility of platforms that employees use for learning and development are increasing. The report, Putting Skills First: A Framework for Action, jointly prepared by the World Economic Forum and PwC, highlights the importance of a competency-based approach to recruitment and talent management, and shows that only 50% of employees in Turkey have the right education for their jobs. Another prominent finding of our survey is that, compared to global results, Turkish employees believe more strongly that the skills required in their work will dramatically change.
Most participants think their work will dramatically change, but one in every three don’t have a clear idea of how they will change. Confusion about this issue could result in employees not being ready to upskill to maintain the effectiveness of their positions in the future.
Five talents that participants believe will be the most important to their careers in the next five years:
Questions leaders need to answer:
Are we preparing our organisation for talent transformation?
It’s understandable that employees do not have clear ideas about the skills that business might require in the future. However, it’s different for employers. Leaders should make the connection between organisation strategies and objectives and the expertise required to carry them out. This is not a one-time exercise. Leaders should be ready to update their plans as the landscape changes. To align your company with the rapidly changing needs of the workforce and help them transition into the work of the future, leaders should create pathways for necessary reskilling and encourage lifelong learning in the workplace. Leaders are also responsible for creating a fair future by providing equal opportunities to upskill and reskill to everyone and offering a clear path forward.
3. Artificial Intelligence
We have started talking more about AI, and AI has found a bigger place in our lives, as generative AI applications (e.g. ChatGPT) are being leveraged in workplaces and amassing hundreds of thousands of users. The survey suggests that participants believe AI will have more of a positive impact than negative and that they are mostly optimistic when it comes to AI.
The results of the use of AI tools at work are striking. More than half the participants state that they have rarely or never used AI tools in their work. This suggests that Türkiye is on the bottom rung when it comes to realising AI’s potential in business.
Questions leaders need to answer:
Are we supporting our people with awareness of AI?
Your people are probably using AI tools outside work. Invite your employees who already use AI at work and in their daily life to a brainstorming session to improve and develop AI processes. Because they know their daily work better than anyone, they will have valuable insights about where AI might be most effective. Give your employees opportunities to try out and discover AI securely (by taking the appropriate measures for access to data, confidentiality, protection of copyrights, and other sensitive issues).
4. Managers are Critical to The Culture
Employees are the most valuable source of energy, ideas, and innovation. Developing an innovation culture requires managers and leaders to create a safe environment. A safe environment allows employees to express themselves comfortably and look for new solutions boldly, thereby strengthening the culture of innovation needed for a company to maintain its competitive advantage. However, our findings show that employees are not supported when it comes to innovation culture, actions such as trying new methods critical to employee engagement and transformation, discussing ideas, or questioning the status-quo. This problem is more prominent than CEOs believe. The survey suggests that employees are more inclined to change the company they work for when their work environments do not align with their values and objectives, when they cannot be themselves, and when the work environment is not fulfilling.
Questions leaders need to answer:
Am I a part of the problem?
Developing an innovation culture for a company requires managers and leaders to create a safe environment. Innovation blossoms in an environment where employees can be themselves, share new ideas freely, learn from mistakes, and express their creative opinions without holding back. If you were “brought up” in a work environment where expectations and the line of command and control were crystal clear, it might feel counter-intuitive for you to encourage your people to take risks and solve problems using unconventional methods. You can start by differentiating between small mistakes that are part of daily work and big mistakes/risks that need to be managed with rules and measures. Also, as a leader, you should be a role model for the behaviours that align with the culture you want to create. Are you trying new methods? Do you take risks that support making mistakes? Do you openly communicate with your team when you are having a hard time? If your answer is no, start now.
5. Cost-of-Living Crisis
The survey PwC recently carried out on the financial health of employees shows that economic stress not only harms emotional and physical health but also productivity and employee engagement. The survey shows that financially stressed employees have five times the attention issues at work than others do. 11% of survey participants state they have more than one job. The percentage is even higher for employees who have a hard time paying their bills (26%) and those who usually cannot pay their bills (30%).
Questions leaders need to answer:
Do we consider financial health at work?
With COVID-19, many companies took initiatives focused on well-being, and this focus has been maintained after the pandemic. Addressing well-being holistically, beyond physical and mental health concerns, and including financial health is gaining importance. You can help your employees by providing financial consulting and financial support programs for urgent financial needs, developing employees' financial literacy, and helping them manage financial stress.
6. What Actions are Employees Inclined to Take?
Today, it is critically important for leaders to understand what employees think about their jobs, their careers, and their workplaces. The results of the survey show that different generations have different expectations and require different actions. When we asked what actions they might take in the next 12 months, Gen X participants stated asking for a raise, Gen Y stated changing the company they work for, and Gen Z stated looking into opportunities to work abroad. This is clearly related to financial issues, since those who want to change companies and look into work opportunities abroad are mostly those who cannot afford basic needs with their household income.
Moreover, more than one third of participants state that they feel their workload has been unmanageable in the last 12 months and the reason for this is lack of resources.
These results suggest that the risk of burning-out, which has increased with the blurring of lines between work and personal time, is prevalent.
Questions leaders need to answer:
Are we managing workload efficiently?
It is critical to better plan projects so that they have reasonable objectives and delivery dates, and to revise them if necessary, as well as to provide training and resources for members of the team to improve teamwork. Poor teamwork was one reason for unmanageable workloads noted by participants. As a leader, you can organise formal and informal meetings to improve cooperation and communication within the team and construct systems and feedback mechanisms to monitor project progression. Also, it could be helpful to encourage sharing issues and looking for solutions together.
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