“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” – Simon Sinek

Managing employees in a way that keeps them emotionally invested in the business can be a challenge, but it is not an impossible feat. Employee management can be defined as the systematic identification, attraction, retention and development of human capital required to fulfill business requirements.

Managing employees and their expectations is important for all organisations and will be of even more significance to companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) who are preparing themselves for the inclusion of women in the workplace. In this article, which is part two of the series, we will continue to review how organisations will need to prepare themselves, particularly in the way they manage their employees for the increasing gender diversity that will start to arrive in their workplace.

Recruitment and Retention

While recruitment may seem like a fundamental and sometimes straightforward HR activity, if not carried out correctly, it can result in difficulties in attracting and retaining talent. At a time when gender diversity is an ever-increasing priority for organisations, it will be even more crucial to develop and implement a robust recruitment process that will help to attract and retain talented women.

So, how can companies prepare for the recruitment of women?

Let’s explore some of the preferences of female candidates along with the small changes that companies can make to facilitate the talent acquisition process:

[Source: Fairygodboss_2017_Women_in_the_Workplace_Report_q2qsax.pdf ]

Advertising and promoting gender diversity policies and practices may help companies to attract suitable female candidates, however, living the policies in day to day operations will help increase retention of female talent. Unsurprisingly, financial compensation remains the most important factor for female employees when deciding to stay in their current role or with their current employer.

Compensation & Benefits

Despite the importance and media attention on equal pay in the recent past, the World Economic Forum (WEF) reported in 2017, that for the first time since 2006, the global gender income gap is widening. They estimate that it will take 217 years to close this gap.

While this news is disappointing, some companies like Adobe, SalesForce, WholeFoods, Microsoft, Intel and Accenture have started taking measures to reduce and eliminate the gender income gap in their organisations. Furthermore, Iceland has become the first country in the world to legally incorporate gender equal pay practices. Fortunately, companies in KSA can ensure from the very beginning that they compensate employees, regardless of gender, equitably and according to the true value of the job that they will perform.

To ascertain the ‘value’ of each job role, it is important to conduct a job evaluation exercise and benchmark C&B accordingly. The implementation of a robust and fair compensation and benefits framework can go a long way in creating and administering internal pay-equity in a company.

• Are we prepared to offer the same compensation to a male and female employee performing the same job?
• Will we pay the same allowances to both men and women?
• Are we prepared to provide both men and women with the same benefits?

With comprehensive C&B frameworks in place, companies can strive for transparency in their compensation practices.

Performance Management

Besides enhancing the company’s talent pool, recruiting women may also increase the company’s financial performance. Research shows that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women on boards financially outperform companies with the lowest representation of women on boards.

[Source: https://www.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/WhatWomenWant.FINAL_.pdf]

This brings us to the topic of performance management for women. With women entering the workplace, companies will need to prepare themselves for the manner in which they measure and evaluate performance.

Managers will need to interact with new female team members, discuss their objectives and KPI’s and provide feedback on their performance. This may not be an easy transition; therefore, companies will need to ensure that the right change management and facilitation initiatives are in place in preparation for this challenge.

Preparatory measures that organisations can take to facilitate the performance management process can include:

• Communication sessions with line managers to help them prepare for conversations with female colleagues
• Training line managers and female employees on setting SMART objectives
• Coaching line managers and female employees on how to give and receive feedback
• Training managers on the performance management framework

If you would like more information on how PeopleFirst can help your organisation, please contact us at info@peoplefirstme.com

Continuing our partnership with the American University in Dubai (AUD), PeopleFirst once again designed and evaluated a term project for the students enrolled in two separate sections of the Human Resource Management course with Professor Raj Kapoor. Students in each section were split into six teams and asked to collect, review and analyse information regarding the expectations that Centennials have from employers in today’s environment; the students were then required to present their findings and make recommendations that would assist employers and HR professionals to attract and retain this generation in the workplace.

Students had to apply their academic knowledge and analyse their findings to develop and present practical solutions on six respective HR topics: Career Development, Job Design, Onboarding, Performance Management, Compensation / Benefits and Recruitment / Selection.

The presentation skills displayed and the recommendations made from all participants were of an impressive standard and exceptionally well-articulated. The students conducted thorough research and proposed a robust set of recommendations that should be given due consideration and can potentially be incorporated in the employee value proposition offered by companies to effectively engage the Centennial workforce.

Based on the reports submitted and the presentations delivered there were two winning teams (one from each section):

Section A: Topic: Career Development

Team members: Dimple Tahiliani, Silmi Dhrolia, Yash Kapoor, Trisha Jiandani & Karan Dhakka

The key research findings and recommendations presented by the winning team are summarized below:

• Centennials have ideas and a set of skills that need to be developed which can then be used for the right job at the right time
• Companies need to continuously make efforts to enhance and develop the skills of their employees
• Some suggested that companies can use the following methods to develop skills and broaden and deepen working/business knowledge:
  • participation in group workshops
  • individual development sessions
  • cognitive training
  • team building that focuses on developing new skills
  • job shadowing
  • lateral moves within departments or across organisations to develop a breadth of knowledge
• Companies should also encourage their employees on self-development to encourage growth, resilience, confidence and accountability
• Companies should provide continuous feedback to employees to enable them to understand their areas of development
• Career development discussions should be conducted on regular intervals
• 56% of the surveyed participants felt that external training programs are effective as they expose the company and the employees to new skills, trends and encourage participation
• However, 44% of the surveyed participants felt that internal trainings were more effective as they are cost-effective, and the content is more relevant to the job
• Overall, 84% of the surveyed participants believed that career development helps improve employee performance

Section B: Topic: Job Design

Team members: Daniel Haddad, Basil Romie, Filippo Borghi, Francesca Pasqualucci & Mohannad Alzahrawi

The recommendations presented by the winning team are summarized below:

• Companies should design jobs that provide a variety of tasks to keep them engaged rather than engaging in repetitive tasks and activities; however, employers need to be cautious that many tasks are not allocated at the same time
• Employees want job titles that befit their roles which helps in eliminating ambiguity concerning their responsibilities
• Centennials prefer an independent workspace and would prefer not to share their workspace with other team members. They also aspire to be in roles that give them the ability to plan, execute and control their tasks independently
• It is recommended that employers trust Centennials to take responsibility for their work and enable them to make decisions in the workplace as employees are more likely to add value if they are given independence and given enough ‘space’ to thrive
• Mentors / coaches should be assigned to new employees to ensure successful on-boarding
• Rigid or fixed working times do not appeal to Centennials therefore companies should include flexibility in their job design and working practices
• Teams should be diverse with a balance of experienced and new employees to develop communication skills and build successful relationships
• Clear and transparent career progression opportunities should be made available to Centennials so that they can plan and map out their own career paths

We would like to thank AUD and Professor Kapoor for inviting us once again to participate in this initiative and congratulate the winning teams for the high quality of work that was delivered; we would also like to thank all students for their participation in this project.