2022 worklife coaching report: moving forward in a year of big priorities.
For organizations the world over, the past two years have required adaptation and flexibility. As we enter the second half of 2022, the chaos of the previous 24 months has quelled for much of the world. Now, what we can learn from this experience is being asked. With many wondering if the desire to return to ‘business as usual’ will mean precisely that, or if organizations will evolve their processes, approaches and redefine work.
The turbulence of the talent market dubbed The Great Resignation continues and has created a hyper-competitive job market. Job postings outweigh the number of job seekers, and attrition continues to be the statistic of concern for HR professionals and business leaders. But, at some point, we have to draw a line. Employers have to stop reacting. Instead, they must be proactive in their approach to dealing with this. It’s no longer a new trend; it’s a full-blown transition in market dynamics.
To not get left behind and to limit the loss of talent, organizations need to get ahead of this. That means rethinking HR strategy at every level, so the organization, its image and culture, and its employee experience is appealing to both new and current employees. Understanding how to do this means changing the approach to talent radically and quickly, retaining existing staff, nurturing skills and development, opening up mobility inside the business, and driving business growth. To go from ‘The Great Resignation’ to ‘The Great Retention’, if you will.
Understanding these pressures and the need for forward momentum with a multi-generational workforce is the context that this report delivers on. Based on global research carried out at the start of 2022, and the observations drawn from our experience in helping businesses across the world with workforce matters, our research provides crucial insights into what HR teams need to know about coaching from both decision-makers and people leaders, along with the employees.
Among the findings you’ll learn in this year’s report:
- how coaching is critical to making change happen
- why the generational differences of a workforce need to be acknowledged
- how leadership needs to adjust its approach to workforce matters based on gender needs
- what the current perceptions of the benefits of coaching are, as seen by both employers and employees
- what are the challenges that get in the way of coaching and
- how to overcome them with practical recommendations
In the Randstad 2022 Workmonitor research, 88% of workers surveyed around the world would be interested in learning and development opportunities if their employer offered it, and 84% of people would be interested in speaking to a professional career coach if offered the chance. Furthermore, half of those surveyed said they would rank talking to a work coach about finding a better balance between their work and personal lives as a top-three benefit an employer could offer. In fact, it was the top choice.
Randstad RiseSmart's report goes one step further, though. It shows big disconnects between employees and organizations, which are continuing to fuel resignations, costing businesses millions of dollars in lost productivity and talent. RiseSmart has observed these challenges and has recently delivered a modern approach to tackling these matters with our latest solution, worklife coaching.
Our report has shown that coaching in the workplace is considered to be valuable by both employers and employees and has a positive impact on business results. This sentiment is also supported by employers that don't have coaching available currently. The worklife coaching report also found that coaching is so impactful and valued by employees that 9% of those surveyed are self-funding their coaching as their employer hasn’t supported them. Some 20% of Gen Z and Millenials are financing their coaching experiences entirely by themselves.
So, you’re all sold on coaching. That’s great. But we need to unlock the challenges you have getting it sold into the business and delivering it to all employees.
The report outlines the seven major challenges facing HR teams looking to adopt democratized coaching, which include: perceptions of privilege, generational distinctions, gender differences, uptake and engagement issues, funding matters, establishing a clear return on investment, and resourcing variables. And we provide a useful conclusion and set of recommendations too.
We believe organizations need to offer employee-centric coaching that focuses on providing employees a confidential space in which to discuss issues and drive improvements to their life at work. Not to be confused with a work-life balance discussion, this approach focuses on how an employee feels about their work and their relationship with their employer. It is more than just the job itself, it's the overall experience they have of work.
It’s not just about the employee experience though. We need to give HR teams the scalability, flexibility and freedom to dictate how coaching can be deployed. You’re not going to offer coaching to all employees if you’re stuck with expensive coaching program costs and a model that means every employee needs to have ten 60-minute sessions that rarely get fully utilized. You spoke, we listened. I encourage you to download our new report and get in touch with us.
The past two years have taught us that no matter how much adversity we face, organizations can evolve positively by listening to their employees and making changes to deliver a more enjoyable worklife. I hope you find this report informative and that it gives you insight into just how remarkable coaching can be for an organization. I believe it provides the clarity needed to proactively move forward and build an HR or people function that has learned from the chaos and challenges of the past two years.