Deloitte Report Details Human Capital Trends to Watch

There is no doubt that the workplace changed in remarkable ways in 2020 – across almost all industries and sectors. Each year, Deloitte releases a human capital trends report detailing what the firm expects to see in the workforce for the year ahead. What are this year’s human capital trends and why should you pay attention?

Overview of the 5 Deloitte Human Capital Workforce Trends

Deloitte identified 5 key human capital trends to watch for 2021 and beyond.

1. Designing Work for Wellbeing

With the onset of the pandemic, the correlation between worker well-being and productivity became clearer. A survey conducted by Deloitte found that workers prioritize improving well-being more than executives – by a lot. Deloitte found a link between the switch to remote work and improved worker wellbeing. 7 in 10 executives in the 2021 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends survey observed that the shift to remote work had a positive influence on well-being.

2. Moving Beyond Re-skilling

Due to Covid-19, many workers were asked to take on responsibilities outside of their traditional roles and contribute to their organizations in a more holistic way. Deloitte predicts that empowering workers with agency and choice will create more value than traditional approaches.

3. Superteams

This third human capital trend is in regard to teams. Remote work gave executives increasing flexibility in designing teams. Deloitte predicts that this flexibility, combined with technology, will elevate teams’ abilities to learn, create, and perform in new ways to achieve better outcomes. Hence, the formation of ‘superteams!’

4. Governing Workforce Strategies

The pandemic forced organizations to prepare ahead for unexpected events and highlighted the need to understand the state of the workforce. Deloitte reports up to 17% of organizations will now prepare for these events – up from 6% previously. Additionally, 47% of organizations plan to prepare for multiple future scenarios, a 23% increase from pre-pandemic.

5. HR, Re-imagined

The final human capital trend outlined in the report is all about the need for Human Resource to take on a more substantial role inside an organization. Deloitte argues that HR needs to adopt a more active mindset towards architecting the future of the workplace, in ways both big and small.

Why Consultants Need to Pay Attention to Human Capital Trends

It’s important for consultants to stay tuned to the state of the workforce to understand how to help address the needs of their clients in the new, ever-evolving normal. How can McKinsey help Walmart improve the employee experience? How can Bain advise Airbnb on employee retention in the age of remote work? If firms aren’t up to date on the current human capital trends, they risk lagging behind competitors and becoming irrelevant.

Conclusion

Digging into reports like this one from Deloitte is key to gaining an understanding of the current state of the workplace. Will you be actioning any of these Deloitte human capital trends into your organization? We’d love to hear about it – drop us a note!

 

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