As competition for top performers heats up across Canada, shared service success depends on being aware of the latest trends in hiring, training, and retention. -By Joseph Warren
Shared service ventures are uniquely dependent on the quality of their talent for success. Without strong performers to drive initiatives through to efficient completion, there’s no financial ROI, legacy systems linger on in operations and culture, and frustrated staff head out the door within both the shared service organization (SSO) and the partnering departments. Thus, giving special attention to talent and talent management in shared services is vital.
One path to success is to be on top of the latest talent management trends. Canada’s tight labor market was reshaped dramatically during the COVID years, and business now face a complex set of challenges. To overcome these challenges, SSOs need to give more attention to alignment between values and tasks, invest more in training over time, and harness the power of AI and digitalization to prevent burnout and turnover.
Canadians are actively seeking more meaningful work
One of the biggest shifts for Canadian workers post-pandemic is that employees are actively seeking out more meaningful work. According to a 2022 survey by ServiceNow Canada, some 88% of employees are looking for more meaning in their daily tasks, and they are valuing meaning over additional pay. Currently, office workers in Canada are reporting that some 30% of their daily work is menial, repetitive, and/or dull, motivating them to look for other positions.
This is of particular interest in shared service situations, where workers may in fact be in jobs designed to have a high degree of repetition. What an employer may see as focusing on a core competency, an employee may perceive as a stagnating cycle. This can contribute to burnout, lower productivity due to boredom, and even turnover if not addressed.
To help employees see the meaning in their work, managers and team leads will want to be sure there’s a clear, bright line being drawn between the task at hand and key business outcomes. Employees want to know that their effort makes a difference and that their tasks matter to the businesses they serve. Building up transparency and good feedback loops can help bring some of that meaning back into roles, especially roles which have gone remote or focused more narrowly, preventing employees from fully connecting with the “big picture” in their normal daily interactions. In this way, employees can feel more aligned with valuable work outcomes, and feel more often that what they do has real meaning and worth.
Training and development are top priorities
Another major trend point among Canadian workers is a desire for more training and development at work. This is particularly true among younger cohorts of workers, who are looking to feel that they are continually progressing within their roles and that their company cares about their personal growth. If they don’t feel there is the potential for progress, they’ll leave – and in August 2022, Statistics Canada notes that some 12% of Canadian workers reported that they planned to exit their current jobs in the year ahead.
This is a tough trend for many employers. Training and development programs are expensive and take time, especially when employees are expecting very personalized experiences. They can also require a lot of extra effort from line managers to oversee, and one of the leading complaints from employees of Canada’s shared services group online is that their managers are stretched thin with limited time available to providing mentoring and development.
What can be done? This is a known sticking point for recruitment and retention. Thus, while it will be an initial hit to profitability now, making the investment in additional staff to implement development programs and raise awareness of training opportunities could be a great long term investment. This is doubly true now that wage costs are on the rise, and the price of turning over even an entry-level worker can easily exceed 50% of the first year’s pay.
AI and digitalization could be the key to preventing burnout and turnover
Finally, SSOs will want to make the most of the AI and digitalization tools available to them. Capterra notes that over the last few years, large and small firms have been introducing multiple new software systems and digital tools. These tools have the power to streamline workflows, eliminate menial tasks, and open doors for greater employee development… if employees understand how to use them!
That’s right – while employees and employers alike are excited by the potential of fresh AI and digital systems, nearly half tell Capterra that they don’t understand how to use the new systems and tools around them. A frequent complaint is that a new system arrives with no training on how to use it, or that fresh digital tools aren’t being fully utilized.
SSOs, which themselves are often operating in more technical spaces, have a huge potential upside here. Training talent on new tools upskills the workforce, enabling greater productivity and more impactful outcomes with partners. However, it also directly addresses key employee desires around more training and development opportunities along with a burning desire to eliminate repetitive and meaningful tasks. This makes further investments in AI and digitalization truly win-win plays from a talent management perspective.
Concluding Thoughts
No company within Canada is immune from the latest talent trends, but they have the potential to have an oversized impact on SSOs. Therefore, SSOs will want to be particularly attentive to employee demands for meaning at work, employee desires for more training and development, and employee engagement opportunities available through AI and digitalization ventures. By moving along with these trends and aiming to get ahead of them, SSOs can improve their outcomes on attraction, hiring, engaging, and retaining top talent. In this way, SSOs can once again make their talent management tactics a key advantage, even in today’s hyper competitive talent markets.