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THIS WEEK'S CONTENT

Here’s a glance at this week’s content. A deep dive is in the section that follows.

• How Opinions About Hybrid Work Differ Around the Globe | Harvard Business Review | Explores varying perspectives on hybrid work across global regions and their implications for leaders.

• 3 Ways to Increase Manager Impact Throughout the Performance Cycle | Gartner | Discusses how organizations are helping their managers become more effective at 3 aspects of performance management.

• 5 Frameworks for Talent Management | Brian Heger | I provide a PDF with 5 frameworks to help evaluate and communicate aspects of talent management in an organization.

• How Generative AI Will Transform HR | Boston Consulting Group | Shares an analysis of how Generative AI has the potential to increase the productivity of the HR function by up to 30%. I share bonus resources.

• Disclosing Illness at Work | The University of Melbourne | Shares research on the degree to which workers managing a health condition feel comfortable disclosing their condition.

Also included are the 2023 Job Cuts and Layoff Tracker, the Chief HR Officer Hire of the Week, and more.

Let’s dive in.

THIS WEEK'S EDGE

Note: Please provide attribution to Talent Edge Weekly and link to this issue when using this content in a newsletter, social media, website, etc.,

How Opinions About Hybrid Work Differ Around the Globe | Harvard Business Review

The article explores varying perspectives on hybrid work across global regions and their implications for leaders in global organizations. Drawing from a survey conducted by the INSEAD Emerging Markets Institute and Universum involving 651 managers from 50 countries spanning EMEA, APAC, and the Americas, the authors uncover differences in perceptions of hybrid work. While some similarities emerged, such as positive impacts on work-life balance and carbon footprint, a few differences are evident: 1) Desire to Return to a Physical Office: APAC displays a stronger desire compared to EMEA and the Americas. The Americas region was more positive about remote productivity. 2) Social Connections. EMEA and APAC respondents are more concerned about missing out on in-person coworker interactions, corresponding to lower engagement scores than the Americas. 3) Ideal Mix of Remote and Office Work: APAC favors fewer home days on average, EMEA favors more, and the Americas favored the most. The article underscores the need for leaders to recognize and address geographical differences in perceptions and preferences regarding hybrid work. To that end, the authors propose five steps to craft hybrid work policies that accommodate geographical and cultural dissimilarities.

3 Ways to Increase Manager Impact Throughout the Performance Cycle | Gartner

As performance management (PM) remains vital for enhancing individual, team, and organizational performance, this article explores three ways organizations support managers in developing PM capabilities. 1) Pfizer employs collaborative workshops to achieve ambitious team goals, addressing interdependencies, commitments, and collaboration barriers. 2) SABIC, a chemical manufacturer, integrates sensitive topics like wellbeing and burnout into PM to nurture psychological safety in feedback. Their PM technology offers a dropdown menu of employee-sourced conversation topics, normalizing open discussion of potentially sensitive matters during performance conversations. 3) Thrivent, a financial services firm, trains managers to evaluate performance in uncertain and challenging scenarios, using real-life cases from managers who struggled to evaluate employees. Debates on these scenarios improve managers’ ability to more accurately and fairly apply performance criteria to evaluations. To supplement this article, I’m sharing my PM playlist with five resources that help answer: 1) What PM practices do organizations use (and don’t use) today? 2) How can employee well-being be integrated into PM? 3) What are the triggers for when employee goals might be adjusted? 4) How can we mitigate bias in PM? 5) How can we use PM to enable collaboration across business units and cross-functional silos?

5 Frameworks for Talent Management | Brian Heger

As organizations think through various aspects of talent management, many use frameworks to help organize and communicate talent information in simplified ways. This PDF includes five frameworks that can be used for different purposes in talent management. The 5 resources are sourced from: The Conference Board, Deloitte, Gartner, and i4cp. Each page includes an image of the framework, a brief description of what it includes, and a link to the source document, which can be accessed by clicking each image. A few examples include: a Talent Risk Evaluation Matrix by Gartner, which helps to determine and prioritize 11 of the most common talent risks. The Conference Board shares a visual of seven stakeholder groups—such as investors, the board, employees, and customers— and the parts of an organization’s talent narrative or story in which stakeholders are most likely interested. Deloitte shares a hub and spoke model (shown in the image below) for drawing the connection between skills and talent practices. The hub comprises a talent philosophy, skills framework + common language, data + technology enablers, and governance. The spokes consist of several integration points, such as workforce planning and rewards. Each resource in this PDF provides ideas for developing and communicating aspects of an organization's talent management.

How Generative AI Will Transform HR | Boston Consulting Group

This article explores the impact of Generative AI (GenAI) on the HR function, highlighting its potential to revolutionize HR into a more strategic and efficient function. According to a BCG analysis, GenAI has the potential to boost HR productivity by up to 30%, achieved through automated tasks or redirected time toward deeper employee engagement and talent planning. The chart below shows the potential time savings across 8 HR areas, pinpointing HR administration and shared services (20-30%) as the prime areas for capacity release. Other segments, such as recruiting and resources (10-20%), performance and career management (10-20%), and learning and development (10-20%), also stand to benefit. HR leaders and their teams can use this framework as they determine current time allocation spent in certain HR areas and identify the potential for Gen AI to unlock time and resources that can be reinvested into high-value activities. As noted in the article, HR leaders play a dual role in driving GenAI transformation for both the enterprise and the HR function; one illustration outlines how HR can play both roles. Here is an additional link to 14 slides that illustrate insights from the article, including use-case examples of GenAI in HR. And if you want 5 additional resources on AI in HR, you can check out my playlist, which includes a summary and links to these sources.

Disclosing Illness at Work | The University of Melbourne

This 27-page research paper presents insights from a study focused on the experiences of individuals in leadership roles dealing with their chronic illnesses at work. Unlike acute illnesses, chronic conditions require ongoing management and can involve unpredictable flares, posing challenges to those dealing with them. The research highlights how these individuals grapple with disclosing such health issues due to social stigmas. Key findings include: 1) Disclosure Patterns: 28% chose non-disclosure, 54% shared partially with trusted colleagues, and only 18% were fully transparent. 2) Career Impact: Many leaders feared that revealing their chronic illnesses would lead to doubts about their abilities (42%), hinder promotions (39%), or stall career growth (38%). 3) Concealing Illness: 73% admitted to concealing or downplaying their illnesses by hiding symptoms during virtual meetings or providing alternate reasons for absences. 4) The Impact of Organizational Culture on Disclosure: A leader’s tendency to disclose their illness was significantly correlated with whether the company culture engendered feelings of psychological safety. This result implies that the very leaders responsible for creating a culture of psychological safety may be the ones who don’t feel it is safe to share information without it resulting in negative consequences. The report offers suggestions for fostering an environment that encourages disclosure and accommodations for those managing a chronic illness.

MOST POPULAR FROM LAST WEEK

What Makes an Effective HR Function? | RBL Institute Think Tank Paper

This 42-page playbook from the RBL Institute offers a comprehensive review of the factors that enable HR effectiveness and allow HR to deliver value to various organizational stakeholders.

2023 JOB CUTS AND LAYOFF TRACKER

Here is my tracker, which includes announcements from a segment of organizations that have announced job cuts and layoffs since the start of 2023.

A few firms that announced job cuts this past week include:

• Agenus (NASDAQ: AGEN). The biotech company announced it is laying off 25% of its workforce as it significantly dials back its cancer drug research.

• Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW). Plans to cut jobs and close or downsize some corporate offices as part of company efforts to reduce operating costs. The company did not specify how many positions would be eliminated.

• T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS). Is laying off roughly 7% of its workforce, affecting about 5,000 roles at the company. The move will mostly impact workers in corporate, back-office, and technology roles, with those in retail or customer care positions remaining unaffected.

Click here or the image below to access all listed announcements from 2023.

CHIEF HR OFFICER HIRE OF THE WEEK

​VF Corporation (DENVER, COLORADO) [NYSE: VFC]—one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies—announced the appointment of Brent Hyder to the position of Chief People Officer, effective September 5. Hyder will report to President and CEO Bracken Darrell and serve as a member of the company’s executive leadership team. Hyder joins VF after nearly four years as Chief People Officer at Salesforce. READ MORE​

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FROM TWITTER

TALENT EDGE WEEKLY REWIND

Highlights a previously shared Talent Edge Weekly resource that received many views and engagement.

100 Questions You Can Anwer with HR Analytics | McBassi & Company

This reference provides a list of 100 questions to stimulate ideas on the types of questions that people analytics can help to answer related to recruiting, onboarding, and employee experience, to name a few.

THE “BEST OF JULY”

Did you miss the “Best of July” issue of Talent Edge Weekly? If so, check out issue #190, which includes 15 of the most popular resources from July. 

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Brian

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