Is Your Business Ready for Change?

Every fall comes with a wave of business articles and studies discussing the latest HR trends and concerns. Since 2015, lists consistently have included talent attraction, engagement, people analytics, culture, learning, future of work, etc. All of these items center around a company’s most valuable asset—its people.

The HR industry is evolving at a faster pace than ever before. Companies are facing new types of workers: gig, part-time, flex-time, remote, full-time, shared responsibility, etc. Employees are no longer joining companies for decades, patiently waiting for a pension and retirement. They may have multiple careers, seeking new opportunities and types of learning in their work. Today’s workforce is likely to work well into their later years as life expectancies expand. And technology is moving ahead of policy and preparedness. Privacy concerns and training gaps loom as business owners and legislatures scramble to understand the implications for their people and their bottom line.

Whether you are an entrepreneur, mid-size business owner or CEO of a large enterprise, all of these changes are exciting but challenging. What to do? What should be addressed first? Workforce? Talent? Technology? Workspace?

Business owners should look to the roots of their business first to provide a foundation for addressing these questions. Leadership should identify a strong set of values that align with their business goals for the present and future of the company. By establishing these values as your bedrock principles, and embodying them every day, leaders will create a strong company culture to provide stability and guidance through change. Those cultural threads will endure but allow leadership to respond to new ways of doing things.

At Insperity, my partner and I intentionally set out to create a culture by design when we founded the company. Three of our most important values are respect for the worth of the individual, innovation as a fundamental driver of long-term success, and embracing change as an opportunity to learn and improve. Here are some examples of how these core values, in particular, remain a constant, even as we navigate change.

• Because we value high levels of employee engagement and satisfaction, we have identified roles and created the infrastructure so that we can accommodate various types of employee working styles and needs. This means productivity and engagement are both high as employees’ individual needs are considered in their working environment.
• Our commitment to engagement means that we create internal career paths and access to learning opportunities so that employees continue to grow with the company.
• We have partnered with a company to create a detailed people analytics platform for our company and our clients so that we can continue to develop cutting-edge human capital solutions.
• We routinely evaluate new opportunities to improve our product and keep it current with industry trends.

As you grow and develop your business, consider creating a strong and lasting set of values that will help your company meet new challenges as they arise.