Is your organization simply irresistible?

Creating an organization people will clamor

to work for and hate to leave
Brochure/report title goes here | Section title goes here

Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

What if your company

had the chance to triple
or quadruple its market
value over the next ten
years using assets it
already has in place?
And what if the path to that result starts with
upending conventional wisdom about who your
most important stakeholders are?

They aren’t your owners. They aren’t your

customers. The real stars are your employees—
the people who work for and with you.

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 Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

The rules …and so

are changing… should your
approach
Amid technology disruption To compete effectively in an economy in
which employees call the shots,
and exponential change, employers must rethink their approach
for engaging and retaining talent.
a new “social contract” at
work is taking shape. People Companies can no longer assume employ-
ees will be content with a stable job and
today have more career decent paycheck. These days, top talent
autonomy than ever before, can afford to be choosy, and traditional
buzzwords such as ‘flexibility’ and
and with this heightened ‘learning’ are now viewed as table stakes.

autonomy comes greater To help attract talented people in this

bargaining power to expect quickly evolving landscape, companies
should proactively create an irresistible
a better, newly reimagined experience—a magnetic organization
“workplace experience.” that empowered, free-agent people
can’t help but want to join.

65%
believe
Millennials be creative it is
expect their employer at work 2 management’s job to
to focus on societal or provide them with
mission-driven problems 1 accelerated development
opportunities 3

Old rules New rules

Employee experience is defined and measured by annual engagement Employee experience is the holistic view of life at work, with constant
surveys feedback, pulse checks, action, and monitoring

Culture is shared on the website and via posters on the wall, but is not Companies consistently measure, align, and improve upon their ongoing
measured or defined through behaviors curation of culture, especially in times of change

Companies have separate HR leaders across recruiting, learning, rewards, Companies have someone responsible for the complete employee experience,
engagement, and other HR service areas focused on employee journeys, experiences, engagement, and culture

Compensation, benefits, and rewards are managed with a focus on Compensation, benefits, rewards, and recognition are designed to make
benchmarking and fairness, via a bell-curve model people’s work life better and to help balance financial and nonfinancial benefits

Wellness and health programs are focused on safety and managing Companies have an integrated program for employee wellbeing focused on
insurance costs the employee, their family, and their entire experience in life and at work

Rewards are thought of as salary, overtime, bonus, benefits, and Rewards also include nonfinancial components like meals, leaves, vacation
stock options policy, fitness, wellness programs, etc.

Employee HR self-service is viewed as a technology platform that makes it The employee experience platform is intuitively designed, mobile, and
easy to complete HR transactions and reports includes digital apps, prescriptive solutions based on employee journeys,
and ongoing communications that support and inspire employees

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 Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

Are you “simply irresistible” or

just “somewhat irresistible”?

The case for the former…

How can “irresistible” pay off in terms of market value? What’s the
big deal? Employee engagement
remains a global challenge4
A Deloitte study revealed that organizations “with a soul” outperformed
the S&P 400 across several hard metrics: 160
What are these
Average score:
companies doing
 Higher employee retention 3.2 out of 5.0
differently?
 Better customer service

 Long-term profitability

 Over 8x return vs. S&P 400 10-year return5 80

These and other data demonstrate that building strong employee

engagement via your leadership, culture, processes, and talent
policies is more than a nice thing to do. It’s a vital ingredient for
achieving effective business results.

1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

To create an irresistible work environment, companies should
surround their people with the right mix of sustaining elements. Overall rating
These include the work itself, good managers, the office
environment, opportunities for growth, and trust in leaders.

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 Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

The Simply Irresistible

Organization™ model

An irresistible experience is multifaceted. It’s important for companies to surround their talent
with an array of practices that touch on the workforce, their colleagues around them—
Why our model is
especially their managers and leaders—the work itself, and the employees’ opportunities for different—and why
development and growth. To fulfill the promise of an irresistible experience, we have defined
five principles to help capture “irresistible.”
it works

One strength of our approach is its

Bersin’s Simply Irresistible Organization™ model simplicity. None of the elements are
difficult to understand and while
some ideas may be provocative,
nothing about the model is
outlandish science fiction. Rather,
we have created a collection of
Meaningful Supportive Positive work Growth Trust in common-sense practices that our
work management environment opportunity leadership research has connected (read:
statistically validated) with healthy
workplaces and superior
Autonomy Clear & Flexible work Training & Mission & organizational performance.
transparent environment support on purpose
goals the job It’s also a collection of practices
designed to operate in an integrated
Select-to-fit Coaching Humanistic Facilitated talent Continuous and holistic way. Success involves
workplace mobility investment in coordination at the leadership
people level—not exclusively within HR—to
support a common understanding
Small, Investment in Culture of Self-directed, Transparency
of the overarching mindset driving
empowered development of recognition dynamic & honesty the list of to-dos. Leaders and
teams managers learning front-line managers are critical to
making your organization irresistible
Unstructured Agile Fair, inclusive, High-impact Inspiration
and our approach incorporates tools
time performance diverse work learning culture that provide regular, unbiased, and
management environment anonymous pulse-checks to monitor
employee sentiment.
Cross-organization collaboration & communication

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 Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

Meaningful work Support management

Beyond putting money on the table, Even as organizations become “flatter”

people work because they want to and more team-based, there will always
contribute to—and create—something be individuals in charge who will have a
larger than themselves. Personal causes direct impact on the workplace culture. To
may vary, however, so to make work an employee, a weak manager is often a
meaningful, it’s important to create room barrier to good work. Yet becoming a
for different perspectives. good manager is neither natural nor easy.
• When you grant people autonomy, they are free to
So how can organizations ensure effective
“add themselves to the job,” to develop their unique leadership for their people? It’s important to
workstyle within established guardrails. This bit of
differentiate craft skills from management
creativity and ownership can spark new ways of
thinking and working, and we see leading companies skills—both are crucial, but the presence
both encouraging and harnessing this expression of of one doesn’t imply the other.
individualism in the workplace.

• Another contributing factor, “selection-for-fit,” means • There’s no substitute for clear and transparent goals.
looking past traditional placement factors like grades or Mangers should not only set priorities, but make sure
past employment to help people find the jobs that feel they are realistic and easy to act upon. Planning is key, as
is frequent and open communication.
right to them and that leverage their strengths. This can
be counterintuitive. One retailer, for example, found that • Positive coaching is also a must. Research supports the
success among sales reps in cosmetics correlated more “five-to-one” ratio of encouraging feedback to criticism.
with rapid thinking than with good looks.6 Moreover, a Deloitte study found that companies with
a “high recognition culture” have a 31% lower rate of
• Putting people in small, empowered teams enables
voluntary turnover.8
people to interact directly and develop close relationships,
where they can exhibit greater trust, inclusivity, and • Because management is often a learned skill, companies
mutual respect—which drives both top-line and bottom- should invest in the development of managers.
line results. This dynamic can still accommodate flexibility Deloitte research shows companies with more advanced
based on how the team prefers to operate. approaches to leadership development often spend two
to three times as much on manager development as
• The last component of meaningful work, unstructured competitors, enjoy 37% more revenue per employee, and
time, is often misunderstood as “time to goof off.” It’s five times more innovation and change ability.9
anything but that. Here, “unstructured” means time to
• Supporting employees also depends on agile
fix things, talk, and reflect on what’s working (and
performance management. Instead of pro-forma
what’s not). Research shows people who work 60
yearly reviews, leading companies promote continual
hours a week or more don’t accomplish any more than
coaching, frequent check-ins, and data-driven
people who put in 45 to 50 hours.7 They’re just busier.
assessments to help keep people aligned on goals and
Unstructured time, therefore, is time employees can use performance all year long. Good-bye to the annual “rack
to breathe and create. and stack” and employee “stick-in-the-eye” reviews. Ouch!

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 Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

Positive work environment Growth opportunity

Given the fast-paced, fluid nature of work When people leave a company, the
today, if leaders want their people to be comment made most often is, “I didn’t
truly engaged at work, they should offer a see the right opportunities here.”
flexible, humane, and inclusive workplace. Everyone wants to grow and advance,
Most employees today have complicated and for people under 25, professional
lives; offering an ability to flex and shape development is the number-one
their work is a major attractor. engagement driver (and it’s the #2
• A workplace can’t aspire to be “irresistible” if it isn’t
priority for people under 35).12
flexible. One author found that 68% of women say
• One of the most direct ways to address this trend is through
they’d prefer more free time over more money, and 80%
training and support on the job. This should be both
of men would like to work fewer hours.10
formal and informal—ways to add skills, take on challenging
• A workplace must also be humanistic. This is about assignments, and find help when it’s needed. Asking a
seeing employees as whole persons, with lives, and trusted colleague for help is often the most preferred
families, and interests outside of work. We all can’t go so method of learning a new skill for employees. How we
far as providing a gym and in-house pool, or a bowling support employees making those connections is crucial.
alley. We don’t all work for these types of companies, but
food, celebrations, internet-enabled commuting shuttles, • People who grow need a place to go, which is why
and even on-site laundry/dry-cleaning services have facilitated talent mobility is vital. This doesn’t always
become commonplace in high- performing companies mean accelerated promotion. It can take the form of lateral
across a wide range of industries. These are no longer opportunities, giving people the freedom to try something
just “perks”—they are essential elements of helping work new and move from a role where they are highly
fit into our lives. productive to one where they may be a trainee again.

• Recognition is a powerful motivator, not just in • Organizations with a culture of self-directed, dynamic
monetary, but also non-monetary ways, even if it’s as learning have 30% to 50% better retention rates—
soft as a “thank you.” Moreover, as nice as it is to hear as well as 52% more productivity and a 56% greater
kudos from the top, peer-to-peer recognition can free likelihood than their competitors to get products and
managers from being the “gatekeepers” of praise. services to market first.13

• Of course, a workplace should also be fair, inclusive, • People also look for a high-impact learning culture
and diverse. This isn’t an HR strategy, it’s a business that ties learning to getting things done. Cross-training
strategy—teams within inclusive cultures outperform and problem-solving can lead not only to higher
others by 80%.11 In short, people tend to perform better engagement, but also to higher revenue. With learning
when they’re comfortable being themselves. embedded in the culture, we are can constantly improve.

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 Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

Trust in leadership Gallup recently

revealed that only
Perhaps the most important element in the
irresistible organization is leadership. Earlier 13% of all employees
we discussed the importance of cultivating and
training managers (who later become leaders). This
are “highly engaged,”
is where it pays off. And note: we measure success and 26% are “actively
here by the trust people place in their leaders.
• Communicate a strong sense of mission and purpose. When
disengaged.” 14
organizations define their success through the eyes of their
customers, stakeholders, and our society, people come alive.
Companies that tell their story and create a clear sense of mission

What do your
and purpose accomplish 30% more innovation and enjoy 40% higher
rates of employee retention.14

• Companies whose leaders demonstrate continuous investment in

people, also have high ratios of learning and development spending
per employee—and these companies regularly outperform their
peers in retention, innovation, customer service, and profitability.
employees say
• Acting with transparency can be challenging for some leaders
accustomed to letting PR parcel out the truth. In a wired age, about your
company?
however, it’s crucial. A bad earnings quarter or an industrial accident
is going to see the light of day; the question is whether or not you’ll
be open about it.
• Leaders must continuously focus on inspiration. Through their
words, the narrative they shape, and their consistent actions, it’s the
top executives of an organization who shape our sense of being part
of something larger than ourselves. Inspirational leaders talk about
the future, tell their personal story, and share the company’s vision
and what it means for each employee, what it means personally.
People will respond. They’re human.

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 Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

Deloitte does that…

Services to support your journey to becoming “irresistible”

Greenhouse
EngagePath
Labs

Employee
Experience CulturePath
Framework

ConnectMe Leadership
Solutions

Rewards Workplace
to Relationships Transformation

Taking the next step

The Simply Irresistible Organization™ model is a direct plan of action—either through your company’s own efforts or with the
assistance of third-party facilitators. It can be used as a diagnostic mirror to reflect your employees’ day-to-day experience, with
each element serving as a yardstick to measure present-day efforts, identify missing initiatives, and provide a forward-looking
path for improvement. Moreover, taking a “simply irresistible” approach can help strengthen and expand upon other business
priorities such as diversity and inclusion or leadership programs that might otherwise stand alone.

Before it can be any of these things, however, the model must first be a mindset. It’s easy to say you want people to feel good
about working for you. It’s much more difficult to relinquish long-held viewpoints (“customers—not employees—matter most”)
and re-wire deeply entrenched, yet outdated practices (“it’s time for our annual 92-question engagement survey”). Be bold, be
provocative. To the winner go the spoils.

And yet, because employee engagement is such a clear predictor of business performance, casting your employees as the stars
doesn’t have to be a hard choice. You aren’t turning away from better customer service, higher profits, or happier shareholders.
Rather, you’re finding a more innovative way to achieve all these things, and the critical element—your people—has been right
there from the beginning.

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 Is your organization simply irresistible? | Creating an organization people will clamor to work for and hate to leave

Let’s talk

Getting started could begin with a conversation, a leadership

workshop, a Lab in a purpose-built design space, or an Employee
Engagement survey to measure your employees’ take on your
company’s level of “irresistibility.” We’re listening. Are you?

Julian Mauhart Anna Nowshad

+43 1 537 00 2620 +43 1 537 00 2525

jmauhart@deloitte.at anowshad@deloitte.at

Works cited
1. Deloitte, "The Millennial Survey 2014: Big demands and high expectations," https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-
deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html, accessed January 30, 2018.
2. Deloitte, Millennial Survey, 2014.
3. Deloitte, Millennial Survey, 2014.
4. Josh Bersin, “Glassdoor Summit – Building an Irresistible Employment Brand.” YouTube video, 8:14; https://youtu.be/MVIjp3aW9G0, posted March 28, 2017.
5. Bersin by Deloitte, “Simply Irresistible: Engaging the 21st Century Workforce," 2014, accessed January 18, 2018.
6. John Pencavel, “The Productivity of Working Hours,” April 2014, DP No. 8312, accessed January 20, 2018.
7. Bersin by Deloitte, “High-impact leadership research," 2016, accessed January 25, 2018.
8. Bersin, “High-impact,” 2016.
9. Juliet Schor, "The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline Of Leisure,” (1992).
10. Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, “Waiter, is that inclusion in my soup? A new recipe to improve business performance," November 2012,
http://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/index.php/ our-resources-and-publications/reports/item/529-waiter-is-that- inclusion-in-my- soup-a-new-recipe-to-
improve-business-performance-nov-2012, accessed February 2, 2018.
11. Quantum Workplace, "2014 employee recognition trends report," 2014, http://www.quantumworkplace.com/resources/whitepapers/research-and-
trends/2014-recognition-trends-report/, accessed January 12, 2018.
12. Quantum Workplace, “2014 employee recognition,” 2014.
13. TINYpulse, "7 vital trends disrupting today’s workplace," 2013, https://www.tinypulse.com/resources/employee-engagement-survey-2013, accessed January 12, 2018.
14. Steve Crabtree, "Worldwide, 13% of employees are engaged at work,“ October 8, 2013, <https://news.gallup.com/poll/165269/worldwide-employees-engaged-
work.aspx#>, accessed January 30, 2018.

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