Editor's note

Future of Work

Supplement issue 2

June 2022

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Prioritising employee experience is key to attracting and retaining productive colleagues

Employee engagement, well-being, training and retention have been top-of-mind for all participants in IAB’sFuture of Work supplement.

Several aspects of enhancing employee experience rest in creating a positive framework for daily working culture, growth and development. Leaders and employers have felt all too well the dearth of talent across all sectors, with the current climate of the ‘candidate’ being the driver of conversations around hybrid and remote working and salary setting. Incentives and retention exercises need to pay attention to these issues and ensure that employee well-being policies are fair, inclusive and flexible.

To hit these marks and to deliver on employee expectations, accountancy brands need to conduct research and to study data from survey reports that indicate employee sentiment from the fall out and transitioning from the Covid Pandemic.

How to achieve these improvements? Foremost, implementing digital transformation into your business seems be essential in order to achieve success, set targets and provide solutions. This means making your employees’ working processes quicker to allow more regular contact and accountability between managers and clients, whether it be through upgrading devices or even the installation of software, state experts at Vitec. A report by McKinsey, The COVID-19 pandemic placed emphasis on the necessity for digital implementations in the workplace with many businesses making adaptations in a time of need. But the demand remains, with the digital transformation market expected to reach $490 billion in 2025 compared to $300 billion this year.

For the transition into using digital tools, training is most important.

Whether virtual or face to face, a coordinated and robust policy framework is required to deliver unique and comprehensive programmes for employers to create brand differentiation and competitiveness, to attract the best candidates and leaders into the industry.

In this Future of Work supplement, take a look at our original data, collaborative features and case studies by IAB partners; in Employment in the accounting industry, GlobalData analysts Calcea and Goodier explain the impact of the pandemic on hiring and retention trends in the accountancy industry; Thematic Intelligence analysts Guha and Pervez present insights into the metaverse and how these may impact the future of work; as office working isn't for everyone, collaborative technologies are creating more flexible access for managers, employees and partners as discussed in the article titled How Technology Can Inspire Teamwork and Collaboration; Dr Cristian Holmes, Chief Executive, CABA discusses the effects of stress on the psyche leading to unsustainable working patterns that can affect motivation; the learning and development team at SMS Latinoamérica discusses trends in training future accountants in-house and through a case study of its SMS Business School; Stephen Hamlet, CEO Russell Bedford tells of his organisation’s Well-Being programme for employees and member firms that has been received with great success and employee buy-in along with a case study describing interactive programmes for Russell Bedford’s young leaders that help build creative thinking and bonds; Insight Manager David Hanby at Kaplan explains the merits of its apprentice partner-programme, Data Analyst powered bySAS® that teaches users modern analytical and data visualisation skills; Harriet Calver at Winckworth Sherwood investigates the upside of a proposed four-day working week and Robert Half’s salary guide gives an indication of winners who plan early to support employee growth within corporates.

We look forward to your feedback and to welcoming you at IAFA 2022 on 29 June at the Waldorf Astoria, London.

To participate in future IAB Supplements contact our Head of Retention Sharon Howley: Sharon.Howley@verdict.co.uk & Business Development Manager mary.fashola@globaldata.com.


Zoya Malik
Editor-in-Chief, Financial Services Practice


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