When people thrive, business thrives

The power of human performance

While most leaders recognize that prioritizing human performance is vital for organizational success, the current efforts seem to be falling short, with the majority of workers reporting stagnant or worsening well-being. 53% of workers say that they worry the most about increasing work stress leading to worse mental health. According to our Global Millennial and Gen Z Survey, 48% of workers and 53% of managers admit they are burned out at work and nearly half of millennial and Gen Z workers report feeling stressed all or most of the time. The 2023 Gallup State of the Global Workplace study reveals that 59% of the global workforce are “quiet quitting”.

Productivity “paranoia” is not helping here, with 85% of leaders saying the shift to hybrid work has made it challenging to gauge productivity. Measures such as "employee engagement" and "productivity" are unable to capture the complexity of modern work dynamics, which makes it harder and harder to measure. Detailed metrics increase human performance as it gives understanding of how they (employees) are really participating in creating value for the organization.

Human sustainability – doing well by workers and the world

Human sustainability concept embodies the organization's commitment to enhancing people's lives by fostering well-being, empowering skills, offering rewarding careers, promoting equality, and igniting purposeful connections. It goes beyond surface-level initiatives (such as fruits in the office or paid sports activities) and requires addressing systemic issues to create sense of purpose for each and only employee. Our report suggests that in each section of human sustainability we need to get deeper into the problem and search for non-standard solutions. For example, talking about diversity & inclusion, it is not only about female empowerment, but also nondegree hiring, seniors inclusion, part – time work arrangements and the like.

Focusing on human sustainability yields positive outcomes for both individuals and organizations. For example, organizations prioritizing workforce treatment saw a 2.2% higher five-year return on equity, emitted 50% less CO2 per dollar of revenue, and were over twice as likely to offer a family-sustaining living wage. Diversity-rich organizations are 2.4 times more likely to outperform competitors financially. Conversely, low wages contribute to turnover, lost sales, low productivity, and customer dissatisfaction.

Tackling the imagination gap with AI

The rapid evolution of generative AI may be surpassing the ability of organizations and workers to envision new working methods that harness both human and technological strengths. According to our research, 73% of respondents recognize the importance of aligning human capabilities with technological advancements, but only 9% report progress in achieving this balance.

Technologies can help us to decrease routine and non – creative workload. On the other hand, we need to learn how to interact with technologies, how to ask the right question or prompt in GenAI powered solutions.

To foster long – term human and technology cooperation we have to foster creativity and imagination, “place for play” in a productivity driven environment as well. Four essential steps include integrating human capabilities into workforce strategy, promoting imagination for purposeful work, emphasizing curiosity and empathy, and backing the effective use of human capabilities with support and recognition.

Evolving leadership to drive human performance

Human capabilities are vital for driving innovation and organizational growth, and leaders play a critical role in promoting human sustainability within their organizations, aligning incentives with human sustainability progress, and adopting relevant and meaningful metrics to track true performance.

Successfully shifting to a focus on human performance involves moving away from traditional top-down approaches and embracing cross-functional decision-making with less micromanagement and more autonomy.

No change can be made without trust. Yet only 16% of surveyed employees express a high level of trust in their employers. Leaders can change this by involving employees in decision-making, implementing responsible data-driven strategies, and explaining potential risks companies might face.