New Deloitte survey reveals a need for boards to place a stronger focus on talent

• Only 36% of board members and executives surveyed globally believe their board’s workforce-related discussions are adequate to meet their organisation’s needs
• More than three-quarters of respondents regard skills and talent availability as a major source of risk
• The majority (58%) say their organisations are just starting to explore how AI will affect their workforce and only 2% have introduced a long-term strategy for AI

NEW YORK, NY, 23 January 2024— The Deloitte Global Boardroom Programme today released the results of its latest Board Frontier Topic survey “Time to rethink talent in the boardroom,” which reveals that while the overwhelming majority (89%) of business leaders believe their boards are either very or acceptably informed about workforce-related matters, only about a third (36%) believe their board’s workforce-related discussions are adequate to meet their organisation’s needs.

Deloitte surveyed nearly 500 directors and C-suite executives in more than 50 countries and spoke with business leaders, investors and subject matter specialists for their perspective on how boards are prioritising workforce-related topics. The survey results reveal that many respondents believe their boards should be more proactive about discussing talent-related priorities. 

“Boards are being pulled in many directions. The challenges arising from a more complex geopolitical environment, the rise of innovative technologies like gen AI, evolving stakeholder expectations, demands for greater climate action and the need for progress on diversity, equity and inclusion are each placing greater demands on corporates and boards, challenging and potentially transforming, the role of corporations in society,” says Anna Marks, Deloitte Global Chair. “People are at the heart of organisations and it is therefore critical for boards to remain focused on talent and helping to build a culture and workplace that will sustain talented, healthy and resilient teams for the future.”

Balancing wide-ranging workforce priorities
 

In line with the Deloitte Global Boardroom Programme’s previous research, boards are juggling an ever-growing list of priorities. When it comes to talent-related matters, 42% of leaders ranked both “aligning workforce-related investments with strategic priorities” and “maximising benefits by combining technology and the workforce” as the top concerns for their boards.

They are also focused on building a resilient talent pipeline (40%), creating and nurturing a sense of belonging across the organisation (34%), embracing new ways of working that challenge existing practices (32%) and re-training and upskilling (30%). These seemingly diverse responses are inherently interconnected. For instance, strategic alignment of workforce-related investments should go hand-in-hand with other priorities, particularly retraining and upskilling the workforce and operationalising advanced technologies.

Talent scarcity and technology drive talent-related risk for boards
 

More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents regard skills and talent availability as a major source of risk for their organisations. The other top-cited risks leaders mentioned include the rising costs of compensation, benefits and welfare (44%) and changing workforce expectations (37%). These concerns are likely reflective of the fact that many countries have been facing an ongoing talent shortage over the last few years. 

There is also a quickly growing need to upskill and reskill a large proportion of the workforce as technology, particularly gen AI, changes the way work gets done. Many organisations are not prepared for this shift—most respondents (58%) say their organisations are just starting to explore how integrating AI will affect their workforce and only 2% have introduced a long-term strategy for AI. Another recent Deloitte report reinforces this, finding that only 22% of leaders believe their organisations are highly or very highly prepared to address talent-related issues related to Gen AI adoption.

Purpose and flexibility top strategies to build the future workforce
 

To improve the talent experience and bolster pipelines, leaders plan to implement multiple strategies to attract and retain talent. They ranked creating interesting work and bolstering career advancement opportunities as their top priority (44%), followed by implementing or maintaining flexible working arrangements (40%), focusing on corporate purpose and culture, including the approach to teamwork and the diversity, equity and inclusion agenda (36%), offering more attractive pay or other financial benefits (34%) and prioritising advancements in environmental sustainability (26%).

“Today’s leaders face a unique set of challenges to meet the expectations of their workforce,” continues Marks. “Increasing the focus on talent agendas in the boardroom is therefore vital and for many will likely require more intentional agenda-setting relative to talent, with a focus on talent strategies and priorities, reflecting the fact that organisations are only as strong as their people.”