As B2B market researchers, we spend a lot of time thinking about branding. From our own research, we know that building a powerful brand is a key strategy for B2B marketers, and we have helped countless clients develop, assess, and track their brand positioning.

It is fair to say that the majority of the conversation about branding focuses on the perspective of the buyer – the (potential) customer. There are a wealth of measures and metrics that help us understand the link between the strength of a brand and its performance, and evidence shows that a strong brand is more likely to be preferred and purchased.

However, buyers are not the only important group to be influenced by a brand. In this article, we will explore the topic of the ‘Employer Brand’ – the way in which the brand is conveyed and known in the job market, and what it has to offer to (prospective) employees. We are seeing organizations place increasing focus on how they are perceived as an employer. For example, CIPD research in the UK found that 81% of employers have taken action to improve their Employer Brand in the last year.

Further Reading

5 Key Benefits of Internal Stakeholder Research (And 3 Tips for Running Successful Internal Interviews)

Read now

Why is a Strong Employer Brand Important?

• A strong Employer Brand helps to attract and retain talented, high-quality staff, making it easier to compete with other organizations for top talent.

• It also appeals to talent who feel a personal commitment to the company values, leading to employees who are more engaged and motivated.

• A strong Employer Brand also reflects positively on your brand as a whole – a congruent brand experience across employees and customers is highly compelling.

Further Reading

The DEI Advantage: Driving Business, People, and Society

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What Does a Strong Employer Brand Look Like?

A strong Employer Brand is the perception or reputation of an organization as a desirable place to work. The Harvard Business Review defines three components of an Employer Brand:

• Reputation – This encompasses the potential impact on an employee’s future career, the day-to-day work environment, and the impact on broader society.

• Proposition – The employer-employee relationship, including expectations of employees and rewards for meeting or exceeding these expectations.

• Experience – Reflects the organization’s ability to deliver on their Employee Value Proposition, assessed through reviews and endorsements from current and former employees.

This analysis from the Harvard Business Review aligns with the widely held observation that employees today prioritize not only salary and job descriptions, but also company culture, values, social impact, and work-life balance. Indeed, the Employer Value Proposition (EVP) encompasses ‘the set of offerings, associations, and values that employers provide to employees in return for their contributions’.

Salary is no longer the key differentiator between employers competing for talent. Instead, organizations are carving out diverse propositions and ‘personalities’ around differentiating topics such as flexible working, social impact, and DEI initiatives. Research by LinkedIn revealed a significant increase in job advertisements in which the employer showcased their company values, demonstrating a clear rise in the importance of such criteria.

Further Reading

How to Measure Brand Performance with the Brand Health Wheel

Read now

How Can You Enhance Your Employer Brand?

• This starts with developing a strong EVP. Michael Page recommends several questions that can help organizations arrive at their unique EVP. For example: Why are potential employees attracted to the company? What do existing employees value most about working there? Why do they leave? It is crucial that your organization is able to live up to the EVP, as a disconnect between EVP and reality can be a key reason for poor employee experience.

• Employee research can be utilized – through surveys, focus groups, and feedback from former employees and applicants – to help understand the employee experience and develop a realistic EVP. Ensuring that employees can provide open and honest feedback, possibly through external independent research companies, is important for gaining accurate insights.

To discuss how our tailored insights programs can help solve your specific business challenges, get in touch and one of the team will be happy to help.

The post Employer Branding: Why It’s Important and What It Takes to Build a Strong Employer Brand appeared first on B2B International.

At the start of any project, it is essential to gain a comprehensive understanding of our client’s business challenges and research objectives. One way to immerse ourselves in our client’s business is by conducting internal interviews at the beginning of a research project.

These interviews along with the formal kick off meeting, form the initial phase of a research project where our goal is to gather as much insight as possible about our client’s business and research needs. Investing time into this initial stage ensures we set the project up for success.

What are internal stakeholder interviews?

Internal stakeholder interviews are one-to-one conversations with stakeholders from our client’s business. These stakeholders might include people who couldn’t join the kickoff meeting, senior leaders who need to be fully invested in the project, or subject matter experts who can share their valuable knowledge with us.

The number of internal interviews conducted varies by project and depends on the number of stakeholders our client thinks it would be beneficial for us to speak to. We have conducted projects with anywhere between 3 and 25 internal interviews.

When might we want to use stakeholder interviews?

When the business has a complex set up, or wide stakeholder network

Carrying out stakeholder interviews can be useful when we want to hear from a wide variety of stakeholders in the business, who are not part of the day-to-day project team. We might want to use them in this instance, if:

• There are lots of departments that our client wants to involve in the research
• There are multiple regions that our client wants to involve in the research

Typically, we would speak to a department head in this instance, or someone who is relatively senior.

When the research is covering niche objectives

It can be useful to have a discussion with ‘experts’ within our client’s organization if the research we are carrying out has very niche objectives or topic areas. For example, if we want to explore sustainability in detail, then we might want to carry out a stakeholder interview with the organization’s sustainability expert in order to have a better understanding of the topic area.

When the business holds lots of internal research, or anecdotal knowledge

In the immersion stage, we want to understand what research has been previously conducted, as well as internal assumptions or hypotheses. Stakeholder interviews can help us to collect stakeholder knowledge and assess the research that has already been conducted.

Potential topics for internal stakeholder interviews

Conversations can be tailored to each interviewee. Topics we often cover include:

• The individual’s expertise, whether that be market, product, customer or value chain expertise.

• The intended use of the research. What an individual will do with the insights and how we can ensure the projects success for them.

• Existing hypotheses and critical questions they need answers to.

Further Reading

Stakeholder Research & Consultation: Keep Your Ears To The Ground

Read Article

5 key benefits of internal stakeholder interviews

1. Deepening knowledge of our client

   Internal interviews are an excellent way to understand what is already known within the organization. This avoids duplicating existing insights and allows us to focus on uncovering new information. Internal interviews are also a great way to identify any blind spots within the company, enabling us to focus our research on what really matters.

   Internal interviews also help us to immerse ourselves in the business, providing a clear understanding of our client’s goals and objectives and the wider market or category.

2. Learning technical information

   Often in B2B markets, products and services are technical, and each client will use different terminology relevant to their organization. Stakeholder interviews allow us to probe and fully understand any technical information. There are two major advantages of doing so:

   • We know which technical terms to use in our questionnaire – and notably, how these differ by region or department. This way, we can know for sure that we are reporting the most accurate responses!

   • The research team is fully versed in any technical lingo, which is particularly beneficial when presenting back to technical teams

3. Uncovering new avenues to explore in the research

   Often, when we carry out stakeholder interviews, we will highlight questions which had not been considered previously. This is particularly useful when we are carrying out a multi-method research project including desk research, as it can give us more steer on what we need to uncover.

   Stakeholder interviews can act as an effective check-and-balance on other research sources that we are using – meaning that we can triangulate our findings with stakeholder knowledge, desk research and primary research.

4. Identifies gaps in perception

   During stakeholder interviews, we can explore internally-held hypotheses, which we can look to evidence or refute using our empirical research. Understanding the gap between internal perceptions and market-based evidence can help bring reports to life and make for interesting discussion points when presenting back the findings.

   Furthermore, it allows the research team to understand any points of contention which should be treated with care when creating our reports.

5. Increased buy-in and support leading to action

   The likelihood of research results being implemented depends on how invested key stakeholders are. Involving different stakeholders in the internal interviews allows them to share their perspectives and raise any questions, increasing buy-in and connection to the results.

   Engaging internal stakeholders brings us closer to our client’s team, building a collaborative partnership where we act not just as a research supplier, but as an extension of their business.

3 tips for ensuring successful internal stakeholder interviews

1. Include subject matter experts: Select stakeholders who can provide specific insights on the research topic.

2. Include stakeholders who will be using the insights: Gather opinions from those who will use the insights to ensure the research leads to actionable results.

3. Introduce the research before the interview: Explain the purpose of the research project and the conversation. This ensures everyone is aligned on the research scope and interview expectations. This prevents any misalignment and reduces the risk of stakeholders diverting the research from its core objectives.

Further Reading

Employee Research – a Neglected Treasure Trove of Market Intelligence

Read Article

Internal stakeholder research in practice: How we used internal interviews for our client

The aim of the research was to create a companywide segmentation of our client’s customers. To kick off the project, we wanted to get an in depth understanding of how different stakeholders were currently segmenting customers and how they were using these segmentations. We wanted to ensure our segmentation would be practical and actionable for those needing to use it. To achieve this, we conducted 20 internal interviews with various stakeholders. These interviews were tailored to each participant but all covered topics such as:

• How they intended to use the segmentation
• Challenges they anticipated in deploying a new segmentation
• Insights on their customers
• Hypotheses on potential customer segments

By leveraging the insights from these internal interviews, we integrated existing customer knowledge into the segmentation, ensuring it resonated with those who would use it. Starting the project with internal interviews allowed us to engage key stakeholders in the creation of the segmentation, thereby getting everyone on board and overcoming any barriers to its implementation.

Conclusion

Whist not every project will need the level of immersion that stakeholder interviews give, it is worth noting their benefits for not only the client, but the research team. The level of detail garnered is incredibly valuable and is certainly desirable when we as a research team are getting to know a client and their business problem.

To discuss how our tailored insights programs can help solve your specific business challenges, get in touch and one of the team will be happy to help.

The post 5 Key Benefits of Internal Stakeholder Research (And 3 Tips for Running Successful Internal Interviews) appeared first on B2B International.

In October, employees of Merkle & B2B International hosted Kelley School of Business grad students at dentsu’s Chicago office. During a quick Q&A session, we asked students what drove them to pursue an MBA, how they view the marketing function, and what employers should be highlighting to prospective talent.

• Kelley students highlight career advantages to pursuing an MBA…

  • An MBA degree provides depth of knowledge into the art and science of business, including how to speak the language of business, equipping them with a toolkit for business success, and insight into how to connect the dots between varying functions / roles within organizations to provide a comprehensive view.

  • Personally, students also see an MBA as way to help them stand out to employers, increasing their trust and credibility as a candidate, and opening the door to more and better career opportunities.

• Kelley students emphasized marketing, in particular, as playing a critical role in business as it acts as a bridge between companies and their customers. Students highlight the importance of storytelling in marketing to improve sales of products, as well as providing opportunities to showcase customer-centricity by communicating an understanding of needs and pain points.

• In order to attract MBA students, Kelley students indicate employers should highlight factors that go beyond job responsibilities and pay, such as demonstrating to prospective talent how the job provides them with an opportunity to have a positive impact / be a part of something greater. Students indicate these impacts could be internal (e.g., the role having a positive impact to the company), or externally focused (e.g., having a positive impact to buyers / consumers / customers).

• Students also indicated that culture of the organization was important, including illustrating inclusivity (DEI) and efforts towards sustainability. Treatment of employees including work-life balance and tone (e.g., how employees speak to / treat one another) was also mentioned.

• Students highlighted that there was opportunity for them to help companies innovate and evolve, particularly by leveraging new technologies such as AI. They believe they can make a difference by supporting businesses with user experience improvements such as more impactful messaging with storytelling, as well as improved communications and efforts around sustainability.

The post Learning from the Voice of Future MBA Graduates appeared first on B2B International.

Around the world millions of organizations live by the mantra that happy employees make happy customers. The research we have done for our clients over the years has proven this to be the case; there is indeed a strong correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that organizations are putting more and more focus on making their employees happy through changes to working hours or patterns, upgrading of the equipment used and by putting more emphasis on mental health and wellbeing. All these actions are certainly helping engage the workforce in the short-term but in the long-term they will have a limited impact on the engagement of your employees if you have adapted the wrong recruitment strategy in the first place.

The recruitment strategy employers are taking is becoming more important and will continue to be so in years to come. The full impact that Covid-19 and the new normal will have on employees is yet to be seen, but one thing for sure is that things will never be the same again. The recruitment and onboarding of employees process will continue to be adapted during this time and organizations will need to work harder in order to engage their employees.

Adapting the right recruitment strategy can make or break the engagement of your employees. To clarify the importance of getting this right, we have surveyed 945 decision makers in HR, Recruitment and Business Management roles from organizations in Europe, the USA and China.

The objective? We wanted to understand how much of a challenge employee retention was for their organization. What motivations they use to attract people, the main reasons employees leave and ultimately how successful they are in attracting, engaging and retaining their people.

What we found is that over two-thirds of all organizations get it wrong when adopting their recruitment strategy and therefore result in problems around employee retention.

Is employee retention a challenge?

We asked those that we spoke to how much of an issue employee retention was to their organization and 48% said keeping hold of their employees was a significant challenge.

Surprisingly only a fifth said they found it easy to retain their employees.

Further cross-examining of the data established that as an organization increases in size it gets more and more difficult to hold onto staff, this was a consistent picture across all countries in the study.

What motivations do organizations use to attract people?

After learning that employee retention was a significant challenge, we wanted to understand how an organization attract its people.

It was no surprise to hear that organizations concentrate on lots of different factors so to get a more focused view we asked them what their top 3 motivations were and the organizations told us that they are mainly focusing on salaries (32%) and the working environment (27%).

One interesting geographic difference was that salaries were significantly more focused on in China than in any other region (42%).

After further examination of the data, segmentation analysis determined that there were 3 different ways in which organizations are attracting future employees. Organizations either take a Bankroller, Trendsetter or Culturist approach.

More detail on each of these strategies and how much of a challenge employee retention is can be seen below.

An interesting finding was that Culturists find it significantly less challenging to retain their employees and this is mainly driven by the company’s recruitment motivators. As such focusing on the working environment, the work life balance and having a more progressive management style can have a huge impact on being able to retain your employees.

Why do people leave?

One way to reduce the challenge of employee retention is to determine the reasons why people leave an organization, as self-reflecting on this helps you to learn about the motives of your employees and any shortfalls in the employment you are providing.

When asked, over half of all organizations stated that employees are likely to leave because the salary is better elsewhere. The other main reasons for leaving were down to personal circumstances and a desire to work in a different industry.

When we then examined the reasons for customer churn across different segments, we saw some very interesting differences.

Interestingly a lot of the initial motivators for choosing an employer impact on the reasons for people leaving as well.

• Bankrollers particularly struggle in keeping hold of employees as the people they have recruited are very much driven by salary and career development.

• Staff of Trendsetters also leave as a result of salaries and the resources and training available to them elsewhere.

• Culturists do a much better job in keeping hold of their employees and most only leave as a result of external factors such as family reasons or moving location.

“Bankrollers particularly struggle in keeping hold of employees”

How does an organization best attract, retain and ultimately keep their people engaged?

To best attract, retain and engage employees you should develop your recruitment approach around being a Culturist.

Benefits of becoming a culturist:

• Culturists find it easier to attract people and retain staff. Their employees typically
  leave for personal external reasons as opposed to internal factors such as pay and general dissatisfaction in the role.

• Culturists are significantly better at keeping employees engaged and in return benefit from higher customer satisfaction levels.

How to become a Culturist:

To become a Culturist, make sure to create a company culture that supports a healthy work-life-balance and an overall nurturing working environment. Train your managing staff to become progressive mentors, who listen and care for their colleagues.

Sure, even Culturist companies need to make sure to offer a competitive salary package and good training opportunities to be considered a decent employer, however, in the long run it pays off to focus on those intangible soft factors. A truly caring company culture is hard to replace and will give you a competitive edge in the fight for the best talent.

Quiz: Is your organization a Bankroller, Trendsetter or Culturist?

In developing the segmentation, B2B International’s in-house statisticians have used numerous different questions as inputs. In order to find out which segment your organization would fall into, the statistics team has created one killer question; the answers to that question will tell you your organization’s most likely segment.

Please complete the exercise below, to find out the type of organization you are most likely to work for.

Question

What do you think particularly attracts people to work for your organization? Please select the top 2 motivations.

a. Salary / core compensation package
b. Work environment / atmosphere
c. Work / life balance
d. Reputation / prestige
e. Expertise / quality of product or service offer
f. Fast paced environment

Answers

If you selected the following two answers you are most likely to work for a Bankroller…

• Salary / core compensation package & Work environment / atmosphere
• Salary / core compensation package & Reputation / prestige
• Reputation / prestige & Expertise / quality of product or service offer
• Reputation / prestige & Fast paced environment

If you selected the following two answers you are most likely to work for a Trendsetter…

• Salary / core compensation package & Expertise / quality of product or service offer
• Salary / core compensation package & Fast paced environment
• Work environment / atmosphere & Reputation / prestige
• Work environment / atmosphere & Fast paced environment
• Work / life balance & Expertise / quality of product or service offer
• Expertise / quality of product or service offer & Fast paced environment

If you selected the following two answers you are most likely to work for a Culturist…

• Salary / core compensation package & Work / life balance
• Work environment / atmosphere & Work / life balance
• Work environment / atmosphere & Expertise / quality of product or service offer
• Work / life balance & Reputation / prestige
• Work / life balance & Fast paced environment

Readers of this article also viewed:

• Research Shows Message About the Importance of Mental Health in the Workplace is Getting Through
• Employee Research – a Neglected Treasure Trove of Market Intelligence
• How to Measure and Improve Employee Satisfaction

The post Maximizing Employee Engagement: Adapting The Right Recruitment Strategy appeared first on B2B International.

There is no doubting the importance of having a strong brand; one that is well recognized, has a strong story, strong relevance, and as a result features in the purchase consideration set for target buyers. Significant spend on brand development, promotion, tracking and valuation is commonplace for large corporations and has gradually become more and more significant in the medium and small business space, as brands seek to differentiate and maximize the value of their brands in the marketplace.

Over the past decade, as millennials join business purchasing teams, brands have evolved further to make clear their position beyond the products they supply and the heritage they can claim. People have come to value the story of the brand; what it stands for, what its position is, and the degree of responsibility it takes for environment and community, particularly where it has a significant impact on it (e.g. energy, chemicals, food). Never has this been more tested than in current times.

The behavior of companies has been on show through their responses to the COVID pandemic, and this will undoubtedly impact future brand perceptions, not just for customers, but also for employees and future employees too. Reputations could be built and destroyed by actions during this difficult time, and this in turn may impact the image of the brand longer term.

Attention to the Employer Brand

Whilst considerable attention is given to the brand from the perspective of the external stakeholder, the internal stakeholder is often the poor relation with little attention given to the brand as an employer. The brand’s potential to become a “pride” brand for existing employees, facilitating engagement and loyalty, and a “pull” brand for future employees creating a sense of attraction and aspiration at the prospect of being a part of the organization, is often overlooked.

Strategic attention to the effectiveness and performance of the brand to increase customer engagement and ultimately purchase power is business as usual. However, thinking about the brand in the context of attracting, engaging and retaining quality staff, less so. Jenni Field, President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations says…

“People are starting to pay more attention [TO EMPLOYER BRANDING] as they realize they need to focus more on employees after having forgotten about them for years. Its an area that has been around for quite a while now; its not in its infancy but it just hasn’t matured”.

The links between staff being both on board with the brand and engaged with the organization and strong company performance are well documented, and thus it is surprising that few companies have an active employer brand development and measurement program; one distinct and different to the measurement of satisfaction, typically measuring staff performance and workplace engagement issues, and linked to the external brand measurement program.

Time to Act?

A significant proportion of large organizations are currently unable to carry out usual business activities, with operations suspended under government direction, staff working at home, on short time, furloughed or state supported. This might, therefore, be an opportune time to look inwards at the perception of the brand as an employer.

A deeper understanding of the brand as an employer rather than as a provider of products and services will enable the organization to look at its branding strategy in line with its internal communications strategy, including how brand messaging is incorporated into everything it does around the organization, particularly in staff recruitment, development and training, staff empowerment and how it celebrates staff achievements.

Consulting with Current and Potential Employees

When listening to people speaking about their job and their employer, what impresses most is when the person themselves is impressed by their own employer; when they express a passion not only for the job but for the employer, and convey pride in being an employee of that brand. This is very powerful when it leaves you wishing you worked in the same organization.

So, when seeking opinions of employees, rather than focusing only on performance on brand attributes and associations, we need to understand just what it is they would and do say when asked about their employer brand. This is expressed on 4 levels; the functional, the behavioral, the emotional and passion.

The different levels relate to responses around the levels of experience with the brand. the chart below gives some indications of the questions that might be answered in each of the categories.

Making A Start…

The breadth of the consultation needs to be considered.; who to include – current employees, new employees, recently retired and resigned employees, job applicants. Most companies will start with existing employees, not least for the ease of access.

There is equally, no shortage of methodologies that can be used to speak with existing staff; digital media leading the way as social distancing measures restrict direct access to utilize other face to face methods such as focus groups and individual interviews. Workshops can be conducted online with good results. Online surveys, online focus groups and chat platforms are commonplace and very accessible, particularly with home-based staff.

Whichever methods are used, consideration needs to be given to the freedom of the respondents to safely and anonymously give open and honest responses, particularly where qualitative small-scale methods are employed. For this reason, external independent research companies may be commissioned to carry out the consultation.

Realizing The Benefit in a Post COVID Business World

A positive employer brand is critical to organizations when wishing to attract the most talented and able staff. Post COVID, staff recruitment may not be top of the agenda, but the key benefit of a positive employer brand will be its ability to engage and empower staff to drive the organization forwards and respond to the challenges the COVID pandemic has brought to businesses re-grouping in a different business world.

This current time affords an opportunity for organizations to better understand the brand experience of employees, and ensure it is aligned with the experiences of customers. Without this congruence, delivery of a compelling and positive customer brand experience is always going to be challenged.

Readers of this article also viewed:

• Research Shows Message About the Importance of Mental Health in the Workplace is Getting Through
• Employee Research – a Neglected Treasure Trove of Market Intelligence
• How to Measure and Improve Employee Satisfaction

The post The Power of the Employer Brand in Engaging and Empowering Staff to Drive Organizations Forward appeared first on B2B International.

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You could argue that employee engagement has never been as important as it is right now with the drastic changes organizations have had to make as a result of COVID-19. With employees on furlough or having to work at home, these changes have meant there is bound to be a culture shift within the company, and one which everyone will have to adapt to.

On this week’s podcast, join me and one of our research directors, Simi Dhawan, as we delve into the changing workforce; whilst flexible working was once deemed to be a “nice to have”, it is now an expectation that must be part of their roles, and now organizations must be able to adapt to their employees’ personal lives and needs.

We look at what the driving forces are behind employee engagement which can be distilled into 4 key areas:

• Self Development & Training
• Autonomy, Power & Recognition
• Communication & Connection
• Clear Direction & Leadership

With Millennials starting to dominate the global workforce, not only do organizations have the pandemic culture shift to adapt to, they will also have to remain focused on how to keep this particular group of workers content within their roles. Millennials have historically received a bad name for themselves, sometimes even known to be “highly self-absorbed”; so what does this mean for your company, and in particular its culture?

Listen to the full episode below to find out how you can build your organization from the inside out, and create a “bomb proof” culture where your employees will go above and beyond to ensure your business remains successful.

The post B2B Insights Podcast #7: The Changing Workforce appeared first on B2B International.

Productivity Currently a Top Concern for Businesses

Data from our latest wave of research shows worries over ability to cope with flexible working and with productivity of colleagues and employees topping the list of concerns for businesses around the globe. More than four in 10 business decision-makers are very or extremely concerned about these issues, placing them at first and second, respectively, among all operational concerns we’ve asked about since the second week of May:

While productivity is a pressing concern for all businesses right now, the burden of ensuring that workers remain active and industrious are not shared equally across different regions: Concern over productivity of colleagues and employees seems especially high among organizations based in the Asia-Pacific region, where 53% are “very” or “extremely” worried about the issue. By contrast, organizations in the Americas seem significantly less troubled, as only one-third (33%) rated it very or extremely concerning.

This reflects the different stages of the pandemic that these regions are at right now – with Asia-Pacific significantly further through its initial phase of the crisis. What this suggests is that productivity may remain a persistent issue as we move toward recovery.

Reasons to Worry: Negative Impacts on Productivity

To understand the reasons behind these significant concerns over productivity, we asked businesses about a range of negative impacts they have seen to their business since early May, as well as how significant or extreme each of these impacts has been over this timeframe:

The results above indicate that productivity concerns are driven by a range of perceived problems. Altogether, 95% of concerned decision-makers indicated that at least one of the productivity problems listed above has impacted their business to some extent. Enterprises (those with 250 or more employees) generally register significantly higher proportions that have seen any impact from these challenges on their business, versus SMEs (<250 employees).

So what have the main issues been?

Top Challenges to Productivity

1. Motivation – Problems with staff morale and motivation top the list in terms of prevalence and impact, with nearly 8 in 10 (78%) citing this problem. Given the duress many have endured in balancing professional responsibilities with striving to protect themselves and loved ones from health impacts of COVID-19, it would be a surprise not to see morale as an issue. Job security created by economic uncertainty is also likely to be part of these worries.

   The fact that this issue tops the list of productivity challenges should serve as a stark reminder to organizations that they are only as strong as their people: Making employees’ mental wellbeing a top priority is likely to become an even bigger focus in future in the context of productivity.

   This need to focus and support employee mental health may, in part, be addressed by a growing array of mobile mental health and therapy apps that companies can encourage their employees to use. This includes apps such as Kite and Talkspace, as well as other mental health tools and resources. A further example of this is the free “Innen Leben” downloadable flashcard set recently developed and made available for free by a psychologist and psychiatrist in Germany.

2. Utilization – Simply having enough work to keep all employees occupied throughout the workday is problem for around two-thirds (66%) of businesses with concerns about productivity. And 3 in 10 see this as exerting a major negative impact.

   Initiatives based around shortened working hours have started to be considered by some companies and governments. New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, recently floated the idea of a national 4-day workweek aimed at both helping to bolster domestic tourism and also helping employees strike better, healthier work/life balance as the global crisis continues.

3. Distraction – “Difficulties balancing work and childcare commitments” and “general distractions at home” are significant, and linked, issues. The melding of work and home lives brings with it everyday distractions that impinge on working time. Whether it’s deliveryman ringing doorbells, construction workers jackhammering nearby or furry familiars leaping across keyboards, virtually everyone has a harder time staying focused and engaged when removed from their regular business environment. Given the diversity of home settings of employees, it has been challenging for many firms to devise an overarching strategy to mitigate this problem.

 

Further Reading
The latest insights and advice on COVID-19
COVID-19 Insights Hub


 

4. Supervision – The inability to monitor and manage employees represents the fourth and final major drawback for productivity that the working world has had to grapple with. This obstacle can make it difficult for managers to effectively delegate to and checking on their direct reports. It also directly exacerbates the two previously discussed issues of distraction and (lack of) utilization, since managers can no longer “catch” and refocus distracted employees, nor optimally allocate workloads across their various reports. Now more than ever, managers must be able to trust the initiative of employees.

Other Struggles with Productivity

5. Sub-optimal Setups – One less severe, but common issue with productivity is the issue of sub-optimal working environments – i.e. a lack of suitable workspaces and/or equipment. This issue has had a major impact on only around one-fifth of firms with productivity problems, although around 6 in 10 have seen it have some negative impact. While firms can do little to provide for a better room or space in which their employees can work remotely, they can certainly help in the form of better technology, tools and equipment. This is especially so if working from home is likely to continue for a significant while longer, as expected in many economies.

6. Time Management – The final challenge is individual and collective time management. Around 55% of firms to have seen their productivity negatively impacted report a surfeit of meetings that take up too much time and/or long working hours impinging on individual productivity. With so many organizations operating with reduced staff or reduced hours, being careful not to overload those employees becomes a priority. However, this is a difficult balance to strike given the pressures many firms face.

Looking on the Bright Side: Positive Impacts on Productivity

As ominous as the commercial horizon has become, business decision-makers still recognized a range of positive impacts on productivity across their organizations in recent weeks.

• Extra Time Means More Time for Reflection and Creativity: First, workers have had the benefit of extra time to get their jobs done, not least in terms of time saved on business travel and commuting to work. Less time spent commuting has had a major positive impact on more than 4 in 10 organizations (42%), and some positive impact on around three-quarters (74%).

  Having this extra time and space to themselves has allowed workers to put more thought and creativity into their outputs and deliverables. Around 3 in 10 (29%) reported major positive benefits here, with around two-thirds (68%) of companies surveyed saying this has had at least some impact. More time doesn’t always lead to more productivity, of course – However, gaining a significant chunk of extra time at the start and end of the working day, in particular, has likely helped in this regard.

• Extra Flexibility: Many workers have recently gained additional flexibility to work preferred hours and patterns. Around a third (34%) of our sample cited this as a major positive impact, and even more (39%), cited it as having a minor positive impact on their business over the past few weeks. The closely related issue of changing routines was also cited as a major benefit by 25%.

• Extra Responsibilities: A third and distinct benefit that more than half (56%) cited as exerting some positive impact on productivity is that of extra experience – i.e. employees being asked to do a wider variety of tasks than normal. Theoretically, if a given organization can accomplish a wider variety of things with the same or fewer resources, productivity will increase. One caveat here is that asking individuals to learn new processes or take on additional responsibilities may still have a time and productivity cost: They’ll need additional time to learn these new skills and even then may not be as efficient as those that previously specialized in these tasks.

• Extra Intensity & Room to Focus on Complexity: The fourth and final productivity benefit since the advent of COVID-19 has been that of extra intensity or focus. For many roles, having solitary workspace away from the distractions of the usual, bustling workplace appears to have improved focus for some. While this benefit was only seen as having a major positive impact by around one-fifth of organizations, this was significantly higher in technology firms – here, 33% stated there had been major positive impacts. This aligns closely with software development or coding tasks.

Taken together, these results portray a complex and double-edged array of impacts to organizational productivity during COVID-19 so far. The ability of organizations to get work done has been hampered by issues of motivation, occupation, distraction, and supervision. At the same time, companies have seen many gains in productivity due to their workforces utilizing the benefits of extra time, flexibility, experience, and intensity.

These enforced changes to working patterns are, however, likely to provide strong pointers for businesses and policy-makers in helping to crack the “productivity puzzle” that many firms in mature economies had encountered even prior to the pandemic.

These findings are from the B2B International COVID-19 Tracker. They are derived from n=2,030 interviews with business professionals in SME and Enterprise firms in the UK, France, Germany, USA, Canada, China, Singapore, Australia and Japan. Fieldwork was conducted from 13th April – 22nd May 2020.

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The post COVID-19 Tracker: Remote Working – Time and Productivity Gains Mean More Opportunity to Focus on Creative Thinking and Complex Tasks appeared first on B2B International.

In these times of uncertainty, we have created a new podcast series to help you understand how businesses like yours are adapting, as well as hearing experts across various industries give their best advice on how you can defend your brand and remain successful during these times.

COVID-19 has turned 2020 plans upside down for most organizations. As a result, it has never been so important to have an agile strategy in place in order to remain competitive, continue to grow or even in some instances keep heads above water and defend your brand(s).

Today on Insights Inside, I discuss agile strategies and “the new normal” with David Ward, Group Sales and Marketing Director at Irwin Mitchell. Find out how his organization flexed their operating model so quickly, and whether they had ever planned for a situation like this.

Our in-depth discussion also touched on:

• Flexible working and employee support;

• Their product offering, considering changing consumer behaviour and demand;

• How they have continued with their “people culture” (reflected in their client intimacy strategy in which they live by) in this new digital world;

• How they plan on remaining innovative and creative as we start to slowly emerge from the pandemic lockdown.

Listen to the full episode below to learn how embracing agile strategies can help your organization succeed in the “new normal”.

Watch our recent webinar

Understanding Market Shifts During the Pandemic and the Implications for Your Business

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The post Insights Inside #6: The Importance of an Agile Strategy w/ David Ward (Irwin Mitchell) appeared first on B2B International.

Fear. Distress. Anguish about loved ones, angst about our employment, anger about our predicament. In our personal lives, the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a range of emotions and a jumble of coping mechanisms in all of us. Surveys have tracked consumers’ emotional and physical responses to the crisis. In the US, Medical News Today reported 22% of people turning to alcohol and 36% experiencing sleeping problems. More positively, 84% claimed to be focusing on being more productive and over half believed laughing about the situation had improved their wellbeing.

At B2B International our interest is in the behavior and emotions of businesses, which are after all collections of people and thus intrinsically emotional. Just like individuals, businesses seek relationships, pride, self-actualization. As employees we are often at our most emotional when partaking in our working lives. Proud of our achievements. Distressed, even humiliated by our failures. Protective yet jealous of our colleagues. And as our working lives and personal lives become irrevocably intertwined, the emotional sensitization of us and our businesses only increases.

And so as we continue to track business sentiment throughout COVID, this fourth week we focus on the emotional state of businesses. What emotions are business decision makers experiencing, what is causing those emotions, and what does this mean for their businesses?

Widespread concern and defiant optimism

It will be no surprise to learn that decision makers’ negative emotions have outweighed the positive over the course of the crisis. Over 70% of businesses feel that ‘concerned’ is one of the top 3 emotions they are feeling, with ‘anxious’ not far behind. Beneath these top issues the picture becomes more intriguing. Almost half of decision makers describe themselves as simply ‘frustrated’ in these times of budget cuts, investment reductions, furloughs and other drastic changes of plan.

But a full third of businesspeople remain ‘optimistic’, with 25% ‘confident’, even as we head into a recession that may be unprecedented for centuries. It is easy to forget that many businesspeople (in fact many people in general) are optimists by temperament; in addition the greatest moments of disruption create the greatest opportunities for companies that are in the right sector and at the right moment.

So which groups of decision makers are experiencing most concern?

Big businesses are just as concerned as the SMEs

Our findings on which businesses are most concerned by the impact of COVID dismantle a number of stereotypes. Large businesses with over 250 employees (68%) are almost as concerned by the situation as the small businesses (76%) that are often assumed to be intrinsically fragile. This level of concern has barely changed since we began tracking business opinion in late March – most businesses are worried, and this worry has become ingrained. On the fundamentals of cashflow, sales generation and future business prospects, smaller businesses and larger businesses are equally anxious. All sizes of business are worried that prospects and sales will remain reduced in the medium-term, and that a lower cost base will soon have to follow.

Big businesses are most concerned by employee engagement & wellbeing

The general public is extremely sceptical that large companies care about their employees. A 2017 YouGov survey in the UK showed that only 23% trust people who run large companies, and most believed that business leaders need to be fairer with employees and other stakeholders. Smaller businesses are frequently seen as more in touch with their communities, more authentic, more altruistic.

Yet our tracker shows that during this pandemic, concern for employee engagement and wellbeing is far greater in larger businesses than in SMEs. Two thirds of large businesses are ‘very concerned’ or ‘extremely concerned’ by this issue, making it more worrisome to them than even their businesses’ financial concerns. Yet among smaller businesses, only just over half state that they are concerned by these employee issues. If small businesses are not prioritizing the employee experience during these difficult moments, we can expect their employer brands to be tarnished, and their staff attrition rates to increase when the economy recovers and vacancies for new roles re-emerge.

Our many studies on business lifecycle show that as businesses grow, their planning becomes more strategic, more long-term and more granular. It is unsurprising therefore that in the current pandemic, these larger businesses are more concerned than smaller businesses that their strategies will be disrupted.

Outside Germany, worry is everywhere

Counterintuitively, businesspeople based in countries at the epicentre of the crisis (generally regarded to be Western Europe for most of the past 8 weeks) are less likely to be feeling concern than those in the Americas or APAC. This is due in large part to a low level of concern (44%) in Germany – seen by most to have effectively limited the spread of the disease and subsequent fatalities. But even businesses in the UK (worst affected country in Europe by number of fatalities) are not significantly more concerned than businesses in most other locations. This may be due to Government response – despite its perceived poor performance on disease management, the UK’s furlough scheme in particular is widely seen to have improved the short-term prospects of businesses.

Millennial business decision makers – most relaxed about the crisis, and most positive about their Governments’ response

Perhaps most stereotype-defying of all, the millennial generation of new decision makers and entrepreneurs is ostensibly showing greater emotional fortitude than older generations. In fact the level of concern and anxiety felt by the business community is shown by our study to increase with age. The psychologist’s view that emotional regulation skills increase throughout adulthood is perhaps outweighed by the health risks faced by over-50s and the caring responsibilities that must be woven into the working days of the middle-aged. Millennials (65%) are more likely than anyone to be confident in their Governments’ handling of the epidemic, more likely to be confident in their Governments’ funding for businesses and employee retention programs (65%) and more likely to be confident in their Governments’ ability to handle future disruptions (68%).

Further Reading

The latest insights and advice on COVID-19

COVID-19 Insights Hub

Overcoming The Concerns

So if worry is almost everywhere, how does business navigate the COVID crisis? Here, businesses see one solution above all other.

During a pandemic, an online presence is an excellent relaxant

Those who do not sell online or via an e-commerce platform are notably more worried than those that do – unsurprising given that millions of bricks and mortar businesses have been forced to close down in the short-term, and welcome fewer customers into their outlets in the long-term. Online businesses are among the most confident not only that they will successfully recover from the COVID crisis, but also that their country will. Most strikingly of all, they are 6 times more likely than businesses not selling online to predict considerable revenue growth during 2020.

So Who Will Succeed?

Future predictions are difficult in such a fluid and unprecedented situation. However the mood is measured rather than unduly pessimistic, with a 74% of businesses expressing confidence that they will recover. Businesses fall into clear groups of optimists and pessimists. In addition to companies operating extensively online, specific sectors and countries see themselves as well prepared to recover from the pandemic.

On the pessimistic side, ability to travel is the big driver: tourism, hospitality and distribution/logistics are generally feeling negative, albeit 60% or more believe their businesses will recover. Most positive? German businesses, financial services firms, FMCG/food manufacturing companies and those with an online presence all report in large numbers their confidence that their businesses are resilient and will recover.

But most confident of all are businesses based in China, a country which has largely put the pandemic behind it and reached a ‘new normal’. A reminder, perhaps, that the crisis will not last forever, and business’ emotions will continue to change.

Watch our recent webinar

Understanding Market Shifts During the Pandemic and the Implications for Your Business

Watch Now

The post Business Sentiment & Emotions in COVID-19: Big Business Is Most Concerned About Its People & Millennials Are Coping Best appeared first on B2B International.

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Lorraine Martin, President and CEO of The National Safety Council joins us to discuss how employers can navigate the COVID-19 crisis.

Lorraine shares her three-fold strategy; being smart, being prepared and being respectful. She also discusses what we can learn from organizations that are responding well to COVID-19, and what can employers do if they are not sure what to communicate to employees.

For more information about COVID19 support from the NSC: nsc.org/coronavirus

The post Lorraine Martin, CEO, NSC on Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis appeared first on B2B International.