It’s vital that employers understand the new COVID-19 era personas in order to engage and motivate them effectively so companies can continue to be productive and efficient in today’s challenging environment. Global communications consultancy Ketchum has identified four distinct personas making up today’s workforce. They include Ready Resumers, Values-Conscious Advancers, Static Sustainers and Anxious Evaluators.
According to Ketchum, the new workplace personas are based on changes in staff values and their openness to re-engage in the workplace as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The Ready Resumers (representing 30% of employees) are prepared to pick up where things left off and have not shifted their values as a result of COVID-19. The Values-Conscious Advancers (around 25% of staff) have transformed and looking forward to reconnecting. Static Sustainers (representing around 20%) are content to watch and wait as the COVID-19 crisis plays out. However, the Anxious Evaluators (around 25%) are the least engaged at work today and they are also the most worried about the effects of COVID-19.
Employee expectations and values have changed as a result of the pandemic, reveals Ketchum’s study entitled Work Shift 2020: How Crisis Culture is Changing the Priorities of the American Workforce. Almost two-thirds of American workers (63%) say the pandemic has prompted them to dramatically re-evaluate their professional priorities, as reported.
RE-ENGAGING STAFF
Traditional engagement topics such as career development are taking a back seat, as staff are now prioritising issues such as workplace health and safety instead. More than half of US workers (52%) say that feeling safe at work is more important than being promoted, reveals the study. At the same time, 79% staff say that employer values are more important to them now than before the pandemic. “The big shifts taking place have signalled to many organisations they need to hit the reset button on employee communications,” according to Ketchum.
Strategies and tactics that worked just four months ago might not work as effectively today, which means that employers have to hit the reset button on engagement, according to the new personas. Therefore tailoring messages to each persona, such as individualising the way you communicate, is “now imperative”, notes Ketchum’s study. As more workers expect companies to focus on human values (safety, health, diversity and inclusion), they also expect to be recognised as unique individuals.
REINVENTING THE WORKPLACE
“We are seeing new drivers of employee engagement emerge with our clients in North America and around the globe. An employee’s need to feel heard is magnified like never before, and they are craving more human, frequent, transparent, two-way communications with their company and its leaders,” stated Lauren Butler, Senior Vice President of Ketchum’s Employee Communications & Engagement. “Given employees’ diverse attitudinal changes over the last few months due to COVID-19 and social unrest, messages must be tailored to benefit all types of employee personas versus a one-size-fits-all approach.”
As part of its employee engagement services, Ketchum has created a new diagnostic tool to help companies understand how these personas match their employee base and how their priorities have shifted as a result of COVID-19. “Companies must prepare now to reinvent the future workplace because that reinvention is already underway among their employee base,” she added.
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