By Ashlynn Bouldin, Intern, Communications & Web Content
Average reading time: 3 minutes
As industries evolve with artificial intelligence, the business community is urged to find new ways of unlocking human potential and building the skills needed to position companies and talent for the future.
The DRC’s Talent Talk, presented by BGSF Professional Services and Holmes Murphy, assembled business and workforce experts to analyze how employee-centric business models ensure long-term success and talent retention.
Below are the key insights shared by experts at the November event.
Centralizing employees increases talent retention
Suketu Shah, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, emphasized the importance of employee satisfaction and centricity in talent retention. “When you ask employees if they get treated better than their customers or the shareholders, only about 25% answer the affirmative.” Meanwhile, “employees who are motivated and happy will stay there and are 50% less likely to leave.”
Centralizing employees in your business requires purposeful cooperation between employers and their teams. “Employee centricity is not about more perks,” said Shah, “it’s about more participation. It’s about more inclusion of your employees and making work ‘work’ for you.”
Chloe Skibba, Partner at Boston Consulting Group, added that talent retention also requires trust between each level of a company. “A recent Korn Ferry study found that 80% of employees said that they would stay [at their company] if they had a manager that they trust.”
As Shah noted, “the future of work is not about choosing between people or performance. It’s about realizing that they’re one and the same thing — that employee centricity is all about trust, fairness, and creating joy for employees in what they do.” For companies to attract and retain talent effectively, they must secure their employees at the heart of their business, prioritizing their motivation, trust, and happiness, as “joy may be the most underrated business metric of the last decade.”
Employee centricity supports AI efficiency
“As AI reshapes work, the winners will embrace co-creation with their employees, not push stuff at them,” described Shah. “Those who don’t [embrace co-creation] will have these quiet quitters who leave their organizations.” To retain talent while incorporating AI into the workplace, employers must actively include their employees in the processes and projects involving AI.
Skibba highlighted that, in AI-forward businesses, prioritizing employees is crucial. “[AI] is productive in some ways, but it can create expectations and burn people out… As you grow your team, invest in them, engage with them. Make sure that you are enabling them to recharge without guilt, and trust them to manage their energy along with their output.”
According to Shah, the 2024 BCG Decoding Global Talent survey revealed that “companies who are very employee-centric are seven times more likely to be AI-mature or will [reach that maturity] faster, and they are 43% more likely to have more employees.” There is a visible relationship between AI efficiency and employee centricity, and companies seeking to grow with technological change should do so with that relationship in mind.
Apply AI with purpose and invest in employees to retain talent
In this era of rapid technological change and innovation, it is easy to be reactive and seek short-term solutions. But it is imperative that businesses act proactively to position themselves for long-term success.
Shah encouraged leaders to “embrace change” via purposeful AI application. “Find a couple of areas where you can pilot the technology the right way with clear use cases and clear expectations of the ROI that you want to get. If it doesn’t work, then stop and do the next thing.”
Skibba cautioned businesses against hasty AI implementation. “A lot of companies want to start by scatter shooting a tool like copilot or Chat GPT” when they should be asking themselves, “what is one problem or challenge we have that we think AI can be really useful for?”
To effectively apply AI while also attracting and retaining talent, employers should invest in their employees, embracing technological innovation as a team. “75% of employees in high AI-mature companies said their organization trains them regularly on new tools,” said Skibba. “Embedding learning and AI literacy into your culture and engaging by meeting with trust and connection is the winning solution to building your talent.”
Companies that centralize their employees by establishing trust, involving them in the development of new tools and processes, and investing in their growth are equipped to retain the talent needed for success and longevity in this era of technological change.
Thinking about new ways to strengthen your talent pipeline? Email talent@dallaschamber.org to connect on your company’s needs.