Navigating the new world of talent management

Employee benefits

Insights for today’s leaders on work mindsets

Burnout. Loneliness. Quiet quitting. As a leader in today’s business landscape, you’ve heard plenty about a negative mindset shift pervading today’s talent.

“Unfortunately, many of the ideas that have been proposed to explain the new talent landscape are not evidence-based, even if they seem plausible,” according to our Truist Leadership Institute (TLI) Purple PaperSM “The new world of talent.”

Here’s a sample of what our experts discovered after combing through recent reports, studies, articles, and client surveys.

Graphic showing how Percentages paint a picture: 43% of workers didn’t cite pay at all as a reason to quit (TLI); 64% say what they want from a job has changed since the pandemic (disclosure 1) (SHRM); 53% of remote workers report working more now than before the pandemic (disclosure 2) (Indeed); 52% had to take on more work duties when colleagues quit1 (SHRM)

5 guiding principles for today’s leaders

To help you cut through the clutter to what leaders really need—actionable, accurate advice on how to move forward—our experts at TLI built a research-driven framework of five top-priority principles. Enjoy this executive summary; then download the full report to dive deeper.

Today’s workers are: Individualistic and should boost retention with personalized interventions for high-value positions, rather than one-size-fits-all policy changes; Expectant and should show you value employees’ contributions by honoring more of their personal preferences for when and how they work with reasonable accommodations; Overworked and should pay close attention to the number of hours team members work, and avoid scope creep in what’s expected, especially when a colleague leaves the company (and their workload); Split in experiences and should recognize that exempt and non-exempt workers may have different experiences and should manage more inclusively and sensitively by developing companion policies for each group; Seeking boundaries and for remote workers should enable them to set and maintain lines between their work and nonwork life domains. Stop relying on flexible work to curb burnout.

4 leadership traits to nurture in yourself

Understanding the psychology of the American worker is only part of the puzzle. Research shows that modern leaders benefit from looking inward, as well.

4 leadership traits: Empathy -- Ask questions, encourage more sharing, and separate your own experiences from what you’re hearing; Connection -- Make time every day to connect with people on your team virtually or in person to find out how their work and lives are going; Trust -- Embrace flexibility, shifting your leadership focus to measuring input/output ratios and outcomes; Resilience -- Create healthy, mindful boundaries between work and nonwork time and thought. This will support long-term resilience in yourself and your team.