IWFI, Lagos Business School host HR delegates to scale 21st century workforce

As the world evolved from the pandemic and the imminent rise of Gen Zs taking up more roles in places of work Institute for Work and Family Integration (IWFI) in collaboration with Lagos Business School hosted Professors, CEOs and HR delegates across the country in Lagos to create new strategic imperatives in the new workforce.

Funke Amobi, regional head of people and culture , Standard Bank Group, West Africa gave a keynote speech on the work, the worker and the workforce looking into the new imperative take can be adopted by leaders at work as they deal with the work culture of GenZ and other factors affecting the value of work in the post pandemic era.

Speaking on employee upskilling and reskilling, Usen Udoh, Business and HR specialists Thought Leader moderated a panel of Enitan Oyenuga, Head HR, Jumia Nigeria and Yemi Faseun, Chief Talent Officer YF Talent partners as they both thought on how organisations can guide their employees to career growth and retain the best hands that have garnered more skills on the job.

Faseun mentioned that employers are looking to do more with less, and with the technology advancement and a shorter time span the shelf life of learning, there is a huge skills gap in today’s workforce. He also mentioned that the onus is on the leaders to nudge the employees in the right direction,

Oyenuga speaks on what organisations stand to gain if upskilling is achieved are opportunities to grow and build confidence for the employees which leads to improved performance for the organisation. She also mentioned that HR needs to learn about Digital skills , data analysis skills are very important to the department to track staff performance.

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Start up by asking the staff questions using the Gallup employee engagement method, institutionalize a people first culture taking it one staff at a time, embracing flexibility and work life harmony watching out for unconscious bias by leaders, continuously make the work interesting , putting the human back in HR, prioritize the mental health of the employees and so on.

Faseun added that employees have their own share of responsibility to upskill and for companies to regain the loyalty of employees leaders should be part of the process of nurturing their employees. “Loyalty becomes self when the employers leave learning and development solely on the employees,” Faseun said.

He concluded saying companies should understand the complexity around the new worker and they must change for the new workers because they find ways to monetize every skill they learn.

Usen Udoh in his keynote speech on the new dynamic and nuance spoke on issues involving quiet quitting, and stress levels on a global scale using data from the likes of Deloitte. Giving key design considerations like social experience, work experience, and organization experience looking into , people relationship, teamwork, social climate, work organizations, work control and flexibility, growth and reward, purpose, technology and a good working environment as the sub designs to be looked at.