In the past year, the employee voice has surprised many business leaders. For example, in the United States, high-profile union activities have marked a significant shift in labor relations. Return-to-office policies have also created new realities, emphasizing a need to focus on listening to the employee voice.
But this is not news. In the late 20th century, the automobile industry’s embrace of robotics and automation ignited a significant shift in employee voice and adaptation. Auto workers, facing the rise of automation, responded not with resistance but with a call for reskilling and retraining.
Employees today engage with both traditional workplace issues and broader societal challenges. This wide range of topics challenges business leaders beliefs and current paradigms of work.
Some leaders resist listening to this growing voice. But the intensity of employee voice is stretching traditional management systems. Reactive or ad-hoc responses to employee feedback are becoming ineffective. Employees now seek a greater role in decision-making.
As we enter 2024, the opportunity for proactive listening and engagement is significant. A notable percentage of employees want employers to examine current beliefs around the meaning of work. The gap between internal and external perspectives is closing, as a result of employees sharing perspectives on what truly matters to them.
Employees are challenging traditional policies and paradigms. In 2024, amid increasing global divisions, the employee voice will become more evident in business. The workplace is evolving, offering opportunities for conscious leaders to also emerge. And change how we hire, treat each other and create a new landscape that is more human.
Ancient technologies like trust, dialogue, relationships, and community are becoming essential and foundational. Increasingly listening to the employee voices and aligning leaders words and actions are key. This shift focuses on employee and customer experiences, distinguishing organizations that listen and adapt to what is needed in creating integrated healthy ways of living and working.
This is what happens in a connected world where more of us step into our power and remember we are powerful creators. No longer buying into being led by fear and force. Is it so crazy to listen to the voice of our hearts and shift?
We we stand at the precipice of new beginnings, filled with the promise of us being the transformation we so need.