Opportunity Marketplaces

Aligning Workforce Investment and Value Creation in the Digital Enterprise

by: Michael Schrage, Jeff Schwartz, David Kiron, Robin Jones, and Natasha Buckley

In response to unrelenting digital disruption, many leaders are rethinking how they value and invest in their workforces. Across the business landscape, corporate leaders are seeking to develop more flexible, adaptive, and valuable workers. Our global research study directly addresses this challenge. Based on a survey of nearly 3,900 respondents and 18 executive interviews, we find that the most effective approaches to achieving a higher-value workforce have a common core: opportunity.

Targeted investment in opportunity is fast becoming the central organizing principle for making more people more valuable in more organizations. Our global executive survey and interviews identify the design of opportunity marketplaces as perhaps the key leadership challenge for most organizations seeking to ethically maximize human capital returns.

We see opportunity marketplaces as systems, digital platforms, and virtual places where organizations provide — and workers find — the opportunities most relevant to their mutual benefit and success. In an effective marketplace, the enterprise offers its workers defined options for professional development, mentorship, project participation, and networking, among others. Empowered workers, in turn, can choose to pursue those opportunities they most value. Vibrant, robust, and inclusive opportunity marketplaces strategically align both individual and enterprise aspirations. Investment in greater workforce opportunity is seen — and understood — as an investment in greater workforce value creation.


In our first year researching the future of the workforce, MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte1 present this report highlighting the urgency and importance of this approach. We find that many leaders and workers alike are not satisfied with corporate investments in their development. Seventy-four percent of respondents believe that developing worker skills and capabilities is important to their organization’s strategy, but only 34% are happy with their organization’s investment in them. Nearly half of all workers surveyed are prepared to leave their organization if offered a buyout or severance package.

The corrective, our research shows, goes beyond a greater emphasis on workforce restructuring, retraining, reskilling, and “rightsizing” efforts. For many workers, more skills — and even better experiences — without more opportunity is insufficient.

About the Authors

Michael Schrage is a research fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management’s Initiative on the Digital Economy, where he does research and advisory work on how digital media transforms agency, human capital, and innovation.

Jeff Schwartz, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP, is the U.S. leader for the Future of Work and Catalyst Tel Aviv (formerly the Innovation Tech Terminal–ITT). Schwartz is an adviser to senior business leaders at global companies focusing on workforce and business transformation. He is the global editor of the Deloitte “Global Human Capital Trends” report, which he started in 2011.

David Kiron is the editorial director of MIT Sloan Management Review, where he directs the publication’s Big Ideas program, a content platform examining macro-trends that are transforming the practice of management. He has coedited two books on economics and coauthored more than 30 journal articles and research reports on AI, strategic measurement, performance management, analytics, leadership, digitalization, and sustainability.

Robin Jones is a principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP with more than 20 years of organization and workforce transformation consulting experience. At Deloitte, Jones leads markets and services for Workforce Transformation, where she advises senior executives on strategy and execution of large-scale future-of-work initiatives.

Natasha Buckley, Deloitte Services LP, is a senior manager in Deloitte’s Center for Integrated Research, where she analyzes the progress global organizations are making in their digital transformations. Her research focuses on topics such as digital transformation, the future of work, and technology ethics.

Contributors

Siri Anderson, Desiree Barry, Deb Gallagher, Carolyn Ann Geason, Chetan Hebbale, Abha Kulkarni, Michele Lee DeFilippo, Shubham Oza, Janet Parkinson, Saurabh Rijhwani, Negina Rood, Lauren Rosano, Allison Ryder, Brenna Sniderman, and Barbara Spindel

To cite this report, please use:

M. Schrage, J. Schwartz, D. Kiron, R. Jones, and N. Buckley, “Opportunity Marketplaces,” MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte, April 2020.

Acknowledgments

We thank each of the following individuals, who were interviewed for this report:

Josh Bersin, human resources industry analyst

Ty Breland, global HR officer — talent development and organizational capability & global development, Marriott International

Marcus Buckingham, head of people and performance research, ADP

Cynthia Bullock, division administrator of human resources, Virginia Department of Transportation

Oren Cass, author and executive director, American Compass

Amy deCastro, vice president of human resources, Global Businesses – U.S., Schneider Electric

Tony DiRomualdo, senior research director, The Hackett Group

Ankur Gopal, founder and CEO, Interapt

Thomas Kochan, codirector, Institute for Work and Employment Research, MIT Sloan School of Management

Martin Krzywdzinski, professor of international labor relations at the Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg; head of the Globalization, Work, and Production research group at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center; and director at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society

Paul LeBlanc, president, Southern New Hampshire University

Matt Levin, chief strategy officer, ADP

Donald Meij, group CEO and managing director, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd.

Ying Yuan Ng, chief learning officer and group COO, human resources, DBS Bank

Andrew Saidy, vice president of talent digitization, Schneider Electric

Sarah Sheffer, director, strategic workforce planning, Henry Ford Health System

Lisa Sterling, chief people and culture officer, Ceridian

Don Weinstein, corporate vice president of global product and technology, ADP

Advisory Panel

Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management and director of the Center for Human Resources, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice and director of the Human Resource Strategy in Transforming Companies program, London Business School

Paul Michelman, editor in chief, MIT Sloan Management Review

Adviser

Maggie Wooll, Deloitte Center for the Edge

Data Analysis Team

Satish Nelanuthula, Sanjay Vadrevu

MIT Sloan Management Review

At MIT Sloan Management Review (MIT SMR) we share with our readers an excitement and curiosity about how the practice of management is transforming in the digital age. Our expert contributors help leaders explore the trends that are shaping how organizations operate, compete, and create value in a technology-fueled world. We deliver the kind of evidence-based analysis and practical insight that will inspire readers to do great work.

MIT Sloan Management Review Big Ideas

MIT Sloan Management Review’s Big Ideas Initiatives develop innovative, original research on the issues transforming our fast-changing business environment. We conduct global surveys and in-depth interviews with front-line leaders working at a range of companies, from Silicon Valley startups to multinational organizations, to deepen our understanding of changing paradigms and their influence on how people work and lead. Working with collaborative organizations, we publish our findings in annual research reports, case studies, videos, articles, and interactive data visualizations. For over a decade, MIT SMR’s Big Ideas Initiatives have explored topics such as artificial intelligence, digital leadership, sustainability, data and analytics, the internet of things, and performance management.

Deloitte

This publication contains general information only and is based in part on the experiences and research of Deloitte practitioners. Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, financial, investment, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. Deloitte, its affiliates and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a U.K. private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the U.S. member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the “Deloitte” name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.

Deloitte Insights publishes original articles, reports and periodicals that provide insights for businesses, the public sector and NGOs. Our goal is to draw upon research and experience from throughout our professional services organization, and that of coauthors in academia and business, to advance the conversation on a broad spectrum of topics of interest to executives and government leaders.

Deloitte Insights is an imprint of Deloitte Development LLC.

References

1. Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a U.K. private company limited by guarantee (“DTTL”), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as “Deloitte Global”) does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the U.S. member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the “Deloitte” name in the United States, and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.

2. A. Sen, “Well-Being, Agency, and Freedom: The Dewey Lectures 1984,” The Journal of Philosophy 82, no. 4 (April 1985): 169-221; E.S. Phelps, “Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change” (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2013); and “Coase’s Theory of the Firm,” The Economist, July 27, 2017, www.economist.com.

3. A.C. Edmondson, “The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth” (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2018).

4. A. Sen, “Well-Being, Agency, and Freedom: The Dewey Lectures 1984,” The Journal of Philosophy 82, no. 4 (April 1985): 169-221.

5. J. Hagel, M. Wooll, J.S. Brown, et al., “If You Love Them, Set Them Free,” Deloitte Insights, June 6, 2017, www2.deloitte.com.

6. J. Hagel, M. Wooll, and J.S. Brown, “Skills Change, but Capabilities Endure,” Deloitte Insights, Aug. 30, 2019, www2.deloitte.com.

7. LinkedIn produces an opportunity index that focuses on individual perceptions of opportunities about work and life in different regions of the world (https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/research/opportunity-index-2020). We are proposing a somewhat different kind of index: a business-specific opportunity index that explores worker perceptions about the availability of, and their ability to pursue, desirable opportunities in their workplace.

8. M. Wallack, “Perks Are Out, Internal Mobility Is In: What Gen Zs Truly Look for in the Workplace,” Gloat, March 20, 2019, www.gloat.com.

Tags:

Reprint #:

61440

More Like This

Add a comment

You must to post a comment.

First time here? Sign up for a free account: Comment on articles and get access to many more articles.