Maximizing and Valuing Employee Skills & Expertise
Leveraging our proprietary framework, the Categories of Inclusion, Aleria measures inclusion at organizations by looking at the unique experiences of exclusion of employees. The data we collect tells a powerful story. This post is part of a series where we touch on each of the Categories of Inclusion, sharing the trends we see in the data and how to enact change.
Alongside pathways and opportunities for career development, people come into organizations looking to leverage their skills and expertise, expand on them and participate in projects that can allow them to shine. This concept makes up another one of our Categories of Inclusion, Skills Use & Assignments. It consists of being included in projects that allows one to use their skills, opportunities to participate in strategic initiatives and stretch assignments, not being inequitably relegated to administrative tasks and more.
The importance of this category to a sense of inclusion is also supported by various research studies. A recent one from Deloitte looking at employee turnover found that 42% of employees looking for a new job feel their current company isn’t maximizing their skills and abilities. This makes it clear that many employees are looking for meaningful work that allows them to be challenged and to grow. Not paying attention to this can lead cause organizations to lose people that are looking to contribute more to a successful organization.
Another component of Skills Use & Assignments that is often talked about is the inequitable distribution of assignments. This includes who gets access to high profile projects and who is often expected to take on administrative tasks and “office housework”. In particular, much work has been done to demonstrate that women are more likely than men to be asked to do “non-promotable” tasks, meaning that which has little to no impact on their career development.
Through our work measuring inclusion at organizations, Skills Use & Assignments are a core part of why employees are feeling excluded. When considering the entire set of data we’ve ever collected, 28% of participating employees shared at least one experience tied to this category and 15% of all experiences of exclusion were linked to skills use.
Some examples of experiences of exclusion related to Skills Use & Assignments include:
- Being pigeonholed in one’s role without opportunity to use wider skill sets
- Interesting and new projects always being given to the same group of people
- Managers not being trained to assess talent outside of one’s specific job description
- Women being regularly asked to do “office house-keeping” work or be the note-taker in meetings
- Losing out on opportunities because senior leadership doesn’t value certain departments and roles
When looking at the sources of experiences of exclusion that relate to Skills Use & Assignments, we see the following:
As we tend to see, Leaderships and Direct Managers are particularly seen as a cause of these experiences. This logically makes sense considering the types of experiences noted above and how such decisions are typically made. Importantly, we can also see a significant portion attributed to Peers at 39%. This demonstrates that there are also issues regarding how folks feel their skills and expertise are valued and leveraged by their colleagues.
Here again, small changes in how the organization is assigning tasks and projects can make a big difference in one’s sense of inclusion as it relates to this category. Below are a few tips to get you started.
Ensure office housework/admin tasks are distributed fairly
Research has shown that not only are women often expected to do more “office housework” but that women also tend to volunteer more often for these tasks. This isn’t necessarily because they want to, but rather because they will step up when others won’t. You can build in systems to reduce this by establishing a routine that involves everybody equitably. Whether that’s a rotating set of duties across the organization or something else, by setting up a system that doesn’t require opt-ins you can reduce the potential of the same people always taking this on.
Train and hold managers accountable for equitable assignment distribution
Direct managers play an important role in this category as they are often the ones setting tasks and assigning roles within their teams. Raise awareness of potential biases through their training and build a system with their input to support fair assignment distribution. By bringing them to the conversation of building a better process you get their buy-in and support as well as gain insight into what the potential challenges may be to take into account. Once this is done, hold them accountable.
Establish a round robin technique for note-taking during meetings
Don’t assume the same person will always take notes in meetings. In fact, it is very likely that this person doesn’t always want this role and feels that they’re expected to. Importantly, it can be harder to participate when taking notes as that person is focusing intently on recording key points and action items. By establishing a set round robin, you ensure each person can participate in the way that’s best for them and reduce potential bias.
Keep track of who is doing what
For managers, ensuring that you are assigning projects fairly requires forethought and work. Keep a detailed record of each person’s involvement in projects and assignments so you can make smarter and more equitable decisions when it comes to the next one. Additionally leverage 1–1’s with reports to probe how employees are feeling about their tasks and where they may feel like they need adjustments.
Employees want to work somewhere where they can use their skills and contribute in ways that leverage their expertise. Leaders and managers can provide a more supportive work environment for this by ensuring equity, fairness and flexibility.
Wondering if your team members may be wanting more from their assignments? Get in touch to learn about Aleria’s Inclusion Assessments.
