PwC Türkiye’s Workforce Sustainability Survey conducted in cooperation with Wellbees in September and October 2022 analyses potential paths to more sustainable workforces, illustrating the outlook of workforces by critical social elements of workforce sustainability such as well-being, skills development and employee engagement.
Sustainability has become an important part of the goals and actions plans of many organisations around the world. Workforce equality, inclusivity, justice, ethics, well-being and skills of the future are focus areas of companies in the social aspect of sustainability. In this survey, we provide insights on well-being, skills development and employee engagement, which are important for workforce sustainability, and we discuss possible actions to achieve a sustainable workforce.
We focused on five subjects that are important for workforce sustainability and their interaction with each other.
Beyond Tick-the-Box: People Focused Social Sustainability Equation
- Focus of social sustainability strategy: Diversity and Inclusion.
- The hybrid working model may be critical for a sustainable workforce.
- Well-being practices must be diversified.
- Young employees have lower scores in vitality and psychological safety.
- Female respondents have lower well-being and engagement scores.
- Gender gap in opportunities and pace of preparing for future work life and roles.
- Young employees attach importance to gaining new skills.
Focus of social sustainability strategy: Diversity and Inclusion.
The most popular strategy on companies’ agendas was diversity and inclusion, while the least popular strategy was having an ethical supply chain. Broken down by company type, SMEs have different agendas and place importance on implementations for talent and skill acquisition/development.
The hybrid working model may be critical for a sustainable workforce.
Respondents working in the office model had the lowest score in psychological safety and engagement, while respondents working in the hybrid model had the highest scores.
Well-being practices must be diversified.
The most common well-being practice was flexible work opportunities, stated by 27.4% of respondents, while stress management and programmes to quit smoking were the least common practices implemented.
Young employees have lower scores in vitality and psychological safety.
The survey found a positive correlation between age and vitality and psychological safety score, and a negative correlation between age and frequency of negative emotional states and poor mental health.
Female respondents have lower well-being and engagement scores.
Female respondents and those in the I’d rather not say category were found to have experienced negative emotional states more often than male respondents. Also, the average number of days on which male respondents had poor mental health was lower than in the other two categories.
Gender gap in opportunities and pace of preparing for future work life and roles.
The survey reveals that male respondents access more trainings to obtain future skills than female respondents and those in the I’d rather not say category.
Young employees attach importance to gaining new skills.
Compared to respondents aged 36-55 and above, respondents aged 19-35 say fewer development opportunities are provided. This result may be due to the importance each age group places on skills development. According to PwC’s Global Hopes and Fears Survey, 44% of participants in Generation Z are concerned with developing enough technological and digital skills, whereas this percentage is 29% for baby boomer participants.
Our employees are precious and fragile, yet durable diamonds.
In this model that looks like a diamond, we see employee engagement and vitality as two different variables, yet they feed from the same parameters. This shows that, even though there is a thin line between work and life and they affect each other, people can differentiate between the two. In conclusion, we may have employees who have low engagement but high vitality. Quiet quitting can be explained by employees who have low engagement and high vitality whereas burn out can be explained by employees who have high engagement and low vitality. When a balance is not struck between these two variables this may lead to talent loss, high turnover, productivity decrease and eventually an unsustainable workforce.
Design a Future with a Human Sustainability Agenda!
1. Companies need to develop a holistic social sustainability strategy.
2. Employees should be supported in spending time on activities outside of work that help them recharge, and their work-life balance should be improved.
3. Female employees and young employees should be supported in well-being and psychological safety.
4. Social and spiritual well-being should be supported.
5. Young employees want to develop their skills. Training and development programmes to prepare them for the future are important.
6. Flexible work opportunities should be provided while the value of face-to-face work and socializing shouldn’t be overlooked.
7. Managers are critical for ensuring psychological safety.
Contact us
