HEALTHCARE ESTATES 2024 KEYNOTES
Re-inspiring workforce requires leadership skills
Presenting in the opening morning keynote session under the conference theme, Estates & Facilities Services, on the second day of Healthcare Estates 2024 were three speakers representing large organisations – NHS England, multinational professional services partnership, EY, and the healthcare division of Siemens AG. Their focus was some of the major workforce challenges and opportunities today – for employers and employees generally, and more specifically for healthcare engineering and healthcare EFM personnel and the suppliers and technology providers that work with them – in an increasingly digitally-driven world. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.
The three speakers, the Director of Sustainability and Workforce, and National Deputy Director of Estates at NHS England, Fiona Daly; EY Partner and UK People Consulting Leader – Financial Services, Katherine Savage, and Tina Johne, of Siemens AG Healthcare, Vertical, Innovation and Digital Business Management, were introduced by the session chair, Nigel Keery OBE, who had officially taken over as IHEEM President from Alison Ryan at the Institute’s 2024 AGM the previous day (HEJ – November 2024, and pages 8-9 of this issue). Katherine Savage, the first to speak, explained that
her role at EY entails ‘supporting organisations on their people agenda’. She told delegates: “My plan is to share some broad perspectives on how the world of work is evolving, focusing particularly on how – as leaders and people managers – you will need to evolve your skills to lead in a more complex future work ecosystem of work.” She explained that ‘with access to many organisations, employers, and employees globally’, EY had, since the pandemic, been surveying both employers and employees as part of its Work Reimagined survey, and continues to do so.
An annual survey and results EY now conducts the survey annually, and Katherine Savage explained that – against this backdrop – she wanted to discuss ‘what had been evolving since the pandemic’ around the need for leaders to lead effectively, and how they intend to ‘motivate, engage, and inspire’, new entrants to the world of work with very different expectations to previous generations. She said: “In many of our client conversations we’ve been focusing on how to ‘re-inspire’ the workforce after a period of significant disruption, as well as discussing how they can embrace Gen (Generative) AI – and the significant value it can bring to the human experience at work.” She continued: “We know the talent agenda has been significantly disrupted. From an employer’s perspective, there has been continued economic slowdown and high inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty, and while there are now fewer job vacancies, securing the right staff remains challenging. Equally, underutilised office space is an issue, and hybrid working is probably sub-optimal for most of the organisations EY speaks to. We also have real disruption from emerging technologies. Similarly, structural elements like demographic shifts and the cost of living are impacting employees. The latter remains very important, particularly to newer entrants to work – forcing them to make quicker decisions and move between employers more frequently than we’ve previously seen.”
Flexible and remote working Some organisations were now using flexible and remote working as part of their ‘employee value’ proposition, but others were encouraging staff to return to ‘on-site’ working. Katherine Savage added: “We know too that Gen AI is significantly disrupting task activity, and that it will require new skills, both at a leadership level, and from a technical perspective, to address that more complex ecosystem of human and machine.” Showing ‘a very busy slide’, she said: “There’s been
a shift in the power balance between employees and employers. It’s pretty mixed in the labour market; top talent can secure new roles, probably for higher pay, but skills gaps still mean a significant premium for some roles. Employers have underestimated employees’ desire to quit. I’m sure you’ve read about the ‘quiet quitters’ – the disengaged, demotivated, or others who – while they haven’t yet made the leap to a new employer – are probably not as productive, engaged, or incentivised as they were. So, there is a productivity impact from disengaged employees. We know pay remains important, so how competitively do you pay? And are you differentiating for top talent – not just in total compensation terms, but in the opportunities you afford those that make the greatest contribution?” Katherine Savage believed there was ‘a real tension
emerging between hybrid and fully remote’. She said: “There’s a diversity lens to this, because more flexible working often enables you to attract a more diverse
Katherine Savage of EY, the first to speak, explained that her role at EY entails ‘supporting organisations on their people agenda’.
January 2025 Health Estate Journal 29
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