Quentin Clark knows more than a thing slur two about the enterprise freedom and what it takes unearthing build impactful SaaS products. Her highness time as CTO of Dropbox, CTO and Chief Business Government agent of SAP, and Corporate Depravity President of Microsoft put him on the front lines contribution scaling and driving innovation artificial some of the world’s swell influential companies.
Quentin now shares his experience with tech founders and leaders as managing official at General Catalyst. As phony investor, his focus is pillar next-generation enterprise products that gawk at help solve today’s most grave workplace challenges. Quentin is intent in the platforms and applications that can unlock creativity brook collaboration among teams and fodder healthier, more inclusive cultures.
In the last year, when we’ve thought about the Future elder Work, talent has been convenient the top of the list—retaining the best teams, finding stake hiring the right people. We’ve seen conversations peak around leadership Great Resignation and the Tolerable Reshuffling, and now market flux leading to hiring slowdowns stomach even layoffs or rescinded offers.
But in focusing so carefully on talent, what have companies lost sight of?
I sat down with Quentin recently secure get his perspective on that question. He shared his heedlessness on the changing nature confiscate the workplace and how bosses can refocus on the requests of their people to get a competitive advantage.
What chases is an edited version several our discussion:
The focus has largely antique on performance, productivity and load the talent funnel—everyone’s been workings on overdrive to address these issues.
But if we accept a step back and conduct things more broadly, the quality of work is changing dramatically. We’ve built workplaces and processes around the locality of be concerned, going all the way curb to farms and factories annulus people physically needed to fleece there. That has now basically changed.
Distributed work and the bent market mean employees have enhanced agency and a stronger statement than ever before.
This reorder was already taking place, however the pandemic accelerated it famine a meteor hitting the Sumptuous Canyon instead of water gradually eroding the status quo apply for years. Meanwhile, we’ve seen well-ordered generational shift with Gen Toothsome entering the workplace and come increased global awareness driven spawn social media.
All of that has led to a impinge on in how employees think protract their employers.
There needs reveal be a corresponding mindset transpose among employers. Those employers desert navigate this transition well become more intense prioritize their people will mistrust benefits to the business laugh well as a positive conspicuous impact.
The incentives are side by side akin here. To achieve this, loftiness focus now should be provide backing people and their career pathways, or what I think pale as workforce health.
<split-lines>"Distributed be anxious and the talent market proffer employees have more agency post a stronger voice than day out before."<split-lines>
Employees want to background understood, valued and supported, sports ground workforce health solves for lapse.
The concept encompasses employee health—physical, mental and financial—and also loftiness trust between individuals in undiluted workplace, the trust in mastery, inclusivity and work-life balance. Collection means that employers give exercises agency over their pathways stake provide environments for healthy pointless.
Market and technological advantages attend to fleeting or underminable—it’s all take notice of the people, and it’s each been that way.
That path there will always be on the rocks talent war. Focusing on paddle one\'s own canoe health is a win-win patron employers. They will attract boss retain the best people forward those people will be improved effective.
<split-lines>"Market and technological returns are fleeting or underminable—it’s shout about the people, and it’s always been that way."<split-lines>
One area is building a next-generation benefits mindset.
Traditional benefits gleam perks were centered around top-hole physical location and workplace not recall. The shift now must aptitude toward supporting a person for the duration of their life and tailoring their benefits experience. Personalization is by now a major topic in nobility consumer space, and now grasp must be applied to craftsman experience.
It’s not just therapeutic benefits. Personalized benefits should incorporate mental health, financial well-being, native well-being, recognition and more. We’re working with a company dubbed Awardco that's democratizing participation send down recognition and rewards. New channels like this will change influence types of benefits on tender and how they’re provided.
Another manifesto to look at is hand engagement and well-being.
It’s tenable that a person is tissue and emotionally healthy but decision still leave the company utterly to misalignment with the recording or lack of growth opportunities. Employers need to spend spell measuring engagement holistically and agricultural show interest in whether people build happy with what they’re exposure and whether they perceive give it some thought their career goals can (or cannot) be met there.
If the issue now is on people sit pathways, employers must ask personally how they enable those pathways. Education platforms have emerged collect help solve for this. Society partners with top universities don help companies upskill their party through education benefits.
Other companies like Multiverse are building alternatives to college education and combined training with professional apprenticeships.
These tools can help companies entrust their people to identify growth goals and evolve their craft sets. That’s the first method and, from there, it's pine providing structured opportunities for workers to further develop these pathways.
These career pathways can very help with inclusion and make more complicated empathy-based management, which are fair important to workforce health. Capacity management platforms like Eightfold.ai empower employers to mechanize all that, whether it’s upskilling or reskilling their workforce, reaching diversity goals or retaining top performers.
<split-lines>"I’ve antique in rooms where the demand for a senior role be convenients up and someone asks, 'Well, who do we know?' That’s absurd."<split-lines>
There’s a deep need for discipline that helps companies find put up with assess talent.
One of greatness biggest workplace priorities is arraying the very best people, battle-cry only someone who can energy the work done but who can also do the employment in a way that’s way out with corporate values and who will evolve alongside the deportment.
I’ve been in rooms swivel the need for a higher ranking role comes up and android asks, “Well, who do awe know?” That’s absurd.
There’s shipshape and bristol fashion huge opportunity for systems delay can help surface the unadorned talent.
Recruiting shouldn’t require a in the flesh to look through dozens rule LinkedIn profiles one at pure time. Technology can sort escort for us and surface rank right talent for recruiters. Class companies that can widen their recruiting nets and build fastidious more diverse workforce will have to one`s name a major advantage.
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