Top trends in employee engagement

Although many workers worldwide consider themselves to be ambitious, 47% say they’re not focused on progression or climbing the ladder at their jobs, according to Randstad’s recent Workmonitor report. 

A new sense of “ambition” is emerging, the report authors noted, which emphasizes work-life balance, flexibility, equity, belonging and upskilling at the heart of workers’ career decisions.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, as workers’ ambitions, motivations and priorities are becoming more fragmented and personalized,” Sander van ’t Noordende, CEO of Randstad, said in a statement.

“It’s crucial that employers communicate regularly with talent about their wants and needs, whether that be flexible work, career aspirations or learning and development opportunities,” he said. “Embodying a talent-first mindset and truly understanding their personal motivations and priorities will help set businesses apart.”

In a survey of 27,000 workers worldwide, 47% said they’re willing to stay in a role they like, even if there’s no room to progress or develop. In addition, 34% said they never want to take on a managerial role.

Instead, workers are more likely to value work-life balance, schedule flexibility and mental health support over career ambition.

In addition, 72% of employees noted the importance of training and development opportunities. Nearly a third said they’d quit a job if they weren’t offered opportunities to “future-proof” their skills, such as training around AI.

Workers also want a more equitable workplace where they feel they belong, according to the report. About half of workers said employers should bear the responsibility for improving equity in the workplace, and 45% said employers are liable for enhancing workplace culture.

However, despite these expectations, workers don’t appear to feel as confident about leaving if their priorities aren’t met, the report indicated. For instance, in 2023, a little more than half of workers said they’d quit a job if they felt they didn’t belong; that number dropped to 37% for the most recent report. This shift could be driven by increased concern about layoffs, with 45% saying they’re worried about losing their job this year, as compared with 37% in 2023.

Employee experience programs may face significant cutbacks and budget restrictions in 2024, according to a Forrester report. The advisory firm, which previously anticipated declines in employee engagement and “culture energy” in 2023, predicted an “upcoming EX recession” will affect diversity, equity and inclusion programs in particular.

HR leaders also report waning optimism around engagement and retention, according to a report from The Conference Board. In response, most said their main human capital management priorities for 2024 are focused on employee experience, organizational culture and leadership and workforce capabilities. 

Even as retention and labor market concerns proliferate, hiring intentions remain stable for 2024, according to a Robert Half report. More than half of managers said they plan to add new permanent positions during the first half of the year, and nearly 40% said they plan to hire for vacant positions.

More than half (51%) of employers say employee satisfaction, employee mental health and emotional support are top priorities, according to research from the Integrated Benefits Institute.

The findings suggest that the stresses of modern working life coupled with rising healthcare costs have made employee well-being an increasingly critical priority, IBI said in a press release announcing its findings.

Survey data from 305 HR professionals in the U.S. also revealed that employers struggle with initiatives that engage both on-site and remote employees; 45% said adapting to new virtual and hybrid work arrangements poses hurdles, such as balancing remote work, isolation/social interaction and managing employee burnout.

Although investing in workplace wellness initiatives yields benefits, employers must still “balance quality programming with cost management, account for diverse workforce needs, and leverage data analytics to gauge value,” IBI said.

Many employers link insights from data collected on employee satisfaction, retention and productivity to the cost and quality of their programs and initiatives, the survey found. But employers can also gain by re-evaluating existing policies and programs to ensure they map to objectives around productivity, growth, efficiency and other metrics, and by assessing which roles are best suited for fully remote, hybrid or in-office work based on business needs, IBI recommended.

Given recent projections of increased turnover and concerns about declining employee engagement, it follows that employers will want to regularly review how satisfied employees are with their current situation — especially since an overwhelming percentage of HR leaders have said they expect retaining existing workers to be a key part of their talent strategy in 2024, a December report from The Conference Board found.

Engagement is a concern because it’s about the energy employees want to put in their jobs, as one HR exec described it. Actively disengaged employees may be disgruntled with their employer and likely to leave, another expert pointed out.

But there are ways HR can respond, including clarifying expectations, a big component of engagement, HR leaders have said. IBI recommended that employers offer training to managers. A key training point should be getting managers to think about how their direct reports’ jobs are structured and to have brief, but meaningful and weekly conversations with their reports about such issues as goals, well-being and recognition, according to Gallup research.

Employers should also take a multi-dimensional approach to engagement, focusing as well on financial well-being, mental health and caregiver support, HR leaders have said — issues cited in the IBI report as other important priorities.

Flexibility and work-life balance are additional concerns, the IBI research found. But employers have to find ways to engage both on-site and remote employees, who differ on the benefits of each arrangement, according to a previous report. For example, while nearly 6 in 10 survey-takers said working independently in a remote setting is more productive, about the same percentage said they like meeting new colleagues in the office, and workers were split on where they focused better.

Because no one-size-fits-all option satisfies all employees, employers may want to conduct “stay interviews,” with open communication at every step of the way, from the recruiting process, to onboarding, to performance management, to training and development, one executive has recommended.

Employers should also be aware that as the work environment continues to evolve, workers’ needs will change and engagement strategies must evolve also, others have noted.

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By ExtensisHR

Employee engagement, or the “involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace,” is fundamental to a business’s success. When properly measured, it can help business leaders understand and manage their staff’s perspective on their roles and the overall company culture. Further, high employee engagement is tied to lower turnover, increased sales, better customer service, and more.

Below are the top six employee engagement trends in 2024 to help business leaders determine the best initiatives to pay attention to and invest in.

1. Comprehensive DEI initiatives

Thoughtful diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies continue to be a key driver of employee engagement. According to recent research, over half of U.S. workers feel that a company’s DEI programs play a key role in their decision to work there or not, and impactful DEI strategies can trigger increased employee retention and engagement, more effective recruiting, a higher level of innovation, improved decision-making, and more.

2. A focus on friendships

Building connections with colleagues is essential for a thriving workplace culture. McKinsey reports that compared to those who felt disconnected at work, employees with a strong feeling of social capital are 1.5 times more likely to feel like they belong, 1.5 times more likely to feel engaged, and twice as likely to have sponsorship at work.

3. Timely feedback and recognition

Employees value regular feedback on both their strengths and areas for improvement. Gallup found that employees who received daily feedback from their managers were three times as likely to be engaged than those who received it once a year or less. While it’s not always comfortable to explain to workers where they stand to improve, having these conversations enables them to work toward their career goals effectively.

4. Clear performance objectives

In addition to wanting to know how they’re doing at their jobs, employees want to know what exactly they are working toward. Employers can do so by providing straightforward performance objectives, which:

· Allow workers to understand what’s expected of them

· Enable managers to better observe, document, and coach

· Provide staff with a way to self-measure

· Help workers develop job knowledge and skills

· And more

5. Well-defined career paths

74% of employees feel they aren’t reaching their full potential at work due to a lack of learning and development opportunities.

To avoid this, organizations can empower their staff’s career growth through a targeted, immersive learning and development strategy that’s focused on reskilling and upskilling their workforce.

6. Measuring progress

Employee engagement shouldn’t be guesswork; organizations should track several key metrics to determine their workforce’s satisfaction. One popular measure of employee engagement is an employee net promoter score (eNPS). To determine their eNPS, companies should regularly survey their staff and ask them on a scale of 1-10 how likely they are to refer the business to a friend or colleague.

Employers can also survey their team on other topics associated with employee engagement, like understanding what’s expected of them, having a close work friend, and more.

Employee engagement made simple

Maintaining high employee engagement levels is a catalyst for business success, but with so many moving parts, it can be challenging for small- and medium-sized companies to keep up.

A professional employer organization (PEO), which provides comprehensive human resources, employee benefits, payroll, and risk and compliance services, can help businesses reach that goal without losing focus on other vital projects.

For instance, ExtensisHR’s dedicated HR Managers track employee engagement trends on your behalf and assist with DEI policy and employee survey strategy creation. PEOs can also provide access to learning and development portals featuring immersive and integrated learning, and performance management platforms that facilitate performance objectives, feedback, reviews, one-on-one meetings, and employee appreciation.

Contact ExtensisHR today to learn more about their employee engagement solutions, or discover more insights in their 2024 HR Trends Report.

Workers are increasingly participating in company volunteer activities, new data from the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals suggests.

The ACCP surveyed its pool of members in the “corporate social impact” industry for its 4th annual CSR Insights Survey. In discussing the uptick in employee volunteering, the report noted how employers are making room for these charitable actions to take place. 

One-third of employers offered individual options, more than half offered group volunteer opportunities and 26% offered virtual options.

In-person vs. virtual volunteering

The report from ACCP emphasized that even in this hybrid corporate landscape employers are championing in-person volunteering. 

Data from this firm is supported by the 2023 edition of “Giving in Numbers,” an annual report by the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose. 

While in-person volunteering still holds, the significance of virtual options cannot be understated, CECP researchers said. They underscored how virtual volunteering has longevity and is a highly accessible option.

Namely, the ability of international employees and domestic workers to participate together makes the virtual option indispensable. “Virtual volunteering allows for international employees to be included, and learn about communities and geographies around the world without needing to travel,” researchers said.

L&D, retention make a business case for volunteerism

In contrast to its findings on international workers, the CECP also called attention to a key form of volunteering that was growing popular (an almost 6% increase) among domestic workers: board leadership. Researchers called attention to the learning and development benefits in volunteering through company leadership. 

Similarly, 3 out of 10 respondents in the CSR Insights Survey noted that they had introduced skills-based volunteering or had put more emphasis on it this year.

Beyond highlighting the learning and development angle, ACCP continued to emphasize the engagement benefits. This includes retention and attraction. 

Carolyn Berkowitz, the firm’s CEO, said in a statement that implementing a volunteer program is a way to “tangibly align corporate values with those of employees” — something workers continue to say is critical.

“In today’s highly competitive talent market, employee volunteerism and giving are essential strategies for recruiting, engaging, and retaining staff,” Berkowitz added. 

And finally the data leaves statistical room for increased holiday cheer: 11% of ACCP survey takers noted they added opportunities for inter-employee “random acts of kindness.”

As HR knows, workers’ wants and needs — both voiced and unarticulated — are constantly evolving.

The return to the office is another layer added onto the landscape, with 9 in 10 employers planning to implement RTO policies in the near future, per an August 2023 ResumeBuilder report. How can HR provide an ideal (hybrid) office environment when the future of work is ever-evolving?

A remote work report from Owl Labs, a videoconferencing company, indicated yes, remote workers benefit from the freedom of not being mandated to come into the office.

Whereas 57% of survey-takers said that working independently remotely is more productive, only 30% reported the same regarding the office. About half of workers said they think more creatively when remote. In turn, 49% said they focus better while remote, compared to 39% who do so better in an office setting.

But the study also revealed that knowledge workers really do value the benefits of communing with co-workers: 60% of survey-takers said they like to meet new colleagues in the office, compared to 17% who said they preferred to do so remotely.

About half preferred team meetings in real life, compared to a quarter who said they preferred virtual meetings. (Survey-takers also preferred in-person collaboration to remote collaboration in similar numbers.)

So how does HR balance these mixed desires and messages?

Communication is the secret sauce

In a public statement on the mixed-bag remote work findings, Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Owl Labs, noted that “when it comes to work environments, there’s no one-size-fits-all option that satisfies all employees, which is why hybrid work is the future.” This sentiment mirrors that of Abraham Gonzales-Pollick, Vensure Employer Services’ vice president of client development.

Acknowledging the necessity of on-site work for some industries, Gonzales-Pollick’s advice for HR is to collaborate with employees on what RTO looks like at their organization. 

Instead of exit interviews, drill down on “stay interviews.” He recommended open communication at every step of the way: from the recruiting process, to onboarding, to performance management, to training and development, Gonzales-Pollick said.

“They're experiencing all of these things throughout that whole lifecycle. It would be really great to hear from the employees on what they need in that moment,” he said. Maybe an organization needs more flexibility or better pay, he continued. “Maybe the organization needs more fun activities. Maybe the employees need a little bonus. Who knows, right?” Gonzales-Pollick told HR Dive. “Every organization is different. Every industry is different.”

Regarding RTO, Jakada Imani said that most of his clients are “wading into it pretty thoughtfully.” As CEO of The Management Center, an inclusion- and equity-focused leadership consulting firm, Imani has a bird’s eye view of the hybrid work landscape.

Many employers understand the gravity of re-integrating workers into a physical workplace. He also noted that the best intentions can be foiled with a careless approach.

Why that secret sauce is important

“That's a lot of the mistakes major companies make — when they're not actually talking to their teams,” Imani told HR Dive. “They're not having a conversation about what the preferences of folks are, why those preferences are that way, what the needs of the work are, and how to track and focus on the needs of the work.”

Along with future workflow and hybrid dynamics, conversations about how RTO is “going to impact different staff disproportionately” should also take place, Imani said. For example, many Black people prefer to work from home, as remote work offers a reprieve from in-person racism. (Previously, an executive at a recruitment company spoke to HR Dive about how remote work is a racial equity issue.)

Research firm McKinsey and Company, among others, has kept a close eye on women in the workplace and published annual insights therein. “What we know is that particularly women, mothers and caretakers really favored remote work because it allows them to be more active caretakers and less stretched with commute times,” Imani said.

How HR can make the office a desirable place

Beyond compliance — all HR experts interviewed for the Office Space series brought up the importance of lactation rooms for breastfeeding or “chestfeeding” — employers need to “convince” employees to come back to the office, as a previous expert stated. A regional lead for a coworking company, they described their spaces are designed intentionally: private spaces such as “focus” rooms and collaborative open spaces, “soft seating” in common areas and so on.

Gonzales-Pollick touched on the physical space element, saying, “We should be thinking about the spaces and how we evoke the senses, beyond just practical. People need more than just a desk and a phone and their monitors, right?”

“All that is practical, but when we put focus on the design and emotional aspect of the workspace, we are influencing moods, behaviors, attitudes. It’s those things that impact performance,” he continued. “You may not even think about it, but lighting makes a difference. Plants at your desk, photos and collaboration spaces.”

Colors matter, Gonzales-Pollick added. An example he gave was the company break room. If the “walls haven't been painted in 10 or 20 years” and bosses mandate RTO because employees are “going to perform better” in the office, the logic falls flat. It probably won’t compete with the windows, bright colors and comfortable chairs of someone’s WFH set-up, he explained.

HR needs an IRL engagement plan

Gonzales-Pollick also stressed the importance of daily engagement activities or what he called “power hours.” He also built on the idea of employee resource groups. “We think about these new and meaningful ways of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, but belonging sometimes gets missed,” he said.

He floated the idea of belonging groups to “give people something to look forward to,” so they can say “I belong here. And if I'm not coming to work, I'm going to miss out because I get a lot out of these belonging groups.”

“We wish that every workplace environment was highly supportive, highly connected. And what we know is that's not true. [We know] that a lot of workplace environments are dysfunctional at best and toxic at worst,” Imani said. “So if you're going to have people come together to build connection and camaraderie, you actually have to build that in.”

Imani even brought the old-school concept of “icebreakers.”

“Those things, in fact, do work, because they build trust, they build connection, they build knowledge of each other,” he said, laying the groundwork for a “virtuous cycle.”

In turn, he said, “Coming in with me sitting in my cubicle and you sitting in your cubicle doesn't actually build camaraderie. When we don't know each other's names, you don't know what each other does, and we don't have any particular sort of projects or work together: surprise! That's not going to build really deep connection.”

Both experts suggested that people teams plan engagement activities during the work day, particularly to be mindful of caregivers’ time. Beyond happy hour, employers can bring in speakers and hold breakout sessions afterward, pairing employees with people they don’t work with on a daily basis. Imani also suggested lunch conversation groups; simple prompts can be effective here.

Spitballing, Imani offered three prompts:

• What’s something you love to do outside of work?
• What do you really love about your job?
• What is one thing you’re looking forward to over the next 12 months?

“There's so many things that [managers] can do,” Gonzales-Pollick said. “They just need to give themselves permission as leaders to have that creative license to try things.”

Many leaders have bemoaned the lack of “serendipitous” hallway moments when transitioning their workforce from WFH arrangements into the office. But Imani arguably pushes back on that thought process. Intentional engagement events are what actually give people an opportunity to know their co-workers.

“It is a little bit ‘forced,’ but so is coming back to work,” he said. “So let's build in some of those opportunities for connection that are not just random. Because if I run into you in the hallway, I'm just going to say ‘excuse me’ and keep going.”

Workers who say they don’t feel valued by their employers are twice as likely to report that their mental health negatively affects their productivity, according to a Telus Health report.

Employees also may be scared to speak out about their concerns; 33% of 3,000 U.S. respondents said they don’t believe or aren’t sure that their workplace is committed to ensuring workers can talk about problems without fear of retaliation.

Workers under 40 were also less likely to report having trusted relationships at work, which can lead to feelings of isolation and problems with productivity, the report said.

Mental health has become a pillar of engagement and benefits discussions in recent years, especially as younger workers increasingly demand or expect support from employers in this area.

An Aflac survey found that 2 out of 3 Generation Z workers surveyed said they faced moderate to high levels of burnout, triggered largely by financial instability. An Aflac exec also pointed to ongoing, polarized discourse on social media and in the news exacerbating the mental health troubles of this cohort.

Telus Health similarly noted in its report that younger workers bore the brunt of mental health issues worsened by isolation.“The Index findings reflect a concerning reality, in particular for our younger workers. It also impacts businesses as loneliness and social isolation negatively impact both health and workplace productivity,” Paula Allen, global leader, research & client insights at Telus Health, said in a statement. “Rapid societal changes, alongside diminishing social support, are taking their toll.”

To help employees, organizations should build a culture of trust, Telus Health said, which can counter isolation in tandem with solid benefit offerings.

Younger employees are also more likely to expect or desire benefits to support well-being overall, an Opinium survey published last year said. Gym memberships, mindfulness sessions and wellness stipends attracted the most attention.

With building owners and workplace operators assessing the impact of return-to-office and hybrid work models on their organizations and portfolios, there is a growing emphasis on optimizing workspaces and operations to best serve the needs of organizations and employees. While the concept of workplace experience is not new, it is becoming increasingly important as operators seek to improve utilization and create better places to work.

Amy O’Neil is an executive at the forefront of that charge. Appointed late last year and announced in January as Sodexo’s president of workplace experience for corporate services in the U.S., O’Neil is responsible for elevating the company’s integrated workplace experience solutions and helping the company to grow its leadership in the field. 

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for grammar, length and clarity.

Can you explain your new role at Sodexo and what “workplace experience” means to you? 

My role as president of workplace in the U.S. includes our integrated facilities management business and it includes standing up and formalizing our go-to-market approach for workplace experience. Part of that is food. It's my belief that food was ... the first workplace experience program, if you will. [If] you go back to how Sodexo was founded ... [it] grew up principally as a food company. It is known as a food company in many places, but [it is] also a facilities management enterprise. 

And when we think about food and the workplace, since [Sodexo was founded], there's been a massive evolution of both of those things. To me, Sodexo was really well positioned because of its DNA to be in the workplace experience business. That's what I would consider broad tent, if you will, in terms of what workplace experience means, what my remit is and what I think workplace experience is today.

It's important to point out that employee experience and workplace experience are nearly one and the same. They are words that mean a lot [of things] to a lot of people, and not necessarily the same thing. Oftentimes, it depends on where you sit in an organization. 

Employee experience started off years ago, in the purview of the chief people officer or the chief human resources officer, but workplace experience has been or become somewhat in the remit of the real estate function in a lot of organizations. And now, those things are really starting to blur to be a strategy around people. To me, it's the offices, the physical space where work takes place. You can think of that in terms of a brand for a retail business. It is [also] the digital space, the in-digital life aspect of where employees work as a part of being within an organization. It's the people within the organization that process the systems, and how that really comes together.

What are organizations looking for to improve their workplace experience, help employees and reorganize their operations?

That answer depends on the client [and] the employer. And [it] can depend on how a client thinks about this today. They may be on a journey, where they don't think about it per se as strategically as maybe a different client. But the opposite is also true. We have many clients that are extremely strategic about this because they think about their people as the most important part of their business. I think COVID probably accelerated some things that would have happened anyway. We already had this evolution taking place that started many years ago — in some cases, led by technology firms. The U.S. economy has moved from more production and labor-oriented to more of a service-oriented and knowledge-worker based economy. I think that that's really what underpins much of the evolution taking place.

Some of what I hear clients talking about ... is how they need to be thinking about designing, whether it's space, technology tools or ways of working [to find] that increased level of engagement and increased effectiveness. COVID was just a watershed moment. I think it disconnected us from the idea that “what I do every day needs to happen in a certain place.” That process is going to continue, because there's clearly an awareness and a commitment, by employers but also by employees, to want to be back in shared spaces together. It's meaningful, effective, productive [and] generates better outcomes when people are working together in shared spaces. 

What are the best ways to determine and inform those design decisions, whether it be technology or through employee engagement? 

We're still in that process. I think we'll continue to be in that space of discovery for a while. Sensors...have been in work environments for quite some time now. What is changing is how data is being utilized. The orientation of our clients to understand how people use physical space has been there and will continue to be there, and I think will become more nuanced. Part of that nuance is understanding that vis-à-vis and digital [connection] as well. But again, this will continue to evolve as it relates to solutioning. And you mentioned employee engagement. The listening piece is huge. That has to be part of the equation. [For] many organizations, that is a significant part of how they are thinking about their workforce and workplace experience.

They do that in different ways. Some organizations are doing employee surveys, robust employee engagement and surveys on a regular basis, including annually, and complimenting that with pulse surveys as well. I think other parts of that are about actually listening.

In organizations that I've been with in the past, you might do focus groups on a retail product, as an example. I think the same is true with employers — doing employee focus groups and listening sessions to better understand and get the nuance of what people are looking for. And then you [have] got to test. You have to deploy things and see what people actually do and what the sentiment really is. Because you can think that you want something. It might sound or look good on paper, but in practice, it might not be everything that people expect it to be. That’s where the evolutionary part of this will continue.

The big “A-ha” is that workplaces are not fixed. They're dynamic, in part, because people are constantly coming in and out of those spaces, including digital spaces. What is also clear is that [in] the built environment, we're going to have to rethink that as well. There are organizations that are already doing this and changing what have been traditionally fixed assets in the built space.

As it relates to workplaces being more dynamic today than the past, how does that influence facilities management and the actual maintenance and operations of a space? 

On multiple levels, how we manage facilities has to become even more agile than [we’ve] been in the past, and that is an area where data and sensors can play a role.

Another part of that is when you start to think about what a facility is, and what build space we are talking about. We have some amazing clients in any number of sectors, [including] life sciences, pharma, energy and consumer packaged goods. What is true of all those clients is that they have what they do really well, which defines their value stream. And along that value stream, they have people doing different things.

Typically, you've got a lot of knowledge workers placed in headquarters or regional offices. But, as you move through the value stream of a client, they have different areas where different types of work happen and different job families that are found where that work happens.

We have our ideas around a facility and what people in a facility need or how we can actually help to improve the workplace experience that needs to change. We need to have a growth mindset around it and move away from a fixed mindset of what it means to be at a certain place in the value stream.

You’re a few months into your new role. What are your early thoughts on Sodexo’s operations and your plans, moving forward?

I'm wrapping up month five, but I am really excited about where Sodexo is and the fact that Sodexo is committing to [elevate its workplace solutions]. Sodexo has the DNA and the legacy as a food business to legitimately be in the workplace experience business. It already has much of what typifies the foundation of workplace experience insofar as it self performs much of the client solutions that we offer.

From that lens, I think we're starting from a good spot. It's clear that workplace experience and its relevance will continue to evolve. What that really means for the next 10, 20 and 30 odd years will be a substantial event. The challenge for all of us, not just for Sodexo ... is the dimensionality of this. You've got build space, and you’ve got digital space, and how is that going to change? It isn’t just the office space. It might be a third place where people are coming together to actually do work. It’s a different opportunity than what we’ve had in the past. 

What are your thoughts about sustainable operations? How can that improve going forward? 

Sodexo has established itself as a leader in sustainable practices, as a Fortune 500 company that has legitimate sustainability initiatives that are generating real results. What we need to do, and what we want to be a part of in that regard for facilities management [and] for workplaces is to take that same commitment and intensity and apply it to other areas of our business. Clients want that.

What we hear from clients we have talked to over the last several months is that it's really about three things. First and foremost, it is about the people in their business. It's about sustainability. And it's about technology — the use of technology as well as the insights you can get from data to continually evolve. In some cases, that might be incremental evolution. In other cases, it might be a step change. 

How do you find the right talent to run buildings and make sure that everything is going well? 

What is important to recognize is that this was happening prior to COVID, when you think about the kind of semi-skilled and skilled labor that would would typify facilities management. That workforce has been graying and retiring at an accelerating pace. The workforce and the new generations coming into the labor market are moving into those types of roles in insufficient numbers. That is a challenge for all of us.

First and foremost, for us, it starts with looking at the candidate individually and qualifying their skill set for certain. It also includes taking approaches with our workforce that we might suggest others take as well. It's about employee engagement from a facilities perspective. I'm a huge believer in leadership and the leaders’ role in driving employee engagement and a sense of belonging. That's inescapable. We have to have a great leader in every physical site where we're operating.