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by Richard Hadden, CSP (2024 Supply Summit Keynote Speaker)

Leading a workforce has never been the easiest job on the planet, but the workplace of 2024 has served up a special menu of challenges that leaves many managers looking for a new playbook to keep their teams producing the results they need.

It’s natural to blame the changes we see on the pandemic that upended so many parts of our lives over the last few years, and it was clearly a potent accelerant to these changes, but it can’t claim credit as the igniter. Almost everything we’re struggling with today was already on its way long before any of us had ever heard the word COVID.

Our study of the workforce has pointed us to four major trends in what we call “Workplace Next:”

Leading a workforce has never been the easiest job on the planet, but the workplace of 2024 has served up a special menu of challenges that leaves many managers looking for a new playbook to keep their teams producing the results they need.

It’s natural to blame the changes we see on the pandemic that upended so many parts of our lives over the last few years, and it was clearly a potent accelerant to these changes, but it can’t claim credit as the igniter. Almost everything we’re struggling with today was already on its way long before any of us had ever heard the word COVID.

Our study of the workforce has pointed us to four major trends in what we call “Workplace Next”:

1. Workers are the in the driver’s seat. For now. And likely for some time to come. There simply are not enough workers to go around for every employer. It’s not because they’re lazy; it’s because they don’t exist. But there ARE enough workers for the very best employers, and that’s where you have to be.
2. Flexibility is here to stay. Although some employers were already dabbling in more workplace flexibility, the pandemic demonstrated that lots of us (not everyone) could do great work without the rigid constructs of time and place we’d always known. And flexibility isn’t limited to remote work. Think flexible schedules, more PTO, and measuring productivity rather than just time spent at the workplace, wherever that happens to be.
3. Development is the new pay raise. More and more, workers (the ones you want, anyway…) are saying, “Sure, pay me what I’m worth. But also, help me develop new skills and greater value to the workforce. That’s more likely to keep me around than you may realize.”
4. You will have to hire from and work with a generation that totally perplexes you. Just like you totally perplexed the first person who hired you. It’s always been this way, whether we remember it or not.

Leaders have a choice when faced with these trends. They can complain about and resist them (which I don’t recommend), or they can get on with the business of leading the workforce that’s available to them. Let’s go with that one.

Here are some things we’ve found have made it easier for the very best employers to attract and retain the best workers available, in this challenging workforce environment:

• Focus on the quality of your leadership. A major cause of voluntary resignations is the desire to work for a better boss. Make sure yours are the best they can be.
• Look in unexpected places for talent.
  • Boomerangers – those who left your organization on good terms, perhaps for greener pastures. Have a conversation about coming back.
  • Follow up with candidates you almost hired, and see if they’d like to revisit a career with you.
  • Do the same with those you wanted to hire, but who turned you down. You never know what their status might be.
• Look at the careers section of your website. Does it make people want to work for you? Do you have a prominent “Careers” tab on your home page? Do you show people what it’s like to work there? Or is it just a humdrum list of “available openings”. Use video, interviews with current employees, and elements that show what a difference they’ll make when they join your team.
• Upgrade the onboarding experience for new hires. Get the paperwork done before they start and focus on getting them off on a powerful good footing from day one. Here are a couple of tips:
  • Ask your CEO to mail a personalized welcome letter to every new hire, to their home, before they start. That’ll knock their socks off!
  • Pair them with an onboarding buddy who can help navigate those first few months on the payroll.
• Take every opportunity you can to say “Thank you” to workers for good work.

Leading today’s workforce has its challenges, and its rewards. Distinguish yourself as a leader, and as an employer of choice, and you’ll beat the competition for talent.

Richard Hadden is an author, speaker, and consultant who helps organizations make more money by creating great places to work. He’s the co-author of the popular “Contented Cows” leadership book series, including his latest book, Contented Cows STILL Give Better Milk. Learn more at