2023 has been a rough year for businesses and their people. According to Forbes, in the first three quarters, there were about 605,000 announced layoffs, nearly double that of 2022. This makes it the worst first three quarters of job cuts since 2020 and the second-worst stretch since the recession in 2009.

In the face of so much disruption and uncertainty, the standard reaction from customers and prospects seems to have been, in a word, resignation. In spirit, if not in employment. Executives who still had jobs, who hadn’t had a summer holiday since the outbreak of COVID, seemed to take full advantage this year and disappeared for weeks. Understandably, as there was likely little to be done until the dust had settled.

Returning to the office after Labor Day, however, they might have found that their peers who were in charge of “The Reorganization” had also taken holidays, and others in charge of the resulting “Budget,” also returning, now might be waiting for the reorganization to be completed. Then, while inboxes and the most recent layers of layoff dust were being cleared, tough economic and earnings news among many traditionally strong stock market performers resulted in sudden budget freezes.

It wouldn’t be surprising, when faced with such a scenario, that an executive would consider the remainder of 2023 a write-off. Any productive initiative requiring investment would seem to be a non-starter. Why not write off 2023 and turn to 2024?

That could be a mistake.

Coming out of this economy, there will be those who are in the lead, and those who are lagging. The differences, which can quickly grow in enterprise impact, will be their people. Research going back two decades correlates employee engagement and support for large organizational initiatives with success, and with a surprising downstream delta in overall enterprise valuation, starkly favoring those companies with supportive workforces.

Every year, however, workforce support gets more difficult as the cumulative drag of budget cuts, reorganizations, M&A and other changes takes its toll. According to Gartner, the average employee experienced two org changes in 2016 and 10 in the past year. Gartner also found that employees’ willingness to support enterprise change dropped to just 43% in 2022, down from 74% in 2016.

So what does it take to move the needle with your people? Effective listening.

Effective listening is not another pulse survey coming out of the latest re-org for benchmarking purposes, but an authentic chance to share stories and experiences and shift the collective mindset from resistance to possibility. Additional recent Gartner research shows that taking this kind of approach increases employee engagement by up to 38%, reduces change resistance by 19%, and increases the intent to stay by 46%.

There is technology for this— tools like ThoughtExchange. It may seem like a tough sell when, again according to Gartner, most enterprises are feeling buyer’s remorse and looking to cut ties with underutilized HR tech bought in the aftermath of COVID. But it is key to understanding the hearts and minds of your employees. Not only increasing their “engagement” (whatever that really represents) but understanding in simple terms what is actually working for them, what is getting in their way, and what specific actions will allow them to make a larger, more meaningful impact in their roles across the organization.

This is understood by your C-Suite.

Recently, Gartner published a report showing that CEO attention on the workforce has steadily elevated in the last two years and is now ranking third after growth and technology. The same report notes that those in charge of people and teams need to show both business benefits and cost optimization, that executives are looking to technology to deliver this balance, and that this makes HR tech, including listening, the number one area of investment for the third year running.

And, listening that combines employee experiences with AI can be even more of a difference-maker. According to Gartner, if you are going to invest in AI, Voice of the Employee—listening technology— is the most feasible investment and the one that promises the greatest return.

Summary

By all accounts, now seems to be a time of paralysis for technology investments. For understandable reasons. Yet, arguably now is the time, if there is any budget available, to invest in effective listening tech.

The stakes are high. Seeing an opportunity and acting when others can’t or won’t could mean a key contribution in a tricky time for you as an executive. For your organization, being ahead when it comes to workforce alignment and retention could equate to a winning margin coming out of the current economy.

Something to consider.

Joe Baker
GM of Corporate at ThoughtExchange
joe.baker@thoughtexchange.com