Delano Plus - HR & recruitment

HR & recruitment JUNE 2022

CONVERSATION

Georges Engel: Rethinking the workplace of the future – RISTRETTO

Fanny Schlesser on the role of happiness officer – DOSSIER

Attracting and retaining high-profile talent

Lucas G.

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The Chamber of Employees’ most recent Quality of Work survey showed that about a quarter of Luxembourg employees were planning to change jobs. The figures aren’t nearly as striking as those of other countries like the US, for example, where a record 4.5m workers quit their jobs in November 2021. Analysts are now debating if the “Great Resignation” is also taking hold in other countries.

A recent McKinsey survey delved into the phenomenon.

Of the 600 US employees in their study who quit their jobs in 2021, 44% said “they have little to no interest in returning to traditional jobs in the next six months”. For those returning to traditional employment, a flexible workplace overtook decent compensation packages as the main reason for accepting a job.

In its Women @ Work 2022 report, Deloitte surveyed 5,000 women across 10 countries to better understand driving forces, anticipating the “Great Resignation” would continue, “with lack of opportunities to advance and burnout rising to the top of the list of drivers for those who had left or were actively considering leaving their employers,” according to its authors.

The report reveals that women were more likely to be actively seeking a new role than one year prior. More than half anticipate leaving their current employer within two years, while around 25% of respondents rated job motivation and satisfaction as poor or very poor. Only 33% of those surveyed cited having workplace flexibility, but 94% were concerned that requesting such arrangements would impact their chances of a promotion.

So what isn’t stacking up between employers and employees? Maybe that McKinsey study offers a clue. It urges “companies [to] build ‘sticky’ workplaces by listening to employees, anticipating and addressing their concerns, fostering psychological safety and a sense of community, and measuring outcomes.” Bridging their concerns will be a real challenge, as many interviewees point out in this supplement, but ultimately the results could pay off big in retaining talent--a collective strength for Luxembourg.

Editor-in-chief, Delano magazine NATALIE A. GERHARDSTEIN

3

JUNE 2022 HR & RECRUITMENT

Editorial #WorkplaceCulture

PUB VIDE xxxx.

Badenoch+Clark is becoming

New Name, Same Great Service

#readyfornext

HR & recruitment June 2022

06 ON THE RADAR

5

Dossier

Skills, salaries and satisfaction

18

Thinking holistically about the skills gap

Ristretto

10 #HR – FANNY SCHLESSER

–

“If you do these three things, you motivate employees”

20

12 #MYIDEALWORKPLACE

Daily truths for a Luxembourg recruitment specialist

14 CONVERSATION WITH GEORGES ENGEL

22

–

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Blending technologies, blending professions

“Work-life balance is very important”

–

p.14

24

Labour minister Georges Engel on keeping Luxembourg’s job market competitive

Professional training: resources for upskilling 26 CONVERSATION WITH ARNAUD SPIRLET

“What is inclusion in hybrid work?”

30 SUCCESS STORIES

The shared responsibility of upskilling at work 34 FORECAST

Photo

Matic Zorman, Illustration

Salomé Jottreau

What skills will be important in your sector by 2025?

p.18 What does it take to acquire and retain high-profile talent in Luxembourg?

JUNE 2022 HR & RECRUITMENT

A HIGHLY SKILLED WORKFORCE

On the radar

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Skills, salaries and satisfaction HOME OFFICE

Teleworking by sector

Overall score

Proportion of Luxembourg staff* who could work remotely.

Average among regular teleworkers**

Source Chamber of Employees (CSL)/University of Luxembourg

2017

2020

2021

58%

48%

17%

75%

60%

17%

48%

33% 49%

32%

7%

14%

Source Chamber of Employees (CSL)/University of Luxembourg

Time pressure

*Poll conducted by the University of Luxembourg for the Chamber of Employees among 2,594 people who work in Luxembourg (42% residents and 47% crossborder commuters) between June and October 2021 ** Figures for 2019 not available

38%

26%

23%

Mental pressure

40%

46%

9%

This annual survey* of Luxembourg workers indicates staff sentiment. Employees are more or less content with their jobs overall but are feeling increased pressure and stress in several measures. Scores listed on a scale of 0 to 100.

73%

46%

21%

EMPLOYEE POLL

Quality of Work Index

34%

Harassment

29% 16%

14%

9%

16%

17%

6%

13%

ICT

Financial sector

Industry

Other services

Difficulty changing jobs

Physical burden

Specialised activities and administrative & support services

Health risk

Total all sectors Public sector & education

Emotional demand

Retail, logistics & hospitality Health and social services

Cooperation at work

Construction *Figures for 2018 and 2019 not available

Voice in decision making

Job search The number of employees who “intend to change jobs in the near future” rose by 5 percentage points between 2020 and 2021.

Feedback on work

Autonomy

Source Chamber of Employees (CSL)/ University of Luxembourg

Compensation package 40%

Training opportunities

30%

20%

24% 19%

16%

19% 20% 19%

10%

0%

Promotion opportunities

Job security

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

0

10

20

30

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic had a huge impact on how employees worked and how they felt about their jobs. Here is a snapshot of staff sentiment from teleworking and training opportunities to sick leave and salary expectations.

3 QUESTIONS TO

MARC KIEFFER

Secretary general of Luxembourg’s industry association, Fedil

JUNE 2022 HR & RECRUITMENT

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Employers still demand high levels of university-level qualifications in the ICT sector, according to your recent survey “Les qualifications de demain dans le domaine des TIC”. Does this pose an obstacle to vocational training?

The need for ICT skills is becoming more specific and concerns all companies and sectors, so training must keep pace with the evolution of technology, whether at secondary school, university or continuing professional education level.

40

50

Overall score

2019 2020 2021

Average among regular teleworkers**

2019 2020 2021

Pressures at work

2019 2020 2021

Positive incentives

60

70

80

Photo

2019 2020 2021

You hope the survey will guide young people and their parents towards a vocational orientation corresponding to the needs of the market in their field of study. In what other ways can you do this?

Fedil takes every opportunity to promote technical and scientific jobs to young people. Whether through the HelloFuture project [a Luxembourg initiative to bring young people and industry representatives together], participation in student fairs or our regular contacts with secondary schools, this awareness-raising is at the heart of our approach.

Fedil

Do you believe companies will have to revise their expectations of bachelor’s level training in order to get candidates?

Companies are looking for the skills that will enable them to make a successful digital transition and ensure their competitiveness. Unfortunately, these skills are not created overnight but are the result of higher education or university-level studies. In the meantime, reskilling programmes and continuing education can also help to fill the gap.

On the radar

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Finance and accounting salaries

Sick leave rate by sector

A selection of starting salaries* for finance and accounting roles in Luxembourg

Staff in the administrative and support services sector, which includes temporary workers, logged 32% more sick days in 2020 than in 2019. The rate in the health and social services sector increased by 23%. Sick leave declined in the financial sector by 12% and remained low in IT, probably due to the high rate of teleworking.

Source

Robert Half, 2022 Salary Guide

Source

General Inspectorate of Social Security (IGSS)

Job title Health and social services

AP/AR accountant

Transport Junior accountant

Construction Administrative and support services

Auditor

Industry Senior accountant Retail Controller

Hospitality Total

Accounting manager

Other services Finance manager

Public sector and education

CFO/finance director

Agriculture

0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0,0 140,0 0,0 60,0 €80,0 100, 0,0 €12 € € €2 €4 €

Property Specialised scientific and technical activities ICT

*Figures are gross annual base salary, excluding bonuses, benefits and other forms of compensation. The recruitment firm Robert Half says the 25th percentile represents job candidates with limited experience in the position, who are “still developing relevant skills”. A candidate in the 50th percentile has “average experience” and the “majority of the necessary skills”, and in the 75th has “above average experience” and “may have specialised certifications”.

Financial services 0

1%

2%

2019

3%

4%

5%

Salary budget inflation

Absenteeism rate

Luxembourg companies* already upped their planned 2022 salary budget increases during the second half of last year, even before this year’s energy price surge. 60% of bosses cited a shortage of workers and competition to recruit staff as the principle factor for higher salaries, and 30% pointed to inflation and rising resource costs.

Worker sick days had been creeping up in the decade before the covid crisis. The pandemic fuelled a 15.5% spike in short-term absences (less than 21 days), with long-term medical leave rising by 19.9%. The average length of each sick leave increased from 7.55 days in 2019 to 9.74 days in 2020.

Source

Source

General Inspectorate of Social Security (IGSS)

Willis Towers Watson

4.58%

5%

3%

4%

2%

3.39%

3%

2.43%

1%

3.1% 0%

6%

2020

2021 Actual salary increase

2.9% 2022

2022

Salary increase forecast in July 2021

Salary increase forecast in December 2021 *Survey of 96 Luxembourg firms

3.3%

2% 1%

1.76%

2.15%

1.63% 2010 Overall rate

2011

2012

2013 2014

Long-term rate

2015

2016

2017

Short-term rate

2018 2019 2020

7%

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Ristretto #HR

JUNE 2022 HR & RECRUITMENT

10

“If you do these three things, you motivate employees” Banque Raiffeisen’s Fanny Schlesser explains why the role of happiness officer is a strategic one for any human resources department and how to measure happiness in the workplace.

How did your role of happiness officer develop, and what strategic function does it serve?

We realised that we had to create a real community inside Raiffeisen. As a bank, we have headquarters and different branches, so we decided to create a function that would help people to communicate and create a community.

Then we wanted to go one step further because we don’t want just people to communicate, we really want our employees to be satisfied, to come in the morning and say, ‘I’m happy to go to work’.

We informed ourselves about this function, which is really developed in America, for example… it was very important for us to use this title.

It’s really a must-have function. The main objective was to keep our employees motivated: when they’re motivated, they’re more engaged. The more you’re engaged, the more you’re performant; the more you’re performant, the more you bring money to your business.

Would you say this role is more HR or comms?

I’m in the HR department, but it’s a very transversal role because I’m in contact with each department, each branch, the management board. I have the role to link our employees to the employer. For us, it’s important to have no border: we all have the same interests, there’s no employer on the one side and employees on the other. Our employees should work and act like they are also the employer because they are Raiffeisen.

Do you think this function is worthwhile for any company?

Of course. If there is one employee, there should be one happiness officer… We have 650 employees so we are also able to have one person as happiness officer. If you have a smaller company with 25 people, you cannot afford to engage one person to do just that. Someone who has an HR role can add this function to the role...

It’s a state of mind, being a happiness officer… For us, it was not a response to a problem. We wanted to create this function because we also want to anticipate the needs of future generations. We know they want to see a sense in what they’re doing… They want to be flexible, have advantages, be free to give and share ideas, participate, be integrated.

What were the initial employee responses?

At the beginning it wasn’t easy… I had to gain their trust, show why it’s important to have a happiness officer. I knew it would take some time to implement this function and for people to understand why it’s important.

How was it to take on this role just before the pandemic began?

It was a great opportunity because people were separated, not working at the same place. I had to create an online community… Our focus was really giving information to our people, creating a lot of different communication channels, keeping employees motivated. We put in place daily meetings, organised a lot of games… As happiness officer, I always say you have to inform, involve and integrate. If you manage to do these three things, you motivate employees.

Schlesser became a happiness officer in early 2020, just before the pandemic began

How can you measure happiness?

You can take some KPIs, but you will never be 100% sure it’s just because of your happiness officer. You can, for example, measure it by analysing turnover because job satisfaction is inversely linked to turnover.

We did a satisfaction study in 2021 and saw that more than 90% of our employees are globally satisfied. We see there is an evolution, people are more integrated. We have a lot more feedback: people are writing me new ideas, coming by my office to talk, opening up, more integrated and involved.

Interview NATALIE A. GERHARDSTEIN Photo ROMAIN GAMBA

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Ristretto #MyIdealWorkplace

NURTURING ENVIRONMENT

“Leadership that sees your potential and enables you to realise it; respect from a team that listens to your opinion regardless of differences in role or experience; and innovation that stimulates learning.”

Elisa Camorani, impact finance junior consultant at Innpact SA 2

MODERNITY

“A good atmosphere, a young and dynamic team with creative ideas, modern working tools and, as a soon-to-be graduate with experience, being valued--not reduced to my age.”

Maxime Toussaint, BTS media writing student at Lycée Classique Diekirch and freelancer at the Lëtzebuerger Journal 3

TIP-TOP CULTURE

“An impactful organisation with a great work culture that values well-being and compassion for others.

Also a workplace where the cultural diversity leads to interesting discussions over coffee.”

Linnet Reid, doctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg 4

PROFESSIONAL CLOSENESS

“A company with a lot of multicultural diversity and opportunities to get new perspectives, and where everyone feels like a close-knit family, can support themselves and can reach their potential.”

Rui Zong, intern at Impactify 5

OPPORTUNITY

“A multicultural environment where hard work is rewarded with equal growth opportunities, and where exceptional client service is ensured by inspiring professionals.”

Anna Atanassova, manager at EY Luxembourg

Selected by ABIGAIL OKORODUS and JEFF PALMS

Innpact, Lisa Lahos, @garracar, provided by participant, EY Luxembourg

JUNE 2022 HR & RECRUITMENT

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Labour minister 14

JUNE 2022 HR & RECRUITMENT

Georges Engel wants to focus on lifelong learning ahead of the elections next year

Conversation Georges Engel

“Work-life balance is very important” Labour minister Georges Engel (LSAP) talks about making jobs more flexible, reducing working hours, the future of teleworking and how to keep Luxembourg an attractive place for employees.

Interview CORDULA SCHNUER

The pandemic changed working life for many people. What stood out for you?

The sentences ‘can you hear me’ or ‘turn your mic on’, which were never uttered before. Teleworking took on a dimension during the pandemic that it absolutely didn’t have before. For some people it was very pleasant to be working from home. For others it was probably less pleasant, in a small apartment, with children, a partner who’s also at home. But I think it will be difficult to imagine life without it in the coming years.

Feedback from HR departments is that flexibility is more important, for example, than salaries. What is the risk for companies if they simply fall back into pre-pandemic patterns?

I think that would be difficult. Teleworking is established. It needs to be regulated, and that’s important. It needs a framework. Too much teleworking isn’t good for a company. A maximum of two days per five-day week, to me, seems to be a good rule, with fixed days where people need to be in so that the team in a company can see each other and exchange.

For some it’s an opportunity to work remotely, but for others it will simply never be an option. Nurses or educators will never be able to work from home, which is why it will be difficult to introduce a right to remote working.

To what extent are cross-border workers part of the equation, as there are limits to what they can benefit from?

Until now, there was an agreement between employers and labour unions to regulate

Photo MATIC ZORMAN

SHORT CV January 2022 Georges Engel succeeds Dan Kersch (LSAP) after the labour and sports minister steps down from office for personal reasons.

2012 to 2022 Engel is nominated to the Chamber of Deputies in February 2012 after Lydie Err ends her mandate early.

He is re-elected in 2013 and 2018.

2010 to 2019 After being a member of the LSAP for 17 years, Engel becomes vice-president of the party in 2010.

2005 to 2020 After 15 years in office, Engel steps down as mayor of Sanem in 2020 after becoming the head of the LSAP’s group in parliament earlier that year.

teleworking. That’s a good thing. But there is now a need for a series of legal frameworks to accommodate all aspects --legal, social security and other social aspects. And that includes the question of cross-border workers, where at EU level not more than 25% of working time should be outside the country.

We have agreements with neighbouring countries significantly below this and if it’s more than a certain number of days--depending on the country--then workers fall into the tax system of that country. In that case, teleworking might not be so interesting or there could still be a benefit--you might lose some money but, in return, you don’t have to drive to work, can organise yourself better. A new world has opened up.

If we’re speaking about legal frameworks, what are projects you’re working on concretely?

In parliament, there’s a working group for teleworking that stems from the labour committee. This examines all these aspects --social security, work accidents, what’s the situation when you get injured at home, how does that work when you weren’t working, what is or isn’t working time.

There’s a number of things to regulate, and that working group addresses this and should make proposals on how we should adapt our laws to this new situation.

Talking about flexibility, there are countries across Europe that are testing a four-day workweek. What future do you see for such models in Luxembourg?

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Conversation

The discussion came up because Belgium In times of crisis people ask fundamensaid it would introduce a 38-hour week tal questions--whether it’s the right decispread over four days instead of five. I’m sion to stay in the hamster wheel, work not convinced. Here in Luxembourg, more and more for a bit more money in that would be a 40-hour week, no longer the bank, have less and less time at home divided into five times eight hours but and for the things you enjoy. four times ten. Under Luxembourg law, There are people who have the option if you agree with your employer, that’s to earn a little less money and live better. already possible. But I’m not sure if that’s But there are also people who don’t because social progress. Add a one-hour com- they rely on every cent. Politics needs to mute each way and you’re gone for 12 do something. Parliament will hold a hours. Reducing the 40-hour week and debate on tax justice, which is very imporworking fewer hours, on the other hand, tant. Paying less taxes could allow people would be social progress. to work less for more life.

Work-life balance is very important to me, and that must be discussed with One of the priorities in the coalition social partners. But it brings other prob- agreement is skills--upskilling, lems. We have a shortage of qualified reskilling, identifying what the market staff. If we reduce their hours, that won’t needs. Where are the biggest gaps make it any easier for employers to get between offer and demand? the job done. We must start this discus- We have a very particular job market. We sion now, which is why I would like to have around 17,000 job seekers registered commission a study to gather data on with Adem and 10,000 vacancies. That which we can base the debate. But in the should be simple. You match them and coalition agreement there’s nothing that have no vacancies, and only 7,000 unemallows me to push through a working ployed. But it’s not that simple. The time reduction. demand from the market isn’t met by the offer. People don’t have the skills they If it’s not a topic in the coalition need to find a place. We need to bring agreement, will it be a topic for the them closer together. next elections?

A part of that isn’t waiting until people Absolutely. It will be a topic for the next are unemployed to upskill or reskill them elections, and I know what I will propose but to do this while they are working, so they can learn things they maybe don’t to my party. need for the job they’re doing right now A study by the Chamber of Employees but that will open doors to something else. says that a quarter of employees are And to help them before they risk losing thinking of quitting their job. A jobs.lu their job, to get them fit to move with the survey says that two-thirds of people times. We have a series of programmes, are unhappy with their salary. Are we also with Adem. We carried out a skills seeing a shift in mentality, that people assessment in seven sectors. Based on this want to get out of the corporate study, we’ll adapt our programmes. There hamster wheel? will be a second study in the health and

“ Reducing the 40-hour week and working fewer hours would be social progress”

social sectors. It’s up to Adem, but also schools and education, to get people on the market who have what’s needed.

In how far is it also the responsibility of employers to offer training opportunities?

The onus is also on employers to make sure their staff don’t stand still. It’s in everybody’s interest, also the employers’, that things keep moving. Lifelong learning is one of the things I want to expand during my mandate, to introduce a sort of training account. This would include a number of days you have for training, staggered through the year. We’re working on different models. There’s always the question of who pays, and we’re looking at how to best manage this.

To what extent is the private sector in competition with the state for staff?

It’s definitely a topic. And I can understand that employers in the private sector aren’t happy. They have someone, train them and when they’re done, that person goes to the state. That’s not great.

And that’s why I know employers who hire people that aren’t eligible to work for the state, so they don’t abscond.

Luxembourg depends on talent from abroad, but immigration procedures are still lengthy and complicated.

Is there room to facilitate access to the labour market?

Yes. We should make it as easy as possible. But that also has risks. If we make it too easy, we risk attracting a lot of people whom we need to accommodate. It’s a double-edged sword. But we should make it easier for people who are already here, refugees who want to work. In the areas where we lack staff, we should make sure they can work as quickly as possible.

The Ukrainian refugees have a different status--temporary protection is different from being an asylum seeker. This means they can enter the job market more quickly. That can help us in some areas, but we must ensure not to create a twotier society among refugees.

In the December tripartite it was decided to make it easier for accompanying spouses of thirdcountry nationals to access the job market. Where is that project at?

Georges Engel

17

I wasn’t yet in the December tripartite.

But we’re working on making it easier and faster to access the job market for people who arrive as a partner. Discussions are ongoing.

The European Parliament, council and commission in November 2017 proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights at the Gothenburg Summit. It sets out 20 key principles on equal opportunities, labour market access, working conditions, and social protection and inclusion.

The European Commission under Ursula von der Leyen in March 2021 presented an action plan to implement the pillar across member states by 2030, turning the principles into concrete actions. These include a directive to enhance minimum wages in the EU and improving working conditions for gig economy workers. Luxembourg has yet to transpose a work-life balance directive that came into force in 2019 as a result of the social rights pillar.

The pandemic shone a spotlight on difficulties for self-employed workers. For example, they couldn’t access partial unemployment.

What progress is there to reviewing their status?

I’m still in the prospection phase with the different federations and unions to see where the biggest problems are. The status of self-employed workers was an issue in several talks. There’s a paper developed by the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Skilled Trades and Crafts with a series of recommendations. We’re examining this paper, and there are some A question that comes up in every measures that we can implement quickly. portfolio is housing. To what extent One of them is to introduce father’s leave does it impact your ministry? for independents, so they are compen- If you want people to come here… they sated during those 10 days. don’t all have to live in Luxembourg, but Another idea is for independents to people want to live close to their place request partial unemployment when their of work. It’s a topic that must be addressed. activity has ceased and they’re eligible for Not enough has happened--I agree with the labour market, or to create a mutual everyone who says this. We missed addressinsurer, to which the state would contrib- ing the problem, tightening the screws, ute money and from which independents targeting those who are sitting on land could then finance partial unemployment. and aren’t putting it on the market. We We’re analysing this. The status of inde- should look at banks, giving out loans of pendents should be valued if we want to €1m or €1.5m for a field. Is that field have companies here, so that not every- worth it? one goes to the state and communes.

I was a mayor for 15 years--I can tell you, it’s a catastrophe. We don’t build fast enough Luxembourg is in a greater region and that has several reasons. We need an and European labour market. offensive. We must build faster. We need But the job market is also becoming people, we need materials. It sounds so increasingly globalised. simple, but unfortunately, it’s not.

What are points where Luxembourg must be careful not to lose in Under the European Pillar of Social competitiveness?

Rights, the European Commission is We rely heavily on the financial sector, looking to have a greater say in social and you can do that from everywhere. affairs, including labour. What impact It’s not something that’s tied to a coun- will directives--for example on try. They go where conditions are best. minimum wages or gig economy We must offer an attractive environment. workers--have on Luxembourg?

We must ensure that non-wage labour I’m happy that we were able to agree in Europe to have a social minimum wage costs aren’t too high.

Social peace is important. Here in everywhere. Of course, this cannot be the Luxembourg, we have an index that means same in every country. It has to be propeople earn 2.5% more when prices go portional. We’re working actively on this. up. That also means that we don’t have We always wanted--and we have defended exaggerated collective bargaining, with this--a secure minimum wage to enable discussions of 8, 10 or 12% loan increases. people to live decently in their country.

All these elements mean that we have a We’re also working on platform workgood climate, and we must preserve this. ers. We have two statutes--employees

and self-employed workers. But there are trends between these. We’ve spoken out against this. You’re either self-employed or an employee. We don’t have big platforms here in Luxembourg, but still we’re looking to draft our own law.

The social pillar also includes lifelong learning, the fight against poverty. We’ve sent a paper to the commission where we set our targets to get people into work, to lift them out of poverty. There is room to catch up, and there will be actions to reach those targets.

It won’t be long before Luxembourg gears up for the 2023 elections. What’s on your list of priorities until then?

There’s a directive on work-life balance.

There’s a number of things in there that should, for example, allow employees to take care of a sick child. The directive is also about paternity leave. Those draft laws are almost done and will be submitted soon. I’ve mentioned paternity leave for self-employed workers. And lifelong learning is something I want to tackle.

There’s a lot that could still be done, but you also have to be realistic, know how long it takes for a law to be voted.

There are laws in the pipeline, such as the anti-bullying law. October 2023 isn’t far away.

What’s the challenge to pick up this mandate in the middle of the legislative period?

I was less involved in the coalition agreement, but I was the president of the labour committee in parliament for the last eight, nine years. This has given me an insight into the work underway. But you’re right --to pick it up along the way isn’t so easy.

A bunch of stuff has already happened, which you need to catch up on. Perhaps you have a slightly different view than your predecessor, and you want to adjust things without turning everything upside down. It’s not so easy, but I wanted to tackle this challenge.

JUNE 2022 HR & RECRUITMENT

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Thinking holistically about the skills gap As the skills gap continues to widen, trends are emerging, and the need for holistic thinking only becomes more important. Governments, employers and employees all have a part to play in the transformation of the labour market.

Words JEFF PALMS

Illustration SALOMÉ JOTTREAU

“We need to act in a more coordinated This gap exists across Europe, she and strategic way as a country--across all adds. “So this whole competition for talministries but also together with employ- ent becomes more challenging.” ers--with our talent attraction strategy.”

This comment is from Inès Baer, Future Big-picture thinking Skills Initiative manager at Adem, the The better-coordinated approach that government’s employment agency. She Baer calls for is already in the works, albeit describes the need for bigger-picture nascently. Since last year, Adem has been thinking when it comes to the problem working with the OECD on the “National of the skills gap.

Skills Strategy in Luxembourg”, a nationThe gap is, unfortunately, real. “We al-scale strategy that brings together Luxdon’t have enough people in the local embourg’s ministries, employer federations, labour market to meet the demand,” she professional chambers and unions. Thus, comments, specifying that even in the government, employer and employee Greater Region it’s hard to source talent. voices will all be used to forge a common It isn’t just niche technological expertise strategy and to identify where more instruthat’s missing, either: “This can be IT ments, financial support and incentives profiles, but it can also be butchers, for are needed--or where they already exist example… we don’t have, by far, enough but aren’t used enough. The strategy should butchers in the Greater Region.” be ready by the end of 2022.

This project is a concrete step, but the process still has a long way to go. “We have a lot of pieces, be it on the public or the private side, to address the [skills] challenge,” Baer says. “And we are quite at the beginning of having the awareness that we need to put those pieces together, to create synergies, to act with a common vision and strategy.”

What employers want While this harmonised vision slowly matures, several macrotrends on employer hiring practices have already become clear. In a nutshell, what companies want from employees is changing, and not just in terms of proficiency with the latest programmes or technologies.

At the end of 2021, the Future Skills Initiative published a series of in-depth

Photo

Provided by participant

A highly skilled workforce

INÈS BAER SHORT CV Current role Future Skills Initiative manager, Adem Former role Manager in consulting, KPMG Luxembourg Education PhD (in progress) on the impact of AI on work, VU Amsterdam

cian and knows how to do the job,” she adds. “That hasn’t disappeared completely.”

New job territories With the caveat that Adem isn’t placed exactly right to descry the emergence of new professions, Baer nevertheless shares some insights on novel areas. Sustainability-related profiles are one emerging area, such as roles in green construction (related to the disassembly of buildings or the recovery of materials) or green finance.

Another change is in cybersecurity, where the profiles sought are becoming more granular. “Before, we just had cybersecurity experts in demand… now it ranges from penetration tester to code inspector.” Specialisation is the general trend in IT, she adds.

New regulations such as those in finance, health, security, the environment, etc. also spur new roles, as personnel are needed to handle them.

having to always (again) adapt, reinvent themselves, learn new skills--the whole mindset of lifelong learning, which for many wasn’t taught in school--doesn’t come naturally.”

On the heels of accepting the instability of a profession comes, of course, the need to find both the motivation and the time to learn new skills. “That is quite a challenge,” says Baer. Help does exist, however. Job-seekers who register with Adem gain access to free training, while relevant outside training sessions can also be reimbursed by the organisation.

The employed also have options. Namely, employees in Luxembourg get 80 days (per person, per lifetime) of paid individual leave from their jobs to do training.

“That’s not enough time to completely reinvent your profession, but it’s enough to keep up with trends and make sure that your skills stay up to date,” says Baer. She adds that this option is underused, however: only about 40% of employees in Luxembourg receive training in a given year, leaving 60% who don’t.

Upskilling, reskilling If the Greater Region and Europe more generally are missing many sought-after profiles, then employers can’t simply keep looking further and further afield to make their hires. Indeed, reskilling and upskilling are at least half the answer to the skills gap. Adem is active in this area, given its traditional focus on job-seekers, with various training programs on offer.

Interestingly, however, the agency’s scope has recently--from the end of last year--been widened to enable it to help employers train employees as well. This represents, in Baer’s phrasing, “a big strategic change”.

The onus on employees “It’s important [to train employees]” The world of skills is thus changing at she says, “because waiting until people the whims of some large and momentous are in unemployment… that’s a shame. forces: employer needs, which are based It’s better to act preventatively.” on the never-ending, ever-quickening Even if the job climate is complicated, march of technological change and auto- the opportunities in Luxembourg are not mation; social imperatives, like the move lacking, with the Future Skills Initiative towards a circular economy and sustain- having found growth in jobs in most secable practices in general; and top-down tors. “The Luxembourg economy is still evolutions in regulation. Where does that very dynamic,” Baer comments, “even leave the employees themselves? during the pandemic and now in the recov“It can be very overwhelming,” says ery phase. We see growth from IT to waitBaer about the reality that people need ers in restaurants to construction workers. to become comfortable with change. “For We see prospects in all kinds of areas.” most job seekers… the stress factor of

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sectoral studies into changes in recruitment practices in Luxembourg. Among other things, the studies used text mining to examine 142,000 job adverts posted between 2015 and 2021 in Luxembourg, in which 1.28m mentions of skills were collectively made.

Perhaps the most basic takeaway from the studies is that across every sector-trade, commerce, construction, hospitality, industry, finance and transport/ logistics--employers want more. In other words, the raw number of skills mentioned per advert increased. “That’s already a trend,” says Baer, “showing that the requirements of employers in the labour market are tightening and increasing.”

This data backs up anecdotal observations that the job market is becoming more complex and selective.

Another pan-sector trend is that transversal skills--including personal, language, management and digital skills, i.e., those that are transferrable from job to job-are growing in importance faster than any other skill. Technical knowledge, in contrast, has remained relatively stable.

“Still important, but growing less strongly,” says Baer of the latter.

Expanding on this trend, Baer correlates the rising preference for more “human” skills directly with the rise of automation.

“As technology becomes more capable of taking over routine, well-defined, structured tasks, it automatically places a bigger value on all of the skills that are difficult to automate, which are empathy, creativity, originality.”

A discrete but related finding is that, across all sectors, the most-requested skill is “adapting to change”. This reflects the fast-changing environment, Baer comments, and also implies a core shift in how people see their careers: rather than a stable existence as a specialist in x, y or z, constant flux and “lifelong learning” have become the norm.

Furthermore, employers are recognising that the skill of adapting to change is largely a mindset, and as such is hard to teach. “They can learn the specific skills on the job,” Baer says, commenting on what companies think of job applicants--“but the most important thing is the attitude.”

Still, the future is slow to arrive. “To be honest, many employers still want an electrician who has worked as an electri-

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MASTER A

Dossier A highly skilled workforce

Daily truths for a Luxembourg recruitment specialist How easy are tech profiles to come by in 2022? Talkwalker’s Zach Traer spoke to Delano about recruiting challenges, changing employee demands and Luxembourg’s competitiveness.

Words JEFF PALMS

200-250 signes

For Talkwalker, a technology company specialising in consumer intelligence, the hardest profiles to find are no longer developers. “Surprisingly,” says Zach Traer, talent acquisition specialist.

“What’s more difficult is targeting industry-specific skills,” he explains, naming pre-sales consultants, solutions consultants and product marketing experts specifically in the SaaS (software as a service) sector as examples. “That has become the challenge, more than our typical recruiting of a JavaScript developer, because whatever company you worked in, if you know Java, you know Java--but if you’re a solutions consultant in one industry, it’s not necessarily the same as our industry, consumer intelligence.”

As technology firms mature, this kind of increasing granularity in profiles is normal, as Inès Baer of Adem points out (see page 18). On the other side of the same trend is that certain tech skills--proficiency in JavaScript, as Traer says--are increasingly basic and easy to come by.

Soft skills For both technical and nontechnical roles, Traer agrees that soft skills are rising in importance from a hiring perspective, naming communication, attitude and motivation as particular assets.

“I think this is universal, not just for Talkwalker--but to have good communicators in your organisation is paramount these days because of remote work.” With so many video interviews, online meetings and crisscrossing emails, he adds, written and verbal communication are key.

Talkwalker has about 650 employees communication is about avoiding misinworldwide, with over 50 nationalities rep- terpretations and assumptions, says Traer, resented, making it particularly important which ultimately increases efficiency. that employees can express themselves Motivation and attitude are also skills in the working language, English. Good that Talkwalker evaluates strictly. “We’re looking for other like-minded people who are excited about the space that we’re working in.” Attitude can separate one junior candidate from another, he adds.

ICT SPECIALISTS IN THE WORKFORCE As digital technology matures, the makeup of the workforce is being transformed. Data from 2020.

50.5%

Percentage by which the number of ICT specialists grew in Europe between 2011 and 2020 (over nine times higher than for total employment)

6.3%

Percentage of Luxembourg’s workforce made up of ICT specialists (EU average: 4.3%)

80.2%

Percentage of Luxembourg’s ICT workers who are male (versus 87.3% in 2011) Source

Eurostat

Luxembourg’s unique situation Being a tech company in Luxembourg comes with certain pros and cons from a recruitment perspective. Traer notes the country’s “very small pool” of talent, contrasting his job with those of his colleagues in Talkwalker’s offices in the US, where the pool is hundreds-of-millions strong.

“However, their challenge [in the US] is that they are competing against the biggest companies in the world.” In Luxembourg, Talkwalker competes (indirectly) with the likes of Amazon, but after 12 years of operation and growth has also become known locally in its own right.

Another challenge relates to the newfound imperative for flexibility. In answer to the question of how employee demands are changing, Traer says: “Definitely more home office.” However, due to tax and social security issues, companies in Luxembourg are limited in their teleworking policies for cross-border workers. “I guess it’s up to the politicians,” comments Traer. On the various motions calling for flexibility for non-residents, he says: “I think [passing one of them] would only be positive for any company here in Luxembourg.”

WE OFFER TAILOR-MADE SOLUTIONS Claude HIRTZIG

Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat, Luxembourg, établissement public autonome 1, Place de Metz, L-1930 Luxembourg, R.C.S. Luxembourg B30775

Dossier A highly skilled workforce

Blending technologies, blending professions Trades in the building sector are evolving quickly, challenging what it means to be “highly skilled” in the first place.

Words JEFF PALMS

on the roof, and with many other things… we have two big heat pumps--and all this has to be coordinated.”

The result? Integration. Not just of systems, but of professions. Electricians have to know something about ventilation, ventilation experts have to tap into the electricity network, etc. It isn’t enough to remain in your silo anymore, despite the tendency of many professionals to do so anyway. “Young folks have no problem with it,” says Ant, referring to these fundamental changes. “Others do.”

A related trend is that companies have begun merging with each other. “The construction sector has more and more companies that have all 15 trades instead of only one.”

New professions In many cases, the new technology is so unlike the old that the profession itself is novel. Gas heating has been entirely replaced with heat pump technology, for instance, the installation of which is an entirely different task. The CDC runs a training series on how to do it, which lasts for 32 days. “That’s a lot,” comments Ant. “Still, not enough.”

Skills-wise, he says, the model for individuals is to have a combination of core skills (social, technical, managerial, etc.) and peak skills, such as expertise in digitalisation or in security issues.

“You can have somebody who has three peaks. These are the guys that earn a lot of money.”

Dominique Sander-Emram

In order to understand the difficulty of new or updated devices; incorporate topfinding talent in the building sector, it’s down directives, such as the energy minessential to first consider the several rev- istry’s focus on decarbonisation; and olutions currently underway in that sec- consider what companies need and want, tor. The speed of technological change, such as help with digitalisation and regthe push towards sustainability, the merg- ulatory challenges. ing of companies, the new methodology of construction, the creation of utterly Theme of integration new professions--all of these factors “A building is not built in a linear order influence the question of skills on a level anymore,” says Ant. Traditionally, up to that can seem frightfully basic. “What 15 separate tradespeople would come to is a skill?” asks Marc Ant, managing the site in sequence, each one adding a director of the Competence Centres of layer to the whole. But this approach the Luxem­bourg Crafts Sector (Centres doesn’t work anymore. “This is a comde Compétences de l’Artisanat, or CDC). plex building,” he explains, talking about Founded in 2015, the CDC brings the CDC’s new facility. “The ventilation together trades related to building tech- has to do with the temperature, the temnologies (electricity, sanitary, heating, perature has to do with the solar panels ventilation, etc.) and house finishing (floors, roofs, wood, metal, glass, etc.) Since 2016, it has trained over 30,000 people across 7,700 sessions. Taken together with its other activities, which include running a similar facility in Cabo Verde as well as a new academy for educating real estate professionals, the CDC is among the largest training centres in Luxembourg.

The mere process of creating the CDC’s MARC ANT curriculum is complex. “The developSHORT CV ment of skills is technology-driven,” Ant Current role explains, specifying that they don’t design Managing director, CDC courses around skills as much as around Former role the technological developments occurProfessor and dean, Bonn University ring in the sector. “So we have to observe of Applied Sciences what’s going on in the market.”

Publishing To do that, they exchange with the Author of 15 books and about 100 industry itself, which constantly produces articles on training and management

Photo

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S AV E

THE

DAT E

TOP 1OO The ranking of the most influential economic decision makers in Luxembourg

13.12.22 Tuesday, 17:00–23:00 —

Rockhal, Esch-Belval

More information: www.paperjam.lu/club

Dossier In four points

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Professional training: resources for upskilling

2

INFPC Operating under the education ministry, the National Institute for the Development of Continuing Vocational Training (INFPC) manages the lifelong-learning.lu platform, centralising around 10,000 courses in a wide variety of training at the public, private and voluntary levels. The institute also assists companies applying for state subsidies co-funding and, through its Observatory of Training, monitors training trends for the future.

According to INFPC, the institute’s digital ecosystem was strengthened in 2020, a year marked by digital learning development. www.infpc.lu www.lifelong-learning.lu

Upskilling will be key to accelerating economic growth and prosperity and could lead to the net creation of 5.3m new jobs globally, according to a 2021 World Economic Forum and PwC “Upskilling for Shared Prosperity” report.

Here are just a handful of resources available in the grand duchy for boosting competencies and knowledge.

3

Words NATALIE A. GERHARDSTEIN

1

University of Luxembourg Competence Centre Situated on the Belval campus is the University of Luxembourg Competence Centre organising professional and academic continuous education and lifelong learning. The centre, with its expertise across competency clusters, aligns its pedagogy to keep up with developments across Luxembourg’s economic and government strategy. As managing director Anne Oberlé told Delano, the centre can craft bespoke training--for example, on topics like satellites and artificial intelligence. One of their recent customised programmes, in fact, drew in some 1,000 participants from over 160 countries. Such tailoring and flexibility in pedagogical engineering also mean that organisations can work with the centre to determine what type of learning (in-person, online, blended, etc.) best suits training objectives, particularly given an increased demand in flexibility. Oberlé adds that the centre is still dominant in the health sector, with its tailored training for Luxembourg specificities. Courses have also been adapted for jobseekers, as the centre works with Adem for specialised certification programmes in areas like IT, project management and more. www.competence.lu

House of Training Created by the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce and the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL) in 2015, the House of Training provides continuous vocational training in the country’s three official languages, plus English. Fields of training vary widely, from accounting and banking to IT, insurance, law, marketing and sales, real estate, taxation, culture, entrepreneurship and more.

The easy-to-use website also allows users to select interests based on whether they want to get certification, simply reorient themselves in their current workplace or prefer to grow in a particular area of expertise, even to create or manage a company. www.houseoftraining.lu

4

IMS Luxembourg In honour of its 15th anniversary this year, Inspiring More Sustainability (IMS) Luxembourg announced in February the creation of its new sustainability academy. Training through it is offered in a variety of formats, including physical and distance learning, with expert-led programmes designed with original content.

The academy collaborates with a number of subject-matter experts, including through the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, ILA (Luxembourg’s independent directors association) and construction group CDEC. Sandrine Grumberg, IMS partner since its start and founder of two training organisations in Luxembourg and France, and IMS deputy director Sophie Öberg have been charged with the academy’s development.

Courses centre around the three IMS strategic pillars: people, planet and prosperity. www.imslux.lu

10�6 HR UP YOUR SKILLS! 10 HR professionals, leaders, experts and users will share their experience and advice on developing skills, retaining talent and gaining in competitiveness.

Programme • Welcome cocktail (18:30) • Conference with the participation of M. Georges Engel, Minister of Labour and Employment (19:00) • Networking walking cocktail (20:15)

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Conversation

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26

“What is inclusion in hybrid work?”

Arnaud Spirlet has been the managing director of Cisco Belux since 2016

Inclusion is a multifaceted term that carries new meaning in the context of hybrid work. Cisco’s Arnaud Spirlet explains how Webex by Cisco enables the transition to a new world of work and what it takes to lead a hybrid team.

Words ABIGAIL OKORODUS Photo ULI SCHILLEBEECKX

Arnaud Spirlet

PRE-PANDEMIC VS. POST-PANDEMIC PREFERENCES Cisco employee work patterns prior to mandatory work from home showed employees spent three or more days in the office. Preferences for working three or more days in the office had shifted as shown in the August 2021 survey.

Source

Cisco Return to Office surveys, February and August 2021

77

80% 70%

63

62 57

60% 50% 40%

28

30% 20%

19

20 15

10% 0%

l ba lo G

as ic er Am

, , st fic ci ina Ea sia le us Pa Ch d R ia & id As an M a& e, ric p Ja op Af r Eu

Pre-pandemic work patterns (Feb. 2021) Post-pandemic work preferences (Aug. 2021)

Productivity metrics In a world where filling time sheets has been the norm, measuring employee productiv- You don’t have to be the policeman to ity especially in the context of hybrid work make sure staff is in the office at 8am.… will require new and improved metrics. actually, you don’t measure the time spent, “You don’t have to be in the office for you measure the output and the quality eight hours, you have to do your job. of the output,” says Spirlet.

On one hand, most employers have been convinced about employee performance regardless of their location, as demonstrated by a higher productivity level but also burnout observed during the lockdowns, mentions Spirlet, adding that “probably one of the only benefits we have from covid is just that it opened the eyes of management that actually you can trust your people.”

On the other hand, employee perception and expectations of the office has also evolved. For an employee to go to the office today, “the office must be an asset and bring you value,” and the added value of being in the office must go beyond the mere convenience of talking one-on-

“ We want to make hybrid meetings better than the classical meeting.

We’re trying to make the old way better”

one, because if this was the sole reason, employees may probably be more comfortable at home, explains Spirlet.

Remote work flexibility also raises the question of security because “the more you work remotely, the more you are not really under the secured cyber environment that your company can provide, and maybe you’ll take some risks there,” says the director, underscoring the need for corporate awareness of cybersecurity threats and risks.

Beyond this, he specifies that hybrid work in the context of covid encompasses enabling a safe collaborative experience-creating touchless environments, voiceactivated videos or tracking adherence to social gathering restrictions within the office environment.

Inclusion in hybrid work Conventional understanding of terms like inclusion--which in the past has mostly centred on marginalised groups--has expanded to take on additional meaning in the context of hybrid work.

Although representation will remain relevant for the foreseeable future, hybrid work models have added new layers to what inclusiveness means in practice.

“Inclusion in hybrid work means that if you’re in a meeting, whoever you are and wherever you are, you have the equal time of speech, you have equal attention and the meeting is inclusive of all its participants. When a provider speaks about a hybrid meeting that is inclusive, it means that everybody has exactly the same weight during the meeting,” explains Spirlet.

Some of the ways Cisco drives inclusiveness in hybrid work is through several enhanced features on Webex, a cloud-based collaboration solution to create a seamless and immersive experience. Examples include noise cancellation, real-time translation in multiple languages. It is the only platform directly translating into Luxembourgish--document co-editing via screen sharing, or the raised hand and poll features.

In March, the company announced a first-ever partnership that will allow Ford electric vehicles to connect to Webex meetings, expanding the limits of what is considered a workplace.

“There’s been a lot of development that has been done on Webex so that we are able to basically get more out of it. You could link Webex with social media while

JUNE 2022 HR & RECRUITMENT

Return-to-office conversations at the onset of the pandemic have evolved towards understanding what the future of work would look like. But at the same time, employers have been preoccupied with how best to shape present day corporate culture, pivot the workplace experience, create smart workspaces, while also managing the modern-day workforce.

After two years of large-scale shifts in how and where work is done, it has become evident to many employers that whether hybrid work persists or not, the concept of work prior to the pandemic or collaboration techniques will never be the same.

Today, the new way of working has led many companies to implement work arrangements for employees with varying degrees of remote work flexibilities spanning from a few days a week to full remote work. Certainly, the tech infrastructure in place for effective collaboration contributes to the remote work policy adopted.

Arnaud Spirlet, Belgium-Luxembourg managing director of Cisco Systems--a leading provider of networking technologies present in over 80 countries, headquartered in California and deriving its name from the city of San Francisco--explains that hybrid work should not just be understood as working from home and from the office, as it is a large topic that involves several key aspects to be considered by businesses.

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Conversation Arnaud Spirlet

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28

respecting privacy and GDPR guidelines and only if the person agrees to it. But this is possible,” explains Spirlet, adding that Webex is totally encrypted.

Training Another critical area highlighted by the director is training and coaching managers, which he describes as one of the major challenges in the last two years.

Typically, “managers are not trained to trust their team, they’re trained to control. And here you have no choice but to trust and then to measure productivity totally differently,” he explains. Also the span of trainings ought to cover engagement techniques and ways to effectively conduct hybrid meetings, which differ from normal meetings.

“You have to pay attention to what is happening on the screen. You have to react, and you have to make sure that everybody feels comfortable and that it’s inclusive in the way it happens,” says Spirlet, while mentioning that these skills will also apply in remote recruitment setups.

A Webex by Cisco analysis conducted in October 2021 showed that out of 650m monthly meeting participants, 47% of them aren’t speaking during meetings for reasons linked to the number of meeting participants, for example, individual personalities and cultural trust, or the meeting duration and format.

Diversity Simply put, the more diverse the team, the more effective it is, says Spirlet from his experience at the company over the last six years. “Diversity has always been top-notch for me as a manager trying to achieve my goals… I’m not doing it to be

FLEXIBLE WORK AND IN-OFFICE TECH EXPECTATIONS Key findings of the global survey of 39,880 CIOs, IT decision makers and corporate workforce respondents in 34 global markets, commissioned by Cisco and deployed by Censuswide in August 2021. The survey uncovered evolving perceptions around the future of work, connectivity and the modern enterprise.

Source

Future of Technology survey, Cisco 2021​

69% Employees who agree that the ability to dictate their own working hours directly affects whether they stay at or leave a job

64% Employees who agree that the ability to work from anywhere impacts whether they stay at or leave a job

47% By the next 6 to 12 months (from the survey date), around half of employees think their company will provide flexibility on working from anywhere

84%

“We care for the inclusion of our people through what we call the people deal, and we try to go the extra mile”

Agreed that the work-from-home experience has influenced the technology expectations for an in-office experience

politically correct or because it’s the hype of the moment but because I’m convinced that it’s in the best interest of the company... diverse teams are on average happier, and it’s way more fun to work in those teams,” he says.

In terms of promoting gender diversity, he explains the importance of attracting more girls and women to tech fields.

Part of the ways the company does this is by organising tours of the Cisco office for schoolgirls with one of the most recent tours organised about two months ago in the Brussels office. “We show them that it’s not just somebody behind the screen coding. There are many cool jobs you can do if you go into this direction, but we need to sell this idea very early.”

Along with promoting a gender-diverse workplace, Spirlet discusses how artificial intelligence is used company-wide to track pay parity and end compensation discrimination regardless of gender, age or ethnicity for individuals with “the same job description”.

Diversity also ties in with the way recruitment is done. “Are you sure that the panel of interviewers is a diverse panel? If the panel is not diverse, probably the result will not be diverse either,” says Spirlet, adding that job advertisements should be rid of gender bias that may discourage women from even applying to certain jobs.

Cisco has been working with the public sector in several countries, including the Luxembourg government, as part of its Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) vision to accelerate global digitisation.

New solutions on the horizon Although he couldn’t yet disclose information on this, he explained the Cisco Live event, which will take place online and in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 12-16 June would put the spotlight on leading products and solutions connecting the hybrid world. In addition to networking opportunities with Cisco executives and engineers, the five-day event consists of over 1,000 business and technology sessions with multiple meetings dedicated to hybrid work. A non-disclosure agreement session will unveil Cisco’s strategy and roadmap for Webex.

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Success stories

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The shared responsibility of upskilling at work Companies can offer much more than a professional network and a salary.

Delano talked to ING, PwC Luxembourg, CFL and BIL about the importance of continuous learning.

Words TRACY HEINDRICHS

BIL

CFL

NO. OF EMPLOYEES 2,009

TOTAL TRAINING HOURS 34,283

NO. OF EMPLOYEES 4,844

TOTAL TRAINING HOURS 200,000+ (in 2021)

AVERAGE STAFF AGE 44

MENTORING HOURS 950

AVERAGE STAFF AGE 40.6

STAFF PARTICIPATIONS 20,000+ hours

BIL, Patrick Flammang, CFL

The national railway company CFL organises continuous upskilling for its employees. The staff that works with trains directly “ha[s] to follow the technological evolution,” explains Dominique Pierret. “There’s a strong training effort made so that their competences meet the expectations and evolution of the sector.”

But as the parameters of CFL’s success evolve proportionally to activity, technology and customer expectations, the group has had to adapt its internal competences. Before a module, CFL evaluates the level of the employee and identify their needs. Offering transversal upskilling--in IT, management, communication or languages--it relies on surveys after the course to make sure the content is useful. “It’s a large com“It’s an employer’s pany in which the staff responsibility to make is central to the stratsure their staff egy. We can’t meet our is trained to successfully company targets without our associates.” An use any digital tool.” open career path is thus Dominique Pierret the other component.

Head of pedagogy It is, according to CFL, and transversal training, CFL not unusual to see employees evolve from one department to another.

AVERAGE SENIORITY 15 years

TRAINING DAYS PER YEAR 2.3 per employee

AVERAGE SENIORITY 11.95 years

CUSTOMER BASE IN 20 YEARS +85%

Photos

At the Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL), “the “For me, it’s a employee is responsible for their development,” manager’s role says Cyrille Thouvenot. to encourage the The bank with its upskillemployee to develop ing programme targets their competences.” people managers in particular at the moment, Cyrille Thouvenot as its strategy is underLeadership capability manager, going major internal and BIL external changes. “Leadership in general is an enabler for our business strategy and especially for the behaviour we expect. That’s why we work on specific leadership models,” he adds.

This doesn’t exclude other staff, however. An online platform with more than 1,000 different materials is accessible to all. On it are e-learning contents, tutorials, reading material, TEDx videos and specific playlists sorted by theme, for employees to explore whenever they want. While the company doesn’t make any training mandatory (with the exception of regulatory knowledge), as it says this doesn’t motivate the employee, it offers guidance through its managers.

Internal exchanges and external coaches complete the hybrid training offer.

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Success stories

For ING Luxembourg, “an employee who feels good is an employee who will be fulfilled and productive,” as Stéphanie Moulin puts it. That’s why the company offers not just technical skills training--up-todate regulatory knowledge is a must for all staff--but also soft skills coaching. Leadership and language programmes are part of the vast selection of upskilling opportunities, however, with well-being at the heart of its HR strategy, ING also gives staff the chance to learn more about their physical, mental and emotional health.

Employees--on each level of the company--are also asked to identify their strengths and self-purpose. From there, they can elaborate an individual development plan and “be the owner of their evolution”. To set their plan in motion, ING relies on the 70-20-10 strategy: 70% on-the-job learning, 20% accompanied by another person--mentorship and reverse mentorship are common practice in the company--and 10% taught in classrooms. 54% of training is internal too, allowing junior staff to gather tailored knowledge and mentors to feel validated in their experience.

Progress is measured monthly to make sure that the centralised budget allocated to soft skills and the department budget “In our strategy, for hard skills are used well. we want people But the bank underlines to take the time the necessity of finding to develop their skills.” the right pace. While much training is availaStéphanie Moulin ble, breaks are needed Talent & Learning, too. “Everyone, no matter D&I, CSR Manager, ING Luxembourg their level, develops with different goals,” Moulin states.

Setting an individual pace is thus part of the plan.

PwC Luxembourg “We used to be very [random] in our training, except for the technical knowledge,” says Lieven “Our upskilling Lambrecht. Now, however, programme every member of staff at PwC is not something Luxembourg has to undergo a three-year training plan, you do in a year.” which should give employLieven Lambrecht ees tools to navigate any People leader, aspect of tax, advisory and PwC Luxembourg compliance and be fully proficient in the sector. On top of a centralised global team, 12 local employees make sure that the modules-taught at levels of awareness, competence and deep knowledge--remain up-to-date.

Three pillars make up their “Your tomorrow” upskilling programme. The first one teaches hard skills, like digital literacy, while the second educates employees on business acumen, namely dealing with clients, proposals, negotiations, writing. The third leg of the training is the “soft touch”, as Lambrecht calls it. Relationships, leadership and collaboration make up this part. Through internal and external classrooms and e-learning opportunities, employees are thus able to learn--and continue to do so, though more topically, once the three years are over.

Lambrecht doesn’t worry too much about staff leaving: “We never train a workforce with the fear that they will leave once they’re trained.” Its high hiring rate and turnover rate--the Big Four company plans on recruiting 910 new joiners--make PwC a learning experience for the employees, whose skills allow the group to meet client demands. Lambrecht calls it a symbiosis: “We happily train them because then they can execute what we need and, on the other hand, for some it’s an experience that they want to have.”

NO. OF EMPLOYEES 937

CLASSROOM TRAININGS 386 hours

NO. OF EMPLOYEES 3,110

TOTAL TRAINING HOURS 165,303

AVERAGE STAFF AGE 42.5

E-LEARNING TRAININGS 13,800 hours

AVERAGE STAFF AGE 30

TRAINING PER EMPLOYEE 58 hours/year

AVERAGE SENIORITY 13 years

NO. OF AGENCIES 16

AVERAGE SENIORITY 4 years

MODULES OFFERED 65-70

ING, Olivier Toussaint

ING Luxembourg

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Forecast

What skills will be important in your sector by 2025?

From the finance to legal sector, the skills of tomorrow will require more business know-how, a questioning mind and the ability to harness digitalisation for a growth mindset.

Words NATALIE A. GERHARDSTEIN

GUY CASTEGNARO Founding & managing partner Castegnaro

ROBERT WHITE Assurance real estate partner, markets leader EY Luxembourg Having a critical mind, asking better questions and approaching things with a growth mindset are increasingly important, says White. “There’s been an absolute explosion in the availability of codified information… we don’t need people to recite fact after fact.” The partner says the firm is increasingly looking for two key elements when recruiting. First, the ability to digitally utilise and harvest the wide body of codified information so that real trends and insights can be gleaned from it. “We’re certainly looking in areas such as mathematics, engineering, everything on the digital spectrum,” he adds.

The second element is one which White finds more interesting: “We need people who are able to learn, are wildly inquisitive and brave enough to ask questions.” Such recruits could come from studies like humanities, literature--and “from education systems that no longer operate rote learning systems”. The past years have brought about Brexit, covid-19, the conflict in Ukraine, he recalls: “You won’t find anything in any standard anywhere that anticipated those three seismic events.”

“The future lawyer must work alongside technology.”

EY Luxembourg, Matic Zorman

“We need people who are able to learn, are wildly inquisitive and brave enough to ask questions.”

A range of emerging legal issues will impact the future of the legal sector, according to Castegnaro.

He predicts environmental, space and data law protection will be increasingly in focus. Also important: developments in employment law, e.g., linked to new working arrangements, as well as ethics issues ranging from discrimination to whistleblowing. For Castegnaro, law firms in general are “getting more familiar with digitalisation and AI” while at the same time will need “substantial” IT security investments. “Small-sized firms risk to disappear due to the needs for important financial investment, for example, in IT security and other digital tools.”

So what does the lawyer of the future look like? “The future lawyer must work alongside technology,” Castegnaro says--not just for the aforementioned reasons, but he or she should be able “to use AI to predict judicial decisions, to use social networks for professional purposes,” etc. Lawyers should also be on board with better communication and a business approach, to both appreciate clients and offer them tailor-made solutions.

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