Cultivate high-performing employees with a people-first approach

When employees are recognised as people and not resources, they are 3.8 times more likely to be high performing, a new survey by Gartner has revealed.

Human-centric work models guided by the key pillars of flexible work experiences, intentional collaboration, and empathy-based management, also foster employees who are 3.1 time more likely to experience low fatigue levels, and 3.2 times more likely to enjoy a higher intent to stay in their current roles.

Graham Waller, Vice-President in the Gartner Executive Leadership practice, said, “To gain competitive advantage, organisations must go beyond location flexibility and place human beings at the centre of work, rather than treating them as secondary components of their work environment.”

A successful human-centric work model, said Gartner, is centred around a hybrid work model that focuses on granting employees autonomy over how they do their work. Autonomy, Gartner added, reduces employee fatigue, sustains performance over time, and increases employee loyalty.

Organisations should also move to incorporate employee perspectives, as employees who were able to provide strong input into their organisation’s work design were 2.5 times more likely to achieve high performance and four times more likely to report lower fatigue.

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Brent Cassell, Vice-President in the Gartner Executive Leadership practice, added, “Leading organisations are designing workflows, work rituals and workplaces around holistic human needs – physical, cognitive, emotional – rather than forcing individuals to conform to legacy practices.”