HR in the on-demand era

You often hear that this rush and immediacy are unique to younger generations (like Gen Z). But the rush isn't generational. Anxiety and urgency have taken hold across every age group.

The shift goes well beyond young people. Technology raised expectations across society as a whole. Today, professionals of every age and seniority level expect a different pace inside the workplace, because that is how they live outside of it.

For HR leaders and managers, the challenge is to modernize traditional, rigid practices to meet this new reality.

To solve this equation, companies face a practical dilemma. You can't hand out promotions every six months just to satisfy people's urgency, because that would break the business. This is where the strategic importance of Organizational Design (Org Design) comes in.

A company needs clarity on which positions, areas, and hierarchical levels are truly necessary to operate efficiently. Org Design keeps the structure grounded in reality, defining which seats make sense and where the business has room to grow.

This structural mapping is the main input for any career plan. Without knowing which seats are needed, a company can't offer real, sustainable progression paths. Org Design is what shows where legitimate growth opportunities exist and where there are structural limits the business simply can't cross.

On top of that, organizations are under growing pressure for efficiency. In this scenario, Org Design stops being a purely technical review and takes on strategic weight, cementing the CHRO's place in shaping the future of the business alongside the CEO.

This drive for productivity ties into the wider conversation about AI and its impact on corporate structure, a shift many organizations are already discussing. It's pushing the traditional pyramid toward a diamond shape, with fewer operational layers and more leverage through technology.

The pressure, then, comes from two sides. On one side, the board, investors, and executives demand efficiency; on the other, employees themselves want clarity about where they stand and their opportunities to grow. A company that doesn't do Org Design well, mapping how many layers it needs, its ideal span of control, and which seats are or aren't essential, will struggle to sustain itself.

With a well-defined Org Design in place, a company can apply more flexible solutions, connected to how people actually behave today:

• An “options catalog” for careers: just as a consumer browses a marketplace and picks what best fits their time and budget, employees should have more autonomy over their path. A strong EVP (Employee Value Proposition) gives real visibility into the available career tracks, which enables honest conversations about how far a professional can go given their ambitions, and where they won’t have room, given the limits of the business.
• The logic of micro-recognition: you don't buy a car every year, but you order delivery almost every week and feel satisfied with the frequency. Careers can follow a similar logic. Instead of making an employee wait years for a single, mythical big promotion, companies can adopt smaller, more frequent recognition. It's these small, constant experiences of validation that sustain day-to-day engagement.
• Transparency and expectation-setting: the best employer brand is the one that plays fair, making the rules of the game clear instead of promising endless growth. Open communication channels, where employees understand the company's rules and pace, reduce frustration and build long-term trust.
• Career-visualization systems and Job Architecture: there is no point structuring internal paths if they are invisible to people. It's essential to adopt modern career-communication tools, like a career network where employees can see all of the organization's tracks and roles at a glance. This has to be backed by solid Job Architecture: precise job titles, clear job descriptions, and seniority levels aligned with Org Design.

Modernizing career and incentive management is an exercise in maturity, not an invitation to chaos or short-term concessions. It means understanding that a professional who operates and consumes at today's speed won't accept being managed by tools designed for the past.

Sustaining this over the long term means balancing two forces. On one side, the governance and efficiency the market demands; on the other, a genuinely flexible and transparent career experience. The companies that translate their non-negotiable structures into visible, fair paths for their people are the ones that keep growing.