Fifty-four years ago, best-selling American futurist Alvin Toffler wrote: “The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

Today, his prediction seems remarkably prophetic. The skills landscape employers are facing in Australia and globally is dynamic, unpredictable and rife with opportunity.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the average half-life of a skill is currently about five years. Skills that would have carried previous generations through a career of 40 years now require endless updates and expansions to keep pace with technological advancement. 

As a result, the importance of technical skills has been eclipsed by the importance of skills adaptability, says Ravin Jesuthasan, author, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer.

“The only thing that will keep us relevant is the ability to keep reinventing ourselves,” he says. 

“The skills where the premium is going to go up exponentially will be things like learning agility, curiosity, the willingness to look around corners and anticipate, the ability to see connections across two or more disparate domains – those are the skills that are really going to stand us in good stead.”

Building skills security

While much has been made of the potential negative impact of new technologies on job security, the WEF’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 found the majority of technologies being implemented across organisations are anticipated to create more jobs than they will displace over the next three years.

Artificial intelligence, arguably the defining aspect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is expected to generate a net increase in jobs of 26 per cent by 2027. Meanwhile, big data analytics is set to create a net 58 per cent increase.

The only technologies forecast in the WEF’s data to have a net negative overall impact on employment data were robots; both humanoid (designed to mimic human behaviour) and non-humanoid (machines devised for specific tasks, such as drones and industrial automation).

In light of this, future-proofing the workforce will mean focusing less on job security and more on skills security.

“It’s much easier and more important to understand how work is changing, rather than looking at what new jobs are being created,” says Jesuthasan, who will be a keynote speaker at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition⁠ in August. 

“A job is a blunt instrument. It contains so many different things. But if you can understand how the work is changing, that gives you a precise view into the types of skills that are going to be in demand because it’s much easier to map skills to tasks than to understand the myriad of different skills that might underpin a job.”

“The only thing that will keep us relevant is the ability to keep reinventing ourselves.” – Ravin Jesuthasan, Author, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer

Shifting towards skills-based hiring and mobility

When organisations are facing skills challenges, employers often assume that targeting candidates with qualifications from familiar institutions will be their safest bet, says Jesuthasan.

“In my industry, there’s an old adage, ‘No one ever got fired for hiring McKinsey,’” he says. “If you think about how talent is resourced today, it’s largely based on credentials and what you’ve done previously. Those two things reduce the risk to an employer that a person can’t do the job. 

“But if we move to a skills-based approach, it takes us from competing for the five per cent of people we might have traditionally looked at to looking at the 20, 30, 40 per cent of the population who could actually do the work.”

Rather than adhering to rigid roles, a skills-based approach breaks down the individual capabilities required to perform a given task and assigns them to employees with the appropriate skills and capacity, regardless of whether it’s part of their job description.

With skills shortages increasing in severity and complexity, this approach is likely to grow in popularity over the coming decade. We’re already seeing companies becoming more flexible in the qualifications they consider, says Jesuthasan. For example, in 2021, IBM announced it had stripped bachelor’s degree requirements for more than half of its US openings. At Google, job postings requiring a bachelor’s degree fell from 93 to 77 per cent between 2017-2021. 

At banking and financial services company ANZ, the benefits of a shift towards skills-focused hiring and mobility are already beginning to shine through. 

“I think that job roles will persist as a means to organise work, but now we’re getting a deeper skills-based view of what’s behind each role,” says Arun Pradhan, General Manager of Learning at ANZ, who will also be speaking at AHRI’s Convention.

“We’re developing the frameworks and investigating the technology that will allow us to look at a role and see that it’s 40 per cent adjacent to that role over there, even though it doesn’t look like it. And we’re trying to provide a faster way for people to match up those skills.”

Ravin Jesuthasen and Arun Pradhan will both be sharing their insights on future-ready HR practice at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. Don’t miss the chance to hear from inspiring thought leaders and master practical strategies for now and the future. Secure your spot today.

Planning for the skills needs of the future

During the past decade, we have witnessed immense shifts in our ways of working, from mass digitisation to the proliferation of hybrid working. With the pace of change accelerating, it’s safe to assume future decades will bring even more transformative developments. 

For many employers, this begs the question: If we don’t know what tomorrow will look like, how can we equip our people to succeed when it arrives?

According to Adina Leu FCPHR, Director of Workforce Strategy and Planning at the Australian Public Service Commission (APS), the difficulty of answering this question deters many employers from investing enough strategic thinking into their skills development. 

“Across the economy, there is little incentive for employers and managers to look at longer-term skills planning and invest in their current workforce to build the skills they’ll need, or that the sector or Australia will need, in five to 10 years’ time. Because of the high levels of turnover, they think, ‘Why should I? They’re not going to be here anyway.’”

As a result, future-focused employers must find ways to convince leaders to plant trees under whose shade they might never sit.

“It’s about moving away from [the mindset of], ‘I’m going to look after my own interests,’ and towards being part of a bigger ecosystem – whether it’s at an industry level or in the Australian economy,” says Leu.

As a government organisation with a workforce of over 170,000, the APS recognises the strategic imperative of mapping future skills needs by conducting in-depth scenario planning based on a variety of potential workforce futures.

“Of course, there’s a need to prioritise, because you’ll be generating 10s of scenarios, but you can’t plan for all of them,” says Leu.

In order to identify and plan for the most likely outcomes, the APS refers to the ‘megatrends’ published by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the long-term insights briefs developed by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.  

From digitisation to the global push to reach net zero, these trends are predicted to be the main drivers of evolving labour markets and skills demand over the coming decades.

“We are building out the workforce implications of some of those scenarios,” says Leu. “For example, we’re looking at the green transition, and the skill sets we’ll need in government to progress that transition and the green economy agenda for the country and globally.”

The APS is also actively engaging with educational institutions and early career programs to address skills shortages from the ground up. 

Exposing young people to career pathways available to them is particularly important to ensure skills pipelines are as diverse as possible, says Leu. “For example, we know there are shortages in some occupations and roles which are highly male-dominated – [things like] construction, engineering, cybersecurity and so on,” she says. 

“We also know that the seed for some of those career decisions is planted with kids as early as five. So, we need to have more interventions to get girls passionate about occupations like these ones in early childhood.”

“Learning is most effective at the point of need. The opportunity to immediately and constantly apply learning provides a reality check, learning reinforcement and a feedback loop.” – Arun Pradhan, General Manager of Learning, ANZ

An upskilling strategy fit for the future of work

One challenge that often arises with big-picture upskilling and reskilling strategies is push-back from employees asked to take part in them. 

In recent years, the speed of transformation has left some employees experiencing varying levels of ‘change fatigue’. According to Gartner, employees’ willingness to embrace change has dipped sharply, from 74 per cent in 2016 to 38 per cent in 2022.

To avoid employees feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of upskilling and reskilling required, getting the timing right is crucial, says Pradhan.

“Strategic workforce planning can mean developing three-year modeling, but we need to consider an overlay of how early we can initiate upskilling before those skills become relevant,” he says. 

“Learning is most effective at the point of need. The opportunity to immediately and constantly apply learning provides a reality check, learning reinforcement and a feedback loop to accelerate learning.”

To provide this opportunity, ANZ will be rolling out a new Academy for foundational skills around data, digital and human skills.

“The ANZ Academy has team-based learning at its core, so people can apply what they learn immediately in their work with their peers,” he says. “It’s getting away from having a learning bubble over here and a work bubble over there, which forces busy people to make their own connections.

“Instead, we’re using blended experiences, team activities and contextualised stories to reduce the friction of on-the-job learning.”

In order for HR to formulate and deliver upskilling and reskilling strategies effectively, it’s imperative that they lead by example. 

“Use every opportunity to build a new skill,” says Pradhan. “Be that curious person who collects skills from work, parenting, hobbies or anywhere else, and is creatively combining those skills to deliver your unique value proposition and greater adaptability.”

A longer version of this article first appeared in the June/July 2024 edition of HRM magazine. Sign up to become an AHRI member to receive a bi-monthly copy.

Hear more from Ravin Jesuthasan on the shift towards skills-based hiring in the latest episode of AHRI’s podcast, Let’s Take This Offline. Listen to the episode below.

The post Cultivating the skills Australia needs to become future-ready appeared first on HRM online.

With our ways of working changing rapidly, relying on traditional leadership approaches could put organisations at risk of falling behind in the future of work.

Some aspects of the traditional leadership model, such as command-and-control structures and rigid roles, are slowly losing relevance as organisations traverse the rapidly evolving technological and economic landscape, says Ravin Jesuthasan, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services at Mercer and upcoming speaker at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August.

Below, Jesuthasan unpacks four key capabilities leaders of the future will need in order to navigate emerging disruptions and harness the opportunities presented by technological advancement.

1. Shift from hierarchical authority to empowerment and alignment 

There are several forces at play in the current business environment which make the traditional hierarchical model of leadership difficult to sustain, according to Jesuthasan.

One example is the shift towards hybrid and remote work models, which challenges traditional dynamics of control and requires a more trust-based approach to management.

Another is the emerging shift towards more agile ways of working. 

With skills shortages continuing to impact employers, many are recognising the value of a skills-based approach to work, where work is allocated to employees and non-employees based on their capabilities rather than whether it’s part of their job description. The rapid shifts in the skills landscape mean this strategy is likely to become more prevalent in the coming years.

While this approach allows employers to allocate resources more efficiently, effectively and with greater impact, the move away from rigid roles requires a significant mindset shift on the part of leaders.

“As we move towards these more agile, skills-based ways of working, leaders’ ability to empower teams and align them to a mission becomes increasingly important,” says Jesuthasan.

“And leading through empowerment and alignment has one prerequisite, which the hierarchical model doesn’t. And that’s trust – trust in your people that they are motivated to accomplish the same things you are and their trust that you have their best interests at heart.”

HR should keep in mind that this transition might be uncomfortable for leaders who might be used to functioning under a command-and-control model, he says.

“All of this is a reversal of about 140 years of learned behaviour on the part of leaders. So it’s really important that they have the space to experiment, practice and fail.”

Enjoying this article? Help HRM create useful resources to enhance your HR practice by completing our reader survey. Share your thoughts for the chance to win one of five $100 shopping vouchers.

2. The ability to redesign work

With the shift away from rigid roles and towards skills-based ways of working, leaders will need to hone their ability to redesign work so talent (and AI and automation) can flow to it, says Jesuthasan.

“[Leaders need] that skill of being able to take an emerging body of work, deconstruct it into its elemental tasks, understand the skills required and the work options available, and figure out how to deploy that work,” he says. 

“For example, where should I use automation versus using the skills of an employee? Where should I use a gig worker or shared services? And then continuously reconstructing new ways of working that optimise speed, profitability and the workforce skills.” 

With work being resourced based on skills and capability rather than roles, leaders will need to adapt to having fewer dedicated teams, he adds.

“[There needs to be] a pivot from leaders who are really good at process execution to leaders who are increasingly exceptional at project guidance.”

3. Humanistic automation

With technological advancement moving at an unprecedented rate, it’s no surprise that digital literacy is projected to be a critical leadership skill of the future. To remain competitive, leaders need to constantly ask themselves if they are going far enough in understanding and leveraging emerging technologies, says Jesuthasan.

“What the past two years have taught us is that just being digitally savvy is too low a bar. We need business leaders who really understand AI in all its forms, understand the tools available and understand how it’s going to reshape their operating models.”

In the future, it will become increasingly important for leaders to strike the right balance between harnessing the capabilities of AI alongside the capabilities of their workforces.

“[Ask yourself], ‘How do I automate in a way that ensures that I’m not compromising ingenuity and innovation in my business? How do I automate in a way that makes the most of the human skills I’ve invested in for decades?’,” says Jesuthasan.

As AI takes on more and more of our repetitive, rules-based work, leaders should be placing more focus on cultivating human skills such as communication, problem-solving and critical thinking in both themselves and their people.

According to research from the World Economic Forum, the half-life of a technical skill is currently about five years. While it remains crucial to develop technical skills to navigate emerging technologies, employers should remember that the so-called ‘soft’ skills will always be necessary for success.

“What the past two years have taught us is that just being digitally savvy is such a low bar. We need business leaders who really understand generative AI.” – Ravin Jesuthasan, Senior Partner and Global Leader for Transformation Services, Mercer

4. Cultivating diversity of thought, experience and perspective

The most effective leaders in the future of work will be those who can leverage the benefits of diverse workforces, says Jesuthasan.

“A key skill is managing diversity, equity and inclusion – not episodically like we typically do when we hire someone or promote them, but continuously by opening the aperture to having different skills, different perspectives and different experiences being deployed to work,” he says. 

“Because that’s the only way any business stays ahead of the competition – that diversity of thought, experience and perspective.”

Inclusive hiring practices are essential not only to innovation, but also to business stability, he says. He offers the example of a US airline that set up its own flight school as its traditional talent pool of ex-military pilots began to dry up. 

“Because of who was accepted to fly in the military [in the past], most of their pilots, unsurprisingly, were older white men. But with their own flight school, their first class was 80 per cent female and minorities. 

“By opening the aperture and creating their own school, they know that in less than two years, they’ll have a flight crew that is exponentially more diverse than the talent that they’re going to be replacing. It’s a win-win – we secure our supply, and we ensure that the supply is more diverse than the legacy supply chain.”

This strategic approach to diversity ensures that organisations are not just keeping pace with change, but are actively shaping the future of work.

As we move into the next iteration of work, HR plays a critical role in cultivating this next phase of leadership. As the champions of human-centred ways of working, HR practitioners are in a unique position to support leaders as they develop the skills to lead through empowerment, implement humanistic automation and enhance their approach to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Ravin Jesuthasan will be speaking on the deconstruction of jobs and the reconstruction of work at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in August. Sign up today to hear from Ravin and other experts, including Seth Godin, Dr Pippa Grange and more.

The post 4 skills leaders need to thrive in the future of work appeared first on HRM online.

In today’s fast-paced environment, HR and learning professionals face the challenge of staying abreast of technological advancements and translating them into effective learning and development strategies. This complexity is compounded by the need to rapidly acquire new skills while maintaining compliance and cost-effectiveness.

AHRI’s latest research report, Shaping the Future: How Learning Helps Us Embrace Unprecedented Change, created in partnership with Melbourne Business School (MBS), aims to demystify these challenges and shed light on the evolving landscape of learning. 

Below, two members of AHRI’s Future of Work Advisory Panel and Dr Nora Koslowski of MBS offer their thoughts on elements of this report and share advice on how to put these learnings into action.

Learning needs to be co-designed with employees

By Dr Nora Koslowski, Chief Learning Innovation Officer at Melbourne Business School

Given the possibilities offered by technology and by the data available, learning pathways can now be much more personalised to an individual employee’s context, experience, knowledge and preferences. 

I recommend that L&D practitioners build pre-assessments of employees into their learning programs. This could be a self-assessment of knowledge or confidence in a topic area, or a task they have to complete which measures their level of competence in a skill area. 

Based on the outcomes of this pre-assessment, L&D practitioners can then offer learning pathways that are appropriate to the level a learner is at. 

Similarly, the context of an individual’s role and likely career path can be taken into consideration. For example, if an organisation is rolling out a learning program about a topic, such as data analytics, the actual learning pathway for someone who will only require surface understanding should vary from someone who requires deeper expertise. 

And lastly, the personalisation of learning methods should be considered. With the abundance of content available, and in different modalities, consider giving employees a choice about whether they go on a learning pathway with an emphasis on video content, reading, audio or practical tasks.

Learning isn’t a calendar of events; it’s an organisation’s sensing mechanism

By Dr Ben Hamer, futurist and AHRI Future of Work Advisory Panel member and board director.

Some organisations see learning as an overhead rather than an investment, which is why it’s seen as an easy cut. But by working with and influencing our friends in finance, we can do something as simple as shift where learning sits on the balance sheet to protect it, and, in doing so, send a massive signal to the organisation about the value and importance of investing in our people.

Part of demonstrating the value of learning is in who we hire and the skills we look for. In my experience, there are too many people in L&D teams who do administrative work such as coordinating vendors and managing a calendar of events. We need more instructional designers to help create and curate impactful training. 

We need our learning professionals to be consulting with other functions to help not only respond to current skill gaps, but anticipate and plan for emerging skill gaps. 

This means sitting down with people who work in strategy and workforce planning teams to make sure that a learning and skills lens is brought to the table.

Part of creating a learning ecosystem is recognising the role that individuals play in taking ownership of their own upskilling and reskilling as part of the equation. We think about it a lot as formal learning, but there’s so much more available. In fact, it’s the microlearning opportunities that are best for us. 

We need to spend 15 per cent of our working week upskilling and reskilling just for our skills to remain current. So think about how you can listen to a podcast on your way to work, watch a quick YouTube video on how to perform a particular function in Excel, for example, or ask a colleague to explain a particular concept or topic to you, such as how to write good prompts for generative AI.

AI should augment our learning practices

By Peter Burow, Founding Partner at Neuro Group

AI has enormous potential in the field of learning. It can deliver learning content in a contextualised way, personalise the learning experience according to the individual, and allow for dynamic interaction with vast amounts of content. 

By ingesting large amounts of content, paired with automated support that employees can access at their convenience, AI eliminates the inflexible ‘carwash’ approach of traditional learning. This presents a rare opportunity for learning professionals to reimagine their roles and embrace the transformative potential of this technology. As AI takes on the task of content delivery, learning professionals can focus more on the human aspects of learning. 

While AI can make learning content accessible, flexible and dynamic, it’s the role of human learning teams to link learning with people’s aspirations, engage people in understanding the deeper meaning behind the content and translate content into insight and wisdom that drives lasting capability uplift and behaviour change.

By leveraging technology and neuroscience, learning professionals are freed up to explore and design genuinely transformative experiences that tap into the innate human capacity for growth and change.

The full Future of Learning report includes five insights in total and goes into more depth, including practical applications. Download now and find out how you can contribute to enhancing your organisation’s learning functions.

The post What could the future of learning and development look like? appeared first on HRM online.

The last few years have seen diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) climb to new heights on HR’s list of priorities. Recent research indicates that HR professionals are more attuned to the importance of DEI to organisational success than ever before.

According to AHRI’s The State of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Australian Workplaces 2023, the vast majority (84 per cent) of HR professionals say DEI is critical to the future success of their organisation. This increased focus on DEI has been significantly influenced by social movements, heightened expectations from employees and stakeholders and greater engagement in DEI conversations. 

However, the research also reveals a clear gap between intent and execution. Just 50 per cent of HR professionals say their leaders see DEI as a priority for their organisation, and a similar proportion (49 per cent) say their organisation is not placing enough focus on DEI.

To help HR narrow this gap and drive sustainable progress, AHRI’s DEI Advisory Panel has created a paper to guide organisations, DEI specialists and HR professionals in fostering more inclusive work environments. 

Below, three members of the panel offer their insights on ways that HR professionals can respond to some of the most pressing DEI challenges facing Australian organisations. 

Invest in DEI leadership

By Barbara Sheehy MAHRI, National Indigenous Manager, Australia Post

We know when organisations engage in diversity, equity and inclusion strategic practices, the return on investment in enabling diverse thinking and collective voice is impactful. However, these benefits are not linear.

A deliberate lens to invest in leadership capability and diversity appointment, in my view, is the advancement that corporate Australia, industry and government should seek to demonstrate when navigating the DEI landscape.

The AHRI DEI Futures Paper provides HR practitioners and members with valuable insights and evidence-based examples to shift workplace culture from participation towards a maturing capacity through the AHRI Diversity and Inclusion Maturity Model.  

This inclusion framework identifies three key levels of maturity: compliance, changing mindsets and embedding DEI into an organisation’s DNA. This transformative roadmap distinguishes and measures an organisation’s commitment to creating thriving workplace cultures of belonging and impactful, sustainable change.

Another benefit to understanding and embedding the Diversity and Inclusion Maturity Model is that it can be adapted across organisations, regardless of industry, size or complexity. Each organisation’s adoption will be bespoke, however, the learnings, investment and sustainable impact will positively contribute to the ever-challenging yet rewarding landscape of Australia’s DEI conversations.

Read HRM’s article on the importance of intersectional leadership here.

How can HR leverage lived experiences in a respectful and effective way to inform their DEI frameworks?

By Mathew Paine FCPHR, Executive General Manager, People & Culture, Australian Financial Complaints Authority

It’s important that HR can effectively leverage lived experiences to inform their DEI frameworks to ensure they suit a broad range of employees and actually deliver on their needs.

HR can do this by implementing strategies such as:

• Organising listening sessions (for example, inviting marginalised groups to speak at leadership team meetings about their lived experience).
• Sponsoring and funding employee resource groups.
• Collecting feedback through surveys.
• Providing inclusive training.
• Collaborating with external organisations.
• Conducting regular inclusive policy reviews to ensure fairness and equity.
• Encouraging leadership engagement and attendance to D&I events.
• Consulting and gathering feedback on HR initiatives from specific employee cohorts.
• Establishing accountability measures. 

By integrating real-life experiences into these initiatives, HR can gain valuable insights to develop comprehensive DEI frameworks that address systemic barriers, promote inclusivity and foster a culture of belonging.

Collecting diversity data

By Roman Ružbacký MAHRI, Principal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant, Roman Ruzbacky & Associates

Diversity data literacy is becoming an essential skill for HR and DEI professionals – including ensuring Human Resources Information Systems house fully inclusive data sets, and skilled personnel can critically interpret their data, provide insights and develop evidence-based approaches and actions that can be measured. 

It’s important to have clear success metrics in place so you actually understand what action has resulted in moving the dial, whether it’s representative target, or a percentage agreement rate for inclusion in the organisation, or knowing who feels included.

The correlation between data sets is critical to understand the full impact of data. For example, how gender pay gaps are connected to representation, job segregation, recruitment and promotion. Intersectional analysis can also provide a more granular analysis and insights into the employee experience. 

In order to translate these insights into action, HR professionals must hone their ability to find the human stories behind their data sets. Finding strong headline data which is irrefutable can help connect with leaders and inspire greater commitment to DEI.

For example, the number of women who have experienced violence by an intimate partner, the 53 per cent workforce participation rate of people with disability, or the gender pay gap; these are figures you can’t dispute. And they’re the kind of figures that should be prompting people into action.

Check out AHRI’s full Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Futures Paper for more valuable insights on navigating Australia’s DEI landscape and driving sustainable change.

The post 3 expert insights to inform your DEI strategy in 2024 appeared first on HRM online.

Technology-enabled people practices have long supported HR to augment and enhance their initiatives. In recent years, we’ve seen some truly innovative applications streamlining what used to be labour-intensive processes. Transport for NSW’s case study, which saw it win Best Use of Technology at the 2023 AHRI Awards, is the perfect example of this.

In 2022, it identified a need to facilitate better communication between leaders and frontline employees in the face of a series of challenges, including responding to severe weather events, operational staff shortages and negotiating a new enterprise agreement. Part of the solution came in the form of the Daily Connect initiative, a concept that impressed the AHRI award judges and demonstrated an innovative use of technology.

The idea was simple: develop an interface for employees that would provide real-time, ongoing feedback directly to their leaders so they felt better supported. It aimed to address the risk that staff would not feel connected to their leaders and therefore may not feel safe to raise issues and opportunities to improve.

“We have over 26,000 staff at Transport and more than half of those are frontline staff running a 24/7 operation for customers, passengers and freight,” says David Monti, Senior Manager for Culture and Engagement at Transport for NSW. “In that 24/7 environment, it’s important to know that we’re attuned to what’s changing for people because their needs can be different at any one point in time. 

“We learned a lot, particularly through COVID, around checking in with our people more regularly, especially at core points in time due to lockdowns or restrictions.

We wanted to build on these learnings by improving how we listen,” he says. 

In 2022, NSW TrainLink, part of the Transport Portfolio, was selected to pilot the initiative due to the high number of geographically distributed frontline staff. 

A feedback strategy that makes employees feel heard

Daily Connect was a way for the HR team to test the waters by gathering real-time feedback. From this data, they were able to develop an employee listening strategy that allowed frontline employees to feel heard. 

This included a leader dashboard, which collates data in an easy-to-understand format and provides information on analytics, including team comparisons across NSW TrainLink. This provided a personalised approach for leaders to speak to their teams more effectively about what mattered most to them. For example, leaders were able to use the dashboards to identify where response rates were particularly low and target station visits and check-ins to find out more.

“We found that when parts of NSW TrainLink saw improvement in job satisfaction and their experience of leadership, that meant those teams felt more engaged and more confident.” – David Monti, Senior Manager, Culture and Engagement, Transport for NSW

In line with Transport for NSW’s people strategy, this was considered a pilot to learn how to scale the solution for future use cases. 

With that, various use cases for the tech were tried when implementing the Daily Connect interface. A pulsing tool, which measured employee engagement, was used to distribute a randomised set of questions to employees, and the frequency of questions would change as required. It quickly became apparent that daily communications were too much for most staff. Paring back interactions to once or twice a week was optimal.

“We played around a lot with how much information and data to give our frontline leaders. Not with the aim of withholding information, but just to make it simple for them. Especially when their day job is a 24/7 operation, we needed to make it easy for them to take action,” says Monti. 

Daily Connect was well-supported during the pilot period, with new participants joining the platform at an average rate of 3.28 per cent per week. The learnings from the pilot are now being used to support mechanisms that can be scaled up for different parts of the entire Transport for NSW workforce.

“We were also able to go into statistical analysis to demonstrate the value of this initiative,” says Monti. “We found that when parts of NSW TrainLink saw improvement in job satisfaction and their experience of leadership, that meant those teams felt more engaged and more confident in their ability to deliver great customer service.”

Enhancing feedback systems with gamification

The other thing that helped with engagement was adding a gamification element. A trial was undertaken with some staff interacting via SMS to ascertain whether giving further information through a two-way text dialogue would incentivise people to respond more. 

“For example, the survey might ask, ‘How do you feel about your ability to respond to customers today?’ and they would give an 8 out of 10, and the response would come back ‘Thanks for your feedback. The average score was 9 out of 10,” says Monti.

Two-way dialogue was found to produce a response rate almost double that of a non-gamified interaction. 

Communications sent by SMS proved much more effective than email, with a 160 per cent better response rate. 

“Our frontline staff are out helping our customers and keeping our network moving. Using SMS was a great way to help them quickly respond if they wanted to participate but [still focus on] their day jobs.”

Another telling outcome was that the program empowered 142 leaders with actionable insights to better support their teams. This resulted in the highest-ever improvement in employee satisfaction with their leader’s support. 

“We’re really proud of this AHRI award. It reflects the importance we place on acknowledging our frontline employees over a tough few years. It also helps reinforce the priority we’re placing on respecting and engaging our workforce. 

“It tells us we’re on the right track as we continue to focus on this.” 

A version of this article was originally published in the Feb/March edition of HRM Magazine.

Celebrate the exceptional achievements in HR practice at the 2024 AHRI Awards. Submissions are now open, with new categories and scholarship opportunities. Learn more here.

The post How this organisation is using tech to revolutionise employee feedback appeared first on HRM online.

When it comes to environmental initiatives, employers are not playing for time – they’re racing against it. And, what’s more, they’re racing on dangerous ground.

According to United Nations (UN) projections, it’s estimated that humans have until just 2030 to prevent irreversible damage due to climate change.

As external pressure mounts from consumers, investors and employees alike, many employers have been tasked with overhauling long-standing practices to ensure sustainability without compromising financial viability. 

Growing calls for action from increasingly discerning stakeholders mean that organisations need to articulate a genuine commitment to sustainability without falling prey to accusations of tokenism or ‘greenwashing’. 

As the curators of workplace culture, policies and practices, HR practitioners are in prime position to champion the imperative of sustainability within their organisations and establish a clear and credible narrative around climate action. It’s not just about recycling bins and energy-efficient light bulbs; it’s about instigating a cultural shift that permeates the very fabric of the workplace.

While few can remember a time when climate issues weren’t on our collective radar, the growing urgency of environmental challenges has led to the development of concrete and consistent frameworks to help organisations take an informed approach to boosting sustainability, as well as sustainability reporting requirements.

Creating common goals

In line with its climate projections, the UN has collated 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These far-ranging goals (see image below) form the cornerstone of its approach to building a more sustainable future. 

“Since the Sustainable Development Goals were launched, there has been a much stronger push institutionally on the topic,” says Fang Lee Cooke, author, Professor of Human Resource Management at Monash University and member of AHRI’s Research Advisory Panel.

“The SDGs are interconnected. Some people see the role of HR management in the SDGs as mainly related to gender diversity and decent work. My argument is that HR management can contribute to all 17 goals.”

For instance, she says, the HR function can contribute to reducing poverty by providing lifelong learning and development to help employees remain in sustainable gainful employment. It can influence the move towards sustainable cities by facilitating flexible working practices to reduce congestion and pollution. HR can even contribute to reducing climate impacts in specific industries via its work in the diversity and inclusion space, says Cooke.

“For example, sea life is related to several industries that are traditionally more male-dominated,” she says. “If more women can enter these industries, they may come up with new or different suggestions or solutions. That diversity [of thought] will pull better ideas together.”

By embracing the interconnected nature of the SDGs, HR can help organisations not only meet specific targets, but also foster a holistic culture of sustainability that resonates throughout their operations and contributes to building a more resilient and equitable future.

“You can’t apply short-term thinking to climate programs. They need to be embedded in how [you] operate.” – Jessica Hyman, Chief Sustainability Officer, Atlassian

Go beyond the business case

Much of the current rhetoric surrounding organisational sustainability centres around a business case for tackling environmental issues. And, indeed, there are plenty of data points HR can speak to in order to build this case. An important example is the imperative to remain an employer of choice for candidates who truly care about the environment. 

A Randstad study showed that nearly half of both Millennials (48 per cent) and Gen Z (49 per cent) say they wouldn’t accept a job that didn’t align with their values on environmental issues. With Gen Z growing in the workforce, this is likely to increase further. 

Sustainability initiatives also have proven potential to improve risk management, drive innovation and build customer loyalty. However, Cooke’s perspective on the business case for sustainability challenges the traditional dichotomy between profit and purpose. 

“Business tests can only go so far,” she says. “We should not be misleading companies or managers into believing that, if you implement [sustainability initiatives], you will get X financial benefit. That has been the trend in HR management in promoting sustainability, but the business case alone is not good enough, because [what if] it does not generate financial benefit?”

Excessive focus on the business case can also get in the way of effective sustainability reporting, she says. If financial gain is placed above all else, reports are likely to place short-term goals above long-term sustainability efforts. This can also lead to companies overselling in their sustainability reporting – a practice known as ‘greenwashing’.

“That means we can’t just use a business case – a moral case is important. Morally, companies should really be doing this. That model will require a lot of education and persuasion, and it will be a much longer game.”

HR plays a pivotal role in ensuring sustainability reporting is more than skin-deep, she says. The standardisation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures and metrics means that reporting can lack local relevance in some contexts, and HR is well-positioned to ensure a more specific and resonant approach to sustainable business practices.

“Sustainability for a banking company will be different from that of a fishing company or a manufacturing company,” she says. “So it’s important for the HR management function to sit down and work out with other stakeholders what it means for our company and how we can drive that forward and embed it in our strategy and practice.”

Where should you start?

Given the scale of the task at hand, crafting a sustainability strategy that satisfies the priorities of governing bodies, stakeholders and employees can feel like an intimidating or overwhelming endeavour, particularly for smaller businesses without the infrastructure to support a dedicated sustainability team.

“It can be hard to work out where to start, particularly when how-to guides explain the theory, but don’t share ‘behind the scenes’ of how it works in action,” says Jessica Hyman, Chief Sustainability Officer at global software company Atlassian.

Atlassian has set ambitious goals related to sustainability, particularly renewable energy usage, recently announcing an ambitious net zero goal of 2040, 10 years ahead of the Science Based Targets initiative’s guidance. 

“We can’t just use a business case – a moral case is important.” Fang Lee Cooke, author, Professor of HR Management, Monash University, and member of AHRI’s Research Advisory Panel.

Its approach to employee engagement with this mission aligns with Cooke’s advice to push the moral case for sustainability. 

“We’ve chosen the model of education over mandate when it comes to climate action,” says Hyman. “The only way to achieve a net-zero future is through teamwork and knowledge sharing.”

To help achieve this, the company recently released a report that functions as its sustainability manifesto, outlining its objectives, strategy and values around sustainability and demonstrating its commitments to stakeholders.

“This [resource] educates our staff on what our climate goals are, how everyone contributes to them, and how to have conversations to set expectations with third parties, which in turn gives employees a feeling of ownership over the outcome of the program. 

“By taking a more self-service model, [businesses] can scale quickly without the constant help of a dedicated sustainability team.”

For organisations at the start of their journey towards a more sustainable future, Hyman recommends focusing the bulk of time and resources on working out how sustainability goals integrate with the broader business strategy, and ensuring this integration is communicated business-wide.

“You can’t apply short-term thinking to climate programs,” she says. “They need to be embedded in how [you] operate.

“Signing on to a climate goal and checking a tick box isn’t good enough – stakeholders want to see real commitment and progress. You can’t keep kicking the can down the road – the time to act is now.” 

A longer version of this article first appeared in the 2024 February/March edition of HRM Magazine.

Need help navigating workplace change? AHRI’s short course will arm you with the skills to understand change dynamics at an individual, team and organisational level.

The post What does sustainable HR look like? appeared first on HRM online.

When Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, HR & Corporate Functions, thinks about what it meant to work in HR 20 years ago, she’s struck by the vast ways in which the role has changed.

“It’s very different now… now we’re trying to help shape how employees are thinking and feeling, [and determining] the right people strategies,” she told HRM on a recent visit to Australia from the US.

A huge part of the change in HR’s remit is the integration of technology with HR’s work. This is an exciting opportunity, says Coleman, as it means HR professionals are not only privy to but leading strategic conversations, and helping take their organisations into new directions with the help of powerful technology. Here’s how the Microsoft HR team is doing just that.

How the Microsoft HR team is using AI

Coleman feels lucky that she works in an environment where she gets to use technology as part of her HR practices each day.

“I really understand that it’s a privilege to work at a tech company. I get to use technology to help enhance the humanity that our HR team brings.”

Microsoft’s HR team has been able to save over 20,000+ hours since an AI HR chatbot entered its workflow around 12 months ago.

“Every question [for HR] goes into a funnel,” says Coleman. “At the very end of that funnel is self-service [based on an internal database]. An employee might want to take a leave of absence, for example. They’ll type that in and get access to a policy. 

“We want to push as many people as possible to have a really good employee experience at that self-service level,” she says.

This means the HR team isn’t getting bogged down in sourcing and relaying the same information over and over again.

“We want to focus on the things that take emotional intelligence, judgement and humanity to do.” – Amy Coleman, Corporate VP, HR and Corporate Services, Microsoft

As employees’ questions become more complex, so too does the technology solution.

“Say you want to take a sabbatical and you’re also getting ready to go on maternity leave, so it’s a bit more of a compounded problem. You might be able to get some of the information from our internal site, but perhaps you can’t get everything you need, or you need to validate your findings. That’s when you go into the second level of the funnel.”

This is where Microsoft’s AI-enabled HR chatbot is introduced.

“This is like a virtual assistant that can start to reference some of our policies. I know a lot of industries have had these types of chatbots for a long time now – like in the airline or travel sectors. But we’re continually investing in ours to help it really [understand] the person who is asking the question.”

The idea is that future iterations of this technology should be able to offer bespoke responses based on information in the employee’s profile. For example, say an employee wants to work part-time for a period and is seeking information about the financial implications of doing so. The chatbot could be trained on that employee’s data set, so it could provide bespoke information based on that person’s current salary.

The third stage of the funnel is where Microsoft applies both human HR expertise with AI.

“If you weren’t able to get an answer to your question at stages one or two, now you talk to someone in HR and we then look at how those people can apply AI to answer your question faster and give you the right information.

“We’re trying to make it as personalised as possible and as accurate as possible – take some of the human error out of it and allow the HR professional who’s interacting with you to be more about [having] empathy and an understanding of the context.”

Reinvesting time into leadership development

With the time that has been freed up by using this technology, Coleman says the HR team is reinvesting in high-value HR tasks, such as coaching leaders. 

“So let’s say that employee now has information about their sabbatical, maternity leave and pay. Now the HR team might step in to support with setting up a coverage plan with their manager. So helping out in more of a leadership development or coaching manner. We want to focus on the things that take emotional intelligence, judgement and humanity to do. 

“So if I think about where I’d tell my HR team to spend their time, I would be asking, ‘How do we get our leaders and managers to help us scale [our HR initiatives]?’ We have somewhere around 20,000-25,000 managers at Microsoft. That’s an opportunity for HR to be coaching at that management and leadership level to help us drive responses around how we deal with change.

“If we get great leaders who can help us move and lead through a transformation or learn how to utilise adaptive skills or show empathy… that’s where we’ll meet our magic.”

When you think of adaptive, empathetic leadership, many minds would turn to Microsoft’s own CEO, Satya Nadella.

When speaking at the AFR’s Workforce Summit last week, Coleman spoke of the cultural transformation that Nadella brought to Microsoft’s culture through his focus on growth mindset, encouragement of experimentation and “personal leadership at scale”.

He’s humble, relatable and embraces two-way dialogue with employees, says Coleman.

“We were really intentional with Microsoft’s cultural transformation. We have cultural lessons that we’re always trying to reflect on and learn from. And personal leadership at scale is something we want to take with us,” she says.

This important work is where she sees HR adding value.

“We want our leaders to connect with people in really authentic ways, to create followership and to [understand employees’] perspectives. I think that’s super important, whether you’re leading a project team or you’re the CEO.”

Another key piece of cultural work that Microsoft’s HR team is now freed up to focus on is embedding a growth mindset in its leaders.

“Part of that is about learning to say what you don’t know. How can we help leaders who’ve been trained and educated to need to know everything to feel okay about not knowing something.

“Sitting in that [vulnerable] space can be really hard for leaders, so we need to have empathy for that and help them.”

Help your organisation build future-fit leaders and managers, or learn more about your own leadership style with AHRI’s short course.

The post How Microsoft’s HR team is using AI to save over 20,000 hours per year appeared first on HRM online.

In 2021, when working through numerous issues brought on by the pandemic, members of the most senior leadership team in the ACT Public Service (ACTPS) realised they had a problem: they were overly reliant on their go-to people and didn’t know enough about the leadership pipeline behind those individuals.

For assistance with the seemingly endless series of challenges, each leader was reaching out to the same few executives they knew personally. There was a risk of those already-busy executives burning out.

“That worried the leaders,” says Janet Wilson FCPHR, Executive Group Manager of the Future Workforce Strategy Group, ACTPS. 

“They were asking, ‘Why don’t we know who else is around? Why is it that whenever there’s a problem, we only have our go-to people? What can we do about it?’”

This prompted a conversation about how they could develop the leadership capability of executives.

“How do we help leaders see great people who are beyond their line of sight? More importantly, how do we ensure leadership success into the future? We needed a systematic approach to doing that.”

Wilson was the person who would bring that approach to life. The resulting project would form the basis of her case study to achieve HR certification via AHRI’s Senior Leaders Pathway.

What does a future-ready leader look like?

Prior to designing a solution, Wilson took a deep dive into the current workforce, segmenting the review into three focus areas:

• Current state of the senior executive workforce, including leadership strengths and challenges, and how leadership capability is developed.
• What the future of work would demand from leaders, and identifying the capabilities required to develop and respond.
• A new approach to move the ACTPS from its current state to be better prepared for the future, developing leadership capability for today’s public service while also preparing for tomorrow’s public service.

“It takes time to build a cadre of people who have the necessary leadership skills,” says Wilson. “So if you just build it for today, by the time you’re finished, you’re already out of date. You’ve got to build for five to 10 years down the track.”

Key findings included that executive jobs had become more dynamic and ambiguous, and that leadership qualities required in the future would include adaptability, flexibility, learning agility and creativity.

The research also identified a critical need for a sustained approach to leadership development, to ensure future needs would be met and that current problems wouldn’t re-emerge, while also ensuring today’s challenges could be addressed.

Importantly, only a small part of the analysis was about leaders knowing more of their senior executives. That was simply the issue that drove the desire for change – a symptom pointing to a far more complex challenge.

“In any organisation, there has to be a driver behind this type of program, and typically it’s a specific problem,” says Wilson. “In this case, it was about leaders not knowing the executives who were outside of their typical focus.

“For example, in a hierarchical structure such as the public service, where people naturally tend to look to their leaders to have all the answers, how do we create the culture for people at all levels to contribute to defining the problem and generating the solution, bringing more diversity of experience and perspective into our work?”

A hands-on approach to leadership development

The agreed approach for the first year of the program, as recommended by Wilson for 2021-22, involved: 

• Building a small team to establish a specialist executive development presence within the ACTPS.
• Design and delivery of an executive induction program.
• Design and delivery of an executive career development and mobility framework.
• Design and delivery of an initial leadership development program.

The leadership program, which has expanded to cover more target audiences and is now delivered up to four times annually with up to 24 participants per program, is anchored in an adaptive leadership practice. The program responds to the need to be focused on continuous change, adaptation and the future.

Feedback has been highly positive, with much of the program based on experiential learning.

“Our work is not about lots of content-heavy PowerPoint presentations,” says Wilson. “It’s about having experiences that are carefully orchestrated, and which offer insights about themselves, about other people and about the system they work in.”

“How do we create the culture for people at all levels to contribute to defining the problem and generating the solution?” – Janet Wilson FCPHR, Executive Group Manager, Future Workforce Strategy Group, ACTPS

Almost 50 per cent of the senior executive team have now added their names to a new mobility register, which enables executives to move to another area within the ACTPS for a short period of time – up to six months, or just a few weeks. 

“Feedback is indicating the approach effectively broadens people’s experience and exposure to others across the ACTPS. We are now being asked to extend this to more junior levels.”

The induction program came online in 2021. Initial results were strong, but as more experienced executive-level staff moved laterally into the ACTPS, the program proved too junior for their needs, so it has been briefly paused for review and redesign. 

“[There will be] a focus on them getting to know other senior executives and understanding the work undertaken across the ACTPS, and on understanding the nuances of the ACTPS context including processes, responsibilities and accountabilities.”

Asking the right questions

The success of year one led to increased funding and more deliverables for year two, including the expansion of the leadership development program.

Year two results include:

• 100 per cent of leadership program participants saying it was “engaging”.
• 94 per cent agreeing they could apply their learnings.
• 100 per cent saying the program was valuable and they would recommend it to peers.

Wilson attributes the success of this program to having a strong evidence base and asking the right questions.

“How does an organisation help its leaders rise above the busyness? What is needed in the toolkit of skills, capabilities and attitudes over the next 10 years? Where does our culture need to be changed? 

“We’re trying to give our executive team a framework… to be able to continue to effectively lead the ACTPS to serve the Canberra community. And we’re making very good progress.”

A version of this article first appeared in the December/January edition of HRM Magazine.

Demonstrate your HR expertise and signal to your professional network that your skills are aligned with best-practice HR by undergoing AHRI’s Practising Certification Program.

The post How the ACT Public Service is growing future-ready leaders appeared first on HRM online.

As the countdown to the new year commences, business and HR leaders are bracing themselves for new waves of transformation. 

Recent research from Randstad, a recruitment and HR services company, has shed light on five trends that could shape the workforce in 2024.

HRM spoke with David Owens, Managing Director of HR Partners by Randstad, to unpack the trends that leaders expect to influence the employment landscape in the upcoming year – from the impact of AI technology and hybrid working models to the growing scarcity of talent. 

The research, which surveyed 200 Australian business leaders, reveals that, on the whole, business leaders feel optimistic about Australia’s economic outlook in 2024, with nearly 79 per cent of survey participants anticipating stability or improvement. 

It’s crucial to recognise, however, that while some may feel optimistic about the economic outlook of 2024, there are still plenty of potential challenges for HR and leaders to keep an eye on in 2024 – as well as opportunities for growth. 

1. Scarcity of the right talent with the right skills

One trend that will resonate with most HR professionals  is the continued challenge of acquiring talent. While the availability of talent is predicted to stabilise, the availability of the right talent with the right skills remains a pressing issue on the minds of almost half (47 per cent) of business leaders. 

“Seventy-one per cent of people are expecting to recruit, alongside a general expectation that the availability of talent is going to remain pretty tight,” says Owen.

Addressing this talent shortage will be a key focus for organisations aiming to thrive in the evolving business environment. However, Owens is optimistic. 

“Generally, I think if you look hard enough or you dig deep enough or you’re using the right sort of strategies to acquire talent, you’ll be able to find talent.”

Next year, the undercurrent of talent scarcity is likely to remain a prominent factor influencing the decisions and strategies of HR and business leaders. The challenge lies not only in envisioning growth, but also in navigating the landscape of the talent market that shows signs of persistent tightness. 

Thirty-three per cent of respondents highlight the simultaneous increase in demands for talent and decrease in talent availability, underscoring the importance of employee retention in 2024.  Business leaders seem to understand this, with 37 per cent of respondents focused on providing internal growth opportunities and greater employee satisfaction levels. 

Owens notes that organisations may also face challenges in 2024 when it comes to acquiring the right talent. Simply paying talent more as an attraction strategy is unlikely to yield strong results, he says.

Instead, he suggests organisations adopt new strategies for acquiring talent and be open to using non-traditional forms of employment, such as interim and contingent labour. 

“There’s a two thousand percent uptick in organisations seeking talent with AI skills since 2023 alone.” – David Owens, Managing Director of HR Partners by Randstad

However, companies can also gain the critical talent they need internally, by ensuring they have adequate succession planning in place, supported by a robust learning and development strategy that prepares internal talent for the future needs of your business.

“[Learning and development programs] are something that everybody’s going to have to consider, from the corner shop to the small business down the road to larger corporations. I think everybody needs to be open-minded.” 

Owens also highlights the importance of “being more open to seeking talent from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds – whether that’s Indigenous people, retired workers, employees with disabilities or any other [diverse groups that could add value to your business] – there are a lot of segments that need to be considered in that open and more agile view of the labour market.

“Ultimately I think in this market, you have to be really agile and open-minded as to how you’re going to solve your problems.”

2. High demand for tech skills 

It’s no secret that the demand for technology skills is following a pattern of consistent growth. Despite this, Randstad’s study reveals that these skills are the most difficult to acquire – perhaps an indication of the increasing reliance and integration of technology, AI and machine learning in virtually every sector.

A staggering 57 per cent of respondents noted that technology skills are the most critically in-demand for organisations in 2024, with problem-solving (45 per cent), and creative skills (38 per cent) also in high demand. 

What does this reveal about the future of work? Undoubtedly, HR and business leaders need to adapt to the impact of digitalisation and automation on the workforce, and seek new ways of meeting multifaceted talent needs. 

Owens highlights the importance of adapting alongside technology and the need to continually invest to ensure your business is up to speed.

“It is the one field in which you absolutely cannot afford to be behind.”

Randstad’s own analysis of global job advertisements reveals a 2000 per cent uptick in their search for talent with particular AI skills. 

“That’s a huge surge. An interesting counterpoint to this is that, as it stands, only 21 per cent of Australian workers have been promised learning and development opportunities in the next year, despite 42 per cent claiming they are excited about the prospect of using it in the workplace.”

Where does this disparity stem from? According to Owens, we are seeing a “lag factor” which is unsurprising when a trend first spikes. The delay in providing learning opportunities for integrating AI into the workplace is expected, given the sudden surge in interest in the technology. 

HR professionals can help their organisations embrace these new technologies by considering low-risk ways to experiment with it. For example, HRM previously wrote about a company that added an AI-powered employee on its org chart.

Learn about some essential ChatGPT prompts for HR in this handy infographic. 

3. Impact of AI and technological transformations

Alongside an increasing demand for technology skills, the impact of new, emerging technologies, in particular AI, are set to have a significant influence on various roles. 

More than half of respondents believe that AI will impact employment, and 21 per cent predict that it will create brand-new roles. 

AI and automation tools don’t only offer greater necessarily guarantee efficiency. Instead, they can also help to create smarter solutions that may be increasingly widespread, says Owens, such as automating time-consuming processes. 

Many organisations are already jumping on this trend, with 60 per cent of respondents reskilling employees in AI and technology transformations. This adaptability is key for organisations to remain competitive and for employees to stay abreast with the evolving job market and an increasingly AI-driven world. 

As AI technology continues to take centre stage across a number of industries, many find themselves grappling with an unsettling question: “Are you worried that AI will eventually take over and make your role obsolete?” Coming up with a response to this can often prove challenging, and feelings of uncertainty may linger. 

On that, Owens offers a compelling line of thought:

“AI won’t necessarily replace jobs, but people who use AI will replace people who don’t. So the people who can work with it are probably going to have a competitive advantage.”

4. Need to optimise hybrid working models 

As hybrid working models continue to become the new norm, a large majority of business leaders (59 per cent) are struggling with employee productivity in remote and hybrid environments. 

In response to this, organisations are maintaining adaptability in their operational approaches. This is reflected in the 56 per cent of organisations aiming to bring staff back into the office more intentionally in 2024. Or, as Owens puts it, the ‘deliberate’ return to work.

“’Deliberate’ is a really great word to focus on because employers have to think about why they want workers in the office. It has to be deliberate. So we have to make it a learning day. We have to make it a collaboration day. We have to make it a face-to-face day.”

It’s also important to note that not all organisations find remote work challenging, with 44 per cent of business leaders saying they’re not looking to change the status quo as they are happy with current flexible work practices.

“Ultimately I think in this market, you have to be really agile and open-minded as to how you’re going to solve your problems.” – David Owens, Managing Director of HR Partners by Randstad

Owens stresses that hybrid working is not a fleeting trend – it is a permanent fixture. Therefore, the  focus should be on effectively navigating and overseeing its implementation rather than trying to push against it.

5. Wage inflation putting pressure on organisational sustainability

With 58 per cent of respondents expecting the cost of talent to increase, HR and business leaders will have their eyes set on managing operational costs into the new year. 

Finding the balance between talent costs and talent needs will be vital for organisational sustainability. 

In the face of this balancing act, what strategies businesses can take on to manage operational costs effectively while ensuring organisational sustainability?

Well, that is the million-dollar question, according to Owens. 

“I think we’re reaching a point where most people realise you can’t just keep paying higher wages, because that’s a zero-sum game.

“From a recruiter’s point of view, we continue to see demand for labour. There were some notable reflections on 2021 and 2022 in relation to people being prepared to pay over the odds to secure a talent, and I think that’s begun to tail off in 2023.” 

Instead, what could set your organisation apart in 2024, according to Randstad, could be strategic implementation of technology, building employees’ digital and AI skill set and thinking outside of the box when it comes to how and where you secure the skills that your business needs,

What trends are you expecting to see in 2024? Let us know in the comment section and HRM will consider this for a future article.

The post Five work trends to look out for in 2024 appeared first on HRM online.

Most organisations are calling for employees to return to the physical workspace for at least three days per week, new research from the Australian HR Institute into flexible and hybrid work has found.

This year, mandated office days have increased by 11 percentage points (48 per cent) compared to 2022. However, employers remain open to continuing to have a remote option, with AHRI’s data, based on surveys with 450+ employers, finding that 24 per cent believe remote/home-based working will increase over the next two years.

“This suggests that hybrid work is still an evolving practice,” says AHRI’s CEO, Sarah McCann-Bartlett. “And that’s to be expected. It is, after all, still a relatively new practice for a lot of organisations, so we are seeing an iteration process as organisations understand what works best for them and their employees.”

This aligns with the views of one of the world’s leading hybrid work experts, Stanford Economist Professor Nicholas Bloom, who suggests that we will see a “working-from-home Nike swoosh” – that is, while employers may be mandating a return now, work-from-anywhere trends will likely continue to grow in the near future, in large part due to advancements in technology.

“This year has shown us just how quickly technology can advance,” says McCann-Bartlett. “This time last year, you wouldn’t have thought the average manager would be talking about generative AI, but now it’s one of the most-discussed topics in business circles. 

“We don’t know what the future holds for workplace technology, but I agree with Bloom’s predictions that it will only further enable remote work capabilities, and it may remedy some of the current hybrid work challenges such as feelings of disconnection, which our research showed was an issue for 75 per cent of respondents.”

AHRI also found employers were open to different styles of flexibility, such as compressed work weeks/four-day weeks (45 per cent), part-time hours (85 per cent), flexi-hours (53 per cent) and career breaks (44 per cent).

“It’s important that we broaden our view of flexible work beyond remote work, as our research shows that 36 per cent of organisations can’t offer this to their people. 

“Flexibility will look different for each sector, organisation, team and individual. What’s important is that employers stay true to the nature of the word ‘flexible’ and offer relevant accommodations where possible and appropriate.”

Thoughts from both sides of the fence

It’s likely that conversations about remote and hybrid work models will continue well into 2024. Some leaders of large organisations, such as some of Australia’s leading banks, continue to express their hesitancy to embrace a fully remote future of work.

NAB’s CEO, Ross McEwan, spoke with ABC‘s The Business last week and shared that, while certain employees are allowed to work remotely for three days per week, he requires the most senior team members to work in the office five days per week.

“We are the leaders of the company. We need to be training and developing new colleagues in the organisation. Therefore, our job is to be with them. However, we do have levels of flexibility,” he said.

McEwan also shared his views on hybrid work’s potential impacts on career progression.

“I’ve been famously known for [talking to] graduates and saying, ‘There’s no way you’re building a career in this organisation by working from home. You’re not going to hear what’s going on from your leader. You’re not going to be involved in the conversations where you learn the most.’ I think people, for their careers, need to pick where the best opportunity [is going to be] for them.”

However, employers can’t ignore the clear benefits to both themselves and their people that hybrid arrangements can bring. In AHRI’s research, retention, attraction and work-life balance were all cited as benefits of hybrid arrangements. In fact, many of the case studies in AHRI’s research reinforce how hybrid working has also enabled an expanded geographical base to attract applicants.

“The debate about hybrid working, especially in relation to productivity, is too often divorced from the quality of line management and the adoption of good people management practices.” – Sarah McCann-Bartlett, CEO, AHRI

Productivity boosts were also evident, according to four in ten employers, with only 10 per cent suggesting remote work has harmed productivity levels.

Separate research suggests 78 per cent of people wouldn’t even consider working for an employer that didn’t have a formalised flexible work policy.

“A flexible working arrangement is becoming a non-negotiable for many jobseekers, and that is unlikely to go away anytime soon,” says McCann-Bartlett. “However, it’s also important to note that different industries and organisations have varied experiences.

“For example, our research also showed that some respondents were experiencing a reduction in employees collaborating with each other, and measuring performance was also proving challenging. 

“Whether the solution to these challenges is to get people back into the physical work space remains to be seen, but it does demonstrate that flexible work isn’t one-size-fits-all.”

Communicating the changes

McCann-Bartlett says one of the key insights from AHRI’s research was that almost one third of organisations surveyed hadn’t consulted their employees about the company’s hybrid working arrangements.

“It’s important that employees are given a reasonable amount of notice before you make significant changes to your work practices,” she says.

“Communicating change with employees always makes it easier to gain buy-in,” she says. “That’s not to say you put all the decision-making in employees’ hands, but explaining the ‘why’ behind your decisions can be helpful.”

AHRI also found only 34 per cent of respondents were providing their leaders with training to effectively manage people in a hybrid environment. 

Specific training might look like:

• Learning how to conduct effective one-to-ones virtually (e.g. not rushing them or consistently cancelling them) 
• Regularly benchmarking hybrid working patterns to monitor for successes and issues
• Ensuring any team-based activity in the office is structured and coordinated 
• Learning how to facilitate psychological safety in a virtual setting
• Focusing on outputs rather than time spent on a task as a success metric
• Developing trust and avoiding micromanagement
• Offering coaching and mentoring so remote employees don’t miss out on development opportunities

“The debate about hybrid working, especially in relation to productivity, is too often divorced from the quality of line management and the adoption of good people management practices,” says McCann-Bartlett.

“Manager training isn’t just essential for hybrid work management skills. We need to be uplifting the capabilities of leaders and managers on all manner of topics in order to boost Australia’s productivity rates, which are currently below our OECD counterparts.

“A thriving and productive workforce is dependent on effective and well-trained people leaders. Whether you’re focused on implementing a hybrid work arrangement or incorporating new technology into your workflow, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the quality of your people.”

Learn how to facilitate a productive, effective and connected hybrid workforce with this short course from AHRI.

The post 3 days on-site is the new hybrid work norm, research finds appeared first on HRM online.