HR Leader June 2011 by LexisNexis Media

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Leading people and organisations

CISCO: Building a talent pipeline

SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS

Part of next yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business plan?

facing the future Print post approved 255003/05251

Time for HR to grasp the new wave of technology

Enter Now! See Page 28

Paid Parental Leave: What employers need to know

On 1 January 2011, Australia’s ﬁrst national Paid Parental Leave scheme was introduced. It’s a new entitlement for working parents, funded by the Australian Government. Taking time away from work for a new baby is a common part of working life. Paid Parental Leave will help employers retain skilled staff and help parents spend time with their new baby. What is Paid Parental Leave? Eligible working parents of children born or adopted on or after 1 January 2011 may get 18 weeks Governmentfunded pay at the National Minimum Wage, currently $570 a week before tax, to help them care for a new child. What do I need to do? From 1 July 2011, you must provide Parental Leave pay to your long-term employees. These are employees who have been with your business for at least 12 months before the expected date of the birth or adoption of their child. The Family Assistance Ofﬁce will contact you to initiate this process.

Your role in the scheme can start earlier if you and your employee agree. You can contact the Family Assistance Office for more information. How do I pay my employee? The Family Assistance Office will advance you funds to pay your employee. You can receive these funds in three instalments or fortnightly. You don’t have to change your employee’s usual pay cycle, set up any special bank accounts or report back to the Family Assistance Office. You just have to pay the Parental Leave pay to your employee with the usual tax deducted. You will not need to make superannuation contributions on Parental Leave pay. It will not increase your payroll tax liability or workers compensation premiums. What about existing entitlements? The Government’s Paid Parental Leave

scheme will help employers enhance the family friendly workplace conditions many already offer. Paid Parental Leave pay is provided in addition to existing employer-funded paid parental leave schemes. The existing minimum entitlement to 12 months unpaid parental leave for long-term employees is unchanged. Eligible parents can receive Parental Leave pay at the same time, before or after other employer-provided paid leave or entitlements. What should employees do? Employees can apply up to three months before the expected birth or adoption. If your staff need help, you can direct them to the website or phone numbers below. Employees are encouraged to apply early.

To learn more about Paid Parental Leave visit the website or call the appropriate number below.

Employers 13 11 58 Parents 13 61 50

Authorised by the Australian Government, Capital Hill, Canberra Printed by Geon (DY Plant), 156 Southcreek Road, Dee Why NSW 2099

PPLM3/HRL

www.australia.gov.au/paidparentalleave

this issue

CISCO: BUILDING A TALENT PIPELINE

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Australians are among the most disengaged employees in the world. Benjamin Nice explains why corporate wellbeing strategies keep people happy, healthy and productive at work.

PSYCHOMETRICS’ BUSINESS BENEFITS Many companies utilise psychometric assessment tools for a wide range of HR processes. HR Leader looks at how global IT behemoth Infosys and Queenslandbased ENERGEX make the most of psychometrics for the benefit of their respective businesses.

EXPLORE

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COVER Story

regulars

FACING UP TO THE FUTURE OF WORK Benjamin Nice previews the systems, apps and gadgets of the future. He speaks to HR leaders and tech-savvy experts to find out how HR can take a proactive approach and keep up with the ever-changing technological landscape.

4 Editorial note

6 In review

8 Board talk 9 Employment law 10 Global HR: social network analysis 26 Book review 27 My brilliant career 28 HR awards

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30 Inhuman resources

June 2011

HR LEADER

info@ribbongang.com.au www.ribbongang.com.au

Sydney 02 9552 2884 Melbourne 03 9014 7962 Perth 08 6102 6451 Brisbane 07 3106 0820

editorial The techno issue Allen Wiseman

Former General Manager HR Kimberly-Clark, South Asia

Professor Emeritus University of New South Wales

But can ANZ be blamed? Keeping up-to-date with the everchanging nature of technology can be tricky – even from a personal perspective. And for people leading organisations into a new and exciting technological era, staying abreast of what’s new and what’s relevant can be daunting – even at the best of times.

Tracey McDonald

In this month’s cover story (p15) we look at how technology is influencing the world of HR and what we can expect to see in the coming months and years … and (hopefully) how Outlook and Excel’s days are numbered.

Roger Collins

Director Human Resources Middletons

Editor Sarah O’Carroll Journalist Benjamin Nice

Joydeep Hor

Managing Principal People & Culture Strategies

Designers Anthony Vandenberg Charlie Wheeler Production Editor Vanessa Fazzino Senior production co-ordinator Mei Chew Production manager Kirsten Wissel

Teresa Grove

Director of Workplace Relations and HR Compliance, GE Capital

Senior account manager Paul Desmond Subscriptions www.hrleader.net.au Advertising Paul Desmond: (02) 9422 2886 paul.desmond@lexisnexis.com.au Editorial Sarah O’Carroll: (02) 9422 2207 sarah.o’carroll@lexisnexis.com.au

HR Leader is published by LexisNexis, a division of Reed International Books Australia P/L, ABN 70 001 002 357 Level 1 Tower 2, 475 Victoria Ave, Chatswood NSW 2067 tel (02) 9422 2229 fax (02) 9422 2946 www.hrleader.net.au Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher. Contributions are invited, but copies of all work should be kept as HR Leader can accept no responsibility for loss. HR Leader and LexisNexis are divisions of Reed International Books Australia Pty Limited, ACN 001 002 357 Level 1 Tower 2, 475 Victoria Ave, Chatswood, NSW 2067 tel (02) 9422 2203 fax (02) 9422 2946 ISSN 1833-5209 Important Privacy Notice You have both a right of access to the personal information we hold about you and to ask us to correct if it is inaccurate or out of date. Please direct any queries to: The Privacy Officer, LexisNexis Australia or email to privacy@lexisnexis.com.au. © 2010 Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 70 001 002 357) trading as LexisNexis. LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., and used under license.

ANZ bank was left red-faced last week after an internal review slammed the bank’s outdated IT systems. Highlighting a lack of investment by the bank in up-to-date technology, the report pinpointed the human resources department as one of the technological pain points.

Sally Kincaid

Former Executive Director People & Performance ING

Recent figures from Gartner Group confirmed just how important employee mobility is becoming; with 428 million mobile devices sold worldwide in the first quarter of 2011 – a dramatic increase of 19 per cent from last year. Social media also looks to be playing an increasingly pivotal role in the way that companies employ, communicate and engage with their staff; while the impact of SaaS and The Cloud are fast becoming standard solutions for many businesses. One company synonymous with technological innovation is Cisco. In our company profile (p12) I catch up with both the Vice President and the HR Manager for Cisco ANZ, and not only find out how Cisco technology is being used to drive people management strategies, but also about everything from board diversity to working with indigenous schools. With technology firmly on this months agenda – what better time to give HR Leader a bold, contemporary and reinvigorated feel. You’ll notice a few changes, and this month more than ever – we’d love to hear your thoughts on our new look.

Josephine Simeone

Pacific HR Director LexisNexis

RICH ATKINSON

Head of Human Resources, Customer Service BT Financial Group

Benjamin Nice

Journalist HR Leader 2010/11 Editorial Board

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Talent management Hilti tops Best Employer list Construction product provider Hilti has been named Best Employer at this year’s Aon Hewitt awards. Among the 11 organisations who received the Best Employer accreditation including Aegis and Millward Brown Australia; it was Hilti who came out on top, voted Best of the Best in 2011. Focusing on areas such as employee engagement and people-leading practices, the study canvassed the opinions of over 124,000 employees across Australia. One of the main findings to come out of the study was that as well as employees expecting more from their employers there was a decline in employee engagement this year.

Law firms face considerable risk to their financial viability if baby boomer partners continue to put off retirement, according to a performance management expert. Speaking at a recent LexisNexis conference on practice management, Joel Barolsky, principal of Beaton Research & Consulting, said that older partners are increasingly reluctant to give up the partnership and move into retirement, thus creating a “constipated pyramid” of equity. According to Barolsky, too many firms are allowing these partners – who hold significant equity in the firm – to remain at work for too long. The result, he explained, is a dearth of young talent rising through the ranks, meaning that when the partners do eventually move on, firm profits are significantly diluted. Barolsky added that many firms are spending too much time and money managing the small percentage of partners who are either underperforming and need to be managed, or those who are performing so well that they need to be persuaded to stay at the firm and have their “egos stroked”. He said firms would be more profitable if they gave more attention to the bulk of partners who perform solidly, but who could be encouraged to perform even better.

HR teams must improve succession planning HR teams have a long way to go to improve their own succession planning, according to the UK’s CIPD’s latest survey of senior HR professionals. Just under half of respondents admitted that they do not have a good succession plan in place, while only 29 per cent were confident that they did. A lack of capability within the HR function, uncertainty over future requirements and an unwillingness to see the issue as a priority were the three most common reasons for not having a succession plan.

Leadership failing 70 per cent of executives describe the overall approach to leadership in their companies to be less than good. According to the Leadership and HR Practices 2011 Survey by Borderless Executive Search, 75 per cent of respondents say their organisations are ineffective in identifying potential leaders, citing lack of resources as a leading culprit for the poor quality of leadership development.

Employers neglect training Only 26 per cent of finance and accounting professionals receive training as part of their benefits package despite the majority of these professionals seeing it as vital or very important to their role, according to

research by specialist accounting and finance recruitment firm Marks Sattin.

Money can’t buy happiness Job satisfaction and work culture rate more highly for lawyers than the pay packet, the latest research has shown. Lawyers are most happy when given good quality work and surrounded by a good work culture, according a survey of 150 private practice and in-house lawyers across the country by legal recruiter Robert Walters.

Indigenous job seekers committed Indigenous Australians have cited job security, education and career progression as top priorities, a new study by the Aboriginal Employment Strategy (AES) has revealed. While 99 per cent of respondents said they considered job security to be a crucial factor when looking for work, 96 per cent said the prospect of a career was important to their future.

Gadens and westpac link-up for diversity Westpac and law firm Gadens have developed a mentoring program to help women reach senior positions. A mentor from each organisation will be available to provide advice and knowledge to a mentee from the other organisation, over a 12-month period, in a bid to increase the number of women in senior positions in both organisations. “In the Australian workforce, women remain underrepresented in senior leadership positions,” said Gadens banking partner Harry Cormack. “We see this as a real business opportunity to support and develop the talent already within our organisations.”

HR in the courts

MosT TwEETED The Top 10 HRLeaderMag re-tweets 1. Finding competent staff is top challenge 2. Budget 2011: What it means for HR 3. ‘Daddy, what’s a job?’ The future of employment 4. Men want money, women want flexibility 5. Budget 2011: Skilled migrants for regional Australia 6. Is You Tube the future of training? 7. VET overhaul needed to tackle skills gap 8. Gaming is future of talent management 9. Employee references should stick to the facts 10. Workplace bullying rife in Victoria Follow HR Leader at twitter.com/HRLeaderMag

Fair Work Australia has approved an application by the Australian & International Pilots Association (AIPA) which will seek authorisation for long-haul Qantas pilots to take industrial action. AIPA president Barry Jackson said that the dispute was about more than pay and conditions. “Qantas pilots have not taken industrial action since 1966. We are slow to anger. The reason AIPA is now taking an historic ballot of members is because the entire future of Qantas as an Australian icon is at stake,” he said.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has slammed business groups for pushing “hysterical, fever-pitch” claims of a wages breakout, instead calling for an increase for minimum wage earners.

$3 an hour – think again A WA construction company has been hit with a record fine after paying its Chinese contract workers less than three dollars per hour. Perth-based Kentwood Industries Pty Ltd was fined $123,000 and ordered to back-pay workers almost a quarter of a million dollars - a record penalty for the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) in Western Australia. FWO executive director Michael Campbell said that he took a particularly dim view of companies which sought to exploit vulnerable workers and advised any employers doing so to look at the series of hefty penalties the Fair Work Ombudsman has secured for such conduct - and think again.

Milestone decision for female workers In a landmark case, Fair Work Australia (FWA) has upheld a pay equity claim by hundreds of thousands of social and community workers seeking wage justice. The unions, representing some 200,000 social and community sector (SACS) workers, sought to prove that compared with similar local and state government staff, the predominantly female SACS workers were not equally paid. The FWA concluded that gender inequality had contributed to the inconsistency of wages in the sector, with ACTU president Ged Kearney stating that the decision was a win for the undervalued workers, who did important work for the wider community.

Claiming that lower wage earners were unable to keep up with spiraling living costs, ACTU secretary Jeff Lawrence said that figures released this month confirmed the union’s claim for a $28-a-week increase to the national minimum wage was fair and modest. “There is no wages breakout in Australia and, if anything, working families are struggling to meet their living costs,” said Lawrence.

Call to bridge gender pay gap Employers have been told they must step up and do more to combat the massive 17 per cent pay gap between men and women in Australia. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) has challenged employers to drive action and close the pay gap as part of this year’s Equal Pay Day. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released recently suggest that women work an extra 63 days per year to match their male counterparts. Equal Pay Day will be held on 1 September.

staff demand pay increases Pressure is mounting on businesses looking to attract and retain talent, with one-third of Australian companies receiving pay rise demands from staff. While 47 per cent of companies said they had already increased wages during the past 12 months, 31 per cent of those surveyed in the Sage SME Business Sentiment Index 2011 said they had started receiving enquiries and demands from staff concerning the thorny issue of pay.

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The number one challenge facing Australian businesses continues to be the search for competent staff, an industry survey has found. The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Private Business Barometer found that for the second consecutive barometer, sourcing talent was the top issue facing employers, in light of predicted growth throughout the country. However, PwC private clients partner Gregory Will noted that businesses seemed to be surprisingly lagging in their attempts to attract new talent. “Despite indicators that competition for staff will grow, there was a decline in the number of businesses seeking to be more attractive employers of choice,” he said.

wage explosion claims false

June 2011

HR LEADER

Finding competent staFF is top cHallenge

Qantas strike ballot approved

review

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OHS round-up board talk

RiDing with thE DRAgon

Employer guilty over drunken workers

Rick Lee, chairman, australian institute of company Directors

The Magistrates Court of South Australia recently found an employer guilty after an employee arrived at work so drunk that he was injured while attempting to carry out his work.

China’s record economic growth has captured the imagination of the business world in recent years. And it’s no wonder. It has been the fastest-growing major economy in the world over the past quarter-century, with annual growth averaging 10 per cent. Today, more than 22 per cent of Australia’s total global trade is with China – higher than any nation in the world other than Taiwan and Korea. These are impressive numbers, proving that China is a true giant in an economic, financial and strategic sense. Certainly, the Australian business community in China is thriving. As Prime Minister Julia Gillard recently noted, collaboration between our two countries is now extending across science, finance, education, commerce and culture, between institutions in all sectors, and has also grown to include every issue of mutual interest to China and Australia. To further strengthen the vital and growing business relationship between our two countries, the Australian Institute of Company Directors hosted its national annual conference in the bustling city of Beijing this month. The theme for the conference was “Riding with the Dragon”, reflecting the value that company directors place on the relationship between Australia and China. More than 400 chairmen, directors and business leaders gathered in Beijing for the conference to hear from a range of influential thinkers from the Asian region and Australia, the top of the director and business communities, academia and the professions about the latest trends in corporate governance, as well as topical issues such as global emissions reduction schemes, the role of technology in transforming business, succession planning for directors, working in the online environment and the challenges of multijurisdictional directorship. To ensure Australian companies and directors are well placed to leverage the many opportunities that China offers, directors must continue to stay informed of these latest issues. By being aware of the challenges and managing potential risks, Australian directors will be in a better position to take advantage of the opportunities emerging as a result of the profound changes taking place in China and across the Asia-Pacific region.

Although the employee’s actions and behaviour were contrary to the employer’s policies, the employer acknowledged that it failed to enforce compliance with those policies.

olympic champion matthew mitcham

iBm most gay-fRienDLy woRkPLace IBM was named Australia’s most gay-friendly employer at the inaugural awards recognising workplace support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Facilitated by the Hon Michael Kirby and attended by Olympic champion Matthew Mitcham, the award ceremony listed 11 inclusive organisations including; the Australian Federal Police, KPMG, Goldman Sachs, Telstra, Accenture and Macquarie University. Organised by Pride in Diversity, the awards were determined by the Australian Workplace Equality Index that evaluates and benchmarks LGBT inclusiveness in Australian workplaces. Speaking at the luncheon, Olympic Champion Matthew Mitcham spoke about the importance of feeling included in your workplace despite your sexuality – and how feeling included can seriously impact performance. (for the full story see www.hrleader.net.au)

In this case, the employer was let down by the actions of another employee, the second-in-charge of operations, who was drinking with the worker on the evening before the incident.

health and safety motivators revealed A desire to do the job more easily or efficiently would motivate most employees to improve health and safety at work, according to recent Safe Work Australia research. The survey found that 87 per cent of employees would be motivated by wanting to do the job more easily or efficiently. Other motivators for improving health and safety at work included management or supervisors requiring the action to be taken (78 per cent), followed by receiving positive feedback, recognition or reward from management/supervisors (74 per cent).

safety linked with shareholder value Investors are increasingly looking at OHS performance as an indicator of management quality, according to a leading Australian fund manager. “Quality of management is something that investors look at, which we think is reflected in shareholder value,” said Ian Woods, a senior research analyst at AMP Capital Investors.

Audit finds workplace bullying problems Comcare recently conducted a compliance audit of select organisations, which found a widespread lack of knowledge that bullying incidents were reportable safety incidents, as well as what constituted bullying and what workers can do when confronted by bullying. Workplace bullying is a major concern across the federal jurisdiction, according to Comcare, which said that it creates a risk to health and safety and should be managed the same as any other workplace hazard.

employment law

special counsel, Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors

Employer fails test of reasonableness in sexual harassment case In a recent decision of the Federal Magistrates Court, employers have once again been reminded of the need for regular workplace training on the prevention prevention of of sexual sexual harassment harassment and and for for the vigilance in enforcing company policy regarding vigilance in enforcing company policy regarding this issue. this issue. An accountancy firm was held vicariously liable An accountancy firm was held vicariously liable for the acts of its national finance manager for theheacts of its that national finance manager when revealed he recruited female staff when he revealed that he recruited staff on the basis of their breast size. Thisfemale comment on the basis of their breast size. This comment was held to constitute sexual harassment. was held to constitute sexual harassment. An employer will be responsible for the acts An employer will be responsible for the unless acts of sexual harassment by its employees, it can prove that it hasbytaken “all reasonable of sexual harassment its employees, unless

it can prove that itthat hasconduct taken “all reasonable steps” to prevent from occurring. What are “all reasonable steps”? The courts steps” to prevent that conduct from occurring. have long espoused not only the need workWhat are “all reasonable steps”? Thefor courts place policies regarding sexual harassment, have long espoused not only the need for workbut also regular trainingsexual and monitoring for place policies regarding harassment, compliance with those policies. but also regular training and monitoring for In this case,with the absence of training and compliance those policies. reinforcement of its policy meant that the In this case, training and employer didthe notabsence take allof reasonable steps reinforcement of its policy meant to prevent the unlawful conduct. that the employer did not take all reasonable steps to prevent the unlawful conduct.

Remember REmEmbER that thAt complacency compLAcEncy in monitoring monitoRing your youR workplace woRkpLAcE for foR unlawful unLAwfuL practices pRActicEs may mAy sound sounD the thE death DEAth knell knELL for foR an An effective EffEctivE defence DEfEncE to a A claim cLAim for foR sexual sExuAL harassment. hARAssmEnt.

HR TIPS: tiPs:

employers should:

Implement implement a written policy prohibiting sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying in the workplace, including a definition and description of unlawful behaviours Implement implement a written policy specifying procedures to be adopted for complaints regarding sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying Conduct conduct regular training on company policy Monitor monitor the workplace to ensure compliance

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Terri terri Bruno

June 2011

HR LEADER

Breasts BReasts not the tHe best Best recruitment RecRuitment strategy stRategy

global HR

Social network analysis Identifying employees who are well-connected within an organisation can often lead to identifying the key players in the business,writes David Creelman

David Creelman

CEO of Creelman Research

The process is called social network analysis and Dr Nancy Tennant, VP of innovation at Whirlpool the map is called a sociogram. Simply look at studied social networks within the company and the sociogram â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the nodal jobs with the most found little overlap between those people who connections will stand out. were highly connected (nodal jobs) and those There is software to generate these identified as high potential. sociograms once you have the data, but getting At first sight this is a little disconcerting. the data can be a little bit tricky. One approach It may be inconsequential; perhaps Bob the is to survey employees about whom they connect mailroom boy shows up as well-connected simply to most. Another is to track who is emailing because he interacts with so many people. Yet whom; this requires the least it could also indicate that labour but raises privacy management has failed to concerns. For example, if Mary identify some key people Which people are most in accounting is frequently who are making things connected within your organisation? Who are emailing Joe in logistics it happen in the company. the knowledge brokers may not be because of a Susan Meisinger, an HR that others go to for critical operational need; it author and consultant, help? Which people are may merely indicate an office argues that understanding at the centre of the romance. A compromise the networks between action? Is it likely to be might be to generate the lists employees is important. your high potentials? automatically from email, but Thanks to social technology Apparentl y not. allow each individual to scrub and the culture that comes the data before it is entered along with that, people are into the reports. more networked than ever. While the process of gathering the data may Because there is less reliance on the hierarchy be a cumbersome process, it is not the sort of to get work done, employees are more inclined analysis one needs to do every year. The idea is to to connect directly to the people who have the get a fresh perspective on the organisation and knowledge or resources they need. Management doing so once every three to five years should be is often unaware of how the organisation is enough. actually operating â&#x20AC;&#x201C; hence the value in mapping out those informal connections.

What do you do with this information? Analysing your networks To identify nodal jobs you need to find out who is connecting to whom and then map that out.

There is something to be said for just creating the sociogram and seeing if anything interesting pops out. Still when dealing with data we get better

global HR

outcomes if we ask in advance “What decisions are we trying to make?” and “What questions are we trying to answer?” Not every nodal job is significant and paucity of connections may not be a problem; it's a matter of judgement, but you can't even begin to make those judgments until you have the information.

When it comes to social network analysis the questions we are trying to answer include: Are there key people in the organisation we have overlooked? If the sociogram identifies previously hidden talent then we need to consider what we are doing to retain them and whether we are making best use of their skills.

Fresh eyes

Are there key jobs in the organisation whose importance we have overlooked? In this case we have to ask if we have sufficiently high-powered talent in the job and if we have backup to fill it if the incumbent leaves. Are there connections that should be there that are missing? In which case we need to address the missing links.

David Creelman is CEO of Creelman Research, providing writing, research and speaking on human-capital management. He can be reached at: dcreelman@creelmanresearch.com

www.hrleader.net.au

Why not put a pilot of social networking analysis in next year’s business plan?

June 2011

HR LEADER

The more we know about how work really gets done in the organisation the better positioned we are to make wise decisions about job design, talent and processes. The ability to map who contacts whom with social network analysis provides fresh insights. It can be hard to find time and budget for these kinds of discretionary activities and I am not suggesting this sort of mapping necessarily become a routine activity. Yet we always need fresh ways of seeing and new triggers for discussion. HR should push to do these sort of exploratory activities. Why not put a pilot of social networking analysis in next year’s business plan?

company profile

Les Williamson

Vice-president Cisco Australia & New Zealand

CISCO: building a

While some companies struggle to get even the basic elements of their HR strategies right, walk into Cisco’s Sydney-based office and you’ll see why the IT giants are leading the field. Benjamin Nice speaks to vice-president Les Williamson and HR manager Danielle Wease about their key people strategies From plush cyber-conference SUITES with 19-FOOT LONG, highdefinition screens down to the breathtaking SYDNEY harbour views, the Cisco ethos is not only forward-thinking – it’s spectacular.

Rolling with the punches As one of the world’s largest technology corporations, Cisco Systems has influenced IT and the internet as the world knows it today, employing more than 70,000 people worldwide and last year reporting annual revenues of $US40 billion ($37 million). However, earlier this year, Cisco announced that it would be discontinuing the production of its Flip consumer video-camera business, alongside plans to take a billion-dollar chunk and almost five thousand employees out of the global business. Not the easiest of moves. But Les Williamson, vice-president of Cisco Australia and New Zealand, says the company will approach the cuts with the same attitude with which it approaches

its business and people – honesty and transparency. “We’ve already gone out with an enhanced redundancy program, particularly in the US and Canada, to see the propensity for people to want to proactively participate,” he says. Confirming that the redundancy process is already underway, Williamson says that company leaders had already released three video messages outlining what would be happening and what processes would be taking place. “I think that this differentiates us from other companies who bunker down or do it in secrecy at a senior leadership level and then come out in a massive gush and say, ‘This is what’s going to happen’. In comparison, I think that we take a very iterative and quick approach,” he says.

Addressing the shortage In addition to managing a large-scale change to the business, Williamson and his team also have another challenge to face – the highly publicised skills shortage rumoured to be brewing in

the Australian ICT sector. According to Cisco and its community partners, the sector is currently experiencing a clear skills gap of up to 20,000 people across Australia and New Zealand, with some predicting a shortfall of half a million workers in the next five to 10 years. Williamson says that while there is a massive requirement for IT skills, the development of overseas talent may help to meet the demand. “The positive is that we’ve got India and China urbanising at a great rate of knots and if we get in at the right levels of education, we should be able to at least meet some of that demand. Clearly, in Australia and New Zealand, we’re not meeting that demand at the moment,” he says. Danielle Wease, the HR manager for Cisco Australia and New Zealand, echoes her VP’s concerns but says the company has never had problems attracting the right volume of talent, and that it is more about attracting the right type of people rather than just “filling a chair”.

company profile

Aligning the business

“When I think about our hiring and the people that we’re attracting, Cisco is certainly still a brand that people in ICT know and respect and want to work for,” says Wease. “The challenge has not been finding good people – but finding the right people to move us forward as a business,” she says, emphasising the importance of having not only IT skills, but also broadbased business experience. With this in mind, Williamson and Wease work closely together to ensure they develop internal talent, introducing several platforms to help encourage, develop and diversify their people. It’s a relationship, Wease says, that can only be built on trust. “In terms of our partnership, and the way we work … we collaborate all the time and make sure that we’re aligned in terms of the business and moving it forward. Just by having a very open relationship and trusting each other’s opinions is what’s made us able to work together really closely,” she says.

From recognition schemes to mentoring or developing internal talent, Williamson says he is proud of the way Cisco manages its people, and points out the need for HR to be closely aligned to the business. “We don’t differentiate or isolate our workforce strategies from the strategies of the company and the team,” he says. “HR … need not appear as an adjunct to the business, but the business itself. That’s not just for an HR function; that’s for finance, legal, sales and every part of the business. That’s a Cisco cultural and leadership trait that you have to work at – the worst thing you can do is have those things as adjuncts to your business.” But greater responsibility, explains Williamson, means greater accountability, and this can have pros and cons for HR leaders. “I hold Danielle just as accountable as somebody that runs a $300 million go-to-market,” he says. “If you’re going to play the game, well, you’re in the game. It’s all well and good to say, ‘I want to be at the table’. Well, step up and take the responsibility and accountability for it, too.” There’s good reasoning behind Williamson’s hard-line approach and meticulous focus on HR. Linking workforce strategies to the metrics of the business – to both the bottom-line and top-line results - the Cisco VP says that while he didn’t artificially attach revenue to the function, his leadership

group had pinpointed talent retention and recruitment as the key to attaining a strategic advantage in the future. Williamson credits the HR strategies for part of the company’s success, pointing out that the ANZ branch of the business reported a compound annual growth rate of between 13 and 16 per cent in the past two years – though he admits that there is still room for improvement. “Clearly, if I’m not reaching my numbers, we’ll then look at our workforce strategy to see where it’s not working,” he explains. “Our gaps are in things like reward and recognition for effort… Whilst we get some positives, there’s still some development areas that we have to work on.”

Building the talent Working across the entire Cisco ANZ business, four key workforce strategies play a central role in helping to maintain, develop and reward the Cisco people and drive the business forward. As well as leadership excellence, people development and building a culture of recognition, a high-performance program (or talent pipeline) helps to identify and mentor internal talent. “The talent pipeline is around building strong future leaders and making sure that we’ve got the right people to go when we are ready to pull the levers,” explains Wease.

Danielle Wease

HR manager Cisco Australia & New Zealand

www.hrleader.net.au

It’s one thing to just run a program, but it’s another thing to make sure that it drives results and gets the people that you need out of it.

June 2011

HR LEADER

company profile

Although Cisco is now reaping the rewards of the scheme, Wease says that it was not without its teething problems. “It’s one thing to just run a program, but it’s another thing to make sure that it drives results and gets the people that you need out of it.” A strong focus on gender diversity, which seeks to encourage, develop, engage and attract top female talent, is another part of the company’s corporate workforce strategy. In a sector where women are scarce at the best of times, Williamson and his team certainly have their work cut out, but they appear to be proactively fighting for the cause. Kerri Weir, manager of business operations for technical support at Cisco ANZ, has been paired up with Williamson as part of an ongoing mentoring program that helps to educate and expose upand-coming female talent to the most high-level aspects of the business. “I was surprised and fortunate that I was paired with Les,” says Weir. “There’s lots of mentoring already in the company, which is a day-to-day event, but this is a very particular and well-structured program where you have to apply and state what you’re going to get out of it and what your aims and aspirations are.” Apart from the individual development, Williamson says that Cisco has always prided itself on representing the market in terms of diversity and equality. “The fact that we’ve got people like Kerry that are in levels of leadership and management, whether it’s very senior or senior, the more we can do to expose them more broadly to the business,” says Williamson. However, with female talent making up only 20 per cent of all senior-level positions, and the next layer down even more male-dominated, Williamson concedes that there is still a long way to go. “The positive is, if we go back to the high-performance program from two years ago, 65 per cent of those high potentials that we identified were female,” he says.

With the majority of these employees now moving into the ranks of middle or senior management as a result of the talent pipeline, Williamson says he is expecting to see a radical shift in the percentages in the next year. “We’re not doing a quota run; we’re just trying to reflect what our market, what our customers, and what our partners want to see … and we’ve still got to funnel opportunities to make sure our intakes continue to reflect that diversity. That’s the big challenge,” he says.

Setting Cisco apart With forward-thinking HR initiatives and a commendable attitude towards social responsibility and equality, Cisco is striving to be recognised as one of the top companies in the world to work for and do business with. However, one thing in particular is different at Cisco – the idea of a level playing field; of everyone having a voice and an influence on the business. While it is helpful to look at what other companies are doing from a benchmark perspective, Wease says, what makes Cisco stand out is the respect that employees have for the company and, likewise, the respect Cisco has for its people.

“One thing that I do think Cisco does well comes back to this…” says Wease. “Everyone has a voice and it’s not just about being able to talk, it’s about being heard. We do listen to what people are saying, and we do really take it on board at a senior level. Employees really respect that.”

Cisco's learning program in action at Djarragun College

A social conscience

ince 2001, employees from the Australian and New Zealand arm of the business have logged more than one million volunteer hours, and it seems fair to say that social responsibility is high on the agenda at Cisco. Williamson says he is proud of the company’s achievements in this area; in particular, a program at Djarragun College, north Queensland that is helping to close the gap in indigenous education. “In early manifestations of the relationship, we were donating IT gear and we got them connected to the internet so they have equal access to information,” he explains. Although the program helps more than 650 children in the region, Williamson saw an opportunity to play a much larger role in the community, allocating dedicated staff, funding and technology to the project. “It’s just about broadening their understandings of what’s happening out in the world, because a lot of these kids haven’t been out of Cairns, never mind anywhere else,” he says. “We saw that in the predominant nature of the community it was the female students who were going back to the homes and being the leaders of the family structure due, to the breakdown of the male structure in those communities. “So we started to bring some of the mentoring programs that we use for our females in IT, and started to broaden that to those students and offer that as a service. We offered mentoring for basic life skills and basic connection skills into the broader community.” Another important aspect of the project is the sustainability of local knowledge, culture and dialects, adds Williamson. “We’re also linked into the digitalisation of their library, so we’re collating and documenting the local dialects, but using our technology to store and distribute them… Our metrics are not revenue; they’re on the individual kids and the teachers.”

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Technology is transforming the workplace. Many HR professionals are willing to 'talk the talk' But how many can genuinely say that they consistently challenge the stuffy and traditional; and can call themself innovators, willing to lead their company and people to new and exciting places?

facing up to the future of work Benjamin Nice previews the systems, apps and gadgets of the future. He speaks to HR leaders and tech-savvy experts to find out how HR can take a proactive approach and keep up with the ever-changing technological landscape.

Last November we asked HR professionals what they considered the most IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGIES within HR. Suprisingly, MICROSOFT OUTLOOK, EXCEL and INSTANT MESSENGER were all among the TOP 10 iPad ownership in Australia is predicted to reach 5 MILLION by the end of 2011. Globally, tablet sales are expected to reach a staggering 52 MILLION, accounting for more than 50 PER CENT of ALL COMPUTER SALES Google Analytics is used to monitor HALF of the top ONE MILLION websites HR practionerers NEED to embrace new technology NOW, or risk having their company LAG BEHIND.

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When HR Leader quizzed readers in November last year about the technologies that were most important to the profession,the responses were a mixture of the expected,the obvious and, in some cases,the outdated or old-fashioned. While some, such as LinkedIn,Yammer or MS SharePoint continue to remain relevant and useful to HR practitioners, others including Excel and Outlook could quite easily have been listed 10 years ago.

Tracey McDonald, HR director at law firm Middletons, says that while she expected some of the more traditional technologies to continue to play a role, she sees an increasing number of organisations looking for newer and more integrated solutions. “Many organisations are still heavily reliant on these technologies, but I think there will be new solutions for the future that will be more effectively integrated into other systems,” explains McDonald. Noting that some companies seem to be lagging behind, she says: “It’s amazing how many law firms manage their budgeting and remuneration processes on spreadsheets. We’ve stepped away from that this year, but many of our larger competitors are still using them.” With this in mind, HR Leader took to the streets once again, asking HR decisionmakers and tech gurus what they believe are the next big technologies and how they will shape the HR arena.

then & VIDEO

APPS

Whether it be videoconferencing, virtual interviewing, video CVs, mobility or social learning, the importance of high-definition video within organisations can’t be denied.

In January, not only was “app” voted 2010 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society, but Apple also announced that its app store had reached the milestone of 10 billion downloads.

Cisco vice-president Les Williamson says that more candidates are sending through video resumes as a means to rise above the written word.

Frank Farrall, creator of the Deloitte iPhone app, says it makes sense for companies to appeal to the graduate recruitment market by targeting social media and phone apps.

“I’m getting more video messages about potential candidates and they present a lot more of themselves through that media,” says Williamson.

“When you look at the university students that we’re targeting and where their eyeballs are, it’s on their iPhones, so it just made sense for us to push into that marketplace,” says Farrall.

“You’re really backing yourself and I like that … it’s quite an interesting generational shift. It may be quite confrontational to some other practices, but I think that’s the way HR practices have got to change. These people demand to be heard – they’ll present themselves in a manner that they are comfortable with.”

Alec Bashinsky, people and performance leader at Deloitte, says that as well as helping him to cut down his recruitment cycle time, apps and social media help to enhance the Deloitte brand. “We’re really trying to make our organisation come to life, rather than just clicking on a company website and all you read is boring print about what they do or don’t do,” says Bashinsky.

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“The talent in the marketplace is very digitally savvy. So what organisations have to ask themselves is are they digital natives or are they digital dinosaurs; and if they’re in the latter then they’re going to have a lot of trouble attracting talent in the future.” Alec Bashinsky people and performance leader, Deloitte

EMPLOYEE MOBILITY

SOCIAL LEARNING &SHARING

INNOVATION & COLLABERATION

As workforces become more mobile and flexible and the line between professional and personal lives blurs, companies must ensure that they have the right technology in place to help keep their employees connected.

Sourcing internal data or information within large organisations can often be a drawn-out, complicated process. Not any more, according to Deloitte’s Bashinsky, who says that 60 per cent of Deloitte employees actively participate in the company’s social networking and information sharing tool, Yammer.

Part of Cisco’s DNA, says VP Williamson, is to have an opinion. With the introduction of an “innovation portal”, employees can put forward or contribute to ideas on a Facebook-style page.

“There is a broader trend and focus on mobile devices such as office tablets. Just like any other new technology, mobile devices need to be assessed and explored as another way to help provide greater efficiencies and collaboration in the workforce.”

“Then you may have responses from three or four people from around Australia who may have done something similar. To try to get that information in a normal organisation through email or phoning around would take ages.”

As well as acting as another connection and engagement point for employees, Williamson says the initiative has a very positive impact on all of the staff who invent, contribute, manipulate or support each successful idea. “It’s a different form of bottom-up innovation disruption, but the leadership are not to question it because it’s already been through the filtration process.”

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“Given the increasingly mobile and connected nature of business today, technology in HR needs to enable flexible working, as well as sharing and learning, to not only support diversity programs but for development and efficiency reasons also,” says Barry.

“Let’s say somebody has a tender for a particular company and they’re looking for a certain approach … they might go out on Yammer and say, ‘Guys, here’s what I’m looking to do. Can anyone help me with this particular approach?” he explains.

“You put thumbs up or down, and people's ideas are judged by the community. After a month, the top ones are filtered up to leadership to act upon and invest either money or resources to,” he says.

June 2011

HR LEADER

Lynne Barry, HR director for Accenture, believes that while it is important to connect in person, financial, environmental and logistical considerations often mean that companies need to make full use of the latest technology.

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SOCIAL ANALYTICS

SAAS & THE CLOUD

SOCIAL MEDIA

Whether used for tracking and analysing potential candidates on the internet or examining interactions between employees on internal social software applications, social analytics plays an increasingly vital role for companies looking to keep tabs on how people perceive and interact with their brand.

Gartner Group estimates that SaaS sales will reach $US10.7 billion this year, up 16.2 per cent from 2010. According to David Page, MD of software provider NorthgateArinso, businesses are increasingly using “on-demand software”, or “system as a software” (SaaS) to deliver their HRM needs.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn shouldn’t be new concepts.

In a Gartner Group study, analyst Thomas Otter looked at how Microsoft used social analytics and search engine optimisation (SEO) to improve its recruitment strategies.

“Pretty much all of the enquiries we get now are looking for that option. These platforms are now seen as quite critical to an organisation,” says Page.

“Microsoft improved its SEO to drive more candidates directly to the talent community. Search is an important, but often neglected, component of an e-recruitment strategy,” he says. “It also focused on building strong analytics. It calls this ‘evidence-based recruitment’. Microsoft can analyse exactly where online source candidates are coming from, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, search or blog links, and it can track viral distribution. It can also measure recruiter effectiveness with a high level of precision. This allows Microsoft to gain a significant return on investment on social channels,” says Otter.

Rather than storing software or programs on individual local computers, SaaS – or “the cloud” approach – allows users to access ondemand software via a company’s computer network or the internet. Page believes that the popularity of such software will continue to grow, allowing organisations to streamline and outsource their transactional processes. “When you’re using cloud-based technology and systems, you can outsource a lot of processes, particularly around payroll,” he says. Philippa Youngman, director of Pivot Software, says that while she sees SaaS becoming more mainstream, she believes it will take time for some companies to adapt. “Organisations are still very cautious to go to the complete cloud solution,” she says. “You have a situation where you won’t even have a hard copy of Office on your computer, instead doing it all through the net. I think it’s going to take people a while to accept that.”

But with the introduction of software or platforms tailored towards the workspace, including Yackstar and Yammer, businesses have more reason than ever to embrace the medium. Grant Mason, co-founder of Yackstar, believes the informal and instant nature of social media makes it a “natural fit” for employee engagement. “There’s a thousand social processes that happen within a company … tools such as social media will help to bring them to life,” he says. As the drivers of Yammer, Bashinsky says Deloitte uses social media not only to stay in touch with its broader talent base, but also to create life within the business. “Sixty per cent of our organisation actively participates on Yammer … we are very open and embrace social media. We think it’s absolutely the way to go,” he says.

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No feature on technology would be complete without a mention of the trusty robot. Californian company, Anybots have come up with a personal avatar device which takes videoconferencing to the next level by allowing employees to have a virtual presence in meetings anywhere in the world.

“With one-click, you can work with others from anywhere. Video conferencing brings some semblance of personality to the mix, but still lacks the empathy and excitement that comes with having a physical presence,” he says.

Anybots CEO Trevor Blackwell, says that the avatar provided business professionals with a more effective and cheaper way of working.

Containing a speaker, microphone, camera and video screen, the wifienabled device projects a video of the person controlling it, and allows users to glide around the office and engage in networking opportunities and chitchat, as well as attending meetings. While we’re not sure that such robots will end up replacing the humble HR practitioner, it’s certainly a realistic glimpse into what the future may hold for the HR profession.

FACTS & FIGURES 10 billion: The amount of apps downloaded from the Apple store worldwide Source: Apple

$US10.7 billion ($A10b): Gartner Group estimates for SaaS sales in 2011 Source: Gartner Group

428 million: The number of mobile communication devices sold worldwide in the first quarter of 2011 – a 19 per cent increase year-on-year Source: Gartner Group

Case study:

WILDCARD:ANYBOTS

David McGillivray Designer

One graduate’s job seeking story

en years ago someone like UK design graduate, David McGillivray, would have looked for jobs in a newspaper; sent a resume by post; followed it up with telephone calls and then gone for an in-person interview and presented his portfolio. In 2011 things are very different, says McGillivray… “I have my blog, my website and a good foothold in several different professional and personal social media platforms. This allows me to not only showcase my work and connect with other industry professionals around the world, but also gives prospective employers the opportunity to learn more about me." After winning an international award for digital design, and receiving a showcase of his work online, McGillivray was propelled into the spotlight, supported by his strong online presence. “I've had enquiries from around the world, most recently London, Paris and New York,” he admits. “I think that companies can get to know me pretty well before even speaking to me. I recently received some interest from a New York-based company who wanted to have a chat. In this situation a simple video call on Skype was an easy solution, and allowed us to get to know one another, without the hassle and cost of flying to New York for a formal interview.”

remuneration & benefits

Rules of engagement Australians are among the most disengaged employees in the world. Benjamin Nice explains why corporate wellbeing strategies keep people happy, healthy and productive at work

n March, HR Leader reported on a survey that found that 82 per cent of Australian employees felt disengaged at work. The Gallup Consulting survey. The State of the Global Workplace, which analysed the engagement levels of 45,000 employees worldwide, focused on the consequent impact of these results on areas such as productivity and personal wellbeing. While the figures were dismal for most countries, Australian employees fared particularly badly, with disengagement figures almost 10 per cent higher than the international average of 73 per cent.

Back to basics Firmly placing health and happiness at the top of the engagement agenda, Teya Skae, the founder of Empowered Living, says it is important to get back to basics and focus on what she describes as the “four pillars of corporate wellness”: the physical, emotional, mental and values/purpose elements of health. “There is a greater need for corporate wellbeing than ever before. I see a lot of people who might be very successful, but who are also lost and disconnected and have no purpose in what they are doing,” says Skae, a corporate health coach. “It’s hard, because there is information overload in terms of advice in this area. What people have to understand is that change doesn’t have to encompass everything in one day – start by just getting your breakfast right!” Skae says problems such as stress often spiral out of control because individuals ignore or override them. “People at stage-three stress are unproductive, so the challenge is to target the problem early, before it gets to that point,” she says. “The trouble is that by overriding their emotional issues or learning difficulties, they take up a lot of energy and then end up getting chronic fatigue – or corporate burnout, as I call it.” To combat corporate burnout, Skae delves into her clients’ minds and, after identifying potential drains in the person’s life, she then teaches them how to manage their energy, organise priorities and train the brain to become clearer and feel more “in the now” – all strategies that help to increase engagement and productivity at work. While responsibility lies with the individual wanting to initiate change, Skae says, factors such as a good company culture and engaging and fun programs outside of the office also play a vital role. “It all stems from the directors and senior staff; they set the tone and the company culture

and the policies, so it’s good to see companies involving their employees in brainstorming sessions and going out and having fun on the job,” she says. “It’s very important to add those elements because it really helps engagement. If companies are very structured and very strict, people don’t feel creative or safe to participate or contribute.”

A holistic approach Linda Cooper, human resources manager of mortgage and financial services group Firstfolio says the growing company worked hard to initiate positive staff engagement and encourage a good work/life balance. By acquiring one or two new businesses a year, the company experiences constant growth, explains Cooper, which in turn directly affects management’s approach to employee engagement. “Part of our engagement program is also a significant part of our change management program and integration process.” Cooper says the company’s program centres around three areas: employees’ connection with their inner selves, with each other and with their community, with various initiatives and activities focusing on each aspect. As well as providing health-related perks such as personal trainers, daily fresh fruit and health seminars, the ASX-listed company also gives employees the opportunity to fulfil their personal ambitions through the “Firstfolio Dreams” initiative. “To help connect employees with the community, the dream program is an opportunity to allow our staff to go anywhere in the world for a period of time,” says Cooper. “Three were selected in the last round; one lady is working with the breast cancer foundation here in Australia, and another is in Romania working with an NGO on child labour issues. We’re also sending someone else to South Africa on child welfare issues this month. We provide the cost of the trip and their wage, for a four- to six-week period.” Although you would expect to find this kind of initiative in larger organisations, Firstfolio employs only 140 people, and given that three people are chosen each year for the program, Cooper says employees have a realistic chance of realising their ambitions. “It’s just one of the things that we do to drive, connect and share with our employees. The principle is, if we get that right, we all thrive. It’s a holistic approach,” she says. Cooper believes that such an approach is essential to attracting and retaining the top talent in the country, and that organisations

remuneration & benefits

“When people are fully engaged in business and life, they are at their most productive, they are focused … and more aware of how they squander their precious adrenaline, which is fuel in our body… Without this available energy we just don’t get things done.” Teya Skae, founder of Empowered Living

have started to become more aware of the importance of staff engagement. “Businesses are starting to actually understand the bottom-line impact of staff leaving … it’s the total cost, and everything involved,” she says. “Workforces are also becoming smaller. There’s a lot of talk around this underemployment rate, so I guess you’re probably doing more with less people and the focus will be on rewarding those people and trying to retain your highperformance staff.” The challenge, Cooper maintains, is to direct engagement programs so that they drive the desired behaviour and link back to the company’s overall strategy. “What you don’t want to do is to just pick concepts and throw them at people. There needs to be an overall strategy tied back to the objectives of the business. They need to be

linked to that, so that everyone in the business can draw those links,” she says.

The next generation Fringe benefits and additional perks are also becoming increasingly important to staff who expect to be rewarded for their efforts at work. Glenn Elliott, the managing director of Asperity Employee Benefits, says that while companies often invested a lot of money in employee discount and benefits programs in the past, they were not always relevant or appealing to staff. “The key thing about the traditional employee discount programs is that they weren’t really that well used – they didn’t have good genuine offers, they were difficult to use and they took up too much time. That’s not what anyone wants these days,” says Elliott. With many employers often confused or

frustrated in their attempts to lure and retain younger talent – particularly generations X and Y - Elliott believes providing up-to-date, simple, useful and exciting benefits can help to keep them happy and engaged at work. “In terms of attracting your gen Yers, when you look at the benefits that organisations often put in place like health care, insurance or parental leave, they’re all great. But when you’re 21, you’re not really that interested in those things,” he says. “You want benefits today, and you want them to be immediate and attractive to everybody.”

Four pillars of corporate wellness A full-engagement approach manages energy on four levels: 1. Physical 2. Emotional 3. Mental 4. Values/purpose/unique talents Source: Empowered Living

Are you responsible for making pay decisions?

Aon Hewitt

Remuneration Symposium 2011 Now in its fifth year, the Aon Hewitt Remuneration Symposium will feature interactive presentations and workshops facilitated by local and global Aon Hewitt experts. The Symposium will provide: • Insights on reward practices and strategy • Current trends in reward and engagement

Melbourne Tuesday, 30 August Sydney Thursday, 1 September Auckland Wednesday, 7 September

June 2011

HR LEADER

Contact: Sarah Falk +61 2 9253 8252 sarah.falk@aonhewitt.com

www.hrleader.net.au

• Case studies from leading organisations including SingTel Optus

assessment + development

Psychometrics at ENERGEX

Psychometrics’ business benefits

Many companies utilise psychometric assessment tools for a wide range of HR processes. HR Leader looks at how global IT behemoth Infosys and Queensland-based ENERGEX make the most of psychometrics for the benefit of their respective businesses

ith more than 130,000 employees around the globe and revenues in excess of US$6 billion, Infosys is a global leader in IT solutions and consulting. The Infosys Leadership Institute (ILI) was set up to assist the multinational in creating a corporate pool of leaders with the capability to take on current and future business challenges, and it provides a wide variety of individual and organisational leadership development solutions to achieve this. The institute utilises psychometrics extensively, with a particular focus on Rasch psychometrics to select and develop leaders through the company’s annual 360 degree survey, according to ILI vice president and director, Dr Matt Barney. “We use a computer-adaptive approach that keeps the instruments brief, but highly accurate. We actively use these data when we identify future high potential leaders, measure their development and forecast succession,” he says. The world’s foremost authority on Rasch measurement is Dr John Michael Linacre, based in Australia, who Barney says has pioneered the use of a particular approach that adjusts for various biases. “We use his approach to also identify the appropriate experiences or roles that are the most appropriate next step in the leader’s experiential development – not too easy or too hard, but just right,” he says.

The ILI reviewed the last 100 years of “meta analyses”, which Barney says summarises of all that is known about leadership potential, and then created its own Rasch measures of each. These include measures of personality using the “big 5” model that is the most scientifically supported, as well as measures of work-related values and perceptions of cognitive ability. “All have been shown to predict leader potential, and we further validated these in 2010 with a global Infosys sample,” he says. The early results show far superior properties to alternative psychometric assessments in terms of the accuracy, precision and predictive validity, according to Barney. While evaluation is an ongoing process, he says senior leaders in the business like the personalisation and focus of the Rasch-based feedback approach. Barney says there has also been a number of challenges and lessons learned in the process. “Initially, we wasted a lot of time trying to find a vendor who could deploy our assessments, but fortunately we have great software professionals who were eventually able to write a great program to do our computer-adaptive instruments,” he says. “The skills required to do excellent psychometrics are quite advanced – but in the end they’re worth it. Don’t skimp on poor tools because you’ll probably make the wrong decisions about your people.”

Based in South East Queensland, energy company ENERGEX has assets worth more than $8.8 billion and employs more than 3800 employees to distribute electricity to more than 1.3 million residential, industrial and commercial customers. ENERGEX uses psychometrics for both recruitment and employee development, but mostly in an ad-hoc way as opposed to being part of a specific strategy, according to Richard Fryer, group manager of organisational effectiveness for ENERGEX. “HR business partners are integral to any decision to use psychometric to support either recruitment activity or when considering learning goals of a team or individual,” says Fryer, who adds that HR business partners seek to understand intended outcomes before recommending psychometrics and what solution might be appropriate for the situation. Psychometrics are also integrated into ENERGEX’s flagship corporate leadership development programs to aid in leaders’ self reflection and insight building, he adds. However, Fryer has a general philosophy that assessing leadership potential is a risky business. “I worry about the process of labeling leaders as having or not having potential (through a psychometric or otherwise) as I believe it develops a mindset that is not conducive to long-term success as a leader,” he says. “I am more interested in encouraging leaders to embrace learning opportunities and to be prepared to embrace and learn from failure more often. I don’t feel psychometrics have a place in supporting this. We would most definitely use psychometrics in supporting an individual’s reflection and learning as a leader – but this would be done from the perspective of ‘potential’ being mostly limited or achieved by learning appetite rather than the process of labeling potential (for example, in nine box models).” Fryer has also experienced a number of challenges in the process. “Ensuring managers from a predominantly engineering mindset do not see psychometric profiles as ‘the truth’ and concrete is difficult,”

assessment + development

Latest psychometric trends Organisations are increasingly using psychometric testing across all roles in the business, from entry level to senior roles, according to Cherie Curtis, head of psychology for Onetest. “Organisations are standardising their recruitment process across the board and reaping the returns of ensuring quality at all levels of their business,” she says. “Organisations are realising that finding quality candidates at an entry level is just as important as their more senior roles as these individuals influence the culture, profitability and ultimately progress through the organisation.”

"Don’t skimp on poor tools because you’ll probably make the wrong decisions about your people"

More companies are also conducting psychometric tests earlier in the process, as Curtis says there is a plethora of research that supports psychometric testing in recruitment as the preferred means of identifying the right fit candidate. “As result, recruiters are moving psychometric testing to the start of the selection process to shortlist candidates that are ideal for the job,” she says. An increasing number of companies are also creating their own benchmark comparison data, Curtis adds. Each organisation is unique, so the ideal candidate for each role is different. “For this reason, although using-off-the-shelf Australian normative comparison data to generate scores on a psychometric test is valid, organisations are recognising the most pertinent comparison they have to make is against their own existing team. This ensures they are always maintaining a minimum standard and can compare themselves to the broader industry as well,” she says.

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Dr Matt Barney vice president and director, Infosys Leadership Institute

June 2011

HR LEADER

says Fryer, who notes that this is easier in development programs where setup and debrief is carefully managed. However, in recruitment, he says psychometrics can often be seen as the answer to how a person will really behave and whether they’ll do a good job. “Of course, most psychometrics are simply a reflection of the individual’s own views and this is somewhat dependent on their level of self-insight (or desire to portray a certain persona),” he says. “This information is certainly a guide, but requires trained practitioners who are trusted to provide a perspective which is balanced and helpful in any decision-making process.” A psychometric is only as good as its debrief, according to Fryer. While it may be difficult, it is essential to make sure that quality reflection and debriefing is built in to any process.

BOOK REVIEWS

The female leadership paradox Mirella Visser Palgrave Macmillan

With women still representing less than 25 per cent of all board members in Australia, the plight for fair female representation at board level continues to be a hot topic for businesses. Efforts were stepped up earlier in the year when the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day helped to place gender diversity firmly in the spotlight, even bringing about discussions of board quotas at government level. In her book, The Female Leadership Paradox, Mirella Visser delves beneath the issues and challenges to offer practical solutions and advice to women aiming to reach the top. As the managing director of the Centre for Inclusive Leadership and the co-author of titles such as Women on Boards and Moving Mountains, Visser is well placed to provide

insightful advice on the issue of workplace inequality. Noting that the best-kept secret in corporate life is “the vanishing act of women on their way to the top”, Visser undertakes the task of explaining how women can optimise their careers and strategically overcome the challenges they commonly face. She does this by employing 20 separate case studies based on personal experience and FAQs from lectures and workshops, including: - How do I ensure I’m promoted when I am the most qualified candidate? - How do I make sure that I am earning what I deserve? - Are there specific gender-based leadership qualities that will help or hinder me in getting management roles?

MY BRILLIANT CAREER

SUSAN PETTIFER

analytical committed strategic

What is your current role and how did it come about?

What advice would you give to graduates considering a career in HR?

My current role is director of workforce and information services at the City of Sydney. I joined the council two years ago as director of workforce and organisational development following a strategic review of people practices. The council was keen to take a more strategic focus to its workforce and organisational development to support its ambitious Sustainable Sydney 2030 program. More recently, I have taken over the director’s role for information technology and information management as well – together with our human resources and culture, these services are critical to the organisation’s capability.

Read widely – including outside your discipline – and develop broad-based skills such as negotiation and facilitation, policy and project management skills, as the HR field will change in ways we can’t see yet. I think having a good generalist education will be equally as important as having specific HR technical knowledge.

What qualifications do you hold?

I have worked with some great CEOs who have taught me a lot about leadership through their courage, resilience and commitment.

When I was in health services many years ago, I was working in the area of health reform, developing strategies for organisational and operational change. This work led me to realise that developing the capability of people, culture and developing strategies for organisational development are critical for any organisation achieving real or sustained improvement and change. Over the years, my work has become increasingly focused on workforce development and organisational development, planning and change. What is your career ambition? To make a difference to worthwhile organisations. Like most of us, I would like to think that the organisations I work for are in better shape when I leave them. What is your biggest achievement to date? I am proud of what my team and I have achieved in the past two years: expanding our workforce development program – including supporting the fantastic Aboriginal Employment Strategy by offering traineeships at the council; developing a clearer organisational purpose, values and expected behaviours; reforming the recruitment function; aligning HR practices more closely with the organisation’s goals; and, together with the executive team, building a stronger focus on leadership capability. What do you think it takes to succeed in HR? Optimism in people, a capacity for hard work, the ability to balance the strategic with the reactive, and an understanding of how diverse groups, organisations and societies function.

Do you have any role models, professionally or personally?

HR Manager – Professional Services Leading Professional Service Firm Brisbane CBD Based Progressive HR Function This highly successful professional services firm provides innovative and enduring business services and solutions across the globe. A recent organisational restructure has created a vacancy for a HR professional with strong experience drawn from a commercial environment. This is an outstanding opportunity for an individual to partner with the business in the provision of progressive HR generalist support. Working alongside senior partners in the Brisbane office with a dotted line to the National HR Manager, you will work with autonomy and confidence. You will partner the Brisbane leadership team and broader HR function to develop and implement people strategies particularly around talent management, career planning and coaching, engagement, ER and change management. Additionally you will manage the annual review, remuneration and performance management function. You will be tertiary qualified with extensive HR management experience and will excel at developing internal relationships. As a trusted advisor to the senior leadership team, you will have strong commercial acumen, a confident consultative style, outstanding relationship building skills and a team orientated approach. Having worked within a professional services environment, you will have the ability to challenge the status quo and partner with business leaders to reach strategic outcomes. This role offers exceptional future career prospects. A competitive salary package commensurate with skills is on offer from this prestigious firm. Forward your CV to Tim Newham at HR Partners or for a confidential discussion call (07) 3009 3800. Ref 14-46481.

hr partners www.hrpartners.com.au

digby morgan June 2011

www.hrleader.net.au

How did you get into HR?

Analytical, committed, strategic.

MFES095

I hold a degree in occupational therapy, a Master of Applied Science and a Graduate Certificate in Management. I also undertook a year-long Governor’s Leadership program in South Australia.

Describe yourself in three words.

27 HR LEADER

director, workforce and information services, City of Sydney

"Kate has taken a strong role model position as a HR Leader. A very worthy and clear winner for HR leader of the year" 2010 Best HR Leader Winner Kate McCormack, Director, People, Learning & Culture at Mercy Health