Top of Mind

FROM THE HRNZ CHIEF EXECUTIVE

We’re in the process of reviewing the HRNZ Competency Framework. One of the competency descriptions contained in the existing framework is:

Business understanding:

Business understanding: Understand how the organisation achieves its business goals, and how it’s affected by internal and external factors (this includes knowing about financing options, growth strategies and how a business is structured).

The intention behind including these types of factors in our competency framework is sound. However, I worry we have bought too heavily into the narrative that we need to understand and use the language of business to achieve credibility as HR professionals.

I wonder whether this kind of thinking might be distracting us from the real purpose of our existence. We’re here to speak the language of people. That’s our role. We’re not here to bring the value of people down to dollars and cents; I think maybe we have lost the battle if we allow ourselves to be taken too far down that path. Yes, we need to be commercial in our thinking, but our expertise lies with understanding people.

In my experience, decisions about people and how we treat them always come down to values. The steps we take to improve diversity and inclusion or introduce wellness programmes into the workplace will always be values-based decisions. The most successful employee wellbeing programme I’ve ever seen was introduced because the CEO had a strong personal commitment to health and fitness. There were no business cases, just what do we want to provide for our people, and how do we best achieve that?

The conversations HR people need to be having within their organisations are the ones about values. We do need to have compelling propositions based on a real understanding of our people and the context they are working in.

We live in a world where we all understand that the sustainability of our organisations is reliant on our people. HR professionals need to keep this front of mind for everyone in the organisation and ensure there is accountability for how people are treated.

This issue of Human Resources is all about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. In recent years, there has been an increasing acknowledgement at a macro level of the important role mental health plays in achieving global development goals, as illustrated by the inclusion of mental health in the Sustainable Development Goals. According to the World Health Organization, depression is one of the leading causes of disability, and suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15 to 29 year olds.

Many risk factors for mental health may be present in the working environment. Risks to mental health include:

• inadequate health and safety policies

• poor communication and management practices

• limited participation in decision making or low control over one’s area of work

• low levels of support for employees

• inflexible working hours

• unclear tasks or organisational objectives.

HR professionals will be at the forefront of helping their organisations provide a positive working environment that supports improvements in mental health for employees. What organisational leaders need from the HR or People and Culture team is valuable insights and advice on how they treat their people. If investments are needed in new initiatives to support improved mental health outcomes, then let’s leave the number crunching to the CFO.

Nick McKissack Chief Executive HRNZ Nick.McKissack@hrnz.org.nz