Human Capital magazine issue 10.01 by Key Media

TEAMBUILDING

Refreshed, remodelled P.32 CONFLICT RESOLUTION ISSUE 10.1

‘Conferencing’ explained P.40 ENGAGEMENT

The bottom-up approach P.48 HUMAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE HCAMAG.COM

IN F CUS 2012

Your guide to: HR PRIORITIES, INNOVATION & AVOIDING ‘INCREMENTALISM’

PLUS: SKILLED VOLUNTEERING TAKES OFF

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editor’s letter

Express yourself! Got a burning issue to get off your chest? Check out the readers’ forums at hcamag.com

Uncertainty the only certainty The most interesting quote in this issue of HC comes from an unexpected source: former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. In a recent radio interview, when asked what he was most scared of, Keating replied: incrementalism. That is, Keating was concerned that Australia in general was not willing to take big steps, to embrace the ‘out there’ ideas, to set distant horizons for goals. The word can apply not just in politics (with political parties not willing to look beyond the next election) but also business (reluctance to look beyond the next 12–18 months), and also society as a whole (the environmental sustainability debate shows a reluctance – perhaps a fear – to look too far into the future). From a business perspective, it’s easy to see why. In Talent2’s recent ‘Market Pulse’ survey, 91% of business executives across the Asia-Pacific region are concerned about a possible recession. However, despite these concerns, the survey revealed that most businesses are divided on strategies about how to navigate through the current uncertainty, and not all businesses are adjusting their workforce management strategies to adapt to the current unpredictable environment. This approach seems odd – if the world is changing rapidly, why take a head-in-thesand approach? As our cover story reveals, HR should be playing a key role in business strategy, in moving corporate cultures towards embracing ‘big ideas’ and innovation, and ‘stress testing’ the business for any future economic volatility. As we bid farewell to 2011 and usher in 2012, elsewhere in this issue we take a fresh look at some familiar themes in HR – engagement, CSR, and teambuilding. On that note of bidding farewell to 2011, on behalf of the entire HC team, I would like to thank you for your support throughout the year, and wish you all a merry Christmas and safe, happy, and healthy 2012.

91% of business executives across the AsiaPacific region are concerned about a possible recession

Iain Hopkins, editor, HC Magazine

COPY & FEATURES EDITOR Iain Hopkins JOURNALIST Stephanie Zillman EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Kate Aubusson PRODUCTION EDITORS Sushil Suresh, Moira Daniels, Carolin Wun

ART & PRODUCTION DESIGN PRODUCTION MANAGER Angie Gillies SENIOR DESIGNER Rebecca Downing TRAFFIC MANAGER Abby Cayanan

CONTRIBUTORS Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, The Next Step, Leadership Success

SALES & MARKETING SENIOR MARKETING EXECUTIVE Kerry Corben MARKETING EXECUTIVE Anna Keane COMMUNICATIONS EXECUTIVE Lisa Narroway NATIONAL COMMERCIAL MANAGER Sophie Knight ONLINE COMMERCIAL MANAGER Sarah Wiseman

CORPORATE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mike Shipley CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER George Walmsley MANAGING DIRECTOR – BUSINESS MEDIA Justin Kennedy CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Colin Chan HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Julia Bookallil Editorial enquiries Iain Hopkins tel: +61 2 8437 4703 iain.hopkins@keymedia.com.au Advertising enquiries National commercial manager, HR products Sophie Knight tel: +61 2 8437 4733 sophie.knight@keymedia.com.au Subscriptions tel: +61 2 8437 4731 • fax: +61 2 8437 4753 subscriptions@keymedia.com.au Key Media keymedia.com.au Key Media Pty Ltd, regional head office, Level 10, 1–9 Chandos St, St Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia tel: +61 2 8437 4700 fax: +61 2 9439 4599 Offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Toronto hcamag.com

Letters to the editor

editor@hcamag.com

We value your opinions and input. Human Capital would like to hear from you, so send through your comments to editor@hcamag. com. Alternatively, express your thoughts on the readers’ forums at hcamag.com

Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept as HC can accept no responsibility for loss.

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HC MAGAZINE 10.1

contents 22

22 | Balancing act While Australia continues its ‘sit and wait’ approach to the uncertain global economic outlook, there are significant challenges closer to home which will require urgent attention – and HR will be at the forefront of providing solutions. Human Capital reports on HR’s top priorities in 2012 28 | Learning to give, not just receive What form will corporate volunteering take in 2012? Human Capital explores what one company is doing to help those in need, while also keeping its own staff engaged

Cover story: How to think – and act – big How can HR avoid incrementalism and embrace big ideas in 2012? Iain Hopkins investigates

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32 | Working as one Time for teambuilding! Cue rolled eyes, general cynicism and disengagement. What’s gone wrong with this much maligned corporate specialty, and can it be revived?

Check out the HC archive online:

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50 REGULARS

04 | In brief: news 06 | In brief: forum 44 | Make telework work Ninety per cent of work-fromhome offices are set up badly, resulting in possible risks to employee health and increases in workers’ comp claims. Kate Aubusson explores how organisations can protect their work-from-home employees and their bottom line

FRONTLINE INTELLIGENCE

08 | In Step: HR career experts 10 | Legal

50 | Profile: Peter Godfrey With career experience in complex and often challenging work environments, this month’s profiled HR professional firmly dispels the notion that ‘anyone can do HR’

Letters to the editor Got a burning issue to get off your chest? We value your opinions and input. Human Capital would like to hear from you. Send through your comments to editor@hcamag. com. Alternatively, express your thoughts on the readers’ forums at hcamag.com

IN BRIEF

news DISCRIMINATION

RECORD LEVEL OF DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINTS

RETENTION

MANAGING STAFF WHO DON’T ‘FIT’

n Organisations are increasingly looking to ‘vocational assessments’ as a constructive way of managing the process when a staff member appears to not ‘fit’ in a role, or is struggling in their current role, according to a leading workplace psychologist. Rachel Clements, psychologist and director of psychological services at the Centre for Corporate Health, said the process can be hugely beneficial to all parties when conducted correctly by qualified psychologists. By admitting that a role is not playing to an employee’s strengths, and looking for alternatives, Clements said the process can be a relief for all parties. While vocational assessments have traditionally been used after problems have been identified, Clements said some organisations are now conducting the assessments during the recruitment phase. It is said that conducting the assessments upfront minimises the risk of employing someone who may be technically competent, but may not have realised that the particular type of work does not fully engage them.

The month in numbers

70 – the number

of recruitment agencies AGL has cut loose to focus on one partnership with Futurestep Australia

$1.4m – the GLOBAL ECONOMY

VOLATILITY CALLS FOR ORGANISATIONAL READINESS

n According to the results of the latest Market Pulse survey by talent management firm Talent2, 91% of business executives across the Asia-Pacific region are concerned about a possible recession. However, despite these concerns, the survey revealed that most businesses are divided on strategies about how to navigate through the current uncertainty, and not all businesses are adjusting their workforce management strategies to adapt to the current unpredictable environment. John Rawlinson, CEO of Talent2, told HC that volatility should be 4

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accepted as the new ‘norm’, and the best strategy that businesses can implement is ‘organisational readiness’; that is to say, be ready to grow, cut costs where necessary, and most importantly – embrace flexibility. “HR isn’t just crisis management, and the best HR teams will look to get ahead of the curve, and make sure their organisation is robust and ready to respond to changes, both expected and unexpected,” Rawlinson said. A central tenant of preparedness is maintaining a high focus on productivity-based training, where organisations are asking ‘what can we learn to ensure we’re maximising our productivity?’ Rawlinson said.

amount of funds Guide Dogs NSW/ ACT hopes to raise through its Christmas appeal, including donations from corporate Australia

95% –

percentage of Australians who wish they could work less than 30 hours each week, according to Gallup Consulting

10 – number of

grams of chocolate per day that research from Oxford University recommends for the enhancement of cognitive ability

n The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) received and assessed nearly 400 more workplace discrimination complaints last financial year than in 2009-10 – an increase of 46%. The most common complaint was alleged discrimination on the grounds of physical or mental disability (20% of all complaints), followed by complaints based on age (13%), and alleged discrimination related to family or carer responsibilities (12%). The FWO has had the power to investigate discrimination in the workplace since the Fair Work Act 2009 was introduced, and a specialist anti-discrimination team has been established within the agency’s Complex Investigations & Innovation branch. In addition to discrimination complaints, other main reasons why people called the Fair Work Infoline for assistance last financial year were for queries relating to wages and conditions. A total of 37% of the 825,219 callers raised questions about wages and a further 21% sought information on conditions of employment.

MIGRATION

DID YOU KNOW?:

EMPLOYERS LEFT TO FOOT THE BILL

n Recruitment agencies and employers reliant on overseas talent are facing tough times ahead after the announcement that the Living Away From Home Allowance (LAFHA) will be phased out for overseas workers on a 457 business visa. The Government said that the tax perk had been abused over the last five years, particularly by highly-paid executives and foreign workers, and a crackdown was needed to return an estimated $613m to the treasury over the next four years. So-called rorting of this tax exemption was discussed at the October Tax Forum – indeed, the total amount of tax-free LAFHA reported by employers to the ATO increased from $162m in 2004-05 to $740m in 2010-11. However, employer groups are outraged over the blanket cut of the tax incentive which they say has been instrumental in luring foreign talent to Australia. The LAFHA currently allows overseas workers on a 457 business visa to claim their accommodation and living costs as a tax deduction. Additionally, employers will need to pay between 5% and 15% more for foreign worker visas, and full superannuation contributions on affected staff members’ entire pay, rather than only on the part not claimed back against the LAFHA. In a statement released by Treasurer Wayne Swan, he said the key aspects of the new reforms, which will be formally introduced on 1 July 2012, are: • Access to the tax exemption for temporary residents will be limited to those who maintain a residence for their own use in Australia, which they are living away from for work purposes, such as ‘fly-in fly-out’ workers • Individuals will be required to substantiate their actual expenditure on accommodation and food beyond a statutory amount • No permanent resident legitimately using this tax exemption for accommodation and food expenses will lose any entitlements • Notably, these reforms will not affect other tax concessions, such as those that apply to travel and meal allowances, and remote area fringe benefits

GLOBAL TRENDS

INTERNATIONAL SNAPSHOT: REPORTING LINES FOR HR DIRECTORS (EUROPEAN AVERAGE) CEO 72% of HR directors

report directly to the CEO

COO

CFO

OTHER

2% of HR directors

4% of HR directors

22% of HR directors

report to the COO

report to the CFO

report to another board member

Source: CRF Institute/Top Employers European HR Best Practice Report 2011

68%

of employers in Australia believe government and business are not doing enough to slow the outward migration of talent and attracting these people back to Australia Source: ManpowerGroup’s Borderless Solutions to Today’s Talent Mismatch

GLOBAL MOBILITY

FIFO PROBE INTO SINGLE LIFE

n A parliamentary committee is currently reviewing submissions to its inquiry into the ‘fly-in, fly-out’ (FIFO) workforce, and chair of the inquiry, Independent MP Tony Windsor, has said they have no idea what the outcomes will be. The Standing Committee on Regional Australia has been called to investigate the impacts on the mobile workforce, including concerns over “the loneliness of the FIFO bachelor”. Among the concerns which led to the inquiry, the parliamentary committee will consider access of FIFO/DIDO (‘drive-in, drive-out’) workers to healthcare, training, the impacts on families and relationships, the cost of housing, and anti-social behaviour from workers. A committee spokesperson assured that it had no preconceived idea of what the inquiry would find, and said “The Committee has a ‘blank sheet of paper’ – it has no pre-determined idea of what the outcomes of this inquiry will be, however we do know that we are looking at ideas to strengthen regional Australia and for longterm strategies for economic diversification in those towns that host large FIFO/DIDO workforces.”

IN BRIEF HC ONLINE

forum

Reference checking an essential recruitment <photo> ingredient Someone on the phone, looking pensive or waiting for a response

When applying for a rental property tenant history is methodically and ruthlessly checked – and with good reason. The same should be true of HR, yet careful reference checking has slowly been slipping away, according to recruiter Kelly Services. “It’s crucial that employers verify that the information presented on a candidate’s resume is factual, and reference checking is a great way to assess a person’s work ethic, reliability and personality traits,” said Penny O’Reilly, general manager, Kelly Services. Conducting reference checks can avoid the pitfalls of recruiting an unsuitable candidate, such as when someone has misrepresented themselves and their abilities. O’Reilly said effective reference checking is a skill in itself, and should never be overlooked. The challenge lies in getting the information you need without overstepping the legal boundaries, such as a person’s right to privacy. John Rawlinson, CEO Talent2, said despite some debate about the value of reference checking, “it’s all about the experience and expertise of the people who are taking the references and how they are actually used”. O’Reilly added that with the rise of social media sites, such as LinkedIn and Facebook, there is the temptation to check candidate profiles instead of making personalised reference check calls. However, she warned that a person’s online social

identity may strongly differ from their professional personality. Kelly Services has developed a four-tip checklist for reference checking: 1. Only deal with direct managers. Clearly establish the working relationship between the candidate and the referee. Previous managers and superiors are more likely to answer questions about working habits and capabilities rather than peers who may be friends with them. 2. Ask specific questions relating to the skills required for the job. • Performance: “Can you give me an example of the candidate performing x task?” • Behaviour and reliability: “Can you give me an example of how diligent and reliable the candidate was?” • Motivation: “Provide examples of ways the candidate was looking to learn/grow” • Technical skills: Make sure you ask questions that will identify the candidate has certain skills. Where possible, ask for examples to back it up 3. Avoid questions that could be considered discriminatory. These include questions relating to marital status, appearance, sexual preference, child care arrangements or health; unless you can demonstrate that they are an inherent requirement of the position. 4. Don’t ask closed questions. Don’t ask questions where a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer is provided. All answers should follow with a reason why.

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Readers’ comments LM on 18 Aug 2011 04:47 PM This is rubbish. Reference checks are known to have very low validity. I do it as a matter of course, but don’t put too much weight on what I hear. ROGER REIDY on 18 Aug 2011 05:25 PM A bit harsh LM – reference checking is a good idea and I would regard it as best practice if done well. In fact, I recommend to all of my clients the merit of independent reference checking, as the recruitment agency has an unavoidable conflict of interest in carrying out checks on their own candidates. RO on 18 Aug 2011 05:47 PM People are so transient these days that it is practically impossible to achieve a suitable outcome in reference checking. Remember, people leave managers not employers, and ex-managers have a habit of putting people down – whether it is warranted or not. COSTA MINA - Director, Reality Check Pty Ltd. on 19 Aug 2011 01:25 PM The key to reference checking is ensuring that the person or company doing the reference checks does not have an interest in the hiring outcome. It’s no different to allowing a real estate agent to carry out the building and pest inspections on a property they are selling. Independence is key. I hear it every day from our clients who place little if any value on the reference checks they receive from their recruitment agencies. References with previous direct managers conducted by a third party will always give the employer an outcome free of bias. ANDREW - MUSEUM VICTORIA on 10 Oct 2011 02:18 PM Reference checking should only be considered as another recruitment tool, albeit a very simple and outdated one. Recruiting managers should be putting more effort into other more reliable methods of assessment. Everyone knows what the underlying flaws of reference checking are (candidates who give favourite supervisors, work colleagues, friends and family as referees). The only way around this, as others have mentioned, is to be highly specific about your questions, NEVER ask open ended positive questions and never accept referees from employers that are not current.

FRONTLINE INTELLIGENCE

recruitment

Kate Henderson is a consultant in our Next Gen recruitment team in our Sydney office. For additional information call (02) 8256 2590 or email khenderson@thenextstep.com.au Website: thenextstep.com.au

Business Acumen – Here to stay! What do business leaders expect from their Human Resources function? We constantly hear the phrase, “strong business acumen required” for senior HR appointments but this is also increasingly the case for roles within the early HR career market. What does this mean for early HR career professionals is the main subject of this month’s Instep.

MODELS REQUIRE PARTNERING

With the introduction of the Ulrich model and “Business Partnering’’, HR functions now work alongside the business in building business efficiencies and profitability. Business acumen capability has never been more important for emerging HR professionals. There is, however, some confusion still amongst early HR professionals on what it means to have strong Business Acumen and how it can be developed.

BUSINESS ACUMEN FOR EARLY CAREER PROFESSIONALS

To explore the notion of Business Acumen for the early HR profession, The Next Gen, (the early and intermediate career specialists at The Next Step), facilitated a discussion between Katie McGrath, Head of HR at BMF Advertising and one of her key stakeholders, Jenny Calcott, Head of Creative Services. The premise of the discussion was to understand the expectations of HR from the business, and particularly for early HR career professionals. The discussion set out to encourage emerging HR professionals to realise the importance of business and commercial acumen and think about how they could build their capability in this area. Katie and Jenny also explored in their discussion the added value that the business expects from the function and how pivotal it is to ensure the HR initiatives are aligned to business strategies. 8

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There is a real need for early HR professionals to understand the numbers on financial statements It was evident from the panel discussion between the two leaders that, in their view, emerging HR professionals require a core commercial acumen skill-set in order to comprehend and evaluate business problems and solutions. They believe, just like experienced HR professionals do, that there is a real need for early HR professionals to understand the numbers on financial statements, as well as the strategies, decisions and actions that impact these and, at the least, be aware of them.

SETTING UP FOR SUCCESS

The audience at the discussion heard from Katie on how she, an experienced HR Leader, set herself up for success when she joined her new business, BMF Advertising. Katie explained how crucial the first 90 days in a new role were in building and demonstrating your understanding of the business for anyone in HR. Katie said, “the first 90 days is your chance to immerse yourself in the business completely”. She said understanding the management team’s vision and priorities were pivotal to developing a HR professional’s business understanding. She went on to say, emerging HR Professionals can build business knowledge by showing an interest and learning what every person in their business does on a daily basis, how it

links into the business objectives and their challenges and external pressures. As a senior Business Leader, Jenny spoke about what her expectations were from HR. Jenny explained that the key to HR’s success at BMF has been that Katie and her team have been able to demonstrate added value in making a difference to the profitability of the company. She explained that you need to have a strategic partner in your HR professional and every single KPI must link to the overall business (or business unit) strategy. Jenny indicated that Katie’s performance as a HR professional is measured against business revenue. Katie and Jenny provided some simple ideas on how early HR practitioners can go about building their commercial acumen which included: • Read the Australian Financial Review on a daily basis • Stay abreast of what is happening in the external market and to your competitors • Spend some time in a line or operational role if the opportunity arises • Build a relationship with the finance team and show an interest in business financials • Demonstrate an eagerness to learn about the metrics and how to measure and report things the way finance professionals do. Katie, said “by doing some or even all of these things, you are going to sound credible, and the closer you get to line managers, the better you will understand their business”.

FINAL NOTE

Clearly, HR Leaders encourage the early HR career professionals within their teams to continually be thinking about developing their business acumen. It’s up to early HR professionals to take up the challenge. It is becoming increasingly important for all levels of HR to demonstrate that all HR activities, programs and processes have a positive impact on employee productivity, revenue and profit and link to the overall business objectives.

MARKET MOVES

radar

Recent HR Market Moves Spotless has appointed Jill Adams as their National HR & Resourcing Manager for their Cleaning Division. Jill brings extensive experience within the retail, telecommunications, human capital consulting and finance sectors and was most recently the General Manager Human Resources for the Homewares Group of Pacific Brands. Nick Saunders has been appointed the National Workplace Relations Manager for POAGS. Prior to this role, Nick was the Divisional HR Manager & Senior Industrial Relations Advisor with Sydney Water after enjoying a successful seven-year career with RailCorp. Commonwealth Bank of Australia has appointed Melanie Laing as Group Executive Human Resources, reporting to the CEO, Ian Narev. Melanie commences in her new role in February 2012, having previously been the Executive General Manager, People & Culture with Origin Energy. Warwick Adams has been appointed the Global Remuneration & Mobility Manager for Xstrata Coal. Warren has most recently been the Principal of the Mercer New York Office. His previous experience includes senior remuneration and HR generalist roles within the insurance, banking & finance and legal sectors. Metcash has appointed Angela Howard as their General Manager Human Resources for the Group. Angela brings extensive HR management experience within the retail, telecommunications and hospitality industries and most recently held the role of General Manager Human Resources for General Pants Group.

Greg Blacker has joined AMP as their HR Specialist Team Leader. Greg brings extensive Employee Relations experience within both private practice and large corporate organisations and was most recently employed as the Manager, Employee Relations for the Direct Insurance division of Insurance Australia Group. Peter Olsen has been appointed Executive General Manager People, Safety and Environment at Thiess Pty Ltd based in Brisbane. Peter brings significant HR experience working in senior positions with Leighton Contractors and Bechtel in Sydney. Lend Lease has appointed Gerry Carr as their Workplace Relations Advisor of their Infrastructure Services division. Gerry has held senior level Employee Relations roles, most recently with Insurance Australia Group, Suncorp and Woolworths. VicSuper has appointed Jenni Lord to the role of Executive Manager People & Culture. Jenni brings extensive HR management experience within the financial services, media and consulting sectors and most recently held the role of Head of HR with Ansvar Insurance. Lumo Energy has appointed Sean Buerckner to the role of General Manager People & Performance. Sean joins Lumo after an extensive career at the Seven Media Group where he most recently held

the role of National HR Manager based in Melbourne”. Renato Marasco has joined GE Capital as Director of Workplace Relations & HR Compliance for Australia & New Zealand. Renato brings extensive experience across the industrial landscape having worked with industry groups such as AI Group and Vecci in addition to Coles Myer and Telstra. Renato has most recently held the role of Group Manager – Workplace Relations & Advisory with Skilled Group. Savoula Lidis has joined Kraft in the role of Talent and Organisational Effectiveness Specialist. Savoula joins Kraft from IBM where she most recently held the role of Learning and Organisational Development Leader; prior to this Savoula spent a significant period of time with PwC in their consulting arm.

By supplying Market Moves, The Next Step is not implying placement involvement in any way.

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FRONTLINE INTELLIGENCE

legal

Peter Doughman is a solicitor at Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, Employment & Industrial Relations Group (02) 9291 7100 codea.com.au

Developments in the Barclay Case – The Politics of Adverse Action On 2 September 2011, the High Court granted special leave for Bendigo TAFE to appeal the majority decision of the Full Federal Court in the matter of Barclay v The Board of Bendigo Regional Institute of Technical and Further Education [2011]. Until the High Court rules on the matter, the Full Court’s decision – handed down on 9 February 2011 – provides the most authoritative test for establishing proscribed adverse action under the Fair Work Act 2009 since the provisions came into effect in July 2009. In the Full Court decision, the majority (comprising Justices Gray and Bromberg) held that the TAFE engaged in proscribed adverse action against Mr Greg Barclay, teacher at the TAFE and sub-branch president of the AEU. The “spark” for the adverse action was the release of an email by Barclay to union members at the workplace which suggested that the TAFE was engaging in inappropriate practices by producing false and fraudulent documentation, and instructed members to resist any pressure to take part in these practices. The TAFE (unsuccessfully) defended its disciplinary action by arguing that Barclay’s email caused significant damage to the TAFE’s reputation, and that Barclay had breached the TAFE’s Code of Conduct by failing to firstly raise the matter with TAFE administration. In a decision that has given employers significant cause for concern, Justices Gray and Bromberg reasoned that “It is not the employer’s intent alone that matters in determining the reason for an adverse action... adverse action will not be excused simply because its perpetrator held a benevolent intent. It is not open to the decision-maker to choose to ignore the objective connection between the decision and the attribute or activity in question.” Put simply, an employer may be found to have 10

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For obvious reasons, producing evidence of the absence of a subjectively-held belief will be challenging for employers and decisionmakers engaged in proscribed adverse action against an employee even if the employer produces evidence that the action was taken for a legitimate, non-proscribed reason. In early November, following the granting of special leave, the Federal Government filed intervening submissions in the High Court relating to the appropriate test for determining unlawful adverse action. In its 14-page filing, the Government submitted that the true test applicable to the issue of liability is a determination of what ‘truly actuated’ the adverse action. The Government submitted that evidence from the decision-maker ought to be ‘centrally relevant’, but not necessarily determinative of the decision-maker’s defensive position, even if the evidence presented was accepted as honest or genuine. In the event that the Government’s submissions are accepted and/or the Full Court’s decision upheld, any action taken against an employee, where that employee

has previously exercised a workplace right, could render an employer liable under the Act. Given the reverse evidentiary onus applicable to adverse action claims, it may not be sufficient for an employer to produce evidence suggesting that the action was taken for an unrelated reason, even if the decision-maker’s evidence is legitimate and accepted. The employer will need to show that the proscribed reason (such as the exercise of a workplace right) could not be seen to have formed the basis for the action taken. For obvious reasons, producing evidence of the absence of a subjectivelyheld belief will be challenging for employers and decision-makers. As a result of the Government throwing its metaphorical ‘hat’ into the ring, many employers (and conservative critics of the Act) have concluded that the Federal Government seeks for the adverse action provisions to operate as widely as possible, to the detriment of employer’s management prerogatives over its workforce. Despite justifying its filing of these intervening submissions on public interest grounds, it appears that the Government has exposed its position as being in full-throated support of Mr Barclay’s (and employees’) protections over employers’ freedoms. No date has yet been fixed for the hearing of the appeal before the High Court, and beyond the general submissions provided by the Federal Government on the basis of public interest, there is much speculation as to the ultimate position that the Government will take in the hearing. Accordingly, industrial lawyers, businesses, unions and industrial organisations are holding their collective breath over the High Court’s decision, and whether it will clarify the test for adverse action or contribute more uncertainty to interaction within industrial relationships.

PROFILE KIM GARNER

my brilliant career

First-rate delivery Globally, FedEx is one of the most recognised companies for HR initiatives. Locally, the situation is no different. Human Capital interviews FedEx Express Australasia managing director Kim Garner about his own career and his company’s people offerings Human Capital: As MD of FedEx Express Australasia, what do you expect from your HR team? What skills and traits do you value highly in that team? Kim Garner: At FedEx, our people are the heart and soul of our business. This is why our founding PeopleService-Profit (PSP) philosophy is based on the premise that if we take care of our people, they will take care of our customers, and that will take care of our profit. This is why the HR team must be committed to fostering a strong people culture that helps our employees feel valued in the workplace. The team must be advocates of the FedEx philosophy – to lead by example and promote activities that support the FedEx philosophy and environment. We believe that our employees and the values they exhibit such as teamwork, determination and commitment are our biggest asset. It is their dedication to service excellence that gives us a competitive edge. I expect the HR team to exhibit these values so that they can inspire others to do the same. HC: Based on your work experience, what do you think it takes to succeed in HR? KG: From my experience, successful HR practitioners are people-focused. They must be advisors and experts on HR matters, providing innovative and valuable solutions and recommendations that are backed by facts rather than being expert administrators or ‘police officers’.

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HC: What advice would you give to graduates considering a career in HR? KG: My advice is to stay updated not just on the trends in HR, but also how communications channels are evolving. This way you will be able to use the right channels of communications to reach your audience effectively when you start your HR career. Also, as the world’s people and economies become more interconnected, it is important to develop a global perspective, so it’s important to gain exposure to different cultures and be sensitive to cultural norms. HC: FedEx has picked up numerous accolades over the years for its HR/people initiatives – including an Australian HR Award for employer of choice (>1,000) – why do you think the company excels in this area? KG: FedEx has consistently been recognised as an employer of choice in Australia, New Zealand, and globally for its people-first culture. The HR Award received last month is testament to FedEx consistency in creating an environment that makes FedEx such a great place to work for our employees. The key to FedEx success as the world’s largest express transportation company lies in its people. It is the commitment of FedEx to its People-Service-Profit (PSP) philosophy that is critical in making the company a great place to work.

Our founding People-ServiceProfit (PSP) philosophy is based on the premise that if we take care of our people, they will take care of our customers, and that will take care of our profit” – KIM GARNER

KIM GARNER ROLL OF HONOUR 1994: Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of Sydney, 1994 1990: Bachelor of Business, University of Technology, Sydney; Certified Practising Accountant (CPA), Australian Society of CPAs HCAMAG.COM 13

PROFILE KIM GARNER

my brilliant careerback Giving something

In November, 80 FedEx Express Australia volunteers joined celebrity chef Somer Sivrioglu of renowned Turkish restaurant Efendy to cook 1,000 meals for local charities at the OzHarvest ‘Cooking for a Cause’ program as part of the FedEx donation to OzHarvest. Over three hours, FedEx employees participated in four separate cooking stations where professional chefs including Sivrioglu briefed the volunteers and assisted in the food preparation and cooking. The menu for the evening included vegetarian spring rolls, quiches, roast vegetables, sausage rolls, cupcakes and good old fashioned Aussie rissoles.

OzHarvest not only delivers meals to those in need, but turns excess food into a resource and saves thousands of kilograms of food from being dumped as landfill each year. Australian households alone throw away roughly $5.2bn worth of food every year. It is estimated that close to three million tonnes of food per annum ends up in the rubbish. FedEx support of OzHarvest in 2011 will allow the charity to deliver 28,000 meals in the Sydney region, which will save over 9,000kg of food from ending up in landfill; over 18,000kg in carbon emissions; and over 1.3 million litres of water

Firstly, we encourage employees to excel and contribute. We do this by continuously looking at ways to ensure we provide the right environment for our employees to deliver the best service to our customers and be rewarded accordingly. Secondly, we believe in fostering a strong people culture and creating a supportive workplace culture that includes talent development. We have a strong focus in developing talent from within. In fact, 90% of the current FedEx Australian management team and more than 75% of the directors and managers in Asia Pacific have been promoted from within. Thirdly, we are a proud supporter of diversity, gender equality, mature workers and advancement of women in the workplace.

HC: How important is it to ‘build your own’ talent and what benefits do you think that brings to the company? KG: At FedEx we recognise that the personal and professional development of our employees is tied to our own growth and development as a company. FedEx has a long-standing practice of developing talent from within. We believe the long tenure of our team members and excellent industry reputation are both strong indicators that our culture is an integral part of our success. HC: What do you consider to be your biggest career achievement to date? KG: I’ve always enjoyed the area of change management, looking into business processes and systems, and optimising the way they work. This often involves working with people to understand the present, and then helping them find new and better ways. It can be quite challenging to get people to find new ways and to change, but also very rewarding at the same time to see them work through this process and come out the other end with their business and themselves better off. Between 2007 and 2010, I worked simultaneously across seven South-East Asian countries to implement a major operations project to upgrade courier, sortation, airport ramp and customer clearance operations. This process involved working closely with different cultures, various levels of management and frontline employees, introducing change, and then monitoring, coaching, consulting, and intervening where necessary to ensure full and successful implementation was achieved. The project met corporate expectations and achieved significant improvements in all countries. HC: What business challenges are top of your agenda for 2012 and beyond? KG: At FedEx, we connect the world in responsible and resourceful ways. Our long-term goals and progress in environment and efficiency are to reduce CO2 aircraft emissions by 20% for FedEx Express aircraft, and improve fuel efficiency by 20% for the FedEx Express

Career timeline: Kim Garner 1974–1983

Early roles: • Motor mechanic, Ansett Pioneer • Apprenticeship then tradesman on Ansett Pioneer coaches

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1983–1989

First management roles: • Fleet maintenance manager, TNT. Managed fleet maintenance workshops in Sydney, with over 1,000 vehicles, and was my first step into a people management role. • Information technology manager, TNT. Development

and implementation of midrange computer systems and change management • Operations manager/ national manager, TNT. Management of road transportation operations and then warehouse/distribution operations

vehicle fleet by 2020. We have achieved an 8.33% reduction-to-date against the 2005 baseline for aircraft emissions and since 2005, globally we have improved vehicle efficiency by 14.1% surpassing the halfway milestone towards our 2020 goal. One of the key business challenges is committing our business to high, measurable standards and applying our innovative spirit to make our business and the world more sustainable and efficient. Another business challenge is to ensure that we continue to provide the most flexible and convenient express transportation services for our customers in Australia. To achieve that, FedEx will continue to invest in our employees, listen to our customers, expand our services, and provide Australian companies greater access to global markets, especially emerging markets. HC: Describe yourself in a few key words? KG: I would describe myself as a determined, but understanding individual who is always striving for the best possible results rather than meeting minimum criteria. I am always on the lookout for the next frontier

1995–1998

Next step: State general manager, United Transport. Management of road transport and warehouse/ distribution operations, plus sales and admin functions

1998–1999

Next step: Logistics manager, Tech Pacific. Large warehouse development, plus integration of materials handling and complex computer systems in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry

and enjoy the challenge of overcoming it. I enjoy interacting with employees from across the different functions within FedEx, as well as meeting with customers and helping them with business solutions. HC: Do you have any role models? KG: My parents were my first role models. They ran their own transportation business and as a child and teenager, I learnt the values and benefits of a good work ethic, hiring good people, and then looking after them. Throughout my career, I have remembered what I learnt from my parents. I have also tried to adopt the good points I have seen in my various mentors, managers and peers along the way. Sport has also influenced me tremendously. Having played team sports most of my life, I’ve learnt that you have to be determined, train hard and be effective in a team environment. If things don’t go your way, you have to work out a better way of making your next game a winner – success doesn’t come easily. More industry profiles at:

1999–PRESENT • Senior manager, operations, FedEx. Oversaw courier, sortation, airport ramp, air linehaul and road linehaul operations • Senior manager, SPAC, FedEx. Upgraded courier, sortation, airport ramp and customs clearance

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operations simultaneously in seven countries (Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand) • Managing director, Australasia, FedEx. MD of Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific Islands

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2012 IN FOCUS COVER STORY

hr strategy

How to think

How can HR avoid incrementalism and embrace big ideas in 2012? Iain Hopkins investigates “Our key asset is our people.” It’s a sentiment that has been thrown around with abandon in corporate mission statements for many years now, but in 2012 employers will need to start translating those often empty words and slogans into action plans and strategies. Yet there is a problem: businesses in general – and HR specifically – have got it all wrong. For too long relegated to transactional roles, HR should actually be playing a major role in strategy. And 2012 is the year to make it happen. That’s according to Christopher Tipler, management advisor and author of Corpus RIOS – The how and what of business strategy. “My view of the HR director is that they really are – or should be – the CEO’s right-hand person. The reason for that is they should be central to strategy. Yet I think HR is underutilised in most organisations,” he says. 16

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and act

A FRESH LOOK AT STRATEGY

Tipler has a unique yet perfectly logical take on strategy that cuts through the white noise static: “Strategy is not just about ambition; it’s not just about what you want. It’s also about capability; how you get there. Ambition without capability is pointless – all you do is overpromise; capability without ambition is pointless – all you do is underdeliver. So there is this zone – what I call the zone of effective intent – where you are matching ambition with capability, and every single business without exception has got to get itself into the zone and stay there,” he explains. The question must then be how capability becomes operationalised. How should business leaders and HR specifically determine what capability is needed? Tipler suggests asking three fundamental questions: • What does winning look like? (a statement about ambition) • What do we have to excel at to win? (a statement about capability) • What does it mean to excel at that? (a further statement about capability) “Quite obviously those questions have enormous HR dimensions to them – they are very much about people

BIG and how they respond to those questions,” Tipler says. “Not only people as individuals but people as work groups, as functions, as divisions, as subsidiaries, and as corporations.” Tipler adds that if strategy is framed around that concept – which he believes is the only way to do it – it’s not hard to see that HR has a central role to play. “All sorts of issues will be raised when you ask what it means to excel,” he says. “It means that we must have a highly skilled, well trained direct sales force, for example. Whose job is it to do that? Obviously HR has a fundamental role in building that capability.”

DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

Tipler suggests that businesses will struggle unless they align desired commercial outcomes with the personal motivation of their people – and again, HR has a role to play. “The mission statement of the HRD is to do that, to align commercial outcomes with personal motivations because I think most companies are only getting 40–50% of the energy of their people. That is a strategic task and it’s linked directly to strategy with this whole capability question.”

Fiona Cole, HR director Yahoo!7

What have you done to encourage collaboration and innovation in your workplace? To me the diversity aspect is what makes us what we are and that’s important to the way in which Yahoo operates. We have different people from different backgrounds and views – and that helps us with creativity and innovation and how we approach things. As an example of how we use this diversity, we have what we call ‘hack days’. It’s a competition pitching team against team. Teams are given 24 hours to create whatever they want, to do whatever they want, to create something practical at the end of it. People will ‘hack’ together, so teams of engineers, product people, marketing people, sales people. We have a judging panel – usually the exec team – and people are given an opportunity to present their hack. The hack can go on to be something we implement in the company. For the last hack day we had, because we’ve got a lot of new people and they get confused about which meeting room is which, and where they are in the building, one group created a hack which showed in an interactive format where each room was and what was in each room so it could be integrated into our intranet.

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2012 IN FOCUS COVER STORY

HR hr strategy strategy Are HR professionals too divorced from commercial outcomes? Tipler believes a “chicken and egg” situation exists, whereby if HR has always been viewed as a support function, it will only tend to attract and recruit people into that function who have that background and disposition. If the role is viewed more strategically, it will evolve in that direction.

MISSING THE MARK

Tipler argues that companies are also incorrect in their assumptions about how to get the most out of employees. The work-life debate, he says, is misguided. “It’s the most ridiculous notion. What do you expect people to do? Park their knees under the table and give you 8-10 hours of concentration? And then go home and get their life back? If people really are the most important resource of business, we have to be able to meet their reasonable needs – and we have to understand what those reasonable needs are. These days that’s all sorts of things, but often it’s around engagement, fulfilment, recognition, involvement.” Tipler adds that it’s “extraordinarily motivating” for people to be involved in strategy, to understand what they’re supposed to be doing at work, and why. “In most companies if you go down two or three levels and ask people what the strategy is they wouldn’t have a clue. A critical thinking role for HR is to help translate the strategy into language that people at all levels understand,” he says.

HR AND VALUES

fast fact

There is also a crucial disconnect happening with corporate values. Tipler feels there is too much emphasis on values, drafting mission statements, and undertaking internal culture surveys, but “it amounts to nothing”. Most of these values are pointless statements nailed to a wall somewhere. “They have no force because they have no meaning; they have no meaning because they have no context. If you want something to have meaning you have to relate it to the decisions that people are going to make and the things they’re going to be doing every day. So values need to be transformed into principles. Again, that’s highly strategic and it’s the job of HR people to do it.” Tipler cites News Corp as an example. On the News Corp website there was a heavy emphasis on values, including speeches by Rupert Murdoch about the importance of values and integrity. Yet actions by some in the company over the past six months have demonstrated a significant disconnect. “It has no presence and it’s not aligned at all with the organisation; it could be anyone’s – it could be for BHP, or for Woolworths. What they should’ve done is develop principles relating to the types of decisions employees have to make. If you say: ‘we have to be really good at getting the news first but getting it without breaking the law’ – ok, that’s clear. What sort of rules would go with that? It gives you a whole set of principles that mean something to people.”

According to DDI, leaders in North America and Australia did not cite fostering innovation as one of the top three critical skills needed over the next three years. Asian leaders placed the biggest emphasis on innovation.

Leaders’ ineffectiveness in critical skills DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2011 asked 1,897 HR professionals and 12,423 leaders if they have what it takes to drive business success over the next three years. Unfortunately, they indicated they did not. When asked to rate their own effectiveness, 40% of leaders said they were ineffective in any of the top five critical leadership skills.

Driving and managing change Identifying and developing future talent Fostering creativity and innovation Coaching and developing others Executing organisational strategy

43% 43% 50% 43% 40%

0 10 20 30 40 50 % Ellie Hall, executive consultant, executive solutions group at DDI, comments: Organisations know they need to craft innovative solutions to address customer concerns that their products and services may be too complex, expensive, and slow to deliver. The pressure on leaders to analyse, experiment, and implement innovative solutions is tremendous because it’s increasingly evident that innovative organisations are more likely to succeed than those that stick to the tried-and-true. Leaders themselves don’t have to be highly creative to drive a culture of innovation. In fact, an innovation mandate is not met by teaching creativity to leaders. Instead, leaders need to set and model ideal conditions for

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innovation. They must support and promote a workplace culture that inspires and rewards teams for creating and implementing innovative solutions. To build a culture of innovation, leaders must address four critical obstacles: lack of stakeholder understanding, lacklustre ideas, aversion to risk, and failure to execute. When people question their assumptions about stakeholders, think differently about potential solutions, experiment in order to build the highest value solutions, and get things done so that solutions are brought to market, they begin to overcome the challenges to innovation. It’s the leader’s role to inspire curiosity, challenge assumptions, create freedom to experiment, and drive the discipline of execution. As leaders put these actions into place, they create a culture that encourages and rewards innovation.

COVER STORY

Dean Sappey, HR director, Frucor Australia

CSR presents another challenge for business. Tipler says sustainability is the prevailing paradigm for businesses in 2012 – but he adds that it’s “a pointless and meaningless paradigm”, unless it is internalised and aligned with driving revenue, lowering costs, empowering employees and motivating customers. “Businesses are there to make money; they’re not there to balance their bottom line with other stuff. If you don’t internalise the sustainability matter and make it a strategic matter, and align it to making money, it won’t wash. You’ll produce a lot of glossy reports about what you’re doing in the community and for the planet, but at the end of the day it won’t mean you’re becoming a sustainable organisation, because you’re really just window dressing.” Instead, Tipler suggests companies “walk the talk”, and align their people around serious sustainability objectives at “the very essence of the business”.

HR AND NEW IDEAS

So why are “silly ideas” like work-life balance or “meaningless” concepts like CSR so widely accepted? Tipler believes business is still stuck with 200-year-old thinking from the Industrial Revolution. “We sort of expect that people will come to work, park their knees

What advice would you give to others looking to build a culture that is open to innovation? Don’t race ahead to the solution mode, always having the answers. It’s not something we’ve been able to crack in a 12–18 month period; it’s more about firstly getting people to ask the right questions. Perhaps: “what would my work look like if I could do this?” or “how could we re-engineer this to get this result?” – so even the language used. I think the other tip is to create an environment where you’re not necessarily putting ‘buts’ into the conversation; you’re not saying, “but we can’t do this because of this”…perhaps try, “building on what you’re saying”. There’s a bit of collaboration that needs to go on, encouraged at all levels of the business.

under the table and we’ll give them some money and then they’ll go home. It’s such an outdated idea but we don’t realise it yet. It’s strange how new ideas, which are clearly the truth, take so long to get established,” he says. The first step to breaking old habits is to introduce a new idea and to get people committed to that new idea. From there, new behaviours follow. “We have to talk about how work-life balance is rubbish and how we can

2012 IN FOCUS

2012 IN FOCUS COVER STORY

HRstrategy hr strategy meet people’s genuine needs while at work. We have to talk about capability as the driving other half of the strategy. We’ve got to talk about sustainability as a strategic paradigm, which we’re then going to internalise and use to drive more revenue and lower costs, and empower our people and motivate customers. It’s a new conversation but the idea has to come first.” Of course, it’s difficult to think about new ideas or innovation when so few companies are thinking beyond the next 18 months. Where is the room for innovation when the horizon is 18 months? At essence, people are scared to look further ahead because they can’t plan. Yet Tipler says planning has nothing to do with scenarios and ‘the unknown’. “Planning has everything to do with knowing what winning looks like and then assessing capability. As soon as you say you can’t develop any scenarios because everything is so uncertain, you stop planning. Therefore you just meet your budget.” There’s another issue at play: powerful ideas, or the lack thereof. In a recent radio interview former Prime Minister Paul Keating was asked what he was scared of. He replied that he was scared of ‘incrementalism’, which he claimed kills everything. He added there’s got to be space for the big ideas, to dream the dream, to think of the new. Tipler says that people who are open to powerful ideas tend to be open to the new and innovative. Needless to say, these great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. Tipler cites an example from Toyota, where a worker on the shop floor mentioned that all the components

The HR director is really the CEO’s righthand person. The reason for that is they must be central to strategy – CHRISTOPHER TIPLER entered the factory on pallets, and were individually shrink-wrapped. He suggested that if they were packed in another way, they wouldn’t need to be shrink-wrapped. As a result, the company saved thousands, and made concrete strides towards their sustainability goals. The shop floor worker was “walking on air” over the fact that his idea was taken up and implemented. Good CEOs, who don’t necessarily have all the answers, will recognise that it’s their job to tap into the wisdom, knowledge and good habits of the entire organisation. “That’s what good strategy is all about,” Tipler concludes.

Christopher Luxford, president and country head, Aegis Australia

What are your thoughts on innovation in business? I don’t think companies innovate. Most organisations struggle with it. One, they don’t have an innovation process. And secondly, what they typically look to innovate is their product or their offering. If all companies in the world are doing that, you’re not really innovating. Innovation is about creating differentiation; if everyone is doing the same thing, how can you be different? There is innovation in other areas – in the business model, in the partnering network, the core processes, non-core processes, or you could innovate your brand or customer service. What I believe is we need to drive innovation internally, but also we need to help our customers innovate. We will be developing our own unique innovation process, and changing our focus; it will be on our customer’s business outcomes and how we can tangibly and directly achieve those outcomes. I don’t believe we are constrained by ideas; it’s the process of taking those ideas and commercialising them.

Tell me more about this innovation process We’re creating a brand new innovation process that will allow anyone in the organisation to put an idea forward, and have that idea evaluated in a fair and objective fashion – because we really do want to follow the fundamentals of meritocracy where the best idea wins. We then want to focus on execution – it’s all very well having a great idea but if you don’t execute it, it’s not innovation. So there’s an innovation process team, and a change management team so we can make sure we implement those ideas. We’re not going to execute every idea, and I think the key thing is, in very traditional command and control hierarchical organisations people tend to look to the executives and say, ‘the executives have all the ideas’. The problem is, as an executive, I can tell you I don’t have all the ideas. Many of our people, many of our customers and partners, have way better ideas than me. So it’s how we tap into that, how do we harness that, knowing that we won’t be able to execute them all.

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LEADERSHIP INSIGHT

top tips

The 3 Reasons

Training Fails to Meet its Long-Term Objectives What long-term objectives should we be looking for training to meet? Surely the key outcome should be a change in behaviour leading to increased effectiveness by a team member in their role, and if handled correctly, increased ongoing discretionary effort from that team member. The problem is – training won’t produce these results unless it has three key ingredients: 1. Trainee input 2. Manager input 3. A training program that is designed to meet both the trainee’s and the organisation’s needs Take the following scenario, which is very common in many organisations: A manager has decided for a variety of reasons that one of their team members has issues managing their time, so they approach L&D/HR and request that time management training be organised for this team member. The manager has raised the issue with their team member who replied: “I just can’t get everything done because the role requires the work of two people” or “I can’t concentrate properly in this open office” and so the manager has concluded that the problem is due to a lack of time management skills. The team member, however, doesn’t see it this way. As a result, the team member will attend training, but only because they have been told they must, and consequently they may not be open to many of the ideas presented in the training.

1. TRAINEE INPUT

Leonie CurtisKempnich Director Training and Course Development, Leadership Success (02) 80690370 lstraining.com.au

Adults do not respond to training that is imposed on them. Firstly, they need to be able to identify that there is a need for them to learn something. An open discussion needs to take place where all possible causes for the issues are examined. Then, if it is agreed that training is the answer, training should take place. The trainee should be attending training willingly and see it as an opportunity to develop skills that will not only improve their performance in their current role, but will also assist them in their future career aspirations.

2. MANAGER INPUT It is well documented that training will not be implemented unless managers are involved throughout the process. In the scenario above, once the team member has completed the training, the manager should ask what key things were learnt and will be utilised in their role. In other words, the manager needs to hold the team member accountable for implementing their learning. The manager also needs to take on a coaching role and assist their team member to use these newly acquired skills and techniques in their role ongoing. If this doesn’t happen, the team member will return from their training excited and motivated but will all too soon fall back into their old habits.

3. THE TRAINING PROGRAM NEEDS TO MEET BOTH THE TRAINEE’S AND THE ORGANISATION’S NEEDS Every organisation is unique and has its own strategies, processes, procedures and documentation. In addition, when a trainee attends a training course, they should be able to pick up the WIIFM. Sometimes a generic training course will fit the bill but more often than not, the course content needs to be tailored to suit the trainee’s learning style and training needs, as well as the needs of the organisation. So what are the ramifications for L&D and HR? Whereever possible, be the conduit to the solution, not the solution itself. If you identify that training is required, find out if the proposed trainee has had any input and if the manager is prepared to provide the ongoing support required. That way, the training will be relevant and tailored. If accredited training is what is required, set up a partnership arrangement with an RTO, so your internal trainers can deliver training that meets both the trainee’s and the organisation’s needs. If this isn’t possible, ensure that the external training is able to be tailored to your organisation – not just one size fits all.

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2012 IN FOCUS

HR priorities

g n i c n a l a B

ACT While Australia continues its ‘sit and wait’ approach to the uncertain global economic outlook, there are significant challenges closer to home which will require urgent attention – and HR will be at the forefront of providing solutions. Human Capital reports on HR’s top priorities in 2012

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The ‘two-speed’ or ‘patchwork’ economy has serious implications for HR – either directly for those professionals involved in operating at the two extremes of ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ sectors, or indirectly through the challenges associated with skills shortages, which run the gamut no matter the industry sector. Craig Mason, director of specialist HR consultancy The Next Step, believes that in reality there are three or four speeds in the economy. There are those sectors that are full-steam ahead and those that are really struggling, and probably two speeds in between. “Obviously, the resources and energy sectors are two that are high margin per employee and are doing well – therefore offering HR professionals the opportunity to work in strong growth and budget environments. Happy days!” However, Mason explains that while it is indeed “exciting times” for people working in those sectors, they employ a relatively small number of HR professionals as an overall percentage, compared to other sectors such as banking & finance, which takes up over 25% of the HR market. Furthermore, he suggests that HR professions without experience in those fast-track sectors may struggle to take advantage by swapping sectors. “Like all other industries, it can be hard to break in without experience. Resources companies prefer industry experience. HR professionals in other sectors will still be needed – a “rich HR experience” is always assured in a challenging business environment,” he suggests.

FORWARD PLANNING

Looking ahead to 2012 priorities, it is clear that all Australian companies will need to play a careful balancing act when it comes to planning their human capital resources and strategies. Does HR have a role to play in ‘stress testing’ the business for potential downturns in economic activity? Mason believes so, and is hopeful that lessons learnt through the experience of the GFC have not been forgotten. Many of those related to the role that HR played in partnering with leaders to drive business efficiency, but at the same time being the voice of reason. “Driving businesses to be in the best shape to deal with environmental challenges will be a critical role for HR in 2012,” he says. “As part of this role, HR needs to be forward planning and looking at contingencies that may need to be employed to deal with various business scenarios, working through the contingent liabilities that are present and developing required action plans for each.” Rob Bebbington, head of Mercer’s human capital business in Australia and New Zealand, says there is a delicate balancing act at play. “Against the backdrop of increased economic uncertainty, the human capital environment is becoming increasingly complex with

“Driving businesses to be in the best shape to deal with environmental challenges will be a critical role for HR in 2012” – CRAIG MASON companies needing to strike the right balance between building the workforce they need to grow and carefully planning for the risks ahead,” he says.

IR AND EXECUTIVE REMUNERATION

Two of the biggest challenges in business at present are HR issues. Alongside the impact of the economy, the highest profile agenda items for the Business Council of Australia are the IR landscape and executive compensation. It is odd then, that many HR professionals “stoically show little interest in these two big ticket business/HR issues”, says Mason. “Many HR professionals are more concerned with talking about OD strategies and don’t take their cues from the business world and the broader community who know exactly what HR issues are the most important at the end of 2011.” Mason suggests it is “like trying to dig for gold in a silver mine” – looking for interest in OD when there is an immediate and pressing need elsewhere. “There would be a large number of HR professionals who need to develop an opinion and be across the current debate about the issues in the Fair Work Act and the controversy surrounding the two strikes executive compensation clauses just so that they can re-assure their companies and, at the least, appear knowledgeable for credibility to their management teams,” he adds. The introduction of the two strikes rule, which effectively grants shareholders the power to force a vote for directors to stand for re-election should the remuneration report receive a vote of 25% or more against over two consecutive years, was one of the biggest changes affecting executive remuneration in 2011. The 2012 AGM season will mark the second time shareholders have had this vote. Companies should be planning now to reduce the likelihood of a two strikes vote by reviewing their remuneration strategy to ensure it aligns with the market and the internal business and talent strategy. HCAMAG.COM 23

2012 IN FOCUS

HR priorities Shareholders need to be engaged in the process and Bebbington suggests that HR has a role to play in educating the business leaders who perform this function. “The business strategy and progress updates that are regularly provided to shareholders should now also articulate the remuneration policy, and demonstrate how it is linked to business performance and ultimately helping the business to reach its goals. “They should ensure incentive plans are linked to the appropriate business objectives and payouts are aligned to strong performance, and should seek to engage with key shareholder groups to address any concerns. Although striking the balance between protecting commercial information and being transparent can be a challenge, this is one that companies will need to meet.” It is no surprise that in terms of job demand, workplace relations and the compensation space are the big ticket items for 2012 – yet Mason says that specialists in these spaces make up only 7% and 3% of the overall HR market. “The big challenge is that the percentage of these professionals is even lower in the early career market,” he says. “Companies have so thinned down their ‘centres of excellence’, there aren’t enough people in these specialisations in the early career market to meet market demand in the intermediate and senior markets. There isn’t enough talent being developed in these key areas and therefore simple demand and supply theory tells you that if demand exceeds supply, prices go up.”

ENGAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY

Australian multi-factor productivity growth has been negative over the last five years, a trend disguised by the income gains generated by the increase in the nation’s

terms of trade over the same period. Indeed, Australia’s two-speed economy has in some ways masked a deep-rooted problem that may only surface when the resources boom dries up. In Hay Group’s ‘Focus’ report, released in October, the topic of productivity was front and centre as a potential key driver of performance for Australian companies looking to compete with international high-performing organisations. In the report, Hay Group Pacific’s senior executives as well as industry experts and local business leaders provide a clear picture of how business leaders are trying to tackle the issue of productivity as a key factor to business growth, and attracting foreign and local investment. “Australian and New Zealand businesses are at risk of falling behind the productivity curve compared to the world’s best. Our engagement research shows that many companies in the Pacific lag behind the world’s leading organisations on key areas such as effective leadership, embracing innovation and rewarding great performance,” suggests Henriette Rothschild, general manager, Hay Group Pacific. For many years, companies across every industry have focused on improving employee engagement as a means of increasing productivity. Hay Group research from more than 400 companies globally has highlighted the combination of engagement and employee enablement as the missing link to productivity. On average, 15% of employees are engaged but not enabled, which ultimately leads to frustrations. “Growth in productivity is essential if Australian and New Zealand organisations are to stay competitive now

Hot HR technology trend Ari Kopoulos, national sales & marketing manager at EmployeeConnect, outlines a new concept creeping into HR technology: gamification Boasting a population greater than Greece, World of Warcraft subscribers spend hours each week grinding through 85 levels of quests, puzzles and dungeons. Why? Because it’s fun, engaging and has a real sense of reward and recognition. At first glance, you might ask what this has to do with the workplace. Fair call, but when you break it down into talents, learning, teamwork, strategy and leadership, you might think again. Welcome to gamification. Gamification is the application of game design theory to non-game applications to raise engagement levels. The concept

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itself is nothing new. In fact, the scouts have been employing its techniques since its inception. More recently marketing has been using it in programs to engage and maintain customer loyalty. It’s a hot topic for developers and, based on its current trajectory with social media, is set to redefine the way applications are designed. Its success lies in the psychological premise that people prefer to engage and learn by discovery, in something that is fun and rewarding, rather than through boring or complex tasks. Gamification elements can potentially be applied to any application to create fun and engaging experiences. These elements include avatars, levels, leaderboards, achievement badges, virtual currency and rewards. Once embedded, these elements expand the traditional economic decision-

making model of logic, supply and demand to include relationships, emotions and subjective feelings. By taking advantage of the psychological predisposition for engagement, users are converted into players, and offered a rewarding journey to mastery and autonomy. The trick for software developers is finding that sweet spot of addictive engagement, between anxiety and boredom, without compromising the business processes. So what can HR expect in the coming years? Visceral applications integrated with a virtual economy of reward and recognition and motivating the learning experience. Stay tuned.

and in the future,” Rothschild says. The nine drivers of productivity within Hay Group’s Productivity Framework include: 1. Clarity and direction Organisations that continue to clearly communicate their goals and direction, and are clear about their expectations of employees, are more likely to have strong engagement and better productivity. 2. Confidence in leaders The most significant impact on a team member’s ‘discretionary effort’ and their willingness to go the extra mile for the organisation is their view of their direct line manager. A key starting point for organisations wanting to raise productivity is to strengthen the capability and impact of their leaders on the team they manage. 3. Quality and customer focus Long-term substantial performance improvements can only come through examining fundamental organisational design change. That means a clear focus on what the customer wants and creating the most sustainable structure to meet customer needs. 4. Reward only the best – respect and recognition Organisations must learn to reward the best and manage all employees. That does not mean paying everyone more, it means better differentiating and identifying the best performing staff – and retaining them. 5. The ROI on reward – compensation and benefits Organisations that look at pay as an investment and view rewards as a mechanism, can stimulate employee performance for the longer term, in line with the strategy. Pay is one of a company’s strongest communicators of what is valued. 6. Performance management ANZ business leaders struggle with managing the link between individual and business performance. Performance management is a key lever in productivity and a great opportunity for local business leaders to drive organisational performance.

Hot talent sourcing and retention trend #1 Plug the leaky pipeline: make 2012 a year for action on retaining women Employers grappling with the challenge of workforce planning are potentially overlooking a very important group of employees who have the ability and desire to reach leadership levels, but lack the support they need. Research from Mercer refers to the phenomenon of the leaky talent pipeline, which shows that a disproportionate number of women drop out of the workforce at mid management levels, failing to progress to senior ranks. Women in leadership was a much talked about topic in 2011, yet despite the talk only one in four (26%) Australian and New Zealand companies have a

clearly defined strategy to attract and retain women long enough to reach senior leadership positions. 2012 is an opportune time for companies to take decisive action and gain a first mover advantage on providing programs that better support the talented women in the organisation. Mercer’s research shows women cite work-life balance, lack of executive sponsorship and insufficient breadth of experience as the main obstacles to advancing their careers to senior leadership. Meanwhile, flexible work arrangements, mentoring, coaching, and diversity sourcing and recruiting are the programs most valued by women.

helps the organisation achieve innovative breakthroughs in customer focus and process improvements. 9. Structure, work and process The biggest impediments to business performance are often internal – systems that are too complicated, too technical and lack transparency. A well designed organisation, however, recognises and often automates the key systems and processes to add value. According to Hay Group, most companies in Australia and New Zealand are still doing a lot better than their American or European counterparts in the broader economic environment. However, the differences between local organisations and the world’s best are clear and tangible. “Local organisations need to take advantage of the breathing space created by the current economic

7. Your workforce is critical – empowerment and authority Employees want empowerment and authority to act in the best interest of the organisation – having the confidence to let team members lead is a great way to unleash potential and performance. 8. Collaboration A more diverse workforce, well managed and enabled can unblock performance and strengthen collaboration that HCAMAG.COM 25

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HR priorities Hot talent sourcing and retention trend #2 Address the needs of the fastestgrowing employee segment: older workers More than one in five workers will be aged 55 or over by 2012 and the biggest increase in labour force will be amongst older females (60+). However, research from Mercer’s 2011 What’s Working survey has found older workers are feeling left out of career development opportunities, with only 40% of 55–64 year olds feeling they have sufficient opportunities for growth and development. In addition to opening up greater career opportunities for Australia’s

older and experienced workers, employers need to think ahead and enforce adequate succession planning as Baby Boomers begin to edge towards retirement age in the coming years. HR directors/leaders need to look at where their older employees are best placed within the organisation – and where their skills and experience can be shared and optimised to prepare the next generation of leaders/ managers.

condition by acting now. They need to unleash the potential of their employees by enabling them for optimal productivity,” says Rothschild.

LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES

The two-speed economy translates to a two-speed workforce. Companies in the high growth resources and mining sector are still intending to hire, but are finding it hard to come by the skills and talent they need. At the other end of the spectrum, the retail and manufacturing sectors, which are being squeezed as consumer confidence weakens, are losing valuable staff as they manage amidst ongoing economic uncertainty. This presents an opportunity for companies in high growth sectors or industries. These employers need to review their hiring strategy and consider potential employees who have skills that can be transferred and developed with training. This will help to alleviate pressure felt in other sectors and open growth companies up to a potential new talent pool.

The next step in HR’s evolution is to move from being efficient to being more effective – and the key to that is analytics 26

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ANALYTICS AND WORKFORCE PLANNING

Australian companies are in a precarious position when it comes to predicting and planning for voluntary turnover. Employees are starting to make ‘some noise’ about leaving their jobs, and there are indications that voluntary turnover is on the rise again. Data gathered from Mercer’s What’s Working research from early 2011 found four in 10 Australian workers are seriously considering leaving their employer. This signals a challenge for employers; if the economy shows signs of strong performance in 2012 employers can expect to see employees reviewing their career options and looking at external opportunities. If the future still looks wobbly, employers should avoid making any knee-jerk reactions or risk losing people who will be integral to growth in the medium term. Whatever the economic outlook, it is a timely reminder that companies should have effective workforce planning in place with strategies to attract, retain and develop key employee segments and top performers. Robert Yue, vice president at SuccessFactors, suggests that many Australian companies are falling down in this area. He says that employers need not just better data but also better information on their employees. However, their technology systems are not up to the task. “When you look at systems on the open market – like LinkedIn – people are willingly putting information on these sites – why? They want to market themselves. Yet compare that to corporate systems and they don’t have that,” he says. “When we hire someone we get the CV, we spend time talking to them, we try to understand what their aspirations are, what their career goals are. Yet when they come into a system, most organisations today capture the basic stats – name, DOB, gender, tax file number – and the rest is wasted; the person is reduced to a number.” The nature of succession planning has also changed, and companies need to be adapting their career path opportunities for employees. “Many people these days are relishing the opportunity to gain more experience,” says Yue. “That can be through an overseas posting or it might be through an opportunity to job share or do some assignments or something different. Just knowing the opportunity is available to them is still such a challenge to organisations. We talk about succession planning but often when I talk to people and have a career conversation, the immediate question is ‘what’s available? Where can I go?’.” HR can facilitate career development planning by not just opening up jobs on a jobs board – that is fairly

commonplace – but identifying what are the skills and competencies required to do a particular role. Yue explains: “As an employee they can see, okay if I want to be the CEO these are the things I need to do: I need this type of experience, I need to have spent X amount of time doing certain things. In many organisations that’s not well articulated or well defined.” The next step in HR’s evolution, Yue says, is to move from being efficient to being more effective – and the key to that is analytics. Although the relevant analytics will vary according to industry and organisation, Yue says that analytics “help managers to identify what the reality is, verses what the myths are”. Yue cites the mining industry. A huge challenge exists for employers in that sector around being able to identify the key roles and the risks around those roles. For example, a critical role may currently be filled by someone who’s about to retire. How can the company use analytics to identify and plan for that ahead of time? “The skills these people have in these key roles – it’s not something you can just go out and hire for tomorrow. You really have to have a plan a year or two in advance looking at whether to train up

someone in advance to fill that role, or train several people, or perhaps look in the marketplace to find someone with similar capabilities, maybe in competing organisations. Analytics gives you that insight,” he says.

KEY SKILLS

Both Bebbington and Mason believe 2012 will be about being ‘agile’: Bebbington suggests that HR needs to have strategies and timely solutions that align with the business strategies to respond to a range of scenarios. However, he adds that there are also plenty of opportunities that businesses can tap into to enhance the skills and talent within their business. Mason suggests that in all business cycles, the key skills for HR are the ability to manage relationships, to execute change for customer groups, and also to influence key decision makers. “From a technical skills perspective, a real understanding of the business and what impacts the current economic cycle may have on areas such as sales and being ahead of the curve will be crucial,” he concludes.

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2012 IN FOCUS

skilled volunteering

Learning to give, What form will corporate volunteering take in 2012? Kate Aubusson explores what one company is doing to help those in need, while also keeping its own staff engaged

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Volunteering conjures up images of businessmen and women swapping their suits for overalls to plant trees and serve soup, but there is another option which has emerged over the past two years and is set to gain even further traction in 2012. Why not volunteer industry knowledge and well-honed skill sets? Skilled volunteering enables employees to put their best business assets to good use, enriching the not-for-profit sector with their own expertise. Over the last few years CSR initiatives have flourished. Organisations are becoming increasingly involved in innovative and sustainable volunteering programs, from grand-scale corporate partnerships to individual collaborations between employees and the social welfare

campaigns with which they feel a strong connection. At last count 5.2 million people (34% of the Australian population) participated in voluntary work, contributing 713 million hours to the community, and skilled volunteering is gaining momentum. For the National Australia Bank, ‘momentum’ is right. Working with community groups across Australia, NAB’s volunteer program has grown 100% over the last three years with 15,839 volunteers taking part in 2010-11. Natalie Howard, NAB’s manager of corporate volunteering, community & corporate responsibility, credits the program’s success to the ingenuity of employees and an economic climate bruised by the lingering effects of the GFC, which has made volunteers all the more willing to bring lasting change to communities in need. “If volunteering was ever going to get up now’s the time,” Howard says. “We can create an environment that allows our employees to go and do great work in the communities.”

BENEFITS TO COMMUNITIES

While NAB offers employees more traditional forms of volunteering like planting trees and working in soup kitchens, the skilled volunteer pool is growing. “Serving a meal is fairly transactional, whereas with skill-based volunteering you get to know the organisation, you get to know the people and you become part of that organisation,” Howard explains. “The more that volunteers engage in their communities the happier they are. We have people developing business plans for NGOs, writing policies and streamlining systems.”

“Our philosophy is that 70% of learning is done through experiential education or on-the-job training. Skilled volunteering is a perfect fit.” Skilled volunteering offers both personal development and practical experience. “It’s around awakening their social conscience. The volunteer program has given employees the opportunity to explore the challenges that other people have in our own communities,” Howard says. HR plays a vital role in the development and integration of skilled volunteering to ensure these types of programs are a good cultural fit and fosters professional development. NAB’s people and culture department links skilled volunteering with the employee’s individual development plan (IDP). “They’re getting an opportunity to increase their own skill set, [including] adaptive leadership skills, resilience skills, communication skills and understanding as they work in unfamiliar and challenging environments that could not be farther from the large corporate of NAB,” Howard says. “Internally we assess our staff, as most organisations do, annually. We have found that employees involved in CSR – and volunteering is a big part of that – are much more engaged than employees who have not participated.”

THE PROGRAM

Employees and community groups access the NAB volunteer program via a website. “It’s essentially like seek.com,” Howard says. “Community groups can fill out the online volunteering or skilled volunteering template

not just receive Traditional volunteering might see staff taking a couple of days out of the office to work hands-on with an NGO, but skilled volunteering is often a long-term commitment. The prospect of working with a community group has not deterred staff, with 15% of NAB volunteers choosing skilled volunteering posts. The merit of the program is undeniable; NAB estimates the value to community groups is just over $6m.

BENEFITS TO STAFF

Community groups are not the only beneficiaries. The relationship is very much reciprocal. “Staff go out into community organisations to transfer their skills, but it’s not just one way,” Howard explains.

and outline what kind of assistance they require.” HR performs its due diligence to ensure the group is not-for-profit, has volunteer insurance and service a social need in the community. The team then posts the opportunity on NAB’s internal volunteer planner. Last year NAB advertised over 17,000 volunteer positions on the planner. Staff can then search for opportunities that best suit their interests and skills. Think of it like applying for a job. Howard explains: “Say there is an opportunity to write a business plan for the next financial year and I had those skills. I would click on that opportunity and I would register my interest. Just because you register does not mean you are going to get the job.”

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skilled volunteering Because skilled volunteering requires a higher level of commitment it is crucial community groups are matched with volunteers who not only have the right skill set, but share the values of the organisation. NAB staff are offered a minimum of 16 hours volunteer leave per year, but skilled volunteering can take much longer than 16 hours. “Writing a communication strategy would take something like 40 hours,” Howard says. “But staff know that if a volunteer opportunity could potentially take 50 hours, and is in line with their IDP, they can sit down with their team leader and discuss workable options.”

SKILLED VOLUNTEERING IN PRACTICE: NAB AND JAWUN

For the intrepid employee, skilled volunteering offers a deeper level of immersion. On volunteering secondments, volunteers break out of their comfort zones and challenge not only their professional adaptability, but their preconceived notions of life for communities dealing with social inequality. Jawun is an Indigenous support organisation that works with major corporations to supply Indigenous community projects with skilled volunteers to spearhead capacity building. Fiona Page, NAB people and culture business partner VIC/TAS, spent five weeks volunteering

The merit of the program is undeniable; NAB estimates the value to community groups is just over $6m

people were getting, what we needed to transition them to and then drew up employment contracts for the team. From there it grew into developing a range of basic HR policies and procedures for them to use going forward. Everything from annual leave policies to performance management.” Page added to her own skill set by documenting broader business policies including the process used to admit women to the refuge. “A lot of that was just in their heads and they operated fairly well, but as the team continued to grow it was becoming problematic,” Page explains. “At the end of my time there they had a handbook of policies and procedures that they could update and build on as they needed to, and they all had employment contracts.”

CHALLENGES

When the focus is capacity building, but the schedule is tight, it is a balancing act to get instruction versus implementation correct. “It’s the classic consulting conundrum,” Page confirms. “How much time do I spend with the individuals taking them through what is really some dry stuff, versus doing it for them and hoping they carry on later?” “Some of the policies and procedures will not really be tested until they have to be used. It would have been nice to stick around a little bit longer and see them embed that.” For Page, her placement was an opportunity to work towards her IDP. She wanted to experience, in some small way, life in a rural indigenous community and see, first-hand, the deplorable issues they face. “I got to learn a lot about what some of our indigenous communities have to deal with, unemployment and domestic violence in particular. It was really eye opening for me,” Page says.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT as the HR manager for the Gawooleng Yawoodeng Aboriginal Corporation in the East Kimberleys, a women’s refuge that provides crisis accommodation and support for women and children escaping domestic violence. “To me it was a fantastic opportunity to apply my skills in a context that is completely different from my norm,” Page says. “It was about testing myself and learning about our indigenous population, learning about being able to influence people, and being influenced myself.” As an HR expert, Page’s first priority was to apply the new state award to all employee contracts. “None of their employees had employment contracts,” she says. “I had a look at the new award, what benefits

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The vehicles for professional and personal growth can be as unexpected and unfamiliar as the experience itself, as Page discovered. “One thing that was really impressed upon me was how important it is to understand where an individual is coming from. Particularly with Indigenous people, they always want to know ‘where are you from?’, ‘who’s your mob?’, ‘what’s your story?’. “In the broader context of larger corporations, it is important to understand where somebody is coming from,” Page says. “What’s their basis, where have they been in their career, how has that impacted where they are now and what strengths do they bring to their current situation? That is something I will continue to reflect on and implement with my own team.”

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2012 IN FOCUS

teambuilding

WORKING

AS ONE Time for teambuilding! Cue rolled eyes, general cynicism and disengagement. What’s gone wrong with this much maligned corporate specialty, and can it be revived?

Talk to any office worker and there’s a fair chance they’ve had a memorable teambuilding experience. The only problem? It may have been memorable for the wrong reasons. From disastrous paintball mishaps to yawn-inducing motivational speeches from B-grade celebrities, the corporate world has been enamoured with teambuilding for decades. Unfortunately there are some fundamental problems with this. As a recent online survey by RedBalloon (see box on p34) reveals, the top 10 reasons why people loathe teambuilding points to a fundamental confusion on both the purpose and execution of many of these events. “Fundamentally we haven’t been doing it correctly,” confirms Matt Geraghty, general manager for corporate, RedBalloon. “It’s one of those things that people think is quite easy to do but there are so many factors to take into consideration and if it’s run poorly or incorrectly or doesn’t have an outcome or goal in mind, then definitely it does not work.” Indeed, RedBalloon’s survey indicates that a hefty three-quarters of people have had average or very poor teambuilding experiences – “a pretty damning indictment”, Geraghty suggests. Cathryn Lloyd, principal, Maverick Minds, agrees that the idea of teambuilding has had a bad rap. On the other

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hand, based purely on the number of people who want to participate in teambuilding (82% of respondents in RedBalloon’s survey were eager to participate in more of them), and knowing how successful these types of events can be, it’s something that business leaders should be aiming to get right. “Fundamentally the idea of teambuilding is about relationship building, communication, and helping groups to engage and interact with each other more effectively,” Lloyd says. “That’s quite a mouthful to say in some respects and so it’s easy to fall back on simplistic terminology. There are a range of processes that a facilitator or group leader may draw on to support a team in working more effectively. In some instances people might find themselves involved in ‘teambuilding’ experiences and the context and purpose hasn’t been made clear. What is really required is an organisational culture that regularly supports and encourages all the things effective teambuilding has to offer.”

REINVIGORATING AND RENEWING

Reinvigorating teambuilding requires a bit of imagination – and lots of commonsense. Lloyd suggests going back to basics: experiences need to be meaningful for people, they need to understand why they are being involved –

TOP TEAMBUILDING TIPS Set goals, be organised and manage expectations Do your research and set a budget Communicate a sense of excitement Get out of the office Get help and consider bringing in the experts Consult – know your people and what they like

Ponch Hawkes

Challenge people Avoid clichés Circus Oz’s High Flying Teams: successfully demonstrating teamwork at its best.

Consider using a theme to make it memorable Have fun! Source: RedBalloon

2012 IN FOCUS

teambuilding TOP 10

things people loathe about teambuilding

Participants who don’t play along ruin it for others

No fun!

Badly organised or facilitated

Time wasters

No clear purpose or intent behind the event

Personal embarrassment

7 Tired and clichéd 8

People working in cliques

Not during work hours

Managers not participating Source: RedBalloon

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the context, the purpose, and focus. “Getting the team/group involved in the decisionmaking is an important consideration,” she says. “That way people have a sense of ownership over the experience and possibly the process rather than feeling imposed upon. It’s about identifying what the group may need. What is it that they are trying to achieve? What are the goals and purpose of the group? Who are the group? This may be obvious or may require some deeper exploration which a teambuilding process can help uncover.” Geraghty echoes this approach, drawing parallels to how reward & recognition (and so many other things) are now approached in the modern workplace. That is, it’s crucial to know what drives individuals. In that sense, employees are the new customers, and they therefore demand a much bigger say. “If you’ve got a broad group they will have very different interests, different ages, cultures, and a different idea of what fun is. It goes back to getting people involved in the decision-making process of what an event looks like. If you’ve got a group that is very much aligned you can find something that you know will float their boat and you’re onto a winner. If the groups are broader it will be challenging to find something that appeals to everyone, so that becomes a challenge for managing people’s expectations,” he says.

WHY BOTHER?

Apart from the obvious – helping people work more effectively together, breaking down silos, having a bit of fun – what other benefits can effective teambuilding programs create? “It depends on what the main purpose is,” says Lloyd. “However, one of the main benefits would be in relation to building relationships and trust. It’s about having the opportunity to see your colleagues in a different way and to make human connections. Done well, people get the chance to gain some insights about themselves and the people they work with.” Welcome side-effects of this might be the building of rapport and creation of a sense of cohesion. If the focus is about building robust relationships, part of that will involve understanding conflict, which is often inevitable, and not necessarily a bad thing, particularly for innovation. Well-facilitated teambuilding can also assist when teams are in trouble, perhaps when they are working on some challenging issues or exploring a change that might be taking place. Or they may simply have dysfunctional elements due to

“People were given the opportunity to move beyond their comfort zones, which can be uncomfortable. Is that such a bad thing? Ultimately that is where the learning really begins for everyone” – CATHRYN LLOYD personality clashes or lack of cultural fit. This inevitably throws up challenges for everyone involved – including the facilitator. Lloyd recalls one time when she was working with a group and it came to a point where she felt she wasn’t able to provide value to them. “I felt that they needed information that I couldn’t provide. It wasn’t my role to be providing them with the sort of information they seemed to need. In the end, a couple of key people in the group basically said ‘we

have all the information we need, what we now need is to develop our creativity and the confidence to do things with the information we have’. It was clear in their minds that what I was offering was exactly what the group needed.” Lloyd discovered she was assisting them to work in another way, by doing things they didn’t normally do, and by facilitating different conversations. “People were given the opportunity to move beyond their comfort zones, which can be uncomfortable. Is that such a bad thing? Ultimately that is where the learning really begins for everyone,” she says.

TEAMBUILDING AS PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

The definition of L&D has broadened in the past decade to include not just traditional classroom and on-the-job learning but also e-learning and wiki-style peer learning. Can teambuilding also be utilised as a development tool? Lloyd believes so: “Why shouldn’t time spent building relationships, and understanding and gaining greater awareness of what it is our colleagues do, and how we can work more collaboratively to support each other, not be seen as professional development? Teambuilding incorporates a range of things that fit comfortably with the notion of professional development.” Gabriel Edwards, business development manager at Circus Oz’s High Flying Teams (HFT), adds that effective teambuilding starts with an individual team member getting to know a bit about themselves – their strengths, gaps, styles and preferences. This self awareness is then useful as the team comes together, combining its individual strengths and styles to reach a goal, develop a widget or overcome a challenge. Effective teams have members who know themselves and each other. For example, the circus activities provided by HFT can start at an individual level and then expand to a group. Edwards explains: “Individual challenges provide insights into a person’s response to challenge and to risk and uncovers qualities and strengths that might have previously been unclear. The activity then builds, requiring individuals to work together on an unfamiliar challenge – a challenge that can only be achieved if the whole team works together and everyone is in it for each other. For a group of people to deliver a humorous juggling act that concludes in a human pyramid, every individual needs to develop a certain level of individual skill and insight about themselves to play a valuable role in the final act.” Given skilled facilitation and debriefing, HFT enables individuals to reflect and learn valuable things about themselves and their contribution. “When a team finally performs a new set of skills – eg, a human pyramid, a humorous group juggling act or a high flying trapeze act

Fresh approach: Circus Oz’s High Flying Teams There’s a place for every kind of person in the circus, from big and strong to small and flexible, and funny and technical to weird and wonderful, says Mike Finch, artistic director, Circus Oz. High Flying Teams (HFT) immerses all types of teams in the non-competitive collaborative world of circus activities, allowing teams to take a new look at often over-used and unappreciated concepts like trust, support, mutual goals, collaboration, strengths, self awareness, fun, innovation and achievement. In a circus, performing without these qualities is not an option. “We’ve consulted widely with employers and employees about their teambuilding experiences, and what

they want is an experiential learning process with good solid facilitation to link it back to their workplace, so that’s what we do,” says Gabriel Edwards, business development manager, HFT. The other feature of HFT that is a departure from many other teambuilding products is “a sense of irreverence and humour,” says Edwards. “Circus Oz is an organisation with a very strong history and culture renowned for stretching boundaries and raising difficult issues in an authentic and humorous way. This is evident in our approach to HFT clients. It can be challenging on many levels, but it’s safe and it’s fun!” For more information, visit circusoz.com

– the sense of satisfaction for individuals and the team is extreme… and there’s a huge amount of laughter along the way,” Edwards says. It’s not one-size-fits-all, either. HFT is modelled around the enduring basic truth articulated in the 1960s by Bruce Tuckman, that all work teams experience distinct recognisable phases throughout their life: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning. Using a deep pool of circus experiences and activities, HFT offers teambuilding programs to effectively explore and address each of the key phases experienced by teams and move them towards high-flying performance. Within this structure, HFT also has the flexibility to tailor a program to each organisation’s unique needs and issues. Two new programs – Surviving and Thriving Through Change, and Leading Teams (a program for new team leaders and managers) – offer further skills to teams requiring these components. “There are seven key programs on offer, all with the flexibility to be tailored to our clients’ needs. Some clients might come to us to move a team from one phase to the next, while others might come to us at the beginning of a team’s journey and we work with them over a period of time to help them become a high flying team,” Edwards explains. Typically a HFT program will be 1–2 days long or involve a number of one-day sessions scheduled over a 12-month period.

SELF AWARENESS

Lloyd adds that her teambuilding experiences are not about passive learning: in some way or another, people make a conscious decision to get involved or not.

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teambuilding Fresh approach: Maverick Minds The ethos of Maverick Minds is about engaging the hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits of people in a process of inquiry; a process that Cathryn Lloyd, principal, calls Artful Inquiry. Maverick Minds draws on a range of creative arts-based processes to facilitate inquiry and learning. The experiential arts-based learning processes are used as catalysts to move people out of their normal working constraints and enable people to gain different insights. Different creative processes (such as using and making images, creating artefacts, embodied processes like human sculptures, and others) are used strategically to assist groups to expand

their creativity, develop ideas, address challenges, and find opportunities. “Arts-based creative processes provide a foundation for looking at and discussing work-related issues from a different perspective,” says Lloyd. “It encourages a different type of conversation and storytelling. It’s an emergent process in many respects. You never really know what is going to happen as it draws on the creative potential of people and that is where the richness lies.”

For more information, visit maverickminds.biz

“In the first instance, some people may be hesitant but I’ve never seen anyone not get involved in some way and they always have that choice. While some people do find it challenging most people enjoy the opportunity to be hands-on and it really is amazing what the level of work is and the discussions that come from it,” she says. Lloyd suggests that even a statement such as “I’m not creative” is something worth exploring. “When we make those sorts of comments we are certainly saying something about ourselves as well as limiting our potential. I’ve heard people say about their colleagues how creative they are and more so than I thought. It’s interesting they can acknowledge other’s ability and possibly not see their own. It allows them to see their colleagues in a different way. What is fundamental is that creativity is available to us all. I’ve certainly had people ‘let themselves go’, while others have been a bit more tentative. Sometimes the learning is not immediately evident – ‘aha’ moments often come later.”

BRINGING IT BACK TO THE OFFICE

It’s all very well having team members laughing together in the controlled environment of a teambuilding session, but what happens back in the workplace? Is that gap difficult to bridge? “I’ve had a few people say it’s one thing doing this in a facilitated environment and it’s another trying to do it ‘back’ in the workplace,” says Lloyd. “Part of my role as a facilitator is to help people make connections from the process to enable the transfer of learning from the experience into another context. Learning through creative processes provides people with very unique experiences that they can reflect on and use as metaphors

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for discussions later on. If people have made artworks they will often have the artwork around them in their office. I know in a number of instances they have become aid memoirs for remembering the discussions and ideas that took place. They often serve as a conversation starter. It allows people to easily reconnect to a creative and, sometimes, challenging time.” The key often lies with the facilitators’ skills. The HFT performers and trainers, for example, who take participants through the learning process whether it be juggling, flying or balancing, pride themselves on being gentle and patient with a slight dash of irreverence. “It’s due to this style of coaching that inevitably makes even the most anxious or cynical participant feel safe to let go and join in the fun and challenge,” says Edwards. “This wouldn’t be possible without the performer/trainers creating such a physically and emotionally-safe environment.” The facilitator must be skilled enough to debrief an experience and draw the link back to a work team’s reality – that is, answer the questions: ‘why are we doing this?’ and ‘what can I take from it to improve our team experience and performance?’ Otherwise, Edwards warns, “the experience is quickly lost and people are left wondering things like, ‘why did we go white water rafting when our colleagues are being retrenched?’ ”

ROI

Finally, ensure there are at least some sort of meaningful ROI stats. If the goal was to break down silos, Geraghty suggests, organisers should find ways to report on improved communication flow or certain projects getting over the line faster, or obtaining quicker buy-in. “There are metrics for each business and each objective, but putting a financial ROI on it might be a challenge; however, there would certainly be softer measures that businesses could use,” he says. Placing teambuilding in a larger landscape of organisational, team and self-leadership provides a sound place to evaluate its contribution to each of those areas. Integration with other programs and efforts to recognise, address and reward performance and leadership development is also good commonsense, Geraghty confirms. Like all ‘training’, the three top things that ensure teambuilding ‘training’ delivers ROI are: • Ensuring leadership set clear objectives for the training and that they define expected outcomes • Ensuring leadership communicates their expectations to HR, vendors and employees, including management involved • Ensuring there is follow-up and work contextualisation using such tools as project work, de-briefings, suggestion schemes and feedback mechanisms (focus groups, team meeting reviews, and so on).

Fresh approach: Team Media Team Media brings teams together to produce a short film on a subject that is relevant to their business, whilst learning and implementing collaborative and creative skills, strategies and mindsets. At the end of the program the teams will have produced a meaningful film (such as ‘a day in the life of the organisation’s key charity’ or ‘how our new product will benefit our customers’) that has an ongoing life. The progressive process is run by a unique combination of facilitators – Adrian Heath (corporate facilitator with 15 years’ experience working with high level executives in leadership, teambuilding and culture change programs), and Larry Meltzer (film producer and director with over 30 years’ experience in film and television).

Heath notes that two ‘corporate buzzwords’ – innovation and collaboration – can be enhanced through the Team Media experience: “Film-making is, by its very nature, a collaborative (people combine their efforts to build a greater result) and innovative (new successful ideas) venture. “Team Media collaborates closely with the client to support the culture-building process and customise the program to enable the participants to learn and demonstrate the exact behaviours required by the organisation’s new culture,” says Heath. Heath provides a recent example: an international advertising business required its teams to clearly demonstrate the new company values as they made a film about one of their new products.

This helped the staff to understand the meaning of the new values (which included innovation and collaboration), not just in words but also in actual behaviours. These behaviours were then successfully transferred to the workplace.

Because the teams required leaders, they also got to learn how a chosen leadership style can either encourage or discourage collaboration and innovation. For more information, visit teammedia.com.au

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EXPERT INSIGHT

OHS

Safety first Ros Burke says the management of safety should be handled in the same way employers manage their finances

Ros Burke is a senior consultant within the Workforce Risk Solutions division of Aon Hewitt

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Risk perception is based on a number of factors including a person’s age, how voluntarily a risk is taken, how commonly the risk is encountered and how controllable the person thinks the associated hazard is. It is generally accepted that younger people find risk more acceptable and that people underestimate risks they encounter on a regular basis. The second factor is particularly relevant to workplace safety and has been a factor in many disasters, deaths and injuries. When talking of workplace risk, accountability of stakeholders is an important consideration. For managers, the further they are personally removed from the risk, the more likely that competing priorities will alter their perception of risk. For workers and direct supervisors, the proximity to a frequently occurring risk can dilute the perception of that risk. We are all aware of the major rail disasters in Australia’s history such as the Granville rail disaster (1977), the Glenbrook rail accident (1999) and the Waterfall train disaster (2003). There is a common theme throughout these incidents and the many other major disasters that have occurred worldwide. No one had a ‘total’ view of the inter-relationships of the business processes – and for this reason the risk identification process failed. It was only after root-cause-analysis was undertaken after the event that the factors leading to the incidents were uncovered. Prior to the disasters, each person assessed the risks from an individual perspective, based on their own assessment of the situation, perception of risk and the relative importance of the activity to their area of responsibility. Logically each person would have rated the potential danger differently.

EFFECTIVE RISK ASSESSMENT

There are many risk assessment methodologies that use risk scenario charting as a means of identifying the potential for system failure. These methodologies are very systematic, time-intensive and multidisciplinary. They are essential in high risk industries to ensure risk scenarios are identified and controlled. Their value comes from taking a total view of the work and having a range of risk perspectives assessing potential risk scenarios. This has a levelling effect on the perception of risk so that hazards are highlighted, assessed and controlled.

In most businesses such methodologies are not used. Each person has a specific role and responsibilities and it largely falls to senior management to oversee the business system. Unfortunately, unless senior management is ‘hands-on’ and involved in the operational aspects of the business, their focus will likely be on business strategy and financial management, not on potential risks. These decisions are often left to line management and workers. Lacking the specific knowledge of a process or duty can affect the perception of risk and result in inadequate safety measures and an increased potential for incidents. To overcome this it is important that businesses approach the management of safety in the same systematic way they manage their finances – using a structured risk management approach that is auditable, reproducible and measurable. Moreover, it is important that senior management receives a broad enough range of information to enable them to make considered decisions about the way their operations are run.

A NEW ERA

Safety has undergone a considerable cultural change over the past decade. The Courts are now holding senior managers personally accountable for safety, regardless of their involvement in day to day operations and prosecutions can lead to significant business losses and criminal charges. Coupled with the increased globalisation of business, safety is now taking on a much broader perspective to that of the compliance model that it had under previous legislation. The nature of business is changing. Travel to other countries where risks are less controlled and much different to those in Australia has the potential to put an organisation’s executives and workforce in unfamiliar scenarios. Safety and security must become a significant part of business continuity planning. Failure to consider and plan for safety can have dramatic financial and structural impacts. We all remember the news last year of Sundance Resources losing seven of its board members in a plane crash in the Congo. Safety and security need to be part of the business strategy, not left to individuals to make a best judgement call, most often without access to the full facts about the consequences of their decisions. Unfortunately their decisions or perception of the risks may not always be sound.

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2012 IN FOCUS

conflict resolution

WARâ&#x20AC;Ś AND PEACE Conflict is a messy, uncomfortable, emotionally charged experience and human beings are generally poor at dealing with it. Human Capital looks at a different approach to conflict resolution in the workplace

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More often than not, conflict in the workplace is managed by not being managed at all. It is avoided or ‘fixed’ with band-aid solutions, with the hope that it will go away. For low level disrespectful behaviour, including poor interactions or poor communication, often it does indeed go away. But there are times when it doesn’t; in those instances employees often resort to formal grievance processes. These typically take a ‘rights based’ approach to resolving the difficulties between people – they tend to be highly technical, and try to isolate the facts and decide who did what to who, and then mete out punishment to the person who caused the upset. John McDonald, managing director of ProActive ReSolutions, is not a fan. “In a way we think grievance processes are well named because they tend to generate further grievance with people,” he says. “In a conflict I win, you lose – that’s how we resolve it. But conflicts are qualitatively very difficult experiences for us as human beings – they are more about how we feel than they are about what happened. If you try to isolate the facts it’s really like throwing fuel on the fire because we all see these situations very differently.” An alternative approach to conflict resolution is fast gaining traction. Known as ‘conferencing’, it has even inspired a successful Australian play and film, Face to Face.

CONFERENCING

Adapted and directed by Michael Rymer (Angel Baby, Queen of the Damned, In Too Deep), Face to Face is based on the play of the same name by playwright and screenwriter David Williamson, who was inspired by transcripts from actual restorative justice conferences. These conferences, on which the play was originally based, were facilitated by McDonald, whose character is portrayed by Matthew Newton in the film. The story is based around Wayne, a young construction worker (played by Luke Ford), who purposefully rams into the back of his boss’s car (played by Vince Colosimo). Rather than dealing with the issue in a courtroom, a face-to-face restorative justice conference in the central setting of a room takes place. This involves the offending young man as he faces his victims, workmates and mother, who have their own issues and secrets. Although as a piece of fiction the drama is magnified, the film closely mirrors real life. The sessions, which see victims and perpetrators in the justice system, or colleagues in the workplace brought together to face

The big fault with the way we handle situations where things go wrong between people at work is we ask two questions: who did it and what do we have to do to them – JOHN MCDONALD one another, were developed in Australia by McDonald and his team over many years of resolving conflict in hostile situations. Rather than imposing a solution on the group that could exacerbate the conflict, conferencing allows the group of affected people to come together, confront their difficulties and develop a plan to reconcile their differences. Participants benefit from the opportunity to say things to each other that they have either avoided saying or have said hurtfully rather than helpfully. The group then decides together what needs to be done in order to behave constructively towards each other. McDonald and his team spend hours preparing for these sessions by individually interviewing those affected to determine their understanding of the conflict. They then facilitate a session where everyone is heard in terms of what has happened and how they have been affected. Together as a group they commit to a plan of how to make things better. This is then followed up with by the facilitator to ensure that the Conference Agreement is being implemented. “The big fault with the way we handle situations where things go wrong between people at work is we ask two questions: who did it and what do we have to do to them,” McDonald says. “It starts when we are parents. Then at school, teachers do the same thing. In the workplace, managers feel they have to do the same: do

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conflict resolution Unlike mediation, in a ‘conference’ there are no rules of behaviour. You want people to behave in the conference as they do in the workplace the investigation, establish the facts, punish someone or dock their pay or whatever. It assumes that a small group of people in authority know what is best for the group. However, conflicts between people in the workplace are often long-standing, complex, messy. You simply can’t win if you try to answer those two questions. “The conference asks different sets of questions: it simply asks what’s happened. You can’t ignore the fact that people have behaved badly or let the side down. But then you ask what the impact of this has been, and what needs to be done differently so we don’t go there again. It casts the experience as an opportunity to accept some responsibility but also to learn from it.”

STANDING UP TO BULLIES

Bullying and harassment are topics making daily headlines these days. Can conferencing help? McDonald believes it can. He says the key is to challenge the person charged with being the bully about how helpful they think their behaviour is; typically, he says, no one has challenged them in the past. “They may be unaware, or they may be aware but there’s never been a consequence,” he says. “If people go through their working lives pushing people around and not caring, and no one ever challenges or suggests they stop, they will probably keep on doing it.” A conference, unlike mediation and other forms of dealing with conflict, has no ‘rules of behaviour’ for people taking part. “In a mediation, you talk to the mediator one at time, no bad language, no disrespect; but in a conference there are no rules of behaviour,” says McDonald. “You want people to behave in the conference as they do in the workplace, because you have a wider group of people – managers, supervisors, peers – so when they see the behaviour in the conference it dawns on people, including the person who’s behaving poorly, that their behaviour is not helpful and incredibly inappropriate. It’s a process designed to accommodate that type of behaviour, and then for the group to stand up to it.” Despite the high success rate, McDonald concedes

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there can be instances where people simply cannot work together; too much has happened: “The conference can still accommodate that situation. A group of people will say, you know what? We just can’t continue like this. You have to leave or move elsewhere. And the person gets that; it’s not going to work for them anymore to stay there. They are difficult, unhappy experiences, but it’s a hell of a lot better than what was going on before.”

TAKE-AWAYS FOR HR

Not surprisingly, McDonald urges not to ignore low level disrespectful behaviour in the first place. “Almost every single messy conflict we are called in for started in a small way: people having interactions where things didn’t go well, and then it was avoided. Or it’s been handled in a very technical, formulaic legalistic way: we make sure they fill out the form, follow the process. But these processes can’t accommodate the mess and complexity of the conflict.” If HR professionals were more engaged and motivated in giving the people in their organisations the skills to challenge each other and confront poor behaviour when it is at a minor level, they would work wonders, suggests McDonald. This is easier said than done. ProActive ReSolutions’ respectful workplace training contains a module called Straight Talk, which acknowledges how difficult it is to do. “HR professionals would be well placed to give the skills to their colleagues to interact when things are difficult, to provide an agreed way of engaging each other, of talking to each other and listening to each other. That in itself is difficult: a grievance process will say, ‘you’ve got a problem with John, go and talk to him about it’. Most of us would run a mile. Our bodies get anxious, our heart starts to pump, our physiology is telling us not to do it. It’s a good policy, but HR needs to make sure the policy is backed up by some processes and techniques, which they can provide to people.”

Fact or fiction?

Got some holiday time coming up? Why not combine business with pleasure by checking out these other films with key messages – sometimes light, sometimes heavy – for HR professionals

n THE HUMAN RESOURCES

MANAGER (2011)

was Israel's submission to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. It's a tragic-comedy about the HR manager for Israel’s largest industrial bakery, who finds out that a woman who is working for them was killed a fortnight previously in a terrorist bombing. In order to avoid a scandal in the press, the owner of the bakery orders the HR manager to accompany the body back to an unnamed Balkan country to her relatives. HR take-away Despite sometimes excessive bureaucratic processes and daunting hurdles, HR professionals need to retain their compassion and empathy for their fellow employees; the giveaway is in the profession’s name: human resources. This film also proves that HR professionals are crucial to the reputation and brand of a company, and also, perhaps, the moral guardians; they are brand ambassadors.

n WALL STREET (1988)

told audiences that greed was good, as corporate wheeler and dealer Gordon Gekko launched hostile takeovers at the expense of the livelihoods of the common man. HR take-away Organisations that enter M&A negotiations without first considering the people and corporate culture elements do so at their peril. Planning involving these elements pre-M&A, during the process, and post-M&A are proven keys to success.

n THE OFFICE (UK, 2001)

told the story of an office that faces closure when the company decides to downsize its branches. A ‘documentary’ film crew follows staff and the manager David Brent as they continue their daily lives. HR take-away The majority of laughs from ‘The Office’ come from awkward and embarrassing situations. If terrible bosses share one common trait – a lack of respect for employees – David Brent leads the pack. Yet, behind the laughs are serious issues, ranging from bullying and harassment (often perpetrated by supporting character and “bloody good” sales rep Chris Finch) to fear of redundancy (mature age worker Malcolm fears he will be first in line), through to team training sessions that fail due to lack of leadership support (David attempts to undermine and take control of an external facilitator’s session). The ultimate take-away for HR is perhaps to use ‘The Office’ as an example of what not to do – on just about every front.

n TRADING PLACES (1984)

was a wish fulfillment fantasy in which a snobbish investor with an Ivy League education and a wily street con artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires. HR take-away Never judge a book by its cover! Although preemployment screening will of course present only the best, most suitable candidates, sometimes hiring for personality and cultural fit and then training for skills is the way to go.

n OUTSOURCED (2006)

followed the story of Todd, who changes his life when the call centre he manages in Seattle is outsourced to India. There he trains his replacement and the team to sound American. One star on the staff is Asha, who teaches Todd that he should reciprocally learn about India and its culture. HR take-away With the majority of Australia’s financial institutions and many other large corporates offshoring work, this tale of job cuts, crosscultural management and globalisation seems culled from today’s headlines. In addition to visa and legal requirements for workers, organisations dealing in global markets with global workforces need to consider cultural awareness training for employees, and ensure their offshore partners are reputable.

n HORRIBLE BOSSES (2011)

followed the story of three friends as their relationships with their bosses start to unravel. These employer/ employee relationships are strained: one of the friends is expected to work ridiculous hours; another is the victim of unwelcome sexual advances; and the third likes his boss… until his boss dies, only to be replaced by his boss’ incompetent, drug-taking son. When they realise their awful bosses are standing in the way of happiness, the three plot murder. HR take-away Poor management styles are rife in business today, yet the impact on retention and employee health is only just being understood. In a 2011 OfficeTeam poll, 73% of Australians reported that having a manager who they respect and can learn from is one of the most important factors in their work environment. The recruitment company said bad management styles can include indecisiveness, poor delegation and lack of organisation, to undermining and bullying employees. Their survey also found that problems most commonly arise when a manager doesn’t have adequate experience or time to manage their team, and that this can often be addressed by training or better resource management.

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2012 IN FOCUS

work-from-home employees

Make

telework

work

Ninety per cent of work-from-home offices are set up badly, resulting in possible risks to employee health and increases in workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; comp claims. Kate Aubusson explores how organisations can protect their work-from-home employees and their bottom line

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Legal obligations Australian employees are scrambling* to update their working from home policies following Telstra’s multi-billion dollar compensation pay-out to an employee who slipped and fell while working from home. Dale Hargreaves slipped down the stairs twice in two months while working on marketing campaigns from her Brisbane townhouse. Telstra denied liability because the falls occurred outside Hargreaves’ designated workstation. However, the Tribunal found the shoulder injuries she suffered were work-related. Employer groups all but predicted the end of remote working, with Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) policy manager Nick Behrens commenting the ruling “significantly discourages employers from providing workplace flexibility”, but the sky (or the home office ceiling) has not fallen in on work-from-home employees yet. Employees who work from home, or teleworkers (Telstra winces), are on the rise. Flexible working arrangements are fast becoming an expectation from employees as more and more Australians choose to make the short commute from bed to home office or split their time between home and the conventional workplace. Six per cent of Australian workers work from home at least two days a week, and the federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy plans to boost their number to 12% by 2020. Legal experts claim the Telstra ruling could force employers to conduct workplace health and safety audits in the homes, but perhaps this is not a bad thing. As more and more Australians choose to work at home employers need to protect their employees and their bottom line. The QCCI fears pressure on employers to perform OH&S safety audits at the homes of teleworkers is “a bad outcome for everyone concerned”. Not so. “All this litigation has certainly seen a positive outcome for my business,” says Marnie Douglas, director of the national ergonomics assessment company, Ergoworks. “Post a couple of litigation cases our requests for home services increased by 50% and home consulting is now 20% of all our office consulting,” says Douglas. “Companies are starting to realise they need to cover themselves.”

With work-from-home requests on the rise, legal advisors are warning employers to carefully consider the legal extension of workplace health and safety laws in light of the successful suit brought forward by a work-from-home Telstra employee. In considering requests to work from home, Kristin Ramsey, senior associate and Brisbane team leader at Harmers Workplace Lawyers, advises businesses to consider the following:

❏ Give careful consideration to all work-from-home requests ❏ Prior to granting any request, complete a detailed, documented risk

assessment of the home work environment looking at areas such as environmental factors (lighting, heating, ventilation etc), workplace organisation and layout (including electrical and trip hazards), risks arising in respect of others that may enter the home work environment (such as children) and hours of work

❏ Establish a comprehensive policy for working from home arrangements, which covers issues such as the requirement for employees to report health and safety concerns or incidents back to the employer and expressly allows the employer to routinely inspect the home working environment; and is signed off on by the employee prior to commencing a work-from-home arrangement

❏ Keep documentary evidence of requests for working from home arrangements and the reasons why requests were/were not granted

❏ Implement regular reviews of work-from-home arrangements as circumstances will inevitably change

WORK-FROM-HOME BEST PRACTICE

Home OH&S audits are a positive move for teleworkers as well. Best practice demands this growing group receives the same protection under the 2012 harmonised workplace health and safety laws as their office-bound colleagues. Consultancies like Ergoworks fulfil a key role for employers and employees who have included teleworking in their business model by minimising the risk of OH&S mishaps in the home. A physiotherapist, Douglas started her physiotherapy practice and ergonomic consultancy business eight years ago in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. Surrounded by offices, and by extension a population of office workers chained to their chairs and glued to their computer screens, the vast majority of Ergoworks’ clients needed treatment for desk-related injuries: sore backs, sore necks and repetitive strain injury. “As a physiotherapist you are often just treating the symptoms,” Douglas says. “Then your patients go back to work and crouch over their lap top, or do whatever it was that caused their injury in the first place.”

Marnie’s TOP TIPS for work-from-home employees Choose a separate working area for your desk

Ensure the chair is ergonomically sound

Do not work from a lap top. Set up your monitor so that the top of the screen is at eye level

Use a separate keyboard and mouse

Make sure you have a smoke alarm, fire extinguisher and first aid kit

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work-from-home employees Douglas sees ergonomic consulting as a way of preventing work-related injuries instead of simply providing a temporary fix after the fact. “Often ergonomic consulting is a way of finding the cause of an injury. If we can identify a hazard or alter a behavior it can often speed up a patient’s recovery.” Ergoworks brings this same ethos to home office consultancy. Douglas’ team attends the home of a teleworker and performs a thorough home risk assessment. Working from a checklist, Ergoworks assesses the home workspace and the home itself and identifies potential problems that are taken for granted by employees working in a conventional office space. “The first thing I do is sit down at the work station, look at its location and run through an ergonomic checklist: chair support, desk space, computer screen height, etc,” says Douglas. “Then I would move onto other OH&S aspects. Are there trip hazards? Do they have a smoke alarm, fire extinguishers and a first aid kit? Do they have planned exit routes in case of a fire? What’s the lighting like?” Ergoworks then sends a report to the employee’s organisation along with any recommendations. For some companies Douglas compiles an equipment package that includes recommendations for necessities like a good chair, keyboard, pad and mouse. Estimating up to 90% of home work stations are set up badly, Douglas has a few horror stories to share. “The worst was a desk set up on the bedside table,” says Douglas. “A lap top on the dining room table with the limited support of a dining room chair and a lap top on the couch are common risky behaviours. Generally the main problem is the location of the work station and the chair. Most people don’t think about what they are sitting on.”

ONLINE SELF-ASSESSMENT

The proven success and increasing number of teleworkers has seen Australian employers take on or retain employees living further afield. For organisations with employees

First steps

Here are four key elements an organisation needs to consider in putting together a ‘Home-Based Work Agreement’:

1 2 3 4

Undertake an initial consultation. Discussions need to take place between workers who currently work between the workplace and home and the company’s OHS representative to seek views towards implementing a ‘Home-Based Work Agreement’. Design the ‘Home-Based Work Agreement’ which also takes into account future employees working from home as their primary place of work. An agreement needs to integrate company and workers’ obligations, concerning areas of safety, equipment usage, network security and the protection of intellectual property.

Ultimately the ideal ‘Home-Based Work Agreement’ needs to be flexible so it should be a document template that fulfils all the requirements of a ‘Home-Based Work Agreement’ combined with a thorough and comprehensive risk management checklist. It serves to define the nature of the safety and security objectives. Source: People & Quality Solutions (PaQS)

scattered across the country, undertaking on-site risk assessments can be prohibitively costly ($300 per home risk assessment). Ergoworks’ online home assessment tool, Home Assess, provides a solution (at just $30–50 per head). The online self-assessment service has proven to be a cost effective solution for these organisations. “It’s like an e-learning module. Employees can sit at their computer, run through the online checklist and implement recommendations.” says Douglas. “Their company is then sent a report outlining what on the checklist they have done.” Douglas believes this kind of online self-assessment is “the future of ergonomics in Australia”. While Home Assess may not spell the end for teleworker compensation claims, with any luck it might come close. *scrambling in a manner conducive to OH&S standards, of course

Statutory duty of care expanded Under the proposed model OH&S laws – due to be uniformly adopted by the workplace relations ministers of Australian states and territories on 1 January 2012 – an employer’s statutory health and safety duties will have much broader operation when work is performed at a worker’s home. Currently, most OH&S laws have legally confined the duty of care to workplaces under the employer’s management and control. However, the new model laws will include a clause which extends the statutory duty of care for health and safety, ‘as is reasonably practicable’, to any area where work activities are carried out. Under the new model laws, the definition of a workplace has been reviewed to include a place where work is carried out from time to time. Therefore, according to the revised definition, if an employee occasionally works from home, their home may be considered a place of work. Charles Power, partner and accredited specialist in workplace 46

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relations at Holding Redlich Lawyers, says that while a worker’s workplace may include their home, OH&S laws do not require the employer to act on health or safety hazards or risks unless it is reasonably practicable for the employer to do so. Power says that determining whether it is ‘reasonably practicable’ for an employer to uphold OH&S standards in an employee’s home depends on: the probability that the hazard or risk will harm the worker the degree of harm that might result what the employer knows or ought reasonably to know about the hazard or risk and the ways of eliminating or minimising the risk the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk

• • • • •

In practice: Case studies HC asks Mark Sinclair, executive manager of people and learning at Teachers Health Fund, and Jessica Hughes, HR administrator at Crown Relocations, about how they are embracing work-from-home employees Human Capital: What prompted you to adopt working from home practices? Mark Sinclair: Teachers Health Fund (THF) employees requested increased capability to work from home when the need arises, and technological changes have given employees the capability to work remotely. Jessica Hughes: Embracing working from home practices has allowed us to retain extremely valued employees who contribute so much to the business. HC: Which employees choose to work from home? MS:There are basically two types of employees seeking working from home requirements. The first is employees who are caring for someone at home. The second is those with a temporary physical disability who are able to work but for a short period require recuperation at home. JH: Many of our employees who work from home live a substantial distance from our office. For example, one employee lives over 100km away. She was facing a round trip in excess of three hours in peak hour traffic each day to get to and from work. Other employees have family responsibilities, so it’s easier for them to work from home, sometimes outside of normal business hours when there are other family members around to share the caring responsibilities. HC: According to Ergoworks, 90% of Australian workers who work from home are doing so under unsafe conditions. Is this a concern for you? MS: We believe we have either eliminated or mitigated the risks from working from home. Each case should be examined on its individual constituents. For instance, in the case of a disabled worker, the risk was offset by not having the person journey to work. JH: This is definitely a concern for us both from a risk management and employee wellness perspective. If an employee was injured when working from home and we had performed nothing in terms of mitigating the risks, the company could be exposed to substantial costs, not just financial. HC: Do the benefits outweigh the risks associated with employees working remotely?

MS: THF believes so. Currently we have 6% of our workforce working from home with another 6% adopting another form of Flexible Work Option – eg, transition to retirement, compressed work week and periods of reduced working week. JH: Absolutely. There are a number of employees who probably would have resigned due to difficulty getting into the office. HC: What safeguards are in place to minimise the risk of injury to employees working at home? MS: We’ve engaged Ergoworks to complete an initial Ergonomic Assessment of the worksite and we review it every six months. THF also uses ‘Home Assess’ (an on-line self assessment tool) every 12 months. Additionally, THF promotes that the teleworker staff member does attend the office on a regular basis. JH: All Crown Relocations employees in Australia who are working from home have now had Home Office Assessments carried out by Ergoworks. We will continue to check in with these employees to ensure the recommendations have been implemented. We will also keep educating these employees to ensure they’re continuing with their safe work station. HCAMAG.COM 45

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engagement With employers failing to get cut-through with traditional notions of what engages employees, Ian Hutchinson, founder of Life by Design, says it’s time for a fresh take on engagement

Turning engagement

UPSIDE 48

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Human Capital: In your view what is the problem with existing models of engagement? Ian Hutchinson: A lot of organisations have been plugging away, doing their engagement research every year, but many organisations spend 80% of their time on the research and only 20% on the implementation. Many are getting frustrated – they’re trying to do the right thing but aren’t really getting cut-through. We’re slipping down the global engagement rankings because a lot of organisations are trying to do the same old, same old and using the umbrella approach, the concept that one-size-fits-all. It hasn’t really ever worked. HR has been limited with time and budget, and therefore that’s the only paradigm seen: we’ve done our research, let’s put in some broad brushstroke umbrella solutions where the weak points are, and hope that’s going to keep the tribe relatively satisfied. That’s the top-down approach. Organisations also tend to shower people with benefits and gifts in a mad hope to try to engage and motivate them, and what that’s done is create this whinge entitlement culture, where employees are becoming conditioned to doing more with less, but what are you going to give me to relieve my pain? By giving them more and more benefits it creates this spoilt whinge entitlement culture – what are you going to give me next Christmas? It actually disenfranchises them; it’s like an only child, the more you do for them, in the hope to show your love, the more you just create a spoilt brat. HC: You mention the top-down approach – what’s the alternative? IH: The approach should be bottom-up. That’s the approach where everyone is an individual, and broad brushstroke initiatives don’t work. Instead of doing organisational engagement plans, we need to do individual engagement plans and get individual employees responsible for understanding what engages and motivates them. This is psychologically one of the major obstacles and problems of why engagement hasn’t worked: employees know what they don’t want – that’s easy for them to work out – but few know what they do want. If employees don’t know what motivates and engages them, HR and managers have bucklies. Not only that, if employees don’t

What engages your employees? know what they want, the default driver usually becomes ‘give me more money’, which is the most expensive and ineffective way of trying to engage and motivate people. What we’ve found is 70% of engagement can be improved by individual employees themselves – they’re just not aware of it yet. HC: Hence Life by Design’s ‘7 Key Drivers’? IH: We’ve boiled it down to seven key drivers, which we present as a set of cards. Each card has a key word on it [see box]. Simplifying it down to seven means that right across the organisation you can have this simple, but powerful conversation around what drives people. People leaders can then understand that there are seven things that engage and motivate their people, but everyone is going to be different in terms of the order of what those are. For individual employees, they can see there are seven key motivators that really drive them at work. When talking to employees we call them motivators; when talking to HR or people leaders we call them engagement drivers – but they are basically the same thing. One is employee centric, the other is employer centric. Employees are happy to discuss what motivates them – we present them with seven, and ask them to pick their top three for the next 12 months. HC: So they can be used to kickstart a conversation? IH: Absolutely. This is engagement 101. The reason most people leaders don’t do that is because they don’t have the tools, skills or resources. They think they are not psychologists or coaches or counsellors, and in the past they’ve been burnt by sitting down with employees and asking, ‘what do you want moving forward?’ Fifty per cent of them won’t know, and the other 50% will probably have a crack at it and will probably get it wrong,

We’ve found that 70% of engagement can be improved by individual employees themselves – they’re just not aware of it yet – IAN HUTCHINSON

Life by Design’s seven engagement drivers 1. LEADERSHIP – “Inspiring leadership that keeps me informed and appreciated” 2. RELATIONSHIPS – “Good, positive, open and collaborative relationships between leaders, co-workers and teams” 3. JOB FULFILMENT – “The nature of my day-to-day work consistently energises me” 4. PURPOSE – “The organisation has a meaningful purpose, beyond just making money, that makes a real difference” 5. WORK-LIFE BALANCE – “An environment where my life outside work is supported and encouraged” 6. OPPORTUNITY – “A culture of constant learning, full of development opportunities, where I feel positive about my future career prospects” 7. REWARD – “Clear links between my performance and company objectives where I am fairly rewarded for my contributions to the company’s success”

thinking it’s either money or opportunity, and it could be some of the other drivers. HC: Does this approach make it more difficult for managers to manage everyone’s expectations? IH: It should be happening anyway. Everyone in my team is motivated by a different set of drivers. To get the most out of everyone it’s important to know what everyone’s top motivational drivers are. Once you’ve uncovered what the top three are, it’s a matter of keeping on top of them with development plans. That’s why we’ve created MeCentral, a dashboard that managers can use simply and easily to keep track of them. It’s almost counterintuitive that you think it takes more work, but actually a 15-minute coffee chat can save you weeks of time. MeCentral is a whole platform to help employees take responsibility with career development, work-life balance and other key areas. The people leader has a simple window that they can look into about what the employees’ top motivators are and what the employee believes they would like to do about it, and how they are ranking in a simple traffic light system. It’s all about employee-activated engagement. HC: So is it an urban myth that HR is responsible for engagement? IH: A lot of traditional companies will point to HR because they do the research, so HR should know what the problems are and how to fix them. We would say that everyone is responsible for engagement. HR is responsible, sure, for doing an organisational engagement plan; but what’s more effective is leaders being responsible for doing team engagement plans; and what’s even more effective is getting employees responsible for their own engagement plans.

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PROFILE PETER GODFREY

HR perspective

Scope, scale and reach:

HR in the driver’s seat With career experience in complex and often challenging work environments, this month’s profiled HR professional firmly dispels the notion that ‘anyone can do HR’

Of the 12 HR professionals profiled in Human Capital over the past year, Peter Godfrey’s response to why he enjoys working in the HR space wins out for succinct honesty: “I like its simplicity!” While he concedes that the term ‘simplicity’ is a little tongue in cheek, he adds that the perception is that ‘anyone can do’ HR. Not so. Godfrey has a slightly different view of what it takes, which takes into consideration the unique specialisation that HR is. He explains the scope of this role in full: “You need to be capable of understanding the prevailing labour law framework, its key instruments and processes, and their application to your organisation, with an increasingly international complexion. Add to that an understanding of employment law fundamentals inclusive of employment contract matters. “Overlay some psychology as it manifests in people’s behaviour at work, determines cognitive ability, and drives engagement and performance. Tie that to the sociology of workplaces as relatively complex social systems, and the plurality of interests that pervade organisations. Throw in an appreciation of contemporary change and project management and leadership theory and practice, blended with the political economy of the day, and inject your current organisation’s strategic plan, key measures, balance sheet, and market forces. Some technology and systems savvy, risk and compliance awareness, and there you have it. Simple!”

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Yet it’s that tapestry that Godfrey admits he finds truly interesting and constantly challenging.

PATH TO HR Godfrey’s path to his current role has indeed been rich and varied. He is currently on assignment with managed services and facilities management company Spotless at group level as general manager human resources. He previously spent 14 years with Australia Post, and 11 years with the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association. He is also the principal of Starting 5 People Solutions, a boutique people management consulting practice. In many ways, Godfrey’s early career set up the direction his future roles would take. A set of circumstances in 1986 led him to a role as the research assistant on a state government-funded OHS study into injuries affecting retail supermarket workers. The project was directed by a professor from Monash University’s medical school, sponsored by the Shop Assistants union, and supported by the two major retailers at that time. At the conclusion of that project, the Shop Assistants union offered him a role in its state branch in the research team. Over the next decade research grew into advocacy, bargaining, dispute resolution, and policy work on the full range of matters that are of concern to unions and their members including awards and agreements, unfair dismissals, state and national wage cases, safety, workers

Organisations with this scope, scale and reach require a sound people management framework that can evolve and flex with the business â&#x20AC;&#x201C; PETER GODFREY

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Personal file: Peter Godfrey Family: Mother (Marie) and father (Brian) both heading for ‘80’; they are the foundation stones of my life. My sister Marion is married to Craig and they have three great children. My wife Merrill and I met in 1986; she is the ‘yang’ to my ‘yin’. The other lights of my life are my girls, Gabrielle and Carryn, who is married to Chris, and they have a son Bailey, with another on the way. Favourite movie or TV: Movie = Shawshank Redemption; TV = NYPD Blue, Rockwiz, Switzer and Modern Family. Best advice ever received: Read the business and finance sections of the newspapers every day. How do others describe you? From a ‘personal brand’ exercise I did earlier this year the consistent themes were: insightful, loyal, intelligent, humble, pragmatic, knowledgeable, and a good listener. If I was to add one myself, I am driven by achievement. Favourite sports/ hobbies: Basketball has been a life-long passion – playing, watching and coaching; I swim and have done so for 30 years or more; I ride a motorcycle, and we like to travel, go to the theatre a few times a year, as well as entertain at home, and escape to our surf coast property when time permits. First job and/or worst job: First job at about age 14 was as a casual shop assistant at Alexanders Menswear. If not in HR: I’ve had a number of ‘sliding door’ moments throughout my education and work life. I might have been a professional basketball coach at junior collegiate or collegiate level in the US. There’s a clear connection with what I do in the HR context as at its core ‘coaching’ is about the pursuit of excellence and the development of others. Winning is a product of that effort.

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compensation, and superannuation. His last role with the Shop Assistants was as senior national industrial officer principally focused on enterprise bargaining with all of the major employers in the retail industry. The bridge into Australia Post was Godfrey’s industrial and employee relations capability. Over the next 14 years or so Australia Post afforded him the opportunity to learn, grow and progress, as well as generalise into broader HR roles and focus on the full suite of HRM including organisation design and development, talent, succession, recruitment, workforce planning, performance management, and remuneration and benefits, while building and leading HR teams focused expressly on delivering business outcomes. Godfrey notes that his ‘proudest achievement’ in HR occurred during his time at Australia Post (2003–2010), during which he firstly built and then led a high performing team and function. “My HR team at Post consistently achieved customer feedback ratings at or above 80% satisfaction, while also returning their own employee engagement scores at or above 90%,” he says. “These results were achieved by an outstanding group of people providing an end-to-end HR offer for a business division of over 9,000 employees. As a further measure of the effectiveness of our HR function

that division of Post also returned employee engagement scores of 80% and above, which exceeded many Australian and global employee engagement norms.” The scale, unique trading and operating environment at Australia Post also equipped Godfrey with the skills to work and lead comfortably in “complex and often ambiguous environments,” he says. It also placed Godfrey in a unique position to comment on the skills, capabilities and knowledge that HR professionals must possess in order to operate in today’s complex work environment: “At a high level, it is business understanding, customer focus, functional leadership, core HR process, program and systems knowledge, and the ability to innovate, execute and deliver,” Godfrey explains. “If I was to articulate this in a different way, I think senior HR leaders need to understand the value chain/s of the clients and customers of their organisation. Upstream from that it’s essential to understand how their organisation helps the client or customers create value. Further upstream from that is to understand what capability is needed in their organisation to maximise impact, and how to go about building it.”

HR AT SPOTLESS In his current role, Godfrey is charged with leading and driving a number of initiatives with and for the global head of HR. HR at Spotless is multi-layered, inclusive of group, country (New Zealand, Hong Kong and the UK, for example), division (business partners), and state. There are also HR resources embedded in various parts of the business and in specific commercial contracts. “Spotless, although a completely different business, is very much like Australia Post in that it is a great story of success via a large-scale diversified and important business offering, and where much of its success is directly

PROFILE PETER GODFREY

HR perspective attributable to a critical mass of great frontline people – circa 40,000 of them globally. “Organisations with this scope, scale and reach require a sound people management framework that can evolve and flex with the business,” he says. Although he has only been with Spotless for less than six months, Godfrey is well aware of the HR challenges on the agenda: resourcing, safety and sustainability, workplace relations, talent, succession and learning, EVP and engagement. To address these challenges there is a robust strategy in place, a strong HR leadership team forming, and a plan to deliver. In addition there’s a large-scale technology replacement and integration project underway which, upon deployment, will progress employee and manager ‘self serve’. “I think the ‘HR at Spotless’ story will be an important one to watch over the next 12–24 months,” he says.

THE FUTURE OF HR Indeed, looking to the future of his profession, Godfrey comments that HR will continue to grow in its sophistication and its contribution. He also sees it further aligning to and influencing broader organisational strategy.

“The keys to enhancing HR’s reputation and influence through my lens are: developing and delivering effective programs, designing efficient processes, and stepping forwards to take accountability for the people agenda. Plus, HR has to be ‘easy to do business with’ intra-organisationally.” There are naturally skill sets that Godfrey believes HR professionals will need to develop: understanding of metrics and analytics, and measuring the effectiveness of HR’s overall contribution. “It’s a challenge but one well worth pursuing,” he says. He also believes there’s a constant quest to innovate, “but simultaneously avoid the latest fad”. Godfrey’s final thought, that increasingly people want to see visible and tangible connection between their organisation and the community in which it operates – which subsequently has major implications for the EVP and related programs – is confirmed by respected management consultant Christopher Tipler (interviewed on page 16 of this issue). If Tipler’s claim that the prevailing paradigm and a “huge frontier” for business at the moment is sustainability and CSR, Godfrey and the organisations for which he works are well placed to succeed. More industry profiles at:

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SIGN OFF

last word

Compiled by Suzanne Mercier

You what? CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

CILLA ALLAN,

Learning & development manager, Allens Arthur Robinson What is the greatest lesson around engaging and developing people? To ensure every solution and strategy we create is relevant within the context of the business. For people to learn, the development experience needs to be meaningful and able to be immediately applied. To create this for a sophisticated and highly intelligent audience, the key is making sure the content is contextualised accurately. What is your view on diversity, and specifically gender diversity from an L&D perspective? The flow on impacts of gender quotas at senior levels to our high potential programs is interesting. We need to identify barriers for women at senior levels and ensure their experiences at work allow them to develop the capabilities required to succeed. A favourite people-engagement tip? We strive to make the day-to-day work experience meaningful and fulfilling

from a development perspective. We focus on learning on the job. We encourage people to be aware of how much they develop working with their clients and colleagues day to day. What career advice would you give professionals in the HR/L&D space? Find the right organisation where you are aligned to the culture. That may be about the people who work there, the organisation itself, the industry or the nature of the work itself. There needs to be alignment with your values to make your contribution relevant and valued. What is the main challenge facing the HR/L&D industry right now? Finding focus. It’s about finding the best answer for the business and being willing to try new approaches. One of the challenges we experience is the pace, change and flow of information due to technology and the resulting lost art of communication. Another is that our people have high expectations regarding engagement and satisfaction at work, and high expectations of HR/L&D to create that positive working experience.

A software firm in California required new recruits to sign off on 15 corporate principles. No.15 was “I will not be an a-hole” in the firm belief that poor behaviour negatively impacted business performance. This rule was enforced as part of the interview process that included lunch at the local restaurant. Those potential employees who were rude to the wait staff were not brought back to continue the interview process (Source: HR Blunders)

FAST FACTS

46%

of workers in the 16–24-year age group were more likely to say that they were satisfied with their jobs and would be willing to recommend their company as a good place to work (Source: Mercer Survey, 2011)

68.2%

of people who carefully deliberate before making a decision are more willing to lie for their own gain, compared with 36.4% who think intuitively. (Source: The Ethical Dangers of Deliberative Decision Making) In a study conducted in June 2011, employees believe employers see engagement as a tick-box exercise with only 18% believing the survey results will be acted upon. (Source: AON Hewitt)

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you – STEVE JOBS

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