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THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM-SOLVING METHODOLOGY How design thinking is transforming HR ARE YOU ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS? Maximising the impact of workforce analytics 20,000 NEW HIRES ACROSS 180 COUNTRIES ANNUALLY Dell’s talent acquisition secrets revealed
DREAM BIG Australia’s most innovative HR teams
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FEBRUARY 2018
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CONTENTS
@HRDAustralia facebook.com/HRDAustralia
UPFRONT 02 Editorial
Human-centred design is finally sweeping into the HR sphere – and it’s not before time
04 Statistics
Skills, technology and the uncertain future of workplaces
06 News analysis
Cisco, Atlassian and Aurecon are just a few of the organisations that are using a design thinking mindset for everything HR does
08 Technology update
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SPECIAL REPORT
MBA GUIDE
HRD’s annual MBA Guide provides tips and insights into the everevolving realm of the most esteemed postgraduate business qualification
Does technology help or hinder workplace relationships?
10 Recruitment update
TechnologyOne’s head of HR shares her tips on how to maximise recruitment success
12 Head to head
Should the CIO role fall under HR’s jurisdiction?
17 Expert insight
Rising to the challenge of managing millennials
PEOPLE
34 FEATURES
Workforce analytics is coming along in leaps and bounds but there are still gaps in HR’s knowledge and utilisation. Iain Hopkins interviews a leader in the field
52 FEATURES
HCAMAG.COM CHECK IT OUT ONLINE
INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS 2018
Discover who is pushing the envelope in HRD’s annual list of Australia’s most innovative HR teams
PEOPLE
MEET A TECH PIONEER Chatelle Lynch has broken down barriers to females in the technology field. She shares her story with HRD
Lisa Christy has found throughout her career that ‘outside your comfort zone is where life begins’ When she’s not leading an HR department, there’s nowhere Georgina Boyd would rather be than summiting a peak
COVER STORY
ARE YOU ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS?
70 Career path
72 Other life
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SEPARATING THE GREAT FROM THE GOOD
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HRD explores the still-vital role played by the job interview in the digital age – and provides tips on how to do it better
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UPFRONT
EDITORIAL
Putting humans first
I
f there was one overarching theme that emerged in 2017, it was the rise and rise of design thinking principles being applied to the HR sphere. As a discipline, it has proven to be extremely effective for disrupting internal processes and enabling businesses to innovate and remain relevant in an increasingly competitive marketplace. In a nutshell, design thinking is a problem-solving approach focused on understanding customer needs using empathy, alongside rapid prototyping and testing. The approach is ideal for solving complex challenges that require simple customer-centred solutions. Professor Bill Barnett, a strategy expert at Stanford University, says ‘leading by design’ means that the role of leaders is not to predict the future but rather to design it for adaption. So, not only does HR need to
A ‘perfect storm’ has shepherded in this focus on design thinking be more dynamic in its response to strategic shifts but it also has a role to play in increasing the organisation’s ability to scan for and adapt to new opportunities. As Jennifer Pangas, an experienced HR professional who has moved into OD and design thinking consulting via her company HRHack, explained to HRD, a “perfect storm” has shepherded in this focus on design thinking in HR. Firstly, it’s the acknowledgement that many of the Silicon Valley success stories (LinkedIn, Google, Airbnb and others) focus as much on the employee experience as they do on the customer experience. HR teams are now refocusing on how they can create exceptional employee experiences to in turn drive exceptional customer experiences. Secondly, just as the business environment gets more complex, so does HR – business needs are more diverse, strategy can shift quickly, and there is a move towards personalisation of benefits for employees. HR needs to move more quickly, and the problems it is solving are more complex; this calls for a more structured and rapid approach to finding solutions. Finally, HR is being exposed to the innovation techniques and mindsets of other business functions. When HR has a practical understanding of innovation tools like design thinking, it is better equipped to understand and drive the cultural traits that support greater innovation and agility across the business. Looking to shake up your internal operations and perhaps even reshape your business model? It might be time to focus on human-centred design. Iain Hopkins, editor
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www.hcamag.com FEBRUARY 2O18 EDITORIAL
SALES & MARKETING
Editor Iain Hopkins
Marketing & Communications Manager Michelle Lam
Journalist John Hilton Editorial Assistant Hannah Go Production Editor Roslyn Meredith
ART & PRODUCTION Designer Marla Morelos Traffic Coordinator Freya Demegilio
Marketing Executive Emma Kemmery Business Development Manager Matthew Nutt
CORPORATE Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil
EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES iain.hopkins@keymedia.com
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Human Resources Director is part of an international family of B2B publications and websites for the human resources industry HRD CANADA www.hrmonline.ca HRD ASIA hrdmag.com.sg HRD AUSTRALIA hcamag.com HRD NEW ZEALAND hrmonline.co.nz
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 HRD Magazine can accept no responsibility for loss.
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UPFRONT
STATISTICS
THE FUTURE OF WORK
Canada 47.0%
The world of work is in transition, and the pace of change will most likely only gather speed
United States 45.8% TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION – which has already dramatically changed the way we do things in just a few years – and, crucially, the manner in which humans decide to use it will be the driving factors that determine what the future working world will look like. For example, even using the technology currently available, some countries could see up to 55% of full-time positions eliminated.
73%
think technology can never replace the human mind
74%
are ready to upskill or retrain to ensure future employability
Worldwide this translates to over a billion full-time-equivalent jobs. A world in flux is likely to make qualities such as adaptability more valuable as the nature of work becomes more fluid and constant evolution requires people to contribute in ways that make the best use of their talents. The only thing that remains a certainty in the world of the future is likely to be change.
65%
think technology will improve their future job prospects
74%
believe upskilling is their responsibility, not the employer’s
Mexico 51.8% A NEW (POSTAUTOMATION) WORLD According to one study, the equivalent of 1.2 billion full-time positions accounting for US$14.6trn in wages could be automated by adapting current technology across the globe, with the potential impact varying widely between nations. The statistics here show the percentage of time spent on activities with the technical potential for automation by adapting currently demonstrated technology. Japan leads the way.
Source: Workforce of the Future: The Competing Forces Shaping 2030, PwC, 2017
TALENT SUPPLY FORECAST
NEW REALITY OF WORK
The leadership shortfall evident in forward-looking assessments of talent supply is likely to be felt more acutely by executives than by HR, making it the most pressing skill gap for them.
The one constant in the future world of work is likely to be change, as nearly all aspects of work continue to experience transformation and organisations rapidly evolve to keep pace.
SUFFICIENT/OVERSUPPLY
Administration Finance Legal UNDERSUPPLY
IT/Technology Core operations/Service delivery Leadership Marketing Sales Source: Mercer Global Talent Trends Study: Empowerment in a Disrupted World, 2017
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Constant change Change will come to characterise nearly all aspects of work
Fluid work The changing nature of work will require people to adapt their talents to suit
Collaboration Creating value in a complex world will entail working closely with others
Keeping ahead of machines Enhancements to machines will shift focus to things that only humans can do
Diversity Diverse ways of thinking are necessary to keep ahead
Working with machines Collaboration between people and machines will lead the future of work
Source: The Commonwealth Bank Jobs and Skills of the Future Report, 2017
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Russia 50.3%
Germany 47.9%
UK 42.8% Czech Republic 52.2% China 51.2%
Italy 50.3%
France 43.1%
Egypt 48.7%
Japan 55.7%
UAE 47.3%
Qatar 52.0%
Thailand 54.6% India 51.8%
Kenya 51.9%
Brazil 50.1%
Indonesia 51.8% Singapore 44.2%
South Africa 41.0%
Australia 44.9%
Peru 53.2%
Source: A Future That Works: Automation, Employment, and Productivity, McKinsey Global Institute, January 2017
ASSISTED, AUGMENTED, AUTONOMOUS
SKILLS OF TOMORROW
A look ahead sees a paradigm shift from a world in which the STEM skills required for building new tech are in demand, to one in which uniquely human traits assume greater value, to finally, humans at work being questionable.
Employees are keenly aware of the need to be able to adjust rapidly to a changing environment. More than eight in 10 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that this was an attribute they possessed. Adaptability
86% 85% 81% 76% 74%
Problem-solving
Autonomous intelligence
Assisted intelligence Today: Automating tasks and providing assisted intelligence; increased demand for STEM skills to build new tech
Augmented intelligence
Future:
Emerging:
Adaptive systems take over decision-making; the future of humans at work is questioned
Humans and machines collaborate to make decisions; uniquely human traits become more valuable
Collaboration skills Emotional intelligence Creativity and innovation Leadership skills
69% 69%
Digital skills Risk management skills STEM skills
53%
Entrepreneurial skills Source: Workforce of the Future: The Competing Forces Shaping 2030, PwC, 2017
60% 50%
Source: Workforce of the Future: The Competing Forces Shaping 2030, PwC, 2017
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UPFRONT
NEWS ANALYSIS
Start with the end in mind Design thinking has been heralded as a way to transform how businesses operate – and finally it’s seeping into the HR arena DESIGN THINKING is an innovation tool that Stanford University’s d-school has formalised and taught to engineering students since 2006. While it is not a new approach, what is new is its application outside of product development where it originated. In 2018 it is tipped to make serious inroads into the HR space. In short, design thinking – also called human-centred design – is a problem-solving process focused on solving the needs of a
sound ‘soft’, but it’s a very scientific discipline with clear steps to understand needs, seek broad inputs to solve those needs, and then test those potential solutions to ensure they work. “Keeping the end customer at the heart of each stage is critical,” she tells HRD. “Applied to HR, design thinking puts employee needs and emotions at the centre of the design of processes and solutions.” Pangas says design thinking tools can be applied to any challenge where you
“Applied to HR, design thinking puts employee needs and emotions at the centre of the design of processes and solutions” Jennifer Pangas, HRHack specific group of people, such as customers or employees. It aims to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into value and market opportunity. Jennifer Pangas, an experienced HR professional who has recently moved into OD and design thinking consulting via her company HRHack, says design thinking may
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are solving something for a human – in other words, everything that HR does. She has seen HR teams apply it to reward, performance management, L&D, HR services and career management. Examples include Cisco, which has used design thinking to develop its HR strategy, and tech company Atlassian, which has used it for its performance management approach.
Liam Hayes, chief people officer at engineering firm Aurecon, says his focus in 2018 will be on redesigning the firm’s employee experience. To this end, he recently recruited an industrial designer with an innovation background to join his leadership team in order to embed design thinking into the employee experience. “It we had to do it as an HR team, with our HR knowledge, the danger is we’d end up with a similar outcome to what we have today,” he says. “We’re challenging ourselves to do something different, and really working with our senior leaders to look at this from a holistic point of view. We’re not looking at employee experience just from the HR point of view but at all elements that impact the employee experience, and making sure it aligns with and supports the type of client experience we want to deliver as a business.” The goal, Hayes adds, is to challenge how HR engages with the end users of its services, and work backwards from there. “That human-centric approach is taking us
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MAKING A START Starting small – perhaps around a key challenge like a redesign of performance management – and expanding from there is key to successful adoption of design thinking. However, Jennifer Pangas recommends that, when selecting a challenge, it helps if the answer is ‘yes’ to these three questions:
1
Does the challenge have people at the centre (eg employees, leaders, high performers)?
2
Is the challenge big enough to have a number of different possible solutions?
3
Do we have a stakeholder environment in which we can experiment with new innovations?
“The last question is potentially the most difficult one to meet but in my experience is critical so you can really use design thinking to its full benefit,” she says. For further tips, visit HRhack.com.au. down a very different path to anything we’ve done before,” he says. Pangas emphasises that design thinking is not only about engaging employees; it can also involve bringing in leaders or experts from other fields to solve the problem.
seminars on how design thinking can be used – nowhere more so than in law firms that are so overinvested in their original model that they miss and even ignore the changing needs and desires of their clients. “The key to long-term law firm success is balancing the
“Design thinking law firms are firms that continually reassess if they’re moving in the right direction by truly empathising with clients” Mitch Kowalski, author “I encourage my clients to engage people who will bring completely different thinking, particularly when ideating potential solutions,” she says. The repercussions can be massive. In the legal profession, for example, design thinking is completely revamping traditional business models. Canadian NewLaw thought leader and author Mitch Kowalski has spoken at
need to fully exploit what currently works with the need to explore new ideas,” he says. “Design thinking law firms are those that achieve that balance; these are firms that continually reassess if they’re moving in the right direction by truly empathising with clients.” Echoing this, Karen Cariss, CEO and co-founder of PageUp, says traditional hierarchical organisational structures will
soon be a thing of the past, replaced by new organisational designs that better facilitate teamwork, agility and collaboration. “As more and more companies hire employees across different time zones, working on multiple projects and using various media, organisational design will evolve to accommodate a more fluid work stream.” She cites design thinking as one of six workforce management trends to be aware of in 2018. Regardless of how the methodology is used, what’s common among design thinkers is a set of traits that include a beginner’s mindset whereby technical expertise is replaced with curiosity and exploration, just like a beginner; a willingness to take risks, managing the risk by finding ways to test cheaply and efficiently and viewing failures as critical learnings; and being employee advocates – HR must believe that listening to employees will open up new ways to truly motivate and engage them. “Not all HR leaders are necessarily looking for disruptive solutions, but they are always looking for impactful ones,” says Pangas.
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UPFRONT
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS Social robot aims to ease admin
The University of NSW has developed a ‘social robot’ to interact with employees in the workplace. The robot is part of a three-year collaboration between the UNSW Creative Robotics Lab and the Fuji Xerox Research Technology Group in Japan. It has been created to interact with employees in the workplace and perform administrative and organisational tasks. The idea is to allow workers to use their time to create and work on more challenging tasks, according to Roshan Thapliya, research senior manager of the Research and Technology Group at Fuji Xerox.
How will AI change the workplace?
Pairing humans alongside machine intelligence will create a more effective, engaged and meritocratic workforce, according to research from Pegasystems. The study involved 845 global senior executives surveyed across key industry sectors on the increased role AI and robotic automation will play in the workplace of the future. It found that seven out of 10 respondents (69%) believe the term ‘workforce’ will evolve to encapsulate both humans and machine intelligence. They also expect AI-augmented employees to generate tangible business returns such as more efficiency (73% agree) and better customer service (62%).
‘Always on’ culture wrecks work-life balance
A recent survey by PagerDuty has found that businesses should take more responsibility for the welfare of their IT employees required to be in an ‘always on’ mode, as this type of culture eats into their work-life balance
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and hampers productivity. Just 16% of IT professionals in Australia believe their work-life balance is excellent, while some 21% believe their job is unmanageable for its impact on their families. Moreover, 64% say fair or poor work-life balance affects their ability to manage stress, and 21% say this has made them likely to look for other job.
Tech a top priority for APAC professionals
More than 50% of office workers in APAC rate access to cutting-edge technology in the workplace above perks such as food and slick office design, according to research by Adobe. The Future of Work: Asia Pacific study surveyed almost 5,000 office workers from 10 countries across the region and examined how the roles of people, experiences and machines were impacting workplaces. While technology was cited as a top priority, the survey found that 72% of local businesses are only somewhat or not at all focused on leveraging technology to enable productivity and enhanced employee experiences.
Keeping up with technology costs
The top risk for Australian private companies over the next 12 months is the cost of keeping up with technological advances. A new report from Deloitte Private has tracked the plans, priorities and expectations of almost 1,900 private company leaders in 30 countries. The technology trends expected to have the greatest impact in the next 12 months are big data (34% see as critical), cloud infrastructure (30%) and analytics (28%). Australian businesses are investing accordingly, with 56% planning to invest in cloud computing or SaaS and 40% investing in data analytics/business intelligence.
Does use of technology help or hinder workplace relationships? HRD talks to Karen Gately about how technology can result in a sense of detachment among employees It goes without saying that technology has revolutionised both the way we work and the way we communicate forever – but is it really a change for the better? Leadership and people management specialist Karen Gately says digital may have made communicating across teams a little easier, but it also has the potential to destroy workplace culture. “I think technology is one of the biggest obstacles to building healthy relationships,” Gately tells HRD. “People become keyboard warriors and we just sit at our desks and have arguments and try to resolve problems through technology.” Gately says technology gives many employees a sense of detachment, which means they’re often less rational when communicating online. “People will often say things that they otherwise wouldn’t, and they’ll say things in ways that they might not choose to say them if they were actually sitting in front of the person having the interaction,” she says. “The other reality with our digital world is that everything moves really quickly, and we can fail to stop and really appreciate certain moments or to bring people together to have a meaningful connection – whether it be through celebrating successes or learning as a team. If we try to do things by digital means
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too much, we miss the opportunity to foster those relationships and learn from our experiences.” Of course, Gately doesn’t for a moment suggest abandoning digital communication – it’s integral to the success of many teams, particularly those that are geographically dispersed – but she does suggest that HR can take measures to stop it sabotaging company culture. “Communication is fundamental to an organisation’s ability to thrive, and the quality of communication is fundamental, so we need to enable organisations to be more effective in the way they communicate,” Gately says.
Leaders need to think about communication as a core capability that links the potential of the business to performance “A big part of that is the face-to-face interaction and it’s the relationship-building, so HR needs to play a role in helping organisations to improve the way they not only share information but explore ideas, the way they make decisions and the way they build relationships.” Gately adds that leaders need to think beyond just communication in terms of the staff newsletter or updates around appointments or new client wins. Instead they need to think about communication as a core capability that links the potential of the business to performance.
Q&A
Going global with payroll Nick Southcombe CEO FRONTIER SOFTWARE
Fast fact Single Touch Payroll means employers will report payments such as salaries and wages, PAYG withholding and super information directly to the ATO from their payroll solution at the same time they pay their employees. For employers with 20 or more employees, Single Touch Payroll reporting starts from 1 July 2018.
What are the drivers for global HRIS and payroll systems? Wherever organisations operate in multiple countries, effective leadership teams will always want a view of their entire workforce. At a simple level, workforce views capture and report total head count and its cost. However, as businesses embrace the notion of the global village, distributed teams and operations in multiple time zones, leadership needs a global view of talent to facilitate workforce planning. This includes an understanding of both current competencies and skill shortfalls that may impact future strategies. A global view of recruiting, learning and development, career and succession planning within truly multinational businesses are also realities that must be embraced and addressed. Traditionally, such information has been captured in disparate systems, usually on a country-by-country basis. When a global head office wanted a consolidated view of their total workforce, each geographical region would produce their own reports, oftentimes in different formats. At head office the report data would then be reconfigured and manually rekeyed into a spreadsheet or other reporting tool in order to derive the global view. This time-consuming and error-prone process often diminished the value of the data due to its lack of currency. Such ‘shadow system’ reporting saw organisations applying changes to the global consolidated reports in arrears. At best the result was partially effective as the data on which decisions were based was not timely. An emerging trend is the incidence of regional and even single global payroll teams to execute payroll for multiple countries. What type of software functions and service offerings should be expected of a global HRIS and payroll system? A best practice global HRIS would enable organisations to capture all HR-related data into a single database. It will offer multi-country, multi-language and multi-currency capabilities. It will have a powerful user-friendly report writer. It will capture all financial data in the local currency but be able to convert and report in any currency the user desires. It will have sophisticated workflow functionality to support global business processes. From a payroll perspective, it would be rare to find a single payroll offering that can service all required countries. Although many vendors say they can meet this requirement, they often do so by bundling disparate payroll solutions into their offering or by partnering with local payroll providers. Technically, this can be made to work if the HRIS database has an easy-to-use data import function, often referred to as aggregator functionality. However, some vendors are developing a single payroll system for an increasing number of multiple countries out of a single database. Finally, ensure you find out how a vendor of a global offering supports and services their solution. Is a help desk available 24 hours a day, anywhere in the world? How do they maintain statutory compliance? Do they fly in implementation and training support, or is it local, or online? A true global HRIS and payroll system is engineered as an accurate, single source of truth, supporting common business processes for all countries and providing up-to-the-minute information.
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UPFRONT
RECRUITMENT UPDATE
RECRUITING QUALITY OVER QUANTITY HRD talks to TechnologyOne’s group director, people and culture, Jane Coe, about how to maximise recruitment success “We recognise individuals on the day of their milestone with a team event such as lunch, morning tea or at the Friday social hour,” she says. “Each year we hold an annual celebration event in each region to publicly recognise long-serving team members and present them with a gift.”
TechnologyOne’s recruitment efforts focus on quality above quantity, irrespective of the timeto-fill, according to the company’s group director, people and culture, Jane Coe. “With a constant focus on building and developing a cohesive and collaborative workforce for the long term, our dedicated in-house TechnologyOne recruitment team works alongside business leaders to proactively address strategic workforce capacity and capability requirements,” Coe tells HRD. “With almost all hires filled as permanent positions, we utilise software developed on a
NEWS BRIEFS
customer relationship management model, extending parameters well beyond a linear applicant tracking system.” Coe adds that the company invests in a recruitment program that recognises the importance of relationships when hiring for the future, where recruiting for fit, culture and behaviour is equally, if not more, important than technical competence. TechnologyOne also leverages social media environments such as LinkedIn to promote opportunities, market the employee value proposition and engage passive candidates.
Aussies prioritise diversity when hiring
Australian businesses are focused on creating cultures of inclusion and belonging in their workplaces, according to LinkedIn’s 2018 Global Recruiting Trends report. Eighty-five percent of Australian talent-acquiring leaders say that diversity is the top trend affecting how they hire. Australia is above the global average of 78% and is second only to South Africa. “Building diversity, inclusion, and belonging must start with the executive team of an organisation, with a true belief of the ‘why’ it’s important,” said Jason Laufer, senior director – learning and talent solutions, Asia Pacific, at LinkedIn. 10
Moreover, the company invests in graduate recruitment activities, takes part in careers fairs across Australia, supports local higher education programs, leverages graduate online portals, and promotes face-to-face networking opportunities. An intern program accredited by Interns Australia, a not-for–profit organisation, is dedicated to providing career guidance and advice to interns across the nation. This year, TechnologyOne received more than 15,000 recruitment applications, processed 33 promotions and facilitated 20 international secondments, many of which were employee-initiated. What have been the results of these initiatives? TechnologyOne has an average length of service exceeding 5.6 years and an employee attrition rate of just 12%. In a 2016 focus group, 78% of employees reported being excited to be a part of TechnologyOne’s future and 72% were prepared to tell other people great things about working at the company. “At TechnologyOne, we recognise that great cultures are not built on free breakfasts and Friday drinks,” says Coe. “Providing great benefits, services and amenities for our people to make the proverbial nine to five more enjoyable is never a bad thing. “But more importantly, we offer incentives for our people to stay with us: opportunity to develop their careers, training to boost their skills, and recognition for high performance.” Coe adds that the TechnologyOne Service Recognition Program acknowledges long-serving team members at five-year intervals.
Google ‘most desirable employer’
For the third year in a row, Google has been voted the most desirable employer in GradAustralia’s survey of 14,000 students across 38 universities. The top 10 included fellow tech giants Apple and Microsoft; consulting companies PwC Australia, EY and KPMG; and the Commonwealth Bank, Deloitte, BHP Billiton and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The results found that most millennials expect to make up to 20 applications before landing a job and 70% of millennials prefer a fulfilling job to a good salary.
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Q&A
EMERGING TRENDS IN RPO Nicole Cook Managing director PEOPLESCOUT
Fast fact BPO analysts NelsonHall predict that recruitment process outsourcing will be the fastest-growing service in the HR arena by 2020.
Do you have any forecasts for the year ahead for recruitment process outsoucing? It’s only February, and given the number of enquiries and RFPs that have landed already, I would expect it to be a very active year for the RPO sector in ANZ and globally. Based on recent conversations with a number business and HR leaders, I know that RPOs need to continue to be more innovative because the pressure on finding good talent that can deliver business outcomes is rising. As a result of workforce trends, I predict many organisations will shift towards both partial and enterprise RPO engagements. • Organisations will need RPOs in 2018, and even those with in-house models may look for support. RPO arrangements will vary as organisations determine the best way to engage. Organisations may look to outsource talent acquisition for a particular area (volume or hard-to-fill positions), for a specific project, to perform a specialised function (like screening), or to manage the entire talent acquisition strategy. • Locally, strong recruiters will be in demand, especially the ones that can adapt and understand how the technology can be leveraged to allow them to focus on the partnering aspects of their role. • Companies with existing RPO solutions may increase the scope of arrangements and expand to other areas, such as contingent, in a push towards an integrated total workforce management approach. They will expect the technology solutions to support this, which isn’t quite there yet.
Jobseekers reveal frustrations
Slow feedback, cited by 53% of survey respondents, has been voted the biggest frustration experienced by jobseekers during the interview process. The survey, commissioned by specialist recruiter Robert Half, revealed the second- and thirdbiggest frustrations to be ‘delayed decisionmaking’ (46%) and ‘poor communication about the required steps in the recruitment process’ (44%). Some 43% of jobseekers indicated they would not recommend a company as a potential employer and 38% were even willing to withdraw their application if they did not receive a timely response about its status.
How is technology impacting this space? Like any other industry, the digitisation of the talent acquisition function is happening at lightning speed. Recruitment tools that promote a personalised approach to candidate engagement and management will be new promoters of the employment brand across all platforms. This includes targeted placement on social media platforms. AI-based sourcing capabilities will enhance the ability to find good talent and transform the role of the recruiter to focus more on the high-value, strategic steps of the hiring process. Sophisticated data analytics will provide insights that allow talent acquisitions leaders to more clearly see what’s working and what’s not, so they can make rapid adjustments where needed. With five different generations of workers in the workforce, the digital components of the selection phase will need to be carefully planned. Video interviewing may work for some and not others. Gamification may be the new assessment tool, and virtual reality job previews are not that far away! Overall, it’s an exciting time to be in the recruitment space, and recruitment as we know it will soon be turned on its head. I’m proud to work for an organisation like PeopleScout, which rapidly responded to this trend with the launch of Affinix. Companies with an established digital strategy will align well with RPOs that have digital talent acquisition capabilities and also train recruiters to maintain the personal touch required to engage with the best talent. This is the next level of thinking – an organisation’s talent acquisition process will be digitally led, aligned with a digitally led business strategy.
How NAB is attracting new talent
NAB has transformed its graduate program to attract talented graduates and equip them with skills for a modern economy. This includes boosting the number of graduates starting in 2018 by nearly 50%, expanding the locations where the graduate program is offered, and introducing changes to ensure graduates are ready for permanent roles at the bank within just 15 months. The bank has also changed one of its criteria for selecting the best graduates for 2019, no longer requiring graduates to have a minimum grade point average of 65 or above.
Gender bias starts during recruitment
Gender bias in the tech industry is worse than many women expect, with discrimination evident across every type of role, according to a recent global study by Booking.com. The research set out to understand the perceptions of women working in non-tech roles – such as HR, finance and marketing – within the technology industry. The research suggests that gender bias starts with the recruitment process, with more than two thirds of respondents believing that benefit packages are not adapted to women (68%) and that career opportunities in tech are advertised more often to men (75%). www.hcamag.com
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UPFRONT
HEAD TO HEAD
Should the CIO role fall under HR’s jurisdiction? Tech has transformed HR. Should this relationship be reflected on the org chart?
Ilja Rijnen
Cindy Reid
Regional HR director, Emerging Asia Beam Suntory
Director, people & culture and transformation Konica Minolta Business Solutions Australia
“The line between consumer tech and employee tech is blurring. Accordingly, CIOs have an enormous impact on enterprise tech and the employees interacting with it daily. “Combining the powers of the CHRO and CIO can diminish the risk of employee disengagement. However, given differences between the functions and the specific knowledge needed, either department leading the other is unlikely to result in great success. “Close collaboration can translate into IT solutions. Meanwhile, IT engineers get exposure to a people-first leadership focus. CHRO and CIO collaboration raises each department’s profile such that these professionals can bring their full value to the company.”
“We believe that accomplished leaders should be able to lead various functions, regardless of technical expertise. “Leaders have a responsibility to develop and inspire team members and clients with an emphasis on leadership skills such as decision-making, agility, diversity of thought and ethics. “As leaders, our role is to build a team of competent people and bring out the best in each team member. “With the right team, the CIO role and the CHRO role should be interchangeable. Bottom line: HR leaders hold the key to creating the right environment and support to make leadership agility work in reality.”
Phil Turner
HR manager, talent, L&D, technology and projects Lindt & Sprungli “It’s possible in 2018. Going back in time, HR was regarded as a non-technical ‘personnel’ support function for administrative and transactional activities – hiring. terminations, pay and paperwork. Today’s forward-thinking HR professionals operate in the strategic zone and manage complex transformational changes involving both people and technology. They can handle rapid change, automation, commercial analysis, procurement, senior stakeholder management, skilling to support complex technologies, global and remote project management, fast-paced cross-functional deployments, and HR processes rolled out to the entire enterprise. You can decide if that sounds like someone who can oversee a CIO.”
OVERCOMING RESISTANCE As tech becomes ever more important to HR – be it in the form of automation of transactional aspects such as payroll, or the implementation of people analytics or such curve-leading measures as an in-house mobile HR resource centre app – more HR leaders are working closely with CIOs in recognition of the importance of tech to talent management. One approach to reconciling these fields can be seen at BMC Software, where the role of chief experience officer entails leading both HR and information services and technology; the CIO is a direct report. As analyst Josh Bersin put it in the report Everything Is Becoming Digital: “Just as many digital disruptors have toppled businesses in travel, retail, and other industries, we should essentially ‘topple’ our HR thinking with the adoption of digital solutions. […] HR organisations now have to learn how to ‘be digital’, not just ‘buy digital products”.
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15/02/2018 2:39:43 PM
EXPERT INSIGHT
OPINION
GOT AN OPINION THAT COUNTS? Email hrd_editor@keymedia.com.au
Future-proofing your leadership style An era of changing demographics demands that we rethink our leadership qualities and behaviours, writes Kylie Wright-Ford IN THE new world of work, which some refer to as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’, there are major disruptive forces due to the multigenerational nature of the labour market, globalisation and new technology – making some roles and routines in the workplace obsolete. The ability to adapt to such an environment and constantly revisit leadership behaviours with a view to the future (not just the past) will determine the difference between companies that survive and those that thrive, but many leaders are in denial. And others are looking for answers in an age without a rule book. Future-proofing your leadership style will require developing a stellar ability to lead across generations and styles.
Technology as enabler Consider for a moment the demographic shifts we are about to experience. We will soon have four different generations in the workforce. This is certain to cause both conflict and opportunity. The conflict will come from the clashing of communication preferences and differences in motivations. The opportunity will come from being able to assemble teams across different geographies and time zones more seamlessly than ever, thanks to rapidly advancing technologies that make remote work possible; and from the ability to find people for specific tasks on demand, thanks to the large and growing freelance workforce. In conducting hundreds of interviews with
executives and rising leaders to talk about what they see, hear, love and hate about leaders they observe, executive coach Debra Benton and I have identified four behaviours that matter for the future. The behaviours are: dynamic; playful; unblocking; uber-communicative.
Four behaviours to master Dynamic leaders enable change in themselves
and do much more than simply provide free food and ping-pong tables at work. Unblocking refers to a leader’s ability to free their people by, for example, providing them with the tools to succeed; offering support so that their efforts flourish; encouraging risk-taking where appropriate; and keeping tabs on progress along the way. They help remove the barriers to progress, including legacy thinking, risk aversion, and tunnel vision based on ‘group think’. People of all ages – but especially the rising generations – want to be empowered, authorised and enabled to fix the inefficiencies their predecessors created. Finally, the uber-communicative approach is potentially the most essential trait needed for the future. Uber-communicative leaders know that good communication requires a leader to both deliver a message and then establish common understanding of the message, and they use many different channels to do so. While essential, in our view this trait still needs a lot of attention, especially from experienced leaders who are often overheard moaning
The multigenerational nature of the labour market has leaders looking for answers in an age without a rule book and others. They produce motion instead of static. They are more than just spirited and magnetic, and much more than charismatic. While an important aspect of leadership used to be about change management, the leader of the future is about enabling change in processes, culture, product development, and more. Playful is perhaps the most controversial of the behaviours because to some it may imply frivolity. In the context of the new world of work it means having fun and trying some new things. The days of a clear line between work and non-work disappeared with the advent of the mobile device; good leaders embrace the mash-up of work and life. Playful leaders are good-humoured and build a creative and positive environment. They are approachable
about the way that rising generations don’t use correct grammar or overuse emoticons. In the new world of work, with the constant distraction of our devices and more diverse constituents than ever, it is not enough to send a message and expect that everyone receives it in the same way. Leaders of the future will meet their teams’ needs and preferences for communicating, whether it is by town hall, instant message, social media, email, carrier pigeon, conference call or text. Kylie Wright-Ford is an Australia-raised and globally travelled operating executive, adviser and board member of growth companies in the US. Her first book is The Leadership Mind Switch.
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PEOPLE
GLOBAL HR LEADER
Meet a tech pioneer Chatelle Lynch not only heads global HR operations at cybersecurity firm McAfee but was under 40 when she was appointed to the board of the company and is a passionate advocate of attracting more women into technology fields. She chats to Iain Hopkins about her career USING THE maxim that HR professionals in 2018 must be business leaders first and HR professionals second, McAfee’s senior vice president and CHRO, Chatelle Lynch, has built her career around not just knowing her organisation inside out but also “knowing the numbers”. Lynch started her career as a compensation specialist and has found that data provides a different level of credibility when she’s dealing with other data-driven individuals. Numbers cut through and ‘talk’ to other professionals, she says. “Using that data to help explain why HR decisions are made has been invaluable,” Lynch tells HRD. “That’s the language these other professionals speak, so my belief is HR should also speak that language. For example, when you’re trying to hire quickly in a very dynamic and competitive market where there is already a shortage of talent and where people are already under pressure to meet numbers and get roles filled quickly, you want to help people understand that this is not just an HR process designed to slow down what they need to do. Showing them the bigger picture with data is critical. It provides great insights into so many areas.” Melbourne-born but now Texas-based, Lynch has been a long-standing employee of cybersecurity firm McAfee. She joined the company in 2005 and worked her way up to global head of HR in 2015. Today she
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leads the HR function at McAfee for 7,500 employees in 50 countries. During her career at McAfee, Lynch has been involved in various M&As and also a major divestiture – all the while being a working mother to five children. She is a strong advocate for supporting the growth, empowerment and success of women in what remains a male-dominated industry. She reveals her story to HRD.
decided to put me in the HR department. At that time I’d just finished my degrees, and I admit I didn’t really know what HR was. The company thought I showed potential, and they put me in an amazing high-potential program. I was able to get rotations through every function in HR over a six-month period. It was great exposure. I fell in love with HR and the ability to influence business decisions through people.
“There are not enough females in the pipeline for the tech industry, and if we don’t change that we’re not going to see numbers in tech improve” HRD: What sparked your interest in the HR profession? Chatelle Lynch: I’d always had a fascination with the US, so when I was at Deakin University in Melbourne I applied for a US student exchange program and was accepted. It was just a six-month opportunity, so when I got back to Australia I said, “I want to go back; I’m not done with America yet”. I wrote to as many companies as I could think of, and the company that accepted me [engineering/construction firm Fluor Corporation] profiled where I’d sit best. They
I ended up at McAfee, starting as a compensation analyst. I had a great mentor who recommended I get really good at one or two areas of HR so when you walk into a room no one knows more about that topic than you do. For me those two areas were compensation and M&As. I tried to learn those two areas inside out.
HRD: What is McAfee doing to attract more females into the industry and by extension the company? CL: There are simply not enough females in
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PROFILE Name: Chatelle Lynch Company: McAfee Role: CHRO HR experience: 17 years Qualifications: »»Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, Journalism, Deakin University »»Bachelor of Applied Science, Deakin University »»Exchange student, Colorado State University Previous roles: »»Head of HR, Intel Security »»Vice president, HR, McAfee »»Vice president, global rewards and HR operations, McAfee »»Senior director, corporate compensation, systems and services, McAfee »»Director, global compensation and HR services, McAfee »»Manager, global compensation, McAfee »»SR compensation analyst, McAfee »»Compensation analyst, McAfee »»First HR role: HR generalist/manager, Fluor Corporation
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PEOPLE
GLOBAL HR LEADER the tech industry. There are also not enough females in the pipeline for the tech industry, and if we don’t change that we’re not going to see numbers in tech improve. We’ve taken a two-pronged approach. Firstly, we are concentrating on the pipelining of diverse talent from early ages. We’ve looked at our processes and the approach we take to the talent market to ensure we’re doing as much as we can on the recruiting side to bring female candidates in front of our managers when we’re recruiting. For example, depending on the areas of expertise and functions, the recruiting and analytics team have gone out on location and asked the question: with the available
By 2020 there will be a shortage of two million professionals in cybersecurity. Given the rate at which threats are moving, we’re urging governments, universities and colleges to get more involved, whether that be through more funding or changes to curriculums to groom future cybersecurity talent.
HRD: Can you outline what the WISE Affinity Group is about? CL: WISE stands for Women in Security, and it’s one of our employee-run networks. We have around 1,000 members in the group globally. Importantly, it’s not just women involved in the group; it’s also men, at all levels. We run mentoring programs,
“Using data to help explain why HR decisions are made has been invaluable. That’s the language these other professionals speak, so HR should also speak that language” female talent, should we be getting a 50/50 male/female split in interviews, or in this market should it be 40/50 female/male? Whatever it is, we’re holding our recruiting team accountable: they need to track it and ensure they are getting female candidates into the pipeline. Then, depending on the numbers that we’re told about availability of talent for those roles, we’re trying to ensure that female talent makes it through to second- and third-interview stage. As an example, for software and engineering roles in Singapore we want to see five final candidates, and at least two of them need to be female. We’re ensuring there’s a female interviewer as part of the decision about who we bring into the company. We won’t sign off on the hire unless the diversity metrics have been met. The problem for us is that our recruiters have to work harder in a very fast-moving industry, because it’s not just about finding female qualified candidates; it’s become about finding qualified candidates, period.
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educational classes, and focus heavily on professional development. WISE provides the opportunity for women to share their experiences. Where we’ve focused on over the last year or so is the men playing more of a role, and encouraging them to see things from the perspective of their wives, their sisters, their daughters. That’s been eye-opening. We’ll continue to ensure it’s not just a female group but pertinent to men as well. We need men in the workplace to help create better understanding and to model the behaviours we want to see.
HRD: This is obviously a far-reaching issue that needs widespread support to make meaningful change. Do you feel there’s only so much one organisation can do? CL: Working together is important. I know we’re a business and we’re in competition with others, but I feel like the cybersecurity industry knows we have a greater cause, a
3 TIPS FOR FEMALE LEADERS Chatelle Lynch has risen to the top in a maledominated industry. She shares her career tips with HRD. Build your brand. “I found early on that
1 I wanted to be known for a brand. What
was my brand going to be? What I found worked for me was delivering on commitments and ensuring that I would go one step further than what I was asked. For example, if a colleague asked for something, I wouldn’t look for someone else to do it; I would do it myself.” Learn from setbacks. “I moved to the US
2 not really knowing anyone. I didn’t know anyone at McAfee. I literally worked my way up to the top job in HR through many trials and tribulations, but I did it by working through setbacks and not letting them define me.”
Back yourself. “Sometimes I think women
3 don’t own their success as much as they
should. I don’t think all women are like that, but when I interact with women and they receive a compliment, for example, they will often shut it down. Whereas I’ve been in similar situations with men, and they will totally own it. So while I’m very conscious of remaining humble thanks to my background and how I was raised, I make sure I own my successes. Also, make sure you market your successes as an organisation as well. I made sure I invested in an HR comms team. We need our employees to know the value HR brings to them, because it ultimately impacts the culture and the working environment.”
greater mission. As an industry we’re banding together and doing whatever we can to take things forward to government and education and councils we’ve formed. Our CEO is on these councils, alongside the CEOs of our competitors. I’ve seen some great partnerships formed. There’s more of a focus on it, but we need more funding and more cybersecurity professionals ready for the future – both males and females.
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15/02/2018 2:43:56 PM
EXPERT INSIGHT
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WORKPLACE RELATIONS
Managing millennials Looking to get the most from your millennial workforce? Joe Murphy provides his tips ONCE YOU gain a better understanding of why it is that millennials have been branded with the particular traits attributed to them as employees, you start to realise that it has very little to do with their age or being part of a particular generation. It has everything to do with the current societal and working environments into which millennials have been introduced. These environments have been heavily influenced and engineered by baby boomers and Generation X (I am an X). Those generations only have themselves to blame for the difficulty they now have in trying to understand why a new generation of employees appears difficult to manage.
Great Depression, and Generation X had ‘the recession we had to have’, but neither was reared in a post-GFC environment (rather they were the architects of the GFC!).
Psychology of millennials
an artificial generational prism. At their core, millennials are just like any other generation: they want to feel secure, they want to be trusted, they want to be liked, and they too want to be successful and part of something that is a success. They are also a generation that has had access to information like no other, and this means they are also inquisitive like no other. This means they will often question what they are doing when it is not immediately apparent that it serves a meaningful purpose. This can be misinterpreted as lacking in work ethic or as insubordination, when it really comes from a place of wanting to better understand the purpose. Employers should really see this as an opportunity for the employees to buy into
It is unhelpful and short-sighted to head down the well-worn path of moaning about how difficult it is to manage millennials because they lack loyalty and ‘job hop’, have a poor work ethic, want a promotion before they’ve even started to understand their craft, and feel otherwise ‘entitled’. The reality is, millennials are just like any other generation, only they find themselves in a world that is more informed, faster-paced, and technologically far more advanced than that of the generations that preceded them. It is also a world that has less certainty around job security and potentially less hope (particularly in a post-GFC economy). The baby boomers felt the after-effects of the
the work and emotionally invest in the work. The natural outcome is likely to be passionate and harder-working employees who are very likely to outperform the generations that have gone before them (and might even be managing them).
Use their collaboration skills Millennials are also said to respond well to working in teams in a collaborative manner but at the same time thrive if they are permitted a degree of independence and ownership of a project or part of a project. Other considerations that will help businesses best harness the depth of talent that millennials have to offer may include access to technological solutions and flexibility in working arrangements.
Provide clear direction and purpose With the above in mind, how do you gain a better understanding of how to manage millennials? Firstly, stop looking at millennials through
Communicate your core purpose Employers should invest time in making sure their millennial employees understand the
Millennials are just like any other generation: they want to feel secure, they want to be trusted, they want to be liked business’s purpose, and if it is something they can believe in and get behind, then you will find no employees as loyal as your millennials. Something your business will need to do is be able to articulate the core purpose of the business, and it is only then that your millennials will decide whether it is a purpose worth getting behind and investing in. Joe Murphy is the managing director of National Workplace at Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors (ABLA). Serving business and only business, ABLA is trusted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is the leading voice for business in the Fair Work Commission. Contact Joe on 1300 565 846 or joe.murphy@ablawyers.com.au if you have any questions raised by this article.
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15/02/2018 2:45:13 PM
COVER STORY
INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS
DREAM BIG Australia’s most innovative HR teams
Innovation has never been more important in the workplace, and HR has a key role to play. Over the following pages, HRD presents its annual list of Australia’s most innovative HR teams 18
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Brought to you by
INNOVATION IS not only a tool but also a way of thinking. Disruptive innovation is about delivering something that’s so good it makes other things irrelevant, and there’s no point in going back. That’s the advice from Ben Sorensen, business development and commercialisation manager at CSIRO’s Data61. Sorensen has shared his experience via Konica Minolta’s Innovators Series, which features videos of highprofile innovators from Australian businesses sharing their insights into what is driving innovation. “We need to take the language of innovation away from consulting jargon to make it simple and accessible,” Sorensen said. “It’s not rocket science, and it doesn’t need to be high-risk, high-cost, or slow.” Sorensen identified four elements that must be meshed for success. 1. START WITH PURPOSE Every organisation that wishes to remain relevant in the long term must be motivated by more than just extracting value from a market. Sustainable organisations are customer-centric and purpose-driven, aiming to solve problems and create value for customers. They deliver real value by focusing every aspect and activity of the organisation on producing outcomes that its customers desire, more effectively than its competitors do. 2. LEADERSHIP IS EVERYONE’S RESPONSIBILITY The focus of great leadership is on motivating and shared purpose, and is characterised by trust. Senior leaders are responsible for setting and communicating a clear direction, while also creating the conditions that enable the excellence of others to determine the best way to deliver improvements. 3. USE STRATEGY TO SHAPE THE ENVIRONMENT People generally take a linear, analytic approach to strategy, if they take any approach at all. The best organisations do this automatically while also exploring new opportunities to create value. They embrace the idea that the status quo doesn’t extend into the future, and systematically look for gaps in the market that provide new competitive advantage. 4. CULTURE IS THE FORCE MULTIPLIER Culture’s alignment with a valid purpose and well-grounded strategy is necessary to achieve greatness. And the best leaders work hardest at this. Culture is the hardest part of the four elements. Leaders don’t control culture, but they do control environment. They need to focus on setting an environment that empowers, encourages, and enables excellence. Great organisations bake innovation behaviours into the culture by setting them as expectations.
A WORD FROM OUR PARTNER It’s no secret that organisations with highly engaged employees have a performance edge. In fact, research by Gallup shows that such firms outperform their peers by a staggering 147% when it comes to earnings per share. But in a competitive environment, highly engaged employees can be hard to attract and even harder to retain. For HR professionals, it means working smarter to build positive employee experiences and a standout employee value proposition that offers compelling value. The HRD Innovative HR Teams list shines a spotlight on the organisations leading the way in HR innovation. By recognising those who are pushing the boundaries and thinking bigger, the awards help set new benchmarks for the Australian HR industry. Whether it be in recruitment, culture, data, benefits, health and wellbeing, engagement or diversity, we can all learn from their innovative thinking. Maxxia is proud to sponsor these awards for the third year running and, on behalf of Maxxia, I congratulate and applaud the award recipients for their efforts in creating great experiences for their employees. For more than 30 years, Maxxia has been helping organisations gain an edge with tailored employee benefit programs. We support over 1,200 organisations and their HR teams across multiple sectors to be forward-thinking in their employee benefit strategies. We’re entrusted to provide tangible value to more than 300,000 employees with a range of benefits. As you read through the pages of this report, you’ll discover how leading HR teams are delivering a competitive advantage for their organisations. Be prepared to be inspired by their innovative approach and creativity.
Andrew Daly Group executive customer development Maxxia
business.maxxia.com.au/performance
HRD’s list of Australia’s most innovative HR teams highlights those companies that have taken these four elements to heart.
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COVER STORY
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INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS ACCENTURE Industry: Professional services HOT INNOVATION AREA: TALENT MANAGEMENT
Accenture has turned a number of disruptions in the workforce into key opportunity areas for the company. With the automation trend and the continuing growth of the gig economy, not to mention the demands and challenges posed by new generations of workers, Accenture has identified the need to formulate new strategies that will enable the firm to leverage the contingent workforce, access deep technical skills, and develop true agility in its talent base. In order to achieve talent mobility and maximise resources, the company has launched an internal digital recruitment process that allows people with possibly untapped skills to be considered for available roles. The system is also reorienting people to view work differently, shifting the mindset from long-term assignments to short tasks, while enabling employees to expand their networks, develop new skills and work in different areas. This year, Accenture is looking to create a dynamic ecosystem of talent called the Curated Crowd, which will allow real-time engagement with talent and enable seamless movement of this talent wherever it is required.
AECOM Industry: Construction and engineering HOT INNOVATION AREA: FLEXIBLE WORK
For the past year, AECOM has been focused on embracing the philosophy of flexwork and on developing employee trust as a key element of the corporate culture – starting with a new work proposition/principle for all teams: “If it works for your client, it works for your team and it works for you, it works for us.” Within AECOM, this has meant, among other things, removing bureaucracy and inefficient processes from existing policies, rethinking working hours, and introducing new ways of working. “Flex is about a conversation, and it’s working … [Although] flex time is not innovative, our ‘next step’ is new to our business, challenging the tendency to measure inputs rather than outputs,” says Helen Fraser, AECOM’s HR director for ANZ. The team has removed standard start and finish times for a 40-hour work week, and has also introduced a ‘FlexDay’ initiative, which allows employees to accrue up to eight hours a month and take a FlexDay the next month. Perhaps most innovative of all is the launch of term-time contracts. The solution entails employing highly technical workforce professionals following the schedule of school terms only, which allows them to have annual leave during school holidays.
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GOOD TO KNOW… The percentage of employers with flexible work policies sits at 68.3% (up 5.3%), according to 2016/17 workplace data released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
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COVER STORY
INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS AMERICAN EXPRESS Industry: Financial services HOT INNOVATION AREA: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
AURECON GROUP Industry: Engineering & infrastructure consulting HOT INNOVATION AREA: CULTURE
For the past year, the people team at Aurecon have been working on a culture change project. The team utilised a design thinking methodology, partnering with internal and external clients to identify the characteristics needed for people to be considered future-ready and become effective partners to clients’ businesses. This led to the creation of the Aurecon Attributes – attributes unique to Aurecon’s people that will enable the leveraging of individual strengths and formation of a collective diversity, in order to unleash true innovation within and by the group. To effectively embed these attributes throughout the business, the team launched a series of culture campaigns, beginning with the #MyAureconAttribute campaign, which encouraged employees to post photos showcasing their main Aurecon Attribute. Another was the graduate recruitment campaign, which surveyed prospective graduates on their Aurecon Attribute of choice. The Aurecon Attributes were also used to build a new strengths-based development platform that helped employees identify and further develop their strengths. The team’s goal is to move away from the traditional competency-based models in order to help people develop their natural talents.
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Women in Australia earn around 15% less than their male counterparts, with the largest gap (33%) found in the financial services industry. Thus, after hearing in mid-2016 about a push in certain US states for a new regulation to prohibit companies from asking job applicants about their current salaries, the Australian HR team at American Express began examining its own recruitment approach and processes for any inherent biases that may have contributed to the persistent pay gap. Together with the compensation team, HR ensured that the recruitment team and hiring leaders were equipped with accurate salary benchmark data (both internal and external) through an online tool. HR also worked with recruitment to change existing processes, revise interview guides, and coach the hiring leaders on the changes implemented. The new approach for recruiters now is to focus on salary expectations instead of existing salaries. Based on the 2017 Workplace Gender Equality Agency benchmark report, American Express has managed to keep its gender pay gap to 8.6% below the industry average, and following the internal analysis conducted, the pay gap in like-for-like roles is trending to zero.
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL SECURITY AUTHORITY (AFSA) Industry: Government agency HOT INNOVATION AREA: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
In early 2017, the HR team at the Australian Financial Security Authority conducted a thorough review of its performance management framework following feedback from staff, and decided to come up with a new framework that would help the agency effectively transform its workforce management practices. To design the new framework, the team formed a steering committee composed of staff and managers who served as subject-matter experts for the project, oversaw the review process, and endorsed the proposed design principles. The team then drafted the framework in line with the approved principles to come up with a minimum viable product (MVP), then re-engaged the staff to test the draft framework via ‘Testing Sandpit’ sessions. The staff provided immediate feedback on the best aspects of the framework and proposed changes that would make it more responsive to their needs. The Sandpit structure soon became the go-to tool for the team to consult with the staff on other HR-related initiatives.
GOOD TO KNOW… A minimum viable product (MVP) is a development technique in which a new product or website is developed with sufficient features to satisfy early adopters. The final complete set of features is only designed and developed after considering feedback from the product’s initial users.
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BLACK DOG INSTITUTE Industry: Not-for-profit HOT INNOVATION AREA: HEALTH AND WELLBEING
With mental illness now the leading cause of absenteeism and long-term work incapacity in developed countries – the Australian economy loses more than $12bn per year in productivity costs – the work of organisations such as Black Dog Institute in promoting mental health and wellbeing is more crucial than ever. Not surprisingly, the organisation walks the talk. With a strong focus on prevention, Black Dog is incorporating optional self-care plans into the induction procedures for all staff. The self-care plan helps employees enhance their own wellbeing by managing stress and developing a better understanding of personal resilience. This also involves a change in mindset – helping people think of rest times amid busy periods as a productive measure instead of an indulgence. The Black Dog staff self-care plan helps employees determine their personal needs by having them list everything on a template that provides them with a good summary/overview and enables them to come up with their own strategies. The template provides the option for staff to list their ideal practices across five key categories: body, mind, spirit, emotions, and relationships.
BIG RED GROUP Industry: Management consulting HOT INNOVATION AREA: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
In July 2017, RedBalloon underwent a significant transformation with the formation of the Big Red Group (BRG). The transformation involved a people restructure, the introduction of new businesses to the fold, and a sweeping strategic change in the purpose and business approach of each of these entities. The RedBalloon people function not only drove much of this transformation but also changed its position in line with the expansion of the group. In an Australian business first, BRG employed an accredited and successful life coach, Craig Hall, to join the company as head of development and culture. Hall has made a material impact on the way the leadership team at BRG operate, conducting ongoing coaching with leaders to support them in managing personal and professional roadblocks, to ensure they turn up at work as the best version of themselves. The programs are all about people taking self-responsibility for their actions and owning the
outcomes. This approach and ideology has been extended to full teams, with off-site sessions individually designed and crafted to team needs, challenges and desired outcomes. Everything is tied back to commercial outcomes and values. The business also brought the corporate affairs manager into the people team to design, create and roll out the supporting internal communications program needed to bring the whole plan to life.
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COVER STORY
INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS CARSALES.COM Industry: Sales financing HOT INNOVATION AREA: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
CANTERBURY BANKSTOWN COUNCIL Industry: Local government HOT INNOVATION AREA: WHS
Based on the employee opinion surveys conducted, safety was of utmost concern for the formerly separate Canterbury and Bankstown Councils, and this remained top priority after the merging of the two councils in May 2016. Thus, the people and performance team created an event to launch the safety campaign, Lead for Life, for all 1,400 team members based in various locations. For the entire month of October, the people team ran a Safety & Wellness Roadshow composed of a series of activities that were organised into themes such as Transformation Tuesdays and Wellness Wednesdays. Sample activities included nutrition talks and healthy-cooking demonstrations, yoga and meditation classes, health checks, and personal safety strategies workshops. The campaign emphasised how safety and health are inextricably linked during the process of creating a work environment that promotes absolute wellbeing.
The carsales.com people team developed a gender diversity strategy that would lead them to achieve high goals, such as becoming a Workplace Gender Equality Agency Employer of Choice within 12 months, gaining Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace accreditation, and being appointed for Pay Equity Ambassadorship. The company also worked to increase its paid parental leave offering for both men and women, and provided more flexible work options to its employees. After all these were achieved, the team set their eyes on the next target, which was for Carsales to become a White Ribbon Accredited workplace. Again, going above and beyond the requirements to support victims of domestic violence, the team launched a carsales website takeover with White Ribbon branding, which reached hundreds of thousands of Australians. Other initiatives, such as employees proudly wearing White Ribbon apparel, have raised both funds and awareness. Eighteen months later, carsales is now one of only 122 companies in Australia that can call themselves White Ribbon Accredited workplaces.
GOOD TO KNOW… A report from the Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research indicated that between 2006 and 2014 the incidence of work-related injury in Australia declined from 63.6 to 42.6 per 1,000 workers. This suggests that, in general, Australian workplaces have become safer over the past decade.
CHOICE Industry: Not-for-profit HOT INNOVATION AREA: CULTURE
For the past year, the people team at CHOICE has set out to apply the principles behind HR Disrupted author Lucy Adams’ ‘EACH’ model: to view and treat Employees as Adults, Consumers, and Humans. The result? A fresh talent management approach.
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The team adopted a profiling tool that helped them validate behaviours at both individual and group levels, and developed their own survey to effectively measure culture, which allowed them to shape and hone desired attributes. The team also overhauled existing job descriptions, making them outcomes-based and identifying the skills and style needed to achieve success. This was accompanied by a shift to a quarterly outcomes and key results framework, which has ensured greater work autonomy.
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CHILDREN’S CANCER INSTITUTE Industry: Medical research HOT INNOVATION AREA: BENEFITS
2017 was a landmark year for the HR team at the Children’s Cancer Institute. Not only did HR gain a seat on the executive table but a sweeping suite of new initiatives was launched – all with the end goal of engaging workers who work tirelessly to find a cure for
cancer. The HR team played a key role in the formulation of a five-year strategic plan and also the rollout of a comprehensive HR technology project encompassing new modules and workflow request forms. The team also launched training workshops on topics including Developing Resilience and Workplace Bullying. In addition, they utilised new remuneration benchmarking analytics in partnership with Medical Research Institutes across Australia and revamped their benefits suite.
COCA-COLA AMATIL
CROSSMARK AUSTRALIA
Industry: Food and beverages
Industry: Marketing
HOT INNOVATION AREA: L&D
HOT INNOVATION AREA: HEALTH AND WELLNESS
In 2017, the HR team at Coca-Cola Amatil saw the need to enhance the capabilities of its sales leaders and challenge the sales staff to be more entrepreneurial and innovative. The team approached the founder and MD of online retailer The Iconic to develop an interactive session for staff on how to bring their best selves to work. The team also studied how to foster a growth mindset, following the principles outlined in the works of mindset guru Carol Dweck and psychologist Angela Duckworth. Armed with this knowledge, the team then created a program that involved several face-to-face and WebEx sessions. The capability team learned to apply a human-centred design (HCD) approach in the design and creation of content and delivery of the program, which entailed continuous testing and adjusting of content based on the feedback and results of the end user. The HCD approach has ensured the content generated matched the ideas and expectations of the end users and gave the sales team a better understanding of the ideation, testing and pitching involved.
To keep employees fulfilled and happy in their work, the HR team at CROSSMARK has chosen to go back to basics and focus on wellness initiatives. To encourage employees to take rest as needed, additional annual leave is given to those who have an accrued balance of less than 10 days; teams who have put in additional time are also given a CROSSMARK holiday when there is no public holiday within the month. Apart from granting these extra leave provisions and arranging for massages, the delivery of fresh fruits to the office, and a trial of yoga/pilates classes, the HR team is also promoting flexible working by encouraging employees to decide on how and where they can work most effectively. In particular, a growing number of senior members of staff have begun part-time work. Emphasising that trust is one of the company’s key people values, the team continues to think of ways to improve the work process so that all team members can be empowered to excel.
EMPLOYSURE Industry: Workplace relations HOT INNOVATION AREA: BENEFITS
Employsure shares the secret formula for their people practices – P = C x V² (performance = capability times value squared) – which highlights values as the most influential factor when it comes to performance. Based on this principle, the company does a ‘check-in’ on employees’ performance every 90 days, to see if people are continuously growing and developing. The check-in
process is identical for everyone within the company, demonstrating consistency in recognising and promoting people. In addition, Employsure also has an Ambassador’s Club, which includes employees with tenure of two years or more. Every year, the Ambassadors go offsite for an evaluative meeting, to think of ways to “make Employsure better”, and in response to the feedback provided the executive team comes up with 10 promises to accomplish within 100 days. At Employsure, it’s all about EEE – Enhanced Employee Experience – which entails providing the most basic day-to-day services, such as breakfast and a daily tea/coffee service, weekly tuckshop orders, towel and toiletry and dry-cleaning services, in order to help employees with their personal chores and errands and free up their time for work and other interests.
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15/02/2018 2:57:08 PM
COVER STORY
INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS GENWORTH Industry: Insurance HOT INNOVATION AREA: REWARD AND RECOGNITION
eNETT INTERNATIONAL Industry: B2B/Travel payment solutions HOT INNOVATION AREA: TALENT MANAGEMENT – ONBOARDING
Recognising that it takes an army to onboard a new starter, and with no formal onboarding structure yet in place, the team at eNett began streamlining existing processes and setting up touchpoints to ensure that everyone knew how and when they ought to step in. A welcome pack was created for newbies to go through before starting at eNett, including a video welcome message from the CEO. The team also designed a new starter desk that includes branded notebooks, mugs, pens, shirts and headphones. A buddy program was put in place, using volunteers from the existing staff as part of their self-development. The team trained the volunteers and introduced tools and programs, including five-day induction schedules, 30/60/90-day plans and probation information, to equip them to better support the new starters.
After establishing a new set of company values and deciding on the kind of culture they wished to cultivate, the people team at Genworth looked at their reward and recognition program to see how it could be aligned with the business’s values and culture. This led to the creation of the Marvel Awards, which have made it easier for people to instantly recognise and, in some cases, financially reward individuals and teams who have made a significant contribution to the business while demonstrating the key values. Old forms and traditional sign-offs have also been replaced by online e-cards and nominations through the payroll system. Elsewhere, the team introduced an on-demand video-interviewing tool as part of the recruitment process. This has improved recruitment metrics such as cost per hire and has enhanced the candidate experience. With the help of the new technology, managers are able to spend more time with more qualified candidates, effectively streamlining the recruitment process.
GOOD TO KNOW… According to research from Bersin by Deloitte, 22% of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment.
ICARE Industry: Insurance HOT INNOVATION AREA: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
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The team at icare believe that one way to help employees become future-ready is to recognise their potential to become leaders. To do so, the team launched the icare ‘shift thought’ leadership series, which brought leading global thinkers such as Susan David (author and researcher on emotional agility) and Erica Dhawan, author and Harvard University alumnus, to the Australian office to conduct workshops and share their research. Within the same period, the company became part of Australia’s first partnership with Harvard Business Publishing to continue bringing authors and speakers to Sydney. This association gives all of icare’s senior leaders (including the executive team and board) access to the Harvard ManageMentor online video platform of leadership techniques, in addition to the Harvard Leading Edge online platform of thought leadership. All the senior leaders were also given mobile access to Blinkist, an app that provides 10-point summaries and audio files of the bestselling business books.
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5/03/2018 11:49:34 PM
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INFOTRACK Industry: Technology HOT INNOVATION AREA: CULTURE
Recently, a new team fully dedicated to innovation was formed at InfoTrack. The head of development was reappointed as GM of innovation, while the HR team helped recruit new employees to the innovation team, who specialise in user experience and big data, in addition to transferring some of the best developers from other areas to the team. The innovation team have already created 19 new products, along with a B2C side for the business. Meanwhile, the team also conducted employee profiling workshops for all employees across Australia, which involved each person completing a DiSC assessment to determine their personal working style and learn about their colleagues’ working styles as well. The HR team also demonstrated the capabilities of HR as a business partner, working with the marketing team on activities that have transformed the function into a lead-generating channel. The team hosted thought-leadership/HR-related webinars and took on speaking sessions at various conferences around the country. These conferences have ranged from HR-specific events to topics such as the future of law, and have resulted in numerous valuable commercial leads for InfoTrack.
JETSTAR AIRWAYS Industry: Airline HOT INNOVATION AREA: RECRUITMENT
After conducting a competitive analysis and receiving employee feedback, Jetstar recognised the need to revamp its careers site in order to improve talent attraction and accurately reflect its employer brand as the best place to work in aviation. The strategy was then to create a careers site that could scale and deliver the core criteria of an optimised and digitally interactive candidate experience. In partnership with JXT Global, the site was created, which harnesses state-of-the-art SaaS technology. It features a contemporary feel and incorporates functions that promote the brand, key business areas, inspiring career stories from employees, and other featured opportunities. Thorough testing was done to ensure that each candidate’s journey through the site would be effortless and would facilitate an easy job application process with minimum barriers. To improve SEO ranking, the team made sure to increase each candidate’s engagement time on the website and produce target-fit applicants. The site also includes a mobile-responsive design that has become imperative for smartphone-carrying, internet-savvy jobseekers today.
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15/02/2018 2:57:39 PM
COVER STORY
INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS
MERCY HEALTH Industry: Healthcare HOT INNOVATION AREA: RECRUITMENT
With bulk recruitment, talent acquisition for contingent workers and talent shortages all being key challenges, technology has become a key enabler for the HR team at Mercy Health. For example, the team have adopted Sonru video-interviewing technology, a service that aims to speed up the initial screening process and ultimately reduce time to hire. Mercy Health engages in multiple bulk recruitment campaigns over the course of each year, ranging from a number of graduate
intakes to staffing new facilities. With hundreds of applications received, the demand on hiring managers’ time during first-round screening is significant. Sonru has reduced first-round screening time by 80%. The platform also helps Mercy to gain an insight into a candidate’s personality and gauge cultural fit – a pivotal element of Mercy’s hiring criteria. Mercy Health’s HR team have also recently implemented Xref, an online platform that facilitates the reference checking process by verifying referees and identifying potential fraud through the use of sophisticated algorithms. The Aged Care division of Mercy Health has reported a $38,200 saving with respect to labour costs since adopting Xref.
MOET HENNESSY AUSTRALIA Industry: Food and beverages HOT INNOVATION AREA: BENEFITS
With a key focus on the employee experience – especially when it comes to benefits and rewards and recognition – the HR team at Moet Hennessy have focused on ideas that will improve employees’ work-life balance and overall ‘at work’ experience.
BENEFITS WITH A TWIST • Travel allowance – In order to be more ‘green’ and discourage driving to work, Moet Hennessy gives an annual allowance to all employees who take public transport to work. • French lessons – Being a French company, Moet Hennessy offers all employees the chance to have weekly French lessons with cross-departmental colleagues. • Corporate photos – In 2017, all employees were able to receive corporate photos (along with a fun photo). • Additional annual leave – Once employees hit five and 10 years with the company, they are given an extra two to five additional annual leave days per year.
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MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
employability of employees. The company’s Emerging Leaders Program, which encourages cross-functional development by bringing people from different functions and markets together to solve business problems, build relationships and share experiences, and its e-learning platform called Mondelez International University (MIU), have helped build the capabilities of workers at all levels. MIU provides employees – especially new starters – with the opportunity to develop their business knowledge and skill sets at a time that suits them. Meanwhile, the Australian operation designed and piloted the Accelerate US program to build capability and collaboration among mid-level professionals in the organisation. In addition, Mondelez Australia recently concluded its annual ‘Growing Here’ week. Growing Here is a concentrated development program that encourages employees to complete internal business courses on topics such as leadership, e-commerce and marketing.
Industry: Food and beverages HOT INNOVATION AREA: L&D
In 2017, Mondelez Australia – home of iconic brands such as Vegemite, Cadbury, Oreo and Philadelphia – had a 90% internal fill rate for roles and 20 cross-functional moves. These impressive stats highlight a commitment to growing the experience and
GOOD TO KNOW… A 2017 survey of 200 L&D senior decision-makers by Open University Business School found that only 20% of organisations consistently shared learning across geographies, and in nearly 50% of the organisations the learning architecture was found to be “decades” out of date.
MSS SECURITY Industry: Security services HOT INNOVATION AREA: REWARD AND RECOGNITION
Reward and recognition is a central part of MSS Security’s 2020 P&C plan and is critical to the company reaching its attraction and engagement goals and performance and L&D targets. The recent introduction of a dedicated R&R page on the relaunched MSS Security website allows anyone who has had a positive experience with an MSS Security employee to nominate that person online. Employees are also rewarded for their efforts and contributions with gift vouchers, editorial mentions in the company’s magazine, and nominations for the SIS award. At the SIS annual conference each year, announcements are made regarding the recipients of awards for the categories ‘Spirit of MSS’ and ‘Outstanding Individual Contribution’. The Spirit of MSS Awards recognise individuals who have demonstrated an outstanding display of honesty, dedication, alertness, commitment to duty, initiative and resourcefulness. Elsewhere, MSS recognises employees for their service by hosting an event in each state in their honour. Employees’ families are also invited and celebrated for their ongoing support of staff who work 12-hour shifts. In addition, the company recognises employees’ contributions on the job, to charitable causes and clients, and to the communities MSS Security operates in.
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15/02/2018 2:58:16 PM
COVER STORY
INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS oOH! MEDIA Industry: Media and advertising HOT INNOVATION AREA: RECRUITMENT
oOh! Media has leveraged technology to create a unique employee and candidate experience, which is summed up in ‘Unmissable Moments’, the company’s revamped employer brand. A new careers site was launched to reflect the new brand and provide a memorable experience for candidates. The company utilises LiveHire to interact with candidates as well as its own Talent Community in real time via text message templates, thus ensuring visibility of the candidate’s application process every step of the way. In addition, mobile onboarding technology (Enboarder) was launched. It has resulted in new ways to run key HR functions, including: • a parental leave ‘Keep in Touch’ program – this has virtual
PEOPLECARE Industry: Health insurance HOT INNOVATION AREA: HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Peoplecare’s Mental Health Program has been developed in response to rising mental health issues in Australia, and supports employees in living healthy lives. The program comprises a series of mental health support services, including: • an anonymous external counselling service free for ‘Peoplecarers’ and their immediate family members • leadership training such as the Mental Health Hour of Power sessions’ internal initiatives that engage employees • toolkits for managers with useful guidelines to manage staff with mental health issues, and frameworks for having sensitive conversations about mental health • a checklist with ‘Reasonable Adjustment Ideas’ for the managers of staff who may need some flexibility in managing mental health issues In addition, to reach out one-to-one, Peoplecare organised a ‘Blind Mate’ event for RUOK? DAY in 2017. Peoplecarers went on ‘blind mate dates’ at a cafe for a drink and deeper conversation with co-workers they might not usually have worked closely with. The event was designed to get employees thinking about mental health in constructive ways. Additionally, in October 2017, Peoplecare started a WIN/WIN parenting program comprising of monthly education and training programs on best practice tips and suggestions for raising children.
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and personal touchpoints between manager and employee to maintain business connection, networks and support while employees are on parental leave. • Alumni Connection – the oOh! Alumni Connection uses mobile technology to keep in touch with employees who have left the company. • Business Connection – keeping communication real and timely, oOh uses the technology to interact with individuals prior to, during, and post workshops via video messaging, surveys and texts.
GOOD TO KNOW… According to Aberdeen Group’s report, Best Practice: Use Modern Recruiting to Stay Cutting Edge, best-in-class companies are 35% more likely than others to invest in new technology to make recruitment more engaging for candidates.
PHILIPS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND Industry: Health technology HOT INNOVATION AREA: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Philips has been proactive in addressing what it describes as a “demographic cliff”: an ageing workforce. The company employs over 100 service engineers around Australia and New Zealand, 94% of whom are male and close to 50% of whom are aged over 50. Many are marking their 30- and 40-year anniversaries with the company. To change the forecast outcome of lost technical expertise and damage to customer relationships, Philips introduced ‘Life Options’. External consultants and financial advisers were engaged to support mature-age workers. Taking into consideration their motivators, interests, strengths and personal circumstances, the goal was to challenge assumptions that these employees would simply stop working at age 65. Many participants produced a personal plan to reduce days worked each week over time, allowing them to either work longer than retirement age if they chose to, or to begin to bring their transition forward.
GOOD TO KNOW… The UN estimates that by 2050 one in three people living in the developed world will be over 60. In Australia, one in four people is currently older than 55, and over the next decade this will increase to approximately one in three.
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RACQ GROUP Industry: Automotive services HOT INNOVATION AREA: CULTURE
Looking to ensure RACQ’s culture supports its strategic objectives, five areas for improvement were identified by the company for shaping with conscious intent: a clearly defined purpose, collaboration, innovation, accountability and integrity.
Taking ‘collaboration’ as an example, interventions were introduced that provided platforms to develop stronger and more trusting relationships, and focused on specific topics of interest, such as a Change Community of Practice (peer learning regarding managing change), Strategy Sprint Sessions (joining all stakeholders involved in delivering a strategic priority), and CoLAB sessions (allowing for cross-departmental problem-solving of common business problems). In addition, the Business Connectors Network was introduced, consisting of 30 grassroots champions. The first stage involved upskilling this group around collaborative skills and mindsets, influencing skills, homework assignments and cultural awareness. The next stage was developed by the group itself, which now takes an active role in driving the group’s activities. This is done via Action Groups focused on jointly agreed objectives (eg communication, calendar of formal education), plus formal networking and motivational events.
SINGLETON COUNCIL Industry: Local government HOT INNOVATION AREA: RECRUITMENT
SAP AUSTRALIA Industry: Business software HOT INNOVATION AREA: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Amid the transformation of tricky HR areas such as performance management and the introduction of D&I initiatives such as a ‘Back-to-Work’ program to encourage women back into the workforce via project-based work following a career break, the HR team at SAP launched a key D&I initiative covering an oftenneglected area: autism in the workplace. The ‘Autism at Work’ program aims to enable people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to find qualified employment in the company. The goal is to have 1% of the SAP Australia workforce comprising people with ASD by 2020. To support the program, SAP is hiring people with ASD initially on internships, with a view to them transitioning into the permanent workforce. Since 2016, SAP has hosted an Autism Summit that brings together other like-minded corporates, academia, government departments and service organisations to share, collaborate and understand how we can better support individuals on the spectrum.
As the result of a restructure, Singleton Council went to the market with a fresh approach to employer branding in order to fill a number of vacancies in managerial roles in early 2017. The scope was to attract people with not only the necessary technical skills and qualifications but also superior leadership qualities – and not necessarily from a local government background. The most notable components of this approach to recruitment was a more emotional-based recruitment advertising campaign and the implementation of a custom-designed 360-degree survey at the reference-check stage of recruitment. Singleton Council designed an ad that aimed to reach out to the values and aspirations of potential candidates, urging them to consider other motivations for career success beyond titles and pay grades. The ad also aimed to present a different image of local government, and Singleton Council in particular, appealing to candidates from a range of backgrounds to reconsider the stereotypes of local government and what a career at Singleton Council could add to their lives. The result of the overall approach was a more diverse pool of candidates applying for the roles at the first stage, and a more robust process at interview and reference-checking stages.
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3/05/2018 12:39:03 AM
COVER STORY
INNOVATIVE HR TEAMS
SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE Industry: Broadcasting HOT INNOVATION AREA: RECRUITMENT
SBS has taken a bottom-up approach to employer branding. Firstly, employees were asked about their experiences at SBS and what attracted them to the company in the first place.
SUNCORP Industry: Financial services HOT INNOVATION AREA: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
It’s not unusual for leading organisations to embrace diversity as part of their core DNA, and this is an area Suncorp is passionate about. However, to cite Paul Greening, executive manager to the chief people experience officer at Suncorp: “Diversity is only one part of the equation; inclusion is critical as it allows everyone to be their best and reach their full potential and better contribute to our business”.
The goal was to highlight the connection SBS has to its employees, alongside the organisation’s role in providing culturally relevant media while inspiring audiences to explore, appreciate and celebrate Australia’s diversity. The campaign tells the stories of six very different employees, showcasing the diverse backgrounds that make SBS such a unique place to work. Running across SBS media assets, as well as social and digital channels, it also included the launch of a new SBS careers website. Hand in hand with this is a revamped orientation program for new hires. New employees have access to a bespoke set of punchy online modules about the SBS brand, strategy and values. Important compliance units are also included. Next, orienteers are armed with a map and their phone to access QR codes around the building and view online video presentations from senior leaders introducing them to their part of the business.
Together with the Diversity Council of Australia (DCA), Suncorp has developed the DCA-Suncorp Inclusion@Work Index, released in November 2017. The index recorded 3,000 Australian household respondents’ views on workplace inclusion, along with 1,000 Suncorp employees’ insights on inclusion within the business. The measurement provided by the index offers a benchmark and highlights strengths and opportunity areas in workplaces. The index also provides Suncorp with access to the information required to measure inclusion within the organisation.
TRANSDEV Industry: Public transport HOT INNOVATION AREA: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
Transport is one of the most male-dominated industries in Australia. The median age and gender profile of a bus or train driver in Australia is a 54-year-old man. In response, Transdev has set some ambitious targets to address this risk head-on. The organisation’s diversity targets are to achieve 50% appointments of women by 2021, and achieve 40% of all appointments under 35 years old by 2021. The diversity team started with the basics – by modernising policies for parental leave and flexible work arrangements – and introduced a new domestic and family violence support policy as well. Eight local Diversity and Inclusion Councils were also launched across the business. These councils are comprised of local ambassadors who embrace, engage and implement changes at a local level. The results thus far are encouraging: three women have joined the Transdev executive team, increasing the gender balance from 0/6 to 3/8. Regionwide, Transdev has increased the appointment of women from 16% to 27%.
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XERO AUSTRALIA Industry: Technology HOT INNOVATION AREA: ENGAGEMENT
VICINITY CENTRES Industry: Retail
Xero’s people experience (PX) team has embraced technology to work more effectively. One example is the engagement tool, Officevibe, which enables the PX team to have a live indication of the office vibes. Anonymous surveys are sent out to employees fortnightly, targeting certain metrics of employee engagement. These metrics are where the PX team focus their energy. For example, the wellness and happiness metrics are areas that Xero does not limit to physical wellbeing; they also encompass mental, social, environmental and financial domains. Results are compiled and assessed company-wide. To address these areas, Xero has launched initiatives such as Maxxia salary packaging, lunch-time yoga and mindfulness sessions.
HOT INNOVATION AREA: CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Following one of Australia’s largest corporate mergers, and in the face of major market disruption, the Vicinity people and culture team designed a culture transformation program called ‘Reimagine’. The Reimagine program was developed to engage employees in a new direction, with a new vision, purpose and values; and to encourage team members to embrace change and think differently. A critical component of this transformation has been the introduction of agile ways of working. The people and culture team’s investment in agile, and in becoming agile change agents and ambassadors, has seen the organisation become one of the global leaders in agile in the retail property industry. To date, the majority of Vicinity’s network of 84 shopping centres have implemented agile methodologies. A recent survey showed that: • 100% agreed communication had improved • 92% agreed collaboration within their team had improved • 92% agreed productivity had improved • 75% agreed they were more engaged at work
GOOD TO KNOW… According to a widely shared definition by The Agile Organisation, agile working is about bringing people, processes, connectivity and technology, time and place together to find the most appropriate and effective way of working to carry out a particular task. It is working within guidelines (of the task) but without boundaries (of how you achieve it).
YOUI Industry: Insurance HOT INNOVATION AREA: RECOGNITION
In 2017, Youi added ‘recognition’ as one of its six core values. To support this new value, the company designed and built – entirely in-house – its very own gamification platform for all employees, branding it YourGame. YourGame helps employees track their personal achievements and celebrate their career milestones in a fun, interactive and engaging way. The platform uses live personalised activity streams, automatic updates, community features, trophy rooms, video streaming and in-game achievements. The game revolves around Youi Achievements, whereby employees earn ‘experience points’ for completing achievements, and badges for reaching milestones. In doing so, they compete regularly for prizes and positions on the leaderboard. A personalised dash with an activity stream allows people to track all of their achievements live.
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15/02/2018 2:59:30 PM
NATIONAL HR SUMMIT
THOMAS HEDEGAARD RASMUSSEN
Are you asking the right questions? Workforce analytics is coming along in leaps and bounds, but if you’re struggling to embrace it you might be asking the wrong questions. Iain Hopkins interviews a pioneer in the people analytics field
“I’M A strong proponent of data and analytics supplementing your intuition, experience and business understanding. If we use data analytics to supplement those elements we can bust some myths, have better-quality discussions, and over time make more informed decisions.” Those are the words of one of the pioneers and true thought leaders of the people analytics space, Thomas Hedegaard Rasmussen, GM people analytics, insights and experience at National Australia Bank. It’s a refreshing sentiment to hear for those who rely (perhaps too much) on gut instinct to make decisions and are treading warily around big data and analytics.
Approaching HR with an academic’s perspective Rasmussen, who refers to himself as “an academic turned HR executive” commenced his career in HR at trade and logistics company A.P. Moller– Maersk Group, a global conglomerate of 120,000 people, following several years in academia. “I was the new guy with a PhD in the HR department,” he says. “Nobody wanted to work with numbers or data. Everyone wanted to do facilitation or coaching or other parts of L&D, so by accident or by chance I was handed everything that had to do with numbers:
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assessments, engagement, rem & ben analysis, and so on. It was a matter of figuring out that if you use data and you are evidence-based you can have more impact at a lower cost simply by doing the stuff that actually works.” Following a seven-year stint at A.P. Moller–Maersk, he built and led the awardwinning HR analytics team at Shell. His seminal paper, co-authored with Dave Ulrich in 2015, was titled “How HR analytics avoids being a management fad”.
or business opportunity is and then work your way back and figure out which data sets could be used to analyse that area. Then you come up with helpful and pragmatic recommendations and implement those recommendations. It was through his connection with Ulrich that Rasmussen found himself at NAB in March 2017. “Dave is a personal friend of our head of HR, Lorraine Murphy, so at one point in time when I was looking to find a
“I was the new guy with a PhD in the HR department. Nobody wanted to work with numbers or data” “That was an outstanding experience because Dave Ulrich is incredibly inspiring. He’s very much about outside-in thinking, so you start with the customer, start with values, and work your way back towards what you actually need to do to impact customer satisfaction or return on equity or whatever the key desired outcome is,” Rasmussen says. He suggests this ‘outside-in’ approach also works with analytics. In other words, you start with what the business problem
new job I actually asked Dave if he knew of anyone looking to implement analytics, and that’s when he introduced me to Lorraine.” Since joining NAB, Rasmussen has made analytics part of the HR infrastructure, helping HR to supplement intuition, experience and beliefs, and ultimately leading to more impactful people decisions. This work has included predictive modelling of attrition, monetising engagement’s impact on sales, and identifying the human factors
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NATIONAL HR SUMMIT
THOMAS HEDEGAARD RASMUSSEN PEOPLE ANALYTICS: OLD RULES VS NEW RULES Deloitte suggests that in the future the number of data sources will continue to rise, leading to a fusion of external and internal data in predicting employee behaviour. Eventually, people analytics will be fully integrated into systems and always in the background, rather than a separate source of information.
Old rules
New rules
People analytics is viewed as an HR team focused on advanced People analytics is viewed as a business analytics team that analytics within HR. works across the business to drive business results. Analytics focuses on HR topics such as retention, engagement, learning, and recruitment metrics.
Analytics focuses on business problems such as sales productivity, workforce effectiveness, high-potential retention, fraud, accident patterns, and other operational needs.
The people analytics team has a strong understanding of HR data.
The people analytics team understands HR data, financial data, and customer data, and it has relationships with all the other analytics groups in the company.
The people analytics team lives in HR operations and reports to HR technology, or in functional areas.
The people analytics team operates at a senior level, reports to the CHRO, and serves business leaders across the company.
The people analytics team is a small set of technical experts with data management and statistical skills.
The people analytics team is a multidisciplinary team, with a focus on business consulting, visual communications, and problem-solving.
People analytics is staffed by PhD statisticians whose primary focus is the development of models and data warehouses.
People analytics is a consulting function that helps business leaders solve problems.
People analytics focuses on employees.
People analytics focuses on the entire workforce, including employees and contingent labour.
The people analytics team focuses heavily on engagement survey data and employee happiness and culture.
The people analytics team moves beyond engagement to understand the detailed drivers of engagement and builds culture models to understand what drives the workforce. Source: Deloitte University Press; dupress.deloitte.com
“There is an appetite for it and a feeling that you can somehow leverage this data and get more value from it. The question is how you do that” driving customer satisfaction (NPS), and many other high-value analytics projects.
Leveraging the data On the Australian scene, Rasmussen has seen the full spectrum of analytics utilisation, from those just starting out on the journey but aspiring to do more, through to those already practising advanced people analytics. “Analytics is something we see in marketing, in finance, in operations. We see it in various parts of the business, and most HR functions have recently implemented
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new HR systems as well, so there is an abundance of data. There is an appetite for it and a feeling that you can somehow leverage this data and get more value from it. The question is how you do that,” he says. On that question, he says it really depends on your business. All meaningful analytics, he adds, starts by asking the right questions. “To undertake good people analytics functions you need to have good HR business partnering skills. You want to know what the strategy is. What’s keeping your executives awake at night? You must understand the
key business drivers. Is safety your biggest concern? Is it customer satisfaction? Then it’s a matter of working your way back from that point.” There is also some ‘low-hanging fruit’ that most companies can get started with. One of these areas is looking at the impact of employee engagement on business-critical outcomes – financial outcomes or customer satisfaction outcomes, for example. “You will always find something there because the link is so strong,” says Rasmussen. “For example, at NAB we found that 19% of our sales productivity in our branches is attributable to employee engagement, just by comparing branches that score high on this or score low on this. It’s really getting into tangible areas, but I’d say the right place to start depends on your business and asking the right questions.” Rasmussen says that as consumers we instantly know when an employee is disengaged, as anyone who has had a less than satisfactory phone conversation with their mobile phone or internet provider can attest to. “You pick up their disengagement. It drains you,” he says. “Engagement and motivation is contagious beyond the organisation’s boundaries, from employee to customer. If you’re in a business that relies on people and relationships like we do in banking then it’s absolutely essential.” For more sophisticated users of people analytics, Rasmussen suggests HR can go even further than using data to make forecasting decisions in areas like turnover and high-performance selection predictions. It’s possible to start looking beyond HR areas to what he terms “the value chain”. “This occurs when you start predicting what the human capital element is in terms of business outcomes in the value chain. For example, what is the role of people and leaders in predicting risk incidents or conduct incidents? What is the role of people in determining customer satisfaction outcomes? This is when you start to work together with analytics teams in other parts of the business – the commercial part, the operational part – and then you link data all
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the way through the value chain. It allows you to make sound predictions about the levers to pull to impact outcomes.” Just as critical, he adds, is the ability to tell a compelling story around the data. “That’s one area we’re struggling with. How do you tell a compelling story based on data and statistics, especially to a non-technical audience? How do you break it all down to a tagline? What’s the one-liner, what did you find, what are the implications, what are the recommendations? And so on. Because analytics is a bit more technical by nature, you lose out on the storytelling, journalistic aspects that are really crucial to actually ensuring your analytics have an impact. If you cannot sell the story in a compelling and convincing way, you might as well not do it.”
CROSS-POLLINATING D&I DATA A 2017 trend in HR was the use of metrics and data to help move the dial on D&I outcomes. Thomas Hedegaard Rasmussen suggests this is one of the key areas to benefit from smart analytics – but he has some disclaimers. “We tackled this area during my time at Shell, and the person who spearheaded it determined that diversity really was a double-edged sword. We often applaud the positive outcomes of diversity, and of course that’s the right thing to do. But if you use analytics you can also find it can backfire. There are some preconditions that are required for diversity to deliver increased innovation and performance and so on, which is all about inclusive leadership. “There’s no straight line from diversity to better performance or more innovation or more creativity. There is only a straight line to those outcomes if you have good leaders who are highly inclusive and know how to foster an inclusive environment. Basically the takeaway from that is diversity is a choice, and for any modern progressive employer who wants diversity you have to work on inclusive leadership as well, otherwise you don’t get the performance benefits. “Aside from that, the models are becoming much more sophisticated. Rather than just looking at gender or age or seniority or nationality, one variable at a time, which is super artificial because that’s not what the real world is like, modern organisations are looking at each of these individually and also subgroupings of them within the team and so on, and then showing the link between diversity and inclusion to performance and other outcomes. It’s almost like cross-pollinating your data.”
The perfect mix
A group effort
As for who’s best placed to undertake people analytics initiatives within HR teams, Rasmussen says the ideal mix is some people with HR backgrounds and others with subject matter expertise. “It’s good to have that mix, but to do really good analytics you need a level of subject matter expertise. You need somebody who knows about customers, for example. You need to surround that team with capable business partners who really understand the business. Also aim to have a link to academia to know the existing research out there already.”
Rasmussen is so passionate about boosting the analytics capability of Australian HR professionals that he has helped set up a free Workforce Analytics Network in partnership with Deloitte. The group, who hail from over 25 large Australian organisations, meets four times a year with the intention of sharing experiences and knowledge related to people analytics. Different organisations take turns hosting each get-together – and even traditional industry competitors will join the debate. NAB’s CHRO, Lorraine Murphy, will attend the next event and will be asking from the CHRO’s
perspective what companies want from analytics, and what senior executive teams and boards want. “If we can move together we can elevate the level of workforce analytics in Australia,” Rasmussen says. “In that forum I can really sense that the aspiration to improve is there. Australia is probably lagging the US and northern Europe a little bit in terms of maturity, but I’m sure we’ll get there.” Thomas Hedegaard Rasmussen will be discussing HR data and analytics at the National HR Summit in Sydney on 14–15 March. For further information, visit hrsummit.com.au.
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NATIONAL HR SUMMIT
ANNA WENNGREN
The art of difficult conversations While they are never enjoyable, difficult conversations at work need not be daunting. One leading HR professional shares her tips
TAKING YOUR seat opposite a clearly distressed member of staff, you avoid eye contact, your heart beats faster, your palms become sweaty, and your emotions run high. It’s perhaps an all-too-familiar scenario for HR professionals to find themselves in: the dreaded ‘difficult conversation’ with an employee. It might be a conversation related to performance issues or it might be about broaching something even more serious, such as a job loss – but whatever the reason it’s a fair bet that both parties would rather be
“When the stakes are high and emotions are spilling over, almost anything can happen,” Wenngren says. Drawing on her 19 years of experience in the HR profession, she stresses that there is “no magic formula” to handling these conversations more effectively. However, she adds that accepting you are only 50% of the conversation can relieve some of the pressure that HR professionals and line managers place on themselves for controlling how the conversation will go.
“When the stakes are high and emotions are spilling over, almost anything can happen” anywhere but facing off against each other across a meeting-room table. Is there a more effective way to handle difficult conversations? Anna Wenngren, HR director APAC at Information Resources Inc. (IRI), will be tackling this topic at the National HR Summit in March. She says anyone who has ever had to look another human being in the eye and tell them their job is going to be made redundant knows how difficult some work-related conversations can be.
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Secondly, Wenngren says it’s important to acknowledge that you’re human. “This means that you’re going to experience your own emotions throughout the conversation,” she says. “It’s unavoidable. Instead of denying the emotions, try to maintain an awareness of what you are experiencing personally. This can help to maintain composure.” Thirdly, Wenngren suggests trying to “objectify” the topic. For example, if it’s a redundancy situation it can really help someone to understand that it’s not them
being made redundant but rather their position. Alternatively, in performance management situations she suggests trying to describe the inappropriate behaviour or performance as being separate from the sense of identity the individual holds. In other words, it’s not John that’s misbehaving; instead there is an aspect of John’s behaviour that you wish to discuss. “Separating ‘what John does’ from ‘who John is’ creates a very subtle detachment that can help people digest the feedback in a less emotive, more objective manner,” she says.
ONE GOLDEN RULE Anna Wenngren outlines her number one tip for handling difficult conversations: “Stay calm. That’s the golden rule. Things can escalate surprisingly quickly in these situations. People are wonderfully complex, and that’s what makes HR such a joy and a challenge. My advice is to focus on the part of the conversation you can control. It’s important to be clear on both your intent and your message – and remember that you can always pause a meeting to seek support or guidance.”
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NATIONAL HR SUMMIT
ANNA WENNGREN
AVOIDANCE TACTICS The 2013 Difficult Conversations Survey of 200 managers by UK-based consultancy Globis provided some insights into why managers struggle with difficult conversations. »» 80% believe difficult conversations are part of their role. »» The top three reasons behind the decision to dodge a difficult conversation are ‘concern about the associated levels of stress for the other person’ (97%); ‘concern about damaging others’ self-esteem’ (94%); and ‘concern about causing upset’ (92%). »» Over 80% reported concern about setting off an angry response. »» An overarching theme was worry about the immediate impact of the conversation on the other person’s health and wellbeing. »» Just over half (53%) of respondents reported avoiding difficult conversations because they lacked the training and 56% avoided them because they lacked experience in handling such situations.
“The downside of measuring the performance of the workforce is that it is so impersonal. No one wants to be reduced to a mere metric” HR’s involvement The default response from line managers who are confronted with difficult conversations is to let HR handle it. And while Wenngren agrees that HR professionals do often have the best mix of technical skills, EQ and legislative knowledge, there is a disclaimer to be mindful of. “HR are constantly wearing two hats,” she says. “They are consistently balancing the needs of the collective – the organisation – with the needs of the individuals in it. The most effective HR practitioners have a welldeveloped mix of these skills.” However, she adds that it’s also important to consider the relationship that exists between a staff member and their line manager, which has often been built up over time. “The quality of that relationship can’t be discounted when navigating this delicate
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territory,” Wenngren says. “The relationship – or lack thereof – can either be your greatest asset or your biggest hindrance in these circumstances. I believe it works best when skilled HR professionals are coaching and guiding managers to be tackling these conversations themselves.” In 2018, HR finds itself at a fascinating crossroads. Long considered the ‘cultural gatekeepers’ in organisations, and deemed ‘people people’ with all the empathy that entails – sometimes to the function’s detriment – over the past few years there has been a significant shift away from that perception towards a view that HR must be business leaders first and ‘HR people’ second. The adoption of metrics, analytics and the need to ‘talk the language of business’ have resulted in some critics
claiming the human resources function has lost the ‘human’ element. Is this balance tough to get right? “It can be difficult,” Wennegren says. “HR needs to be talking the language of the business because the whole purpose of the HR function is to enable better business performance via the workforce. The downside of measuring the performance of the workforce is that it is so impersonal. No one wants to be reduced to a mere metric. “The challenge for HR is to be holding the performance of the overall collective in mind, but also appreciating that this collective comprises wonderfully unique individuals whose gifts as human beings can’t possibly be measured.”
A key focus area It’s appropriate that leadership development will be a key focus for Wenngren and her team in 2018. The leaders at IRI – an organisation that provides big data, predictive analytics and forward-looking insights that help FMCG manufacturers and retailers to grow their businesses – believe that the most important relationship in the organisation exists between a staff member and their manager. “The more we invest in leadership development, the better the quality of relationships we are creating across the company,” Wenngren says. “We’ll also be rolling out ‘Fierce Conversations’ training to better equip all our staff to engage more productively in difficult conversations.” While her HR team will have their own unique development plans for 2018 to work on, Wenngren will herself be developing what she believes is a “fundamental skill” for all great HR practitioners. “I love people and all their complexity, so I’ll personally be looking to further develop my coaching skills,” she says. Anna Wenngren will cover the topic “Tough conversations – balancing strength with empathy” at the National HR Summit in Sydney on 14–15 March. For further information, visit hrsummit.com.au.
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NATIONAL HR SUMMIT
LAURENCE HALABUT
Agility, resilience and leadership in 2018 Inspirational leaders will be the key to navigating constant change – and HR has a critical role to play, says one leading CHRO WHEN ASKED what is the number one challenge facing his HR team in 2018, Laurence Halabut, CHRO at Toyota Finance Australia (TFA), doesn’t hesitate in his response. “It has to be the speed of change in business,” he says. “Years ago, it took a long time to bring an innovative product to market. Casio launched the first very expensive, desk-based calculator in 1957. It wasn’t until two decades later that people could buy calculators cheaply. “Fast-forward to 2017. People and businesses rely on technology, and technology is an enabler to disrupt traditional markets. Think Uber and Airbnb – taxi firms and hotels are struggling to catch up. And the rate of change is lightning fast.” The motor finance industry is no different. Indeed, fintech has exploded in TFA’s industry. Companies such as GoGet, the car-sharing service, mean that people and businesses in cities have the benefit of using
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a vehicle without having to buy or lease one. The disruption doesn’t end there. TFA has had to respond to not just digital disruption but also regulatory and market changes. At the same time, the company has had to keep customers at the heart of everything it does.
(SET) so that it’s guest-centric. The SET is responsible for running the company. To do this effectively, TFA has strengthened what it calls its ‘transformation directorate’. This area is the incubator for an integrated planning, change management and projects
“While leaders need to evolve, values and beliefs can be traditional – there’s a reason they’ve stood the test of time” “It means that businesses today, including Toyota, have to be agile and resilient,” Halabut says. “The challenge for all of us as HR professionals is to remain relevant too. We have to be on the front foot, and that means we must be proactive and support organisations to seize opportunities.” To keep pace with change, TFA has restructured its senior executive team
stream. Under this approach an operational area is brought into the transformation directorate to be studied and, if needed, a change plan is then developed. When the changes have been implemented, the operational area moves back into ‘business as usual’ activity. “Our transformation area is the catalyst for change,” Halabut says.
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Developing leaders As demonstrated by TFA’s executive team restructure, the role of leaders in helping organisations navigate constant change has never been more critical. It’s not surprising to learn that TFA has a number of programs in place to shape great leaders. For example, the company offers an acceleration opportunity for future leaders by rotating talented TFA staff through three
different placements over 24 months. This program provides a cross-functional view of the organisation, thus helping participants to gain a broader view of their potential career path. A mentoring program is open to earlyand mid-career people who’ve been in their roles for 18 months or more. The eight-month program pairs mentees with senior managers outside their departments
and provides an opportunity for them to reflect on their professional challenges and achievements and a have broader perspective on the TFA business. In addition to their annual performance review, individuals are encouraged to take control of their own development. They build their own career profile on TFA’s internal system to be considered for accelerated development and promotional opportunities.
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NATIONAL HR SUMMIT
LAURENCE HALABUT progress each month via Get SET, our monthly e-shot which gives a snapshot of company performance. And like lots of companies we regularly update people on programs and initiatives by posting on our intranet,” Halabut says.
Standing the test of time
EMBRACING NEMAWASHI Laurence Halabut outlines what skills or traits leaders of tomorrow will require, and how a Japanese concept called ‘nemawashi’ is central to leadership at Toyota. “The ability to be a strong negotiator will be critical, and negotiation covers a set of skills. It’s a catch-all for communicating well, persuading, influencing, planning, strategising. All these skills are needed to be a strong negotiator. Here at Toyota we have a process called nemawashi. In Toyota – and in Japanese culture itself – nemawashi is the process of laying down the foundation and building a consensus of opinion before making formal changes to any particular process or project. “Nemawashi fits well with negotiation. It’s about listening to people, consulting, understanding different points of view, and talking through differences to reach a common understanding. When I first approach a program of work or a business challenge, I think about what different stakeholders want or need and consider it from those angles. I guess the old-fashioned term for this is empathy. And all these elements of negotiation have served me well in my career.”
“Businesses today, including Toyota, have to be agile and resilient. The challenge for all of us as HR professionals is to be relevant too” “We run a three-stage leadership program for our leaders,” Halabut explains. “Participants range from team leaders through to senior management. The program is designed so that leaders work progressively through the three programs – Managing Others, Developing Others and Leading Others – with pre- and post-course activities to ensure they apply their new capabilities in their teams.” In addition, aspiring leaders are encouraged to attend TFA’s ‘Essentials for First Time Managers’ course to build their skills in management and influencing.
Tying the business plan to individual roles TFA takes a unique approach to employee engagement and development, thanks to the corporate Hoshin – the Japanese term for a business plan. All employees develop a personal Hoshin on the company’s MY-LEARN system, which links to the departmental objectives,
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directorate objectives and, in turn, the corporate Hoshin. The corporate Hoshin then feeds into the global Hoshin. “In this sense I think we are unique as we have a very robust system where every person in the organisation can understand how their contribution links to our overall Toyota goal,” Halabut says. “A person’s performance is recorded and measured against their Hoshin, and they are rewarded against the results. We take Hoshin planning pretty seriously. It’s definitely not a tick-the-box exercise; it’s how we run our business.” At the start of the financial year, everyone in the senior executive team runs a series of ‘Exec Chats’ across all offices in Australia where the previous year’s Hoshin performance and the following year’s Hoshin are discussed. The Exec Chats are relatively small groups in which people can discuss elements of the Hoshin, ask questions and contribute to the debate. “We keep people up to date on company
Asked what will set exceptional leaders apart from average leaders in 2018 and beyond, Halabut says the difference will rest upon the ability of leaders to inspire others. Truly inspirational leaders, he adds, trust and respect their employees and encourage innovation so there’s continuous improvement. “Once leaders embrace the fact that most employees want to do a good job at work, it opens up a whole world of possibilities,” he says. “Long gone are the days where people clocked in at 9am and out at 5pm with a manager tracking their every move. Who wants to work like that?” Halabut then reels off a list of what he describes as buzzwords: flexible working; companies that give as well as take; a diverse, inclusive workforce; clear career paths; nurturing wellbeing programs; supporting positive mental health at work; good corporate citizenship. “Yes, they are all buzzwords, but they are also what matters to people now,” he says. “If we want to attract and retain the best people in our organisation, these elements aren’t a ‘might do’; they are a ‘must do’. “They are just as important as an exciting role or a great global brand. Whether someone is seated at their desk at work or logging on at their local coffee shop, what matters is the output and performance. “Digital connectivity means people can work collaboratively from anywhere they choose. So while leaders need to evolve, values and beliefs can be traditional – there’s a reason they’ve stood the test of time. Laurence Halabut will share his leadership insights in a panel discussion alongside other Australian HR Director of the Year finalists at the National HR Summit in Sydney, 14–15 March. For further information visit hrsummit.com.au.
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SPECIAL REPORT
MBA GUIDE
Building knowledge – and skills
There will always be a need for postgraduate business qualifications, but in a crowded market, where does the MBA fit in? THE MBA was first offered by the Harvard University Graduate School of Administration in 1908; since then, MBA programs have been advancing the frontiers of skill and character development in their students. With an eye on technological, industrial, societal and ethical changes, the modern-day MBA is aligned with skills that enable graduates to produce tangible industry outcomes; indeed, it is MBA graduates who are our future leaders. However, the MBA is not without modernday challenges. The postgraduate business degree market has never been more crowded. MBAs must not only compete in a crowded market full of other MBAs but also with specialist master’s degrees, which have gained traction in recent years.
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Does the MBA still hold its place in 2018? The consensus is a resounding yes – with some provisos. It does not matter how fast businesses change, key skill sets for MBA graduates remain constant and relevant. These skills include complex problem-solving; critical and analytical thinking; creativity; managing, leading and coordinating people; emotional intelligence; judgment and decision-making; and cognitive flexibility. “Traditionally, a great MBA program encourages its graduates to become self-aware and to have a keen awareness of the business environment and wider society,” says Ezaz Ahmed, MBA director, Flinders Business. “In addition to this, the MBA plays the role of
educating students to become skilled data crunchers, analysts and great business leaders.” The University of Sydney Business School launched an eye-catching PR campaign in 2017 along the theme of ‘the traditional MBA is dead’. Guy Ford, director of the university’s MBA program, says the MBA came of age in the 1950s during a period when the belief was that business operations needed to become more technical. “You did your business degree, you went to a tech college and did bookkeeping. It wasn’t treated all that seriously in terms of formal study. People did arts and sciences and so on,” says Ford. “The early MBA was put together to bridge that gap, and they tended to take a modularised approach with a dose of
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analysis skills, problem-solving skills,” says Ford. “They can solve problems, but they tend not to ask if they are solving the right problems, and don’t look much deeper into the nature of the issues. Some of these skills are micro skills – how to have a confrontation effectively, active listening skills, team-building skills.” Typically, Ford adds, these skills are difficult to teach; they require mentoring and
fresh MBA grads were not being equipped to deal with ambiguity. “The way you deal with building resilience and helping people to cope with ambiguity is by ensuring you have a highly diverse cohort of students who come at problems from different perspectives and mindsets,” Ford says. “That’s diversity in terms of professions, qualifications, gender, background, and also other skill sets – so you have people who are
“You can’t do experiential learning in a big lecture theatre that holds 500 people. You want that feedback from your peers and lecturer” Guy Ford, University of Sydney Business School coaching support, as well as experiential learning opportunities. “You can teach someone how to have a confrontation, but until you actually have people doing it over and over and getting feedback straight away, it won’t be cemented in the mind of the learner,” he says. In addition, class sizes need to be smaller. “You can’t do experiential learning in a big lecture theatre that holds 500 people. You want that feedback from your peers and lecturer.” A further piece of feedback received by the University of Sydney Business School was that accounting, economics, some HR and business strategy, put together almost like a buffet.” While that approach served the world well for the next 50 years, when the University of Sydney Business School was looking to reinvigorate its existing MBA program, research revealed there was an increasing belief that, once an MBA was completed, “it doesn’t really matter where you’ve done it, it’s pretty much going to be OK with those business basics, reading a financial report, and so on,” Ford says. In addition, there were skills gaps for graduates, which were becoming more apparent as businesses changed. “A lot of MBA grads have knowledge but not necessarily really good skills – interpersonal skills, critical
out-of-the-box thinkers, people who are good integrators, or good at implementation, just like you’d expect in the workforce.” The University of Sydney Business School’s revamped part-time MBA program, launched in 2013, has 50 students per intake, who are carefully selected to ensure diversity. A fulltime program kicks off in August this year. Although the MBA foundations are similar to what they’ve always been, the content and delivery have changed. “We need to give students skills, give them a growth mindset and the confidence to operate
ON THE GLOBAL STAGE A total of 155 schools took part in the 2018 Financial Times annual MBA ranking. The ranking has 20 different criteria, including average income three years after graduation; salary increase compared with pre-MBA; diversity of staff, board members and students by gender, nationality, and the MBA’s international reach. 2018 ranking
2017 ranking
3-yr rank
1
2
3
Stanford Graduate School of Business
US
2
1
1
INSEAD
France/Singapore
3
3
3
University of Pennsylvania: Wharton
US
4
6
4
London Business School
UK
5
4
4
Harvard Business School
US
63
54
61
AGSM at University of New South Wales
Australia
66
76
76
Melbourne Business School
Australia
School
Country
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SPECIAL REPORT
MBA GUIDE lean and also to experiment. We also want to learn from each other,” Ford says. “It’s less lecturing – in fact in some of the courses it’s virtually no lecturing; it’s more facilitating discussion. It’s the job of our facilitators to create these learning experiences and simulations.”
70:20:10 – with a focus on the 70:20 Echoing Ford’s sentiments about the need to upgrade the MBA is Tim Kastelle, MBA director at University of Queensland Business School. However, he also suggests students should be mindful of what an MBA can successfully deliver. “You can do an MBA and say, ‘I want to learn really specific skills, like how to read a spreadsheet’,” he says. “However, those skills change very rapidly in response to technology. So if you’re saying, can we give people the skills they’ll need five years from now – the very specific mechanical skills – the answer is no, because it’s a moving target and it’s moving faster and faster.” On the other hand, he adds, it is possible to teach people how to adapt to change and think about business problems through an innovation lens, and how to become more comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty. “Those are skills that we absolutely need both in general and particularly to deal with change in the nature of work today,” Kastelle says. “A well-designed MBA program addresses those, but the tricky thing is they are harder to teach and assess. Therefore some MBA providers will drop back and teach the easier stuff, which is precisely the wrong thing to do because those are the things that are likely to become extinct sometime in the near future.” When students undertake study at the level of an MBA, he says, “you’re dealing with people with management and work experience”. Their issue is not that they have a knowledge or information gap. They also understand best practice. For Kastelle, the critical question to ask is whether the program will help the student undertake business in a different way. Will it shake up established behaviours? “That depends very much not just on what happens in the classroom, although it does
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happen when you have high levels of interaction or spontaneous discussions and exercises with people in the room, but most of that comes from the way the material is assessed, the activities you ask people to do, the tasks you ask them to engage in,” Kastelle says. While UQ does informally use the 70:20:10 learning model, which suggests 70% of learning comes from challenging assignments, 20% from developmental relationships and 10% from coursework and training, Kastelle says it’s tempting to only concentrate on the 10% – yet it’s the 70% and 20% where changes in behaviour occur. “It’s those experiences outside the classroom that really cement the learning,” he says. “Every time I run a class, at the end of it I ask people what they’ll do differently when they’re back in the office on Monday. If we don’t have an answer to that, we’ve wasted our time. That’s the 70:20 bit – how do we change actions? And that’s what we have to get to.” Kastelle says the ‘doing’ is the hardest part of undertaking an MBA. He likens it to losing
weight: it’s simple, but it’s not easy. “We know to lose weight you have to eat less and exercise more. It’s the simplest thing in the world, and yet there’s still this enormous market for personal trainers, diet books and plans, and so on – because actually doing it is hard. Good management is pretty much the same. There are fundamental things that don’t change in management in response to changes in technology and what’s happening at work; they are simple but hard to execute.”
Tech’s impact on MBAs Helping with the execution is technology. Use of technology has helped MBA programs connect students to content. “It is evident that technology has worked as a bridge between instructors and students and assisted students to learn better through increasing their engagement in educational activities,” Ahmed says. “Because of the development of educational technology, MBA programs are now successfully offered through online, blended, intensive, and of
QS GLOBAL 250 BUSINESS SCHOOLS REPORT 2018 This report identifies the top 250 full-time MBA programs globally in 36 different countries. The report focuses on two key elements: employability of graduates and research excellence. QS MBA Rankings 2018 – Asia, Australia and New Zealand Rank
University
Country
1
INSEAD
Singapore
2
CEIBS
China
3
Melbourne Business School
Australia
4
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
5
AGSM at University of New South Wales
Australia
6
National University of Singapore
Singapore
7
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
India
8
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Hong Kong
9
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
India
10
CUHK Business School
Hong Kong
14
Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University
Australia
15
UQ Business School, University of Queensland
Australia
16=
UWA Business School, University of Western Australia
Australia
*Compiled based on 172,107 responses to the QS Global Academic Survey and 158,000 responses to the QS Global Employer Survey, alongside verified information provided by business schools. This data is used to assess schools across five key indicators: employability (40%); entrepreneurship and alumni outcomes (15%); ROI (20%); thought leadership (15%); class and faculty diversity (10%).
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course in the brick-and-mortar format of face-to-face delivery.” Technological advancement and the expansion of information and communications technology have also enabled accredited MBA programs to be offered not only at the home university but also in other countries and continents, making the MBA truly a global degree. Kastelle says that as a lot of learning is social, the challenge for business schools is to ensure that any technology utilised can replicate that in an online or virtual way. It’s something he’s working on in terms of ‘micromaster MOOCs’ for other study areas, and which may eventually end up in UQ’s MBA. In recent times, the use of simulation and other techniques has helped MBA students to become more engaged with capstone and advanced-level topics. In future, seamless connectivity via an improved internet and
The Flinders MBA aims to further close the gap between student and industry by providing industry partnerships, and placement of students in real organisations. Flinders’ MBA has links with over 200 organisations in Australia to facilitate student placements. Involvement in the New Venture Institute at Tonsley Park encourages students to start new businesses and promotes entrepreneurship with innovative ideas. Instructors at Flinders Business are also actively participating in a number of industry bodies as members, advisers and experts. For UQ’s Kastelle, the key is to embed MBA learning into the workplace. The UQ MBA’s capstone subject, tackled at the very end of the course, is an industry project that runs for the duration of a semester and allows students to work with an actual business or not-for-profit. “It will be with an organisation that has come to us and said, ‘We’ve got this
“I ask people what they’ll do differently when they’re back in the office on Monday. If we don’t have an answer to that, we’ve wasted our time” Tim Kastelle, University of Queensland Business School data transfer will assist MBA programs tremendously, enabling course conveners to connect with students who cannot access the MBA through a traditional mode. “By reaching out to untapped sections of the society, the MBA will become a truly inclusive degree for all,” Ahmed says.
Business ties Not surprisingly, business schools strive to form deep and fruitful relationships with the business world. For example, the curriculum and content of the Flinders MBA are industrydriven and supported by a number of industrybased activities. In addition, the Flinders MBA is supported by a very active industry advisory group. This advisory group is led and managed by industry experts who provide input and guidance to the Flinders MBA program.
strategic problem. Can you provide some help?’ Students will work in teams and come up with recommendations for those partners.” Similarly, alongside the typical business advisory boards and committees, Sydney’s MBA allows students to “go deep” into businesses, offering a capstone subject that requires students to partner with an organisation and design a minimum viable product for them that reflects something on their strategic horizon. The organisation must have the budget for it and be prepared to invest in it.
Making a choice What are some key considerations for a student looking to undertake an MBA? Ahmed says there are three competing forces that should make an MBA program more attractive to prospective students:
COURSE COSTS
$51,167
Average cost of MBA program in Australia for 2018 (12% increase in three years)
5.6%
Increase in fees from 2017/18
10
Number of MBA programs that cost less than $40,000
$$$
The three most expensive MBAs* in Australia: University of New South Wales (AGSM) – MBA (Extension), $95,040; University of New South Wales (AGSM) – MBA Full-time, $87,820; University of Melbourne (MBS) – MBA, $85,470 *For domestic, fee-paying students, excluding executive MBAs Source: mbanews.com.au/mba-fees-australia
appropriateness of the program, accreditation, and affordability. Accreditation plays an important role in MBA admission because an accredited MBA delivers a quality program with high impact on students’ leadership and managerial develop ment. As of December 2017, only 86 business schools in the world held all three major accreditations, famously known as ‘triple crown’ accreditation: AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA. The Flinders MBA is currently pursuing the prestigious AMBA UK accreditation in 2018. If successful, it will be the third university in Australia, and the sole university in South Australia, to have an AMBAaccredited MBA program. Accreditation by
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SPECIAL REPORT
MBA GUIDE
MBA OF THE FUTURE MBAs will adapt further in terms of duration of degree, new techniques in learning, and authentic learning experiences through augmented reality. Here are some key trends, according to experts from Flinders Business, Sydney University Business School and UQ Business School: »» The duration of MBA degrees is becoming shorter, and business schools and accreditation bodies are working closely to ensure that the volume of learning, asynchronous time of delivery and standard of MBA topics are upheld. »» The one-year MBA program has become very popular among MBA aspirants. The challenge for business schools will be to deliver an MBA that is of a high standard, is industry driven, and is seamlessly deliverable in face-to-face, online or blended format. »» Double-degree options, such as an MBA with a Master in Health or Master of Engineering Management degree, will see a rise in the two-year duration of the MBA. »» Use of research, data analytics and an evidence-based decision-making process will be key attributes for future MBA graduates, enabling them to explore and assess market trends, consumer behaviour, demographics, retail sales, competitor pricing and numerous other business activities. »» More students will undertake MBAs as a career transformation step, a springboard into a different industry, different career path or to start a business. the AMBA or any other accreditation body is incredibly rigorous. If a university has seriously sought accreditation with an accreditation body such as AMBA, students can be assured that their MBA program has been subject to careful scrutiny of key qualitative and quantitative criteria. Affordability is another consideration, as some MBA programs charge exorbitant fees, whereas others are reasonable and deliver value for money. In the last few years, MBA
fees in Australia have increased by 12%, therefore it is prudent for prospective students to compare MBA programs in terms of their reputation and accreditation status. The chosen MBA must show evidence of being able to equip students with tools and techniques to lead and manage businesses and industries. Prospective students can use publicly available data and information – for example, Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) data and the Good
Universities Guide – to compare business schools and their offerings, including elements such as overall experience, good teaching, student support, learner engagement, and skills development. Prospective students should also consider why they want to pursue the MBA, and in particular, which MBA will be suitable for them. There are currently approximately 1.2 million MBA applicants for 22,000 business schools worldwide. The volume of applicants attests to the continued interest in MBA programs. However, students should assess their current and future professional goals, the industry they wish to work or initiate business in, and how they would like to contribute towards business and society by taking up the MBA program. “The prospective student should speak to the MBA director or responsible persons and expect to find him or her to guide them in their MBA aspirations,” Ahmed says. “In addition to guidance, by speaking directly to the MBA course director and the lecturers, a prospective student can get a feel for the conscientiousness of the staff, their enthusiasm, and their sense of accountability to students.” Ford says the future of the MBA is bright, but business schools must adapt to changes in the business world and new expectations from students. “No one will throw away the nomenclature MBA, because it’s globally recognised,” he says. “However, increasingly no two MBAs are the same, so it’s a case of prospective students going to information sessions and attending taster classes. See what the other students are like and what sort of questions they are asking. The top programs are all very good, but they are very different in the way they go about things, so make sure you find the one that best suits your needs.”
ADDITIONAL MBA OPTIONS
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NSW
VICTORIA
AGSM, University of New South Wales: business.unsw.edu.au/agsm/mba/mbax Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University: mgsm.edu.au UTS Business School: uts.edu.au/future-students/business/mba-programs
Victoria Graduate School of Business, Victoria University: vu.edu.au/courses/master-of-business-administration-bmpf College of Business, RMIT: rmit.edu.au/study-with-us/levels-ofstudy/postgraduate-study/masters-by-coursework/mc199 Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne: mbs.edu/education-development/degreeprograms/fulltimemba
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THE MBA GUIDE 2018 Location: Adelaide, Victoria Square and Online Website: www.flinders.edu.au/mba Official name of MBA program: Master of Business Administration (MBA) Part-time or full-time? Part-time and full-time Course duration: 1.5 years full-time; can also be fast-tracked to complete MBA in one year Intake date(s): Mainly March and July January and July for online accelerated Strengths & emphasis: • Small class size for personalised learning experiences • Flexible delivery of program to meet busy professionals’ work schedule with face-toface, online and intensive modes of delivery • Individualised approach to career and career development workshops • Industry-experienced and award-winning academic staff Admission criteria: • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification OR completion of the Graduate Diploma in Business Administration • Minimum three years’ work experience Current number of students undertaking MBA: 136 Cost: • Annual fees of $23,546 (based on 2017 domestic student fee) • Annual fees of $29,200 (based on 2017 international student fee) Weekly time commitment: 12.5 hours per week per topic; 12 topics in total Pass rate: Approximately 96% Accreditation: • The Flinders MBA is considered to be one of the most flexible, industry-relevant and highly ranked MBA programs in Australia. • Flinders’ MBA program has been ranked Four Stars in 2016 and 2017 by the Graduate Management Association of Australia. • Combined degree MBA and Master of Health Administration and MBA (Health) are accredited by the Australasian College of
Health Services Management. • Prestigious AMBA UK Accreditation assessment is in progress in 2018. Skills mastered: Flinders’ MBA topics incorporate Evidencebased management practices. Thus: • Flinders’ MBA emphasises application of strategic management techniques in adopting efficient and effective problemsolving skills in organisational contexts. • Students become experts in decision-making and the management of organisations while applying their knowledge and skills in economics, accounting, financial management, human resource management and marketing. • The Flinders MBA equips students with analysing skills for management issues and strategies in an environment of potential impact from local and global economic conditions and events, with emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. • Students critically evaluate research and projects to solve business-related problems and develop leadership, teamwork, communication and other soft skills via coursework and involvement in real-world industry projects with clients. • Finally, Flinders’ MBA builds students’ skills to propel from middle to senior executive. Location: St Lucia and Brisbane CBD Website: www.business. uq.edu.au/programs/ master-businessadministration-mba Official name of MBA program: Master of Business Administration (MBA) Part-time or full-time? Full-time and part-time Course duration: • Accelerated MBA (12 months, full-time) • Streamlined MBA (24 months) • Flexible MBA (gives you up to seven years to finish) Intake date(s): Semester 1 – Full-time (8 Jan 2018) Semester 1 – Part-time (2 Feb 2018) Semester 2 – Part-time (6 July 2018)
Strengths & emphasis: This program will teach you how to overcome challenges, navigate change and create opportunities in business. It’s the number one MBA in Australia (The Economist ranking) and one of the best in the world. Engage with industry at local, national and international levels. You’ll develop strategies for real businesses and analyse, explain and predict the performance of ASX-listed companies and more. Admission criteria: • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent with a GPA of at least 4.50 on a 7-point scale and four years’ full-time work experience post-graduation, including at least two of the four years’ full-time work experience gained while working in a dedicated supervisory/management role as approved by the executive dean; OR Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from UQ or equivalent, with a GPA of at least 4.50 on a 7-point scale. • International applicants must complete the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) with a minimum score of 550. Learn more about entry requirements at futurestudents.uq.edu.au/apply/postgraduate/entryrequirements Current number of students undertaking MBA: 475 Cost: • In 2018 the MBA will cost a domestic student $66,840 in tuition fees. • International students in 2019 to be similar to 2018; in 2018 the MBA cost an international student $72,936 in tuition fees. • NB these figures are just predictions based on the standard annual fee increase. Fees are always subject to change. Weekly time commitment: Full-time – 46 hours per week (average) Part-time – 150 hours per course Pass rate: 4 on a 7-point scale Accreditation: EQUIS and Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Skills mastered: Study 12 courses that cover key topics and integrate theory with practice. During your studies you’ll develop your leadership skills, complete projects, and have the chance to participate in an international consultancy or immersion project.
BRISBANE
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Queensland University of Technology: qut.edu.au/study/courses/master-of-businessadministration-mba Central Queensland University: cqu.edu.au/mba
Business School, University of Western Australia business.uwa.edu.au Curtin Business School, Curtin University: business.curtin.edu.au
Adelaide Business School, University of Adelaide: business.adelaide.edu.au Business School, University of South Australia: study.unisa.edu.au/degrees/master-of-businessadministration
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FEATURES
SECTOR FOCUS: RECRUITMENT
Separating the great from the good HRD explores the still-vital role played by the job interview in the digital age – and provides some tips on how to do it better FEW WOULD argue that talent acquisition is one area of HR’s mandate that has changed almost beyond recognition in the past decade. Thanks to technology breakthroughs, these changes have naturally focused on the tools of the trade, in terms of how talent is identified, funnelled and onboarded. The advent of LinkedIn, for example, has revolutionised how talent is identified. Years ago, the options available to organisations when looking for talent were to source
and contact candidates globally. LinkedIn has created a searchable, constantly selfupdating global talent database.
Changes afoot The changes don’t stop with the tools and platforms utilised. One experienced recruiter, Joe Screnci, chairman of JRS International Search Partners, says the job interview itself has also changed and will continue to evolve with technology, expertise and regulation.
“Results should be validated using other tools and techniques to provide a meaningful insight into the candidate” Joe Screnci, JRS internally, advertise (print or online), make direct contact with referred candidates, or use a recruitment or executive search firm to access a broader base of candidates. When considering a recruitment or search firm to work with, their industry expertise, contact base and database of candidates were extremely important. Now, by using LinkedIn, recruiters can very quickly search and review updated CVs to identify
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Whether interviews are conducted faceto-face or via online tools, or whether they are one-on-one or via panels, these changes must be considered during this critical phase of recruitment. On the technology front, the proliferation of social media and also online databases has impacted how background checks are handled and what kinds of questions are asked at interviews. “I’m finding a trend that
information found online is making its way into interview questions,” says Screnci. He adds that anti-discrimination legislation has also had an impact on how interviews are handled. This development has caused interviewers to focus interview questions on experience, qualifications, skills and capability. Meanwhile, changes in corporate culture promoting diversity and equity ensure that interview questions focus on ability rather than disability.
Targeted selection off-target One consistent element has been behavioural interviewing, also known as targeted selection, which today is used widely as a means of candidate assessment. However, Screnci says there is a fundamental flaw in this technique. “The premise of this technique is that the best predictor as to how someone will act in a certain situation in the future is how they reacted to a similar situation in the past. This does not consider the environment they were in at the time and other influences; for example, economic climate, management directives, personal circumstances, company culture, etc., associated with the past situation. Many extraneous influences could have affected how the person acted at the time,” he says. Without these influences, Screnci suggests the person may well have acted differently. Accordingly, the predictive value of this technique is questionable if there isn’t an understanding of these influences. “Results should be validated using other tools and techniques to provide a meaningful insight into the candidate,” Screnci says.
Mistakes to avoid When asked what kinds of mistakes recruiters make during the interview process, Screnci admits “there are many”, but he highlights four in particular. Firstly, people generally like to hire people like themselves: background, personality
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FROM AFTERTHOUGHT TO STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE
(commonly described as ‘culture fit’), likes/ dislikes, etc. This does not always result in the right hire. “Managers need to be more clinical about the outcomes required from someone in the role, and spend time developing interview questions designed to determine the candidate’s capability to deliver those outcomes,” Screnci says. “This may include characteristics completely different from those of the hiring manager. The answers to the interview questions must then be validated with the results of other tools, techniques and reference checking before being accepted. Hiring managers should be open to talented candidates who think differently to them and have a different style or personality.” Secondly, it can be a problem when the interviewer asks hypothetical or pet questions that they like and use in every interview to search for a specific answer. “This is just as bad as the ‘tick a box’ questionnaire that is process-driven rather
With over three decades of HR consulting experience – including owning and running businesses across a broad spectrum of areas, from executive search to OD and outplacement, and holding executive and non-executive board positions with companies in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the UK – Joe Screnci is well placed to comment on the strategic imperative of hiring the right person at the right time for the right role. He says: “In my 30 years in this business I’ve seen many hiring managers pass on exceptional candidates because they didn’t meet their perception of who they wanted in the role. Their brief was either too tight or simply poorly conceived. Many approach recruitment as a task to be done whilst putting aside more important things. However, I’m also pleased to say that some hiring managers are quite visionary and look at recruitment as an opportunity to increase the HR capability of the organisation, positively influence company culture and create a strong succession plan for the future.”
than designed to find the best candidate,” Screnci says. “People are all different. You can’t use a standard form to assess different people, particularly if you’re looking for initiative, innovation, agility, self-reliance, etc.” Thirdly, some hiring managers mistakenly believe their view is more important than that of others. “Candidates will sometimes know different ways to do something that may be more effective. A non-ego-driven manager will see this as a positive rather than feeling threatened,” Screnci says. Finally, Screnci suggests recruiters should
position themselves as trusted advisers. He says recruiters need to be solution-driven and assist hiring managers with expertise and direction. Their role is to ensure that the manager is provided with recruitment support and is focused on hiring candidates who can deliver the outcomes required and not simply be clones of the manager. “Internal and external recruiters need to act as a trusted adviser, rather than ordertakers or processors,” Screnci says. “Unless you’re testing the hiring manager’s thinking and influencing the process, you’re not adding value beyond an administrator.”
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SECTOR FOCUS: RECRUITMENT Brought to you by
FINDING A STAR Behavioural job interview techniques seek concrete examples of skills and experiences that relate directly to the position. Such interviews remain the top tool that hiring managers use to evaluate soft skills – those important traits such as leadership, collaboration and prioritisation. Seeking responses that address the STAR criteria (Situation, Tasks performed, Actions taken, Results achieved), three question examples might include: Describe a situation in which you embraced a new system, process, technology, or an idea at work that was a major departure from the old way of doing things [seeking insights into candidate adaptability]. What were the changes, how did you implement these ideas, and what outcomes did you achieve? Outline three things that are important to you in a job [seeking insights into the candidate’s culture fit with the organisation]. Why are they important to you, how did you identify them in past roles, and did they meet your needs? Give an example of when you had to work with someone who was difficult to get along with [seeking insights into the candidate’s ability to collaborate]. Was it a manager, peer, subordinate or customer? How were they difficult, what did you do to overcome the problem, and what was the outcome?
JRS ISP Joe Screnci is chairman of JRS International Search Partners, a senior-level executive search firm with offices and affiliates in Amsterdam, Budapest, Copenhagen, Denver, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Kuala Lumpur, London, Melbourne, Milan, Monaco, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Sydney and Vienna.
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Improving the process How can the process be handled more effectively? Screnci suggests that all hiring managers should be trained in writing position descriptions from a behaviours and outcomes perspective rather than a duties and responsibilities perspective. Hiring can then be conducted to find someone who will show the required behaviours that will lead to the desired outcomes. This will also assist with performance assessment and counselling as these sessions can focus on whether the required behaviours have been exhibited. Prior to conducting a behavioural interview, there are several key steps to follow. The interviewer should determine what outcomes
should be asked to describe the following: • a Situation to assess whether they behaved in a manner that would allow them to achieve the outcomes being sought • what Tasks they had to perform • what Actions they took • what Results were achieved “Remember, candidates are skilled at this type of interviewing, so you will need to validate their answers through other interview techniques, aptitude testing, personality profiling, reference checking, etc,” says Screnci. Once interviews are conducted, an effective interviewer will assess candidates and choose the one that has the highest
“You can’t use a standard form to assess different people, particularly if you’re looking for initiative, innovation, agility, self-reliance, etc” Joe Screnci, JRS are required from the role and then delineate what behaviours should be displayed to achieve those outcomes. The interviewer can then develop questions designed to elicit answers that will show whether or not the candidate exhibited these behaviours innately or acquired them through learning in the past. The interviewer should, through deeper questioning, take care to understand the environment in which these behaviours were exhibited, and whether the candidate was instructed to behave in that manner or it was the candidate’s own initiative. “This is important as people will react differently to the same situation in different environments, personal circumstances, company cultures, management style, etc,” Screnci says. Questions should be structured in a STAR format (see box above). Candidates
probability of being successful in the role and delivering the required outcomes by exhibiting the appropriate behaviours. In addition, the interviewer may also look for a candidate that can bring a particular skill set to the organisation, contribute to the success of others, be a positive influence in the development of organisational culture, and grow and contribute at a higher level in the future. No doubt different candidates will have different attributes, and the interviewer should gain a broad base of opinion and develop substantial validated information prior to deciding who to hire. Screnci has one final warning: “Gut feel isn’t enough, and managers that rely on this are not doing the company any favours. The more validated information you gain on a candidate and the more stringent the process, the better gut feel you’ll have about the hire.”
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HRA FP
Nominations open 3 April www.hrawards.com.au
IAN TRAL AUS
2018
7 SEPTEMBER 2018 • THE STAR SYDNEY
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FEATURES
SECTOR FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY
All about goal alignment What’s in store for your strategic HR planning in 2018? HRD chats to Rob Bromage of intelliHR about key areas to consider, including HR’s critical alignment with customer needs
WHEN TALKING about best practice for HR executives, Rob Bromage, CEO of people management and data analytics firm intelliHR, says it’s obvious that one of the biggest priorities for the profession needs to be ensuring their planning aligns with the vison of the CEO or MD from day one. “I actually think the number one thing
what might have changed or what new priorities the business might have, before you start doing your own departmental activity planning. It’s so important to be on the same page as the leader of the business so you understand the pain points and where they see the biggest challenges coming through for the year ahead.”
“It’s so important to be on the same page as the leader of the business, so you understand the pain points and where they see the biggest challenges coming through” Rob Bromage, intelliHR people need to be doing before they even start thinking about planning for the year ahead is to get some time with their CEO or the business owner and really understand what the business is trying to achieve in the coming year,” he says. “It’s important to understand
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The second most important thing HR should do when considering their strategic planning is put themselves in the position of customers and contemplate what exactly they need from HR. According to Bromage, this is often left to others in the business but
should be at the heart of all planning and decision-making. “As HR people, we need to have a direct appreciation of the customer and how their needs are changing over time. Typically, it’s been a consideration left to the marketing function or the front line, but it’s imperative that HR plans around the customer so that they know the skills their people need to best service their customers. HR is best positioned to drive customer outcomes through people, so we really must become more customercentric in all of our thinking and planning. The only way to do that is to get in front of them,” Bromage says. There’s no doubt that the role of HR needs to be better aligned to the business strategy. To have a successful business, all functions must be focused on how they can drive better customer experiences; for HR, it’s about how staff and management are supporting all of that. According to Bromage, the function must drive business performance through people strategy. “The other key consideration for business is to provide staff with the right tools to allow them to do the best possible job they can,” he says.
Using people management technology for better business outcomes It’s very true that many companies are still operating with manual HR systems, despite the fact that technology is at everyone’s fingertips 24/7. “Staff are on iPhones and social media platforms constantly, so we should be embracing this love for technology,” Bromage says. It’s no coincidence that the market for HR technology in 2018 is booming. HRD surveyed over 650 readers and found that 64% of HR professionals planned to increase spend on HR technology in 2017, and support for HR technology is likely to gain even more momentum this year.
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TECHNOLOGY AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT “When it comes to HR technology, it’s really about shifting thinking, not looking at the tools of the past or just automating manual processes,” Bromage says. “It’s about focusing on the actual outcomes you’re trying to achieve and then selecting the right tools that are fit for that purpose. We need to understand that systems of the past don’t necessarily fit in with the tools of the future. So much has changed, even the expectations of staff. We must all step back and look at solutions.” Bromage adds that HR professionals need to be able to successfully leverage new people management and data analytics platforms with minimum fuss. “HR people typically have access to piles of data, but they need to be able to make better use of that data,” he says. “Platforms like intelliHR have been built with customers and usability front of mind, so it’s very easy to use, leading to high levels of adoption and helping to lift employee experience and value to the business.”
By combining all aspects of a performance management framework into one centralised technology solution, employees are armed with the cutting-edge tools they need for the best possible chance of success.
Goals Training
Staff development
’A facilitator of business performance’ One of the biggest challenges facing executives today is that a business often has so many systems, and it’s extremely difficult to make them work together – hence we tend to fall back into manual processes. “Many businesses just aren’t making things easy for themselves,” Bromage says. He adds that HR is not about administration and compliance or telling leaders how to manage. “HR should be seen as the facilitator of business performance, and it should be about enablement and making things easier for
Ratings system
Continuous feedback
staff to better look after their customers. You need data to understand where the trends are and a simple way to access and analyse it so you can improve the employee experience on all fronts, which will in turn change the customer experience – because, of course, happy staff equals happy customers equals ongoing and growing business,” he says. Bromage has recently listed his people management platform intelliHR on the ASX and says its popularity is reflective of changing attitudes towards the function of HR. “When you look at a complete performance management framework,
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SECTOR FOCUS: TECHNOLOGY Brought to you by
CREATING CUSTOMERCENTRIC HR HR must achieve a better understanding of the customer through alignment of business strategy. At the core of every successful business are its customers. By leveraging HR and technology, organisations can align every part of their business to a central aim of providing customers with the best possible experience. Finance Research
Marketing
Customer
HR + Technology
Production
Sales Accounting
you’ve got goals and continuous feedback, recognition and reward, performance reviews and staff development. If I was an HR director I would want to put those tools directly in the hands of staff,” he says. “As people get back into the swing of things early in a new year, they are focused on starting the year off strong. So, if your staff aren’t coming back into work and self-starting their goal setting or feedback processes, then they’re automatically going to be on the back foot. We must arm our people directly with user-friendly and intuitive tools to give them the best possible chance of success, by having control over their own performance.”
Why goal setting is key Bromage offers a key tip to businesses leaders: you need to make sure you are continuously setting and revisiting goals, to maintain
engaged or unhappy, they may be lacking feedback or direction, or they may be just unsure as to the expectations the business has of them. Everybody needs to know exactly what is expected of them, have clearly articulated goals, a plan to achieve them, and a regular dialogue to stay agile and on track.” The intelliHR platform encourages staff to have regular conversations about their goals, and empowers them to take responsibility for their performance. “I think like anything it’s about establishing a routine,” Bromage says. “HR needs to be responsible for creating discipline and value-adding processes in the business. Routine and discipline are incredibly difficult to establish if they don’t have a tool to make it easier and faster to do these things.” Bromage sums up the value-add of people management software with the reminder that technology can provide employees with
“HR should be seen as the facilitator of business performance, and it should be about enablement and making things easier for staff to better look after their customers” Rob Bromage, intelliHR
INTELLIHR Rob Bromage is an HR technology specialist with more than 20 years’ experience. He is the managing director of intelliHR, a cloud-based people management platform that allows organisations to maintain a real-time handle on performance, creating a culture that contributes to strategic decision-making with data-driven insights.
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alignment with forever-changing business expectations. Let’s face it: businesses need to be agile in today’s highly competitive and global marketplace, and so do goals. Goals should be outcome-focused, while simultaneously allowing staff room to innovate and come up with creative solutions to real business and customer problems. The intelliHR platform provides dynamic goal-setting capabilities, and at the same time uses a unique but simple continuous feedback system to connect leaders with their staff on another level. “Together these tools provide a track to run on, facilitating meaningful conversations that add value to both the staff member and leader,” Bromage says. “If your staff are not
a future road map. “Technology equips our people with a track to run on and makes it easier to connect teams together,” he says. Most HR professionals would acknowledge that people want purpose and they also want autonomy. According to Bromage, they also want to be recognised. “Everyone comes to work to do a good job. Simple things like continuous feedback, setting and establishing expectations, and keeping track of goals and how they are going shows employees that the business is investing in them, and sets them up for success. If everyone understands what they need to do and that is what the business actually wants, then you’ve got everyone on the bus, in the right seats, and the bus is moving forward in the right direction.”
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FEATURES
SECTOR FOCUS: BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT
The juggling act Leaders must balance multiple priorities and countless disparate strategies, so it’s no surprise that an individual’s personality and behaviour traits can play a critical role in their success – or failure IN BUSINESS, results matter, and organisational effectiveness is perhaps the ultimate measure of successful leadership. This means more than making financial returns for shareholders or achieving public service objectives; indeed, in order to sustainably deliver on those fronts, leaders need to be on top of a whole lot more – and it’s these other components that separate exceptional leaders from competent leaders.
create a shared sense of purpose to engage employees and gain their commitment. American author and management expert Kenneth Blanchard once stated: “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” It’s easy to see why he made this claim. While a leader of course has a job title to fall back on and also ideally possesses great technical skills, there are other, less tangible traits they should ideally hold.
“Leaders get things done through other people. That is going to involve a whole array of attributes which are essentially behavioural in nature” Scott Ruhfus, Saville Assessment For example, leaders must set an example for managing risk and protecting the reputation of the organisation. They must continually monitor quality of goods and services, while also identifying gaps in the market, cultivating innovation and managing change. Just as critically, they are required to foster successful teams and
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“Leaders get things done through other people,” says Scott Ruhfus, managing director, Saville Assessment Asia Pacific. “That is going to involve a whole array of attributes which are essentially behavioural in nature.” Ruhfus adds that it may come as a shock to some to realise that assertiveness is still one of those attributes. “You need a strong sense
of purpose and direction to be a leader,” he says. “You have to make important decisions that will affect a lot of people, quickly and convincingly; and you will need to stand by them. You have to take charge of situations, control things, and give instructions to other people.” Just as important, Ruhfus says, is how the leader goes about this. “Do you tell or sell? Are you able to empathise with the different needs and motivations of the individuals you lead? Are you fair and trustworthy?” Even when times are tough, great leaders have the emotional intelligence and selfawareness to inspire people. “People can be inspired in different ways,” Ruhfus says. “But effective leaders are able to motivate us. It may be because they communicate with enthusiasm and passion. Often they are good role models who practise what they preach. They remain calm under pressure or they create a compelling vision of the future. They use their understanding of people to make the right pitch and engage us.”
Right time, right place A leader’s individual behavioural traits may ensure they excel in certain circumstances and situations. “Differences in behavioural style will predispose leaders to be more effective in some situations than others,” Ruhfus says. “From the literature and our own research, we’ve identified 18 different leadership styles based on personality differences.” A leader with a collaborative, empowering style will be very good at developing successful teams, for example. A leader with a creative, promotional style will be better at cultivating new products and disrupting markets. In all cases, however, strengths can be overplayed and cause leaders to derail, unless they are counterbalanced by compensating behaviours. For example, the disruptive leader may leave a legacy
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MAKING AN IMPACT Saville Assessment’s work with leaders identifies three areas of organisational impact: ‘Professional’ qualities such as expertise, ‘People’ capabilities to engage and lead, and ‘Pioneering’ style, showing the enterprise to grow the business. Universal leaders encompass all three.
Impact created through: • Organisational commitment
Op e
• Communication
p hi rs
• Successful teams
Strategic L ea al + n de o i t ra People
Impact created through: • New products/markets
Pioneering
• Organisational transformation • Organisational growth
Professional
• Expert reputation
of uncertainty and non-compliance. It’s also possible to have a leader/ organisation mismatch. “This is directly related to the issue of situational leadership,” Ruhfus says. “Think of culture as the ‘personality’ of an organisation. If the leader’s personality is different to that of the organisation, there will be a clash. The style of the leader does not match the leadership situation.” Where might situational leadership come into play? Examples might include situations in which: • the long-term vision of an organisation
needs to be developed • a positive attitude helps to promote goals
and achieve success
trategic L l+S e a na de tio ra
• Service & product delivery
Op e
• Managed risk
p hi rs
Impact created through:
• it is important for people to innovate and
challenge the ideas of others • purposeful interaction with others is required to achieve a goal • persuasion is required in order to overcome resistance to ideas or plans • people require inspiration to help them define and achieve goals
Assessments and profiles Fortunately, today there are sophisticated profiling tools available to avoid mismatches, and to ensure that leaders themselves are aware of their behavioural style, including potential strengths and weaknesses. Ruhfus says clients of Saville Assessment will typically approach the company to talk
about their unique needs. The Saville team will look at their assessment criteria and advise on the best way to measure it. “We often design systems for them, customise reporting, and train them to use the tools in a self-sufficient manner,” Ruhfus says. Specifically, Saville uses a behavioural style questionnaire called Wave® and a 360-degree instrument, which look at the leadership style of the individual, the impact it makes on organisational effectiveness, and the leadership situations for which they are likely to be best suited. As many as 108 different aspects of personality are examined to help guide the individual on areas that can be developed and strengths they can
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SECTOR FOCUS: BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT Brought to you by
BROADER BENEFITS Generated from the Wave® Professional Styles personality questionnaire, the Wave® Leadership Impact Report is used for: • identifying leadership potential • leadership selection • leadership coaching and development • M&A activity Key benefits • The impact model bridges the gap between specific behaviours and organisational-level outcomes. • It provides positively framed, work-relevant development advice avoiding potential for negative impact. • The model uses the Wave® deep-dives to identify leadership potential and provide extra levels of details for powerful conversations. • The impact model resonates strongly with end users for improved reflection and performance.
SAVILLE ASSESSMENT ASIA PACIFIC Saville Assessment Asia Pacific specialises in precision talent assessments that increase organisational and people performance. We take the time to understand your organisation and create specialist tailored solutions. We are dedicated to enabling HR to reach their goals through strategic people decisions based on data and analytics. P: (02) 9954 0840 E: info@savilleassessment.com.au www.savilleassessment.com.au
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leverage. The result is the Leadership Impact Report (see box, left). Importantly, Saville’s Leadership Impact model helps organisations to bridge the gap between leaders’ styles and their impact on key leadership outcomes. The model switches focus from behavioural competencies to nine output-focused impact areas, clustered under the ‘3 P’s’: Professional, People and Pioneering (see box, p61). In summary: ‘Professional’ examines not just how
meticulous and detailed an individual is but also what impact they create through managing risk, building expertise, and service delivery.
and recommendations that can be actioned promptly by the individual. For those taking part in the Leadership Risk Report, implications are given for the two areas of highest potential risk, relating to the individual, the organisation and the culture.
The road ahead Globally renowned business leader and investment icon Warren Buffett once stated: “In the business world, the rear-view mirror is always clearer than the windshield.” The road ahead is indeed uncertain, but in an age of predictive analytics, Saville’s assessment reports can also be used to predict the
“Think of culture as the ‘personality’ of an organisation. If the leader’s personality is different to that of the organisation, there will be a clash” Scott Ruhfus, Saville Assessment ‘People’ includes an impact area called
communication; however, this area is not only focused on a leader’s individual communication style but on whether that leader can ensure communication across the organisation is relevant and effective. ‘Pioneering’ is not solely concerned with how creative and innovative a leader is but whether this will have tangible outcomes with regard to developing new products or exploring new opportunities. Attitude towards risk is a key part of any leadership role and is even more pertinent in certain roles and industries. Saville’s Leadership Risk Report can identify how potential leaders are likely to approach risk across nine critical aspects of leadership that sit under the 3 P’s. The reports come with practical insights, tips
performance of upcoming leaders. Generated from the one well-respected questionnaire, Wave®, the Leadership Impact Report and the Leadership Risk Report provide normed scores against 18 Leadership Styles, 9 Organisational Impact areas, and 9 Potential Risk areas. “The scores provide a valid indication of likely performance of current leaders as well as potential of future leaders,” Ruhfus says. With statistics from Willis Towers Watson’s Global Talent Management and Rewards study indicating that just 39% of employees believe organisations are doing a ‘good’ or ‘very good’ job of developing future leaders, it might be time to re-examine not just the leadership development options on offer, but what leadership behaviours these future leaders demonstrate and in what circumstances they will excel.
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EXPERT INSIGHT
PAYROLL
Global payroll:
diverse. Hovering near the top of the list are the organisational metrics of compliance (are we meeting/failing a statutory requirement at country level?) and risk (including, among others, the likelihood of failing to meet a statutory requirement at country level). These are followed in quick succession by the operational metrics of payroll accuracy and timeliness of delivery. Now, multiply these challenges by n, being the total number of countries in which your employees are operating. This leads to:
It’s complicated and riddled with potential minefields, but payroll for MNCs doesn’t have to be a risky prospect, writes ADP’s Sean Murphy
where bh = big headache.
The village, vendors and value LEGISLATIVE COMPLIANCE: in a business context it is more visible in the breach than the observance, to paraphrase the Bard. And since companies, and particularly multinationals, must conform to an ever-increasing number of statutory dictates, we should not be surprised that some occasionally fall foul of the law – did someone say Single Touch Payroll or vulnerable workers bill?
fragmentation (of data, processes and effort) and its inevitable bedfellow, duplication, are commonly disavowed in favour of consolidation and scalability. It’s an interesting exercise to apply this lens of collective identity to one of the great back-of-house business processes in today’s global village, payroll. When I say multinational, it’s important to acknowledge that this is not limited to your
Multi-country payroll is an ever-shifting landscape through which MNCs must navigate. But it’s a tightrope with no safety net The term ‘global village’ was coined by Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan in the mid-1960s. A recurring theme in his books, it describes a world that has been ‘shrunk’ by modern advances in communications. McLuhan compared the vast network of communications systems to one extended central nervous system, ultimately linking everyone in the world. Today, multinational corporations exhibit some of the collective identity traits presaged by McLuhan in his seminal works. Specifically,
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ASX top 100. A multinational could be a local digital marketing agency of 50 employees that also employs people overseas to do programming. Granted, these businesses have some complexity differences, but as more and more Australian businesses look overseas to new markets or for operational efficiencies, the notion of what is defined as multinational continues to expand.
Compliance and complexity Payroll challenges for MNCs are many and
n x (compliance + risk + accuracy + timeliness) = bh
Clunky, but you get my drift. Multicountry payroll is an ever-shifting landscape through which MNCs must navigate. But it’s a tightrope with no safety net. Every payday you have thousands of internal auditors (also called employees) running a ruler over your calculations – and they had better be correct. Adding to this burden is the complexity of internal payroll business processes, usually stemming from a company’s history of expansion by acquisition. The reasons for M&A activity are many and varied, but non-core processes like payroll are not immediately, and sometimes never, replaced or streamlined as part of such activity. On average, MNCs have a total of 30 payroll systems in place (ADP Research Institute, 2015). It seems that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ – at least not in the short term.
Pain relief So where does this leave MNCs? Well, with a risk profile trending northward and the forementioned headache, that’s where. But fear not, pain relief can be provided. Let’s talk about Multi-Country Payroll Outsourcing (MCPO).
MCPO Here is where you outsource, either fully or partially, elements of your payroll burden to industry specialists. In its simplest form it can mean taking advantage of a vendor’s hosted and maintained infrastructure, on which you
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will perform your own payroll processing using internal resources; so, platform-as-a-service if you will. Your provider will commit to supplying a compliant, regularly updated platform with KPIs around system availability. Ramp up the service level and you arrive at what is usually called a ‘managed service’. The provider includes resources to process the payroll on your behalf, and works to additional KPIs for accuracy of their calculations and timeliness of delivery of payroll outputs, eg payslips, reports, and general ledger interface files. Customers get the benefit of scale delivered by vendors who deploy thousands of customers onto multi-tenant payroll platforms, and who make use of labour arbitrage to deliver quality services from offshore locations. Some trade-offs ensue, however; clients will usually be required to standardise to some degree their current, possibly unwieldy, practices to reflect those required by their payroll vendor. That’s not a bad thing. The management of employee queries may be included under managed services, and most providers include it here or as part of a more extensive ‘comprehensive service’ model. Case Management functionality, issue management processes and client/employee support are usually proffered across service models. An MCPO solution meets many of the MNC challenges head-on, but organisations should appreciate a couple of challenges faced by providers of such services: A uniform payroll software engine capable of compliant payroll processing in all of an MNC customer’s countries is uncommon. SAP’s country payroll scope, along with partner-developed extensions, provides the widest base, with over 70 countries accommodated. That’s a lot of payroll, taxation, social insurance and benefits-related rules and regulations to supply and maintain. Those SAP partners who take advantage of this platform to build out additional country templates and broad payroll services have supplied the highest level of platform uniformity to date. ADP, a case in point, is an organisation that provides its Global Payroll service to 112 countries today.
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For many MNCs, the size of in-country employee populations precludes investment in an ERP-based payroll deployment to specific geographies. For example, it is usually not economically viable to implement ERP-based payroll in a 25-person country. So how do MCPO vendors meet these challenges?
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• Along with a solid baseline software platform for processing countries with high head counts and complex requirements, they should have access to in-country solutions that provide compliant payroll at the local level, the ability to fold into an aggregator model, and a price point that matches the economies of smallpopulation countries. » Providers with significant longevity in the industry will have a breadth of in-country capability today, based on in-house IP built up over time, to service mid-sized clients within local markets. • They should have a solid network of partners that cover the ‘gap’ countries in which the MCPO vendor holds no software partnership or home-grown IP platforms for payroll. • They provide business process management via web-based workflow tools that also act as the client-facing user interface. Models vary, but typically the MCPO vendor will take in data from the customer, distribute this to its in-country partners (internal and external) for calculation, and manage the full end-to-end processing and reporting cycle. Now the MCPO vendors’ value coefficient starts to track upwards, because they are the ones responsible for the sourcing, vetting, onboarding, contracting, management, and review of payroll partners in, typically, scores of countries. In contrast, as a company with an on-premise model you may very well have just inherited that payroll guy in ‘country X’ as part of your last merger… Sure, an on-premise payroll deployment can give that warm-and-fuzzy feeling of
control, but do you really want to keep track of the requirements surrounding, say, Australia’s Single Touch Payroll yourself ? Or, should you be exposed to European compliance and navigate the labyrinth that is the General Data Protection Regulation? That’s what you pay an outsourcing partner to do! From a software platform perspective you can say an MCPO client gets a ‘hybrid’ model, but that misses the point. Vendors that provide a unified service layer, over the top of a potentially polyglot technical layer, will deliver best value. With payroll outsourcing it is outcomes that matter, not so much the journey (so it’s the message, not the media, with apologies to McLuhan).
WHAT TO SEEK OUT I like a good checklist. Here’s one to ensure that your search for a potential MCPO partner will separate the wheat from the chaff: 1. Does the MCPO partner have web-delivered tools for data throughput, workflow processing, online communication, and training and support? 2. Does it provide uniform reporting outputs at country level for review of payroll outcomes? 3. Does it have analytical reporting for examining payroll spend across countries? 4. Does it offer machine-to-machine integration with your internal business systems? 5. Does it have an ongoing program of external audit, to industry standards, of internal controls, eg SSAE, ISAE? 6. Does it have a significant number of live clients, willing to be referenced, in all your in-scope countries? If you can put a tick against each of the above you are well on the way to linking all the actors in your own global payroll village. Sean Murphy is APAC business consulting director at ADP. From software to outsourcing solutions, organisations of all sizes take advantage of ADP’s deep expertise to free their teams and help them focus on driving greater business results. For more information, visit adppayroll.com.au or call 1300 961 734.
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FEATURES
INSIDE HR
Winning the battle for tech talent Recruiting tech talent on a massive scale is just one challenge facing Dell’s head of global talent acquisition. She shares her tips with HRD
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FOUR TIPS TO ENGAGE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA Marie Moynihan outlines what has worked for her team at Dell. Engage your employees in storytelling. “Make it authentic, real, gritty. The videos you see on the corporate website are great, but they don’t tend to perform well on social. You want short, snackable content, ideally either video-based or at least with an image – that’s what performs best on social.” Tap into the reach of your employees. “When you develop this content, engage your employees to help promote it and put it out there. They all have contacts in the talent pool you’re after, and people are much more likely to look at something sent by a friend than from a corporate handle.” Choose your platform with care. “If you look at platforms like Facebook, it’s now really an area where you need to pay to play to get decent attraction. The organic content isn’t really performing there any more. On Twitter I would say images perform better; people aren’t really searching Twitter for videos or articles. They are looking more for the bite-sized testimonial with an image. Instagram is actually a great place for employee-generated content.” Customise your content. “You’ll need to make sure it’s locally relevant. If you’re looking to attract people in Brazil, you’ll need to have local team members speaking Portuguese that people can relate to, otherwise it’s a waste.”
Networking is a key component of Dell’s summer program, and students are encouraged to connect with peers across parts of the business during their internship
MOST HR professionals on the hunt for tech talent understand how tough it is: there is simply not enough of it to go round, meaning that it’s very much a candidate’s market. A chat with Dublin-based Marie Moynihan, senior vice president, global talent acquisition, at Dell, confirms that this is a global issue. For an organisation the size of Dell, the problem is magnified tenfold: on average the company hires 20,000 external team members annually, across some 180 countries. The bulk of these roles will fall into the ‘tech’ category. Dell prefers to undertake direct hiring
and will only use external agencies in select markets such as Japan – hence the size of Moynihan’s team is around 500 people spread across the globe. The team’s use of the latest technology is critical to filling roles. “The team is responsible for sourcing the best talent, for developing an authentic, compelling employment brand and getting that message out there,” says Moynihan. “Then of course the team facilitates the selection and the offer process. A big part of it is ensuring we provide a great candidate experience along the way.” The talent acquisition function at Dell is facing some daunting challenges. “The biggest challenge we’re facing is one that’s facing the entire tech sector, and that is that the demand for tech talent – including sales talent – is very much outstripping the supply,” Moynihan says. “One of the reasons for that is that most companies across all sectors now are going through a massive digital transformation of their core product and service offerings, so they are competing alongside the tech industry for this limited pool of talent.” The hurdles don’t end there. Moynihan says the industry is evolving at such a rate that many of the required skills are brand new, and the education sector is struggling
to keep pace. “Data scientists, cybersecurity specialists, user experience designers – these are roles that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Now these skills are in high demand, but the talent isn’t necessarily there,” she says. The third key challenge is that the pool of candidates is not as diverse as companies like Dell would ideally like. “Seventy percent of employees who work in the tech sector today are men, so we really need to see more girls opting to take STEM-related subjects at university so they can move into the talent pool later on. That is a big issue, and it’s really not changing at a fast rate,” says Moynihan.
A plan of attack So how is Dell tackling these issues? Moynihan says that, firstly, the company knows what candidates are looking for in this sector. She cites research from the likes of LinkedIn, which paints a clear picture of what people want from their workplace. “They want challenging work where they feel they can personally make an impact; they’re looking for a culture and values set that is very open, respectful and flexible. They also want to constantly learn and develop their careers. Our focus is very much on targeting talent with messages of
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FEATURES
INSIDE HR
Texas interns enjoying their University Relations welcome event. Activities included table-top games, food and networking opportunities
Winners of the MA Intern Kickoff event’s welcome raffle attended a Boston Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park
Summer interns in Massachusetts gathered for a photo in Hopkinton during the Welcome from University Relations event
Dell Round Rock interns pose during an event. Social media competitions for interns are a great way for students to share their projects and experiences throughout the summer
Director business operations Jackie Thomas at Dell’s Santa Clara, California, campus after filming for Dell’s Women in Technology video and blog series
how all this can be achieved at Dell.” Moynihan adds that Dell is at the epicentre of this digital transformation and is having an impact on all the major trends in technology. This also means the company is able to ensure employees gain exposure and experience in a rapidly changing landscape. “When we talk to candidates we talk a lot about their career progression opportunities, not just a specific role,” she explains. In addition, Dell is a leader in flexible work arrangements and ranked number six on the Forbes list of the top 100 companies for remote jobs. Over 50% of the Dell global workforce
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“When we talk to candidates we talk a lot about their career progression opportunities, not just a specific role” Marie Moynihan, Dell work outside a traditional office space at least once a week. “That’s a big selling point for us and it helps in attracting the best talent regardless of where they sit,” says Moynihan. From a professional development perspective, Dell provides a significant amount of internal development to ensure team members can upgrade their skills and gain new certifications in the technology field – all of which can be undertaken while employees are working. In addition, close collaboration with universities aims to develop the right kind of curricula for these new
skills. At an even earlier stage, partnerships with schools aim to showcase STEM-related careers, particularly to women. “We have to remind girls that IT is not just for geeky guys, so we go to schools and show videos of the work environment and interviews with people who are doing really interesting jobs,” Moynihan says. “We ask at the beginning of these sessions how many are considering tech jobs, and out of 50 people maybe only four put their hand up. At the end of the session one hour later, 25 hands go up. It just shows that you’ve got to get out there and show people what it is really like to work in this sector.”
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BIG DATA AND HR AT DELL Marie Moynihan provides insights into how Dell is making smarter decisions.
A few Dell employees who were featured in Dell’s Women in Technology video and blog series at the Santa Clara, California, campus. Authentically sharing employees’ success stories is a valuable way Dell connects with potential candidates
Talent acquisition in a digital age Few areas within HR’s remit have been disrupted so radically by technology as talent acquisition. Moynihan says technology today is an “essential ingredient” to attract and hire talent. Breaking talent acquisition down to its component parts, on the attraction side the big change is social media. “Social media platforms are now critical to, firstly, getting your brand messaging out there, and secondly, your specific job postings,” Moynihan says. “LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Glassdoor, Indeed are all platforms that we are heavily invested in, and additionally we’ll use localised platforms such as WeChat in China, which is their Facebook equivalent.” In terms of pipeline talent management, Moynihan says a scalable applicant-tracking system is crucial. Dell uses Workday, which Moynihan says is great because it integrates everything from the minute a candidate applies through to retirement. “You’ve got all the data on team members right across the employee life cycle in one place,” she says. A candidate relationship management system, or CRM, is also vital to maintaining relationships with talent who might not fit today because there is no suitable open role for them – but they might be great talent for
“The main way we’re using big data is in trying to determine the best fit for key roles. What we’re doing is taking the myriad of data sources that we have on team members, and our data scientists are then correlating that data with psychometric profiles that we ask candidates or team members to complete. Sales roles are a good example. We’re looking at things like time to proficiency, revenue and margin attainment, retention, and then we correlate that with psychometric profiles to identify if there are particular traits that lead people to be more successful in our environment. “We’ve also done some interesting work linking employee engagement with customer satisfaction and overall sales performance. That has helped to convince the broader leadership in the company of the value of employee engagement and in particular the impact of inspirational leaders. We can show that people who work for inspiring leaders have higher sales attainment. So that hard data is making it much easier to get leaders to internalise the culture and behaviours we’re looking for as a company.” the future. It’s important to stay connected. Dell uses Avature for this purpose. Dell also utilises InterviewStream video technology for live interviews. In addition, for some entry-level roles candidates will be asked to respond to questions on video in their own time. Onboarding is administered online – forms are filled out and submitted electronically, and new hires can view videos on the culture at Dell. In short, Dell is one global giant that is – rightfully – utilising the latest technology to engage with talent.
The future of recruiting Where does Moynihan see talent acquisition moving to in the future? From the attraction perspective she feels the trend is very much towards existing team members being talent ambassadors and advocates for the employer brand. “Ensuring they have a good experience and are talking about that experience socially has never been more critical,” she says. Moynihan also believes talent acquisition will be one of the earliest HR functions to adopt AI and machine learning technologies. “I see great opportunities for this technology to help funnel the most relevant talent for opportunities that arise, thus reducing the sourcing component of the recruiting role,” she says. Indeed, the role of the recruiter in time may
become more like that of an account manager. “They’ll focus on qualifying roles upfront, provide expertise in the selection process, and manage the customer experience, both for hiring managers and candidates. They’ll then use big data and analytics to improve the process,” Moynihan says. These insights will fundamentally change the work of recruiters – mainly by forcing them to focus more heavily on the candidate experience, which will increasingly be viewed like the customer experience: tailored and highly personalised. “People want a more personalised approach, an Amazon-type approach,” says Moynihan. “They’re not getting that today in the candidate market, but I believe that’s where it’s heading.” She adds that, on the diversity front, technology may also help to remove bias from decision-making. For example, we might start seeing candidates using avatars instead of photographs or videos of themselves. “There’s a world of possibilities emerging in this space, and it’s all about personalisation, being real, being authentic. These changes are also impacting who we hire into the talent acquisition space,” says Moynihan. “It’s not necessarily just about HR skills; we’re looking for people with marketing, social media and sales skills.”
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PEOPLE
CAREER PATH
UP FOR THE CHALLENGE Lisa Christy has found throughout her career that ‘outside your comfort zone is where life begins’
Lisa Christy credits her first job – in a country fish and chip shop, where the teenage golf obsessive earned $3 an hour to buy her own set of clubs – as setting her up for the career to come. “It provided me with a great foundation: I learnt about hard work, customer service excellence and leadership. I found myself managing the shop, training staff and making improvements. The experience gave me early-developed behaviours and values that have been fundamental throughout my career.”
1984
LAYS THE FOUNDATIONS
1995
TAKES FIRST ROLE IN TECH Christy took her first HR role in IT at a pivotal time in tech development, driven by her passion for innovative, fast-paced environments in companies that were changing the status quo. She also, crucially, found two role models whose success she sought to emulate.
“I remember thinking, if I could learn the best of what each mentor displayed, that would be an amazing combination. I also very consciously thought, ‘One day I want that job!’” 2004
GOES INTERNATIONAL A new dimension was added to Christy’s career when she joined Gartner and supplemented her experience across the Asia-Pacific region with a role involving global responsibilities. “This was my first exposure to international HR. I was dealing with issues in countries such as Brazil, Germany, Russia and the US all at once. It was an amazing opportunity to collaborate globally and work across so many diverse cultures.”
2017
FOCUSES ON GOALS
Joining Wolters Kluwer, another successful global company, has given Christy the opportunity to work on what she calls “a 200-year-old company with the heart of a start-up”. “The company has transformed on every level, and it’s amazing to be part of a truly global company. I’m on my next journey at Wolters Kluwer of building our strategy and evolving our organisation and culture. It’s exciting times!” 70
1993
FINDS HUMAN RESOURCES Christy returned from several years working in Europe post-university to a market downturn. She worked seven days a week for almost two years, handling an admin job at Sydney University (her alma mater) during the day while managing the restaurant she had worked in as a student at night. The day job, with its touch of HR, piqued Christy’s interest and inspired her to begin a Master’s in Industrial Relations with her eye on a career in the field.
1997
SWIMS, DOESN’T SINK Christy looks back on her time as the HR person in a tech start-up as a crucible of her development; it helped her learn to address challenges spanning all aspects of the field. “It was sink or swim. I was completely out of my depth, but I was able to learn quickly. Since then I’ve managed professionals across recruiting, organisation development, compensation, business partnering, HR operations, health and safety, etc, and really ‘get’ what they were doing.”
2012
LAUNCHES MANY FIRSTS Christy’s five years at SAP were marked by the introduction of many firsts – the Pride initiative, the Autism@Work program, and gender diversity initiatives that culminated in the achievement of Employer of Choice for Gender Equality status. “SAP is one of my biggest success stories. My previous learnings and experience positioned me well to transform the HR function. Our end-to-end talent strategy and HR delivery were integral to the company’s success over that time – I joke that I built the HR dream team.”
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PEOPLE
OTHER LIFE
TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER LIFE Email hrdeditor@keymedia.com
Training for a climb consists of at least an hour of aerobic activity a day most days of the week. “Y ou have to really make a point of challenging yourself,” says Boyd.
5
Days spent ascending Mount Kilimanjaro (2 days descending)
5,150m
Elevation above sea level of Everest Base Camp, Tibet
25°
Incline of the Sydney street that Boyd trains on
CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN When she’s not leading an HR department, there’s nowhere Georgina Boyd would rather be than summiting a peak FINDING NEW mountains to climb was an annual event for Georgina Boyd, head of HR for Australia and New Zealand at Amadeus IT Pacific, and her husband in the days “pre-children”, ever since the vacation in Africa that included both a safari and a trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb was not originally on the trip’s itinerary but seemed a natural fit for the
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couple with a passion for bushwalking. “It was the best holiday I’ve ever had,” Boyd says. “The mountain climbing was like an extension of bushwalking, but more vertical.” Climbing ‘Killy’ gave the couple the bug, and the years following saw them summiting Mount Toubkal in Morocco, the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains, and visiting Everest
Base Camp during the climbing season. It is an interest that brings with it the necessity of travel, due to the lack of significant mountains in Australia, and a past-time that Boyd plans to re-explore as a family affair once the couple’s two small children are old enough. “It’s not easy, but it’s really rewarding,” she says.
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