People Dynamics - January/February 2020

WWW.IPM.CO.ZA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2020 VOL43 NO.10

OPTIMISING

HUMAN CAPITAL

IPMACE2020 SAVEOURDATE 18-21 OCTOBER 2020 J O U R N A L

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@IPMSouthAfrica /company/institute-of-people-management-ipm @IPM4PEOPLE

Tracing Our Heritage

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IPM

Tracing the Heritage

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s rumbles of war reverberated across the world in the early 1900’s to mid-1940’s, the call for humanity in the workplace and society at large was becoming a global movement, leading to a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1945.

In 1943, Rhodes post-graduate student, Isobel White, sought ways of putting her social studies and knowledge obtained through her membership with the UK-based personnel management body into good practice. While busy with her research work, she organised people management fora among fellow students and personnel managers in the Eastern Cape region. In 1945, the group formed itself into a South African chapter of the UK Institute of Personnel Management. They began challenging local industries to improve the welfare of workers: to improve accommodation and convenience facilities in the workplace and set humane standards for recruitment and management of people.

Borrowing from human rights principles and from both Taylor’s scientific management theory and Mayo’s Hawthorne psycho-social (human relations) studies, Isobel White produced a curriculum for the first people management qualification in South Africa. The post-graduate diploma in Welfare and Personnel Management saw graduates from several fields, including health, social sciences, law, administration and arts take an interest in pursuing a career in personnel management. This practice-based qualification took much of the South African industry landscape into context and to maintain its relevance, White was instrumental in activating IPM branches that exchanged information and standards throughout the country.

She led the work of producing workplace guidelines to aid practicing personnel officers, work supervisors and agents involved in the facilitation of labour recruitment and communication or translation. In time, IPM adapted the diploma curriculum for those who needed guidelines in specialised areas of personnel management, and developed modules that would be accessible to students or officers with no undergraduate qualifications.

IPM had strong branches in Johannesburg and Cape Town (started in 1946) and Durban (1947). Isobel White had met her match in an equally passionate mining researcher, Francis Hill, who led the Johannesburg branch into a formidable force, thanks to the steep growth of mining as a major employer at the time.

From 1955, IPM began a series of regional conferences that enabled members to network, exchange knowledge and develop ‘best practice’ for a common, more professionalised personnel management approach and application. Also, one to walk the talk, Francis Hill successfully established what became the first fully-fledged personnel management department in South Africa.

Thanks to the early pioneers of the 50’s, IPM increased the awareness of human relations in the workplace, and during the 1960’s gaining an independent profession status became a focus. IPM sought to have statutory recognition and have personnel management professionals on an exclusive national register, the same way as doctors, accountants and lawyers had professional boards.

As far as government was concerned, IPM was doing the unthinkable, not only by breaking itself off from the social work profession, but by seeking to register all its members on one new board. The proposal included blacks, whom at the time were not recognised among employees, let alone professionals in the apartheid workplace. It was not surprising, therefore, that the government turned down the application.

An attempt to bypass the local professional resistance and obtain direct association with the world structure of personnel management was thwarted, with the UN-inspired global body insisting on the country’s adopting and living by the tenets of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

The political strife spilled tensions onto members, with some feeling encumbered by the IPM stand that led to the government’s rejection of the professionalisation application, and others enraged by the divisive machinations of the apartheid regime. As if to quell the frustrations and forge unity, IPM had decided to host a combined national convention in 1964, thereby bringing all the regional conferences together for the first time. And it seemed to work.

Despite differing political views and social frustrations, all members of IPM made what contribution their circumstances allowed to increase contribution toward the training and development of aspiring personnel managers, some of whom they mentored.

Insisting on focusing its members on developing competent quality managers, IPM, between 1969 and 1970, worked on adapting and updating the curriculum for personnel management, and in 1971, formally launched a National IPM Diploma in Personnel & Training Management. The product had input from members of various associations such as APM and PMA – made up of predominantly nonEuropean professionals who felt that the Mother Body’s executive had African members’ challenges on the back burner.

Into the 1980’s, in a world dogged by segregation, a selfintrospective IPM would become a nag to the apartheid government, advocating for equal status for all people in the workplace, irrespective of race.

Evolving the people management from welfare, admin, professionalisation and training focuses, IPM was, in the 70’s, moved to respond to an increasing globalisation of economies. It OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

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Tracing Our Heritage

supported industries’ pursuit for competitiveness by introducing a performance-based people management culture. In line with this, the Institute introduced a series of lectures to drive the contribution of human resources (employees) to the organisations’ bottom-line.

IPM captured most of the content in a new journal People & Profits, launched in 1973.

To make strides in people management quality assurance, IPM created an exam body that would be responsible for quality management of personnel management qualifications and maintain a register of all professionals graduated from institutions countrywide, including IPM’s own programmes. In a quest to maintain segregation of duty between the tuition personnel and the examination structure, IPM encouraged independence of the exam body’s operation, only having IPM (mother body) representation at board level. The new board got to be called ‘S.A. Board for Personnel Practices’. The SABPP as it is better known, was inaugurated in 1981 and began registering practitioners from 1983.

IPM constantly revised and adapted its education content to accommodate various forms of tuition (in-class vs distance learning) and different levels of study. It still supported post-graduate curricula offered at universities, as well as under-graduate /diploma level courses. It also provided bridging short courses and certified those who acquired people management knowledge through workplace application or experience. This made IPM content and qualifications readily accessible to aspiring professionals throughout Southern Africa, from all walks of life.

Then came the trickiest of transitions for the institute, the 1990’s.

Amidst the struggles of a country restructuring toward a democracy, minority groups went on offensive mode to avoid marginalisation or irrelevance; majority groups suffered bouts of stage fright while finding a handle on grand administration responsibilities. IPM became a casualty.

A formidable giant that it was, with as admirable a heritage, IPM’s lack of agility saw it lose its footing. The new regime got many members scrambling to establish themselves in new (educational-, admin- and authority-type) structures, to take advantage of new opportunities that cried out for their skillset and background.

Universities and colleges were recruiting en masse; sector education authorities were looking for training consultancies to contract as suppliers; government was on the hunt for L&D specialists to facilitate transformation and diversity management programmes; private companies were scrambling for top resources to take charge of employee relations and facilitate change management and CSR to gain themselves legitimacy in the new dispensation.

With little warning, the scores that had looked to IPM for a professional home, advocacy and association, and the minorities that had found their professional voice, affirmation and lucrative income source – all had their attention dragged to all sorts of directions. Even as the board attempted to integrate and forge strong bonds among different fragments of people management bodies, the leadership struggle was real.

Lacking the guaranteed funds assured only to statutory bodies through mandatory certification and annual practitioner renewals, IPM stood because of the purity of its foundation and the loftiness of its purpose. Those who kept the institute together had to contend with challenges such as loss of admin files, financial records and course material/intellectual property. As specialisations in people management grew, a fragmentation of membership occurred.

In differentiating itself, and in reaffirming its founding principles and motivation, IPM re-coined its name into Institute for People PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - February 2020

Management. Its leadership worked hard at supporting the ‘human relations’ approach in people management, highlighting new studies that showed a link between organisational success and good employee relations. In a country overwhelmed by labour unrest, IPM supported the country’s transformation effort by working with people managers to persuade organisations to see, recognise and treat employees as people as much as they regarded them as resources, labour, assets, human capital or another economic factor.

The efforts of IPM leadership didn’t flounder as they successfully put the institute on the international map through international professional affiliation. IPM South Africa became instrumental in the founding of a continental federation structure for people management, thereby strengthening its contribution to the global HR management voice.

In the early 2000’s, the re-grounding work proved testing and arduous. Operating the Institute called for a different type of leadership, and certainly for a refined set of values. Despite challenges, the board and its committees worked to strengthen the international professional ties. IPM used its events to facilitate dialogue and build cohesion among different local and international stakeholders, including business leadership, employee representation structures and heads of governments. In particular, IPM kept strengthening the content quality and diversity of the profession’s dialogue through its journal and its mainstay event – the internationally-acclaimed IPM Annual Convention and Exhibition, which some dubbed as the real HR university of Southern Africa.

After a series of care-taker leaders at its helm, the institute enjoyed the relatively long tenure of one of its long-serving members and board committee member at the time, Rre Elijah Litheko.

Through his eleven-year tenure, IPM survived a liquidation and continued to flourish, thanks to a strong board and volunteer support, active operational committees, discretionary membership of students and practitioners, a range of industry- and government- partnerships as well as strong alumni who share a common vision, values and human principles such as those that moved Dr Isobel White and Dr Francis Hill to make the sacrifices they made in the 1940’s.

The assuming of the IPM-helm by Dr Jerry Gule ushers a new era.

Gule represents a fresh, untainted and optimistic professionalism. He brings fresh energy that infects young members as it engages the old.

His approach blots out lines and smooths over differences, to inspire people from a position of human conscience and professional passion, focusing all members to a future of possibilities.

Indeed, it is time that HR leaders and line managers march employees, mentees, coachees or students ‘to the next’. To help them use their human imagination, creativity and collective power to see beyond threats and convert opportunities into advantages that help them thrive into the latter part of the 21st Century.

Inspired by the fathers, mothers and siblings of liberation, let us celebrate the gift handed down by those who walked ahead of us…

Beginning from King Cyrus the Great, who without bloodshed or loss of life, stood to end slavery and promote human rights and equality as far back as 539 B.C. “The opening up of the profession has made people management education as easily accessible as it is varied in quality. The fact that the profession has no mandatory licence requirement for practitioners is both a blessing and a curse. Notwithstanding, IPM’s job is to ensure that the collective effect of the profession equips South Africa with capabilities that makes her people effective players in the workplace, and valuable contributors to the economy.” Says researcher Nolitha Mokoena, and we concur.

Tracing Our Heritage

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The Universal Declaration of

HUMAN RIGHTS Article 1.

Article 7.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 10.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Article 4.

Article 11.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Article 3.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

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Tracing Our Heritage

Article 12.

dignity and the free development of his personality.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Article 23.

Article 13.

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.

Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

Article 14.

Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from nonpolitical crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 15.

Everyone has the right to a nationality.

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 16.

Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.

They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Article 17.

Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 20.

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 21.

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.

The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international cooperation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - February 2020

Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 25.

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

Article 26.

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Article 27.

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

Article 29.

Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Tracing Our Heritage

THE CYRUS CYLINDER

A symbol of tolerance and freedom

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he Cyrus Cylinder tells an amazing story of King Cyrus of Persia conquering Babylon and setting all the peoples free to go back to their homes and homelands.

Most amazingly, he lets them recover all the things that were confiscated as symbols of victory – and go back to their lives and religions, worshiping their gods in their own way and in their own temples. The Cyrus Cylinder conveys a message of tolerance, peace, and multiculturalism, hence many have called it “the first bill of human rights.”

Over 2600 years later, the Cyrus Cylinder unites people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions in cherishing the wisdom of tolerance.

It served as a source of inspiration for all leaders and organisations who stood for human liberation, including the assembly of states that crafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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A TRIBUTE

T

he history of IPM takes different versions, depending on who tells it, from what era, what viewpoint or what motivation.

At the end of the day, each version is truth. At least to the person telling it. As a researcher and a writer, I respect every version. I honour the person telling it as I respect their unique take, their context, their fears and the refuge they find in ‘their version of the story’. I appreciate the personal meaning they take and attach to their own experience of the Institute which, no matter what badge anyone attaches to it, subtracts nothing from the original motivation of the founder.

Like her motivation, the Institute remains pure, true and representative of the most honest of intentions in the development of talent and the nurturing of the human soul – the human being and the person beyond the resource, tool or factor of production, capital, asset or labour.

To those who came to the Institute to use her, she made herself useful; for those who came to the Institute to learn, she afforded them the education; even those who came to loot, she allowed them the surfeit. In whatever way anyone needed, she equipped, gave, empowered and stood tall to keep giving to those who need. And stand, she will continue.

The Institute of Personnel Management presented hope, a future, a sanctuary and a vehicle to affirm all those she entertained with her wisdom. Even when she entertained the change in regimes she lived through, she remained a true home for conscious and ethical leadership of those who are custodians of the workplace.

Whether the flavour of the decade was talent evaluation and personality tests, social justice, workplace transformation, competency development, industry professionalisation, strategic alignment, resource optimisation, organisational competitiveness or socio-economic sustainability – she rose and raised others to the occasion. She evolved, adapted and became the right things to the right people – the ones who saw and related to the good on which she was founded.

Today, as we celebrate 75 years of great leadership, it is still worth remembering the foundations – the values and the principles on which the Institute of People Management was built.

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Mental Health

MANAGE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY DIPS January and February have been shown to be the least productive months of the year. While your experience may butt the trend, any help to manage seasonal dips can always come in handy.

BY: PEOPLE DYNAMICS CORRESPONDENT

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ur team finds it as no surprise that the first quarter weighs in as the least productive months of the year in the workplace.

Generally, most South Africans are still stuck in a post-holiday slump, which can last for several weeks. Add to that the staggered return of people in critical posts and the settling in of new recruits and intra-company transfers, and the challenge on operations is compounded.

To make it memorable, 2020 added an extra twist, making it more than a dip or slump.

Abdurahman Kenny, Mental Health Programme Manager at Pharma Dynamics says it’s common for employees to suffer from a dopamine low as they struggle to get back into the work routine after the highs of the holiday, but that there are ways to make the mental transition easier.

“It should be comforting to know that everyone is affected by seasonal productivity dips which occur throughout the year, and even during the week and at certain times of the day.”

Studies have shown that work productivity starts picking up in March, while overall, October tends to be the month during which the

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - February 2020

highest percentage of tasks are typically completed. January ranks as the least productive month with February following closely behind.

Kenny says we complete most of our tasks at the start of the week with productivity waning towards the end of the week. Our mornings are the most productive up until 11am and then we start to taper off after lunch. From around 3pm many struggle to focus and we start paying more attention to social media, text messages and welcome conversations with colleagues. By the time the clock ticks over to 4pm our energy levels have plummeted.

“We have mental ebbs and flows throughout the day that is regulated by our circadian rhythm – a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle every 24-hours which impacts our energy levels and mood. Other factors, such as not getting enough sleep, stressful deadlines in the morning, what we had for lunch or back-to-back meetings may all contribute to the mid-afternoon slump.

“Glucose plays an important role in our mental performance and decision-making ability. When our willpower is low, we tend to choose the path of least resistance, which explains why we’ll rather choose to connect with friends on Facebook than work on a report or presentation. To sustain willpower and energy levels throughout the day, consider a lunch with a low glycaemic index, such as vegetables,

Mental Health

fruit, cheese, lean meats, hardboiled eggs, seeds and nuts etc.

“Napping for between six and ten minutes in the afternoon has also shown to restore cognitive function, so if you feel you simply can’t stay awake anymore, power down for a few minutes during lunch, but not too long or else you’ll feel groggy.”

Research published in the Neuroscience Journal proves that even just a 20-minute walk can improve cognitive performance. A burst of high-intensity exercise is best for reducing stress and anxiety.

Kenny says fitting in a walk or a quick gym-session during lunch will recharge your brain and release feel-good endorphins that will ensure that you finish the day strong.

Working in “sprints” or chunks of time, whether it be an hour or 90 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break is also advised. Listening to music while working, changing up your usual routine by taking a different route to work or scheduling fun things to do after hours could also help keep you mentally motivated.

“The key is not to try fight against these natural dips in productivity by crushing a 10-hour day at the office day after day. This strategy will only lead to burnout and heightens your risk of depression.

“Being less productive during certain times of the day or seasons doesn’t make you an unproductive person, however by paying closer attention to these natural cycles and how they affect your productivity

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will help you to establish certain rituals and routines every day that will help move you towards your goals – turning it into an advantage rather than an Achilles heel,” says Kenny.

As a professional body concerned with workplace wellbeing, IPM works with various partners in helping organisations introduce interventions that support the wellness of human resources. While the use of a “pick-me-up” supplement once in a while may help in an emergency situation, if you feel the need for it more often, it is advisable to consult a medical practitioner and/or a nutritionist to advise on ways to balance your body’s needs. It may be that low energy levels are a symptom of poor mental health, in which case early identification is essential, with timeous intervention, care or treatment recommended, with recovery as the ultimate goal.

Any extended use of medication to cope with productivity may lead to a totally different set of problems which could further jeopardise your performance, your job, and more critically, your long-term health.

If you’re experiencing recurring troughs in your performance or struggling with depression or anxiety, there are toll-free help services operated 24/7, such as the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) reachable on 0800 456 789. Other help-lines have varying operating hours, like the Pharma Dynamics’ helpline manned from 8am to 8pm.

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Human Capital Management

OPTIMISING

HUMAN

Capital with Dr Jerry Gule, Chief Executive, Institute of People Management

With artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning and other forces of 4IR eliminating operational inefficiency, it’s important that organisations challenge their people and extract the most from talent.

G

iven the current economic climate and amount of competition for scarce resources, executives are at pains to make every rand, pula, dollar or pound they spend on human resources count. Where your investment doesn’t seem to yield a corresponding return (targeted performance level), your talent management strategy and policy should address this.

The Equal Pay Principle

Legislation insists that people hired to do the same work be paid the same. That’s fair, in line with international human rights policies and our very own Constitution. Labour laws, however, allow employers to vary pay to people occupying the same position, provided the discrimination is fair and governed by a transparent policy. Where the organisation provides all employees in a specific job the same opportunity and tools to perform, yet get varying performance from individuals, it is fair that higher performance be rewarded accordingly.

Fair discrimination – Social Redress

Yes, it may sound like a contradiction in words. But if you come from a historically imbalanced society you will be familiar with national transformation programs and laws launched to eradicate the imbalance emanating from historic unfair practices or skewed PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - February 2020

opportunities previously granted to certain groups to the exclusion of others.

The Affirmative Action plans flowing from the Employment

Equity Act as well as the Skills Development Act, for example, were introduced to address old, unfair employment laws and policies.

Furthermore, these Acts were introduced to address skills upliftment and access to opportunities for previously excluded groups.

In the application of these pieces of legislation in the workplace, the human resource executive might prioritise previously disadvantaged groups for (certain) new jobs or advancement opportunities, in which fair discrimination would apply. The key is to remain absolutely transparent when applying redress measures to make sure that there is no one left behind with regards the company’s strategy for change or transformation.

Fair discrimination – Performance Rewards

Where you have high contributors and high performers in a job, results are likely to reflect accordingly. Where people, for whatever reason, contribute or perform less than others, (or less than minimum targets), it is fair that higher performers are rewarded according to their contribution to the bottom line, however this should be with fair discrimination principles being applied.

Human Capital Management

Fair discrimination – Open Opportunity

While business is admittedly, in the business of making profit, how it does that should also be in consideration of the planet and people.

People consideration is multi-faceted, and several elements ought to be factored if an employer is to safeguard the equal opportunity principle.

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of proposals by working after hours can be frustrated by a lack of access to central resources, e.g. pricing or branded-packaging units.

An employee who would have worked overnight might, therefore, still need to be in the office early morning to finish off the work, or to delegate the rest of the function. This is instead of using the time being productive on something else - an inefficiency that erodes any gains the extra time worked should have given.

Levelling the Playing Fields at Recruitment

Operational requirements of the organisation dictate the technical qualifications required for each job. The job dictates what tools and equipment are required for proficiency. In some cases, the job together with industry standards and professional protocols will dictate what physical abilities are needed for minimum performance. These pre-requisites should be catered for in company resourcing (tools, equipment, facilities, etc.) as well as in the job adverts, to eliminate, upfront, anyone who doesn’t qualify or who will not meet the minimum requirements.

If a company provides the basic tool- or equipment requirement according to industry standard, and if all applicants offered the job have claimed competence and ability to function with the provided tools, equipment and (legally compliant) operational conditions, then the playing fields are level.

Levelling Playing Fields On-the-Job

Availing the same set of resources for employees to accomplish work objectives levels the playing fields. Whatever difference in results or output (quantity and quality) that individuals deliver - as a result of different levels of personal exertion or talent - warrants commensurate remuneration. Individual employees can yield different performance as a result of, for instance, working style, approach or methods, resourcefulness, efficiency, economy, extra personal time allocation, personal creativity, innovation, and so on. Organisations focused on maximising performance and extracting optimum value from talent apply variable income policies to ensure that every member of staff is aware and can avail himself or herself of the opportunity to maximise individual earnings.

Managing the Cost of High Performance

Companies should ensure that the healthy and admirable chase for extra output or increased topline does not come with unfactored inputor maintenance costs. For instance, extra consumption of utilities and extended use of tools and equipment may result in higher costs that neutralise what ‘advantage’ the extra output yields. If a business is in commodity-production (physical units), extra output should be encouraged to feed a real demand - whether due to seasonality or new business that was not factored during the current budget cycle.

It would make no sense for the company to encourage extra output quantities that would not have uptake.

In service businesses, any extra output (quantity or quality) should be supported by the propensity of the customer to pay – either in cash or in “loyalty” to the business that can be translated into tangible long-term value.

Level Playing Fields among Non-sales Employees

The creation of basic and variable income is not something for sales divisions only. In any area of business, the principles can be applied.

The beauty of a variable income policy in an organisation is that it accommodates seasonality among individual employees. For instance, if an employee is away on family responsibility leave and colleagues have to pick up the slack, the higher output of the overloaded employees will be duly rewarded. When the shoe is on the other foot and the same employee finds himself/herself taking on extra responsibility due to someone who happens to be indisposed - with more output than the target minimum, this employee will have a turn for what may be seen as a financial windfall. Allowing employees to pick up each other’s slack can only be a short-term measure for an organisation to maintain its output levels. While it may benefit individuals financially, it simply maintains rather than increases the organisation’s overall performance level for the period. Extended substitutions will likely dip the overall performance as substitutes suffer burn-out and/or service quality is compromised.

Curbing Abuse of Variable Income

In private corporates as well as in the public sector (government departments, State-Owned Enterprises) employees reportedly abuse the system and use “variable income” policy, mainly overtime, as a money-making scheme. Wily employees in one department or function collude and take time off or play sick at peak times so that their colleagues can cover their shifts and “earn” overtime.

Human Capital Optimisation – Strategy and Tactics

Proactive management foresees and avoids this, e.g. by delegating management responsibility and re-apportioning accountability to encourage self-regulating teams. When a team is made accountable for its team performance and output, each member holds the other(s) accountable, and they co-operate among themselves to drive performance without management interference, which could help limit exploitation.

Human Capital Optimisation – Data-driven Management

An effective use of HR Data analytics not only helps monitor real performance (activity) for continuous improvement’s sake, it also makes it easy to isolate problem departments – particularly when it comes to leave or overtime abuse. Patterns are quickly observable and specific culprits can be isolated. A commitment to consequence management and a conscientious handling of discipline processes also discourage would-be offenders.

Hidden Costs to Watch For

Human Capital Optimisation for a People-Led Fourth Industrial Revolution

Other types of hidden costs include negative health effects on employees who increase delivery by sacrificing leisure time. Also, a department can squander its efficiency by losing economies of scale that a full staff complement operation enjoys during peak office hours. For instance, attempts by one department to expedite a churn

An optimisation of human capital in the workplace assures companies of the best-fit usage of an array of resources available to the business.

It ensures that digital solutions are brought in to enhance people performance rather than replace human function as a result of a disappointing human capital return.

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Professional Development

IS THE HRBP title thrown

around with true meaning behind it eroded?

N

o one seems to quite remember the origin of HRBP as an HR role, but Dave Ulrich is known to have popularised it in the late 90’s.

An HRBP is a strategic adviser to the head of a business. S/he has a critical seat at the executive table and takes the lead on people matters, in particular on how the business can optimise the contribution of its people in the rolling out of strategies that deliver competitive advantage.

For an HRBP role, business acumen, strategic thinking and a keen understanding of the operation’s environment outweigh HR operations mastery. An HRBP doesn’t play in the transactional space but rather makes effective use of automation and self-service e-HR solutions. In large organisations, HRBP’s may also be supported by a centralised HR service which houses different HR specialists such as HR actuaries, psychometricians, L&D consultants and so on.

Depending on the business, a unit head may wish to have an HRBP with some specialisation that is critical for the particular operation.

To quote Matthew Mayol, a recruitment specialist, “HRBP was, in many ways, a revolutionary concept: the human resources professional who didn’t engage with procedures but with strategy; who delivered real value to the business, helping it both define and achieve its business goals.”

The HRBP role of the future doesn’t veer too far off from the original concept. The problem with the HRBP title is that it has been used willy-nilly. It has either bastardised or watered down by assigning it to just about any HR official. This is evidenced, for instance, by a ridiculously-wide salary range and variants. On the lower side, Mayol recalls placing a candidate where the employer was looking for someone “who could become deeply involved in recruiting and performance management. But they also wanted that person to look after the monthly payroll.”

In another example, the search was for a candidate who would be placed in charge of their own portfolio, reporting into a Head of HR. It was that head of HR, not the candidate, who would be responsible for partnering with the most senior leaders in the operations group.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | January - February 2020

Neither of these examples typifies the HRBP role.

Belia Nel, a Certified Performance Technologist from Improvid, agrees and defines the HR Business Partner of the Future.

A Future-fit HRBP role

The HR Business Partner should be future-ready to optimise business in a challenging and changing environment. In the next decade more than a third of current mainstream jobs won’t need a human to execute. As Alan Hosking writes, “big changes are coming; they’re unprecedented in terms of their scope, impact and magnitude”.

Researchers estimate that 70% to 80% of the current jobs will disappear in the next five to ten years or possibly even sooner. Jobs that are the most vulnerable are those of a repetitive or technical nature. The scarce skills of the future will be human skills. Human skills are those for which humans enjoy exclusive ability. In other words, skills that cannot be easily replicated by robotic or AI (artificial intelligence).

So, notwithstanding AI and automation, human intervention will continue as a critical skill to do “problem sensing”. In addition to business acumen and facilitating strategic alignment of functions in the organisation, problem sensing skill will assist managers and business partners to sense a potential problem or sense the situational complexity of a problem. In the future humans will almost never be used to solve problems because robots will; however, our ability to sense a problem, will remain important.

So the question is: is your role as an HRBP about to become extinct? And what are the implications? Are you providing more technical or transactional HR services to your organisation?

Or are you adding business value by improving performance or “problem sensing” potential performance issues and deciding on the appropriate solution required – whether to be executed using human or technology?

In the past, HR focused on helping business cascading the

Professional Development

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strategy and operationalising it at all levels. In the Future of Work (FOW), there is, and will continue to be a new focus on purpose and how you can get all levels and groups of employees to buy into this by being engaged.

This is not just trying to engage employees with radical, faddish engagement models.

Future-thinking organisations are asking: • What is our purpose?

• Who are the customers we want to attract?

• What type of talent do we want to attract and how do we develop them?

While Dave Ulrich’s business partner model was launched to great acclaim in 1997 in the book, Human Resource Champions, in 2008, he highlighted some of lessons learnt since the publication of the definitive publication.

He asked and answered the important question: where did we go wrong? According to Ulrich, ‘we have a misguided purpose.

The original aim of the Human Resource Champion model lost its meaning of integrating purposefully into the business. We are not creating enough value: the role of a partner to the business will remain critical because of the value creation’ through problem sensing and ‘assisting management to focus to on improving the performance of the organisation.’

Gearing HRBP for the Challenge

According to CEB Global, upgrading HRBP talent and removing barriers to performance, organisations can boost their effectiveness in the following categories by increasing: • Employee performance: 22% • Employee retention: 24% • Revenue growth: 7% • Profit growth: 9% Ensuring you have the right skills-set is critical for future-proofing your role as a business-focused and competent partner. Developing the competencies as indicated in the diagram will lead to success and value creation for the organisation.

Ulrich further points out that “intellectual and process leadership should never be underestimated. And some people will never be business partners - it is what it is.”

He cautions against blaming technology but encourages HRBP’s to learn how to use it for data analytics and data management. The final point is to make a real shift from policies and transactional activities to value creation by improving performance. But, this may be too great a shift for some, as has been the case when HRBP titles are thrown around.

Here are 10 ways in which you can innovate your role for the Future of Work. Today, 20 years later you can innovate your role without actually changing what you do: • Ensure your HR competence is balanced with your knowledge of the business as well as the human side.

• Know and learn the business well enough to call yourself a business partner. Gain/regain credibility by understanding the purpose of the organisation because only focusing on strategy implementation is not good enough.

• Don’t only focus on transactional or administrative work. Soon this will be digitised for electronic processing. And don’t only focus on technical ability. The major focus of your role should be agility – your ability to sense the future and respond swiftly to your business’ needs.

• Do focus on the human side of the business as it will emerge as a key source of competitive advantage for you.

• Contribute to the strategic business decisions of the organisation, otherwise you are not adding value and can be replaced.

• Become a specialist in the processes of human and organisational optimisation and you will become central to business success.

• Don’t measure processes – measure results and sustain your organisation’s business performance by measuring the right things – not processes but impact.

• Learn how to add value – truly. Identify your organisation’s pressure points. Learn how to ask the right questions. A good questioning technique will go a long way to contributing to your success.

• Develop yourself continuously and change your HRBP role blueprint – this will set you apart from others. Read widely about the Future of Work and stay informed about developments in this space.

• Don’t label just any role in HR as HRBP because in this case it is not.

In conclusion, develop your own blueprint for the HRBP role of the future. Remember this acronym, it will help to keep you at the top of your game: F – Focus on the future purpose.

U – Understand the business.

T – Commit to being data savvy.

U – Undo your old ways.

R – Be relevant.

E – Evolve your thinking and knowledge.

Aim to achieve a changing view of the HRBP role as resultsdriven and value-add partner in your organisation in the Future of Work age.

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