Human Resources - Spring 2019 (Vol 24, No 3) - Why the words we use matter!

New Zealand’s Magazine for Human Resources Professionals

Spring 2019

Why the words we use matter!

PLUS: HRNZ Conference Review Soft Skills Occupational Mindfulness Diversity

INSIDE THIS ISSUE 2

From the HRNZ Chief Executive Welcome to HRNZ. Nick McKissack

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From the Editor Welcome. Kathy Catton

Features 6

HR Conference review An insight into HRNZ’s recent annual conference.

Kathy Catton

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Soft Skills Why soft skills are becoming the most valuable and sort after human asset. Greg Smith

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Occupational Mindfulness Can we measure organisational performance by looking at occupational mindfulness?

Shahbaz Wahab

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Why The Words We Use Matter A look at why the words we say are more important than we realise. Kate Wilkinson and Anna Kirkwood

38 Diversity Rachel Hopkins shares recent diversity survey findings and insights.

Regulars 4

News Roundup

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HRNZ Member Profiles Denise Hartley-Wilkins and Maeve Neilson

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Employment Law Sarah Cates

28 Productivity

Alex Kotsos 32

Performance Management Sue Turk

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Professional Development Spotlight Alex Hagan

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Regional Roundup Catherine Lo-Giacco

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Student Perspective Grace Dalton

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Research Update John Lawson

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Am I Managing?

Holly Carrington

Insights 20

Learning and Development How can we truly invest in our people, starting with our lower-income workers? Angela Bingham

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Are we doing diversity and inclusion wrong?

Chris O’Reilly summarises his thoughts on how we can truly transform our organisations.

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FROM THE HRNZ CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Welcome to HRNZ Nick McKissack is Chief Executive of HRNZ. Nick is passionate about people development and sharing the success of members and organisations leading the HR profession in New Zealand.

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n August we had Gihan Perera speaking at our annual HR Conference about the Best Workplaces on Earth. His presentation included a discussion about digital disruption and the need for organisations to change and grow if they are to thrive in the future.

Gihan’s view was that organisations either need to innovate or they will inevitably face disruption from external sources.

The same can be said for the professions. I’ve been reading about the future of the professions, and it’s pretty clear that change is inevitable in an increasingly digital world in which information is more freely available. We’re already seeing plenty of innovation in the professions – one example is Dr Lance O’Sullivan’s initiative to create drive-through medical clinics.

His mission is to make medical care more accessible to those who need it in rural communities. Lance talked about how he was leveraging technology to achieve this, when he spoke at our 2018 HR Conference.

At HRNZ, we’re interested in considering the future of the HR profession. As the peak body for HR professionals in New Zealand, we have an obligation to help our members prepare for the future.

That’s why HRNZ is about to embark on a journey to create a picture of

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what the future of HR looks like. It’s a journey that we want to involve as many members as possible in. After all, in the end, it will be up to all of us to create this future.

I met with a group of senior HR leaders from some of New Zealand’s leading corporates after our conference to discuss the future of HR. There is a clear sense of purpose amongst this group to ensure that HR develops an understanding of the new problems for organisations created through digital disruption and that HR people help to develop the strategies needed to solve them.

The group had a consistent view that the war for talent is very real and that organisations now need robust strategies to ensure they can grow in this environment.

So it’s an exciting journey and one that we’ll be spending more time working on in the coming months.

We’ve kick-started things by surveying our members about the use of HR technology in New Zealand workplaces. We’re hoping to learn about the technology our members are using, what’s working, what’s not and what are their future plans. The survey also asks members about their views on the use of AI. We’ll report on the results of this survey at the HR Summit we’re planning for Queenstown in October.

We’ll also use that opportunity to

further the broader discussion about the future.

We're looking forward to supporting our members to become tomorrow's leading HR professionals.

It can be scary looking into the future, but overall it feels like an exciting time to be in the HR profession.

We’re looking forward to supporting our members to become tomorrow’s leading HR professionals.

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

MANAGING EDITOR Kathy Catton Ph: 021 0650 959 Email: kathy.catton@hrnz.org.nz

From the Editor T

here’s a strong sense of new beginnings in this issue of Human Resources magazine, and we are delighted to be able to share it with you.

Spring is just around the corner and it’s time to dust off, spring clean and re-look at our HR practices, policies and general HR mindset. What better way to start than with a feature from Kate Wilkinson and Anna Kirkwood on why the words we use matter.

The HRNZ Conference in August in Wellington was a perfect opportunity to gain some fresh new perspectives.

We were treated to two days of incredible speakers, refreshing ideas and new ways of thinking to put into practice in our workplaces. We are lucky enough in this issue to have one of our speakers, Chris O’Reilly from Ask Your Team, share his insights into diversity and inclusion, and what we can be doing differently in this space.

Thank you to our members for the very warm welcome I have received as I take on my new role as editor for the magazine. It seems like a perfect match to me, combining my 10-plus years of experience of generalist HR, both in the United Kingdon and New Zealand with my passion for writing.

changes emerge in the coming issues, including a new regular Learning and Development feature in this issue by member Angela Bingham, alongside a great selection of features and all the regular favourites such as the Research Update, the Employment Law Update and Member Profiles.

We are always open to your feedback, so I look forward to hearing from you or meeting you in the coming months.

ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIP Steve Sheppard Ph: 04 802 3954 Email: steve.sheppard@hrnz.org.nz DESIGN Selena Henry, Crux Design Ph: 022 417 6622 SUBSCRIPTIONS New Zealand: $82.80 for four issues, including GST. Overseas: NZ$100, including airmail postage.

SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES Orders and address changes to HRNZ. PUBLISHER Human Resources is published quarterly

by Human Resources New Zealand PO Box 11-450, Wellington Ph: 0800 247 469 comms@hrnz.org.nz www.hrnz.org.nz Twitter: www.twitter.com/hrnz Linkedin.com/company/hrnz

Kathy Catton Managing Editor kathy.catton@hrnz.org.nz

The views expressed in Human Resources are not necessarily those of Human Resources New Zealand, nor does the advertisement of any product or service in this magazine imply endorsement of it by Human Resources New Zealand.

Copyright © Human Resources New Zealand Inc.

ISSN 1173–7522

It was great to hear from members at the conference on what they like about the magazine and what could be improved. You will see some

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Vector Limited wins top diversity award Vector Limited has won New Zealand’s top workplace diversity award, demonstrating excellence in more than one diversity category and a commitment to integrating an inclusive culture across its business.

The energy and communications services provider took out the Supreme Award at the 2019 Diversity Awards NZ™ following wins in the Empowerment and Diversability categories, which recognise innovative responses to gender equity and positive employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Acknowledging it operates in a maledominated industry, where gender diversity has been an issue for many years, Vector committed to increasing the number of women employed from 30 per cent to 50.8 per cent to be representative of New Zealand’s working-age population. It also

developed a Women in Leadership programme, to identify and grow female leadership at all levels of the organisation, and undertook a pay equity audit.

It's fantastic to see a large organisation making a genuine commitment to improving gender equity.

“It’s fantastic to see a large organisation in a male-dominated industry making a genuine commitment to improving gender equity and showing the way for other large organisations to stop seeing employment of people with disabilities as a burden,” said Judging Convenor Neil Porteous.

For all the award results, visit www.diversityworksnz.org.nz

Energy and communications services provider Vector Ltd wins New Zealand's top workplace diversity award following its innovative responses to gender equity.

Working life survey A Statistics NZ survey has recently been published providing a picture of what working life is like for the employed people of New Zealand.

The study reveals interesting data into how flexible our workplaces are, how much control employees felt they had over how they do their tasks, and how much work-related training was happening.

The Survey of Working Life 2018, carried out between October and December 2018 and involving over 9,000 employees, reveals that those with flexible hours had higher levels of satisfaction (79 per cent)

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than those who didn't (71 per cent).

And only 3 per cent of those who had flexible hours reported being dissatisfied with their primary job compared with 6.1 per cent of those with no flexi-arrangements.

Employees who don’t have flexibility feel less satisfied with their work– life balance than those who do.

"Having the ability to start and finish your job at different times is an important aspect of balancing work

with life outside it, so, unsurprisingly, employees who don't have that flexibility fell less satisfied with their work-life balance than those who do," says labour market statistics manager, Scott Ussher.

This raises important questions for HR professionals and managers to seek to understand how they can provide a flexible working culture to engage, empower and motivate staff, while at the same time maintaining the business case and day-to-day operations.

Escalating youth hearing loss and impacts on employers In New Zealand, hearing loss affects around 11 per cent of the workforce – approximately 300,000 people aged between 20 and 65. This could double in the next decade given that the global rate of hearing loss in youth is one in five. So how can employers prepare for this escalating rate of youth hearing loss?

The Listen Up! Conference, in Auckland on 2 October, will address the nation’s need to tackle the mounting rates of youth hearing loss and the impact this health crisis will have on workplaces in the near future.

There is a shocking prevalence for hearing loss in high-school students, and these pupils are the employees of the future.

“Our pilot youth-screening programme has revealed a shocking prevalence for hearing loss in highschool students, and these pupils are the employees of the future,” says Natasha Gallardo, Chief Executive of National Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing. “There is an

onus on employers to ensure their workplaces cater for their needs, and provide an inclusive environment.

Without that, staff can feel isolated and that leads to low morale.”

Included in the day-long conference will be strategies and approaches for conducting business to better accommodate new employees with hearing loss, helping employers be leaders in diversity, inclusion and organisational change. Nigel Latta, Mike King and Minister for Disability Issues, Hon Carmel Sepuloni will be speaking at the conference.

Special offer to HRNZ members – contact us for a Docebo demonstration by 31 October 2019 and save $1000!

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HR CONFERENCE REVIEW KATHY CATTON

Being bold!

Over 200 people with an interest in people development and human resource management met at Te Papa August for two days of brain food at the HRNZ Conference and Expo 2019. Kathy Catton reviews the highlights and captures some of the learnings.

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hat a delight for HR professionals to have the opportunity to dedicate two days to looking forwards and upwards (and perhaps inwards) to the future of HR and what that means for our profession. HRNZ put on a stellar lineup of compelling speakers, with sponsors and exhibitors in amongst it in the Exhibition Hall.

One of the many highlights for me was the keynote speech delivered by Gihan Perera on creating the best workplace on Earth. Without doubt, this presents a significant challenge for us as HR professionals. We all know that the successful workplace of the future will be very different from the workplace of today. It’s not just technology and automation, it’s about the environment that we create for attracting a smart, diverse, 6

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socially intelligent team to help our organisation thrive. We were treated to an interactive workshop by Gihan, which started the moment we arrived at the conference with a ‘Challenges Wall’. This invited us to share what is currently holding our organisations back; this could be challenges such as embracing diversity, developing new skills and talents, offering more flexibility and empowering people to work independently. This exercise was an excellent opportunity to start to future-proof our organisations and stay ahead of the game in a fastchanging, employee-centric world.

What employees are telling us make up the best workplace on Earth (according to Harvard research): • Let me be myself (Diversity and Inclusion) • Help me get stuff done (Authority) • Discover and magnify my strengths (Talent) • Make my work meaningful (Meaning) • Don’t get in the way with stupid rules (Good Judgement)

Gihan Perera presents to the HR Conference on the future of the workplace.

One nugget of gold that I took away from Gihan’s talk was to find a ‘reverse’ mentor. We all know that mentoring programmes are easy to implement and can create a massive impact on employee engagement and productivity, but what about a more junior employee mentoring a more senior employee? What a great way to turn the tables on talent and access insights and perspectives to help us grow. For more great ideas, Gihan has a book available on Kindle via his website, called Disruption by Design, which is well worth checking out.

My interest was instantly piqued on hearing of the concept of the four-day week, delivered by Andrew Barnes, Founder of Perpetual Guardian. The story starts simply enough. While on a long flight to the UK almost two years ago, Andrew read an Economist article that told of office workers in the United Kingdom and Canada only being productive for 2.5 and 1.5 hours per day respectively. He came up with the genuinely original idea of giving his 240 staff at Perpetual Guardian one day off per week, on full pay, in exchange for their maintaining their normal levels of

output. He intended it to be a staffled trial, which would test the effects of a productivity-focused, reducedhours model of work on wellbeing, loyalty, productivity and engagement.

What it resulted in was the start of what Andrew calls a “worldwide campaign” to make the four-day week the future of work.

Of course, with our HR ‘hats’ on, this idea raises a whole raft of issues such as holidays, breaks, leadership, trust, stress levels, commitment and empowerment, all of which were well addressed by Andrew. On asking him afterwards what his key advice for HR professionals would be on this subject, he said, “You’ve got to convince your board, your leadership, your CEO. So to do this, de-risk it. And to de-risk something, you need to look at the evidence.

Trial it and research it”.

Andrew highlighted the imminent launch of an online tool that he has created, in collaboration with Auckland University and AUT, available in the coming weeks to support organisations that are wanting to implement the four-day week. Yes, this is a big issue, but could be a huge turning point for many New Zealand organisations,

and a chance to “give people a better quality of life, to re-engage with their family, their community and their society”.

And a word of warning from Andrew.

“We won’t get gender equality unless it’s ok for guys to take time off.” How can we encourage our male leaders to take time off and be role models for flexible working? More food for thought.

Activist, entrepreneur and GirlBoss New Zealand founder, Alexia Hilbertidou was a firm favourite of conference delegates. Her presentation focused on inspiring, funny and surprising insights into the minds of the next generation of young leaders and what they are engaging with online and what they care about.

Dismayed by the under-representation of women in leadership roles, Alexia founded GirlBoss when she was just 16 years old. Encouraging young women to embrace STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), leadership and entrepreneurship, GirlBoss is now New Zealand’s largest organisation for young women. With 12,000 members and delivering programmes in over 100 schools, Alexia is one to watch.

Over 200 delegates attended the HRNZ Conference at Te Papa.

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HR CONFERENCE REVIEW KATHY CATTON

Relevant to HR professionals is her five-day intern Connect programme that currently allows 25 young women to get inside organisations and make a real difference. If your organisation (no criteria, any industry) genuinely wants to invest earlier in the pipeline and is serious about engaging women at the top level of your organisation, Alexia would love to hear from you.

Hack the Gen Z mindset 10–22-year-olds) • Short attention span • Activists (they want to aspire and lead a revolution) • Realistic • Highly competitive (believe only the best can win) • Savings oriented (wanting financial security) • The least brand-loyal organisation (vote with their feet) It’s often the speakers who aren’t directly involved with HR who can have a significant impact on our thinking. At this conference, they had an uncanny habit of gracefully getting us to think differently about our profession, our cultures and our beliefs. Rob Waddell, Chef de Mission for the New Zealand Olympic Team, and Dr Paul Wood, Doctor of Psychology were two such speakers (amongst several) who did just that.

Rob Waddell ONZM is New Zealand’s only Gold Medallist at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and was a vital part of the Emirates Team New Zealand Sailing Crew in San Francisco in 2013. He has a long list of achievements in these sports and also off the water. Rob shared his life in sport and business and the overlapping nature of these two disciplines. Themes such as work ethic, excellence, attitude, teamwork and passion all find their way into the world of work and high-performance sport. “The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing,” was one of Rob’s quotes that I will be making a personal mantra of mine.

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Plenty of opportunities to network and share HR stories.

Dr Andy Hines (University of Houston) warns delegates... don't be surprised by the future of work!

Dr Paul Wood sharing his life journey, joined on stage by MC, Te Radar.

Rob Waddell ONZM discusses teams, performance and culture.

Rob’s key to successful relationships, health and career: Work ethic – "Have I done everything I can to make the boat go faster?"

Excellence – “We are what we repeatedly do.”

Attitude – “This is the biggest variable in sport, and potentially in business too.”

Leadership – “What might happen next? What will I do?”

Sally Forrester, Melbourne Business School, talks to delegates.

through stress and adversity. He shared with us his stories of being ‘inside’ and how we can move from our comfort zones to our stretch zones to bring about growth and a better version of ourselves. For more on Paul’s thinking, check out his YouTube channel and get a copy of his book How to Escape from Prison.

There were multiple other speakers I gained insights from. Jamie Tuuta and his call to action to influence leaders to support the challenges that

are faced by Māori for the benefit of all New Zealanders; Kristina Cavit and her Kindness Institute; Dr Elizabeth Berryman inspiring us to be bold as individuals, as HR professionals and as agents of change in the face of our crisis of bullying in the workplace. Aviva Berzon and her strategies for overcoming resistance to change and Dr Andy Hines for his eight disruptive changes that HR professionals should consider bringing to their organisation.

Team work – “It’s the little things that make the big difference.”

Happiness – “Become comfortable being uncomfortable.”

Dr Paul Wood was the first person in New Zealand’s history to progress through undergraduate and Masters degrees while in prison. Two days after his mother died, Paul lost control when his then drug dealer attempted to sexually assault him.

Paul was convicted of murder for this offence and spent more than a decade in some of New Zealand’s toughest prisons. Paul’s educational pursuits, combined with a journey of personal exploration and change, allow him to help people strive towards their potential and flourish

It was great to see so many sponsors supporting the event.

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HR CONFERENCE REVIEW KATHY CATTON

Eight disruptive changes to the HR profession • Multi-organisation career paths (let them go and take them back) • Getting paid (shift from the number of hours on the job to the value provided by the work) • Fairness is impossible (the need to personalise to attract talent) • Time- and project-based employment contracts (this will become a mainstream practice) • Working to live instead of living to work (work will be a shrinking portion of time in affluent nations) • Work is a thing you do, not a place you go (work as a process that happens wherever) • Augmented humans (augmented or enhanced humans will present challenges and opportunities) • A post-work future (tech-led abundance) Thank you to HRNZ for putting on an inspiring and thought-provoking conference. Annalise Paynter and Debra Leach of Wakatu Incorporated attended the conference from Nelson. “I really appreciated the diversity of speakers, all relevant to our work in HR. There were lots of initiatives to explore and plenty of practical advice to support us in our roles,” said Annalise.

Aviva Berzon, Melbourne Business School, discusses Change Leadership.

Delegates enjoying the presentations.

Amongst like-minded professionals, we can keep in mind that the world is growing faster and faster. We are the ones talking to managers about technology, trends and talents, so we are the ones who can make a difference. When I spoke to Gihan after his talk, he reminded me that, “People are smarter than we think.

Look beyond the job description and work with them to facilitate change”.

So his challenge to you, in the words of Steve Jobs is, “What dent are you going to make on the universe?”

The conference organisation team.

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LEADING CHANGE 7–8 NOVEMBER IN AUCKLAND

LEARN HOW TO SUPPORT YOURSELF, YOUR TEAM AND YOUR ORGANISATION TO INFLUENCE STAKEHOLDERS AND NAVIGATE CHANGE. Get the practical tools and frameworks you need to implement change within your organisation.

Leading Change is a hands-on program that will teach you the essentials about driving change and supporting people through periods of transition.

The program includes a simulation exercise as well as modules on the emotions and psychology of change, effective communication strategies and how to work with resistance from others.

FACILITATOR Aviva Berzon SENIOR CONSULTANT, LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION A lawyer by background, Aviva moved into consulting, executive coaching and professional development after realising her passion for unlocking leadership capability in others. Working with individuals and groups, Aviva helps people find the purpose and passion they need to achieve behavioural change and drive high business impact.

WHAT WE’LL COVER

CONCEPTUALISE CHANGE

INCREASE SELF-AWARENESS

POWER AND INFLUENCE

ACTION PLAN

Learn about the different types of change, change models and how to implement them

Understand your personal responses to change and how it affects you and those around you

Discover how your influence and actions can prepare your team for transition and overcome resistance

Develop an action plan to help you take the next step to implement your change agenda successfully

WHERE AND WHEN 7 – 8 November | $2000 NZD +GST for HRNZ Members Castaways Resort, Karioitahi Beach, Auckland

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT HRNZ.ORG.NZ/LEADINGCHANGE

HRNZ MEMBER PROFILES

Denise Hartley-Wilkins the career opportunity and stepped through the door with the request that they sponsor me for my CIPD qualification. They then promoted me to personnel manager. I was 30. From there, my HR career was launched.

3. What motivated you to apply for the role of HRNZ Board Member and Branch President?

Denise has recently been elected National President of HRNZ and also sits on the HRNZ Board. We were delighted to be able to chat with her.

1. What do you do in your current role to help your organisation be successful?

As a consultant and coach, I work with a range of organisations in diverse sectors. I am design-thinking centred in my approach. I’m quite analytical and evidence-based in my discovery. Good OD is about co-creating solutions with end-users rather than jumping in with your ‘expert’ hat steering to an ‘industry best practice’ solution that nobody understands or buys into. People support what they help to create.

Excellent discovery, involvement and strategic alignment are hallmarks of good OD. That’s what I work to build into my practice.

2. What attracted you to pursue a career in HR? Too many years ago than I care to admit to I was working as an EA to the chief executive of a publishing business. We had 180 staff and no HR function in a rapidly expanding organisation. There was high staff attrition and high staff discontent. It was a reactive, fly by the seat of your pants approach to people management – no people strategy, with no understanding of the value of good people practice. I was proactive in sorting out HR issues before they got to the boss, identifying training needs, handling the ER stuff (baptism by fire!). He asked me to take on the role of personnel officer. I saw 12

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When I was living and working in Wellington, I was approached to join the Branch Committee. As a newbie to Wellington and New Zealand, it was an excellent way to meet new people and build a professional network.

Joining Human Resources Institute and volunteering on the committee helped my settling-in process. I then shifted to Nelson and put my hand up to volunteer on the Branch Committee.

I stepped up into the Branch President role where I was a Branch Appointed Director on the Board. I was asked if I would lead the establishment of the Branch Presidents Advisory Group and take on the role of Chair of that group. I was then invited to join the HRNZ Executive Committee. I enjoyed the opportunity to be able to give back and contribute strategically to our profession. In the next round of Board elections, I applied and was elected by our members.

4. What has been a highlight in your career to date?

I can’t pick out a particular highlight.

The opportunity to work in Canada early in my career was a highlight.

Gaining my Chartered CIPD status, leading an organisation through a very sticky investigation and then supporting them to achieve Investors in People accreditation, being awarded a HRNZ Chartered Fellow also comes to mind. Another highlight was being asked by HRNZ to be a facilitator for their flagship HR Foundations programme. The opportunity to help develop the next generation of HR folk is a privilege. Outside of the career stuff, one thing I’m proud of is using my expertise to support a former refugee to New Zealand to get his first job. Because of that, his family was

able to support themselves, come off benefits, buy their first house and put their children through school. They now have a daughter at university. Never underestimate the impact of how a small act can result in significant change for good!

5. What do you value about your membership with HRNZ? My Chartered recognition. It’s a nobrainer to go for it! It’s a professional competence qualmark. The opportunity to connect with, learn and grow from our thought leaders and to contribute to our professional community. The great friends and contacts I have made over the years (you get out what you put in!). I get a clear return on investment of my membership fee, great value professional insurance, as well as the wide range of member benefits. The new HRNZ member benefit app and the new online HRNZ News are great.

6. What’s something that not many people know about you?

Hmm. I’m a bit of an open book. I used to teach aerobics and was an international aerobic sports judge (when they thought aerobics would be an Olympic sport – yes really!). This was back in the day of leotards and leg warmers. Funny that I’m now a HRNZ Awards judge.

7. If you could have dinner with three people living or dead, who would they be and why?

My grandmother – so many questions I want to ask her! She grew up in 1920s Europe – a time of enormous change.

My Mum, who passed away last year.

I would play Abba because I know she would be up dancing! And my Dad, who is still alive, for all the obvious reasons.

8. What’s your happy place?

That’s a toss-up between the beach at Rabbit Island near Nelson or at my parents’ house in Provence (surrounded by lavender which is heavenly in the summer). Either way, as long as I’m with my husband Richard, then that is my happy place!

Maeve Neilson you are key in coaching people to be better managers and leaders. You can support them to understand an organisations’ deliverables and help them align their people to that vision.

3. What motivated you to apply for the role of HRNZ Branch President?

Maeve has recently been appointed to HRNZ Branch President in Te Whanganui-aTara (Wellington), where she is doing a fantastic job revitalising the HR community there.

1. What do you do in your current role to help your organisation be successful?

I am the HR Services Manager at the Civil Aviation Authority. My role involves managing the Recruitment Team, the HR Business Partners and HR Advisors, and the operational Health and Safety Team. Our team work with people leaders to enable their teams to deliver the activities required to successfully ensure safe and secure skies to help New Zealand fly. I think HR professionals have a critical role in understanding where an organisation is going, and then ensuring people are supported and can succeed in achieving those goals for the organisation. That’s something I enjoy doing, and something my team support our leaders with.

2. What attracted you to pursue a career in HR? I never pursued a career in HR. I moved to Wellington when I was writing my Masters thesis in psychology and I fell into a job at ACC. That job then led me to a career in health and safety.

I got to a point in my early 30s where I thought is this my career? I decided to branch out and do something else.

I picked up a role that had health and safety elements, but it also had a strong HR element. That enabled me to widen my skill set. I enjoy HR because

I took it as an opportunity to have a voice in the HR community, particularly as a non-traditional HR person, and to broaden what was previously being offered by HRNZ in Wellington. I wanted to question what we offer and who our members were. For example, I wanted to attract people leaders, as well as engage with our less experienced members around people management and good HR practice.

4. What has been a highlight in your career to date?

I've had a few. When I think back on the ones that make me smile they are generally when people have stopped me in the street and said, "Hey Maeve, the best thing you ever did for me was…". Any opportunity where I've enabled someone to develop and grow so that they can step out of wherever they are and go to the next level is a highlight. I'm also proud of giving people a shot. I will quite happily read a young person's CV or meet with someone wanting to switch careers because I know what it's like.

5. What do you value about your membership with HRNZ? I think for me because I consider myself to be non-traditional HR, it's terrific to connect and engage with a range of HR practitioners and professionals to learn, share ideas and have a laugh. I also really value my Wellington Committee. I'm very proud because they are one cool and diverse bunch. We have student members, HR Ambassadors, right through to consultants and a mix in between.

6. What's something that not many people know about you?

Well, if you google Maeve, you will generally find my bodybuilding stuff.

However, the one thing that people don't know about me that they are always surprised by is that I am a massive introvert. I do not get energy from people; I do not get energy from socialising. I get my energy generally from being by myself. So the Maeve that people see at work would make people think that I love both of those things, but I actually find it very hard. But when I entered the workforce, I had to learn very quickly that if I wanted to be where I wanted to be, I needed to learn how to be comfortable in that space.

7. If you could have dinner with three people living or dead, who would they be and why?

The first one would be my father. I lost my father four years ago. My dad was a high school teacher and a very, very smart man. He was of the proletariat, standing up for the less fortunate or those without a strong voice. I miss my dad’s coaching and the guidance that he gave me. The other person would be Abraham Lincoln. I think what he achieved in America at that time was fantastic. I love political thinking, so I would enjoy picking his brain. Third would be Hillary Clinton because I'm reading her book at the moment.

Regardless of what you think of her politics, the insights she's providing me with as a female and a leader are incredible. The challenges she went through were immense to be the first female to run for the presidency in America, and she covers all the stuff we are currently looking into; diversity, inclusion, how we treat women and the perceptions that we have of women when they step up into positions of power and say they want to be at the table.

8. What's your happy place? Āpiti in the Manawatū. That's where I grew up, and that's where Mum (and Dad) live. We have cows, chickens, racehorses – you name it. It is miles away from anywhere but central to everywhere. The other place is at home with my husband, spending time in the garden.

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SOFT SKILLS GREG SMITH

Why soft skills

are becoming the most valuable and sought after human asset

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Soft skills have long been a desired leadership capability.

However, in an age where rapid advances in technology are redefining how humans add value in the workplace, soft skills will increasingly become the most sought after employee capability, possibly eclipsing everything else. Glimpses of the new reality are visible right now.

However, the whole picture is yet to be revealed.

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eloitte's 2019 study The path to prosperity: Why the future of work is human, predicts that, by 2030, around two-thirds of jobs will be ‘soft-skill intensive’. In another Deloitte study with DeakinCo in 2017 Soft skills for business success, evidence points to why soft skills are highly sought after and make great business sense. It argues that sound emotional judgement is good for fostering a positive culture, excellent communication skills foster better internal and client relationships, and individuals with strong selfmanagement skills are more selfreliant and need less management supervision. Critically, the report further highlights that communication skills, one of the most essential soft skills, are already in short supply, drawing on data from Workible, that shows demand at 71 per cent and supply at 26 per cent, a 45 per cent percentage point differential!

Sometimes, when change is so rapid, it can feel like a high-speed train bearing down on us, and the immediate inclination is to jump out of the way. However, the best response is to understand, embrace and run with it. Let’s see what that could practically mean when it comes to soft skills and the future of work.

How many times have you overheard one person saying this to another in a corporate elevator? Something along the lines of, “My boss is great technically, but has terrible interpersonal skills”. This is still a

significant deficit for some leaders and continues to frustrate the growth and progress of individuals, teams and entire organisations. Leadership development programmes, for some time now, have sought to improve leaders’ ability to better connect with others. However, for many, this remains an elusive skill. Dial-up the need for this capability many times over and it doesn’t require much of a stretch of the imagination to see why this will become an absolute requisite and priority for effective leadership in the future.

My boss has terrible interpersonal skills.

The notion of soft skills also implies the existence of hard skills. So what are soft skills, and how are they different from hard skills? Let’s first take a look at the sources of soft skills. These can be found in personality traits, personal attributes and specific behavioural competencies. Hard skills, on the other hand, are developed through training and learning. It’s easy to see from this comparison why the nature of soft skills makes them much more difficult to impart to others.

The exciting aspect of soft skills is that they are highly transferable. In a fast-changing employment landscape driven by technological change, that makes them an extremely valuable asset and a powerful differentiator when competing for jobs.

Daniel Goleman describes EQ competencies as "how leaders handle themselves and their relationships".

Why EQ matters

Fortunately, the concept of emotional intelligence (EQ) harnesses the key suite of soft skill capabilities required by leaders and their followers. Put simply, EQ may be thought of as not letting your emotions stop you from achieving your goals. Although this descriptor neatly packages up EQ into a simple and easy to grasp idea,

it doesn’t help with understanding how to develop and enhance your EQ capability.

In his book, The New Leaders, Daniel Goleman described EQ competencies as "how leaders handle themselves and their relationships".

He explains EQ competencies in two domains, personal competence (selfawareness and self-management) and social competence (social awareness and relationship management).

It’s immediately apparent that EQ competencies cannot be ‘codified’ or automated and therefore replicated

by AI or machines, making them solely the domain of human beings.

However, if AI and robots take over routine tasks (e.g., technical support, bricklaying or administration) then non-routine roles (e.g., social workers, emergency workers, teachers or chief executives) become a natural place for human beings to gravitate towards, an essential transition for secure employment in the longer term.

Three steps to navigate towards the future workplace

There are three key steps to navigate and take advantage of the vast array of exciting roles that will open up as a result of technological change.

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Understand and internalise the new reality of the transition that’s afoot, showing where human beings will add value in the workplace of the future. It’s just around the corner, so it’s worthwhile considering how this may affect your career in terms of risks, and more importantly, opportunities. Researching the changing world of work has never been easier with the Internet. A simple Internet search of keywords will reveal a plethora of studies and articles that will inform and inspire ideas. This is a great place to start brainstorming and developing career options. Researching and identifying options provides a sense of empowerment, freedom and self-determination. These insights, when combined with heightened self-awareness, can provide the basis SPRING 2019

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SOFT SKILLS GREG SMITH

for setting concrete SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attractive, Realistic and Time-framed) goals.

Individuals with strong self-management skills are more self-reliant and need less management supervision.

find a high degree of motivational fit playing in a band, but that might not satisfy their need for a career in academia. This is an example of where hobbies or interests don’t always translate to careers.

3

2

Reflect on where and how you add value now in your current work role. Understanding your current value proposition can provide an excellent springboard to the future, even if that means a dramatic shift in career. Current and future career satisfaction is largely dependent on motivational, career and cultural fit factors. These fitfactors are derivatives of our values and what fits our belief system and cannot be developed but instead identified and understood. For example, a science academic who loves playing the saxophone might

Identify your transferrable skills and consider how you might align these to the jobs of the future.

This includes exploring what further training and development may be needed to optimise these skills fully.

The value you bring is based on your broad capability in dealing with all sorts of clients.The skills you're likely to be relying on are your ability to communicate, listen, read the customer and be resilient. These are all highly transferable soft skills that are valuable in most other settings requiring customer contact.

Career leadership levers

These three navigation steps, when applied in conjunction with the "Career leadership levers model"

Communication skills, one of the most essential soft skills, are already in short supply. below from my book Career Conversations (Wiley, 2019), show how leaders and their followers, through productive career conversations, can use vital soft skills to determine the career pathways of the future.

This model shows the relationship and interdependencies between the levers and highlights the required soft skill capabilities described below.

• Self-insight facilitates goal and vison setting that provides the direction and meaning in our careers.

• Connectivity, which for leaders includes the application of deep listening skills to help their employees identify key transition points as well as patterns and

Deep listening

Self-insight & goal-

& connectivity

setting levers

levers

Vision & Finding Meaning

Strength & Resilience

Emotional/stress control & motivation levers

Career Patterns & Themes

Solutions Focus & Growth Mindset

Reframing thinking & communication levers

Source: G Smith (2019) Career Conversations: How to get the best from your talent pool, Wiley, Australia 16

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themes in their careers. All of these will most likely be useful to their future career development.

• Managing our emotions, so that they don’t stop us from achieving our goals, is combined with fostering resilience. Resilience provides the strength to overcome setbacks, disappointments and other challenges in our careers.

• Self-efficacy, and adopting and encouraging a growth mindset and solutions focus through the considered reframing of thinking and communication techniques are a powerful tool to drive progress.

These levers provide a useful and simple framework with which to research, discover and action career options that satisfy individualised ‘fit’ criteria, set goals and put them into action. They require a high degree of capability in soft skills. Fortunately, these capabilities can be developed, even though some can be harder to grow than others, such as emotional control and resilience arising from the differences between individuals.

Fortunately, these capabilities can be developed, even though some can be harder to grow than others.

Start preparing now!

It’s highly likely that you could be drawing on soft skills to drive your future career even if you don’t use or need these skills in your job right now. My advice is to start preparing now for the future that lies ahead.

Greg Smith is an expert in career development, talent management and organisational leadership. The cofounder of HR consulting firm, deliberatepractice, he helps aspiring, emerging and experienced leaders to develop their everyday leadership skill set. He is the author of Career Conversations: How to get the best from your talent pool (2019 Wiley Australia). Find out more at www.deliberatepractice.com.au

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OCCUPATIONAL MINDFULNESS SHAHBAZ WAHAB

– an organisational strength

Traditionally, when looking at organisational performance, we tend to look at it from the perspective of ‘skill level’ and ‘expertise’. Wahab Shahbaz, from Massey University, suggests there is another way of measuring organisational performance that may be more reliable, and potentially a better predictor of workforce capability.

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raditionally, organisational performance is linked to the skills and experience of its employees.

More and more frequently, however, leaders are beginning to look at the ‘psychological capital’ of the organisation and how this can play an equally important role in the overall success of an organisation.

Leaders are beginning to look at the ‘psychological capital’ of the organisation and how this can play an important role in the overall success of an organisation.

What do we mean by psychological capital? This aspect of human capital 18

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involves the employee’s mental strength in terms of hope, confidence, resilience and optimism. An organisation with hopeful employees tends to perform well in adverse and challenging situations compared with the organisation with staff who are not as optimistic (Luthans et al, 2004). Hence, psychological capital can provide an organisation with a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Psychology capital is the employee’s mental strength in terms of hope, confidence, resilience and optimism.

An essential part of psychological capital is mindfulness. Mindfulness is defined as a state of attention to, and awareness of, the present moment. It is an innate ability of an individual that varies within and between individuals.

Mindfulness is defined as a state of attention to, and awareness of, the present moment.

Mindfulness, as psychological capital, is called occupational mindfulness.

Occupational mindfulness determines how attentive and aware employees are within an organisation. Through my research at Massey University, I have been looking at how occupational mindfulness can predict organisational performance.

Alongside this, I want to understand how leaders can incorporate occupational mindfulness into the workplace to obtain optimal corporate performance.

Potentially, occupational mindfulness can predict the organisation’s performance in three ways.

1. Occupational mindfulness reduces the risk of accidents.

Mindful employees tend to perform their tasks with attention and awareness that decreases the rate of mistakes and errors.

For example, if the medical staff in a hospital are conducting their work mindfully, there are fewer medication errors. In contrast, the absence of mind can have extreme consequences in a hospital setting (Brady, O’Connor, Burgermeister and Hanson, 2012).

Occupational mindfulness reduces the risk of accidents.

2. Occupational mindfulness also predicts the efficiency of the employees because awareness of the context helps them to make better decisions. For example, the adoption of a holistic view can help managers to use the resources in the right direction to get optimal benefits.

3. Occupational mindfulness also determines the possibilities for creativity. Mindful professionals tend to perform the task with attention and awareness that discourage automation. This conscious intention enables options for doing the job differently. In this way, there are more chances for creativity, hence finding innovative approaches that could save the company money.

Occupational mindfulness can be developed through targeted training programmes. These programmes can be customised according to the task that the employees perform. Generic exercises might include: • Activities that focus on mindfully conducting everyday tasks. Mind wandering is one of the common

reasons for mistakes and accidents in the workplace, so supporting staff to focus on one task at a time is vital.

• Mindful ways of communication and decision-making. Attention to, and awareness of, the repetitive and unattended way of doing things can help people to understand the concept of mindfulness and develop an ability to be more mindful when making decisions or communicating with others.

• Becoming aware of our body movement through everyday work activities. By asking the participants to self-reflect and notice what is happening with their bodies when moving through their day-to-day activities, this can be a useful mechanism to understanding mindfulness.

By contrast, some organisations adopt meditative mindfulness as a solution to workplace health problems, rather than as a tool for growing psychological capital. These programmes are designed to address issues such as stress and anxiety and emphasise the consistent practice of meditation and mindfulness

techniques such as breathing awareness, walking meditation and body scanning.

The contemporary work life is hectic.

However, employees often struggle to develop a routine of practising meditation or mindfulness. Meditative mindfulness as a solution to the problem becomes a problem in itself for people when they can’t establish a routine for practising meditation. In this regard, the training programmes focusing on occupational mindfulness as a way of doing, rather than meditative mindfulness as a regular practice, can be more effective in the organisational context.

To stand out in the modern competitive work environment, I believe that organisations are required to focus on strengthening the psychological capital that predicts the organisational performance, rather than focusing on fixing workplace weaknesses. Incorporating mindfulness as psychological capital in the organisation through training of professionals can be challenging, but it can act as a potential predictor of the organisational performance in the long run.

Bibliography

Mindfulness Hope

Luthans, F, Luthans, K W, & Luthans, B C (2004). Positive psychological capital: Beyond human and social capital. Business Horizons 47(1): 45–50.

Efficacy

Optimism

Resilience

Psychological Capital

Brady, S, O'connor, N, Burgermeister, D, & Hanson, P (2012). The impact of mindfulness meditation in promoting a culture of safety on an acute psychiatric unit. Perspectives in psychiatric care, 48(3), 129-137.

Wahab Shahbaz is a PhD student at Massey University, Auckland. Wahab’s primary research focus is on the application of mindfulness in organisations, particularly in the academic sector. Wahab focuses on the role of context that can facilitate or hinder the application of mindfulness in organisations. An understanding of the context can help organisational leaders and mindfulness trainers to incorporate mindfulness effectively in organisations and obtain optimal organisational benefits of mindfulness. E: w.shahbaz@massey.ac.nz SPRING 2019

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LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT ANGELA BINGHAM

Providing the living wage – and then what?

By Angela Bingham

When psychological needs are met, individuals can grow, develop and turn into their best self. In this article (the first in a series of four), Angela Bingham, Executive Director of People and Capability at the Open Polytechnic, shares her thoughts on how we can truly invest in our people, starting specifically with how we can support our lowerincome earners.

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y opinion when considering how to invest in people at the lower end of the salary scale is to consider four key areas: 1. The starting point – minimum wage or living wage 2. The benefits being offered to staff 3. The remuneration strategy 4. Investing in education.

Let's start at the beginning. The purpose of organisations is to find ways to entice individuals to work for them and to retain them. That enticement comes in many forms, from the brand of the organisation, the value offered to the individual (high salaries, development pathways 20

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or grateful to have a job). Gallup’s research tells us that the way we get the most out of our workforce is to meet their psychological needs.

Ultimately, we want our staff to be their best selves, all day every day.

So how does that all apply to the living wage conversation?

Minimum wage or living wage?

This year we saw the minimum wage increase 7 per cent, and there is increasing pressure on organisations to ensure staff are on the living wage.

My question to you – is it enough to provide staff with just the minimum wage? The answer lies in a number of different economic and political philosophies. US Congresswomen Katie Porter challenged one of the large US banks on the struggle of families who are bringing in minimal wages. This was a great example of how chief executives and boards can become disconnected with the everyday needs of families living close to or below the breadline. The general view was that there was a budgeting issue with low-income families rather than the adequacy of the dollars coming in.

So back to my question – are New Zealand organisations doing enough? Who's responsibility should it be? The government, the employer

or the individual? Ultimately, it is a community problem and requires a community solution. For now, I am sure you are focused on the role of the employer.

For some organisations, the increased cost of the minimum wage will put significant pressure on the bottom line. Those organisations balance affordability and equitable remuneration strategies. I believe it's more than a solid remuneration strategy. It is a tricky and essential topic. Different benefits have different value. Some staff want benefits to help them be more efficient (time poor). Others want benefits that they don’t have access to (cash poor). The true solution lies in the capacity to continue the conversation and think broader than just salaries and wages.

The tricky part is that the government sets the tone with our tax structure and the minimum wage. When individuals are in a position of touching the breadline, they too are limited on how they move up the salary grades. So, there is a responsibility of the employer to provide a variety of benefits that will take the pressure off just a bit.

Benefits

• Living wage as a minimum is a solid place to start.

• Considering benefits to staff that save both time and money works additionally well. I tip my hat to organisations like the Open Polytechnic (unashamed bias) where the following are offered: – discounts on eye tests and a contribution to glasses – wellness classes – walking groups – social and environment groups – partnership programmes for computers and software – employee assistance programmes – discounts on tertiary study (for some, this could be secondary) for families – free fees for staff – discounted school holiday programmes – discounted café services.

If you are a small organisation, and having employee benefits is out of reach, consider a coalition with other businesses to beef up your buying power. Ask what your people want.

There is a story of an organisation that gave its staff gift vouchers of $50 each. The problem was many couldn't afford the items in the store, so a $50 gift card was an insult, not a benefit.

When psychological needs are met, individuals can grow, develop and turn into their best self. That is where you can pump time and money into strengthening your talent management strategies. Until then, take a look at how you pay people.

Remuneration strategy

Dust off your remuneration strategy and see if it still makes sense to your current employees and organisation.

I recommend you create your policy as a cornerstone document and then release a strategy each year that responds to the macroeconomic environment. Your strategy should be able to answer these questions: • Does it reflect a high performing organisation?

• Are you in a unionised environment?

• Does your organisation have roles stretched across many salary bands?

• How do you want to provide equity to all staff in your organisation, reward the high performers, as well as recognise up and coming developmental talent?

• What is affordable?

• What are the current remuneration survey reporting across the public and private sectors?

• Do you couple performance and remuneration?

• Do you couple performance and development opportunities?

Your remuneration strategy needs to reflect both a philosophy of paying salaries and then complement the benefits offered.

Investing in education

It is a well-documented fact (and my opinion) that education is one of the pathways out of poverty. We know that the way household incomes increase is from a solid foundation in education (for the record,

education can be an apprenticeship, a qualification or an open badge).

Providing benefits that invest in your people's education will always have a positive effect. As the current employer, you may not see the benefit immediately. I encourage the learning and development professionals out there to consider how your corporate programmes can align to our NZQA framework (as a qualification, micro-credential or an open badge) that follows your staff as they move through their career, where they can realise the benefit.

Providing benefits that invest in your people's education will always have a positive effect.

Here is a great quote to leave you with "Train people well enough, so they can leave. Treat them well enough, so they don't want to". Sir Richard Branson.

He aha te mea nui o te ao?

He tangata! He tangata! He tangata! Angela Bingham started as Executive Director People and Capability at the Open Polytechnic in October 2018.

Before that she held a variety of leadership roles, with an emphasis in learning and development. She has worked for Kineo (Pacific), ACC, Endeavour IT Limited, Rugby New Zealand, Department of Internal Affairs and ANZ, among others. Angela has a strong people agenda, which she has developed from her degree in Community and Family Studies from the University of Otago. Angela’s philosophies are that an effective leader works for the good of others with a firm foundation in strengthbased conversations.

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EMPLOYMENT LAW SARAH CATES

Avoiding a flimsy fixed term A recent Employment Court decision casts light on the high threshold for justifying a fixedterm employment agreement and the consequences for employers when they get it wrong.

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ong fixed-term employment agreements are frequently used by employers to employ someone for a finite period. However, these agreements must strictly comply with section 66 of the Employment Relations Act 2000. Under that section, parties may agree that the employee's employment will end at the close of a specified date or period; on the occurrence of a specific event; or at the conclusion of a specified project. The employer must have "genuine reasons based on reasonable grounds" and advise the employee of those reasons and when or how the employment will end. The section states that "genuine reasons" are not to exclude or limit the rights of the employee under the Act; to establish the suitability of the employee for permanent employment; or to exclude or limit the rights of an employee under the Holidays Act 2003. If these statutory 22

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requirements are not complied with, the employee can elect at any time to treat the fixed term as ineffective (including post-employment), in which case the employer is unable to rely on the fixed term to end the employee's employment.

Morgan v Tranzit Coachlines Wairarapa Ltd demonstrates the dangers of engaging employees on a fixed-term basis under the justification of generic financial uncertainty. This case concerned a school bus driver who had been employed by Tranzit on a series of fixed-term employment agreements over 18 years. As part of its decision, the Court looked at the employee's two most recent fixed terms, which were for three years each. The reasons for the fixed terms were that Tranzit's school bus contract with the Ministry of Education was due to expire at the end of the term and there was a risk that Tranzit would not secure a renewal of the contract and that this would affect its capacity to retain the employee.

The Court accepted that there was a risk that the contract would not be renewed, and that non-renewal would affect Tranzit's financial circumstances, but the Court ultimately held that these reasons were not enough to satisfy the

requirements of section 66 for a fixed term. First the risk of non-renewal was speculative, particularly given the pattern of contractual stability over the previous 18 years. Secondly, there was no evidence supporting the extent of the financial loss created by a non-renewal. Thirdly, the redundancy provisions of the employee's contract dealt with the situation of a "financial downturn in our business". These provisions strongly undermined the claim that the fixed term was both genuine and reasonable. Fourthly, the Court noted that the employee's work was not a discrete project of limited duration, but rather his role was an ongoing part of Tranzit's wider business operation. In addition, the Court stated that, even if there was sufficient justification for previous fixed terms, every new term must be for genuine reasons based on reasonable grounds. The result of this is that, as long as there is a genuine reason based on reasonable grounds for each term, the mere existence of multiple rolling fixed terms does not give rise to ineffectiveness.

The Court noted that section 66 is intended to protect employees from employers seeking to avoid their employment law obligations.

Accordingly, it was relevant to consider whether a fixed-term agreement is the option that least infringes on the rights of the employee.

The Court held that financial uncertainty is something all businesses face and, therefore, it cannot, of itself, constitute a genuine reason based on reasonable grounds to justify a fixed-term employment agreement. The Court also held that even if the employer genuinely believes there is a financial risk that reason is insufficient if that belief is

not based on reasonable grounds.

In the case of Tranzit, the potential loss of revenue stream was an ordinary business risk and not a genuine reason based on reasonable grounds to end the employee's employment. On this finding, the Court held that both fixed-term agreements were ineffective and the employee was entitled to be treated as a permanent employee for the full period of employment of those terms, for example, in respect of leave entitlements owing to him and a shortfall in holiday pay.

Top tips for preventing an ineffective fixed term • Consider what other suitable alternatives are available (casual employment, permanent employment, restructuring and redundancy, contractor arrangement).

• Remember the reasons must include two elements – genuineness and reasonableness.

• Include the reasons in the employment agreement.

• Comply with the terms of the fixed term.

• Employing an employee beyond the term enables the employee to treat the fixed term as ineffective.

• Before expiry, re-evaluate the reason for the fixed term if you want to re-engage an employee after the term expires.

Sarah Cates is a Senior Associate at Cullen – The Employment Law Firm.

Sarah advises clients from a range of industries and sectors on their legal rights and obligations in respect of contentious and non-contentious employment matters. In addition to being a lawyer, Sarah also works as a mediator to resolve employment disputes.

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LANGUAGE IN THE WORKPLACE KATE WILKINSON & ANNA KIRKWOOD

Why the words we use matter In a world where being ‘too politically correct’ is cried on a weekly basis, let’s dive deep into why the words we say are more important than we realise.

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around factors such as race, gender, sexuality, religion or ability and so on.

People who express these beliefs and opinions tend to surround themselves with people who strengthen their views and build on the belief that some types of people are not equal.

he ‘Pyramid of Hate’ was developed by Anti-Defamation League for IT’S A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute and is used to explain how biased behaviours grow and develop within our communities. The pyramid shows the flow-on effect of normalising things like discriminatory language and biased attitudes. Although behaviours at the bottom of the pyramid might not seem ‘that bad’, as groups and individuals move up the pyramid, the consequences become more and more life-threatening.

The reinforcement and acceptance of these views increase the likelihood that they will move up the pyramid.

The lower levels influence the upper levels of the pyramid. If people and organisations accept or consider the factors in the lower levels to be ‘normal’, the higher levels of the pyramid also become more accepted. Discrimination is built upon the acceptance of behaviours in the lower levels.

If we continue to voice prejudiced beliefs out loud, we reinforce that certain groups of people are not equal and differences are something to be laughed at.

Level 1 – Attitudes and biases

This section refers to the beliefs, attitudes and biases that people have 24

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Level 2 – Acting on attitude

Jokes and comments made by people relating to race, gender, sexuality, ability or age and so on. are often just laughed off by others. But, if we continue to voice prejudiced beliefs out loud, we reinforce that certain groups of people are not equal and differences are something to be laughed at.

Acceptance of jokes or comments can continue to push people up the pyramid as they begin to dehumanise groups of people they have built a

negative belief toward. This increases the probability that life-threatening consequences could occur as a result of those discriminatory beliefs.

Below are real-life examples of discriminatory jokes and words. See how many you have heard in the workplace or your personal life.

• • • •

“That’s a bit gay.”

“They did a bit of a Māori job.”

“Stop being such a girl.”

“That’s a bit retarded.”

Chances are that now you have been made aware of them, you will start to hear them all the time!

Level 3 – Physical expression

This is where we can visually see the impact of negative stereotypes, prejudice and bias in action. Before this level, we could not see the harsh impact of biased attitudes very easily.

People who have moved this far up the pyramid feel a powerful sense of entitlement, and believe it is within their right and power to physically hurt another person based on gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age or ability.

Level 4 – Genocide/murder/ suicide

People who have moved this far up the pyramid deliberately commit acts

of genocide or murder against an individual or group.

Alternatively, individuals commit suicide as a result of the hate they have received by others due to their gender, sexuality, race, religion, ability or age.

Why should we stop before the pyramid?

The one thing that we can all do to contribute to the reduction of hate crimes is to make it unacceptable even to enter the pyramid at the base layer. By understanding our own biases and calling out the prejudices of others, we will create a societal culture shift that does not consider these views and beliefs as normal.

A great place to start is not laughing at or sharing racist, sexist and other discriminatory jokes. By laughing at these jokes, we continue to normalise that it’s okay to laugh at people’s differences. If we don’t want people in our communities to move up the pyramid, we need to call out discriminatory behaviour and statements.

We can start this in our workplaces.

Workplaces are in a unique position to build a culture of zero tolerance to discriminatory language, which will then flow into employees' homes and our communities.

Just as we have created a culture around wellness and health and safety, we can create a culture of zero tolerance to discriminatory jokes and language. We can educate our staff and build team cultures where it is appropriate to challenge biased opinions and where it is normal to call out discriminatory language.

By understanding our own biases and calling out the prejudices of others, we will create a societal culture shift that does not consider these views and beliefs The main thing to remember about normal. changing the language we use is

that it's not about us – it's about the people affected by the language we are using. Changing the words we use daily might take a little bit of effort, but actually, it doesn't have a massive impact on us as a person.

However, it is a BIG deal to the people who benefit from the changes in the language that you have made. It makes a world of difference to them. It is tiny things that by themselves may seem irrelevant, or that may be considered being ‘too PC’, that actually matter.

It is tiny things that by themselves may seem irrelevant, or that may be considered being 'too PC’, that actually matter.

How to stop before the pyramid?

Step 1 – Be mindful of your language The best place to start is with yourself.

Becoming actively aware of what you say is important to making a personal

Genocide/ murder/suicide Physical Expression Assault, sexual harassment, rape threats, standing over and hate crimes

Acting on Attitude

Name calling, ethnic slurs, jokes relating to gender, sexuality, race, religion, ability or age, microagrgressions, avoiding people from certain groups

Attitudes and Bias

Stereotypes, prejudice, non-inclusive language, bias in relation to gender, sexuality, race, religion, age, ability..., not challenging discriminatory comments

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LANGUAGE IN THE WORKPLACE KATE WILKINSON & ANNA KIRKWOOD

change. If there is a particular word that you know you often use, start with that one. You may miss it occasionally, but if you hear yourself say the word then notice what you just said immediately, that is the first win. The next time you say it, you will see it straight away. Before long, your brain will kick in and notice the word in your head BEFORE you say it out loud. Success!

Finding an accountability partner can also help. Try asking a friend or a partner to help tell you when you use that word. Or, if you feel a bit weird asking a friend, you can always ask us. Send us a Facebook message or email, and we are more than happy to help you out and keep you accountable!

Step 2 – Listen to other people's language This step may be easier because, once you get in the habit of listening for words that you use yourself, you will automatically hear others use the words you have stopped using.

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Once you start noticing other people's words, you cannot turn it off in your brain! So a warning, if you want to never notice racist or sexist language that other people say, do not start doing this, because trust us, you can’t NOT notice once you start.

You will never get it out of your head.

Step 3 – Call others out This is the hardest step. It is so hard to call others out, especially if they are your friend or someone in a position above you at work.

It won’t always be appropriate, and sometimes you will have to use your judgement. It always helps to start with a stranger, because you won’t care as much about what they think or if you offend them or make them uncomfortable! It's a great place to practise.

It doesn't have to be a huge deal or drama either; it can just be a casual comment that you make to let them know you didn't appreciate what they just said. Here are some suggestions:

"Hey, that wasn't a great word to use."

"Not sure I agree with that!"

"I'd say ‘x’ instead of that."

"What do you mean by that?"

Just one small sentence like this can be enough. You don't have to start a debate or explain it any further (unless you want to). It can be that simple.

Someone else in the conversation or group probably didn't like the word either, but might have felt too scared to say something – you have shown them that it is okay to say something.

The person you called out will hopefully stop using that word or at least will think twice the next time they say it.

A few courageous words can make a world of difference, even if it does turn out to be awkward at the time.

Ninety-nine per cent of the time the person wouldn’t have realised the impact of what they had said and

wouldn’t have said it maliciously.

It is more likely that the word is so ingrained they use it all the time, so wouldn't have even thought about the impact.

A few courageous words can make a world of difference.

Step 4 – Get everyone else involved The amount of time we spend in our workplaces is huge. It should be a place where we all feel respected and secure. Creating a workplace that genuinely values the diversity of all staff is essential.

Developing workplaces where employees are aware of the language they use, how it affects others, and who are encouraged to speak up when they hear discriminatory language is the only real way to create a sustainable culture that accepts and values everyone.

When discriminatory language occurs, it is often seen as workplace banter and just a bit of fun. But if

it leaves an employee feeling bad about themselves, then this is a real issue. The person who said the statement probably isn’t even aware of the effect of their statement or action, but the offended employee feels the negative impact.

It needs to be addressed before feelings begin to fester, which could result in a reduction in that employee’s productivity and reduced commitment to an organisation where they don’t feel accepted.

Healthy workplaces are built by employees who feel comfortable speaking up and expressing their concerns. If your employees remain silent, the discriminatory language will continue to be present in your workplace, and, by not addressing it, you are in turn accepting it as part of your workplace culture.

When language is called out, it creates awareness between employees about the emotional and social impact it has on another person. If someone responds to a subtle discriminatory comment by saying “I know you probably didn’t mean it this way, but

when you said...it made me feel…”, then this can open up a dialogue about the comment.

A few seconds of courage to call someone out can allow a meaningful discussion and resolution to occur.

In most instances, the person will apologise and certainly rethink similar statements in the future.

Kate Wilkinson and Anna Kirkwood run the Awareness Project, which specialises in workplace diversity, with an ultimate goal of creating a community where discrimination such as racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism and ableism no longer exist. They run regular unconscious bias workshops for businesses and help their clients embrace differences in their employees. Do you want a way for your employees to start talking about inclusion and challenging discrimination?

Check out our micro lesson service on our website. Micro lessons provide on-the-go education about diversity and inclusion. A new lesson and poster will appear in your inbox each week to share with your staff. Let’s start those workplace conversations!

W: www.theawarenessproject.co.nz

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PRODUCTIVITY ALEX KOTSOS

How to make work more enjoyable W

hen I was self-employed, I committed to writing some articles for an online magazine. The first month the deadline loomed, and I did nothing. The day of submission, I woke up miserable, knowing that I had only six hours left to write something that I’d not even started.

In the last couple of hours before the deadline, I forced myself to write something, anything! The results were dull and not engaging. I felt that I’d let myself and the client down and vowed that next month would be different.

The next month the same thing happened. Except that by this point, I decided to cancel the writing commitment and to hell with letting the client down. Then I came to my senses. There was no way I could let the client down at this short notice; my reputation and integrity would be at stake. I had to find another way.

My first option was to go online and see if I could find someone who could write the article for me. But I’d left it too late to ensure the quality and content would be acceptable.

I needed a different approach.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love to talk. I’m an extrovert by nature who can get extremely 28

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passionate and worked up about certain topics and talk about them for hours. Talking and being enthusiastic gives me great energy. So, I decided to channel that energy into my article.

Instead of sitting at my desk with an empty screen in front of me, I got my smartphone out and started recording myself talking about the subject I was planning to write about.

I talked as if I was chatting with a friend about the subject. Words poured out of my mouth without the delay that I’d experienced at the keyboard. When I felt I’d got my point across, I played it back and typed up the key messages from my verbal download.

Once the key points were on paper, it was easy to flesh out the ideas and add relevant factual references.

The article was written in about 30 minutes and was by far the most interesting one I had submitted.

This was also validated by the response online. It had the highest engagement level and the most positive feedback from readers.

Did I change the task? No. I just found a way to introduce things that energised me into an activity that was previously always on the bottom of my to-do list.

In any job there will always be tasks or activities that you can’t get out of.

They can’t be delegated or ignored.

The key is to look at these with your energisers as a starting point.

Understanding your energisers or strengths, as they are known in the world of positive psychology, are important for making work more enjoyable. There are books and online questionnaires out there designed to make finding your strengths as easy as possible. In the absence of these, I can suggest something that everyone can do.

Step 1

Think about your current role in detail. Use last week’s or last month’s calendar and your current inbox or to-do list to see how you spend your time.

Think about all these activities in terms of challenge and interest. What did you enjoy most? What made you feel alive and thriving when you were doing it?

Imagine describing the activities you enjoy most to a complete stranger.

Think about the whole context of each activity and start identifying the main things that made it enjoyable.

These are your energisers.

What activities did you enjoy least?

What gave you a feeling of dread or boredom when you even thought about it?

Step 2

Now take your list of energisers and go back to your least enjoyable activities.

How can you build your energisers into these mood-hoover activities?

It may be that you hate analysing data but you enjoy coaching people. Is there a way to build some coaching of others into your data analysis? Could you offer to show someone less experienced how you do this, so they gain a new skill? That could be a win-win.

Or perhaps you despise writing policies, but you love networking.

Could you use your extensive network to do the research for you, maybe someone out there already has what you need?

You might get bored of budgets and financial information but you enjoy processes and efficiencies. Is there a new technology you could find to make managing finances faster and less complex?

If you’re finding it tough to think differently about an activity, enlist the help of a trusted friend or colleague.

Another person’s perspective could help you see an alternative option.

I can’t guarantee that you will be able to enjoy 100 per cent of any role. What I can guarantee is that, if you understand your strengths, you will have a faster, smoother route to enjoyable work.

Alex Kotsos is an experienced HR professional with over 20 years' experience working in various fast-paced companies. Originally from the UK, and currently based in Ireland, she is continually aware of the complexities facing HR as a function and supports the continuing campaign to get the HR function recognised as an equal partner in business. She thrives on seeing people achieve their potential and endeavours to ensure that all her work enables people to do their best work every day.

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www.edenfx.co.nz

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INSIGHTS CHRIS O'REILLY

By Chris O'Reilly, CEO, AskYourTeam

It’s the greatest untapped source of increased productivity for Kiwi organisations, yet very few have managed to harness the benefits of diversity and inclusion successfully. Why aren’t we doing better?

T

he fact is we’ve been doing diversity and inclusion wrong.

Despite the volume of articles, think pieces, strategies and white papers being churned out week after week, our results are poor, and our understanding of the topic is even poorer. We don’t even need to rely on our profession for lessons about diversity and inclusion. There are striking examples out there in the real world.

Take the recent Cricket World Cup. The English team, famously humiliated in Wellington in 2015, enjoyed one of the greatest turnarounds in sporting history when they beat us in a final rightly called one of the most thrilling games of cricket history.

The team that went from a group of underperforming individuals to the highest performing in the world put 30

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it down to a single factor – diversity and inclusion. It went from being one of the most monocultural to a genuine mix of talent, with one Irishman, two South Africans, a Kiwi, a Barbadian and two English-born Muslim players.

One of those Muslim players, Moeen Ali, put the team’s success down to its “diversity and ability to accept and celebrate differences”. At the postfinal press conference, Captain Eoin Morgan said the team’s differing views were a massive source of strength. They found unity in their differences and turned that into sporting gold.

Of course, some businesses have managed to reap the benefits too.

Qantas stands out as a company that went from posting a $2.8 billion loss to a record profit of $850 million in just four years. CEO Alan Joyce was emphatic that his company’s diverse environment and inclusive culture was responsible, claiming it had generated “better strategy, better risk management, better debates, better outcomes”.

With these lessons all around us, why are we not seeing the same transformation in more Kiwi workplaces?

Let’s start with our record on demographic diversity, a familiar concept to all of us and one that generates a good amount of publicity and debate. Demographic diversity is about the makeup of our workplaces, reflecting the makeup of New Zealand as a whole. Pretty basic stuff.

In March 2018, the annual Grant Thornton Women in Business report ranked New Zealand second to last (33 out of 35 countries) for female representation on the senior leadership teams of corporates around the world. This year, they didn’t even release a figure for it.

This is a national shame, and it should be regarded as a national crisis. I believe that one of the primary reasons we haven’t achieved demographic diversity is because of our shallow understanding of the actual benefits of diversity to organisational performance. In short, we haven’t learned to understand the value of diversity of thinking.

Diversity of thinking is the real new frontier for Kiwi organisations, and for us HR professionals, the most significant benefit we can offer is to build workplaces that value different thinking styles and find ways to leverage them for business success.

This doesn’t mean striving for demographic diversity is wrong.

Rather, a focus on building greater diversity of thought will inherently support a workforce that looks, sounds, acts and speaks differently too.

Global consulting company Deloitte uses a model that illustrates this point well. It holds that complex problems, the type that many businesses face regularly, need to be attacked in no less than six different ways: evidence, options, outcomes, people, process and risk. Few of us are skilled in more than one or two of these, so it takes groups who think differently to solve problems well.

A great many other models show that groups with diverse thinking produce better results. Each has its own way of articulating the same premise, which is that even the brightest individuals struggle to come up with better solutions to problems than diverse thinking teams of lesser academic ability.

How then do we encourage more diversity of thought in our organisations? We can go back to basics for this one, right back to one of the most fundamental of human instincts, which is to belong to a group. What 200,000 years of human evolution have taught us is that we need to feel a part of a group, that we’re valued and we’re working toward a shared goal.

In many ways, it’s the inclusion part of the whole diversity and inclusion story, and one that we’ve probably overlooked. Finding ways to make people who think differently feel meaningfully involved in the work of a single team is the key to watching that team’s productivity and innovation soar.

Getting organisations to this point is largely our responsibility as HR professionals, but ultimately it comes down to leadership style. At AskYourTeam, we’ve had 65,000 New Zealanders from 267 organisations give us honest, anonymous feedback about their leaders, so I like to think we speak with some authority on the state of leadership in this country.

Sadly, it's not good. New Zealand leaders are badly out of touch when it comes to how involved and included they think their employees are, and what we hear from those people directly.

One reason for this is the myth of the ‘complete leader’ that is stubbornly pervasive in New Zealand, even in 2019. These leaders are almost always male, they value toughness, and as a country, we still raise them well above their real worth.

This needs to change. It means hiring more women. And it means hiring leaders who see themselves, in the words of Harvard Business School’s Linda Hill as ‘social architects’. These

leaders see their primary role as ‘building the stage, not necessarily performing on it’.

Fortunately, coaching people to practise leadership by involvement is possible and easier than you might think. At AskYourTeam, we talk about the Three A’s of leadership by involvement: Awareness, Anonymity and Action.

Awareness means facing the structural barriers in the human mind that block inclusivity. This includes the unconscious bias against women than men hold, whether they will admit it openly or not.

Anonymity is about the technology we can leverage to overcome unconscious bias and enable objective decision making. One example is the introduction of blind auditions for orchestras – once players were selected on their merit and abilities alone, the number of women in orchestras jumped significantly. Similarly, workplaces that allow anonymous feedback are the ones where the status quo is constantly challenged.

Action is doing and measuring. This is about taking anonymous feedback from your organisation, acting on it, then asking for feedback again to gauge whether it has made a difference.

Chris O'Reilly is the CEO and Co-founder of AskYourTeam, a disruptive technology company, revolutionising the organisational and leadership performance space. E: chris.oreilly@ askyourteam.com.

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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SUE TURK

embracing continuous performance management?

HR professionals in Australia and New Zealand share what performance management looks like in their organisation.

P

erformance management is people management. It represents the way businesses approach the growth, development and feedback for their people – which is directly linked to the success and growth of any business.

It’s an easy logic line to follow: performance management is something every business should take seriously and approach with thought and care. It isn’t just a term us good folks in HR throw around when it’s time to complete an evaluation form. As people management expert Josh Bersin, founder of Bersin & Associates, says “Performance management has to reflect the way you want to run your company, and that’s why it’s so complex.”.

The approach people take to performance management has been evolving in recent years. Where once a top-down evaluation approach of accomplishments, value and HUMAN RESOURCES

Research has supported this transformation. Gallup found that employees who receive frequent feedback and have an active relationship with their managers are three times more likely to be engaged at work. The new generations of employees (millennials and Gen Z) are entering the workforce expecting 50 per cent more feedback than their predecessors.

Times are changing, and businesses have received the message that continuous performance management (CPM) is the new standard. But knowing something to be true and acting on it are two different things.

It demands the question: businesses know they should be using CPM, but have they been able to make the transition in practice?

Making it happen

Times are changing

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employee worth was preferred, now the philosophy has changed so that employees are treated with more respect and humanity.

SPRING 2019

Cornerstone OnDemand sought to talk to small and medium businesses about CPM. We asked 161 HR professionals in Australia and New Zealand how they see the role of CPM and what the current status

of performance management is within their company.

It was no surprise that continuous performance management was highly regarded. As one HR professional put it: CPM is critical in any business.

With more millennials joining the workforce, there is a stronger need to develop, drive and build the younger generation, retain staff and develop a strong retention model to reduce costs and employee retention rates. It is important employees are given the opportunity to grow and improve on their abilities through regular constructive feedback from management.

However, we found that businesses still have challenges to overcome in implementing CPM. • 43 per cent only do reviews bi annually or annual • 42 per cent say there is a lack of skill set or perceived value by managers • 42 per cent only conduct regular check-ins to check the status of work • 60 per cent use Excel or other manual processes (like email) to record performance surveys.

You can see from our results that CPM is perceived to be valuable, but businesses are struggling to implement a culture of feedback.

Cornerstone has published the full results of this in-depth survey in a white paper. To learn more about the state of performance feedback today and better understand the obstacles, you can download the report at: go.cornerstoneondemand.com/ performance_management_survey_ WP

Sue Turk is Managing Director of Cornerstone ANZ. She helps organisations across Australia and New Zealand improve their ability to attract, manage and develop their employees. With an obsession for customer success and employee engagement, Sue helps HR professionals navigate the skills economy and digital transformation, helping them realise competitive advantage through their people.

Sue brings more than 22 years’ corporate, HR and leadership experience. W: Cornerstone_ ANZ@csod.com

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Get Chartered!

HRNZ is committed to promoting the highest levels of professionalism in the practice of HR in New Zealand workplaces and encourages all members to aspire to and achieve Chartered Membership.

C

hartered Members of HRNZ enjoy the status that comes with demonstrating they have attained a level of professional ability that is respected at a national level by employers and their peers. In addition, Chartered Members are provided with guidance and opportunities to expand and enhance their professional knowledge and expertise through continuing professional development on an annual basis.

A Chartered Member is expected to be a technically competent and personally credible HR professional.

Assessment for chartered status is based on the HRNZ competency framework – Kahikatea, ka taea. Candidates need to provide evidence of their independent actions that match the competency descriptors. These are assessed by a panel of experienced HRNZ Chartered Members.

For more information about getting chartered, please visit hrnz.org.nz/getchartered

Recently Chartered HRNZ Members Anna Burns

Waikato

25 January 2019

Marian Tredinnick

Canterbury

6 March 2019

Laurn Chatterton

Canterbury

6 March 2019

Kerry Butler

Auckland

11 March 2019

Matthew Gutschlag

Wellington

12 March 2019

Sarah Nixon

Wellington

21 March 2019

Janscie Langridge

Auckland

29 March 2019

Diana Fahey

Canterbury

8 April 2019

Vivienne Patterson

Canterbury

3 May 2019

Daniel Petersen

Wellington

20 May 2019

Emma Jeffery

Auckland

27 May 2019

Phillipa Gimmillaro

Auckland

28 May 2019

Anna Bolton

Waikato

6 June 2019

Maeve Neilson

Wellington

25 June 2019

Hannah Burton

Waikato

25 June 2019

HRNZ PD programme Spring 2019

The world evolves and there will always be developments and changes in the way in which we approach HR. Professional development is therefore imperative to career progression and enhancement.

A

Most of our courses are presented in a workshop format.

They are interactive sessions that provide you with an opportunity to share ideas with others through group discussion and questioning.

HRNZ members receive discounted rates and may be eligible for a travel assistance grant.

t HRNZ we recognise the importance of professional development and the role it plays in our industry. We provide a vast selection of development options, to ensure you can keep ahead of any changes and update your skill set through courses, webinars and conferences.

Why you should take a HRNZ PD course:

Courses are run throughout the year in various centres across the country and range from one hour up to three days. Courses and webinars are open for all to attend.

AUCKLAND

•

applied learning – develop strategies to implement

•

participation encouraged – don’t merely listen

•

network with peers and share experiences

•

continue your professional development

•

detailed course books provided

•

earn CPD points.

NEW PLYMOUTH

WELLINGTON

CHRISTCHURCH

4 September

5 September

8 October

Employee Wellbeing and Mental Illness

30 October

31 October

22 October

Holidays Act, Parental Leave and Payroll

16 October

17 October

23 October

19–21 November

5–7 November

Effective HR Communication

HR Foundations HR 101: HR for Non-HR People

10 September

19 November

Practical Employment Law

Recruiting Top Talent

25 September

26 September

Strategic Workforce Planning Termination of Employment Workforce Analytics Workshop

0800 2 HRINZ

QUEENSTOWN

5–6 September

17 September

2–3 September

2 October

2 October

events@hrinz.org.nz

www.hrinz.org.nz/pd

PD SPOTLIGHT ALEX HAGAN

When it comes to workforce strategy,

you need the right tools for the job

T

his story is littered with examples of confident, but wrong – sometimes hilariously wrong – predictions.

In 1946, the studio head of 20th Century Fox said that television wouldn’t be able to hold any market it captured after six months, because people would get sick of staring at a plywood box every night. Just three years earlier, Thomas Watson, the president of IBM, famously said that there was a world-wide market for “perhaps five computers”. In 1973, Margaret Thatcher was quoted as saying “I don't think there will be a female prime minister in my lifetime”.

Before the decade was out, she was elected to that role. In retrospect, it’s easy to see the technological, political and social shifts that rendered these predictions wrong, but it’s harder to see the changes that will prove our current mental models wrong. Many people and organisations continue to make bold and confident predictions about their future today.

There’s no doubt that the pace of change has increased dramatically since Zanuck, Watson and Thatcher made their bold predictions. The web browser is barely 25 years old, and it’s hard to think of an industry that the web hasn’t fundamentally disrupted. Twelve years after the first commercially mainstream 36

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smartphone was launched, the way we date, get directions, hitch a ride, communicate, get our news and learn has been transformed. Today, new technologies are being adopted faster than ever before; whereas it took 30 years for 10 per cent of the population to have electricity and 25 years for the telephone, that figure dropped to just seven years for smartphones and 42 days for Pokemon Go. Against this backdrop of rapid and profound change, however, the process of strategic planning stays the same in many organisations. Strategy, as defined by the World Economic Forum, is a high-level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty – and it’s that last part, the conditions of uncertainty, that not only often gets neglected but is increasingly critical in today’s world.

In the past 15 years, I’ve advised on and studied workforce strategy in a wide range of organisations around the world. Consistently, several common themes emerge for those who are successful in identifying, creating and supporting a futureready workforce.

1. They refine their people practices with data It’s a well-worn cliché that one size does not fit all. While many ‘best’

practices have evolved over years for good reason, every organisational strategy is unique, which means that not all ‘best practices’ are a good fit for all organisations. When we adopt industry best practice, we’re trying to standardise and be consistent with other organisations.

Taken to its logical conclusion, if every organisation is successful at standardising, then no organisation will have an advantage. With corporate strategy, we recognise and embrace the idea that we need to differentiate, with a singularly unique vision and strategy – so why would we strive to be average when it comes to our workforce practices?

Not a cliché, but no less real, is that usually the 'one size' that’s right for you won’t fit you forever.

Organisations grow out of their practices as their circumstances change, and it’s important to know when that happens. Effective workforce strategy uses data to provide evidence about where people practices are working the degree to which they are working, and whether that’s changing over time. Having a handle on data, which is after all the language of business, is critical for today’s HR organisation. According to The Economist, as of 2017, data has now overtaken oil as the world’s most valuable asset – and like oil,

it needs to be extracted, refined and used to generate value. In the HR toolkit, that value is uncovering insights to improve and evolve our practices.

2. They reframe their people practices in times of change While data can be incredibly valuable to HR, all the data we have is about the past. Unfortunately, all the decisions we make are about the future. Too much reliance on data can mean optimising for the past, rather than the future. Worldleading organisations also look to possibilities (without being confident enough in the unknown to make predictions). Scenario Planning is a tool that allows organisations to explore a range of plausible future environments in which we’ll need to deliver our organisation’s vision.

These scenarios are then used to stress-test a people plan against a range of future environments, ensuring that we maximise our chances of having an effective workforce whatever the future brings.

Scenario Planning ensures that the decisions these organisations make today are resilient to a range of possible futures.

3. They explore best-fit practices, with a non-reaction to fads While many innovative organisations are charting a new course with

interesting people initiatives, simply adopting others’ methods and approaches won’t give us the same results. You can put a ball pit and a slide in your office foyer, but that’s not going to make you Google. If you’ve ever tried to adopt holacracy (a complete system for self-organisation) or workforce gamification without doing the work of adapting these concepts to your organisation, you’ve probably learned this lesson the hard way. Many are the organisations that have stopped working from home because Yahoo! did, or stopped annual performance ratings because Deloitte did. The organisations that have developed and refined these approaches have done so in alignment with their own organisations’ vision and circumstances. These organisations have “reframed” what their workforce practices should look like to be the right fit for their strategy. While these case studies can inspire us, we must assess their appropriateness in our own context.

4. They treat workforce strategy as both an art and a science Almost anything, taken to one extreme or another, is problematic – we’ve probably all worked with someone who never has anything to say; and also someone who always has something say! This applies too when it comes to data-led or

foresight-led workforce strategy.

Too much data and your workforce strategies can end up optimising for the past, in a business environment that’s rapidly changing. On the other hand, building workforce strategies and initiatives looking only to the future can limit our ability to be evidence-based with our current practices. Effective organisations use both the art of foresight and the science of data analysis to identify and scale opportunities.

5. They align their people practices to their organisations’ vision Unfortunately, relying solely on ‘best practice’ or current practice and reacting to fads is the sum total of workforce strategy in many organisations – both are poor enablers of our organisations’ unique goals and strategies.

Effective workforce strategy enables organisations to move from 'repeating' to 'refining', where we can use data to move Human Resources to a true social science. At the same time, it moves us from 'reacting' to 'reframing', by fully embracing the opportunities in complexity and change – rather than a knee-jerk reaction to fads, instead imagining the new, innovative, and strategically aligned possibilities that change and complexity offer us. Only by having an understanding of the alignment of initiatives to what our organisation is trying to achieve can we develop a coherence suite of innovative enabling and data-supported people initiatives that are true enablers of an organisation's success.

Alex Hagan is the CEO of boutique workforce strategy firm Kienco, and the author of Thriving in Complexity.

His methodology blends data analysis and futures thinking to both optimise current operations and position for long-term strategic success, and has been used by a wide range of public and private organisations to identify and build their ideal future workforce. Alex teaches the HRNZ Strategic Workforce Planning and Workforce Analytics professional development programmes.

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DIVERSITY RACHEL HOPKINS

Driving action

in workplace diversity and inclusion: five key questions

Rachel Hopkins, Chief Executive at Diversity Works NZ, shares the most common questions she gets asked about workplace diversity and inclusion. And with no 'right' answers, Rachel shares some of the findings of a recent diversity survey and gives an insight into what actions may make sense for your organisation.

T

he most common questions we get asked about workplace diversity and inclusion are “where do we start?” and “how can we do better?”.

Wherever you are now is the right place to start. There are no 'right' answers, just actions that make sense for your organisational purpose, actions that help you reach your goals faster and actions that engage your team and your communities in positive progress.

The 2019 New Zealand Workplace Diversity Survey is carried out annually by Diversity Works New Zealand in partnership with Massey University to identify workplace diversity priorities. From the results this year, we developed 38

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five questions for people leaders committed to doing workplace diversity and inclusion well. These questions might lead to the right actions for your organisation.

1. Do you have programmes or interventions in place to ensure you meet your gender equity targets and are you on track?

Gender equity ranked significantly higher this year than last. But simply having a policy on 'better gender equity' is not enough.

Vector Limited was the winner of the 2019 Empowerment Category in the 2019 Diversity Awards NZ™ because of the targets and metrics that it put in place to measure female participation, promotion and contribution to organisational success. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was Highly Commended in the same category because of the scientific approach it took to analysing the gaps in pay, participation and promotion to inform its action plan.

2. What initiatives do you have for engaging your aging workforce?

Aging was the only diversity issue considered less important by organisations in 2019 than it was in 2018 and it remains the diversity

issue for which businesses are least likely to have a programme or policy in place to address. With 20 per cent of our workforce aged over 55, and the over-65 demographic set to double in the next decade, this isn’t good risk management or workforce planning.

Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) is launching an Alliance Partner project in October 2019 to help Diversity Works NZ members deliver positive transitions to active work and retirement options for aging workers.

One of the leaders of this project is 2017 Diversity Awards NZ™ Walk the Talk category winner Fatu Patolo, who is Manager of the Manufacturing and Supply Division at CCA. 3. What action can you take to remove bias from your recruitment and promotion processes?

The 2019 survey revealed a strongly growing awareness of the impact bias has on workplace decision making, particularly in recruitment and promotion. Organisations can put simple strategies in place throughout the whole employee life cycle to mitigate the impact of bias. Usually these don’t involve any extra cost or changes to policy.

5. Are all your people leaders confident around implementing your diversity and inclusion policies?

Diversity and inclusion policies are only effective if they are followed throughout your business and used by all staff.

The Department of Internal Affairs was given a Highly Commended accolade by the judges of this years’ Diversity Awards NZ™ in the Work Life Balance Category because of its deliberate investment in supporting middle managers to understand and implement their mental wellbeing vision in their everyday actions.

Keep asking questions

Leaders of New Zealand organisations all around the country are asking the same questions as you. Some of them are also taking bold, authentic action that makes positive progress for their teams and stakeholders, and they are happy to share what they’ve learned. Wherever you start is the right place to start. Just get started.

The public service Gender Pay Equity Action Plan was launched by the Minister for Women in June 2018. By 1 July 2020, all core public service organisations must have eliminated gender bias from their recruitment and remuneration practices. We are working with our Alliance Partner the State Services Commission (SSC) to help organisations implement SSC guidance on this issue.

4. What initiatives do you have for recruitment and career development for people living with disabilities?

Research shows that the unemployment rate for New Zealand’s 228,000 people of working age living with a disability

is 50 per cent higher than the unemployment rate of the total workforce. Yet less than a quarter of organisations responding to our 2019 survey saw this as an issue of importance.

Vector Limited and The Cookie Project were the finalists in the Diversability Category of the 2019 Diversity Awards NZTM. This category recognises organisations moving beyond accessibility to inclusion of disability in the workplace, and video case studies of both organisations are on our website. Richard Branson and his Virgin Foundation are spearheading this work in organisations globally through the #Valuable500 movement, which is worth checking out.

Rachel Hopkins is CEO of Diversity Works NZ, the national body for workplace diversity and inclusion. Through research, education and advice we help organisations do workplace inclusion well and do well because of it. The full 2019 survey and video, and downloadable case studies of all 2019 Diversity Awards NZ™ finalists are available at www.diversityworksnz.org.nz

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REGIONAL ROUNDUP CATHERINE LO-GIACCO

Taranaki Branch W

ith a population of around 110,000 and employment of 58,000 filled jobs, Taranaki boasts an enviable balance of work opportunities and lifestyle.

Whether you want to be out there completing Mount Taranaki’s oneday Pouakai Crossing, surfing the excellent breaks or joining a group of friends on the somewhat tamer but no less beautiful walk along the waterfront walkway, you are spoilt for choice here in Taranaki. It’s the type of area that when recruiting for your business there are plenty of candidates who want to “come back to the Mountain”.

It's the type of area that when recruiting for your business there are plenty of candidates who want to "come back to the Mountain".

Our HRNZ team consists of around 70 members who come from a huge variety of organisations. Agriculture, oil and gas, banking, logistics, electricity, water and waste as well as retail. All these sectors add to our economic growth as a region. We recognise that the size of many of our members’ organisations means that they may not actually have the title of 'HR' but they are still the ‘go-to’ person in their team to lead people decisions. When you attend our events, you may be sitting next to a general manager HR, a specialist in organisational design, a dedicated ‘can do’ administrator who takes on many HR functions, or even one of our HR students who attends our local technical institute, the Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki.

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The HRNZ Taranaki team’s focus is on sharing practical ideas and experiences as well as ‘what’s new’.

We use some of our amazing talent locally as well as bringing speakers from across the country. Our last event featured Chris Boggs, Executive General Manager People and Culture at TSB. Chris shared with us lessons on how to successfully create a line of sight from your Board and CEO level strategy to your practical HR deliverables. He highlighted what his view was of what Boards and executives of today need from their HR teams and shared practical hints and tips on how to develop pragmatic solutions and effective workforce strategies. His key message – Keep it Simple! Earlier this year we ‘went academic’ and were fortunate to have special guests Dr David Brougham PhD and Prof Jane Parker from Massey University to learn more about today’s research on the impact of digital solutions.

They discussed with us the potential scope of change, what roles or tasks may be focuses for automation and the implications for employment relations, job design, work and job flexibility, turnover, performance and more.

We were also very proud to have our first ever Taranaki Student Ambassador in the region this year.

Our national support team heard our plea and responded to facilitate more Student Ambassador placements around the country, and especially to have some within the more ‘far flung’ regions. Nicole Chamberlain was appointed earlier this year and we have valued her being part of our committee. We are already thinking up ways to engage with our wider student population.

What’s next for the HRNZ Taranaki team?

We have several items on our agenda for the remainder of the year. We are on a mission to help promote Chartered Membership.

This is an opportunity to promote the professionalism of our field of work and to be recognised for the skill and experience we bring to the table. For those of us who are not yet chartered, it can seem a daunting prospect, however, with a bit of team work, our aim is to support each other with our applications. Keep an eye out for these in the next few months. We also have planned a workshop on understanding cultural diversity for later in the year.

Very excitingly, we also have another first – the national professional development workshop on Workforce Analytics is coming to Taranaki in October. Please don’t miss this opportunity if you are local, and for those of you who would love to find an excuse to spend time in the world's number two region to visit (as voted

by Best in Travel 2017 yearbook), come and join us here in Taranaki and enjoy our region and some warm hospitality – we would love to see you!

Catherine Lo-Giacco is an HR Manager at Port Taranaki Limited. As the Branch President for the Taranaki Branch since April 2018, she credits the passionate and dedicated HRNZ committee for the delivery of a diverse range of workshops, Café Connects and professional development opportunities in the region.

Anyone interested in joining the committee, please do make contact!

GRACE DALTON STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

My journey in Human Resources I

have spent the past two years of my time at university as a Student Ambassador for Human Resources New Zealand and can say with confidence that HRNZ has played a fundamental role in terms of both my knowledge of the industry and the connections I have gained along the way.

Before university, I did not have a clear career path in mind. However, I was certain of the fact that I wanted a career that empowered and uplifted others. With this in mind, I chose to major in psychology at the University of Otago, taking a few management papers out of interest in order to keep my options open.

It was through these additional papers where I understood the power HR could possess within an organisation, and by my second year of study I had included a commerce degree majoring in Human Resource Management as part of my conjoint. By taking part in this, I found I was able to take the knowledge I had gained from my psychology degree and implement this into an organisational setting.

Within this career path, I felt a strong sense of belonging and passion for the topics at hand and had a strong sense of engagement surrounding my studies. Based on my learnings so far at university, I have developed interests in the fields of employee engagement, transformational programmes and organisational behaviour.

HRNZ first became apparent to me when Matt Hesson, the 2017 ambassador, spoke in a management lecture about the opportunities HRNZ provided for students and the application process for becoming

a Student Ambassador. From here, I decided to give it a go and have been the Otago Student Ambassador and a committee member for HRNZ Otago ever since. From a student’s perspective, HRNZ provides a vast network of like-minded professionals and mentors, granting the ability to rub shoulders with those already working in positions you may aspire to achieve. A distinct trait of the HR industry is that people-oriented personnel are incredibly friendly and easy to talk to. As a young aspiring professional, this fosters an incredibly easy and safe entrance into the industry that could otherwise be perceived as daunting. From here, we (as a branch) have been able to encourage many other HR students' into the world of HRNZ, through means of our annual Otago students evening and other networking events.

The friendly and open nature of networking events has helped me to gain confidence in my conversational skills amongst senior management.

Being an HRNZ Student Ambassador has aided my aspiring career immensely. The friendly and open nature of networking events and committee meetings has helped me to gain confidence in my conversational skills amongst senior management personnel and has personally been one of the most valuable learnings I have gained throughout my time with HRNZ. With these opportunities I’ve also been able to gain informal career advice and knowledge, and it was through

these connections with HRNZ that I was able to obtain opportunities such as an interview and enjoyable summer internship with the team at Abano Healthcare.

Listening to influential speakers at the HRNZ annual conferences and regular networking events throughout Dunedin, HRNZ has shown me first hand the importance of fostering a sense of community within working environments, to achieve the highest productivity and wellbeing amongst employers. Taking this knowledge, I have enjoyed implementing this into my extra-curricular areas around university. Examples of such include taking on the role as the founding vice-president of the Otago Psychology Society and fostering community within the business realm as secretary for the Otago Commerce Students Association.

Overall, there is a multitude of aspects to my aspiring career to which I owe HRNZ. Some of these have been direct influences, while others have been incidental benefits I have gained throughout my journey. While many of these have come about from working within the Ambassador role, HR Management students will find many of these benefits, regardless of being within this role or not.

Grace Dalton: HRNZ 2018 and 2019 University of Otago Student Ambassador. Grace is a fourth-year Psychology and Human Resource Management student at the University of Otago, with strong interests surrounding the areas of employee engagement and organisational behaviour.

E: gracedalton24@gmail.com

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RESEARCH UPDATE JOHN LAWSON

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5

8

17

20 1

20

20 15

20 16

3

20 14

20 1

/2 10

20 12

08

1

01

20 09

20

6

0

20

Average % turnover in first 12 months employment

35 30 25 20 15 10 5

18 20

17 20

20 15

20 16

20 14

13 20

1

01

2 0/

1 20

20 12

0

20 09

In 2018, however, we discussed the new forces affecting the turnover of staff. First the rapid change to the composition of our workforce.

15 10

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The New Zealand Staff Turnover Survey was first published in 2006.

Consequently, we now have over a decade of data that covers the latest economic cycle. The survey results clearly emphasise the cyclical nature of staff turnover and its relationship to the strength of the economy.

25 20

20 07

The survey also reports on the use of the 90-day trial period, the reasons for voluntary turnover and the retention strategies being employed

by New Zealand companies.

Secondly, technology is rapidly changing the availability of new work opportunities for your employees.

Big data, AI and machine learning are enabling recruitment platforms such as LinkedIn to find your staff more easily. The future will be about being found for work, not finding jobs to apply for, suggesting that with more opportunities for work being presented to your employees, we would expect greater mobility and voluntary turnover.

Average national staff turnover %

20 07

The Lawson Williams National Staff Turnover Survey is supported

by HRNZ and is in its 12th year. It provides a measure of staff turnover and has once again produced interesting findings that help participating companies to better understand the performance of their recruitment, onboarding and retention processes.

20 0

Measuring staff turnover

For example, millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996) currently account for 34 per cent of New Zealand's labour force, and by 2020 will be the majority. Forty-three per cent of this group plan to leave their company within two years. We know that millennials have a very different view of work from the baby boomers. Will they hunker down in their current job just because the economy is weaker?

20 06

Voluntary turnover holds steady as involuntary turnover climbs rapidly, results from the National Staff Turnover Survey now show.

The question to be answered is, if the economy continues to cycle as predicted by the economists and we move into a period of lower growth, will we see the traditional climb in involuntary turnover and the corresponding fall in voluntary turnover? Will these new factors or others affect the traditional cyclical nature of staff turnover?

The results from this survey show that we haven’t seen a full repeat of 2008 yet.

What we have seen is a rapid climb in involuntary turnover at an alarming and almost identical rate to the start of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), but interestingly the size of the rise in involuntary

turnover has not been matched by a fall in voluntary turnover, in fact, there has been no decrease at all.

In these unusual circumstances, what can companies do?

1. Measure your staff turnover and compare it to other companies in your industry or sector. If your voluntary turnover is higher than that of your competitors, it is a fact your business will be less competitive. If it is better than that of your competitors, you must be doing something right, so find out what it is and build on it.

2. Be proactive, identify your key talent and determine their motivators. Develop a range of retention strategies, regardless of the size of your company.

Involuntary turnover increased by 61 per cent The average national turnover figure is calculated using the levels of voluntary and involuntary turnover.

The average New Zealand staff turnover rate in 2017 was steady at 18.8 per cent. In 2018 we saw a significant increase to 20.5 per cent.

We have not returned to the levels of average staff turnover pre-GFC, which reached 23 per cent in 2007 and 22.4 per cent in 2008. However, the rapid climb in involuntary turnover to a level of 4.2 per cent from 2.6 per cent has been the contributing factor in pushing the national average staff turnover rate to 20.5 per cent.

The question becomes, if involuntary turnover has jumped to early GFC levels, why are we not seeing a similar decrease in voluntary turnover?

Several factors appear to be at play here. In addition to the new forces as previously discussed, we see a significantly slower decrease in our economic activity. The speed of the fall in growth to a predicted level of 2 per cent for the current financial year is significant but is still positive.

This is very different from 2008 where

the fall was sharp and took us quickly into recession with a corresponding decrease in voluntary turnover as people became cautious and were less likely to move jobs.

Secondly, we have seen some wage inflation in the past year, lifting the labour cost index, which is a measure of annual wage inflation, by 2 per cent. Higher wages directly impact voluntary turnover because people are more inclined to leave jobs for higher salaries.

Thirdly, we appear to be operating in a multispeed economy. Our survey shows that in sectors, such as accounting practices, energy and electricity, fast-food and hospitality, property and construction, there has been higher levels of involuntary turnover, indicating that these sectors are finding the current market conditions challenging, leading to restructuring and/or the laying off of staff, whereas industries such as FMCG have maintained lower levels of involuntary and correspondingly higher levels of voluntary turnover.

One in every 3.1 hires in New Zealand is failing in the first year.

Failure of hires in the first year has reached its highest level in 12 years, and 31.9 per cent of all hires in New Zealand do not last beyond 12 months. This is a further 12.3 per cent increase on the previous year’s increase of 14.5 per cent.

When we consider specific industry or sector results (these figures are given in the full survey report provided to survey participants) we know that turnover in the first 12 months varies significantly.

However, any turnover in the first 12 months should be seen as a failure of recruitment and onboarding.

From 25 years of experience in recruitment, Lawson Williams believes that turnover within the first six months of employment is typically a failure of the recruitment process and onboarding. After six months,

the honeymoon period of a new job generally has worn off, and staff turnover is more affected by the lack of, or misdirected, retention strategies. Our research shows that dissatisfaction with management will more often surface at this point and becomes a significant factor in staff turnover between six to 12 months.

The National Staff Turnover Survey provides turnover data for a range of industry sectors. The real value in staff turnover measurement is to compare your company’s turnover against your competitors. Staff Turnover percentages can vary significantly from year to year.

Eighty-one per cent of our respondents reported having a formalised exit interview process.

This is up from 74 per cent last year and indicates that an increasing and significant number of New Zealand employers are making proactive efforts to identify the cause of staff turnover and tackle any problem areas.

We asked organisations to identify the top three reasons for voluntary turnover. Family and personal circumstances were the biggest contributing factor for staff departures.

Many organisations also identified promotion opportunities elsewhere, an increase in salary, parental leave or lack of real development and/ or promotion opportunities as a key reason.

If you are interested in more information on staff turnover in New Zealand, a detailed summary of the report is available at www.lawsonwilliams.co.nz.

Any business can become part of the National Staff Turnover Survey. It is a free service with all participants receiving a copy of each year’s final report, which includes industry-specific turnover data. If you would like to participate, please contact John Lawson on 09 522 3921. E: john@lawsonwilliams.co.nz

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AM I MANAGING? HOLLY CARRINGTON

NZ workplaces' evolving response to domestic violence

Holly Carrington looks at what’s on offer to support employers’ response to the Domestic Violence–Victims Protection Act 2018.

E

mployers’ response to the Domestic Violence–Victims Protection Act – in force from 1 April this year – has been heartening to those of us who’ve worked in the domestic violence field for many years. So many employers of all sizes are going above and beyond the minimum required for legal compliance, to prepare their workplaces to respond safely and appropriately to employee disclosures.

Domestic violence specialist charity Shine established a DVFREE workplace programme in 2001 to support employers with policy and training. The primary goal is to create workplaces that are safe and supportive for employees who experience domestic violence. For many years it was an uphill battle to convince employers that domestic violence was a workplace issue that needed their investment of time and resources.

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In recent years, the employment sector and HR professionals have turned a corner. There is now a far greater understanding of the prevalence and seriousness of domestic violence in New Zealand and the impact on the workplace in terms of health, safety, wellbeing and productivity.

There is also a greater understanding that an Employment Assistance Programme (EAP) is not a onesize-fits-all solution to employees’ personal problems, and that domestic violence requires a workplace response that focuses on safety, and that refers to community specialists in the first instance, rather than EAP. The result has been a massive surge in demand for DVFREE services – especially training for first responders and managers – as well as interest in the DVFREE Tick accreditation. The DVFREE Team is expanding to meet this demand. The team delivers inhouse training and policy consultation for employers throughout New Zealand. It also now regularly provides training for first responders, and workshops on creating effective policy and procedures, which individuals can

register to attend in Auckland (Shine’s Kingsland venue), Wellington (hosted by Business NZ) and now Christchurch (hosted by Westpac).

Many employers are raising staff awareness using the free online workplace learning module: www.2shine.org.nz/workplacelearning-module Employers with DVFREE Tick accreditation are steadily increasing, including Westpac, Stuff, IAG, the Ministry of Justice and the Human Rights Commission, with many more on the way.

If you are creating, or looking to improve the effectiveness of, your staff domestic violence programme, you can get free, specific and practical advice from the DVFREE Guidelines for Policy and Procedures: www.dvfree.org.nz/dvfreeguidelines-for-policy-procedures Find out more at www.dvfree.org.nz, dvfree@2shine.org.nz or 09-815-4592.

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A Practical Vision for HR

HRNZ SUMMIT QUEENSTOWN

HRNZ Summit:

A practical vision for HR in 2020

8 thought-provoking speakers 1 inspiring day 24 October 2019 The Heritage Hotel Queenstown

www.hrnz.org.nz/summit