PD SPOTLIGHT DENISE HARTLEY-WILKINS
HR Foundations: reshaping true north For some of us, over the past few months, it may have felt like we’ve gone back to square one with our HR expertise and advice-giving. And that doesn’t include paying people correctly and on time, figuring out what hours they worked and checking in on their welfare. Denise Hartley-Wilkins, HRNZ National President, HR consultant and co-facilitator of the HRNZ HR Foundations and HR 101 programmes, takes a closer look at why getting the basics in place is often the most powerful thing you can do.
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hoa! Where is the year going? What day of the week is it? Feeling confused and discombobulated? Well, that is just how many HR professionals felt, and still feel, as they turned on a dime to support their organisations with the many COVID-19 decisions that affected their people. Within a week of New Zealand going to Alert Level 4, I was co-delivering the HR Foundations programme virtually. This was the first-ever HRNZ virtual programme. While working with the trailblazer participants on that programme, as they juggled their professional development with emails, texts and bouncing children on their knee, common themes emerged: 38
HUMAN RESOURCES
WINTER 2020
• HR has to navigate challenges it has never encountered before • health, safety and wellness of staff is of paramount importance • managing remote workers brings many challenges • adapting employee remuneration and hours of work is becoming the norm. The HR Foundations three-day programme is designed for HR practitioners who may be early on in their careers or who want to extend their knowledge of leading-edge HR practice. We cover all the major HR functions, from resourcing to performance management, employment relations to remuneration and reward. Often, we are keen to do the ‘snazzy’ side of
HR, for example, implementing new employer branding to our recruitment strategy or introducing a new app for employee wellbeing. But we need to have the basics in place first, particularly in times of crisis.
Now, more than ever, our managers are seeing the value of HR. It was interesting to see what emerged from our HR Foundations participants during our time together. The main focus was critical actions and new initiatives that were in place within a week, such as flexible working, and dealing with the challenges of managing people
