Human Capital magazine issue 8.6

HC

The art of salary negotiation p.24 » a new twist on change management p.30 » strength through diversity p.38 »

HUMAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE | www.hcamag.com

issue 8.06

$98K

What are you worth?

The ultimate salary guide for you and your team

IN EVERY ISSUE:

Profile case studies

Best practice examples

The forum

Expert opinion columns

Topical news briefs

editorial

Nip/tuck

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recent news report by AAP caught my eye. It indicated that tech savvy 100-year-olds could be part of a workplace revolution as more employees postpone their retirement in the coming decades.

The report quoted John Beard, director of the World Health Organisation’s department of ageing and life course, who said that employees should be allowed to keep working long past the traditional retirement age if they are willing and fit to do so. Employers, he said, would have to adapt to this mature age workforce.

Even if this is taken with a pinch of salt – I for one don’t fancy working till I’m 100 years old – the ABS statistics are daunting. By 2050, one in four Australians will be over 65. The number of Australians aged over 80 by that time will more than double.

The crux of Beard’s argument – presented at the Global Federation on Ageing conference in Melbourne – was that the ageing population should not be seen as a threat but rather an opportunity. “Ageing is too often portrayed as a burden on society,” he said. “Sure, there will be impacts on health service delivery and pensions, but society overlooks the skills and experiences of older people.”

Our various features on diversity in this issue – including a lighthearted look at Gen Y vs Baby Boomers – highlight just what a valuable contribution a diverse workforce brings to any organisation.

And talking of growing older gracefully, I’d like to thank the Human Capital team for pulling together this ‘new look’ issue. Four years ago, soon after my first articles ran in Human Capital, the magazine had a complete overhaul, and the results were startling. Now the time has come again for another makeover, a bit of nip-tuck to stay taut and terrific for our readers.

You’ll find some changes to the content as well, including the introduction of a new ‘inbrief’ section including local, international and legal news snippets, and also ‘The Forum’, in which we ask a revolving panel of experts a pertinent HRrelated question.

We hope you enjoy the new look and feel of the magazine, and look forward to your continued support in 2010 and beyond.

editor Iain Hopkins

SALES & MARKETING National Commercial Manager Sophie Knight

COPY & FEATURES

sales director Justin Kennedy

journalist Daniela Aroche

SALES MANAGER Sarah Wiseman

production editor Carolin Wun

marketing executive Kerry Buckley

production editor Moira Daniels

marketing coordinator Anna Keane TRAFFIC MANAGER Stacey Rudd

ART & PRODUCTION design manager Jacqui Alexander

CORPORATE

designer Paul Mansfield

managing director Mike Shipley chief operating officer George Walmsley

CONTRIBUTORS

chief information officer Colin Chan

Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, Chifley Business School, The Next Step, Chandler Macleod Group, Frontier Software

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Julia Bookallil

Iain Hopkins, editor

Editorial enquiries Iain Hopkins tel: +61 2 8437 4703 iain.hopkins@keymedia.com.au Advertising enquiries Sophie Knight tel: +61 2 8437 4733 National Commercial Manager, HR Products sophie.knight@keymedia.com.au Sarah Wiseman tel: +61 2 8437 4745 Sales Manager, HR Products sarah.wiseman@keymedia.com.au Subscriptions tel: +61 2 8437 4731 • fax: +61 2 8437 4753 subscriptions@keymedia.com.au Key Media www.keymedia.com.au Key Media Pty Ltd, Regional head office, Level 10, 1 Chandos St, St Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia tel: +61 2 8437 4700 fax: +61 2 9439 4599 Offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Toronto www.hcamag.com Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept as HC can accept no responsibility for loss.

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contents

Inside this issue 24 The art of negotiation Think you deserve a better deal? Kelly Magowan provides some practical tips for negotiating your salary with current and new employers

30 Change maestros Human Capital investigates how words, conversations and even ‘visualisations’ can influence change programs, and profiles two organisations undertaking their own change initiatives

38 Reconciliation in action Driven by more than a desire to ‘give back’, many organisations are seeing the genuine business benefits that Indigenous employment programs can bring

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16 Cover story: What are you worth?

Following the volatility of 2009, can HR professionals expect a pay rise any time soon? Human Capital assesses the latest salary figures for you and your team

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Letters to the editor

Regulars

Do you have a burning HR or people management issue you would like to share with others? Would you like to share your thoughts on the challenges you’ve faced and how you’ve overcome them? Want to kick off some debate about your industry? If so, Human Capital would like to hear from you.

Send through your comments to editor@hcamag.com

4 In Step 6 Legal 8 Training & development 9 Corporate culture 10 HR technology

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The structures of HR

HR Career Experts

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he HR profession is responsible for the design of structures within most organisations. In this month’s Instep, we look at the structures HR has designed for itself and we ask how happy HR practitioners are with these structures.

Table 2: Organisation size

What structures are currently in place?

(By people)

Currently in Ulrich Model

Preference is to be in Ulrich Model

Difference

Under 1,000

27.3%

43.3%

Plus 16%

Over 1,000

68.3%

56.3%

Minus 12%

Anecdotally, the big negative about the Ulrich Model appears to be that there is a significant amount of time, effort and money that goes into coordinating everyone in HR to be on the same page.

Commercially driven HR professionals tire of the frustrating process of getting things done, which requires spending most of their time dealing with other HR professionals and not the business.

This raises the question, if HR professionals don’t want to be in the Ulrich Model, what structure would they prefer?

The results of the survey indicated that the people who don’t want to be in the Ulrich Model and are currently structured this way, would either like to be in a wholly decentralised or conversely, a wholly centralised structure. While these options look clear cut enough, no structure is perfect.

The structures that most HR professionals find themselves in and their preference of structures were just two of the questions in a national survey conducted by The Next Step of almost 2,000 HR professionals. Responses were received from all levels of the profession, all areas of expertise (from generalist to specialist) and across all industries.

The survey responses indicated that the predominant structure in HR in Australia is the Ulrich Model. The results were as follows: »» Ulrich Model 51.3% »» Traditional HR Department 15.2% »» Wholly Decentralised 9.3% »» Centralised + some Decentralisation 7.9% »» Wholly Centralised 11.8% »» Other 4.5%

A final word

Does the size of the organisation in relation to HR structure matter?

While there are pros and cons with every structure in HR, it’s clear that the majority of people in Australia are in the Ulrich Model and most are committed to this approach. The $64m question is – what’s next? No doubt the major consulting firms and industry gurus are currently creating something “brand new” and therefore a wave of recycled ideas and fads for HR is just around the corner.

Clearly the Ulrich Model is the preferred HR structure, but is this due to the size of the organisation? The answer is an emphatic yes!

As seen in Table 1, over 70% of organisations in Australia with more than 5,000 employees structure their HR teams in the Ulrich Model.

Table 1: HR structure by size of company Company size

Ulrich

Traditional HR Dept

Decentralised

Centralised + some others

Wholly Decentralised

Other

1–250

13%

29%

14%

7%

21%

14%

251–500

25%

33%

12%

4%

20%

4%

501–1,000

44%

20%

10%

8%

14%

3%

1,001–5,000

64%

10%

8%

7%

8%

2%

5,001–10,000

70%

5%

6%

10%

5%

3%

0ver 10,000

71%

5%

6%

9%

6%

1%

Does the HR profession like being in the Ulrich Model?

The results of the survey found, that for some in HR, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.

Some HR professionals who are not in an HR team structured in an Ulrich Model, have indicated they would like to be. But, interestingly, as can be seen in Table 2, many HR practitioners that are in this model don’t want to be!

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Craig Mason is a Director with The Next Step, a specialist consulting practice in the human resources market.

For information call (02) 8256 2500 or email cmason@thenextstep.com.au website: www.thenextstep.com.au

Recent HR Market Moves supplied by The Next Step

Helen Lea has been appointed Group Executive – People at UGL, (United Group). Prior to her appointment, Helen was MD of Theia Enterprises and had an extensive career with BAT including being Area Head of HR, Head of OD and Global Head of Resourcing.

Paul Neilsen has joined Star Track Express as HR Manager. Paul

Rebecca Walklate has joined FINSIA as Manager, Career

Corporate HR Manager. Previously, Andrew was in a senior HR role with Westpac.

Development. Prior to this Rebecca was the Senior Learning and Development Consultant at BCS.

Caroline Bessemer joins Gateway Credit Union as the HR Manager. Caroline was previously with HBO+EMTB as their HR Manager.

Rebecca Downie has commenced with Lexis Nexis as Organisational Development & Capability Manager. Prior to this Rebecca was with Caltex Australia as L&D Manager and formerly had a long and successful career with Brambles.

Annie Carter has accepted the role with Mirvac as L&D Manager.

Annie was previously the L&D Manager at Hamilton Island Enterprises.

Katherine Zangari has joined NRMA as Organisation Development Consultant – Leadership & Talent. Katherine had been with St.George as Learning Consultant – Talent & OD Consultant.

was formerly with TNT Australia as Divisional HR Manager and HR Director.

Andrew Fletcher has commenced with Worley Parsons as

Matt Scott has joined American Express to lead the HR Service Delivery team for Aus & NZ. Matt was formerly with VHA.

Craig Pollington has joined Cover-More Travel Insurance as General Manager, Human Resources Aus & NZ. Craig formerly had a long and successful career at Westpac in senior HR and line roles.

Mark Wilde is joining CBA as Executive Manager – Workplace Advisory. Mark previously worked at AMP in senior HR/ER roles.

Amy Ng has commenced as the Head of People & Performance Operations at Wesfarmers General Insurance Ltd. She has held senior roles in the state public sector and AMP. Amy joins a burgeoning HR team which has also recently appointed Amanda Jenkins from Oil Search in a senior OD role, Wayne Robertson from E&Y as the Head of Learning & Development and Sam Sheppard from CBA and GE as the General Manager, Human Resources.

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

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MODERN AWARDS – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?...

NOT YET!

Legal Experts

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major element of the Labor Party’s industrial relations policy for the 2007 Federal election was the replacement of the many thousands of State and Federal awards with a limited number of ‘Modern Awards’.

Is the mission accomplished?

Over 1,500 State and Federal awards have been replaced with 122 Modern Awards taking effect (at least in some respects) from 1 January 2010. The task of making the 122 Modern Awards from over 1,500 Federal and State awards was gargantuan, and it is noted that many decisions were made by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission on applications to vary Modern Awards right up to and including 31 December 2009. No one believes the process has rendered a perfect or even near perfect result.

The commencement of Modern Awards on 1 January 2010 is probably the element of the new national workplace relations system of most immediate and widespread effect on all employers.

In the long term, these 122 Modern Awards will establish a simpler and more efficient award system.

What do Modern Awards cover?

Modern Awards are much simpler and generic than the awards they replace. They only deal with a limited range of matters including most importantly: »» Minimum wages »» Types of employment (ie full time, part time, casual) »» Hours of work and arrangements for the performance of work »» Overtime and penalty rates »» Allowances for work disabilities, extra responsibility and reimbursement of expenses »» Leave and leave loadings »» Consultation, representation and dispute and settlement procedures Modern Awards are also required to include a flexibility term and must not exclude any of the National Employment Standards that now apply to all employees within Australia.

Transitional arrangements – a 5 year journey...

Generally speaking, all State and Federal Awards that are not “enterprise based” ceased to have effect from 1 January 2010, except for some transitional arrangements for existing wages and loadings, up to 1 July 2010. “Agreement based” awards can continue

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up to 31 December 2013 at the latest.

The transitional arrangements for Modern Awards are rather complex. The following attempts to be a summary of the most important of the shortterm transitional arrangements (but there are a number of others which we have no room to discuss here). (a) Modern Awards start on 1 January 2010 and any previous Awards within any Modern Award’s coverage lapse on that date. (b) The rates of pay and loadings prescribed by Modern Awards commence on 1 July 2010, but on a sliding scale of 20% per year over five years. (c) An employee who has remained with the same employer from prior to 1 January 2010 and after 1 July 2010 may apply to Fair Work Australia for a “take home pay order” to ensure that that employee’s gross pay is not reduced after 1 July 2010, despite the change. (d) Modern Awards are to be generally reviewed by Fair Work Australia in 2012 and again in 2014.

But in addition the Fair Work Act provides for a number of bases for earlier amendment of these Awards.

There are still many cases going before FWA where employers and/or unions are seeking additional changes to Modern Awards – usually, however, FWA is rejecting these applications unless the case is one agreed by all to be one overwhelmingly calling for change.

What should employers do?

Most employers will be affected by Modern Awards – few will be immune from having to compare their existing awards and contracts with the new ‘streamlined’ Modern Award or Awards that apply in the workplace. Go first to the ‘Coverage’ clauses, work out or get advice on which ones cover you (remember these Awards are all ‘common rules’), then see how much their clauses affect or even damage your existing arrangements. If the Modern Award just does not suit your operations, you can’t just go on ‘business as usual’ as you may be breaching the Award and exposing the business and directors to penalties.

Look at whether you can introduce an enterprise agreement for your staff, to ‘iron out the wrinkles’ – get specialist advice before you do it! www.codea.com.au

Michelle Wright Lawyer Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers 72 Church St Wollongong 2500 Phone 02 4227 1427

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Training & Development Professional Development Experts

Getting the most out of the performance review process

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ome of the keys to ensuring employees are fully engaged with their work and their workplace is to provide regular feedback on their performance, give guidance, recognise their achievements, and to make them feel valued and respected members of their work team.

While working with a client this past week I was reminded of the pain, anxiety and inconvenience facing many managers when completing performance reviews. Simply, most managers don’t like confronting people over less than average performance, or explaining to an employee that they have only just met their performance expectations – especially when they believe they have exceeded their expectations.

Many appraisal systems ultimately have an impact on salary reviews, which raises more challenges in ensuring fairness and equity within and between teams as well as across the organisation. When organisations try to separate performance appraisals from salary reviews, many wonder what the point of performance reviews actually is.

Despite the best attempts of the HR team to develop objective review systems that benefit the employee, manager and the organisation, most people outside the HR team just don’t hold the same passion and faith in the review process.

I suspect the real problem with performance appraisal and review does not lie with the system alone but more importantly with the attitude of managers and employees toward the process and system. Like most things in life, what you get out of a situation is what you put into it. Negative attitudes toward performance appraisal will result in limited success in the process.

So, how can organisations create effective appraisals? On the assumption that the appraisal system and process are of a high standard, fair and equitable, then the answer starts with the culture and communication surrounding appraisal. Consider the following: 1. Give appraisal a purpose. Communicate why reviews and appraisals are important and the benefits they hold for the individual and manager.

2. Ensure people know how it happens. Don’t make

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the process a mystery; ensure everyone knows how it works – and allow them to have input into making the review and appraisal discussion more effective. Ask them what they would like to get out of the discussion, how they can contribute to the discussion and how it can be made more effective.

3. Ensure people know their role. The appraisal is not for the manager only. The employee, manager and HR all play a part in making it a success, so make sure everyone knows their role and how they can make the process worthwhile.

4. Give feedback every day, or at least weekly. Review and appraisal is not just an annual or biannual event. People need feedback on their performance every day, every week and every month. It need not be a formal discussion; informal catch-ups prevent any surprises in the formal review. If, as a manager, you think this is too hard, you might reassess the role of the manager and your suitability to the role.

5. Allow people input in setting and achieving their own goals. Too often goals and measures are imposed upon people. I accept that there will be some KRAs which must be imposed, but employees will have far more commitment to goals and measures they set for themselves.

6. Be careful setting the ever popular ‘stretch goals’.

Your staff won’t bother if they’re unrealistic.

Consider having smaller goals to achieve in a shorter time, which you can build on.

7. Focus on behaviours as well as achievements.

Appraising behaviour is as important as appraising results. Managers must be clear about the expected behaviours and provide examples of what is required. This must be done at the beginning of the review period.

Most importantly, managers must be a role model for the support and acceptance of the review and appraisal process. Encourage others by enthusiastically embracing the process and its benefits.

Contributed by Mark Johnson on behalf of Chifley Business School.

Mark is a faculty chair for the Chifley MBA program.

Phone 1300 CHIFLEY | 1300 244 353 Visit www.chifley.edu.au

Workforce Advisory & Management Evolving your Workforce

The importance of maintaining a healthy people resource and corporate profile

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he last century has seen a huge shift in the importance of different kinds of resources to business. A hundred years ago, the key resource for business was capital, which bought the raw materials, land, factories and transport needed to thrive. People, although important to the whole process, made little difference to the productivity delivered by the machines that capital was able to buy.

Today, however, up to 85% of the economy in developed countries is based on human interaction, on a whole variety of new and differing levels.

Management today is about getting your employees to deliver the right service in ever more complex and confusing situations. People have become the most important business of business and need to be at the heart of strategy because well skilled, experienced and best-fit talent are the essential resource in business today.

While we are facing the challenges the market is throwing our way, we need to be mindful of the importance of not only managing our people resources effectively, but also maintaining a favourable corporate identity, both internally and externally to our organisation.

The most important brand relationship in an employee’s life is unlikely to be their choice of breakfast cereal, mobile phone or car, but the brand they work for – ie your employer brand. Who you work for represents an extremely important brand choice. This is the brand relationship that takes up most of your time. It’s probably the brand with which you’re most intensely involved, the brand about which you have most to say (good and bad), and if you’re lucky it’s a brand with which you’ll proudly identify for the rest of your life.

From the organisation’s perspective, the employer brand sums up the key qualities current and prospective employees identify with you as an employer, whether economic (compensation

and benefits), functional (eg learning new skills) or psychological (eg sense of identity and status).

Whether you’ve defined it or not, you already have an employer brand. The key question is whether you’re clear about the distinctive benefits you’d like people to associate with you (commonly described as your employee value proposition), proactive in communicating and delivering against this promise, or happy to live with an unclear and inconsistent employer brand by default.

How people feel about their employer brand is increasingly critical to business success or failure, especially today. Leading companies realise its importance in attracting and engaging the people they need to deliver profitable growth. They also recognise that creating a positive brand experience for employees requires the same degree of focus, care and coherence that has long characterised effective management of the customer brand experience.

The three major benefits of strengthening your employer brand identified in separate studies are cited as being: »» enhanced attraction »» retention »» engagement There is significant evidence to suggest that a strong employer brand, associated with stronger attraction and higher than average levels of employee engagement, will ultimately contribute to better financial results.

In this current market, we are all making strategic decisions that will directly affect our people resource and inadvertently our corporate profile. While making the tough calls in the name of long-term survival, it is worthwhile remembering that people and your employee brand are critical in not only maintaining performance but also in retaining your talent. When things start to improve economically, those brands that have enhanced or maintained their employee brand and performance reputation will benefit in the long term. www.chandlermacleod.com

Craig McCallum General Manager Marketing: Specialist Recruitment & Consulting Services Tel: 02 9269 8879 Craig.McCallum@chandlermacleod.com

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diversity Indigenous recruitment viewpoint HRIS

Strategic decisions, dashboard style

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he current economic climate is asking all of us to deliver measurable results, demonstrate value and justify decisions. For the HR professional, this spells an opportunity to enhance the role of a strategic business partner.

However, to be truly effective in this regard, there is a requirement for accurate and relevant metrics.

These metrics should not only report results, but also be the first stage in building the case for policies, procedures and strategies that impact business results, drive change and build competitive advantage. In practical terms, this involves the HR professional strategically leveraging measurement to provide a deeper insight.

There is no doubt that a HRIS, and in particular, the embedded reports, can be used to assist the strategic decision making process. This process is greatly enhanced with access to ‘what if’ scenarios, historical analysis and logical reasoning, so data is consolidated, integrated with all the HR modules and relevantly delivered with a simple user experience.

Enter the dashboard As humans, we absorb text-based information very slowly. We are pattern seekers and use our visual perception to detect meaning that might otherwise remain hidden. No, I am not heralding the end of classical reports, but imagine if you could spot trends, identify anomalies and use those insights toward effective decisions with a mouse click?

Visualisation makes the complex data embedded within an HRIS clear and immediately actionable.

Dashboards deliver in this regard. By linking human perception to the data presentation, they communicate information in real time with clarity, supporting meaning and usability. They use visualisation tools like charts, gauges and maps, bringing high-impact, predictive insights to meet operational, analytical and strategic requirements.

Typically they are anchored to performance indicators, goals or targets. They also offer interaction by switching between aspects of the data, historical analysis, benchmarking and drill down analysis into the root cause.

Lots of data, but no idea To ensure a successful dashboard journey, you will require a holistic approach to your HRIS

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strategy. This includes an accurate reflection of your organisation structure, competency framework, integrated HR modules, single user dataset and security profile, workflow engine, and a comprehensive and flexible analytical layer with dashboard technology. This will give you the operational and transactional framework that captures, validates and pivots the data. Furthermore, dashboards need to be implemented and configured in such a way, seeking quality over quantity, allowing you to clearly answer the most important workforce-related questions. It’s this logical approach towards decision making which offers strategic empowerment through insight and analysis.

Context of interpretation is also very important.

That is, make the data talk and present it in a way that drives decision making. For example, instead of reporting the ageing workforce, allow the illustration of what the workforce will look like in five, 10 or 15 years’ time. This kind of ‘what if’ scenario building allows you to explore the consequences of inadequate bench strength. Another example is the ‘what if’ analysis of consolidated remuneration under a review scenario. Analysis usually means selecting an employee demographic or location and applying the increase. The direct impact of a change in remuneration is immediately apparent, but don’t stop there. Look into the history and analyse relationships between other functions such as performance, training and length of service.

Dashboards can also be configured in such a way to provide competitive insights. In most organisations the hiring and promotion decisions are made by the line managers. Presenting them with accurate talent analysis embeds a level of quality in their decisions. For example, understanding the sources of departure, reasons for departure, and sources of high performers and potentials, provides insights that build strategies for retention and hiring.

Finally, it may be wise to include dashboards demonstrating compelling logic that address the solution, as well as compelling dollars that address the ROI of a solution. There is always pressure to show ROI and value, but the ‘why and how’ that define a business case for making the investment in the first place and how the proposed investment will solve a problem, are equally important. It’s all about the information that supports decision making.

Ari Kopoulos is national sales and marketing director for EmployeeConnect. For more information, visit www.employeeconnect.com

in brief workplace law

Each month Greg Robertson, general counsel, Harmers Workplace Lawyers, brings you a summary of the significant IR/workplace law tribunal and court case precedents & findings

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Unfair dismissal cases

»»

»»

»»

»»

»»

»»

arge numbers of unfair dismissal matters continue to be lodged with Fair Work Australia (FWA).

In one decision, the attitude of the tribunal to drug and alcohol offences became clear, where FWA rejected a reinstatement application by an employee who had tested positive to drugs on three separate occasions. The third positive test was alleged by the employee to have resulted from him inadvertently drinking his wife’s orange juice, to which she had added her prescription medication (Mulder v BHP Billiton Worsley Alumina).

In Cheng v Cleanevent the employee was dismissed for drinking wine on the job: the employee claimed to have a disability that caused a sore throat and “dried, cracked lips”, for which wine was a “potent juice”.

In another decision on the same theme, dismissal for breach of a “responsible drinking” policy (driving after work whilst exceeding the legal limit) (Kolodjashnij v J Boag and Son Brewery) and for failing a breath test three days before a major change that would have triggered a large redundancy payment (Smith v BHP Billiton Petroleum) were both upheld by FWA. The need for employers to take all the circumstances of an incident into account when deciding whether to terminate an employee was made clear in Kidd v TransAdelaide. A tram conductor who had pushed a passenger who was preventing the doors closing (resulting in a serious assault on the conductor) was dismissed, but FWA found the dismissal to be harsh and unreasonable in the circumstances — pushing the passenger was misconduct, but there were mitigating circumstances (including provocation and the fact that he was attempting to keep the tram running and a concern for other passengers in the vicinity) requiring his reinstatement.

In Ziogas v Telstra, the tribunal upheld the dismissal of an employee who had leaked confidential documents to the union. The documents had been inadvertently placed on an internal website, so the employee had done no wrong in accessing the documents — it was releasing them that constituted misconduct.

What constitutes an employee’s remuneration is often a vexed question. In Roberts v High

Professional Productions the tribunal refused to include the value of an HR diploma course undertaken by the employee. The course was taken by four employees, authorised by the managing director, in an effort to “lift the image of the business”. »» Finally, one case highlighted the risk to employees if they merely follow Code Checklist for the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code. In N v The Bakery the employer had followed the Code Checklist — this resulted in the employer not addressing the right of an employee alleged to have engaged in misconduct to have another person to assist.

The tribunal described the Code Checklist as “deficient” and of “dubious value” in deciding whether there had been compliance.

Contract of employment cases »» Briefly, two important decisions recently delivered highlight areas to watch in dealing with employment contracts. In Guthrie v News Limited the Supreme Court of Victoria has found that employees whose contract of employment has been breached can seek damages for loss of opportunity to renew a contract of employment — damages based on what would have occurred or might occur if the relevant breach had not taken place. This could result in significant damages, far beyond notice. »» The Court also looked at what was relevant to reasonable notice calculations. In Fardell v Coates Hire Operations the New South Wales Supreme Court dealt with a clause, common in senior contracts, allowing for the triggering of redundancy where there was material diminution of a role because of takeover or change of control. The Court also looked at “conditional” resignations, in this case upholding the validity of the resignation and the triggering of the payment.

Bargaining and agreements »» Decisions on enterprise bargaining are appealing at a faster rate. In one decision, Healthcare Imaging Service, the technical nature of the statutory requirements was highlighted when the agreement was rejected because three employees (out of 85) had not received the required paperwork. One of the employees was on maternity leave. »» On the other hand, a Full Bench of the FWA upheld an appeal from a single member in the Trimas Case who had decided that the Act required a flexibility agreement to be able to vary the effect of an award term, but not the term itself (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations). The Full Bench rejected such a distinction.

For further information contact Greg Robertson on 02 9267 4322 or e-mail: greg.robertson@ harmers.com.au www.hcamag.com

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in brief australian news

Henry Review: the impact on super Industry commentators have given a mixed reception to the government response to the Henry Review, particularly in regards to proposed changes to superannuation and fringe benefits tax.

According to Pitcher Partners superannuation director Brad Twentyman, employers will have to find the extra 3.5% to fund the increased superannuation contribution following the government’s decision to increase compulsory employer superannuation contributions from 9% to 12% over a six-year period starting on 1 July 2013.

Twentyman said the cost to business will be in the order of $30bn to $35bn a year.

“The concept that increasing compulsory contributions from 9% to 12% will provide a great benefit to lower income workers is questionable.

“The increase in cost to the employer will most likely lead to an offsetting reduction in the employee’s wage or an increase in costs which will make its way through to higher prices. Either way the employee is likely to be worse off each year through their working life.”

International professionals love Down Under

“The abuse of work time by accessing the web and social networks is not prolific” - Craig McDonald, MailGuard 12

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Australia is ranked as one of the top countries in the world to work in by professionals from overseas looking to fast-track their careers, a new study has found.

The 2010 Hydrogen Global Professionals on the Move study revealed that Australia is ranked top in the world as a place to work for HR professionals.

Among the top findings: »» Mid- to senior-level professionals are highly mobile high flyers, with some 94% of respondents either already working abroad or interested in doing so. They see international experience as a key means of fast-tracking their careers and boosting their personal development. »» The economic downturn is not a major factor in middle- and senior-level professionals’ mobility, with 60% of respondents stating it had no impact at all on their willingness to move overseas. »» Recruitment consultancies were the most popular means of securing jobs abroad, with 28% of professionals already overseas having used one, followed by the use of head hunters by 16%.

Social networking vs productivity: the debate continues Flying in the face of general popular opinion, a new report has found that social networking is not as damaging to productivity as first thought.

According to MailGuard’s DataCurve Report, which sampled 8,400 employees, social networks

now rate with news sites as the preferred destination for employees accessing the web. Facebook has achieved 40% penetration, up from just 24% a year earlier, equal to more than 2.2 million Australians visiting the site each month while at work.

The research identified that up to one-fifth of employees can be regarded as ‘highly distracted’ by their web access, spending up to two hours a day on the web. “The abuse of work time by accessing the web and social networks is not prolific,” said Craig McDonald, CEO of MailGuard. “The vast majority of employees are simply not in this category. Even in the case of Facebook, the average user spends just nine minutes per day on the site.”

The report recommended that managers and HR should consider individual employee responsibilities, and the role of web access in fulfilling those responsibilities. McDonald added: “Employee access to the web, and indeed social networking, can add tremendous value to a business and its IP assets. The employee’s enthusiasm for social networking can significantly benefit both parties.”

‘Anti-dobbing’ cultures add to bullying/harassment claims Australia’s ingrained ‘anti-dobbing’ culture may be hindering efforts to stamp out workplace bullying and harassment.

Greg Robertson, general counsel for Harmers, said the first step for employers in creating an antibullying workplace culture is to address the cultural issue of employees refusing to ‘dob in’ their work colleagues. “Australian workplaces tend to have a ‘don’t dob in’ mindset, which hinders attempts to eradicate workplace bullying,” Robertson said. “A number of bullying cases recently have highlighted situations where employees have, for whatever reason, stood by and done nothing to report or stop the incident.”

Robertson added that staff should be encouraged to come forward and alert senior management to any incidents of bullying, harassment or discrimination they may witness.

“They need to know that any form of mistreatment will be taken seriously and that their role in alerting management to the issue will remain confidential,” he said.

Robertson warned that going to the other extreme can be just as damaging, as most organisations do not want to create a ‘culture of complaint’ within their workplace, in which false, petty or vexatious bullying claims are continually brought to the attention of management.

“For this reason, we recommend employers establish a policy whereby employees face some form of reprimand if they bring a complaint found to be false or unfounded,” he said.

in brief international news

Japan: Cheap at twice the price

Experts say a freer and more accessible banking sector, tapping into the world’s mobile phone network for transactions, has been behind the surge. Overseasbased workers are now finding it easier, cheaper and more secure to send money home.

Looking for an experienced turnaround leader who’s willing to work for free? Too late – the now bankrupt Japan Airlines (JAL) has already found him. Kazuo Inamori has agreed to take over as CEO of JAL, and will forgo any salary while the airline remains in its dire financial straits.

Inamori is one of Japan’s most famous business leaders, having founded the Kyocera mobile technology group. Forbes Magazine has ranked him Japan’s 31st richest man, although much of that wealth has now been diverted to philanthropic efforts.

His appointment was a brief ray of light on what has been a dark few years for JAL. It filed for bankruptcy on 19 January, submitting itself to the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation, a governmentbacked administrator. It has imposed a tough restructure plan that will result in almost one-third of the JAL workforce being let go and some 1,440bn yen (US$22.1bn) worth of debt being written off.

JAL’s retired workers have accepted an average 70% reduction in their pensions.

UAE: Expats too poor for healthcare Low-wage expatriates in Dubai are struggling to access basic medical treatments and healthcare. Experts say many are leaving the once-starring emirate for neighbouring Abu Dhabi whose public health system is considered streets ahead.

Dubai scrapped a planned public health system last year, blaming the GFC for the sudden lack of budget. It had planned on mirroring Abu Dhabi’s compulsory health insurance scheme, which covers all residents regardless of citizenship or work status.

So far, no new timetable has been given for the Dubai health plan.

Analysts at Datamonitor International, a market research firm, said the stark differences could mean a brain-drain from Dubai, just as it begins its economic recovery. “The grassroots of healthcare need to be addressed now,” said Ruch de Silva, healthcare consulting analyst for Datamonitor. “Dubai and Abu Dhabi are both expat-centric emirates and healthcare is fundamental to building a sustainable region.”

Bangladesh: SMSing money home The humble mobile phone may be the new heart of the Bangladesh economy. It has helped drive up remittances from expatriates, despite their numbers and incomes falling during the economic downturn.

The numbers are staggering. Official statistics show Bangaldesh exported 50% less labour in 2009 than in 2008. Thousands of workers also had their time abroad cut short through retrenchment. Yet remittances into the country grew by 20% – up to US$10.79bn for the year.

Ireland: Extra powers to rein employers in

The US population grew by 30 million people over the last decade. Total employment grew by 400,000

Complaints against employers rose by more than 50% during the recession. The Ireland National Employment Rights Authority prosecuted 108 employers last year, 54% more than the 70 recorded for 2008.

Sixty-six per cent of the prosecutions related to underpayment or non-payment of wages, while almost a third were the result of improper record-keeping.

The recession could be blamed for much of the increase, with employers and staff naturally finding more to argue about. But the rise in prosecutions also relates to improved powers for the National Employment Rights Authority. It is now able to carry out joint investigations with other government bodies.

Geer Deering, director, National Employment Rights Authority, said sharing data with these bodies has helped to build important cases against both rogue employers and tax-avoiding staff. “We have come across the situation where employers have two sets of accounts. We have found where people are working illegally without work permits or people are working and claiming social welfare as well.”

North America: The new carrots HR well knows the benefits of using carrots over sticks, but a simple new piece of economic and behavioural research could well provide even better productivity results. Academics Tanjim Hossain (University of Toronto) and John List (University of Chicago) have found financial incentives can produce better results when they are actually disguised as penalties.

Working with a Chinese electronics factory, they helped set up two almost identical employee bonus schemes. The same amounts of cash incentives were used as well as the same benchmarks at which the employee would receive it. Only the way the schemes were presented to staff were different.

One group was told the extra payments would be paid if the benchmark productivity level was met. The other was given the bonus upfront and told payments would be reduced back to regular salary levels if the benchmark was not met.

Interestingly, significantly more of the second group achieved the target.

The Economist argued that people are more inherently fearful of losing something they feel they already have, than they are optimistic about the rewards offered once a goal is reached. www.hcamag.com

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THE FORUM rewards

How do you reward your employees? Do you believe a company logoemblazoned golf shirt or pen, or a photo with the company president, makes the grade? It might be time for a re-think. HC asks three experts about the most cost effective, high impact rewards Tip 1 – Take the time to get to know your employees

By Nathan Defries, compensation, benefit & HR IT manager, Luxottica

Rewards that have the highest impact are delivered within an employee’s immediate team by their manager. Being confident at work has a strong impact on what you deliver and it’s a good feeling knowing your manager really appreciates you.

What rewards should look like depends on the individual employee and their contribution. Unless you know the person well, rewards can often be ‘hit and miss’ in terms of impact.

I recommend managers take the time to understand the person’s career stage, their work goals, outside work commitments and what they enjoy doing. Perhaps ask one of their close work colleagues if you don’t know them very well. However, it is better to take an interest and ask them directly.

When rewarding an ambitious career-oriented person, consider offering the employee time with a career coach to review their career and their 12–24 month plan. Other rewards could include lunch with the CEO or a senior manager to present ideas and opportunities.

When offering group rewards, look for activities that will make teams laugh, connect, have fun and build relationships.

At Luxottica, we annually reward the top 5% of managers along with the executive team and their partners with a holiday. This provides a great opportunity for these high potential managers to engage with their leaders and share time with them outside the workplace.

With many working families struggling to balance work and home commitments, supporting employees in this area is another great opportunity for companies to offer highly regarded rewards with strong impact.

If this is the case, focus on freeing up time in people’s personal lives by offering the services of a gardener, cleaner or babysitter. At Luxottica, staff have access to our Holiday Club, which is an additional week of annual leave if they use their annual entitlement.

Providing work pattern benefits that suit their lifestyle, such as hours of work that avoid peak hour, or technology that supports working and interacting away from the office, can also have a strong impact on an employee’s engagement.

Offering strong employee rewards can also have the bonus effect of other employees noticing that increased efforts are being rewarded and amending their behaviour accordingly.

Next time you are going to reward employees, take a minute to think about the person and what’s important to them. The impact will be far greater.

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THE FORUM rewards

Tip 2 – Prompt management to reinforce positive behaviour with instant, easy-to-use rewards

Tip 3 – Develop a high impact performance pay program

By Ann-Marie O’Neill, director, Reasons2Reward

From a rewards perspective, the highest impact tool available to companies is an effective performance pay program. This needs to align the organisation’s business strategy with drivers of performance to ensure employees that make the greatest contribution to the business are appropriately rewarded.

The reality of the work environment is that many employees are looking for opportunities to move on, after riding out the worst of the global financial crisis. Employers that have a high-impact rewards systems will not only keep employees happy and productive, they will also ensure they don’t lose their best people to competitors.

According to Hewitt’s 2009 Best Employers study, 62% of organisations with high levels of employee engagement have a positive perception that performance has a significant impact on remuneration, compared to just 35% of other organisations.

To make an impact, a reward or ‘bonus’ needs to be an amount that is meaningful to an employee.

This is typically at least 8% of an employee’s salary.

Reward programs of this size must be structured to ensure return on investment.

A well designed and executed performance pay program links financial reward to set performance indicators and also tracks performance to ensure incentives are not just ‘cash grabs’ for employees.

For organisations that already have an effective performance pay program in place, they may be able to improve them through rewards ‘optimisation’.

Conduct formal research with employees and ask what it is about their rewards that drives them to perform. Ask them to rank items in order of preference and how they would trade them off.

For example, we have found a number of senior executives consider $1 of car allowance to be valued at $1.50. Listening to employees in a smart way, not just asking them what they want but asking them to make trade-offs, will ensure employers understand what will be truly valued in a rewards program.

Ultimately, organisations need to identify what employees value and link the volume of these reward offerings to performance to achieve cost effective, high impact rewards.

The practice of rewarding good behaviour is nothing new but unfortunately in the recent economic climate, reward and recognition schemes were one of the first budgets to be cut.

While this can have some instant budget savings, I have found that the lack of an effective reward and recognition scheme will actually cost the business more in the long run.

1. Provide the resources. Make it easy! Provide managers and team leaders with simple, affordable recognition resources such as: »» Sticky notes – Simply write a brief note of congratulations, encouragement or thanks and just peel and place the sticky note on an employee’s desk, computer or report to let them know you appreciate their great work. »» Praise booklets – It’s no secret: showing appreciation is a powerful way to improve relationships. Pre-printed complimentary notes provide a fast, convenient and high-impact way to recognise those dedicated employees who get the job done with an outstanding attitude. Personalise the note with the employee’s name and present it to them with words of encouragement. »» Thank you cards – Never miss an opportunity to let an employee know their efforts are noticed.

This can be achieved by keeping a small supply of note cards and gifts on hand for recognition opportunities. A card offering unique greetings is the perfect way for showing you care. By simply writing a few words or a short message, you can change the work environment, reduce turnover and create an atmosphere of teamwork.

2. Don’t cut back in tough times. When times are tough and budgets are tight expand your recognition program instead of cutting it back.

Employee recognition isn’t a luxury and it isn’t a program you can slash to save a few dollars. It has become more important than ever to inspire, engage and retain talented employees. Recognising the value of employees is an essential part of success in any organisation and an effective recognition program will pay for itself over and over.

By Jairus Ashworth, practice leader, remuneration & reward, Hewitt

Have your say

Visit the Human Capital website at www.hcamag.com for your chance to post comments and spark debate among your peers www.hcamag.com

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What are worth?

Following the volatility of 2009, can HR professionals expect a pay rise anytime soon?

Human Capital assesses the latest salary figures for you and your team

n Average name-your-price to leave role across Admin/ Officer/Coord: $8,508* n Average name-your-price to leave role across other categories: $17,419* n Average name-yourprice to leave role across all categories: $13,549* *HR Partners national salary survey

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t’s no secret that 2009 on the whole was a tough one in terms of not just employment but also remuneration. In the HR sector, workforce reductions were seen most obviously in the areas of talent management and L&D. A large number of HR managers were made redundant, leaving many teams with only one member (usually at HR officer level) to deploy redundancies and ensure compliance with workplace legislation.

More broadly, Mary Joseph, Brisbane associate director for Robert Walters, says that recruitment freezes, terminated contracts and redundancies were commonplace, meaning the HR market became saturated with candidates at all levels. “It became common for candidates to accept roles not only below their standard skill set and salary level, but also outside of their preferred industry,” she notes.

“Contract rates in HR were comparable to permanent salaries. With staffing requirements at an all-time low, active employers took advantage of the available talent in the marketplace, offering rates up to 10–15% less than previously paid.”

James McConochie, manager of HR recruitment business at Michael Page, says an overriding trend in 2009 was the downward pressure on remuneration for senior level roles. However, further down the

chain, the story was slightly different. “Across the board freezes were generally in place, although contradicting that somewhat would be the lower level, which we categorise based on experience of three to five years. The $65,000–$85,000 range didn’t experience the same kind of downward pressure – if anything it maintained or even marginally improved, driven by consistent demand in that space. The old supply and demand dynamic kept it strong,” he says.

Job roles in between those extremes were largely dependent on the industry, but McConochie says that even hard-hit sectors such as financial services saw demand creeping back at the tail end of 2009.

In 2010 Susan Drew, regional director of Hays Human Resources, says HR professionals should expect salaries to increase as companies rebuild HR teams and act to secure the best talent – but she also adds a word of caution. “Candidates who accepted lower salaries during the downturn will move for more attractive salary packages. We’ve already seen this occuring in Canberra where employers are increasing IR/ER salaries to attract the required experience. Having said this, we would advise candidates not to expect a huge salary increase for changing roles. Instead, we suggest your priority should be about procuring a role that will add to your

Cover Story remuneration review

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suite of skills and will offer opportunity with the right organisation.”

2010 As the calendar year rolls into its second half, several trends are likely to unfold. David Owens, managing director of industry specialists HR Partners, believes the concept of underemployment – people working but only for limited hours each week – will start to recede as employers look to bolster working hours without necessarily increasing headcount.

Secondly, the number of fixed employment engagements – ie, employment for fixed engagements of six or 12 months – is likely to remain strong.

“The market is swinging back from a minimalist employment regime to one that really wants to put on permanent headcount but isn’t quite sure yet. The engagement of people on a six or 12-month basis is very big at the moment. We’re seeing it as a response by organisations that need to resource their HR team appropriately for what has already become a more buoyant market,” Owens explains.

Perhaps the most encouraging sign for the HR labour market is that up and coming generalists Salary comparisons for permanent roles Role Hays HR director $220,000 HR manager $120,000 Senior HR advisor/consultant $95,000 HR consultant/advisor $80,000 HR coordinator/administrator $55,000 L&D manager $120,000 L&D consultant/advisor $85,000 Trainer/facilitator $65,000 Rem & ben manager $140,000 Rem & ben analyst/consultant $70,000 IR/ER manager/advisor $125,000 Recruitment manager $115,000 Recruitment specialist/officer $85,000 OHS manager $110,000 OHS consultant $85,000 OHS coordinator $60,000 OD manager $140,000 Change manager $160,000

“CEOs are in the room because they want to make sure their HR person is (a) good value for money; and (b) that they can deliver really good results” – David Owens

Robert Walters $265,000 $165,000~ $105,000^ $75,000~~ $60,000 $130,000 $77,500 $147,500 $105,000 $125,000 $75,000 $210,000-$150,000-$100,000-$130,000 $130,000

are suddenly in hot demand once again. The year 2009 saw little movement in generalists earning $60,000–$110,000 but 2010 is different. “The up and comers are being sought after once again, they are being appreciated and are in demand, and if you’re a candidate in that area you probably have a lot of choice at the moment,” Owens notes.

The February-March 2010 period also saw a sudden surge in demand for recruitment candidates being sought not just by the recruitment industry but also by corporates that are once again thinking about their talent pipelines, and balancing internal mobility with their external profile. “Once again talent is back on the agenda. It’s been quite noticeable how many companies have boosted their internal recruitment teams,” says Owens.

Joseph agrees that certain areas of HR specialisation will benefit from the renewed talent war. “With limited resources and competition for talent, we’re noticing organisations are investing in developing their high potentials. For this reason, we’ve seen competitive rates paid in areas of L&D and organisational development. Some industries are already noticing talent shortages and it’s

Michael Page $287,500 $147,500 $97,500^^ $85,000^^^ $53,750 $140,000 $75,250 $80,000 $182,500 $100,000 $135,250 $130,000 $72,500 $119,000 $84,250 -

HR Partners $112,815 $82,567 $49,867 $106,275 $109,000 $97,010 $130,255 $132,162 -

HC market ave $257,500 $136,330 $99,170 $80,640 $54,650 $124,070 $79,250 $72,500 $143,830 $105,830 $121,750 $116,750 $77,500 $142,310 $106,420 $80,000 $134,050 $145,000

Notes Hays: Figures are the median from a lower and upper range (eg, $160-170K); all figures are Sydney-based; all salaries exclude superannuation Robert Walters: Figures are the median from a lower and upper range; figures are basic salaries inclusive of superannuation, but exclusive of benefits/bonuses unless otherwise specified; figures are for Sydney except where indicated ~ taken from salary figure for ‘national HR manager’; otherwise ‘HR manager’ figure is $150,000. ^5+ years exp. ~~ 1-4 yrs’ exp. -- Brisbane figures. Michael Page: Salaries indicated are cash component plus superannuation, excluding other benefits, bonuses and extras; figures are for NSW and apply for large organisations only (defined as having a turnover of more than $250m); figures are a median number derived from 2 separate figures based on experience (1-2 yrs) and (3+ yrs). ^^3+ yrs experience. ^^^1-2 yrs experience. HR Partners: Figures are taken from a national survey, based on median total salary package

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these organisations that are investing in internal recruitment solutions,” she says.

Other areas of specialisation will be dependent on geographic location and not exclusive to a specific industry or sector. Drew notes that Western Australia has a shortage of specialist mining services recruiters as well as contract HR officers and advisors. Queensland meanwhile needs internal recruitment specialists as businesses rebuild their human capital.

In addition, change managers from a range of industries and specialisations will be needed as companies deploy technology and business improvement changes and undergo organisational restructures.

Drew notes that with the continued focus on business efficiencies and cost savings, there are expectations that organisations will continue to recruit OHS candidates to prevent injuries in the first instance. This is already occurring in Victoria and South Australia, she says.

The HR space is also likely to become more sophisticated as employers put the pressure on to make the most of a diverse workforce. Owens has witnessed a slight pickup in diversity roles. “We’ve got a relatively small population and a relatively tight talent market. We really need to have the ability to reach out to all segments of the community and find talent wherever it comes from. Diversity is not just something you see on the agendas of large public entities but also in professional services – and it will continue to roll,” he says.

The year 2009 also proved beyond a shadow of doubt that rem & ben professionals will always be in high demand. “In my opinion there’s never enough,” Owens says. “The good ones are always hard to find.

They tend to be engaged in their work, they tend to be reasonably well rewarded for their work, and they are well networked. If you’ve got an interest in rem you’ve potentially got a great career because you’re a pretty indispensable member of the team.”

The mega-trend The biggest trend for HR professionals over the last 10 years has been performance-related pay – and Owens believes this will continue. “The penetration of performance-related pay has gone from a relatively low figure and steadily increased. In 1997, around 30% of HR professionals had access to performance related pay and now it’s something closer to 70%, particularly in OD and recruitment categories,” he says. In some ways, this matches HR’s rise from transactional figures to strategic players. Just like

Executive remuneration insights n Ideal salary structure: Executives, on an aggregate, wanted to ideally structure their pay accordingly: 74% base salary, 13% super contribution and 13% to be made up by perks and benefits. Annual bonuses, additional leave, equity share, flexi time and higher super contribution made up the top five preferred perks. n Show me the money: A majority, 87%, thought pay should be increased every year. Only a small minority (7%) were willing to wait up to two years. A pay rise of 6–10% with a current employer was considered fair by 54% of executives. In contrast, 71% would expect pay rises of 11% or more from new employers. n What causes pay rise: Pay rise is intricately related to performance.

A majority, 53%, received a pay hike as a result of performance; 20% by changing employers. Male executives tend to be rewarded more for performance, while females are more likely to get their pay rise by changing employers or jobs. n Importance of remuneration: Salary influences the motivation of an executive and dictates how opinion and decisions on employers are made; 68% of executives believed the remuneration package is a strong motivator in doing a job effectively. The majority (79%) thought the remuneration package is an important factor in choosing a future employer.

Source: The Executive Monitor Report 2010 produced by Six Figures. Study conducted between November 2009 and December 2009, in which 1,332 executives across Australia participated. To download the report go to www.executivemonitor.com.au/index.html

sales teams and other professionals, HR now needs to show a discernable benefit as a result of the work they do. Secondly, it places HR on par with other senior leaders. “If a senior marketing or finance professional can look forward to and participate in a bonus plan, then why shouldn’t the HR professional do exactly the same? There’s that parity, that peer group notion that we’ve seen evolve over 10–12 years, only now it’s not just the HR leader participating in bonus plans, it’s HR teams,” Owens says.

Permanent vs contractor In the recent past (and still today) it was expected that the extrapolated hourly/daily rate for a permanent employee would roughly equal that of a contractor. There might be some benefits rolled into the construct of what the permanent reward was, but the value would be largely the same.

However, if overseas trends are any litmus, Australia could be about to witness a shift in employer perceptions of permanent employees versus contractors – and remuneration will shift to reflect that. Owens notes that in the UK a premium is placed on contractor roles and he sees the same possibility occurring locally. “I’m sensing there’s a bit more tolerance and acceptance by employers that www.hcamag.com

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n 18% of HR co-ordinators receive bonuses/ commissions* n 44% of L&D managers receive bonuses/ commissions* n 68% of OD managers receive bonuses/ commissions* *HR Partners national salary survey

for a short-term engagement or indeed medium-term engagement there has to be some acknowledgement of the risk associated with it. Contractors tend to drive the thinking – they might be saying that given they don’t earn super and may have a week’s notice, they need to earn 105% or 110% of what a permanent employee earns.”

For the time being, if there is a premium paid to contractors, it is minimal. However, Owens says it’s not unreasonable to expect that premium to grow in the future.

What really matters to employers?

So, what are employers looking for in their HR hires?

Above and beyond qualifications and even industry experience, Owens says there’s an increasing expectation that HR professionals are going to be able to apply their skills in a way that will deliver some tangible, observable benefits for the business they work in.

“We’re at a pivotal point when it comes to HR’s role in the organisation,” he says. “What value do you as the HR professional provide to the organisation? It’s about measurable benefits, working with the leadership team, understanding the wider environment, building capability where it’s required, managing performance, making every effort to ensure you’ve got high potential people, and that risk is minimised. If you pick those four or five bullets you’re hitting it.”

One encouraging sign, notes Owens, is that he’s been briefed by more CEOs in the last 2–3 years than in the 10 years prior. “CEOs are in the room because they want to make sure their HR person is a) good value for money; and b) that they can deliver really good results. The value of human capital has never been more an obvious board agenda item and an item that affects the perception of shareholder value,” explains Owens.

Other considerations Are HR professionals likely to see their remuneration suffer if they move from sector to sector – for example from finance to engineering? Owens says they can and they do – and says the HR professional with a good grasp of HR skills can apply them in different industries without penalty or hindrance. However, there are some industries that prefer to recruit HR professionals from a similar background. “When the market is tight people stick with what they know, and to a certain extent that was the situation in 2009. As the market thins in terms of talent you tend to be able to exercise a bit more latitude,” he says.

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McConochie agrees and adds that immediately relevant industry experience and the IP that comes with that counts above all else. “At the initial part of the conversation most clients will say to us, ‘we’re open to industry’, but then when you submit the shortlist the ones they gravitate towards in the interview will be the ones that stand out in terms of the industry being related to their own,” he says.

Geographic location has lost its power as a pay differentiator. Any difference now can likely be related back to the demand within that particular location for the particular skill in question, rather than an overriding geographical trend.

Owens also notes that many companies now operate nationally, and therefore pay national payscales. Indeed, the structure of the package also needs to be considered. In the 2010 Hays Salary Guide, 79% of employers said they offered flexible salary packaging. Of these, 30% said they provided bonuses to all their employees, while 34% said they provided bonuses to a select few employees in their organisation.

Yet while candidates may be expecting more base pay, McConochie says smart organisations are taking a more balanced view, playing the

The gender question The Australian Institute of Management (AIM) Gender Differentials Report, released in 2009, indicates that although the situation has improved, there is still work to be done when it comes to gender pay equality.

The report showed that female CEOs earn 16.4% less than males in the same role, however, the gap narrowed in 2009 by 2%, a trend that continued with general managers at 12.5% less which was 0.8% better than 2008.

When comparing the results between 2008 and 2009, the average pay gaps have narrowed between genders (from 10.6% to 10.2%). When comparing job families, the clear winner

was the IT industry, with the lowest pay differential, with females earning only 4.9% less than their male counterparts. The most significant improvements were seen in the HR and Manufacturing, Supply & Distribution job families (down 2% and 1.4% respectively).

The Finance & Accounting job family saw the greatest increase in pay differentials (up 0.6% to 12.1%).

Commenting on the AIM Report, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, said: “We must not lose sight of the fact that the gender pay gap still exists in most industries, and is one of the factors contributing to women’s inequality across their lifetime. Clearly, more action is needed.”

career scope and L&D card to entice new hires.

Unsurprisingly, he says this is something that resonates strongly with the HR candidate pool.

As for bonuses, the general consensus from the experts Human Capial contacted was ‘unlikely this year’. “Everyone is a little bit hesitant to put in the guaranteed bonus, even in the financial services sector where traditionally that’s what attracted talent,” says McConochie. “Even big investment banks are coming back saying in a good year our bonuses could be 10–20%, but in the next 12–18 months we’re not guaranteeing anything.”

Final word While there were no certified fortune tellers among the experts HC spoke to, Owens was prepared to make some predictions for the year ahead: “I would expect average base salaries for HR generalists across the board to increase by between 3.5% and 5% and I think in some specialist areas by at least those numbers but in some areas – OHS, rem & ben, recruitment – perhaps as much as 8%. This will be as a direct result of the supply and demand situation and rapidly increasing value proposition demonstrated by these HR specialists.” hc

diversity Indigenous recruitment sponsored feature HR Partners

The next generation of HR leaders What you need to have in your resume to beat the competition for the best HR job

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t’s not uncommon for a senior HR professional to find themselves facing tough competition for the top opportunities. Often, the more senior the role, the more vigorous the competition. It is likely that your resume will be read by the CEO – indeed, the interest from CEOs in hiring top HR talent has never been greater.

The reason for that is simple: the concerns of CEOs are once again returning to those relating to human capital, staff turnover, engagement, succession planning and the retention of key people and their inherent IP; these are the things that keep CEOs awake at night. All that stands between unwanted cost and organisational ineffectiveness is the thin line of HR professionals.

Let’s be logical. If those elements are what concerns the CEO then it’s in those quarters that the CEO will want their HR leader to excel.

To beat the competition to the best HR job you will need to be able to prove beyond any doubt that you have tremendous capability in the areas which really matter – and let’s face it, the best way to reassure people of future success is to show them you have performed well in the past.

In my work I often have to persuade people to think of their resume as a sales tool; its sole purpose is to get you through to the interview. Once you are in the room you can capture hearts and minds and show off your communication skills, empathy, resilience and everything else, but on paper you have to use this opportunity to tell the reader how good at it you are and what influence you had upon business success.

Four practical tips for better resumes »» Firstly, you have to describe the companies where you’ve worked in commercial terms; think scale and complexity, think market cap, think sales

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in millions of dollars, think employee numbers, geographic spread, turnover, even size of the HR team. Make no assumptions that the reader will have heard of your company and know what they do and how big and successful they are. »» Secondly, think of metrics. Prove to the reader the tangible impact of your achievements and how they have added real value to the business.

Show how much money something you have implemented has saved your company in dollar terms (need I add, Australian dollar terms). In dollars, state how much moving to an RPO saved your business, spell out what improvements were delivered in bottom line results by the introduction of a new bonus plan you introduced. It is vitally important to speak of your key achievements using the currency of CEOs. Using absolute fact and metrics is the best way to generate credibility and therefore appeal. »» Third, list your most impressive and most recent achievements first. »» Finally, avoid using acronyms that are specific to your company – and even those that are common only to HR. Try to write in business speak only, not code, synonymous with a big corporation (insert your preferred corporate giant’s name here).

I have a few more tips but you will have to wait till another time for those.

This is a wonderful time to be in HR. The opportunities for the profession to become even more embedded in the senior leadership team have never been better. In the past, HR professionals have often taken a backseat role and generally struggled to sell their skills, experience, knowledge and what they add to the team. Getting the resume in top shape so that it captures the attention of future employers is the first step in HR presenting themselves as vital members of the executive team. Training yourself to think and speak in business language as you change jobs is a great way to reinvent your HR self. It will be a habit that will serve you well in the future.

Vive le metrics!

By David Owens, managing director, HR Partners

About HR Partners HR Partners is synonymous with HR recruitment. We operate from offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. HR Partners is linked closely to the UK-based Digby Morgan Consulting and our brand holds a prominent position in the HR recruitment sector. We increasingly provide recruitment expertise to Australian as well as Asia Pacific based clients. Recruiting permanent and contract HR professionals, HR Partners provides a range of tailored recruitment solutions to meet our clients’ needs.

Connecting top talent with Opportunity. Visit www. hrpartners.com.au or call Sydney 02 9019 1600, Melbourne 03 9603 0601, Brisbane 07 3009 3800 for further information

diversity Indigenous recruitment

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Art feature salary negotiation

The

of negotiation

Think you deserve a better deal?

Kelly Magowan provides some practical tips for negotiating your salary with current and new employers

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feature salary negotiation

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hough negotiation is something that we all naturally do in our lives and have done since we were children (ie, negotiating with our parents to stay up late by agreeing to eat all our dinner) for some reason many of us find it difficult to negotiate when it comes to our salaries.

The truth of the matter is that the responsibility rests with you to negotiate your salary according to your worth in the marketplace. It is not up to your existing boss or your potential new employer to take action as they are more than happy to continue paying you the salary you are on or hire you as cost effectively as they can. It is also up to you to draw attention to the value and contribution that you are currently making to an organisation or can make should you be hired.

How we can all become better salary negotiators »» Don’t wait to be offered To their detriment, many people are still too polite when it comes to negotiating their salary. They wait for the current or prospective employer to offer them a salary or a pay increase or bonus and then (in most instances) accept what is given, even if they don’t agree with it. Not speaking up if you don’t feel what has been offered is fair is foolish. Nor is negotiating only on what has been presented – if there is the opportunity to bring in new elements to the negotiation such as asking for a sign on bonus, additional benefits such as further education or even a golden parachute, then why not? Remember also there does not have to be a set time to raise the subject, such as the annual salary review – you can raise it at any time if you feel it is warranted. »» Talk yourself up Women in particular tend to fail miserably at talking up their achievements with their employers. Doing a great job and achieving great things at work can go unnoticed. Chances are that those around you are also working hard and so as long as things are getting done, they are not overly concerned with how or who is doing them. Though for most it does not come naturally, it is important to learn to ‘toot your own horn’ to avoid your achievements going unnoticed by your boss. If you can debrief your boss on your success or provide written confirmation then this additional information can be invaluable. »» Learn about salary negotiation It is not a case of not possessing good negotiation skills; it is more an issue of the negotiation context and subject matter. We need to learn more about salary negotiation in order to become

more comfortable and effective with negotiating our salaries. Read books on the subject, attend workshops, talk about salary negotiation with your colleagues, family and friends, or use whatever communication channels you prefer.

The language you use sets the scene In the salary negotiation context, you are there to achieve a result for you – therefore using powerful and active language is crucial.

Passive sentences are to be avoided: »» “Would you mind if…?” »» “Sorry, however I was wondering…?” »» “If you have a moment, would it be okay…?”

Use active sentences to enter into the salary negotiation discussion: »» “I would like to discuss X with you today” »» “Let’s make a time now to…” »» “I require 30 minutes of your time today. When are you free?”

The importance of research and preparation »» Prepare an agenda Whether you are looking to negotiate with your boss or with a potential employer, ensure firstly that you are realistic and secondly that you have an agenda prepared. List all the key points you want to cover in the discussion. Where possible make this a face-toface meeting as negotiations are best done this way.

The reason being that by being there, you are better positioned to raise and support your key points and to really sell yourself. It is far easier to refuse someone over the phone than it is face to face. »» Research the job market A Google search will provide you with countless salary surveys broken down by industry, profession and even state and country. Alternatively, you can search job sites to get an up-to-date feel of what the market is paying for someone in your profession with your years of experience and so on. Another avenue is to talk to recruitment consultants or contact HR professionals within similar organisations. »» Prepare your business case Regardless of the economic market, current or new employers are not going to hand over money to you without some sort of justification. Having a viable business case as to why you deserve X salary or why your salary should be increased is still required, such as showing what you have done to go above and beyond your existing role or where you have added additional value to the organisation. www.hcamag.com

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A pay increase generally has to be performancebased to be justified. Length of service or simply because someone is being paid more than you in the same role are not considered valid reasons.

Assumptions

We can sometimes be guilty of making assumptions which are not always correct. Ensure any assumptions you may have are checked out and justified before you enter into a negotiation with your current or prospective employer. Common assumptions range from benefits you believe to be offered to other staff at the company to salaries of other staff members or perks they are receiving.

Alternatives

Having an alternative/s is essential in any salary negotiation process.

It is important to have high aspirations; however, this needs to also be balanced against the reality of the situation. Indeed, in the salary negotiation process all your requirements may be met, none may be met or some may be met. It is important to know at which point you are willing to walk away from a negotiation, and/or to have alternatives in place.

If you are working with an existing employer and requesting a salary increase, have you thought about your alternatives should this be unsuccessful? In these situations people generally leave fairly quickly; have you already started speaking with other potential employers before the meeting is arranged or are you left hanging?

In the instance of being offered a new job, should the salary package not meet your requirements, do you have other offers available to you? Is it such a great opportunity that has a long-term financial gain that you should reconsider that the shorter-term salary package is not exactly what you were after?

Remember ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ and you must always be willing to say no.

Other items to consider in negotiations

Some organisations are limited by salary bands or structures which prevent them from offering

Four essentials for salary negotiation success 1. Confidence 2. Powerful active language 3. Research 4. Practise, practise, practise

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employees dramatic increases. However, this does not mean that they are unable to offer alternatives such as: Sign on bonus

Incentive pay

Bonus or commission

Future salary increases (timing & percentages)

Annual incentive

Equity/shares

Stock options

Discounted stock options

Extra superannuation Loan to purchase home Car

Loan to purchase restricted stock

Parking

Legal planning services

Mobile telephone

Private school fees for children

Laptop

Termination provisions

Flexible working hours

Golden parachute provisions

Decreased work hours/days

First class/business class air travel

Gym memberships

Financial planning services

Health insurance

Educational assistance

Relocation expenses

Professional memberships

E–Tag

Professional clubs

Anticipate any problems or objections

There is a lot to be said for being positive and optimistic, however it is also important to be realistic. When entering into any salary negotiation process be sure to look at your best and worst case scenarios, and prepare for them.

In the current market, some organisations may not be in a position to provide significant salary increases at this point in time. However, there are many industries and organisations that are going strong and are in a position to pay top dollar.

If you think you’re long overdue for a salary increase, yet your current employer is not in a strong financial position at present (and you want to stay with them), you still have negotiation power. You could ask for the same pay and shorter working hours or for a salary increase to be effective when the company goes back to X amount of profit.

Alternatively, you may look at options or equity if this is something available.

It is recommended that you prepare a list of ‘what if?’ questions before you enter the negotiation.

A pay increase generally has to be performancebased to be justified

A

The characteristics of a successful negotiator »» Positive body language Your body language can often send a stronger message than your words. Having positive body language is critical in all business situations, including salary negotiation. »» Make a confident entrance »» Where possible initiate the handshake »» Be conscious of your posture »» Hold your head up high »» Have a positive attitude »» Make eye contact »» Smile Maintaining eye contact is generally interpreted as a gesture of trust and confidence. Nodding is a gesture that indicates support and agreement. If you can, practise your body language with someone. »» Negative body language

Your body language can often send a stronger message than your words

Body language

Common interpretation

Avoiding eye contact

Evasive, indifferent, insecure, passive, nervous

Scratching the head

Bewildered

Biting the lip

Nervous, fearful, anxious

Tapping feet

Nervous

Folding arms

Angry, disagreeing, defensive, disapproving

Raising eyebrows Disbelieving, surprised Narrowing eyes

Resentful, angry

Wringing hands

Anxious, nervous

Shifting in seat

Restless, bored, apprehensive

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Handling salary questions If you are asked your salary expectations and do not want to disclose the information, below are a few appropriate responses: »» “I would prefer to find out more about the position, the responsibilities and expectations before getting into any salary discussions” »» “I am sure that your company offers a fair compensation scale, and if we both decide that this is a worthwhile match, I am confident we will be able to agree on a salary” »» “I have researched the salaries for this level of position, with the market value of the total compensation package being within X range” If you can, it is best to avoid entering into this conversation too early in the interview process, as it can limit your opportunity to negotiate further on.

There is nothing to stop you from asking the interviewer a few questions before an offer is made to arm yourself with some negotiation power, such as: »» “Can you tell me where you are in the hiring process?” »» “How many people are you interviewing?” »» “How long have you been recruiting for this role?”

Achieving a win-win outcome A negotiation requires all parties to agree on an acceptable solution to the problem, in this instance your salary. Being realistic, prepared and professional throughout the negotiation process will increase your chances of securing your next salary increase. HC This article is condensed from a comprehensive guide to salary negotiations found at www.sixfigures.com.au. Author Kelly Magowan is CEO of SixFigures. Phone 1300 780 177

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HC: Can you briefly outline your career in HR prior to becoming a consultant?

Ann-Maree O’Neill: I started working in HR at Sea World 20 years ago and at that stage there was no HR at all. Being a very seasonal employment business – as in we pumped up in the September/October school holidays and also at Christmas – there was a big focus on recruitment and training. That was the foundation of HR. A big project I started was bringing trainees into the business, which was a first for a theme park

Time for

in Australia. I also had a baptism into IR when we changed the multiple awards across the business to an Enterprise Development Agreement [EDA].

I had a major career change in 2001 when we merged Sea World, Movie World and Wet’n’Wild. I became the group HR manager for all the properties.

The biggest challenge was bringing the team of managers and supervisors together as we’d been very competitive until then. We needed to be on the one team yet at the same time we needed to keep the entities of each park different for the guests.

Then we bought two properties, a small Australiana park called Paradise Country, followed by the excitement of developing Australian Outback Spectacular, which was a dinner-theatre. I was involved in doing a pre-opening for that property, looking at the roles we needed for it and bringing those people on and sticking to a strict deadline.

a switch Ann-Maree O’Neill made the switch from in-house HR to external consultant 12 months ago. She talks to Human Capital about her experience

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In-house to external

Q&A career change Then we did the reverse about 18 months ago where we split the properties out again and developed the Movie World/Wet’n’Wild/Paradise Country/Australian Outback Spectacular sites, and I was involved in merging Sea World and Sea World Resort as an HR business partner. I seem to always get involved in change management!

a colleague on what I believe is a fantastic safety leadership program, so we went off to a business to present to the HR team, and the people in that team were ex-employees of mine. They had been my team members. So here I was, their previous boss, doing this presentation. They were all lovely but the table had turned. That was an odd experience.

My vision originally was that this would be a very strong HR role, but it’s actually more a sales and marketing role, and that has been a huge learning curve for me.

HC: Why did you make the switch to consulting?

AMO: Strangely I always wanted to write a children’s book and I decided there was a strong message to get out to all businesses – large and small – that you need to create an environment where people can do their best. When times get tough everyone is under pressure and you become very reactive, you put pressure on your people, and you forget to acknowledge the work they’re doing. I decided I would co-write a business fable. To focus on it and self publish I needed to throw myself into that as a project, so I made a huge decision to leave the parks after 20 years and go on that journey.

The reaction to the book was so positive that I decided I would develop the consulting side and go into business as Reasons2Reward.

HC: You’ve chosen reward & recognition as an area of specialty – any particular reason?

AMO: I’d seen the power of reward & recognition in the workplace. When we had a program that had some reward or incentive, or even frontline managers acknowledging colleagues for the work they’d done, our sales increased. We noticed people were more engaged with the business, and were keen to see achievements recognised. My biggest lesson has been learned from the dolphin trainers at Sea World.

How did they get this amazing performance out of the dolphins? I was always fascinated by how they reward the right behaviour. When managers get under pressure they tend to react to the things that are wrong, rather than being proactive and looking for the things that are right.

HC: HR often has to choose the HR vendors who provide services to their company – how strange is it being on the other side of the fence?

AMO: It’s very strange. To be able to get a face-toface meeting with an HR professional is wonderful – you feel like you’ve won Lotto! Then you find yourself being judged by people on the other side.

First off, ‘is the product you’ve got of interest?’

And then, ‘are you the right person for the job?’

The strangest experience for me was working with

HC: What’s been the hardest thing about setting up your business?

AMO: I’m a big picture person and I was used to working at a strategic level being involved in a number of projects. I had a lot of specialised people around me – not just in HR but in the business.

Warner Village Theme Parks have IT specialists, accounting specialists, every expert you could ever need. In addition, over the 20 years I had two super PAs who were so efficient and I relied very heavily on them to organise me. Coming from that to just being me and having to learn the finer details of IT and accounting and doing my own filing – that was probably the biggest shock.

Secondly, being well known at Warner Village Theme Parks, all my phone calls and e-mails were answered – but suddenly with Reasons2Reward no one knew who I was. Getting past other people’s secretaries and getting through to the boss was tough.

Longer term – and it’s coming up to 12 months now – I think I’ll miss that big team of people. I had access to 2,500 people who I saw on a daily basis. I’ll miss that social contact and being involved with a large group of people.

“To be able to get a faceto-face meeting with an HR professional is wonderful – you feel like you’ve won Lotto!”

– Ann-Maree O’Neill

HC: What’s your top tip for other HR professionals looking to make a change to consulting?

AMO: The number one top tip would be to network, network, network. That’s what I’m finding I need to do. I’m getting in touch again with people I’ve worked with and met over the years. I also think you need to invest in yourself. Industry events keep you up to date with what is happening in the industry, but also keep you in contact with HR professionals. HC

For more information contact Ann-Maree O’Neill at annmaree@reasons2reward.com or visit www.reasons2reward.com www.hcamag.com

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FEATURE change management

Change maestros Human Capital investigates how words, conversations and even ‘visualisations’ can influence change programs, and profiles two organisations undertaking their own change initiatives

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FEATURE change management

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very corporate change initiative has its doubters, critics and naysayers. The eternal challenge these advocates of the status quo present to business leaders is convincing them that change might actually be good. Yet, is it possible that traditional change programs aren’t up to the task?

Tony Golsby-Smith, founder and CEO of 2nd Road – a consultancy specialising in strategic conversations – is an advocate of using a strategic conversation process for driving organisational transformation. It’s an approach that has largely been ignored in the corporate world, yet GolsbySmith believes this ‘second road’ approach has huge potential to facilitate large-scale change and help organisations create cultures more supportive of innovation.

Aristotle’s ‘first road’ was based on logic and analytics. Golsby-Smith views this as dominating business thinking, and believes the reliance on analysis to be inadequate when confronting a world of increasing uncertainty: “My argument is simple: the modern organisation, like the Western world that spawned it, has been built on logic and analytics.

This equips them well for control but not for creativity. That may not have mattered 20 years ago, but today it is a fatal flaw. And we need more than just extra management tools or techniques. We need a revolution in thinking.”

Metaphors help people to think creatively and they help people play with very abstract ideas

Golsby-Smith says Aristotle’s ‘second road’ is rhetoric aimed at invention rather than analysis; on creating arguments rather than analysing them; and using key tools of design and dialogue. GolsbySmith has brought these together in a process called ‘strategic conversation’.

The goal of the process is to equip people to become “designers who are making worlds rather than analysing them.” A main focus is to change people from readers of stories written by others, to the authors of their own stories. 2nd Road believes that the key to authorship lies in the art of conversation and design. ‘Conversation’ involves talking through problems in an open, free-flowing dialogue. ‘Design’ is the art of inventing new things, of turning thinking into action.

Asking the right questions Led by a 2nd Road facilitator (accompanied by a 2nd Road designer), a group of people seated around an electronic whiteboard have a dialogue focused on a series of questions: Where are we now? Where do we want to be? What do we do to get there? How will we make this happen?

Golsby-Smith believes that asking the right questions lies at the heart of success: “Questions are very powerful. If I ask you why you’re depressed today, you’ll find reasons why you’re depressed. If I www.hcamag.com

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FEATURE change management

ask you what’s exciting you, you’ll find reasons why you’re excited. So my question is just manipulating your entire search system. So we ask questions that guide transformation. The power lies in the group process, and that there is debate,” he says.

Strategic conversations, 2nd Road consultants have observed, tend to follow a particular rhythm.

There is no use for PowerPoint slides, and usually little groundwork is done beforehand. Early on, the conversation tends to feel chaotic and circuitous as different perspectives and issues came into play.

Even the problem itself can be defined differently by various group members. As the conversation progresses, increasing clarity and alignment develops, and a hypothesis usually emerges concerning the best way forward.

The facilitator plays a crucial role in this process, mapping the conversations in real time on electronic whiteboards, an important ‘thinking technology’.

Mapping the whole conversation has several important benefits: it provides a running record of the conversation, it enables participants to keep track of ideas and make connections between them, and it also gives scope for a skilled facilitator to create visual models of new ideas that may be emerging.

This visualisation of the group’s thinking aims to transform the group from being ‘managers’ into ‘designers’, with the whiteboard serving as a communal sketchpad.

Using metaphors The March 2007 merger of two of Australia’s most prominent financial services companies – Suncorp-Metway and Promina Group – presents an interesting case study of how the 2nd Road approach can be utilised. Alongside the process described above, the Suncorp-Metway commercial insurance (CI) team of general managers was also asked to imagine the future state of their company postmerger with Promina Group. Essentially, with 2nd Road’s assistance, Suncorp employees took part in designing sections of ‘Suncity’ – a kind of town map that worked to chart how each section of the business fitted together in a way that all parts of the business could understand.

The 2nd Road consultants decided to use a metaphor exercise to get this underway.

Metaphors help people to think creatively and they help people to play with very abstract ideas, and naturally financially-oriented general managers were skeptical.

Yet, through a series of exercises, small work groups from Suncorp CI were asked to explore

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the look and feel of CI through the eyes of five designated stakeholders: Community, Suppliers, Advocates, End Customers, and People.

One of the groups used the metaphor of a vibrant market village, which then mutated into the idea of a community. Another team held the view that a village was too small – were they not really a thriving city? Others said: “The city is a cold place, it’s crowded, there are negative entailments to the city”.

So the group discussed what they liked about the village versus the city and decided they wanted to create an environment that combined the scale and the endless possibilities that exist in a big city but with more of an ‘urban village feel’.

2nd Road designer Amanda Vining drew up a rough map of a hypothetical city – rough so that the Suncorp team would feel comfortable making changes and adding to it. Slowly the city began to resonate with the team. As Vining explains: “Everyone seemed to dive right into the city and started posting comments up like, ‘We could have a piazza here.’ ” As the group worked on various other business issues, the general managers were invited to post notes and adjustments to the design. By the end of the meeting, Suncorp CI’s future had the look and feel of a ‘thriving city’ that had the excitement, opportunity, and dynamism of a city – infused with the warmth and community of a village.

During the final meeting, 2nd Road consultant Nick Ingram again broke the general managers into smaller groups and asked them to create stories they could take back to their teams using the city metaphor. He described the result, saying: “The energy was quite remarkable around the stories they could tell. They were really pumped about it. And it was [at] that point I thought, ‘Okay, this thing can fly, they can own it and tell stories about it.’ ” Indeed it did fly. Suncorp staff surveys showed 94% of employees understood the vision for the business and how they fit into it, as opposed to 48% prior to the project. Suncorp also reported a 76% increase in the extent to which employees felt their colleagues understood the vision of the new entity.

Darden Business School, one of the world’s leading management schools, believes visualisation and collaboration were instrumental in creating a compelling vision for the new Suncorp CI community and achieving buy in throughout the organisation.

Over pages 34–37, Human Capital presents interviews of two HR leaders who have played crucial roles in organisations undertaking massive transformations.

expert insight FEATURE Australian change Business management Lawyers

Genuine redundancy under new unfair dismissal laws

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he Fair Work Act which took effect on 1 July last year introduced numerous changes to workplace laws including changes to the unfair dismissal jurisdiction. Perhaps most notable is that the new Act dispensed with some of the previous restrictions on claims. For instance, businesses which employed fewer than 100 employees had previously been exempt from unfair dismissal claims. This exemption no longer exists and so the number of employees in a business is no longer a matter which determines whether or not a claim can be brought against the employer.

Having said that, claims against employers with fewer than 15 employees cannot be brought unless the dismissed employee served at least 12 months with the employer before the dismissal. For all other businesses, the period is six months.

The previous laws also excluded claims from employees dismissed as a result of ‘operational reasons’. The category included genuine redundancy.

The current unfair dismissal laws also exclude claims in relation to dismissal for ‘genuine redundancy’, but a closer look reveals certain conditions attached to this expression. Let’s consider the three components which make up a genuine redundancy under the Act and consider also the opportunities which might exist for claims from employees dismissed as a consequence of redundancy.

With respect to the first component, the new industrial tribunal Fair Work Australia (FWA) must be satisfied that the person was dismissed because “the employer no longer required the person’s job to be performed by anyone because of changes in the operational requirements of the employer’s enterprise”. In the recent case of Ulan Coalmines Limited v Henry Jon Howarth & Ors [2010] FWAFB 3488, an appeal bench of FWA found the dismissals of 10 mine workers to be genuine redundancies even though some of the duties and functions of those workers continued to be carried out by remaining employees. FWA relied upon the reasoning in Jones v Department of Energy and Minerals (1995) 60 IR 304 which found that the critical identifying factor for redundancy is “whether the holder of the former position has, after the reorganisation, any duties left to discharge. If there is no longer any function or duty to be performed by that person, his or her position becomes redundant”. The dismissals of the mine workers satisfied this test.

With respect to the second component, the employer must comply with “any obligation in a modern award or enterprise agreement that applied to the employment to consult about the redundancy”.

Ulan Coal satisfied FWA that it had complied with the consultation requirements under its enterprise agreement.

Now both the first and second components are cumulative which effectively means that even if the position is no longer required because of operational requirements, the dismissal will not qualify as a genuine redundancy if the employer has not complied with consultation obligations. In that scenario the dismissed employee would have access to the unfair dismissal jurisdiction.

With respect to the third component, if it would have been reasonable in the circumstances for the person to be redeployed in the employer’s enterprise rather than dismissed, the dismissal will not be a genuine redundancy and access to the jurisdiction will be open. Failure to take reasonable redeployment options could lead to the curious outcome whereby a claim can be made even though the position is effectively redundant and the employer complied with the requirements for consultation. To put this in proper context, the provision does not require employers to redeploy employees if the redeployment is unreasonable or non-existent.

The issue of whether redeployment options are reasonable will be assessed on the facts of each case and it is simply not possible to state a general rule about what is reasonable in all circumstances. In the Ulan Coal case there was not enough evidence before the appeal bench to be able to say whether redeployment options were reasonably available and so this matter will be considered further by FWA. If it decides that it would not have been reasonable to redeploy, it will not be possible for the unfair dismissal applications to be dealt with any further.

In summary, to meet the genuine redundancy test under the new unfair dismissal laws, the employer will need to ensure that the job(s) is no longer required in the business, consultation requirements are met and consideration is given to any redeployment options. The employer will improve its prospects of defending an unfair dismissal claim if it can show the facts in support of each of these considerations.

John Stanton Australian Business Lawyers www.hcamag.com

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FEATURE change management

Organisation: Kraft Foods Asia Pacific Change agent: Varun Bhatia, vice president of HR Why change?

Decentralisation & cultural renewal

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here’s a new way of doing things at Kraft Foods Asia Pacific. As Varun Bhatia, vice president of HR, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific notes, localisation is working particularly well in this region – and it’s all part of the organisation’s decentralisation program.

As an example of localisation in practice, the simple Oreo biscuit, or cookie, is known the world over – but that doesn’t mean the product itself is universal. American fans will taste a slightly different snack to those in China. The recipe for the Indonesian Oreo is different again – and that’s exactly what its manufacturer wants.

Bhatia says that product diversity is one of the positive effects of the multinational’s unique decentralisation program in play over the last two years. It has also helped to build a more engaged, empowered and enthusiastic workforce across the

Asia region and beyond. And he says there’s still more to come.

A move to the country (level) Driving the decentralisation program was a muchneeded re-organisation that began in January 2008.

Prior to this, Bhatia admits Kraft Foods was in a sorry state. “It was a company that was really going nowhere,” he says. “We were not growing, and our strategy was not very clear.”

New global CEO Irene Rosenfeld, who joined the company in 2006, piloted the Organising for Growth (OFG) strategy, to both rebuild the culture and, importantly, change the focus of the Kraft business.

“Over the years, we’d built an organisation that was very functional, very process-oriented and more global,” Bhatia says. “But that had taken us further and further away from our consumers.

FEATURE change management

“OFG is about investing heavily in the organisation where it was closest to our customers; at the business unit level.”

In Asia, that meant taking resources out of the regional head office and rebuilding significant structures in each of the countries where Kraft Foods operates. In this way, the key decision making would take place not at the regional or global levels but at each of these individual business units. “[Employment] came down in most regional organisations by 30–40%, but resources were reinvested into the business units,” says Bhatia.

“The role of the regional headquarters changed from making daily decisions and tactical metrics, to measuring and building capability.”

That capability is an important pillar holding up the decentralised structure. Bhatia says placing day-to-day responsibility with each of the business units in countries like Indonesia, the Philippines and China necessitates having strong people in place there, people who actively seek out new ways of doing things.

“You can’t flip the switch overnight,” he says.

“You’ve got to build capability.”

In doing so, Kraft Foods sent several Asia Pacific regional leaders back to the business unit level – but it also hired externally at this time. After 18 months, some two-thirds of the top 100 leaders in the company were new hires.

This was a significant shift for the company, but Bhatia says, a necessary one. Given the new structure, with each business unit responsible for its own marketing, product development, manufacturing and cost-control, Kraft Foods needed a different type of capability in place. Bhatia says he needed staff who could easily accept that autonomy and empowerment, and thrive under such challenging conditions.

“We went outside of where we had gaps – not only capability gaps but also mindset gaps,” Bhatia explains. “We brought in talent who could more easily, and more comfortably, work in a more decentralised environment.”

That environment means the company is working much closer to its consumers, particularly in Asia. Each business unit has taken some of the company’s strongest brands – the Oreo biscuit, Philadelphia cream cheese, and the Tang powdered beverage – and adapted the products and marketing

to their domestic markets. In rapidly-growing Asia, that’s been a powerful weapon in the battle for market share.

“It was a company that was really going nowhere. We were not growing, and our strategy was not very clear” – Varun Bhatia

Overhauling the culture Bhatia admits to having some luck in the cultural overhaul. In particular, Kraft Foods drew great strength from its 2007 acquisition of Danone’s LU biscuit division. The company came with a similar structure to what Kraft Foods was working to put in place, therefore bringing talent which would both adapt easily to the Kraft environment and, importantly, add to its key objectives through fresh eyes and experience.

“That acquisition brought a great set of people and talent – talent which thought very differently but more in line with where we were driving the organisation,” Bhatia says. “Danone worked with a more empowered business model so they brought that mindset.”

This created a positive environment throughout the merged company, making for a smoother integration with less effort. “Retaining talent of the acquired company is always difficult,” Bhatia says – but he notes that Kraft Foods spent a lot of time and effort putting the ‘right’ retention and engagement programs into play throughout the company. It also sought to promote Danone LU biscuit division leaders into positions managing some of its most important brands and business units.

Today, the leaders of Kraft Foods in China, Indonesia and the Philippines are all former Danone LU staff. “That has encouraged other Danone people to stay with us,” Bhatia adds.

The experience of the past 18 months has provided Kraft Foods with a tested ‘playbook’ or guidebook for integrating new companies – something that is certain to come in handy as the company begins its US$18.9bn takeover of Cadbury this year. www.hcamag.com

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FEATURE change management Organisation: St.George Change agent: Ross Miller, general manager, human resources Why change?

Westpac/St.George corporate merger

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hen Human Capital profiled Ross Miller back in May 2009, the Westpac/ St.George merger was in full flight. Back then the overriding strategy for customers and employees was ‘big enough but small enough’ – that is, having the strength of a big bank but the heart of a small bank. One year on, that remains the strategy, and by most traditional yardsticks of HR success, it has worked.

St.George’s voluntary resignation rate continues to be substantially lower than the finance industry, sitting at sub-10%. Internal engagement and culture surveys are positive. The retention rate for those in their first year of service is high and absenteeism rates are also tracking in a positive direction.

“We faced some complex, challenging issues, and a very important aspect of our people strategy was ensuring that St.George employees felt connected to Westpac and part of a bigger organisation, yet could still identify themselves as a St.George employee.

We had to reassure people that the things they loved about St.George weren’t going to change. They were simply going to get better,” says Miller.

At the same time, the senior leadership team was very open and honest about the decisions St.George was making as an organisation. “It did mean some things were inevitably going to change,” Miller says. “A great example was our payroll integration, which involved changing everyone’s pay week. As an HR practitioner it’s really important to understand the implications that sort of change has on 6,000 people, and I’m proud to say our implementation was exceptional because we understood it. We knew it was important to build context around why the change had to be made.”

Open comms Unsurprisingly, Miller stresses that the key was open and upfront communication. The HR team attempted to communicate with employees as early as possible about how changes would impact them.

“In December 2008 when the two organisations merged, we aimed to have an understanding of what was coming down the pipeline and we worked hard to understand the implications of those changes.

A good example is the changes we made as an employing entity, the shift from being employees of

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St.George to being employees of Westpac. Some of the details were really important to employees – such as the enterprise agreement they work under, or the super fund they make contributions into. We would immediately assess those implications and share that information with our employees.”

Miller was also careful to avoid information overload. Rather than swamp everybody with the same messages, address lists were created so that specific messages could be sent to specific groups.

“We could be very careful and almost personal in communication about change,” he says.

Miller maintains that a strong attribute of the St.George culture is the two-way communication.

Rather than merely being ‘missives from the leader’ with no scope for feedback, employees are encouraged to voice their concerns. “I love it when people respond to e-mails that either the CEO or I have sent. They start a conversation.

That’s been a crucial part of my role – speaking to people constantly. Our change process didn’t stop at implementation. Whenever we’ve implemented a massive HR change generally myself or the team have been in the field the week afterwards asking people how the change has gone, asking how it’s impacted them, and how we can do things differently,” Miller adds.

Keeping St.George as St.George While both brands will continue to leverage off each other to maximise employee offerings, Miller says a decision was made early in the merger process to map out the key components that would enable St.George to retain its culture. A decision was made that the St.George enterprise agreement should be a fundamental part of the company’s employment offering, and would therefore be an important asset in maintaining the company’s culture.

“Earlier this year a number of senior people weren’t covered by that St.George agreement. We went to those people and put together an interim agreement which 95% of people voted in favour of.

Later this year all people who work for St.George will go into negotiations for a new St.George agreement – one that has components that are very similar to Westpac but different enough to be St.George,” Miller explains.

Feedback from employees and customers painted a clear picture about how important St.George employees are to the St.George brand. As such, there are minor differences in some of the employee benefits offered by St.George and Westpac. For example, with a third of St.George employees over the government-defined mature age, the company will continue to implement innovative policies around attracting and retaining mature age workers.

The company’s ‘purchase leave’ policy is also subtly different to that of Westpac’s.

“We have the opportunity to leverage ‘big enough but small enough’ even more as we move forward,” says Miller. “There are some initiatives that a smaller company can do, and to a large extent we can act as an incubator for the bigger group,” says Miller.

Any change program will have its doubters, and in hindsight Miller recognises that things only went astray when the company didn’t remember the things that are important to people – and this provides his top tip for other companies undertaking significant change: sometimes the small things matter.

“If we think back to the beginning of the merger, a lot of people sat on the sideline and said ‘yeah sure’ when [Westpac CEO] Gail Kelly told Australia that this truly was a multi-brand merger, and that the St.George brand would be retained.

But we’ve done that, and in fact we’ve opened more St.George branches. However, when we didn’t realise the importance of enforcing the right message with the right symbols – and thinking about our employees’ resilience and fear of the unknown – that’s where we struggled.”

Miller cites several examples of small things making a world of difference: ensuring the same e-mail logos were kept; celebrating St.George making bank of the year; keeping some leader forums separate; keeping faces in the frontline that people knew and relied on; and celebrating the St.George initiatives that were picked up and used across the Westpac group.

“Do not underestimate how important it is that those symbols bolster people’s resilience and reinforce the components that will take away the fear of the unknown. It’s so important,” he concludes. hc

“We had to reassure people that the things they loved about St.George weren’t going to change” – Ross Miller

www.hcamag.com

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diversity indigenous recruitment

Strength through

diversity 38

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diversity indigenous recruitment

Driven by more than a desire to ‘give back’, many organisations are seeing the genuine business benefits that Indigenous employment programs can bring

U

nemployment among Indigenous Australians is four times greater than any other demographic. That statistic, when viewed alongside similar statistics for standard of living and health, rams home the gross inequalities facing Indigenous Australians.

Danny Lester, CEO of the Aboriginal Employment Strategy (AES), says that most Australians are aware of these hideous gaps; the problem, he says, is that many Australians – and most employers – don’t know how they can help.

“I think Australians want to do something,” he says. “But the questions we always get from business leaders are, how do we engage, how do we source, how do we retain Indigenous Australians?”

The work undertaken by the AES, which is a 100% Indigenous, national not-for-profit recruitment company and a Registered Training Organisation, is intended to help employers breach that massive gap in terms of committing to Indigenous employment.

“Diversity is coming back … because of the focus on women, which then causes organisations to look more broadly” – Juliet Bourke

A victim of the GFC? A sad reality of the GFC was that diversity came to be viewed by many companies as a luxury rather than a necessity. Juliet Bourke, partner at diversity advisors Aequus Partners, says that of all diversity strategies only flexibility stayed on the agenda because it was still viewed as a strategic way to retain staff. Other initiatives slipped onto the backburner.

Fortunately, 2010 is shaping up to be more positive, with many companies once again gearing up their strategies across a broad spectrum of diversity initiatives. Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the emergence of Indigenous programs on corporate agendas. “Diversity is coming back onto the agenda now because of the focus on women,

which then causes organisations to look more broadly,” Bourke says. “Having said that, some of our clients retained and advanced a focus on Indigenous employment because of their specific workplace needs – for example they were operating in Aboriginal communities – or because their competitors were doing it.”

Longitudinal data from the 2003, 2005 and 2008 Australasian Diversity and Equality Survey (completed by best practice organisations) shows marked improvement. Fifty-two per cent of organisations focused on Indigenous programs in 2003, 53% in 2005, and 60% in 2008. “It’s a trend in the right direction, which was no doubt assisted by the Prime Minister’s apology in 2008,” Bourke says.

Lester agrees, but believes the resurgence is multifaceted. He concedes Prime Minister Rudd’s apology helped, but feels there are other elements at play. “The awareness of the issues around Indigenous hiring and the means being used to support and promote it, such as the Australian Employment Covenant [a three-way commitment between employers, the Australian government and Indigenous people to create 50,000 sustainable jobs for Indigenous Australians] certainly helped.

However, I believe employers are seeing that by employing local Indigenous community members, they are providing assistance to local economies and gaining a retained workforce as well. There are benefits around creating their own workforce for tomorrow and planning the future for local Indigenous communities,” he says.

Making it work As with any diversity initiative, Lester says the first step in an Indigenous recruitment strategy is to get the highest level of commitment by the organisation.

This means gaining endorsements and support from the CEO or chairperson. Beyond that, involvement from the HR executive or HR personnel – those who will drive change within the process of recruiting, supporting and retaining – is crucial. “I don’t believe the HR policy needs to change but the process within those policies may need to be altered somewhat. For example, if you traditionally recruited via online www.hcamag.com

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diversity indigenous recruitment

tools, that won’t work for Indigenous career seekers.

There needs to be an alternate process that enables greater awareness and catchment to engage potential employees,” he says.

Nonetheless, Lester says the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) question will still be asked. “What’s in it for organisations is this: there are a huge number of Indigenous Australians out there and by employing local community members to service the local workforce you’ll get sustainability and you’ll be helping those local communities. You’ll create a loyalty base that is far reaching.

Many Indigenous people will stay with an employer long term.”

Employers cannot be expected to do this by themselves. Lester notes that meaningful partnerships are important.

The work that service providers like AES undertakes far outweighs the sourcing capacity that many employers have. “They don’t know how to source and engage. We do. We can refer hundreds of potential employees to them,” says Lester.

Driving the AES recruitment and training operations is a vast database that holds details of individuals that are willing to work tomorrow, and individuals that are keen to work but may need some occupational training.

AES acts as more than a recruitment agency.

The organisation takes a holistic approach and works closely, one on one, with its communities.

AES representatives meet with career seekers to understand what each person is hoping to get from their life as well as their career. Through that process AES ascertains whether they can go directly into employment or whether they need additional skills.

AES also works closely with schools. “We work with the principals and event coordinators and that brings about a cohesive pipeline for the future through the School Based Trainee [SBT] program,” Lester says.

In partnership with the federal government, the SBT was central to placing 200 Indigenous year 10 students into Australian companies last year. The 2010 target is to find 500 SBT positions across Australia.

Lester says that as well as keeping kids interested and engaged while completing senior school, the SBT program gives Australian companies a chance to find young enthusiastic employees who fast become an asset to the business. “The program develops skilled Indigenous youths who can enter the job market, and is a proven pathway to employment,” he says. “We want more companies to work with us to create these opportunities.” The AES currently has more than 35 host employers around Australia who offer SBT positions.

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“The questions we always get from business leaders are, how do we engage, how do we source, how do we retain Indigenous Australians?”

– Danny Lester

Indeed, the AES views employers as their number one client. To that end, the AES undertakes thorough research into each employer to understand their needs, what skills sets are required, the peaks and troughs of the recruitment cycle, and also their HR policies. “We work on quality, not quantity – we don’t want to waste the time of the career seekers or the employer.” Lester says.

For the time being, the financial sector is leading the way in Indigenous recruitment, but Lester is optimistic that other industries such as building and construction, retail, hospitality and mining and engineering may also benefit.

To facilitate this, AES has rolled out an employment roadshow around regional Australia. The aim is to promote the AES brand and Indigenous excellence through case studies and personal experiences of people who have been placed in careers.

“Our long-term goal is to ensure the local workforce population doesn’t just fit within the low level occupations. We need to see Indigenous Australians in low, medium and high level occupations,” Lester concludes. HC

Further information Aboriginal Employment Strategy www.aboriginalemploymentstrategy.com.au Australian Employment Covenant www.fiftythousandjobs.com.au/ Clontarf Academy Foundation www.clontarffootball.com/ Combining sport and academia for Indigenous Australians The Graham (Polly) Farmer Foundation www.pff.com.au/ Working in partnership with community, industry and government to assist Indigenous students reach their potential Australian Indigenous Education Foundation www.aief.com.au/ Empowering Indigenous children to build a future through education

diversity sponsored indigenous feature recruitment diversity

Workplace diversity:

Gradually moving up the HR agenda What is your organisation doing to engage a diverse workforce?

Want to know more?

Diversity@Work has some tips

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oday, Diversity@Work is seeing a marked increase in companies acknowledging the power of workplace diversity and inclusion.

Diversity helps improve risk mitigation, innovation, capacity, business profitability and brand image.

Diversity@Work – an organisation dedicated to the establishment and promotion of diverse and inclusive workplaces – is indeed heartened by this increasing shift within workplace strategies.

However, there is still a long way to go.

Often organisations believe they have a complete diversity strategy, when they have only focused on one specific group. While one group is no more important than another, true workplace diversity and inclusion, as a whole, encompasses numerous sectors including people with disabilities, the culturally and linguistically diverse, mature age and youth, Indigenous Australians, women and sexual orientation.

“By no means are we dismissing the great work organisations have undertaken in creating diversity and inclusion programs that focus on one particular group,” says Wendy Bonnici, director, Diversity@ Work. “We actually annually applaud these efforts through our annual Diversity@Work Employment & Inclusion Awards. But we want to encourage organisations to continue forging into areas of diversity they have yet to explore.”

“We often find organisations tend to file diversity and inclusion strategies in the ‘too hard basket’. They either become a little overwhelmed in tackling sectors of diversity they feel fraught with the potential for discrimination, want to steer away from ‘tokenistic’ policies or are unsure of how to effectively create a strategy which complements their unique business needs.”

As an organisation, Diversity@Work undertakes a number of initiatives, services and training programs that promote the establishment of diverse

and safe workplaces across government, corporate, private and not-for-profit sectors. Some of Diversity@ Work’s initiatives include the following.

Diversity@Work MasterClass A one-day MasterClass designed to provide an introductory overview of how organisations can arrive at a program that complements their unique business needs. The Diversity@Work MasterClass is being held on Thursday 17 June 2010 at the RACV Club, Melbourne. Contact 03 9862 4222 or diversityawards@rdimarketing.com.au for more information.

Workplace Anti-Bullying Week While diversity and inclusion are appearing more frequently on the agenda of organisations, we are still witnessing an increase in the reports of workplace bullying incidents. Acts of discrimination – in any form – need to be taken seriously. Diversity@Work has begun campaigning the Federal Government to show positive leadership through the creation of a national Workplace Anti-Bullying Week, which will actively promote the duty of care organisations and employees have towards their staff and fellow peers.

Organisations can support this campaign by signing our online petition at www.diversityatwork.com.au

2010 Diversity@Work Employment & Inclusion Awards Since 2001, Diversity@Work has publicly acknowledged organisations actively encouraging workplace diversity and inclusion through the Diversity@Work Employment & Inclusion Awards.

Today, the program is one of Australia’s premier workplace awards on the corporate and government calendar. This year will be a true celebration of diversity and inclusion with artists and musicians representing Australia’s multicultural and diverse population as well as a special keynote presentation from Mao’s Last Dancer Li Cunxin. The celebratory theme will continue throughout the evening, as we announce the winners of the eight workplace awards. The 2010 sponsors include: ACE National, AMES, ANZ, Australia Post, City of Melbourne, HC Magazine, Mercy Health, TAC and Victoria Police.

For further information on the 2010 Diversity@ Work Employment & Inclusion Awards, visit www.diversityatwork. com.au/awards For those organisations looking to create or expand upon a diversity and inclusion strategy, start discussing your options with Diversity@Work – www. diversityatwork.com.au or 03 9608 0900. www.hcamag.com

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HR Insight workplace demographics

Gen Y

At the risk of stirring the generational debate yet again, Human Capital asks two experts for their views on Gen Y and Baby Boomers

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n January 2010 there was a momentous announcement: babies born from 2010 would be branded as Generation Alpha. Following in the progressively older footsteps of Gen Z, Gen Y, Gen X and Baby Boomers, Generation Alphas will begin school earlier and study and work for longer, and have an average of five careers and 20 different employers in their lifetimes, according to data from McCrindle Research.

The rolling of eyes was audible all over Australia.

Yes, we are tired of generation brands and even wearier of the ‘generational war’, particularly in the workforce. While it’s true there are some subtle differences in what each generation wants from work, in general people are just people and want to be treated with respect. This is borne out by the insights presented here. Human Capital asked the same series of questions to one expert representing Gen Y, and one expert representing Baby Boomers.

Going in to bat: Jason Murray, cofounder/CEO, and Andy Springer, cofounder/talent director of Rookie Recruits (www.rookierecruits.com) What is the biggest misconception regarding Gen Y employees?

That they are lazy, fickle, and want the CEO’s job four minutes after they walk in the door. These attributes can be found in any individual regardless of age/generation and we find that attitude is a bigger determinant of how someone will perform.

Specifically in protest to these three areas: • Lazy – Gen Y are not lazy, well not any lazier than anyone else who can’t be bothered. The best way to motivate Gen Y (or any member of staff) is to explain why something is important or why it needs to

Generations Baby Boomers

Going in to bat: Catriona Byrne, director, SageCo (www.sageco.com.au)

What is the biggest misconception regarding Baby Boomer employees?

That they are all the same. There is actually more diversity/disparity among the Boomer generation than between generations. This is a generation of 5.3 million people representing 26% of Australia’s population born over a span of almost 20 years. Another misconception is that they are more expensive. The other is the assumption that they will ‘just want to retire soon’.

Many Baby Boomers are happy to work longer, but not the way they are working now. Flexible options are essential.

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be completed. Perhaps ask them how they might go about it (rather than tell them); if they develop the plan of attack they’re much more likely to take personal ownership.

• Fickle – Gen Y will not put up with poor leadership the way others do. If you have a turnover issue, I strongly suggest you look at the manager/leader before simply blaming it on ‘those Gen Y kids’.

• Want the CEO’s job after four minutes – Gen Y want to make a difference. They want to do something that will add value to the team or company. Look for initiatives/mini projects in addition to their day-to-day role that will stretch their capabilities.

What is the first thing Gen Y candidates ask you when applying for a job?

They want to understand more about the role and the organisation as a whole. They

are much more selective about what they do and for whom, the career path, the team, the culture, the industry, etc.

What do Gen Y want most from their employer? Why? Great leadership will meet most needs (of any generation). Key areas of focus should be on recognition and feedback, opportunities to stretch and grow, transparency and communication.

What would be your top tip for an older manager charged with managing Gen Y? Get to know them on a personal level. Ask more questions and listen to their ideas.

Finish this statement: ‘Employers ignore Gen Y at their peril because...’

Whether you like it or not they’re the future leaders of your business, your community and this planet!

at work What is the first thing Baby Boomer candidates ask you when applying for a job?

Generally a question about the organisation’s culture and environment.

What do Baby Boomers want most from their employer? Why? To feel valued, respected and have an opportunity to share their knowledge and experience – in a structured, managed way.

What would be your top tip for a young manager charged with managing Baby Boomers?

Have authentic conversations! All too often we hear of retirement notice given when it is too late, exacerbating the risk for the organisation. This is generally because nobody has discussed ‘plans for future work/life/retirement’ with the individual.

What we know, we can manage. Thinking differently about ways of working, finding out how they best contribute their skills and experience, support them through health and wellbeing initiatives.

Challenge your own assumptions about being ‘old’. Don’t fall victim to age discrimination. If there’s a problem, the cause is rarely ‘age’. Deal with the real cause of an issue, not a stereotype.

Finish this statement: ‘Employers ignore Baby Boomers at their peril because...’ …employers may not have done the sums on the number retiring x the replacement cost.

This can run into millions of dollars over the next few years. …they represent one-third of the workforce so can’t be overlooked. …they hold the key to company knowledge and core relationships. hc

n While 56% of Gen Y respondents say they plan to stay with their current employer, a huge 31% say they would jump ship for more money elsewhere n For the older generation, however, 72% plan to stay where they are and only 20% would move for more money elsewhere n In the past 12 months, 65% of Gen Y received a salary increase and 12% are expecting an increase of 10% or more in the next 12 months n 55% of Baby Boomers received a salary increase in the past 12 months, 8% are expecting a 10% increase.

62% are expecting a bonus this year n Of those planning to leave their current employer, 23% are Gen Y employees while only 19% of Baby Boomers plan to move organisations

Source: Randstad’s 2010 World of Work report www.hcamag.com

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REcruitment graduate screening

The

right fit

Long gone are the days when people left university, found a job and stayed there for the rest of their lives. Human Capital looks at how to select the right graduate for the right job

T

he graduate recruitment industry in Australia has grown over the past decade in line with the number of students attending university.

According to Ben Reeves, CEO of the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE), over 110,000 domestic students graduate from an undergraduate degree each year and thousands of graduate vacancies are posted and filled in Australia.

“From our membership database alone, 6,000 to 8,000 graduate vacancies are posted each year. But this doesn’t include all the other companies that are not members of AAGE,” Reeves says.

The AAGE is the peak industry body representing organisations that recruit and develop Australian graduates. Its current membership comprises over 320 organisations across Australia.

“We provide guidance to employers to help continuously improve graduate recruitment and development practices in Australia,” he adds.

The graduate-employer gap Consulting psychologist Kim Pluess from Peter Berry Consultancy (PBC) has worked with many small and large organisations throughout Australia and has witnessed an disturbing gap in the graduate

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recruitment industry. “There are misalignments between what graduates are looking for in a career and what an organisation is looking for in a graduate,” Pluess says.

“Our clients have often pointed out that they spend a lot of time and money recruiting and training graduates only to have them leave the organisation after the induction program is completed.”

Pluess adds that graduates have also indicated that while the graduate program may be good, after the cessation of the program the transition process into the organisation as a full-time, permanent employee is often not done well, leaving them confused and disheartened.

“The real problem that lies beneath all this is a lack of understanding of what makes an ideal graduate candidate for a specific position,” she says.

Closing the gap To try and find a solution to this graduate recruitment issue, PBC has launched a longitudinal research project looking at graduate selection and development in Australia. The research, to be held throughout 2010, will aim to develop a validated personality profile to be used as a selection tool

REcruitment graduate screening

“There are misalignments between what graduates are looking for in a career and what an organisation is looking for in a graduate” – Kim Pluess whole different problem. It meant that screening the applicants down to a manageable number was difficult,” says Reeves.

“In addition to this, many companies had fewer resources available as HR departments were cut down. Many graduate employers started using applicant tracking systems and psychometric assessments to help screen the applicant pool to a more manageable number,” he adds.

Pluess notes that PBC’s Australian graduate research will provide an analysis of the Australian graduate market in terms of personality and values.

“Generally speaking, graduates are ambitious but also cautious due to the uncertainty of transitioning from the world of education to the world of work.

This being said, the specific set of values of the ideal graduate candidate will vary depending on the industry and job type,” she says.

Research project

within specific industries and a graduate competency matrix which can be used for development. “Basically, the research will help organisations recruit graduates for high performance and retention as well as assist graduates to understand what organisation or industry they are best suited to,” Pluess says.

According to Reeves, retention of graduate staff can be a huge issue and can result in high turnover costs for graduate employers.

“The turnover costs associated with a graduate leaving the organisation will depend on the amount of time and investment spent. However, from our AAGE 2010 employer survey conducted with our members, the average training time is five weeks which includes approximately 13 days of technical training and nine days of skills training in their first year. I’ve heard estimates of turnover costs of losing a graduate to be about 50% of the graduate’s annual salary,” Reeves says.

In 2008, retention was a huge issue. The question on everyone’s mind was: ‘how can we retain our staff?’ In the last 12 months this has dramatically changed due to the economic crisis.

“We’ve witnessed a large volume of graduate applicants on the market, which has created a

Using Hogan psychometric assessments and performance data, PBC’s research will identify: • Common personality profiles and values of graduates between industries and job type • Challenges that are typical when starting a graduate program • Core competencies that best predict graduate success • Profiles and values of graduates who stay with the organisation after the cessation of their graduate program According to 2007 research by Hogarth et al, the training and development opportunities on offer are important in attracting and retaining graduates, and the current generation of graduates is seeking such opportunities from their employers.

“The key challenge is how to attract, develop, motivate and retain graduates. Companies that get this right will have a clear competitive advantage in attendance, productivity and retention, which goes straight to the bottom line,” Pluess adds. hc

Call to action

PBC is currently looking for graduate employers to take part in its research on graduate selection and development in Australia. The organisations participating in the research will receive free profiles for each participating graduate as well as a group analysis. To get involved, contact Kim Pluess on (02) 9967 9666 or kpluess@peterberry.com.au. For further information on Peter Berry Consultancy, visit www.peterberry.com.au www.hcamag.com

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opinion corporate health

Penny Lovett, HR director at Bupa Australia, outlines how an external consultant can get you the right wellness program for your organisation

Corporate health

A

wellness program is a complicated and specialised tool used to motivate and maximise the output of a corporate workforce. It is also a relatively new concept to Australia, and as such is somewhat of an incomplete science. Despite its relative infancy and the lack of absolute hard numbers, the productivity and employee retention benefits to the bottom line can be substantial – a fact that more and more Australian businesses are beginning to realise.

For many companies, the real challenge lies not in deciding if you need a corporate health program, but rather how best to implement one. A question I’m often asked is: what is the best way to approach a company-wide implementation? Is it best for HR or an external company to establish and manage the program? Or is a combined approach the best way?

As an HR practitioner, your initial reaction may be to take responsibility for driving the program yourself. This is a natural response given it is an employee-facing program, and one that in part aims

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to address the productivity of the organisation.

Having seen numerous programs implemented – with varying degrees of success – I believe the best way to achieve a high uptake of a wellness program that will maintain good longevity over time is to combine both internal and external resources.

External experts generally provide advice and insight based on experience for this specialised field which is still relatively new. They will help develop a best practice strategy while providing advice on common challenges, promoting a smooth transition of the program into the company culture.

Our experience has shown us that the most important reason external consultants are called in is to provide objectivity by acting as an independent source of advice.

The key value add of an external consultant is that they are able to provide advice, best practice solutions and operational information, as well as create customised initiatives that identify health risk and deploy relevant wellness programs.

External consultants can use their expertise to help an organisation implement the right program, but it is integral that the program is viewed as an important aspect of company culture. While a consulting group can simply walk in and provide advice on strategies to embed a corporate wellness program in an organisation’s culture, it is the internal leaders that will carry the wellness programs to fruition, and ultimately ensure the longevity of it.

While HR may initially appear as the logical owner within an organisation, it is best to view the function’s role as a facilitator of a business need.

It may be useful to look at this in a similar context to managing training. While sales may ‘own’ the business need for training to be done, HR are the facilitators rather than owners of the process.

Wellness needs to be embedded into the structure of the business and its daily operations to promote longevity and encourage uptake.

If the wellness program is positioned as being owned and run by the employees and the company it will deliver intrinsic value and ultimately create a better and more productive work environment. HC

Penny Lovett is the director of HR for Bupa Australia.

Bupa provides corporate wellness programs to more than 75 companies in Australia through HBA, MBF and Mutual Community. Lovett has been instrumental in developing and implementing Bupa’s corporate wellness offering.

Visit www.bupa.com.au

sponsored diversity feature Indigenous corporate recruitment health

Would you pay for a few minutes of relaxation at work?

The sky is the limit. Could you be responsible for getting approval for something worthwhile?

W

inter is here – coats, scarves, gloves, woolly socks and boots come out of their dark cupboard corners. Dismal clouds and naked trees loom overhead as you head to yet another week at the office.

Then, sitting at your desk confronted by a full week of deadlines, e-mails and meetings with people you’d rather not face, your shoulders sag… but then you spot a warm glow in your schedule and the weekend cobwebs and anxieties ahead melt away, as you anticipate the highlight of your week, a moment of sheer bliss – a personalised massage – and gradually everything is feeling better.

Support Lifeline’s Stress Down Day and put Friday 24th July 2010 on your office calendar.

What a great way of initiating a corporate massage event with a positive twist.

Check out www.stressdown.org.au to register plus lots more info and posters, including in depth info on managing stress.

Corporate CARE Therapies supports Lifeline’s Stress Down Day and will be donating to this great cause. Visit www.stressdown.org.au for more information

Your achy shoulder blades, unrelenting headache and your stiff neck will feel the warmth of trained hands offering major relief.

What’s more, it could be a regular thing – a weekly wonder in a simple form!

It is already well known that small changes in the workplace can lead to significant health benefits. An employer who spends even modest time and thought on the wellness of staff is making a huge investment.

However, as an employee, if you had to take part responsibility for that – would you? Could it possibly become a jointly funded effort?

We want to know …would you be willing to pay $5 out of your own pocket for a 10 minute at-desk massage to enhance your wellbeing? Indeed, it is putting a choice into your lap – do you and your team want a weekly in-house massage? Find an amazing way to reward, recognise and value your efforts.

Melt away the stress and feel rejuvenated as well as motivated and productive. Increase the energy and enthusiasm in your office.

Corporate Care has witnessed a dramatic increase in the collaboration between innovative bosses and staff who are pro-active about supporting their health while pursuing desired and demanding careers.

Call Vanessa at Corporate CARE Therapies on 1300 799 145 or visit the website at www. corporateCAREtherapies. com.au www.hcamag.com

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Profile kellie reeves

What dot-com bust?

Putting the dramas of the early 2000s behind it, the IT industry is now showing the way in terms of HR best practice. Iain Hopkins profiles one industry leader

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f ever there was an industry that has shown resilience and the ability to bounce back after massive setbacks, one need look no further than the IT sector. Following the devastation of the dotcom bubble burst of the early 2000s, few would have selected the IT sector as one harbouring multiple candidates for Employer of the Year.

Yet a technology trio – Microsoft Australia, Dimension Data Australia and Express Data – were announced earlier this year as being the ‘Best of the Best’ in Hewitt’s Australia/New Zealand awards.

The Hewitt Best Employer Study involves a diverse range of businesses – small, large Australian, global – and the one thing they all have in common is an absolute commitment to becoming a best employer. Overall, 110 organisations and 37,000 employees were involved in the process.

Empirical data from this year’s award showed an improvement to the bottom line, customer service, and reduced time and cost to hire for those on the list. Crucial elements included: »» Communication and leadership: The feedback from employees was that senior management is not walking the talk as much as they should be.

Messages from the top were often lost through the layers of management. The key message was that

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business leaders can never over-communicate, and that leaders should do so with employees not just formally but also informally. »» Performance management: All companies are looking to have a high performance culture by making people accountable, setting high targets and motivating their staff. »» The inextricable link between engagement and the success of a company: Best employers all aim for high engagement by focusing on the individual and their potential regardless of title, salary, or position. Those individuals in turn build strong teams and successful companies. In addition, value statements are real for these employers – they don’t sit on boardroom walls; they are lived and breathed.

While clearly such awards are recognition of company-wide efforts, often it’s the HR team driving them, and it can be the shining gold star on the resume of the HR professional(s) involved.

At Dimension Data, that person is Kellie Reeves, director of people & culture.

“We’re very proud to have been recognised as a ‘Best of the Best’ Hewitt Best Employer 2009. We were accredited as a Hewitt Best Employer in late 2009, and in March this year were recognised as the

Personal file

Kellie Reeves Age: 36 Family: My partner and my cat make up my family here in Melbourne, and my extended family is interstate in NSW

Favourite sports: Tennis and basketball (watching, not playing!)

Favourite movie/ TV show: Lost in Translation. I love the theme of connection and finding it where you least expect. And for TV, Mad Men is my favourite for its art and excellence on all levels Self-described: Loyal, optimistic and honest Best advice ever received: ‘Life is a journey not a destination’ – it’s so true and something I regularly repeat to myself and others Hobbies: Yoga, health, reading, catching up with family and friends, and buying beautiful things First job/worst job: Not my first nor my worst job, but the most unique was being tipstaff to deputy president R.W. Harrison of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission while I finished honours at uni.

Essentially, I had to keep the court in order, swear in witnesses and observe all hearings and conciliation meetings.

I learnt so much in my time there and had fun trying to explain to people exactly what a tipstaff is If not in HR: A landscape gardener

Profile kellie reeves

‘Best of the Best’ along with two other organisations, one being a member of the Dimension Data group, Express Data, and the other – Microsoft – one of our major business partners.

“We have a history of being recognised as a best employer and I believe this is due to our unique culture, our people focus and the commitment of our managers to making Dimension Data a great place to work. I’ve never worked for a business like it – Dimension Data is a really inspiring place to be.”

HR at Dimension Data Reeves represents a textbook example of how and why so many people gravitate towards the HR field: “I had started a business degree straight out of school and was quickly attracted to studies in both HR and IR,” she says. “In high school my strengths had always been in the humanities and I was known for having a mature outlook, calm manner and an ability to get along with a range of people, and these characteristics seemed a good match for a career in HR. After my first year of uni I was fortunate to get my first HR role with retailer David Jones and continued studying part-time.”

In her current role, Reeves is responsible for ensuring the company’s people strategies and programs attract, engage, develop and retain talent. Her role was extended around 12 months ago from pure HR to also encompass corporate social responsibility. Alongside her “fantastic” team of 11 HR professionals who are committed to making Dimension Data a great place to work, Reeves has responsibilities across over 1,000 people in six Australian offices.

Reeves believes the key to great people and culture initiatives is no great mystery; in fact, it sits right in front HR: the people in the company.

“Our main mechanism for [assessing] this is our annual Employee Survey. One very clear trend in the feedback we’ve received has been to improve our L&D offerings. Through focus and commitment, we’ve seen internal staff training and development improve significantly over the past two years, which has in turn improved employee satisfaction. Now we have a comprehensive learning and development curriculum that spans technical, leadership and professional development and is achieved through a blend of e-learning, classroom-based training, and coaching and mentoring,” she says.

Indeed, it’s no surprise to learn that Dimension is looking towards new technology to help with the HR function. Reeves is working closely with local and

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“I believe that the tech bust is a distant memory, and that IT has shown that it is an exciting, fast-paced and sustainable industry that provides highly rewarding careers” – Kellie Reeves

global marketing and HR colleagues to utilise the best that technology has to offer, including ways to engage staff through social media.

Looking ahead Reeves is also aware of the challenges that lie ahead.

She notes that the war for talent in the IT industry has been a reality in Australia for at least the past five years and she expects it to continue for many more. “Although the pressure may ease through an economic downturn, it’s always important to find new ways to attract the best talent and continue to offer a compelling employee value proposition. I believe that the tech bust is a distant memory, and that IT has shown that it is an exciting, fast-paced and sustainable industry that provides highly rewarding careers,” she says.

Dimension Data will be using its Hewitt citation as a means to attract and retain talented people.

“Benchmarking ourselves against other employers is an important undertaking and I think it is phenomenal to be able to say that I work for a ‘Best of the Best’ employer in Australia. Our experience has been that the recognition does attract people to our organisation and reinforces that Dimension Data is a great place to work. Being able to share this with both prospective and existing employees is a real differentiator for us,” she says.

On a broader scale, Reeves notes that the role of HR, too, is always evolving. She feels it’s also becoming more interesting as each year passes.

In terms of the future, she sees a need for HR to grow and adapt faster to ensure it is keeping up with the businesses it is there to guide and support.

“I believe HR’s role will continue to become more critical as organisations strive for better and better performance, which in many industries means having the best people; people who are committed to being the very best they can be,” she concludes. HC

In her own words…

What do you consider to be your greatest career achievement so far?

I would have to say being part of a team recognised as a ‘Best of the Best’ Hewitt Best Employer in 2009. For a HR professional, that is pretty hard to beat!

What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in your career?

I worked in a team and for a business that I felt didn’t align with my values, so I left!

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Teambuilder marianne foley

T

he move from a technical role to a leadership role is never easy, especially in an industry such as engineering where colleagues likely hail from very similar technical backgrounds. It’s something Dr Marianne Foley has had to adjust to in her current duel role as a fire safety engineer and leader of Arup’s Sydney office.

“I’ve got a degree and a PhD and initially at work it was all about the technical; then it was all about the projects; and then it has all suddenly been about the people – how they feel, how they behave, how engaged they are. They never taught us that at university,” she laughs.

About Arup Arup employs 10,000 people globally, and 1,500 in the Asia-Pacific region. Over 40 years, the firm has worked on iconic projects such as the Beijing National Swimming Centre (the ‘Water Cube’), the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Law, and The Sydney Opera House.

infrastructure and consulting. HR has a national/ regional role, so in Australasia there is an HR team, including two or three local representatives based in Sydney. The regional HR leader is also Sydney-based.

While HR drives the majority of people initiatives, including L&D, Foley’s role has several points of cross-over into the HR space. She essentially undertakes two part-time roles – one as an engineer (in her case a fire safety engineer) – and the second as leader of the Sydney office.

“It’s not a business leader role as such but I’m responsible for the internal culture of the office and for the perception of Arup in the local market. The internal side involves working with HR and with team leaders to look after morale, work conditions, and staff development. The external role is about encouraging teams to work together to ensure we’re developing the business in a way that benefits the whole of Arup rather than individual silos, making sure clients get what they need, and getting out to influence debates such as sustainable futures

Engineering This month’s Teambuilder takes a look at engineering firm Arup, which proves that great people initiatives need not be restricted solely to an HR team

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great HR

The company has a unique corporate structure in that it is owned by everyone who works for the company. “It means we have no external shareholders – which is kind of fundamental to our culture,” notes Foley.

This corporate structure has other benefits.

Not only do employees easily see the impact their efforts have on the company, but it also brings about freedom – the company has no bank debt. “The philosophy was that you should want to come to work each day. You get to do the project you want to do. For example, the company didn’t undertake work on a big tobacco plant because we didn’t feel it was appropriate. We don’t have to take on big profitable projects if we don’t want to. It’s a great position to be in, and is very rare,” Foley says. The company is divided into three ‘practice executives’: building,

and transport planning.” Foley firmly believes that developing and caring for employees is not just HR’s mandate – it’s something that should be shared by all business managers and leaders. “You can’t just outsource the job of looking after people to one team,” she says.

To that end, a formalised L&D program with structured leadership courses has been developed, alongside a ‘banquet’ of development courses available online and from external providers.

Globally the company is in the process of setting up the Arup University, with the ultimate aim of delivering to employees a knowledge and development centre from all over the globe.

Foley believes this knowledge centre will play a crucial role in retaining IP as Baby Boomers start to retire. “This is important in engineering as it hasn’t

Teambuilder marianne foley

“The philosophy was that you should want to come to work each day. You get to do the project you want to do” – Marianne Foley

culture. We aim to be a humane organisation, with a design studio feel rather than a hardcore production unit,” she says.

The ‘humane organisation’ that Foley refers to has its genesis in a speech given by the company founder Ove Arup in 1973. Several of the company’s six core values relate to the concept of a humane organisation. One core value is ‘social usefulness’, which crosses over into a desire to undertake community partnering, pro-bono work and sustainable projects. Another is ‘reasonable prosperity’, which ties in with the freedom of having no external stakeholders; and ‘straight and honourable dealings’, which speaks for itself.

“It does help that we have this strong culture based around these values,” says Foley. “When I joined Arup seven-and-a-half years ago I thought, ‘yes, but all companies talk about that sort of thing’, but once I’d spent some time here I totally believed it. Every day you test those values, and many of these values relate back to the idea of a humane organisation – from way back in 1973. We feel everyone else has taken some time to catch up!”

Teamwork

been perceived as a fashionable profession for a long time. We’re very concerned about Baby Boomers leaving so we’re trying to capture their knowledge before they walk out the door,” she says.

Thilo Pulch, www.pulchphotography.com

Cultural elements Indeed, the talent shortage in engineering has hit hard, and Arup has not been spared. As a profession, Foley says engineering lost out to the financial sector in recent years as they targeted engineering graduates. She cites research by Engineers Australia that indicates that engineers don’t sell the profession very well. “It’s considered a ‘safe choice’ profession, but the general public also thinks that engineering is not a profession that will change the world or create a sustainable future. We disagree with that of course.

At Arup we’ve done better than other companies at attracting talent and I think it comes down to the

While Foley admits she’s enjoyed the merging of technical skills with people skills, she also says that some of the ‘softer skills’ have struggled to gain traction in an environment that values technical skills over all else. However, she values the difference it makes, particularly in teambuilding.

“We form teams for projects, and we fit in teams in our practice areas so teamwork is very important.

In my experience, where we’ve jumped into a project and there’s been little in the way of building up that team and especially building up trust, then we don’t do very well. On the other hand, where effort is made to get to know each other, understand common goals around the project and we have that clarity around what the team is setting out to do, then we’ve been more successful.

“Like a lot of technical firms, success tends to boil down to the skill of the team leader, who is usually a technical person. We’re learning to value the softer skills more but this has come late to us.

We have diverse teams with people from diverse backgrounds, but if you don’t get that upfront www.hcamag.com

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Teambuilder marianne foley communication and understanding of where people come from, it does become hard work.”

Two pet projects Understandably, given her background, Foley is keenly interested in OHS. “Health and safety is at the forefront of everything we do. It has to be – we have to look after our people. We’re seeing continual improvement, especially if you compare now to 20–30 years ago, and unified OHS laws will help.

There’s still room for improvement. We work in the building industry and people still get injured and still lose their lives. We’d like to see the safety in design aspect extended more vigorously. At the moment the onus is on the designer, whereas it’s actually the clients who have a lot of responsibility and influence.”

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Foley’s comment regarding diverse work teams leads to another issue she is passionate about, and which presents perhaps the biggest ongoing HR issue for Arup and the engineering profession at large: gender diversity. Tertiary education statistics indicate that women make up only 17% of positions at engineering-related courses at university, and by the time these grads move into the workforce that figure drops to 10%. The number of women at university in engineering-related courses has actually been dropping steadily since 2002.

“We have a small pool to choose from, but we do quite well. We attract higher than those percentages, and I think it comes back to those corporate values.

We recognise that in terms of effective teamwork we need people to bring different ideas and experiences to the table,” she concludes. hc

the back page compiled by James Adonis

5 minutes with...

Susan Ferrier – Allens Arthur Robinson

Director, people & development What’s the greatest HR lesson you’ve learned so far?

It’s all about the team and inspiring those within the team to do their best. When all members of the team are achieving their full potential and are engaged and energised, then they are able to match every challenge thrown HR’s way. In a very fast-moving and stressful environment, it’s important to maintain a sense of perspective, judgment and tenacity – and it helps if you can have a laugh (and a cry) with your team along the way.

What’s your favourite people management tip?

When working with others, remember to listen deeply, reflect back what you think you are hearing and suspend judgment. Manage your own ego so that what you focus on is unleashing the potential of others, even when it might come at the expense of your own success.

What career advice do you have for ambitious HR professionals?

You need to be a businessperson first and understand where HR can add value, and then translate the people elements of the business strategy into HR work. Building credibility is vital – you need to understand where the business sits within its markets and its strategic direction. You have to be at once an analyst and a wordsmith, as well as someone who can confidently advise clients on the big picture.

What’s the main challenge facing the HR industry right now?

Perhaps one unfortunate trend we should watch out for is that in a downturn some executives see the HR department as being a soft target for wielding the axe. There is still a tendency to see HR as a back-office function that does the payroll, when, in fact, a strong HR function delivers strategic and operational results and can have an enormous impact on the bottom line.

How should HR professionals overcome that challenge?

By ensuring that HR makes itself aligned with, and relevant to, the strategic direction of the organisation and that the voice of HR is heard through delivery to the business of high-quality analysis, innovation and advice. You also need the right mix of roles and skills in the HR team, so that every person in the team possesses deep technical skills and capabilities.

Quote of the month

“Every organisation must be prepared to abandon everything it does to survive in the future” – Peter Drucker

Can you believe it?

Veritas Prep, a business school advisory organisation, has come up with a list of the weirdest questions ever asked in a job interview.

Some of the most bizarre include: »» How many golf balls are in the air around the world, right now? »» What's the best e-mail address you've ever seen? Why? »» If you could have any superpower, what would it be? »» I'm trying to land an airplane but don't know what to do. Talk me through it and help me land. »» If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

n A poll has found that fewer Australian employees are driving to work.

Twenty per cent catch the train, 11% walk, 10% get a bus and 5% ride a bike.

Source: Youi Insurance

n 1 in 6 Australian workers have applied for a new job in the past six months, which is an increase of 135% from the previous year.

Source: Leadership Management Australasia

n The issue most concerning Australian CEOs is finding skilled staff. Fifty-two per cent see this as a problem compared to 41% last year.

Source: Accenture/Business Spectator

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