Human Resources Director 12.11

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR HCAMAG.COM ISSUE 12.11

The who’s who of HR 2014

CHANGE MANAGEMENT IS HR UP TO THE TASK?

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GLOBAL ‘MEGATRENDS’ THE NEW RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

HR PROFILE CISCO’S ‘FOLLOW THE SUN’ MODEL

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EDITOR’S LETTER / HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

THE MEAT IN THE MIDDLE

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR HCAMAG.COM ISSUE 12.11

“You don’t need to be liked as a manager – you just have to be respected.” As harsh as that sounds, it’s probably true. You don’t need to be best friends with your staff, nor do you need to be out every Friday with them for a drink, or have a heart to heart with them on Monday morning. It’s far more important that they respect your decisions and understand that those decisions will sometimes be difficult to make, but will always address the commercial and (hopefully) the human side of business.

It’s tough being a manager. As a senior HR practitioner you possibly understand this more than anyone else in business. And you probably also know that often it’s ‘sink or swim’ with frontline managers. Throw them in the deep end and see if they swim. If they do swim, they might get the relevant training and support they need to do their critical job more effectively. For it is critical – who connects corporate strategy to day-to-day performance more than a line manager? Who engages staff more than a direct manager?

We’ve all heard horror stories of plain bad management – or if not bad management then management that is forced to act in a

The who’s who of HR 2014

CHANGE MANAGEMENT IS HR UP TO THE TASK?

Iain Hopkins, editor, HRD

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HR PROFILE CISCO’S ‘FOLLOW THE SUN’ MODEL

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COPY & FEATURES EDITOR Iain Hopkins JOURNALISTS Janie Smith, Jill Gregorie PRODUCTION EDITORS Roslyn Meredith, Moira Daniels

ART & PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Marla Morelos, Joenel Salvador DESIGN MANAGER Daniel Williams TRAFFIC MANAGER Abby Cayanan

SALES & MARKETING MARKETING EXECUTIVE Alex Carr COMMUNICATIONS EXECUTIVE Lisa Narroway BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS James Francis, Steven McDonald, Gareth Scott

CORPORATE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Mike Shipley CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER George Walmsley MANAGING DIRECTOR Justin Kennedy CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Colin Chan HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Julia Bookallil

It’s tough being a manager.

As a senior HR practitioner you possibly understand this more than anyone else in business vacuum; the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing, and more damaging, it doesn’t want to know either. Take the building & construction giant that went through the unfortunate process of downsizing recently. When asked who in their team should be let go, a line manager put forward three names – one of whom was the only person in the division who could write business tenders. Upon being alerted to this fact by the very person being laid off, the manager shrugged and said “I know, but this is what senior management wants”. The employee was let go.

Three months later she was back as a consultant to that same company being paid three times her former wage.

C’est la vie.

GLOBAL ‘MEGATRENDS’ THE NEW RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

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Editorial enquiries Iain Hopkins tel: +61 2 8437 4703 iain.hopkins@keymedia.com.au Advertising enquiries James Francis tel: +61 2 8437 4766 james.francis@keymedia.com.au Steven McDonald tel: +61 2 8437 4757 steven.mcdonald@keymedia.com.au Gareth Scott tel: +61 2 8437 4745 gareth.scott@keymedia.com.au Subscriptions tel: +61 2 8011 4992 • fax: +61 2 8437 4753 subscriptions@keymedia.com.au Key Media keymedia.com.au Key Media Pty Ltd, regional head office, Level 10, 1–9 Chandos St, St Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia tel: +61 2 8437 4700 • fax: +61 2 9439 4599 Offices in Auckland, Toronto, Denver, Manila hcamag.com

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CONTENTS / HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

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2014 COVER STORY

Hot List 2014 While most people want to bring their best to work, a few will excel and become true leaders in their eld HR Director showcases the ‘who’s who’ of HR in our annual hot list

12

Always on the go As a transplanted Canadian now based in Australia, Danielle Weese embodies the global nature o business today he talks to HRD about the constant rate of change, grooming leaders and being a shared services pioneer

30 Time for a change?

Change agents have never been in greater de and As ore and ore ractitioners are being called upon to drive change initiatives, HRD asks whether they are the right people for the job

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Political acumen: 5 reasons why what you say AND what you do matters It’s a cliché that bosses often state “Do as I say, not as do ut o course, both matter, as Cindy Tonkin explains

40

Taking pole position: Employer brand leadership Think it’s still HR that dictates employer brand strategy Think again rett Minchington outlines the trends that are shaping employment brands globally

REGULARS 04 | In brief: News 06 | News analysis: Business megatrends 56| Last word: Death of the ATS

CHECK OUT THE HRD ARCHIVES ONLINE: hcamag.com

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DECEMBER 2013 | 3

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DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTING: NOVEMBER 2014 / THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

TECHNOLOGY

WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

IT SYSTEMS HAMPERING PRODUCTIVITY Despite businesses spending $44bn annually on IT, expected productivity gains have not been forthcoming. The sixth EY Australian Productivity Pulse found that, on a 10-point scale, Australia’s average productivity has settled at 7.6, down from 7.7 at the end of last year. Among the key findings:

35%

of workers reported being hindered by issues with legacy IT systems

70%

said their productivity would improve if they had ‘faster access to more accurate data and analytics allowing them to make better business decisions’

AUSTRALIA LEADS ASIA-PAC ON WORKING HOURS A survey of professionals from a range of industries, conducted by Morgan McKinley, found that the majority of Australian workers (72%) have contractual/office (C/O) working hours in the range of 38–42 hours per week. A further 15% are working 33–37 hours, with 7% working 43 hours and above. Other findings include:

What actual work hours do you work per week?

1%

Less than C/O hrs

8%

The same as C/O hrs

18%

Up to 5 hrs more than C/O hrs

6%

said they had satisfactory access to data analytics, yet more than two thirds said that better data and information driven by analytics would increase their productivity through improved fact-based decision-making

28%

Between 6 and 9 hrs more than C/O hrs

33%

of Australians believe their role is unlikely to exist in 20 years’ time due to emerging digital technologies and automation

45%

10 hrs, or more, more than C/O hrs

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

No

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

FBT ON THE RISE ro

A ril , the rate o ringe bene ts ta T ill increase ro to , to revent individuals earning over , ro salary sacri cing into ringe bene ts to avoid aying a te orary debt levy The T ill return to nor al on March , to align ith the T year and the end o the te orary debt levy

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34%

IF YOU WORK MORE THAN YOUR C/O HOURS, DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE MORE PRODUCTIVE IN THOSE EXTRA Don’t HOURS? know

Yes

55%

11%

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TING: HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

No impact

34%

IF YOU WORK MORE THAN YOUR C/O HOURS, HOW DOES THIS IMPACT YOUR WORK-LIFE BALANCE? Some impact

Heavily impacts

57%

35%

Which country in Asia-Pacific has the highest % of professionals working longer than C/O hours?

LEGAL BRIEFS

82%

Singapore

84% Japan

84%

Hong Kong

65% China

91%

Australia

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Source: Morgan McKinley Working Hours Survey, Australia 2014

DIVERSITY

Australia’s untapped talent pool

9.3%

1.9%

84%

1 of 5

of the labour force is Asian born, yet only 4.9% make it to senior executive level

of Asian-born talent plan to advance to a very senior role, 91% say challenging work is very important in their next career move, and 97% have Asia capabilities

of ASX 200 executives have Asian cultural origins, compared to 9.6% of the Australian community

are very satis ed ith career progress and opportunities, and 30% say they are likely to leave their employer in the next year

Source: Diversity Council Australia, Cracking the Cultural Ceiling: Future Proofing Your Business in the Asian Century

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The Australian Federal Police (AFP) were victorious when a previous employee’s accusations of unfair dismissal and workplace bullying were rejected by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). The AFP’s win followed the employee’s decision to appeal the verdict of the commissioner, who had dubbed his attitude towards his employer as “incomprehensible”.

In July 2013, the employee was sacked on the grounds of failure to show up for work when directed, and not acting in good faith, although the AFP claimed to have made significant efforts to be flexible with working hours. The FWC agreed with the AFP and the former employee lost his bid to challenge his unfair dismissal case.

The High Court upheld BHP’s sacking of an employee for waving a sign accusing other employees of being “scabs”. The decision reinforces the 2012 ruling in Barclay v Bendigo TAFE that an employee can be disciplined for conduct closely associated with industrial activity, so long as the activity is not itself a reason for discipline. The ruling makes it clear that the Fair Work Act protects union members and delegates against discrimination. It does not give them a cloak of immunity for conduct undertaken in their union capacity. Instead, a union member or delegate can be disciplined for inappropriate behaviour occurring in their union capacity, so long as they are not treated less favourably than an employee who is not associated with a union.

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NEWS ANALYSIS / ENGAGEMENT

READY FOR THE NEXT WAVE? A new global report has indicated that six key ‘megatrends’ will uniquely position HR to help organisations adapt to impending future challenges. What are the trends and how will they impact on your business?

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

Much like the Industrial Revolution reshaped the ways in which business and work was conducted in the late 1700s, a significant shift is underway now that will impact on how companies are structured and managed, the types of jobs people do, their motivations and perceptions of work, and the organisations that employ them.

That’s the crux of a research paper by Hay Group, titled The new rules of engagement.

WHAT ARE THE MEGATRENDS? GLOBALISATION 2.0 Economic power is shifting from West to East, giving rise to a new global middle class.

ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS The environment is becoming increasingly important to people, as climate change gathers pace and natural resources grow scarce.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE Ageing populations are reshaping the global workforce and exacerbating the search for talent.

INDIVIDUALISM Growing freedom of choice is eroding loyalty and transforming workplace motivation.

DIGITISATION Work and the workplace are going remote, and the boundaries between professional and personal life are blurring as people are increasingly operating online.

TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE Powerful shifts in technology are transforming everyday life and creating new product markets.

Even when taken in isolation, the ‘megatrends’ are daunting; when taken together they can appear overwhelming. Steve Ewin, head of insight, Hay Group Pacific, tells HRD that a process of elimination might assist company leaders in honing in on the priorities that most affect them.

“It’s important that organisations identify those megatrends that will impact them first, and start adapting now,” he says. “The force of the six megatrends combined will result in a more competitive and faster-changing business environment, making it critical for organisations to both engage and enable their workforces.”

THERE ARE NEW RULES OF ENGAGEMENT The world is undergoing unprecedented change. Six ‘megatrends’ are transforming societies and the global business environment as we know it.

Hay Group’s Leadership 2030 research shows that these developments are changing how we work, what we care about in the workplace, and what we want from our employers.

How will organisations keep their people switched on in the context of this new environment? Hay Group asked 300 heads of engagement from FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 companies for their views on what the future holds. Here’s what they said:

however, just

and only

84%

30%

25%

agreed that companies will need to engage their workforce differently i they are to succeed in the future

believe that their organisation is adapting appropriately to the changes that lie ahead

have personally started to drive change

Which megatrend will have the greatest impact on your organisation?

hich egatrend ill be for you to adapt to?

Digitisation

Individualism

ost difficult

27% Individualism

29% Digitisation

20% Globalisation 2.0

26% Technology convergence

19% Demographic change

18% Globalisation 2.0

14% Technology convergence

16% Demographic change

13% Environmental crisis

7%

7% Environmental crisis

4%

Which megatrends will have the greatest impact on the way you engage your people? (Respondents were asked to rank in order of importance)

1 Individualism

2 Digitisation

3 Demographic change

4 Technology convergence

5 Globalisation 2.0

6 Environmental crisis

THE RISE AND RISE OF INDIVIDUALISM ‘Individualism’ was rated as the top challenge.

Changing values, expectations and motivations mean that customers and employees demand a more individual approach. They expect systems to flex to

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NEWS ANALYSIS / ENGAGEMENT

ore i

arter and ore e ible ays o orking eans e can attract highly talented eo le ho have so ething else in their li e ortant than ork

A anda evis meet their needs and are happy to switch between brands or employers that don’t adapt. This ultimately boils down to a blanket approach to engagement not cutting it. This has a fundamental impact on the way employers work with employees – in terms of performance, in terms of how they learn and develop, and in terms of manager-employee interactions.

Analysis of Hay Group data highlights the key considerations that impact on an employee’s decision to stay with a company. In essence, employees want to work for a winning company, have a positive view of opportunities to learn and grow, be supported, have a sense of control and influence, as well as be fairly rewarded.

However, each of these factors is now deeply personal and unique to the individual worker. As a result, a one-size-fits-all approach to engagement simply will not work. Strategies need to be tailored towards the individual’s needs and preferences.

Amanda Revis, group executive, HR, Suncorp, was one of the leading heads of engagement asked to provide additional insight into the study’s findings.

She, too, notes that organisations could benefit from a more personalised approach to engagement strategies. “Smarter and more flexible ways of working means we can attract highly talented people who have something else in their life more important than work. We give people the flexibility to decide how, when and where they work. It’s all about making sure people can be their very best, both inside and outside work,” Revis says.

Another key consideration, Ewin adds, is that employees must also take some accountability for their own engagement – a ‘bottom-up’ approach as opposed to the traditional ‘top-down’ approach to engagement.

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TECHNOLOGY’S LONG SHADOW Nothing has changed the way business is conducted more than technology, and Hay Group’s results bear this out.

‘Digitisation’ rated very highly as a challenge.

There is a greater transparency of corporate behaviour than ever before as a result of digital media. Customers and employees are able to endorse or publicly criticise a brand, placing demands on businesses to be more responsive, accountable and engaged. Organisations also need to consider how they manage employee and customer data, as concern around privacy and ethical behaviour grows.

‘Technology convergence’ was also rated as a key challenge. Convergence between different technologies such as cloud computing, powerful portable devices, nanotechnology and biotechnology is rapidly creating new commercial opportunities.

Organisations need to tap into new markets, create partnerships and enter into the spirit of collaboration.

“The digital revolution has had a significant impact on organisations, creating a transparent environment that can often threaten a business’s reputation,” says Ewin. “However, nurturing a culture of pride amongst employees can help ensure the brand image remains protected. Communication is critical to building this culture. Employees will need to understand the direction of their organisation, their division and their team, and the role each part plays in the future success of the organisation.”

Suncorp has embraced new technology to enable employees to work where they like, when they like.

Its W@H (Work at Home) initiative has allowed the company to attract high-performing individuals who previously found securing work difficult due to factors such as a disability or their carer role. These individuals work mostly from home, and live within

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

a 30-minute commute of one of the company’s W@H Hubs, which are used for team meetings and training. Suncorp’s employee surveys show that W@H staff are more engaged and less likely to leave than their workforce generally. And they perform better than similar business units where employees don’t generally work from home.

Using the Hubs as ‘connection points’ has helped Suncorp overcome one of the downsides of technology. Remote working must be balanced with the need for face-to-face communication.

DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE The world’s population is growing and ageing.

For businesses, an ageing population means a growing skills shortage. With the baby boomer generation hitting retirement age, experienced talent will be at a premium. This will put pressure on younger workers to quickly become mature and skilled leaders. Organisations need to invest ti e and effort no to develo the ne t generation, and make sure they’re ready to lead the company into the future.

Some organisations are dropping their retirement age altogether, allowing them to retain vital knowledge, skills and experience, which can then be trans erred to younger staff over ti e However, ageing also brings the challenge of managing an increasingly age-diverse workforce. Businesses now need to understand, lead, manage and motivate teams made up of four generations, all with their own needs and motivators.

GLOBALISATION 2.0 Rapid urbanisation and a burgeoning middle class in emerging markets are opening up new commercial opportunities for Western firms. They are also creating new competitors with extensive and ambitious workforces, money to invest, and large

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DID YOU KNOW? By 2018 more than 51,000 Australian orkers ill head overseas to nd ed or er anent e loy ent opportunities, while an additional 330,000 people will move interstate each year.

domestic markets to sustain overseas expansion. To compete, business leaders will need to collaborate with other businesses, including competitors.

Economic power is shifting from ‘old’ Western economies to the emerging markets of Latin America, Eastern Europe and, in particular, Asia.

Rapid growth in this part of the world is creating a new global middle class with impressive spending power. This is leading to intense competition for new markets, each with its own unique local flavour.

Ewin warns that, in an increasingly borderless world, competition for talent will step up a notch. It requires a recalibration from employers, especially because, as recently as a decade ago, “even interstate moves were frowned upon by many”.

“In the past, Australia’s brain drain focused on experienced or specialist employees that were at the very top of their profession. The continued economic growth in regions such as Asia and Eastern Europe is now driving intense competition for emerging talent,” he says.

“We’re seeing an increased willingness amongst skilled workers in their early thirties to move in search of professional and personal fulfilment,” Ewin says. “Their tendency to look offshore is impacting a generation of future business leaders as well as potentially exacerbating existing challenges of managing an ageing workforce.”

As cross-border cooperation becomes essential, organisations must enable meaningful collaboration.

This means establishing cultures, platforms and processes to make cooperating easy, and equipping people with the appropriate skills. Without these enabling factors, employees will quickly grow frustrated if they need to work with colleagues in other countries.

Global organisations will need to have different strategies in place for engaging and enabling their teams subject to location. Australian employers will need to demonstrate to their employees that

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NEWS ANALYSIS / ENGAGEMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS The environmental crisis is a disruptive combination of accelerating climate change and a growing scarcity of raw materials (oil, water and minerals).

This will create no end of challenges for businesses: heightened volatility, in ated costs, s uee ed argins and rustrated investors And it ill drive an increasing concern for the environment among stakeholders, including employees.

Pressure will mount on companies to create sustainable operations.

Environmental responsibility will become business critical, especially in an individualised world. Employees will become more preoccupied with ethical issues such as climate change, and will expect their concerns to be heard.

they are serious about creating great workplaces.

“The other impact at an individual level is that employees will actively seek out those employers who already have high engagement levels,” says Ewin. “Again, this links back to the digitisation trend and the ability of employees to either promote or negatively impact organisations within seconds.”

THE HR IMPACT As a collective, the impact of the megatrends on organisations is predicted to be game changing – and every HR practice area will be impacted. The defining undercurrent will be the ways in which engagement will need to change.

“Moving forward, as business conditions change more rapidly it will be essential for organisations to have an engaged workforce. Those that do will be able to adjust more rapidly and outperform their competitors,” says Ewin. “Effective communication will be a key differentiator between those companies that successfully navigate the changing landscape and those that fail.”

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ASSESSING THE FALLOUT:

THE BARKER DECISION The High Court’s decision in Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker is recognised as a landmark in employment law. Peter Ferraro outlines what it means for business In September the High Court handed down one of the more widely anticipated employment law decisions for some time in Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker. The case focused on whether an obligation of mutual trust and confidence is implied in Australian employment contracts.

THE ROAD TO NOW In special circumstances, the common law implies universal terms in some categories of contracts.

Examples of this in employment contracts include an employer’s duty to provide a safe system of work, and an employee’s duty of fidelity.

The question in Barker was whether the Australian common law should recognise an implied duty of mutual trust and confidence in employment contracts. (The emphasis is on ‘mutual’ because the law has long recognised that employees must maintain the trust of their employers.) If it existed as a mutual concept, employers who conducted themselves in a manner likely to destroy or seriously damage their workers’ trust and confidence would be in breach of contract.

Courts began recognising mutual duty as an implied term in employment contracts in the UK in the 1970s, and it began appearing in Australia decisions in the 1990s. Examples of “trustdestroying” conduct by employers in the case law over the years include wrongful suspension, improper conduct of a disciplinary process, humiliating conduct, and being unfairly singled out for less advantageous treatment. In Barker itself, the “trust-destroying” alleged breach was the bank’s failure to take positive steps to redeploy Mr Barker after his position was made redundant.

THE BUSINESS IMPACT After much hype in the anticipation of the outcome,

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the High Court’s decision was ultimately quite succinct. It unanimously held that the elements necessary to elevate the duty into that special class of terms to be implied in all employment contracts simply did not exist.

As a practical matter, the operation of the duty was never truly significant in Australian case law.

For technical reasons, damages could not be awarded for “trust-destroying conduct” that had the consequence of ending the employment relationship. So a breach would need to be significant enough to destroy or seriously damage trust and confidence, but not so significant as to end the relationship between the parties.

This made it rare so far as litigation was concerned. However, the intangibles of no further evolution of the concept via the common law are difficult to quantify.

Of course, irrespective of the decision, employers with good workplace cultures and high-performance HR environments will often be well advised to hold themselves up to maintaining the trust and confidence of their staff, even if it’s not a legal obligation. And if they are so minded, employers are still free to go so far as to lock themselves into the legal obligation by including an express clause to that effect in their written contracts (not that that is something this writer would recommend).

A final, and perhaps obvious, point is that just because the implied duty has been quashed, this does not alleviate an employer from the consequences of conduct that breaches other legal obligations. The Fair Work Act’s unfair dismissal regime, general protections provisions and bullying protections, as well as the various anti-discrimination laws, mean that many examples of conduct giving rise to trust and confidence breaches will fall afoul of other laws in any event.

Peter Ferraro is managing solicitor legal services at Employment Innovations

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PROFILE / HR AT CISCO

Always

ON THE GO As a transplanted Canadian now based in Australia, Danielle Weese embodies the global nature of business today. She talks to HRD about the constant rate of change, grooming leaders, and being a shared services pioneer Danielle Weese, Cisco’s head of HR for Australia and New Zealand, always knew she’d enter the business arena. “I was never into science or anything like that at school,” she explains. Following that early hunch, she undertook a double major in business and sociology at university in her homeland of Canada.

She particularly enjoyed the sociology component, looking at why and how individuals behave in groups of people, and therefore how behaviour can be changed. HR seemed like a natural career fit.

An HR generalist role, followed by a master’s in HR and a move to Australia, sealed the deal. As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun – or when you’re busy.

Weese has just celebrated her six-year anniversary at Cisco. She laughs as she recalls that when she started working in HR she had no intention of staying put in one company for such an extended period.

However, it’s constant change that keeps her there.

“I don’t know if it’s the IT industry, or because it’s a multinational, or the sheer size of Cisco, but my job is changing all the time. Who you are supporting and what you’re doing is constantly evolving,” she says.

SHARED SERVICES PIONEER As technology has evolved, so has the HR function.

Cisco pioneered a HR shared services model 14 years ago, well before it became commonplace.

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“The model has evolved, and our technology has changed. It enables us to do things differently,” Weese says.

The structure is based on key functions: sales, services, finance, marketing. Client-facing HR managers support the businesses mainly at a manager level – their primary function is to help managers be successful in their own careers but also to help their teams be successful. The client-facing HR managers are paired with an HR partner who works closely with the senior leaders in the business and assists with organisational design and longerterm business goals.

Sitting beside the client-facing roles are Centres of Excellence: ER, staffing, talent development, employee experience and mobility. “The HRMs and these CoE groups partner very closely to ensure they’re driving end-to-end solutions through the business,” Weese explains. “We’re able to have a lean client-facing team because the CoEs take care of a lot of the policy programs and strategies coming from the global corporate level.”

Like at any multinational, programs are rolled out globally at Cisco, complete with individual timelines, objectives and communication streams, Weese says.

“A lot of that is handled via the COEs; they outline the program to us and then we act almost like consultants: ‘that works here in the local market,

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PROFILE / HR AT CISCO

ADAPTING TO MARKET NEEDS While Weese has relished the change in her role and her company, she does concede that it can be a challenge to keep pace.

“IT is changing very quickly. As a company we’re having to constantly change what we do.”

She cites the Internet of Things and cloud solutions as two game changers that her employees need to know about, not just so they can do their own jobs but so they can educate clients.

Cisco has taken a three-step process to navigate this constantly evolving landscape: 1. Take a step back and see what it is that employees need: what skills do they need and how do we clarify and simplify what their role is and hat success looks like today t s different to hat it as ve years ago.

2. Empower e loyees to have con dence to go to custo ers or partners and explain what’s changing, because it’s one thing when you’re questioning how you do your job, but you’ve got to go and sell solutions to customers and partners to help them with the challenges they’re facing.

3. Create a compensation model that works. Underscoring points one and two is the compensation model. Traditionally, Cisco has not been a so t are co any loud co uting is co letely different to a switch or a router; cloud is pay-as-you-go and a router is a one off ay ent so ho custo ers ay or services needs to be addressed.

or that doesn’t work here – this is what we need to adjust’.”

This structure, Weese adds, allows client-facing teams the time to truly be business partners and to pick and choose solutions that match best. “I’d say we have the best of both worlds. Local and global.”

The shared services model also allows for flexibility. Cisco has developed a ‘zero to four’-tier model for employee questions and queries. The zero tier is simple: as much as possible, the employee will go to ‘ESIQ’, which is almost like a Google for employees. They will type in their question, and answers are generated. The next tier is ‘click to chat’, which borrows concepts from online shopping.

If an answer cannot be found, Cisco uses a ‘follow the sun’ model, which allows employees to contact a shared services rep, no matter the time. For example, it’s 9pm on Monday and an employee realises there’s a problem with their payslip. They dial a number and reach a shared services rep, who either answers the question directly or directs the employee to where they can get more information about it. If the problem is more complicated and the shared services rep is unsure of the response – perhaps because they

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are not in the same region – the problem is bumped to the next tier where a subject matter expert in payroll, still sitting in shared services, will contact the employee and assist with the query.

“We’re using the technology to change how we’re supporting,” says Weese. “In this model a lot of employee issues can go directly to shared services instead of client-facing HR managers.”

Even some manager queries – performance management, for example – start in tier one or tier two. The benefit is, firstly, that the employee has access to experts in policy, process and procedure, and the experts have the tools to answer the questions. Secondly, HR managers no longer need to know absolutely everything; they can know a little about a lot, but they know where to direct people to.

COMBATING HUMAN NATURE As successful as the model has been, Weese says it’s human nature for employees to go directly to the person in front of them for answers.

“It has been a journey for us to ensure employees and managers are using the shared service model when they’re supposed to, because it’s a lot easier to walk up to someone and ask the question. Having said that, it’s important for my team to be directing them to the experts.”

Weese suggests other companies looking to adopt this model should be prepared to take one step back and two steps forward.

“If you’re moving a process into a shared service model, it’s important you map out how that work is done,” she says. “You need to understand and define who’s done it to this point, and how they did it, and then ensure the transition to shared service is fully aligned with what the business needs. It can be a slower process to get there, but once there you get the benefit from it.”

Finally, have points of contact, within HR and within shared services, and excellent two-way communication channels. Understand what the metrics are, what trends you’re seeing. “It’s about working together to ensure it’s a smooth transition,” Weese says.

CISCO’S FUTURE LEADERS Five years ago, Weese was instrumental in launching Cisco’s high-potential future leader program; in fact she counts this as her proudest career achievement.

“The reason I know it has been successful is because when I look around the leadership table within our business function, almost half the people

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Cisco uses a ‘follow the sun’ model, which allows employees to contact a shared services rep, no matter the time are grads of the high-potential program. To me it shows that not only have we succeeded in identifying the right talent but we’ve also succeeded in building the right skills and capability.”

Weese explains that the program has evolved naturally. “This has been a five-year journey, which started as a program for highpotential sales employees. Now it involves people from sales, marketing, finance all participating and sitting around the same table.

In some companies you’d say that’s quite normal, but at Cisco we’re built on different functions and segments. To have a table of leaders with diversity in terms of where they’re coming from is great.”

She adds that Australian operations are reasonably small by global standards, so the number of senior roles on offer is limited. “It’s not like I can develop 15 people and have them all move through to senior roles. It’s something that takes time,” she says.

It also takes lateral thinking. The program facilitates not just moving up but moving over.

“Sometimes it’s important to take that side step and do something different,” Weese says. “As our business changes and matures, we’re aiming to have not just people with sales backgrounds in sales roles but people from different skills backgrounds in the same team.”

The program has also been recognised in the Asia-Pacific as best practice: Weese has presented it to Cisco in Japan and India, where it will be tweaked to fit the local markets.

SMALL ENOUGH BUT BIG ENOUGH This last point is important. Weese notes that Cisco places Australia somewhat on a pedestal: US operations look to Australia as a place to source excellent talent.

“Australia is a mature market, and the talent and capabilities we see in Australia probably set us apart from other countries in the region, even in the IT space. With the cloud and the way the market is moving, our people are increasingly either doing regional roles or Australia-NZ roles, or even global roles; that is, people who are here on the ground in Australia, but who don’t necessarily have Australian responsibilities but rather global responsibilities.”

Australia is also viewed as a place to pilot programs.

“The great thing about Australia piloting is we’re small enough but developed enough and far enough along the IT continuum that if things go right, people say ‘that’s fantastic, well done’. If there are hiccups, it’s far enough away from the US that we can say, ‘OK, we’ll massage that and fix it before we use it elsewhere’.”

In other words, it’s globalisation – and ‘glocalisation’ – at its most powerful.

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2014

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While most people want to bring their best to work, a few will excel and become true leaders in their eld HRD showcases the ‘who’s who’ of HR in our annual hot list Another year, another round of triumphs, challenges, change and innovation in business.

Over the following pages, HR Director has identified over 40 of the hottest HR professionals in the country. Some of these professionals are well known; they have appeared in this magazine over the past 12 months or spoken at industry-leading events such as the HR Summit. Alternatively, they have won accolades from the likes of the Australian HR Awards, Aon Hewitt and the Great Place to Work Institute.

Some have embarked on tricky transformation projects; others have embraced diversity or pushed the envelope on employee perks and benefits. All are undertaking initiatives that advance the standing of HR in business. You might disagree with our choices, or you might endorse them – if that’s the case feel free to let us know, or make your own suggestions for next year, at editor@hcamag.com.

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THE HALL OF FAMER Michaela Healey Group executive for people, communications and governance National Australia Bank WHY HOT? Healey has had a busy 2014. The winner of the elite ‘Hall of Fame’ award at the Australian HR Awards spearheaded NAB’s Enterprise Agreement (EA) and has driven diversity initiatives, a hot area in financial services. The EA includes a unique employee benefit: up to 40 weeks of unpaid primary carer’s leave can be used as long-service leave. All NAB employees will be able to take long-service leave after 10 years of continuous service, regardless of whether they take time off to care for children. NAB also offers paid superannuation on unpaid parental leave – “the next logical step towards aligning entitlements for those who choose to have a family”, Healey said. NAB is also the only major bank to have instituted a gender pay equity audit to investigate causes or barriers to equal pay. It has committed to increasing the number of women in the top three layers of the organisation from 23% to 33% by 2015.

Mike McCarthy Group head, HR Asia Paci c, Middle ast and A rica Master ard orld ide WHY HOT? MasterCard’s biggest HR challenge is ensuring it has the right people with the right experience in the right roles to facilitate growth. This challenge is being met by strengthening talent management processes to provide greater insight into strengths and development opportunities, and by utilising a wide range of recruitment approaches to attract high-calibre candidates from the full spectrum of industry sectors. The company has also improved global mobility functions to facilitate movement of staff between regions. Talent has been sourced from the financial services, telecoms, technology, merchant and consumer goods sectors. The company has used its global reach to attract colleagues from its European, Latin American and US businesses.

Danielle Van Den Broek Vice president HR Unilever Australia and New Zealand WHY HOT? Van Den Broek is a 15-year veteran of the multinational giant. She’s worked in the Netherlands, Singapore and now Australia. While it might be assumed that the gap between business strategy and individual contribution gets wider as an organisation grows (Unilever employs 174,000 people internationally), Unilever has bridged the gap with its ‘Talent and Organisational Readiness’ methodology. Using the business strategy as a base, the HR team takes information gleaned from management interviews and internal and external benchmarks, and applies it to four key pillars: talent, skills, organisation and culture. The result is a robust scan of where the company’s strengths and weaknesses lie, which shows the gaps that need to be bridged to execute the strategy. In addition, ‘Project Half’ is used to identify 10 processes and policies globally that can be simplified – literally by cutting bureaucracy in half.

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Vaughan Paul Vice president, HR, group consumer Optus WHY HOT? Few industries are changing as rapidly as telecommunications; digitisation and globalisation have had a heavy impact.

Skills, training, back-office business functions, and how customers are buying and being served have all had to adapt to keep abreast of these changes. Change is also a constant for Optus, and that includes the HR function itself.

HR at Optus continues to evolve; the company has moved from a decentralised model to a centralised model, particularly for core functions like L&D. Paul, who has experience in large local companies, including Westpac, has also been involved in two significant office relocations since 2007. The Optus campus at Macquarie Park is a showcase for how a company can leverage the physical workspace to engage its people and make it a great place to come to work.

Kim Nixon HR manager Australia and New Zealand NetApp

Gill Rees Executive general manager, HR Bankwest WHY HOT? Rees wears the label “commercial HR leader” with pride. She says this mindset started with her degree – a bachelor of management science – which has helped her understand business and contribute meaningfully to the business agenda, and has opened doors for her in terms of career advancement: she recently stood in for the executive general manager of Bankwest’s products and marketing division. Yet underpinning this business savvy is an understanding of the role HR can play in building corporate/community relations. The company has a successful volunteering program in place, with more than 3,000 worker hours volunteered in the first half of the 2013/14 financial year alone. A partnership with Curtin University – the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre – is delivering outcomes for the community via research, and 200 ‘Happy Happy Communities’ grants of $1,000 to support community groups across the country, including schools, sporting clubs and social groups.

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WHY HOT? Cloud data storage company NetApp has made the Great Place to Work Australia list for seven consecutive years. The list is based on one of the most comprehensive studies of workplace culture, so it’s no surprise that NetApp places culture at the heart of its operations. Nixon has steered the company’s people operations through significant growth and change over the last eight years. However, what worked eight years ago no longer works today, Nixon says, and as a result the company has had to reinvent itself, change the way it does business, and change the way internal operations are managed. As just one example of cultural innovation, NetApp’s ‘Volunteer Time Off’ program enables each employee to volunteer up to five consecutive days per year, with full pay, to support the non-profit organisations or schools of their choice. o r y ourt Head of people and culture Salmat WHY HOT? A lawyer by qualification, Court earned his HR stripes in one of the most challenging environments possible: the airline industry of the 1990s. After several years at Ansett, Court found himself focusing up to 50% of his time on people matters; a move to HR was inevitable. His tenure at Ansett required extensive IR knowledge, and Court believes this should be part of the arsenal of anyone who has chosen HR as a career. Salmat, operating as a customer engagement specialist, has its own unique challenges, not least of which is engaging a large call centre workforce. What’s the key? “Having fun is an important part of the workplace, but you can only have fun if you understand what your job is, and understand exactly how important your job is and how it fits into the need for excellent customer service,” Court tells HRD.

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THE INDUSTRY’S BEST ucin a HR director Diageo WHY HOT? Winner of the Australian HR Awards coveted HR Director of the Year 2014 citation, Gemmell has emerged as a true leader of her profession. Behind Diageo’s impressive 90% engaged employee score lies a simple but profound equation: leadership + culture = performance.

“Our culture has evolved by doing good things consistently,” Gemmell told HRD in June. To give just one example of undertaking “good things”, the Diageo Leadership Performance Program is run for Diageo’s top 60 leaders. Each member of the executive team leads one aspect of the program, ensuring buy-in from the very top.

Diageo’s model encourages selfreflection and self-growth, and internally run development programs are in place to bolster leadership effectiveness. In short, it’s treated the same way as business performance, company revenue and market share: as a top business priority.

i un o Executive VP of worldwide talent Adobe WHY HOT? Adobe employs around 11,000 people globally, and the biggest challenge faced by Vijungo and his team is that the company is still growing – and hiring. The Asia region remains a hotbed of hiring activity for the company, but Adobe is not lowering its hiring standards. In fact, Vijungo has been instrumental in fine-tuning the company’s approach to recruitment. The filtering and vetting cycle means “the talent pool gets smaller and smaller”, he tells HRD. Yet Adobe is also an advocate of building talent from within – 30% of roles are filled by internal movers. “Recruiting alone is not a good strategy, and what I mean by that is that you have to balance with building internally; it’s about succession planning on all levels.”

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ary asson HR director Merlin Entertainments Group ANZ WHY HOT? Although relatively new to Australia (with attractions like Madame Tussauds, Sydney Tower and Falls Creek under its umbrella), Merlin is the world’s second biggest visitor attraction operator after Disney. As a ‘new kid on the block’, promoting a compelling employer brand has been a priority for Basson. Taking pride of place are two licensed charitable organisations.

Merlin’s Magic Wand brings sick and disadvantaged children to Merlin’s attractions as guests, and, through the creation of special play facilities, also takes the Merlin ‘magic’ out to those children who are too sick to visit. The SEA LIFE Trust runs campaigns for marine conservation projects. Each permanent employee receives two paid volunteer days each year to support these initiatives.

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Vijay Kashyap HR director Campari Australia WHY HOT? Campari Australia started operations in 2009, at the height of the GFC. The challenger company was met with cynicism and disbelief by industry insiders, yet the leadership team (including Kashyap) were determined to execute on their vision of ‘Building Lifestyle Brands and People with Passion’. This meant the people piece became central to the business strategy.

Despite attractive perks and being an undeniably ‘sexy’ brand, Campari Australia pays market median salaries and is 20% of the size of the biggest player in its industry. One of the company’s founding principles, transparency, is what sets it apart. Every Campari employee has the right to all information that impacts on him or her. “The HR response has been to make all information available on the intranet and institutionalise different communication forums as part of our DNA,” says Kashyap.

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Anne Heyes Executive director HR Australian Red Cross Blood Service WHY HOT? Change is the new norm in business, and this is aptly demonstrated at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. Heyes, who has previously worked on transformation projects at Myer/Grace Brothers and Bank of Melbourne/Westpac, is up to the task.

She’s responsible for merging the people practices of eight different entities into one. Heyes and her team have implemented national systems to drive efficiency through standardisation. The work and roles of almost everyone in the organisation have been reviewed and redefined. Some 50 industrial agreements have been rationalised, and best practices across the eight entities have been identified and rolled out nationwide.

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Lisa Christy HR director SAP Australia/New Zealand

Nada Najjar Vice president of HR, Australia and New Zealand American Express WHY HOT? It’s no surprise that American Express aims to treat employees like customers, especially when Amex customers (especially those holding the black Centurion card) are treated with deft care and attention. Najjar has been charged with instilling a strong customer service ethos in the company’s 2,300 Australia and New Zealand employees over the past three years. While HR has long had a boardroom presence at Amex, Najjar tells HRD that countless staff initiatives, such as groups for women, LGBTI employees and parents, and healthy-livingfocused groups, are not driven by HR but by the senior leadership team – a team member will take responsibility for a group and lead its planning and operations. Najjar has also spent much of 2014 rolling out fresh technology initiatives, including a unified tech platform, online performance reviews, and selfservice internal websites.

WHY HOT? Like most HR professionals with a few years of service under their belt, Christy has witnessed first-hand the transition from operational to strategic. “There has been a shift to bringing higher value to the business, working on the business and business planning,” she tells HRD. “We’ve grown, and executives now want much more value from HR.” Technology has enabled this shift. While operational work was always very manual – with spreadsheets and disparate systems – Christy is now using integrated tools that manage everything in the employee lifecycle. Data can be stored and pulled out of a dashboard, allowing managers access to information they’ve never had before. Globally, the SAP brand has been bolstered by the acquisition of cloud software vendor SuccessFactors. Not surprisingly, all employees now benefit from the IP of SuccessFactors, including Success Map, a cloud-based performance management tool used to communicate performance ratings and rewards.

Cindy Reid Head of HR Australia Konica Minolta WHY HOT? At the start of fiscal 2014, Konica Minolta launched its new medium-term business plan, ‘Transform 2016’.

This was prompted by extensive changes in the copier industry, which has traditionally focused on hardware sales and service. With margins decreasing, and the switching focus to software and solutions.

Reid’s transformation experience in setting up IBM Global Services will be beneficial, not least because she’s new to the fold, having joined Konica Minolta in April. She has immersed herself in the business and developed an HR strategy that will enable it to evolve without losing sight of its core customer base. “We need to do something that complements our current business, that sits with our current skill set and capabilities, but stretches us a little bit away from what we’re currently doing,” she tells HRD.

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Sarah Rodgers General manager, people and performance Sydney Airport WHY HOT? With a diverse career behind her, encompassing finance roles in companies such as KPMG, Telstra, IBM, Lend Lease, and Westpac, as well as a stint running her own consultancy, Rodgers landed in one of the most challenging HR roles in the country: head of HR at Sydney Airport. The role has allowed Rodgers to pursue her passion for L&D. She has implemented a multifaceted program, including management training, short courses, and a ‘safety essentials’ program (to continue the airport’s exceptional safety record and to keep on top of WHS legislation). The L&D program has had a more far-reaching impact than merely keeping employee skills sharp: it has formed a central pillar of Sydney Airport’s change management strategy as it moves towards a more customer-focused organisation that engages closely with stakeholders.

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Alec Bashinsky Partner, people and performance Deloitte WHY HOT? Has there ever been a more lauded Australian HR professional than Bashinsky? His tenure at Deloitte – and before that in his roles at Cisco Systems, PeopleSoft and Toys ‘R’ Us – has seen him pick up countless accolades. Two more were added to his mantle at the 2014 Australian HR Awards: Deloitte won awards for Employer of Choice (>1,000 people) and Best Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. Bashinsky has initiated countless successful people strategies at Deloitte, such as the ‘Inspiring Women’ strategy, ‘D. Academy’ (for graduates), and the ‘Find Like Minds’ employee referral program, as well as building excellence centres and defining career road maps for the firm. More recently, his team have embraced social media in their internal talent process as well as external branding and recruitment apps.

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THE HEALTH ADVOCATE Rob Phipps hie eo le officer, outh Paci c Yum! Restaurants WHY HOT? Phipps’ career at Yum!, where he started as a customer service rep in a Pizza Hut call centre, is testimony to the company’s commitment to grooming talent from within. Yum!’s latest L&D offering is corporate wellness. The Wellness Initiative is available to store managers across 150 stores nationwide and consists of a series of online training modules designed to improve employees’ knowledge of healthy living. These include wellness assessments; advice on improving work-life balance; and tips for healthy eating practices. Employees also have free access to healthcare providers, who screen them for cardiovascular issues and diabetes.

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Jessica Murphy National HR manager IKEA

Anne Jaakke HR director Fitness First WHY HOT? Faced with growing negative consumer reaction to its brand (‘Finance First’ gained traction among former and current customers), increased competition and dwindling club members, Fitness First needed a rethink – fast. The HR team realised it needed to re-evaluate the leadership teams at each club, ensuring they not only had an appetite for change but were also willing to put in the effort to come on the change journey. To attract talent from outside the fitness industry (and head off better pay in hospitality and retail), a 25% pay hike was offered and L&D options were expanded. The transformation also hinged on ensuring members were engaged; and to do that, employees and contractors also had to be engaged. To achieve that, Jaake told HRD, the staff needed to trust the leadership, and the leadership had to be open and transparent. The two-year transformation journey has resulted in a revitalised company where customer-centricity reigns.

THE DIVERSITY CHAMPION Helen O’Loughlin Senior executive leader, people and development ASIC

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WHY HOT? IKEA takes an organisation-wide approach to people management. This is not a new concept. Indeed, it’s been part of the IKEA culture since conception in 1943. However, it wasn’t until the late 1970s that founder Ingvar Kamprad wrote the company’s ‘HR Idea’ and ‘Business Idea’. “Thirty years ago, he never imagined or constructed an organisation of ‘HR’ people, but rather outlined a philosophy that put the growth of people and the growth of business on equal footing,” says Murphy.

As such, all leaders are responsible for both the business and people agenda.

That approach will be tested in coming years, as the company has huge expansion plans in Australia and the Asia-Pacific. Murphy and her team are concentrating on spotting and developing the best talent to facilitate growth.

She’s also concentrating on educating the talent pool about the breadth of careers on offer at a large retailer such as IKEA. Dharma Chandran and cor orate services officer Leighton Holdings WHY HOT? The GFC hit few industries as hard as construction. Leighton Holdings, the parent company of Leighton Group, is just now emerging from the turmoil, which saw the retirement of a long-serving CEO (Wal King), a short-term CEO replacement, various ‘problem projects’, an almost $1bn write-down in 2011, and the sell-off of various assets. Chandran and other executives with extensive change management experience were called in to help the struggling company plot a new course.

Chandran’s transformation program had three objectives: stabilise, rebase and grow. Developing leadership capability, shaking up performance management and remuneration systems, and beefing up compliance were top priorities. At the start of March, Leighton Holdings’ major shareholder launched a proportional takeover bid. In addition, the CEO and CFO, the two people who hired Chandran, have now also departed. The transformation roller coaster rolls on, with the master of change at the helm. hie

WHY HOT? Studies have shown that women will only apply for a job if they feel they are 99.5% qualified, whereas men will apply at 70%. It’s something O’Loughlin, who heads the HR function at Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator, has seen first-hand in ASIC’s own recruitment processes. O’Loughlin and her team have taken steps to ensure ASIC has initiatives in place to not just address gender imbalances but also to change viewpoints and culture. “The main benefit for us is diversity of thought. [This allows] the best decision-making we can do, and it’s good governance to have that diversity in decision-making,” she told HRD in February. ASIC has put all employees through unconscious bias training, which is ultimately about awareness raising. ASIC has also conducted hard analytical work to see what’s happening with organisational processes that may encourage bias.

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Janine Frew Director, HR Scentre Group WHY HOT? A corporate rebrand is the perfect time to take stock and reflect on the path that has led to the present time, and ponder the way forward. This is something Scentre Group – formerly known as the Westfield Group in Australia and New Zealand – is undertaking right now. Essentially, the company has split into two renamed listed property trusts: Westfield Corporation in the US and the UK/Europe, and Scentre Group Australia and New Zealand. Prior to the official roll-out of the Scentre Group entity in July, the leadership team, including Frew and a cross-section of employees, undertook a diagnostic exercise to determine what makes the company great, what they wanted to retain in the new entity, and what the ‘blockages’ were that could prevent the organisation from being more agile, innovative and collaborative. With the ‘DNA’ identified, Scentre Group will be leveraging off already-existing capabilities within the company to grow the business in 2015 and beyond.

Belinda Winter Director, people and corporate relations Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals WHY HOT? In 2014 Novo Nordisk placed ninth (>100 employees) in the Great Place to Work survey.

Winter says the accolade was a result of several factors, but first and foremost it was communication, consultation and formulation of actions that were integrated and resonated with all parts of the organisation. With a significant percentage of the Novo workforce working remotely, Winter tells HRD it was critical the organisation communicated ‘person to person’. (“Not via a TV screen; technology is great, but you cannot replicate being there in person to ensure clarity and understanding of what is being communicated,” she says.) Winter herself has worked remotely – in 2011 she was seconded to Denmark for a global performance management project. An invaluable experience, Winter says she was challenged both personally (as it was unaccompanied and eight weeks away from her family) and professionally (handling her local role while dually delivering on the global project).

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Neil Baker Director of people and culture Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers WHY HOT? There’s no such thing as overcommunication. That’s the lesson law firm Cooper Grace Ward learnt following the results of a recent engagement survey. The survey identified that a critical cohort of the firm had experienced a significant decrease in engagement. To turn the situation around, the managing partner, the COO and Baker met with this cohort to share the full findings of the engagement survey and discuss reasons for the change. Since then, transparency has become a staple of the culture: all team members are now involved in developing cultural values, brand attributes and strategic objectives; performance data, including profit performance, is regularly shared; and corporate information is dispersed via meetings (group and one-on-one), newsletters and the intranet. The action has paid off, with the firm accredited as an Aon Hewitt Best Employer in 2013.

Susan Henry Head of people and culture Starlight Children’s Foundation WHY HOT? Organisational agility – the ability to react swiftly to shifts in the broader economy and industry environment – has been a 2014 buzzword.

Agility also implies actively encouraging and fostering innovation, and encouraging thoughts, plans and ideas ‘out of the box’ from employees. By the very nature of its work in the not-for-profit sector, Starlight operates as a lean, fast and entrepreneurial organisation, so there is no room for bureaucracy and red tape.

In addition, ‘The Starlight Way’ ensures employees don’t reinvent the wheel on non-value-adding activities. Starlight also has certain initiatives and symbols that unite the team. ‘I-Call’ and ‘I-Care’ are initiatives to ensure employees are responsive to client needs. The ‘Bright Ideas’ initiative encourages ideas from across the organisation, while ‘Get Connected’ sees all team members spending a day per quarter working in one of the organisation’s programs out in the field.

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Bob Hogarth General manager of people and culture Heritage Bank WHY HOT? As a winner at the Australian HR Awards 2014 (Employer of Choice <1,000 workers), and of countless other accolades, Heritage Bank has proven time and time again that a ‘people first’ philosophy can produce tangible results. A 91% engaged employee rating is just one metric indicating that the bank is doing the right things. Hogarth, who has led the HR function for 17 years, has introduced an array of popular perks, including an annual ‘Our People’ conference – which includes motivational speakers, leadership networking breakfasts that allow staff to meet colleagues from remote locations and listen to presentations from successful leaders – and an alliance with the University of Southern Queensland that allows staff with Heritage qualifications to receive up to 16 exemptions for a 24-unit degree or up to 50% unit exemption for an MBA (believed to be the first such alliance in Australia).

Angela Murphy Executive general manager of HR Challenger WHY HOT? With a workforce of 520 employees, financial services firm Challenger may seem like David to the Goliaths of the ‘big four’, yet its HR function is world class. Murphy says the company’s size actually works in its favour: it allows for broad business exposure and breadth of experience for all employees. The firm’s employment brand promise, ‘challenge what is possible’, articulates the employee empowerment that is only possible in a company that allows its people to offer and develop fresh ideas. Murphy, who has been with the company for two years, has established a fruitful relationship with her CEO, Brian Benari. With a shared belief that HR should ‘know what matters’, Murphy has, over the past two years, concentrated her efforts on HR measurement and reporting.

THE BENEFITS INNOVATOR Kellie Egan HR director, Australia and APAC Atlassian WHY HOT? Perennial best employer and IT/software firm Atlassian took pole position on the Great Place to Work list in 2014. Egan initially consulted to Atlassian for seven months before accepting the HR director role – and her eight years of consulting work have stood her in good stead to continue Atlassian’s winning streak. With some 900-odd permanent employees globally, the Aussie start-up is growing at a rapid rate. More than 600 employees will be added to the roster this financial year. Among industry-leading perks and benefits are ‘Twenty percent time’, whereby staff can spend a fifth of their week on their own projects; ‘Daily Pulse’ – a replacement for its ‘Mood App’ – which checks how people are faring every day; ‘One percent foundation time’, allowing employees to help out a charity of their choice; and simple performance management, based on a conversation rather than ratings.

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Michele Glover leader, Paci c Mercer WHY HOT? It would be a concern if Mercer, as a global business and HR consultancy, suffered from high employee turnover and disengaged workers. Fortunately, the opposite is true. Some 12% of Mercer’s employees are ‘boomerangs’: they have left the company and come back into the fold. Close to 16% of Mercer employees have worked at the company for more than 10 years, and 10% for more than 20 years. Glover herself has spent almost two decades at the company, in a number of roles, including a consulting role, various HR leader roles in the Asia-Pacific, and recently as a board member. She is currently immersed in an HR transformation project, which will introduce shared services teams across two operating companies. Transactional HR functions such as payroll and contract generation will be offshored. The goal, Glover tells HRD, is to transform from a group of individual experts to an exceptional, strategic HR team.

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

Natalie James The Fair Work Ombudsman WHY HOT? James has inherited a critical role in employer/employee relations as the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO). The FWO is an independent statutory agency of the Federal Government that serves as the central point of contact for free advice and information on the Australian national workplace relations system. Appointed by the governor-general for a five-year term starting in July 2013, James is responsible for promoting harmonious, productive and cooperative workplace relations, and for ensuring compliance with Commonwealth workplace laws. James’s office has made a submission to the Fair Work Commission advocating a reduction in the number of awards, and for clearer definition of when overtime and penalty rates apply. More than 500,000 calls are made to the FWO every year, mostly concerning minimum wage and entitlements.

Eric Abetz Minister for employment WHY HOT? Legislative priorities for the Coalition have included the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014, introduced into Parliament in February. The amendment seeks changes to ‘greenfields agreements’; new provisions for employers offering individual flexibility arrangements; and new restrictions on union ‘rights of entry’ onto employers’ premises. In addition, the former Labor Government’s amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) took effect in January, enabling workers to seek orders from the Fair Work Commission to stop workplace bullying.

One of the Coalition’s key election policies was the introduction of a new Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme, providing mothers with 26 weeks’ pay at their actual pay (capped at $150,000 per annum) following the birth of a child. This will replace the current PPL scheme, under which mothers receive 18 weeks’ pay at the national minimum wage, from 1 July 2015.

It’s proposed that the revamped PPL scheme will be funded by a 1.5% levy on Australia’s 3,000 largest companies.

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Elizabeth Broderick Sex discrimination commissioner WHY HOT? Instead of changing women, it’s time to change the system; it’s up to men, not just their female colleagues, to improve the lot of women in the workplace. These two themes have continuously been espoused by Elizabeth Broderick since she was appointed for a fiveyear term as sex discrimination commissioner in September 2007. The term has been extended to September 2015. Broderick is keen to share the message that lifting women’s participation in paid work could have significant impacts on productivity rates in Australia and other G20 countries. She has also been advocating for how the Women’s Empowerment Principles – a United Nations initiative – can be used by businesses to encourage more women into leadership roles and paid work. The commissioner’s ongoing focus is well justified: a recent global report from Oxfam predicts equal pay will not be achieved for another 75 years.

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COVER STORY / 2014 HR HOT LIST

Jennifer White Head of people and culture Parramatta Mission WHY HOT? ‘Transforming lives’ could be a mantra for businesses that don’t really transform anything except the bank accounts of its executives, yet for Parramatta Mission, as part of the community sector, it’s literally what they do. With 15 years of HR experience behind her, including time in the professional services, financial services, legal and FMCG sectors, White brings a wealth of commercial acumen to her role. She played a critical role in creating Parramatta Mission’s overall people strategy in late 2012, including the creation of a suite of integrated, aligned ‘pillars’ to deliver organisational outcomes. Over the past 12 months White has tackled big issues, including a leadership transformation project with the aim of improving culture, lifting engagement levels of executives, staff and volunteers, and reinforcing the values-based DNA of the organisation: Grace, Dignity, Inclusion, Faith and Hope.

THE RISING STAR Matthew Francis HR consultant RSPCA Queensland

Susan Ferrier National head of people, performance and culture KPMG WHY HOT? As one of Australia’s most respected HR leaders, Ferrier holds more than 30 years of international experience in working with boards and on executive teams in large global financial services organisations, professional services firms, and even a technology start-up. After a 10-year stint in financial services, she joined KPMG in 2011. That same year she implemented a three-year people strategy. As part of this strategy, in July 2012 Ferrier led an HR transformation to create a more efficient and effective people function more closely aligned to the needs of the firm. She’s also been instrumental in championing the firm’s flexible work options policy, and directly role-models flexible and agile working for her PPC team. In 2013 a new family benefits program was introduced, including an information portal, support groups and the creation of a new centralised case coordinator position to manage transitions in and out of work.

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WHY HOT? One of the pleasant surprises of the 2014 Australian HR Awards was hearing eloquent and gracious Matthew Francis accept his ‘Rising Star’ award. In addition to thanking his HR team and his current manager (and mentor), Todd Franks, Francis talked passionately about the work the RSPCA does.

He has been involved in repositioning the HR function from a compliance-focused, reactive function to a proactive, strategic function. Francis also takes a lead role on most projects. He lists his greatest achievement as dissolving an existing reward and recognition program that failed to deliver an ROI, and designing a new program, ‘Make Your Mark’, which seeks to maximise performance by clearly defining the ‘little bit extra’ the organisation is seeking from its people, and encouraging those very people to connect and contribute in a way that is meaningful to them.

David Arkell HR leader GE WHY HOT? One of Australia’s most lauded HR professionals, Arkell has spent over 25 years in global HRM across mining, financial services, logistics and FMCG industries.

GE has retained its crown as a leader in people and management strategies, still sparking off legendary CEO Jack Welch’s reign which ended 11 years ago. Standouts include GE’s world-class Crotonville curriculum and campus, which develops leadership capability for GE employees globally; its ‘take five’ program giving employees access to five additional days of paid annual leave; and its ‘health ahead’ program focusing on employees living healthier lives. In addition, Arkell has concentrated on several key areas locally: building one GE HR community across all businesses, including piloting a new HR model; using social media as a driver in recruitment; and redesigning HR systems, such as auto-generation of employment contracts and onboarding of new employees.

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

Megan Bromley ead o e loyee experience ed alloon WHY HOT? Online gifts retailer RedBalloon’s name has been a byword for HR excellence since Naomi Simson established the company in 2001. Since Bromley joined the team in 2009, she has taken ownership of the ‘employee experience’. “I don’t believe in humans being used as resources – we should be treating people as people,” Bromley tells HRD. At RedBalloon, staff are encouraged to come to work as themselves and not their job titles – individuality is something to be cherished, not squashed. HR challenges for the online retailer include keeping pace with and using technology, and fostering next-gen leadership. Bromley says software like Bamboo HR and performance management tool Small Improvements has helped resolve countless HR issues. On the leadership front, RedBalloon believes that leadership can come from all levels in the business, not just from the top.

Kathleen McCudden director M Australia and e ealand WHY HOT? Always at the forefront of HR innovation, IBM has rolled out a number of initiatives in the last 12–18 months, under McCudden’s stewardship.

Think Academy is a new mobile and social approach to learning. Designed to equip employees with the fundamental knowledge and expertise to be successful, it is a living repository of IBM’s expertise, and allows teams to share their expertise and learn together. Secondly, HR has been using predictive analytics to build forecasting models to assist with decision-making across the business. Targeting top contributors, the model indicated whether there was a ‘propensity to leave’ in the short to medium term, enabling the team to take proactive steps to retain employees and address potential attrition risks across the population.

A TOUGH YEAR Chris Blake Executive general manager, cor orate affairs and eo le Australia Post Chris Blake’s remit at Australia Post – which he joined in July 2010 – is wide. It encompasses HR, strategy, communications, government relations, international affairs and community engagement. However, 2014 has been tough for Australia Post. Telling 900 workers that their jobs will disappear during the next 12 months is not an easy task for any HR department. Australia Post confirmed that the jobs will go as part of a transformation of the business, due to the drastic decline in letter volumes during the past five years. The HR team also had a difficult workplace law case on their hands in 2013/14, when at least 40 employees, including managers and supervisors, were caught emailing pornographic material to their colleagues.

A number of workers were dismissed; however, two of the workers have won their jobs back after the Full Federal Court upheld their reinstatement.

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Louise Tebbutt Executive general manager , risk and sa ety Myer It has been a mixed year for Myer.

In addition to struggling with a sluggish retail sector, in August news broke about a botched executive hire. Andrew Flanagan, a freshly appointed general manager, strategy and business development, was fired on his first day, after it was revealed he had allegedly concocted his references to land the job. The highprofile case called into question not just Myer’s recruitment processes but also the value of services offered by its recruitment partners. On a brighter note, the retail giant won the Excellence in Employee Engagement award given by global research company ORC International. Myer had the highest engagement score (83%) for Australia and New Zealand. The formal survey is a new part of Myer’s employee engagement program.

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HR CAREERS / CHANGE MANAGEMENT

TIME FOR A

CHANGE? Change agents have never been in greater demand. As more and more HR practitioners are being called upon to drive change initiatives, HRD asks whether they are the right people for the job

HR professionals love change. That may seem counter-intuitive – does anybody really love change? Perhaps a more accurate generalisation is that HR professionals love the big impact change can have on an organisation – a change that impacts on lives, transforms and reforms an organisation, and produces (overall) positive results. As for the nitty-gritty of change management, well, that’s another story.

Despite HR’s increased involvement in transformation projects in business, new research has shed light on the competencies, demand for and remuneration of those who brand themselves as

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TY SAI

CHANGE MANAGERS IN DEMAND The Change Management Institute (CMI) 2014 Employment Study* reveals that the employment of change managers has doubled over the last four years. Change management is increasingly seen as having a critical role to play in organisations, with implications for employment opportunities, according to the benchmark report.

CMI board member Dr Elizabeth Short, who led the research project and is currently part of Westpac’s internal change management team, has tried to recruit change managers on and off over the last eight years. She’s come to understand who makes a great change manager and who doesn’t.

The wide-ranging skills and competencies required have, in a sense, made the job of hiring change managers easier, but the question remains as to whether those skills and competencies are the most appropriate for the jobs at hand.

“Anybody thinks they can be a change manager.

To a degree that’s probably correct – you can be taught the skills if you have a good mentor or coach – but some people take to it more naturally than others,” Short tells HRD. And importantly, HR professionals tend to gravitate towards one end of the change spectrum over the other (see opposite).

CLARIFYING CHANGE TYPES It’s important to differentiate between the types of change required in business. Although there are shared foundational skills and competencies, there are also key differences between transactional change and transformational/strategic change: Transactional change or project-level changes: Involve individuals and teams in making changes to the way in which they work. These changes need to be effectively and consistently executed to minimise risk, disruption and noise. The majority of work performed is at the transactional level, with major projects occasionally impacting at a transformational level.

Strategic and transformational change: Emphasises the alignment between all elements of the future organisation. The elements are strategy, technology,

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STATE OF PLAY The Change Management Institute (CMI) 2014 Employment Study examined advertisements for change managers posted in Australia, New Zealand and the UK over a period of three months > The majority of job advertisements (44%) for change managers were placed in the IT, ICT and telecommunications sectors. > A tertiary degree (of any kind) was the most sought a ter uali cation in advertise ents, nearly matched by Prosci/ADKAR® with re uests hange uali cations occurred ti es, but hat as actually re uired as not clear. > The majority of advertisements (74%) did not specify the amount of work experience desired; however, 18% o obs re uired ve or ore years of experience. > Contract positions in Australia are required the majority of the time. Only 10% are permanent positions, with 68% contracts (mostly short-term) and the remainder of the advertisements not specifying what is required.

Organisational change continuum COMPETITIVE

Strategic change

CONTEXT OF THE CHANGE

‘change managers’. And despite the fact that most HR professionals would brand themselves as exactly that, the report has clarified the types of change that HR excel at, and where they need to do more work.

Transformational change Transactional change

TACTICAL SMALL

LARGE

CONTENT OF THE CHANGE

Size of circle = Typical size of project team Colour of circle = Alignment challenge Low

Medium

High

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HR CAREERS / CHANGE MANAGEMENT

WHAT DO EMPLOYERS WANT? In 2013, the CMI published he ecti e Change anager: he Change anage ent o o no le ge. This research highlighted the key knowledge areas of change managers. A comparison with the change management jobs advertised revealed the following key competency areas sought by employers.

80 60 40 20

62

Stakeholder strategy

58

Communication skills

39

Change readiness

34

Education, learning, skill development

26

Project management

26

Change strategy

24

Org change and design

21

Change impact assessments

0 business process, organisation architecture, culture and leadership. The changes are across multiple stakeholder groups and demand significantly higher focus on change governance, program management, alignment of stakeholder expectations, and management of risk and change impact.

Transformational change: Changing the way individual branches and teams operate to deliver these business outcomes, with the customer at the heart of the business model.

Strategic change: Continued shift to a customer-focused business with enhanced statistical and research offerings.

“So where do most change professionals come from?

Everywhere” Dr Elizabeth Short

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“When recruiting for change managers, particularly for project-level change managers, where most of the work lies, I found a lot of people come from HR backgrounds,” Short says. “I thought that was what I wanted. My background is in general management and training, so I thought people of similar background would lap it up.”

However, Short’s preconceived notions were misguided. “What I found is that most HR people don’t actually want to do the nitty-gritty; the hack work that is required in these projects. It’s not glamorous. They wanted to transform organisations, to restructure organisational design, and handle mergers and acquisitions. That’s much more interesting to them than launching a new technology system.”

“So where do most change professionals come from? Everywhere,” says Short. She mentors a woman in New Zealand who is a microbiologist by training, and another who is an operational sales manager in a call centre.

“I often end up pulling people in from the business,” she says. “These were projects for the business and these people understand the business; they know all the people. All they needed to do was learn how to manage change and all the steps involved. In the financial world, where I currently am, knowing the business is a blessing because it’s a complex world. By and

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

large you prefer someone with that experience.”

At Westpac the change team sits within the business and is assigned to projects as they come up, but this is not typical of most companies. The project management office and HR department were the most common organisational locations for change management job roles, according to Prosci’s Best Practices in Change Management, 2014 Edition.

WHAT ABOUT HR? Regardless of the type of change initiative sought and pursued, Short has found that HR professionals do have many of the basic skills required. “They’ve learnt how people behave; they know how to talk to them; they know how best to go about doing things.

I always start any program with the psychology of change, using William Bridges’ transition model [published in his 1991 book, Managing Transitions].”

Short notes that unless change agents understand the psychological aspects of change, the project will not be successful. “Regardless of the change – and perhaps it’s even more important for the transactional changes where you might meet resistance and need to convince people to change how they do their jobs – the psychological understanding must be there.”

Short adds that it’s important to always understand where people are coming from: the ‘what’s in it for me’ element. “We had a change recently. We introduced a new product for the corporate customer team. We had a whole team say they weren’t going to use it. The problem was the

‘what’s in it for me’ was more work for them. They didn’t want it and the manager didn’t want it unless they had extra resources.”

The saying that organisations change one person at a time holds true for Short. To make it work, she says change managers must understand people and appreciate that there are differences. “I need to target each person, but I can’t assume everyone will react in the same way, especially when there are upwards of 250 or more people involved.”

For example, one of the principles underpinning education is the need to communicate between five and seven times; that doesn’t mean putting out the same message five times, but rather using different communication channels: it might be an email, a poster, or face-to-face.

“You hope that at some point it will trigger the thought in that person’s head,” says Short. “I might not be at all interested in LinkedIn or Twitter, but you send me an email or flier and I’ll notice it.

People think differently. Understanding those differences is useful.”

“You hope that at some point it will trigger the thought in that person’s head”

CHANGE MANAGER ADVERTISEMENTS PER INDUSTRY SECTOR (TOP 8)* 586

IT/ICT/Telco

175

Consulting

103

HR, recruitment

108

Bank/Acct/ Fin/Ins

29

Manuf/Mining/ Oil & gas

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24

Mktg/Comms/ Media

19

Government

13

Energy/Utilities

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HR CAREERS / CHANGE MANAGEMENT

2014 CHANGE MANAGER PAY (PERMANENT SALARY)* $64,000

Permanent lowest

$280,000 Permanent highest

$137,840

Permanent average

y

“In our bank we have templates to ll in you have to do a change strategy, a co unications lan, and so on you can t rite clearly and ell it can be very hard to engage stakeholders She concedes that for change projects such as the introduction of a new IT system, this can be tricky. “You fundamentally have to learn how to use the new system. But you can again use different means to educate people: a PowerPoint, a webinar, face-to-face,” she says.

OTHER FUNDAMENTALS y Write well. Change professionals are undertaking communications across a broad spectrum, so being able to write in a succinct and engaging manner is critical. “Simply, we write lots of things,” says Short. “In our bank we have templates to fill in; you have to do a change strategy, a communications plan, and so on. If you can’t write clearly and well it can be very hard to engage stakeholders. If you don’t engage your stakeholders, they don’t support the project; they don’t communicate about it. People want their immediate boss to tell them about the change. They don’t want me fronting up and telling them about the change.” y Talk and present to senior managers. “Being able to write and prepare a good presentation, and to be able to get senior managers in the room, that’s

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y

y

y

a skill in itself. You need to be able to convince them about the change,” Short says. One of the first things Short does on any project is identify who the stakeholders are. She then meets them one-on-one. “I talk about what I’m going to do.

It’s not necessarily a brief about the project, but I talk to them about what they want from me, what they expect from the team. All of that is relationship building – it’s consulting skills.”

Listen up. “When I meet with stakeholders I do more listening than talking,” says Short. “I want to know what they think, how they feel. I can pick up on resistance, because I might have to manage that resistance down the line. I need to know how often they want to meet with me, what they need to know, how they want their teams trained, who their contact people are. I always ask who else I should talk to so they can be added to my stakeholder plan.”

Have excellent time management skills. “You work to timeframes all the time,” says Short.

“You absolutely need to be able to deliver when required.”

Have some knowledge of L&D: “A lot of the change managers I work with don’t know much about training,” says Short. “I actually think you need to understand the principles of adult learning for a variety of reasons, but mainly because it helps you with your communication and understanding of how people learn. Certainly those coming from the HR world would have that knowledge.”

Be a strategic thinker, in most instances. It’s something of a misnomer to believe that all change management requires strategic thinking. “A transition from Lotus Notes to Outlook doesn’t require that same level of strategic thinking,” says Short. “Instead you need to be very practical and ordered.”

M&As require a bit of both skill sets, Short confirms.

When BT merged with Perth-based Asgard, for example, it required downsizing and the movement of some contact centre staff to Sydney. New systems and processes needed to be implemented, ie it was the technical, transactional change elements combined with the strategic elements.

“Some of it is knowing when to ask for help, to get the right people to work with you. That BT merger went extremely well and it was because we had a really good team with the right people engaged,” Short says.

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

Very few people will have all the competencies and skills required to execute a transformational or strategic change. The best change managers dealing with this type of change will run it like a project: they will call on the help they require – a specialist comms person, a dedicated training team, and so on.

On organisational design projects, it might include union liaison, new KPIs, new job descriptions, outplacement, and physical location movements.

“It can be a substantial job,” says Short. “HR professionals are good at this if they understand everything they have to do. Not every change manager can do all of it. They are quite discrete skill sets.”

As a final nugget of advice for those aspiring to move into change management full-time, Short suggests that having thick skin is a prerequisite.

“You have to know how to manage conflict and resistance. You can’t just dump something in and walk away. There’s a degree of commitment

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2014 CHANGE MANAGER PAY (DAILY CONTRACTOR RATES)* $500

Contract lowest

$1,400

Contract highest

$768

Contract average

required. I think it’s a tough job,” she concludes.

Thankfully, as CMI’s pay analysis reveals, it’s also well rewarded. * The Change Management Institute (CMI) 2014 Employment Study.

The M is an inde endent, international, not or ro t organisation established to ro ote and develo the ractice o change anage ent globally ince the M has been surveying the change anage ent ob arket in Australia

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LEADERSHIP / POLITICAL ACUMEN

IN THE HOT SEAT reasons why what you say AND what you do

5

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matters

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It’s a cliché that bosses often state “Do as I say, not as I do”. But of course, both matter, as Cindy Tonkin explains Do you walk the talk? Here are some new reasons why what you do matters just as much, if not more, than what you say.

1

YOUR WORDS DO ACTUALLY MATTER In a corporate world where much of our communication is in writing, it’s clear that words matter.

The email subject line you choose can make a difference to whether someone reads it. The PowerPoint headline heralds good or bad news.

The caption under a graph can make or break your meeting. So words do matter.

The story you tell and the frame you put around the company’s decision to increase sales targets, stop providing chocolate biscuits in the tea room, or replace a loved but incompetent receptionist helps the medicine go down. Or not. Words do matter.

Whether your procedures give people ways to solve problems or excuses to say “computer says no”… that’s about the words you choose.

The company values: collaboration, trust, customer first, innovation. All words. And important ones. Living the company values, though, that’s action. Which brings us to point number two.

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2

YOUR ACTIONS MATTER TOO – WE JUDGE BY ACTIONS NOT INTENTIONS Your internal world is a closed book even to trained professionals. No one can fully read your mind, understand your thoughts or see your intentions. But people can see your actions.

You may mean to live the company values of collaboration and innovation, but people notice if you roll your eyes when a new idea is touted. Or if you sigh when a team member suggests a brainstorm. When you promote a competitive gogetting salesperson over the calm team-player, people notice that too. These are actions that make a difference.

3

YOUR BOSS IS WATCHING AND LOOKING FOR PATTERNS So, why do actions matter? Because your boss is watching. And if your boss is smart (let’s hope so), they are looking for patterns of behaviour in your actions.

Belinda spends three days preparing a board presentation every quarter. She agonises over every single word on each PowerPoint slide until it’s letter perfect. She drives her staff crazy changing

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LEADERSHIP / POLITICAL ACUMEN

When there’s a disconnect between the words you say and what you do, your bosses believe your body every time. Because the body doesn’t lie “the purpose of this report” to “this report’s purpose” and back again. She never sleeps the night before. She takes a beta-blocker before speaking to keep calm. On the spot, in front of the board, she holds her breath. Wrings her hands as she speaks.

Crosses her feet. Fiddles with the buttons on her jacket. Her face gets redder and redder.

Watching her is uncomfortable for the board.

Listening is harder. Belinda thinks the exposure is good for her career, but she’s damaging her reputation because the words she is saying: “I’m in control, and we’re doing well” belie her body language, which screams “I’m worried and something’s going to go wrong any moment”. Every word she utters is perfect. But her behaviours say “I can’t do this!” In the eyes of the board she’s not professional at all, and her message is lost.

When there’s a disconnect between the words you say and what you do, your bosses believe your body every time. Because the body doesn’t lie.

Unfortunately Belinda’s issues are not genderrelated: men do this too. We all overrate the importance of the words (yes, of course, they are important). And we pay little attention to the nonverbals which can undermine (or support) every word we say.

You’ve worked hard to get to where you are.

Your boss is watching you. If your boss is a fan of the One Minute Manager they’ll be trying to “catch you doing something right”. If they’re paranoid or if office politics is a little vicious where you are, then they’ll be making sure you’re not doing something wrong.

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What you do in the hallway, how you control your emotional responses (or not) in meetings are your “tells”. Who you accidentally or on purpose sit next to in a meeting room. Which way you face when you choose a chair in a room.

Your boss is watching you for signs that they can trust you. It’s a miracle more executives don’t take acting lessons, because composure, the ability to

OFFICE POLITICS 101 y BUILD A BROAD COALITION OF SUPPORT: Lobby for the respect and trust of all your colleagues, including those at the grassroots level. Forge strong alliances by sharing credit for successes and delivering on promises. y AVOID SMEAR CAMPAIGNS: Gossiping or outright mudslinging can only damage an employee’s credibility.

When upset or frustrated, wait until after calming down to express concerns. Be direct but tactful, focusing on facts rather than feelings. y STAY TRUE TO YOUR VALUES: It’s an unfortunate truth that there are those who’ll do anything to ‘win’, but character and credibility count. There is no need to play underhanded games to rise through the ranks. y CONNECT WITH YOUR CONSTITUENCIES: Smart candidates tailor their message and approach to the audience.

Employees should apply the same tactic to their co-workers. Observe their unique work styles, priorities and communication preferences in order to best adapt your approach. y PLAY BY THE RULES: Avoid sticky situations by paying close attention to office rotocol a isste is taken, make amends quickly. y DODGE CONTROVERSY: Water cooler chitchat will inevitably veer toward the polarising topic of politics, religion etc.

Proceed with caution, or politely bow out completely. Getting into heated debates about non-work issues can generate unnecessary ill will.

Source: Robert Half

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

seem calm under pressure, is an essential trait for leaders everywhere. Because your actions speak louder than your words do.

4

YOUR STAFF ARE LOOKING FOR REASONS TO TRUST YOU TOO! Just as much as when you are presenting, you need to pay attention to what you say and what you do within earshot and sight of your staff, and the teams they manage.

The people who report to you have some understanding of your job. But the people who report to them (your grand-reports) are clueless.

From their point of view you’re just floating into and out of meetings and occasionally addressing them. So they hallucinate, based on what they can see, hear and experience in your behaviour – most of which doesn’t relate to your job at all.

They judge by your emotional temperature, your level of agitation or calm, how kind or cutting you are with them. In the absence of other signals they’ll judge you by anything they can see, hear or notice.

For example, Felicity’s office is by the window on an open-plan floor. She needs to walk between her grand-reports to go anywhere. The kitchen conversation amongst her grand-reports always includes speculation about which teams she favours today, based on the route she chooses to cross the floor.

They don’t know what she does, so all they see is how she walks into and out of her office, and who she meets with. The more agitated she seems the more agitated they are. The calmer she is, then the easier they are. If she walks past their area they are the favourites and safe today. If they don’t then they may be under threat.

Why it matters is that this affects how your grand-reports do their jobs. You are responsible, like it or not, for the morale of your area and the areas below them, and so you need to convey that all is OK as much as is humanly possible.

Yes, leadership is tricky. So many people tell me that they would never want their boss’ job. Not because they couldn’t do the things they imagine the job entails, but because they don’t want to handle the stress of it. Yet research tells us that the people who are most stressed are middle managers, not executives: essentially stress is worst for people

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You may mean to live the company values of collaboration and innovation, but people notice if you roll your eyes when a new idea is touted. When you promote a competitive go-getting salesperson over the calm team-player, people notice that too who feel they have no control over their jobs and their outcomes.

So, what you do and what you say matters: you can rev up the troops all you like with half-time speeches about how well we’re doing or how much we’re changing, or how things will be better next week, but the staff are watching you, and making judgments not just on the words, but on what they see you doing, and how you choose to wend your way to the kitchen.

5

YOUR ACTIONS AFFECT YOUR MIND, YOUR PRESENCE AND YOUR RESILIENCE The final reason why your words and your actions both matter is that your actions affect you mentally, physically and physiologically.

If you haven’t yet encountered Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on power poses then here is the potted summary: you can chemically improve your self-confidence and stress just by standing like Wonder Woman for three minutes. Your actions therefore change your mind. People can see this effect in your presence.

Whether you exercise, meditate, laugh, sleep or stretch, that changes your brain too. You become more resilient when you take your actions as seriously as your words.

It’s not just what you say. What you do matters.

Cindy Tonkin helps your team be more politically astute. Find out more at http:// politicalacumen.com. au/wisdom/

NOVEMBER 2014 | 39

23/10/2014 3:09:24 PM

EXPERT INSIGHT / EMPLOYMENT BRANDING

Taking pole position: Employer brand leadership Think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still HR that dictates employer brand strategy? Think again.

Brett Minchington outlines the trends that are shaping employment brands globally

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

Over the past seven years I have been fortunate to travel to more than 50 cities in 30 countries to share my employer branding knowledge and experience with thousands of leaders. The number one issue that continues to draw discussion and debate is whether employer branding should be an HR or marketing function or both! There are also a number of leaders who support the view that it requires a combination of expertise from multiple functions to effectively deliver an employer brand strategy that builds value.

DECLINING ROLE OF HR MARKETING Global research from Employer Brand International (EBI) over the past five years shows the declining role of HR in employer branding, with 46% of HR departments responsible for the strategy in 2009 compared to 36% in 2014 (see Figure 1). The study also found that the traditional custodians of corporate and consumer brands, the marketing department, is now responsible for managing the employer brand in only 15% of companies.

Figure 1: Department(s) responsible for managing their employer brand

(>100% as more than one answer is possible) HR 15%

HR & Marketing

12%

HR & Communications

12%

Executive team

11%

CEO

10%

HR, Marketing & Communications

10% 9%

Directors Talent management

6%

Communications

4%

I don’t know

3%

Branding

2%

or orate affairs

2%

Information technology (IT)

1%

The survey findings also show clear evidence that the leadership of employer brands is evolving into other functions. Interestingly, the executive team (11%, up from 2% in 2009) and CEOs (10%, up from 1% in 2009) are now responsible for the employer brand strategy. This suggests more companies are

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THE RISE OF EMPLOYER BRAND LEADERSHIP Nike and Facebook recently placed ads to recruit employer brand leaders. However, this trend is not limited to Fortune 500 companies. According to Indeed.com, during the period 2009–13 there was more than a 300% increase in the number of employer brand manager positions advertised in the US. Over the past five years I have been tracking, collating and analysing job descriptions for employer brand leader positions as vacancies have been advertised around the world. The review found a diversity of approaches being taken by companies in recruiting employer brand leadership talent (see Table 1). What is consistent is the increasingly strategic nature of the role, requiring professionals with experience in functions such as branding, consulting, social media and events.

A STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP FUNCTION 36%

Marketing

now deploying a strategic approach to employer branding. In 34% of companies, teams of two or more departments, from HR, marketing and communications, are responsible for managing the employer brand, compared to 31% in 2011.

At companies such as Facebook, Amazon and KPMG, the focus for the employer brand leader is on recruitment. However, companies such as LinkedIn, IKEA and Amtrak have adopted a holistic approach to employer branding across the employment life cycle.

History shows that companies transition towards a strategic approach to employer brand management after two to three years of adopting the concept. This is consistent with how employer branding evolves inside a company as expertise and experience builds across the leadership teams.

It is clear that with the increasing talent shortages around the world we will begin to see many more follow the lead of companies such as Google, IBM, Marriott, 3M and EY in recruiting leaders to leverage the value an employer brand strategy has on profitability and sustainability.

While there are company culture and structural issues in reorganising and implementing a holistic employer branding function, if the trend of appointing employer brand managers continues in the US, Europe and the UK, there is no doubt the role of the employer brand leader will become more commonplace in places such as Russia, Brazil, the UAE, Poland and Asia. Companies in these regions

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EXPERT INSIGHT / EMPLOYMENT BRANDING

Years of experience

Retention

Management

Recruitment

Candidate experience

Events

Social media

Consulting

Brand

Focus

Media

Marketing

Public relations

Communications

Recruitment marketing,

Recruitment

Company

HR

Responsibilities/Experience

Requires qualification

THE EMPLOYER BRAND LEADERSHIP FUNCTION (FIVE-YEAR TRACKING STUDY)

3M

3–5

Akamai Technologies

10

Amazon

n/s

Amtrak

n/s

Bristol-Myers Squibb

8

Cargill

8

CEB

7

Coca-Cola Hellenic

n/s

EY

6

Facebook

10

Ferrero

3–5

Google

n/s

IHG

n/s

IKEA

n/s

JP Morgan Chase

5

Kinross

8–10

KPMG

5-6

Liberty Mutual

7-10

LinkedIn

8-10

Marriott

2–4

Mars

n/s

Nike

5–7

RBS

n/s

Standard Chartered Bank

n/s

Verizon

10

Wendy’s

10 n s non s eci ed

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

are seeking the benefits gained by those who are already three to five years into their journey.

Too many companies view employer branding as a ‘project based’ or ‘add on’ function to an already overstretched HR function, and then complain about the lack of ROI. We are still at the phase of first-mover advantage, with EBI’s research finding that only 17% of companies have a clearly defined strategy (up from 14% in 2011).

Those acting now still have time to ensure they will be top of mind for talent in what is possibly the most challenging economic time in history.

FUTURE FOCUS When considering the evolving nature of business impacted by political, economic, social and technological changes (and increasingly environmental), and the role of the employee in contributing to brand equity, the focus of future discussions should be on skills, experiences and capabilities required to execute the employer brand strategy and the structure of the team that supports it.

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Whether the personnel come from HR, marketing, communications or other functions is not the debate we should be having. The focus should be on how your company develops a competent team of professionals sourced from inside and outside the firm who can develop and execute an employer brand strategy that builds value.

The traditional siloed approach to managing the attraction, engagement and retention of talent is out of date and out of step with today’s candidate and employee needs. More needs to be done by organisations to facilitate cross-functional leadership of the employer branding function to ensure a more cohesive approach. In more than 100 events I have presented at, I can only recall one finance director in the audience (from Nike). There is little wonder that one of the biggest challenges for employer brand leaders is to gain budget approval for their strategy.

Employer brand leaders need to build awareness and capability in employer branding across the organisation rather than relying on one or two leaders to manage the function.

Brett Minchington, MBA, is chairman/CEO of Employer Brand International. His latest book, Employer Branding & the new world@work, and other titles are available at collectivelearningaustralia. com.

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23/10/2014 3:10:14 PM

INTERNATIONAL PROFILE / SEAWORLD PARKS AND RESORTS

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

HR lessons from the deep

From the recruitment of oceanic life experts to mitigating blowback from PR nightmares, SeaWorld Parks and Resorts’ VP of HR never has a boring day.

Christine O’Neal discusses the opportunities and challenges of running one of the world’s most popular marine-life theme parks or than fi i ion o tra to aWor Orlando every year to watch sea lions and killer whales perform spectacular feats of talent and discipline. These visitors fly into Central Florida from all around the world to appreciate the park’s exotic array of marine life, as well as partake in shopping, dining and roller coaster riding.

SeaWorld’s Orlando parks include SeaWorld, Aquatica SeaWorld’s Waterpark, and Discovery Cove – all named by TripAdvisor travellers as the No. 7, No. 9 and No. 1 theme parks in the world.

These three parks necessitate a staff of 7,500 to service the activities and accommodate its millions of attendees. Christine O’Neal, vice president of human resources, supports them all – from food vendors and maintenance workers to worldrenowned biologists and oceanographers.

SHARED VALUES While this wide-ranging employee base could potentially be difficult to manage, O’Neal insists that employees’ passion for the brand provides a sense of unity throughout the workforce.

“We invest a lot of money in our orientation, which we call ‘Connections’. It’s important that people understand the values of our organisation and … what we’re about,” says O’Neal.

She personally ensures that the parks repeatedly emphasise SeaWorld’s commitment to marine

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INTERNATIONAL PROFILE / SEAWORLD PARKS AND RESORTS

t s al ays attering to be considered the training ground or everyone else and or olks to co e and try to get talent ro us

HUMAN POACHING Unfortunately, this extensive training and development process means that other organisations consistently try to poach workers from SeaWorld’s roster. Rather than feeling threatened, O’Neal understands that this is just a side effect of investing in exceptional employees.

“It’s always flattering to be considered the training ground for everyone else and for folks to come and try to get talent from us,” she says.

“Obviously, we regret that we lose good people from time to time, but that’s the nature of business – there’s only so much upward growth that can happen so quickly, and when we hire and develop a lot of high-level talent, there’s going to be a pinch point.”

Still, O’Neal has strategies in place to preserve high levels of engagement and retain highperforming employees.

“Our strategies include trying to provide for

Finally, when asked if she has advice for other HR leaders, O’Neal emphasises the need for clear, preemptive, all-encompassing communication.

“It’s so important. As good as most companies are at marketing to the outside and communicating to the consumer, we’ve got to be able to communicate as effectively and strategically to the inside,” she says.

“We live in a world now where nobody has to ask for information anymore. Information you don’t even need shows up in a device that you carry in your pocket. So it’s critical for businesses to be very proactive, and to give their people the right information about what the business is doing.

“That’s what makes employees feel engaged – they belong and are inside the circle. We all want to belong to something we care about.”

conservation and rehabilitation efforts.

“We want to reinforce their experience with the part of the company they love, such as rescue and rehabilitation. It’s important to make sure people get exposure to the animals, they get facts about the animals, and they regularly get information about what we’re doing for conservation so they can then talk to our guests about it.

“Every team member who serves guests in the shop or restaurant doesn’t necessarily get to participate in a manatee rescue. But that might have been what made them fall in love with SeaWorld in the first place.”

44-47_InternationalProfile_subbed.indd 46

A PR NIGHTMARE As someone who places such a huge emphasis on employee morale, O’Neal faced a significant hurdle in 2013 with the release of Blackfish. The documentary painted the park in an extremely unfavourable light, and though many of its claims have been disputed, the negative publicity still lingers in many viewers’ minds.

While this backlash could have caused irreparable damage, O’Neal never worried too much about the effect it would have on employees, knowing that the park’s values were never in question to those who worked there.

“There’s a simple answer to that: the truth is simple, and the truth is in our parks and in our people every day,” she says.

“When they walk through our work areas, when they see the extraordinary care that animals have, and they know that 90% of the guests who leave our parks have told us they’re inspired to do more for marine life, and we’ve made a difference, that’s the simple truth.”

hristine O eal

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maximum enrichment, and even if there isn’t a vertical step for them today, to give them a lateral step so they can be more ready for a vertical step tomorrow,” she says.

“We try to keep it as enriching as possible.

There’s always a lot to learn.”

ONE KEY LESSON...

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OCTOBER 2014 | 47

3:21:27 PM 23/10/2014 3:18:31

CREATIVITY / INNOVATION

Thinking outside the square

X

Y

THIS IS WHERE YOU SHOULD BE

THIS IS YOU

How can creativity be funnelled into innovative outcomes for business? Iain Hopkins asks where our childhood creativity goes and how we can bring it back

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

Innovation can come from anyone, anywhere – that’s because all human beings are creative. We lose sight of that fact as we progress from childhood through to adulthood and it gets buried, especially when we hit the workforce. Yet there are countless examples of everyday workers using creative thinking to resolve business issues.

The three biggest innovations at McDonald’s came from people who were flipping burgers. The Big Mac, the Egg McMuffin and the Filet-o-Fish all came from the front line, not the head office. The worker who invented the Filet-o-Fish realised that Catholics would not eat hamburgers on Fridays. He suggested an alternative might be a burger containing fish. The idea went up the chain, and a new product line was born.

“Ideas come from where problems exist,” suggests Jason Clarke, founder and lead ‘mind worker’ at Minds at Work. “Go where the problems are. You need to empower people where the problem is and say to them, ‘What would you like to do about this?’ ”

CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION First, it’s important to recognise the close, interconnected realms of creativity and innovation.

Clarke suggests the relationship is similar to the one between bread and toast; in other words, the two are one and the same.

“Creativity is one of the fundamental mindsets you need – you cannot have innovation without creativity. Innovation is simply when you say, ‘Let’s take those ideas and turn them into things which will deliver outcomes or progress or whatever else’.

Innovation is the application of creativity.”

Clarke confirms that everyone is born creative, but this particular trait “goes into hiding” as we get older. “If you think about people who are anxious, they are actually expressing creativity; they are imagining something that might not be a problem.

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People who dream – dreams are creativity while you’re asleep. It’s there. Our ability to invent and create is hardwired into us – you can’t stop it.”

Even empathy, he notes, is a form of creativity.

Whenever we’ve felt for someone or wondered how it would be to be someone else, we’re using our imagination and creativity.

So, what happens to that creativity?

“I think part of the problem is people aren’t given the confidence to be creative,” Clarke says. “A lot of that happens in early childhood. It’s a bit like sport. When kids are encouraged to be sporty when they are little, they become comfortable with that as part of their personality. But if you’re one of those kids who was never picked at sport, you tune that part of you out.”

WHAT GOES WRONG? Most businesses, consciously or not, then proceed to squash that creativity even further. But it must be remembered that, like McDonald’s, creativity can actually be used to enhance and improve business outcomes. It’s just a matter of drawing it out of people.

“Organisations will ask, ‘Have you got any ideas’?

People will generate ideas and the organisation will say, ‘That doesn’t address any of the problems we’re dealing with. I was hoping someone would come up with an idea to solve problem F, not A, B, C’,” Clarke says.

The first step is to identify whatever the organisation is not happy with, something that isn’t working as best it could. It could be a loss of market share, or bad customer experiences, or too much time being wasted in meetings. Once the problem is established, it’s time to tap into the minds of employees.

“This is where creativity becomes innovation – it becomes targeted. Very often the creativity doesn’t have a target,” Clarke says.

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CREATIVITY / INNOVATION

The concept of the ‘lightning rod’ is handy to keep in mind. The problem with the traditional ‘ideas box’ is that people will submit ideas but very few can actually be used. A lightning rod, on the other hand, is staked to the ground to bring sparks to where you want them.

“Organisations should say, ‘Let’s have a dozen suggestion boxes. Suggestion box one is how do we improve the customer experience? Box two is how do we cut our operating costs? Box three is how can we boost staff morale? So the ideas are going into something useful,” says Clarke.

To cite just one example, on 25 May 1961 President John F. Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress the ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the moon before the end of the decade. He didn’t specify how it should be done, but he planted the seed.

The announcement kick-started a period of incredible invention and innovation – people had a clear goal to work towards, and it would take their own creative ingenuity to make it happen.

FUNNELLING THE IDEAS A second key tip is to create some form of creativity process, so the wonderful ideas have a direction and pathway to eventually end up as an innovative product, service or ‘thing’.

“The trick is making it simple and straight enough so that ideas can actually get up,” says Clarke. “You can get people fired up about creativity and innovation – that’s very easy. People are waiting for someone to invite them to have this discussion.

So it’s about getting on a train, filling it up with coal, and getting people really excited. But if there’s no track for the train, it will just plough into the dirt.

No one knows what happens next.”

The alternative is that there are tracks, but they run like the roller coaster at Disneyland: complicated, twisty, double-backing.

Clarke cites a recent client that had an innovation process in place, but it was so long, with many layers and steps, because it had been put together by the legal department and the finance department and the rest, to ensure nothing dangerous or risky happened.

“All they succeeded in guaranteeing is that

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nothing ever happens,” he comments. “Waiting years for approval is just going to kill everyone’s enthusiasm.”

THE INNOVATION PROCESS

The innovation process goes through several stages or progressions. Each stage is vital to an idea moving through to an executed reality. Here’s a basic four-step plan: At the first stage, you want open, free and unbounded ideas. Fill the bucket with ideas.

Be playful, imaginative, creative. “This thinking will get you started, but it won’t get you to the end,” says Clarke.

The second stage is about designing, planning and engineering. This is where you say, ‘Let’s think creatively but within the constraints of the thing we’re trying to fix’. “Putting some KPIs around things might inhibit the creative people, but it will inspire the more practically minded people,” says Clarke.

The third stage is when you start to get more critically minded. “Let’s test it in terms of its politics, its legality, the finances and the rest. A lot of organisations apply this third phase at the beginning. It’s what we call premature evaluation, where we kill the idea before it has a chance to grow,” says Clarke.

The fourth is the pragmatic stage. “If you make a decision, what are the next steps, how do we break it down, what’s the budget, what are the KPIs that will track success?”

1

2 3

4

Each of those stages requires different thinking.

You start off naive, then you become more practical, then critical, then pragmatic. You may need different people at different stages. “This means that, if I say to John, ‘You’ve got this great idea; you’re now in charge of making the whole thing work’, it will probably fail – we don’t have the mindset that can do all of those things. I don’t think anyone does. We say to clients: great minds don’t think alike – you need a diverse set of characters, skills and egos to do it all,” Clarke says.

Importantly, innovation needs cynicism as much as it needs optimism. It isn’t just about believing in

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

things and hoping for the best; you need someone to say, ‘Is this really going to work?’

“However, if you get the sequence wrong, if you are negative too early, or optimistic too late, it won’t happen,” Clarke warns.

FURTHER TIPS There are two further critical pieces to consider: organisational culture, and the role of leaders. Clarke notes that clients often approach him and talk about their fear of failure, yet this is not a human condition.

When a child walks for the first time, they are not afraid to fall.

“What we’re afraid of is blame and ridicule,” Clarke says. “We’re afraid of being accused of screwing up. It’s not the failure that we have a problem with; it’s the way people respond to us having tried to do something new and it didn’t go exactly the way we thought it would.”

Clarke’s recommendation to organisations is to get past the narrow definition of ‘failure’.

“We use the word failure to describe a range of things. Let’s imagine I’m a pilot and I didn’t put the wheels down when I landed the plane because I was too busy texting. That’s a failure, a potentially very serious failure. We shouldn’t be using the same words when describing, ‘Well, John wanted to try something new and it didn’t work quite the way we thought it would work’. I don’t think John should be punished for trying something new, because he could potentially figure out the way forward for the rest of us.”

The most important contribution leaders can make is their influence on culture, one that fosters innovation. A leader’s job is not necessarily to be the innovator – you don’t have to be the genius; you have to find the genius. Richard Branson is the prime example of this. Virgin consists of around 250 companies. Branson didn’t come up with every single idea within those companies. But he’ll be the guy who had the idea, or the guy who supports the guy who had the idea, or the guy who turns up at the launch and makes a big fuss about the guy who had the great idea. He’s quite happy to put his ego aside and step back and let other people step forward.

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“That’s the hardest challenge for leaders – they get excited about being a leader and their egos get too big. If you’re a boss with 1,600 brains working for you, you’re just another one. Get out of the way and encourage people to put their ideas forward,” Clarke says.

NO TIME? NO EXCUSE Not surprisingly, Clarke scoffs at the suggestion that there is no time to be innovative today, to take the time to think outside the accepted square. He flips this concept on its head: Why are we so busy in the first place? Why are we working so hard? The answer is simple: the old ideas don’t work anymore.

Yet the whole idea of innovation is not to invent new work. It’s to simplify and make better use of our resources.

“We invented the wheel not to make ourselves busy but because we couldn’t be bothered walking,” says Clarke. “The commute time in Sydney is, on average, 15 hours per week. At what point do we say, ‘OK, this is ridiculous. We need to find a better way. Could we work from home? Could we use flexi-days or alternate start/finish work times?’ I don’t buy the idea we don’t have time – the time we have is going into old ideas that don’t work anymore.”

TOP TIPS » Define what innovation means to your organisation » Ensure members of your executive team understand and are aligned in terms of what good innovation looks like for your business » Engage your broader leadership group to think-tank innovative concepts regularly, and build a bottom-up culture of idea generation » Leverage your strategy teams and business experts to work with your high-potential leaders to turn concepts into strong business cases » Prioritise practical, ROI-focused ideas and gain executive agreement on value-based investing » Create a culture that supports the continual flow of new ideas and strong feedback loops

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CORPORATE HEALTH / STRESS MANAGEMENT

STRESS:

The silent assassin You work long hours and are often tired, stressed and overwhelmed. You just don’t have time to look after yourself. Sound familiar? Timo Topp provides some tips on work-life harmony

Stress is like a silent assassin. You don’t see it coming or know that it is there but it has you in a headlock and before you know you are on the mat. It has been stated that stress is the cause of 90% of illnesses!

Your body tells you how well you are doing. You just need to be more aware of the signals it is sending you. They start off as minor warning signs but if left unchecked or ignored they progress to more serious health issues and ultimately life threatening problems.

Stress warning signs

Timo Topp is founder of Well for Work – helping busy corporates to feel better and work more productively with simple and feasible strategies they can do at their desk.

Visit wellforwork.com

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Minor

Medium

Major

Headaches

Moodiness

Anxiety or depression

Muscle aches

Irritability or short temper

Feeling isolated, unsocial

Forgetfulness

Digestive problem

Behavioural issues

Poor concentration

Frequent ill health

Insomnia

Poor sleep patterns

Ongoing worry

No sex drive

Irritability

Drinking more alcohol

Racing heart rate

You can manage yourself to feel and perform at your best with simple strategies performed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis:

DAILY Daily strategies to minimise stress simply mean following the basics of health: • Drink plenty of water and limit coffee to two cups • Be more conscious of better breathing and breathe deeply into the abdomen, not just the upper chest • Eat healthy fresh food instead of processed, quick, convenience food • Keep active. Walk more and move more throughout the day SLEEP YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS y Develop a sleep routine. Go to bed at a similar time each night y One hour before bed, avoid work, computers and TV y Dim lights and/or use candles y Write down thoughts so they aren’t in your head y Sleep in a completely dark room with a window slightly open for fresh air y Do some deep meditative breathing y If you cannot sleep, get up, read a book for 15 inutes in a different roo and return to bed

WEEKLY Invest a small amount of time in nurturing yourself

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

and prioritising some downtime: • Exercise 3-4 times per week for 30-40 minutes • Make a commitment to turn off your phone and e-mails at a set time each day • Have one complete work-free day, eg Saturday • Make time for friends and family and make it equally as important as a work meeting • Have a laugh! Watch a funny movie or TV show • Get outside into a local park for sunshine and fresh air

MONTHLY AND BEYOND • Once a month get a massage/bodywork treatment • Pursue a pastime that is purely for fun as opposed to achieving or attaining something • Once a month get out into nature for a day to walk on the beach or get into the bush • Every 90 days get out of town for a long weekend • Once a year have a holiday for two weeks or more

SCHEDULE YOUR ‘ME-PLAN’ The key to managing yourself and handling stress is to prioritise ‘you’ by developing a ‘me-plan’. This is a plan of a selection of the strategies mentioned above.

Don’t just leave it to chance; book the strategies into your schedule like any other important appointment.

If something comes up, reschedule it.

Isn’t that a worthy investment for a significant return?

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PROACTIVE STEPS A new study has revealed stressed and micro-managed employees are more likely to call in sick. The study, which examined more than 7,000 middle-aged healthy people in Norway, found that those who work in stressful environments and are micromanaged by their bosses are more likely to take extended sick leave de ned as ore than days off in a ro Additionally, they are also more likely to experience chest pain, nausea and shortness of breath.

According to the research results, one in every cases o e tended sick leave could be avoided if employers took steps to make their workplaces less stressful.

Examples include: y LOOSEN THE REINS: Introduce small measures which give employees some control over their work such as when they can take their breaks or even just empower them so they can speak up about great ideas. A fresh perspective or even taking suggestions ro rontline e loyees can result in ore efficient and effective processes – resulting in less stress for everyone. y PROVIDE SOME DOWNTIME: Setting a time for employees to down tools and interact with each other not only gives them an opportunity to de-stress, it helps develop workplace relationships.

To cite an example, when Anthony Merlin, managing director of architectural r i , took o nershi o an old ub to convert into his r s office, he included breakout areas in the renovations y EDUCATE MANAGEMENT: Provide team leaders with basic training in identi ying the signs o stress La r olding edlich is one example of an employer who has positioned employee wellbeing at the heart of its EVP. They promote health and wellbeing programs for all employees, with regular mental health, stress and burnout presentations made from representatives ro organisations such as OK and beyondblue

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IN PERSON / KATE EVANS

HR Director: What initially drew you to the HR profession?

Kate Evans: I had always been exposed to some basic HR responsibilities while working as a personal assistant and office manager, and I started to recognise that they were definitely the elements of my role I most enjoyed. I realised it was where I was meant to be when I was given the opportunity to be involved in some pre-employment testing and I wasn’t satisfied leaving it there – I found myself creating induction processes and concentrating on things that weren’t a priority according to my boss. Whoops.

HRD: You’ve been with ISIS for around 10 years.

What makes you stay?

KE: I joined ISIS in 2004 as our NSW office manager. I commenced my diploma shortly after joining, but I didn’t envisage spending a long time at ISIS as it didn’t have a ‘HR department’ at the time. I was lucky enough that, only a couple of years after that, ISIS invested in the establishment of a ‘People Strategies Team’, which I was very lucky to be a part of.

ISIS is an organisation that truly cares about its people. We have a management team that understands how important it is to provide a great workplace, and what it means to have a workforce that is engaged and motivated. I think that makes my job a pretty easy one as a result.

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KATE EVANS ro office anager to grou e ecutive o eo le strategies, Kate vans has en oyed a year career at , Australia s largest tout and re urbish ent co any he shares her e erience ith HRD 54 | NOVEMBER 2014

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HRD: ISIS employs over 300 people nationwide, with roles as varied as builders and bean counters.

How do you manage such a diverse workforce?

KE: The first step is understanding each individual role, from corporate head office employees to sitebased production staff. This gives us insight into the various employment challenges our people are faced with at all levels, and then we are able to provide them with the right tools and equipment to manage this. It’s a different environment for our on-site people, and we try to ensure they have an environment they can deliver well in – things like ensuring the right IT equipment with fast internet access, comfortable site amenities, professional clothing, and regular access to meetings in the office to remain connected.

HRD: What is the biggest HR-related challenge you are currently facing, and how are you navigating this challenge?

KE: It’s important to make sure we have the right HCAMAG.COM

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HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

balance of skilled talent to meet changing needs and our business goals. Digital platforms such as LinkedIn make it much easier for employees to search for new job opportunities or be lured by a competitor, so it is critical we can counteract that.

I think that HR professionals are increasingly needing to think like marketers to attract and retain talent. We have to develop value propositions that will attract the very best candidate, and then need to build meaningful career paths to develop that talent and keep them challenged, as well as help our leaders engage, motivate and reward to retain.

HRD: an you touch on so o th n fits you o r oy s KE: We offer a number of benefits outside of just a normal pay packet, including employee training, staff equity and profit sharing, HECS saving assistance, parental leave and an initiative called Work Life Balance.

The Work Life Balance initiative recognises that our employees often work more than a 38-hour week, and is designed to help our people find the balance. The benefit provides employees with one paid day off (eight hours) per month to spend however they would like – sleeping in on a Friday, a course on a Thursday afternoon, or just finishing work early in summer to soak up the sunlight.

Finally, as a fitout and refurbishment specialist, all our offices provide our employees with fantastic facilities, incorporating award-winning designs and sustainable elements, and even gym facilities, ping-pong or pool tables.

verything atters, but nothing atters that uch like the sense o balance this saying brings give it your all, but don t be a raid o ailure Kate vans really proud of it. To ensure it remains that way, we create initiatives and processes that support the culture rather than introducing anything that might be ‘HR best practice’.

HRD: An th i si to that: What is i ost about HR is ...

KE: Not being able to influence some people who just don’t get the importance of people and how to manage them properly. There is nothing that frustrates me more.

HRD: h i c o t chno o y that h s o y or or ci nt y is KE: Excel. While most of our initiatives and solutions come from listening to our people, I like to back up everything with analytics and have a spreadsheet for just about everything!

HRD: Finish this sentence: What o ost about HR is ...

KE: Working strategically with the business to

HRD: What is th st i c o a ic you ha rr c i an can you a y that to your ro ssiona car r KE: “Everything matters, but nothing matters that

provide a great work environment that people succeed in. Our culture is unique at ISIS and we’re

much.” I like the sense of balance this saying brings – give it your all, but don’t be afraid of failure.

KATE EVANS CAREER TIMELINE ua ifications 2004–2007

y n y orth rn nstitut Master’s of Commerce, Diploma Business (Human Resources)

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NOVEMBER 2014 | 55

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LAST WORD / ATS

THE LAST WORD

Death of the applicant tracking system?

AT S

Is it time to say farewell to the ATS?

Gary Taylor is an HR director who has worked for Australian, South African and British multinationals on two continents, including in the Middle East. He is registered as a Master HR Practitioner with the South African Board for People Practice, and served as the vice president of the Institute of People Management.

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When Recruiter.com predicted the death of the ATS, the online applicant tracking system technology used by most corporates, it caused quite a backlash.

The strongest shock came from the vendors themselves, who have done very well out of the transformation of this aspect of recruitment.

Many of us remember the days of job adverts in newspapers, which elicited a deluge of CVs arriving in the inbox of the recruiter, who would have to personally read each CV (averaging 20 seconds) to shortlist. With the advent of online employment boards in the 1990s, global applicants were simply clogging the pipeline, and a smarter solution had to be found. The large ERP vendors, as well as niche ATS players, sprang to the rescue.

The ATS was designed to: » import and export applicant data by scanning CVs and populating a single-format database » streamline the hiring process through keyword searches and knock-out questions » improve reporting and analytics » archive candidate information for future talent searches The ATS was designed by software experts for corporate clients, and clearly entailed a shift from an applicant-centric to an employer-centric approach.

Few of the HR directors or CIOs who bought the systems had ever used or intended to use the sausage machine – they saw the quick demo during the sales presentation and were enthused by the HRIS person’s endorsement and encouraged by talk of greater efficiency in recruitment.

Some of the problems that have arisen include: » Despite the claim that the smart ATS autopopulates the system, applicants who upload their CVs can spend 20 minutes or more trying to fix the mess of auto-population. If you have two titles at one employer, expect the ATS to get confused. Count on 100 clicks to get yourself loaded.

» Most systems are US-centric too, so you could be forced to give a five-digit zip code or social security number, even if you are not applying for a US job. GPA results are compulsory, even if not applicable in your education system. » Candidates now have to compile ATS-friendly CVs. Unless you have included every keyword possibly required, your carefully crafted CV will never be read by a human. Boolean search will decide if it gets through.

Top candidates are not always prepared to spend half an hour or more giving reasons why they should work for you. Many Gen Y applicants are passive candidates who are not necessarily dying to prove to you why they are better than the 20,000 foreign candidates who apply for every job going. If your HR staff who do the ATS specs for your jobs don’t get it right, you stand a very good chance of bypassing high-potential talent who have the wrong keywords.

We have always known it, but Forbes magazine contributor Joel Trammel cautioned against the current wave of employer-centricity, pointing out that “the employer also has to sell itself to the employee”, and this is more important in what we do than what we say. Having a pretty PR blurb on the Careers tab of your website will not compensate for a poor applicant experience of the ATS. Do I really need to have three questions and three answers to help me if I forget my password? I can’t even remember my first pet!

Fortunately, commercial interests have driven significant upgrades in ATS systems, and we are getting better but are not transformative yet. It is still the employer’s need for screening, database searches, analytics and even CRM campaigns that drives developments, ahead of the applicant experience.

Something’s gotta give.

Gary Taylor HCAMAG.COM

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