Human Resources Director 14.04

SPECIAL REPORT

MBA GUIDE 2016

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR HCAMAG.COM ISSUE 14.4

DEALING WITH A 'VUCA' WORLD Building a physically & psychologically healthy workplace FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION Does your office design impede engagement and productivity?

RIDING THE CREST OF CHANGE Organisational and employee resilience in the spotlight

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS From Louisville to the world: Liquor giant Brown-Forman’s global expansion

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EDITORIAL www.hcamag.com APRIL 2O16 EDITORIAL

SALES & MARKETING

Editor Iain Hopkins

Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Narroway

Journalists Victoria Bruce John Hilton Production Editor Roslyn Meredith

ART & PRODUCTION

Business Development Managers James Francis Steven McDonald Lisa Tyras

CORPORATE

Design Manager Daniel Williams

Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley

Designer Marla Morelos

Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley

Traffic Coordinator Lou Gonzales

Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil

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Human Resources Director is part of an international family of B2B publications and websites for the human resources industry HRD MAGAZINE CANADA iain.hopkins@keymedia.com.au T +61 2 8437 4703 HRD MAGAZINE SINGAPORE hrdmag.com.sg HC AUSTRALIA ONLINE hcamag.com HRM NEW ZEALAND hrmonline.co.nz Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept, as HRD Magazine can accept no responsibility for loss.

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Resilience: Good for employees, good for business CONVERGENCE, competition, and commotion.

Those were three themes to emerge from IBM’s recent white paper, Insights from the Global C-suite Study – The CHRO Perspective.

To demonstrate these themes, the study cited examples of where the boundaries and barriers between previously separate industries are collapsing, as companies in one sector apply their expertise to others. These examples included electric car manufacturer Tesla, which is entering the power sector with a new line of zero-carbon batteries for homes, businesses and utilities. Another example is online retailer Alibaba, which is moving into video streaming.

While IBM’s study focused primarily on technological upheaval as a key element of disruption, in truth we’re all coping with disruption on multiple levels, as our news analysis in this issue reveals.

While it’s commonplace to talk about the impact that disruption has on organisations and society as a whole, less focus is placed on individuals And while it’s commonplace to talk about the impact that disruption has on organisations and society as a whole, less focus is placed on individuals. Imagine your business is being disrupted. What impact is that disruption having on employee health and wellbeing? Do employees feel under pressure to perform despite dwindling resources?

Do they feel they are fighting an uphill – or possibly losing – battle?

More organisations today are tackling disruption at the individual employee level by offering training in resilience. From law firms (Herbert Smith Freehills) to travel companies (Flight Centre Travel Group), dedicated programs are being designed and implemented to help employees cope with unrelenting change and the invariable pressure this change produces.

No longer a nice-to-have, astute business leaders today realise such initiatives are good for business. Perhaps it’s time to consider something similar in your organisation?

Iain Hopkins, editor

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APRIL 2O16

CONNECT WITH US Got a story, suggestion or just want to find out some more information?

CONTENTS 18

HRDirector_au +Hcamag HumanResourcesDirector

UPFRONT 01 Editorial

With constant ‘disruptors’ shaking up entire industries, resilience has become more than a buzz term

04 The data FEATURES

PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING What steps can employers take to ensure their workplace is psychologically healthy?

COVER STORY

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HRD PROFILE: OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Rapid growth into Asia and a strong emphasis on D&I are key focus areas for global liquor giant Brown-Forman.

Michelle Phipps provides her top tips for HR success

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FEATURES

OFFICES OF THE FUTURE

Want to build engagement, collaboration and ultimately retention in your organisation?

Perhaps it’s time to think about how your office is designed

What is global best practice in health and wellbeing benefits?

06 News analysis

As recent headlines show, traditional business models may be struggling in a digital world, but resilience is still a key to success

08 Upfront: L&D

Why you should laugh while you learn

10 Upfront: Benefits/rewards

How can you keep remote or regional workers engaged?

PEOPLE 16 Head to head

Has HR been too slow to adapt to a digital world?

54 Career path

Ingrid Jenkins, HR director of Microsoft Australia, shares her career path

56 Other life

Meet the HRD whose love of the performing arts is the perfect match for her day job

38 FEATURES

SPECIAL REPORT

2016 MBA GUIDE: LOOKING AHEAD WITH CONFIDENCE

Looking to take the next step in your career? HRD presents its annual guide to MBAs and executive MBAs

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ALL ABOUT THE BAIT

Victoria Bruce discovers how tech innovator Atlassian is using creative ways to recruit talent

HCAMAG.COM CHECK IT OUT ONLINE

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THE DATA

APRIL 2O16

HEALTH & WELLBEING What are the global challenges and priorities for employee health and wellness benefits?

THE LINK between an employee’s wellbeing and workplace performance is well established. Increasingly, organisations are looking to build healthy, engaged workers as a key to improving organisational productivity and financial performance. To cite just one example of the research done in this area, the 2016 Employee Health and Business Success Survey by Willis Towers Watson indicates that nine in 10 Asia-Pacific employers feel that improving their organisation’s health and productivity (H&P) program is a core

57%

percentage of Asia-Pacific employers with no H&P strategy.

They instead rely on ad hoc health and wellbeing programs

67%

percentage of employees in Asia-Pacific who agree that managing their own health is a top life priority

component of their organisation’s overall HR strategy. In addition, the majority of employers in the region expect their commitment to H&P to increase in the next three years.

However, there are obstacles to overcome – not least of which are ad hoc approaches to health and wellbeing. In addition, lifestyle risks such as stress, lack of physical exercise, obesity, poor nutrition and tobacco use are among the toughest workplace challenges faced by employers.

74%

percentage of global employers listing ‘improve productivity’ as their top priority for their H&P strategy

THE INITIATIVES OFFERED BY MY EMPLOYER HAVE ENCOURAGED ME TO LIVE A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE Despite a strong commitment from employers, employees have not connected to employer-driven initiatives.

US

33%

9 out of 10

number of organisations looking to reassess their incentive designs in the next three years

Source: Willis Towers Watson: 2016 Employee Health and Business Success Survey

LINKS TO ABSENCE AND ENGAGEMENT What is the business impact of poor health and stress? Research from Willis Towers Watson confirms that higher levels of workplace stress result in higher absenteeism.

Global US Canada Latin America Europe Asia-Pacific

Low workplace stress 2.6 1.9 2.8 1.5 3.8 3.0

Moderate workplace stress 2.9 2.4 2.6 2.4 4.4 2.8

High workplace stress 4.1 3.3 4.1 2.6 6.2 3.8

Good health status 37% 38% 36% 39% 33% 39%

Very good health status 50% 42% 47% 57% 43% 56%

(FYE days lost to absence)

In addition, healthy employees are more engaged.

Global US Canada Latin America Europe Asia-Pacific (% highly engaged)

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Poor health status 24% 25% 40% 31% 25% 23%

Source: Willis Towers Watson: 2015/2016 Global Benefits Survey

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Canada

25%

Asia-Pacific

36%

GLOBAL HEALTH CONCERNS To what extent are each of the following an issue for your workforce? (Asia-Pacific percentage in brackets) Stress

64% (44%)

Europe

19%

Lack of physical activity

53% (52%)

Overweight/obesity

45% (32%) Poor nutrition

31% (-)

Latin America

33%

Lack of sleep

30% (30%) Source: Willis Towers Watson: 2016 Employee Health and Business Success Survey

Source: Willis Towers Watson: 2015/2016 Global Benefits Survey

REDESIGNING TOTAL REWARDS – WITH A FOCUS ON HEALTH

HOW HIGH-PERFORMING COMPANIES SUCCEED

In 2014, Deloitte asked employers to identify the actions they had taken to redesign overall total rewards strategies/programs within the past 12 months, or expected to undertake over the coming 12 months. Increasing health and wellbeing was identified as the number one action across all regions.

Research from Willis Towers Watson indicates that high performers: 1 Offer prevention programs aimed at keeping employees healthy 2 Provide personal support to employees with specific health needs 3 Build and sustain a culture of health at the workplace 4 Align their H&P strategy with their employee value proposition 5 Provide a range of program choices informed by regular evaluation of their effectiveness 6 Use the latest technology (including wearables and apps) 7 Target communication to reach employees in ways they prefer

43%

Increasing health and wellbeing initiatives

50%

27%

Definition, mix of components, and/or redesign of overall benefits strategy Alignment with organisation strategy and brand Differentiation by employee group (workforce segmentation) Differentiation by business unit

38% 34% 32% 21%

40%

37%

23% 27%

Global Americas EMEAP

14% 14% 14% 8% 7%

Significantly reducing total rewards investment

10%

None of the above – we have not undertaken any redesign of our total rewards strategy

18% 18%

0

44%

10

20%

20

30

40

50

Source: Deloitte 2014 Global Top Five Rewards Priorities Survey

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UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

RIDING THE WAVES OF DISRUPTION A spate of recent business failures and ongoing industry disruptions indicates that while traditional business models may be struggling in a digital world, resilience is still a key to success THE COLLAPSE of retailer Dick Smith in February, which will eventually result in over 2,500 employees losing their jobs, is a timely reminder that business success often rests with the ability to flex, adapt, and move with the times.

In a similar fashion, former CEO of Telstra David Thodey has spoken of industry insiders telling him bluntly that his business model was ‘dead’. Telstra is not alone: in 2011, one of North America’s leading private business schools (Babson College) predicted that, by

founder and CEO of the Resilience Institute Australia, hears about almost daily.

“There wouldn’t be one organisational leader I’ve spoken with who doesn’t start the conversation with the words, ‘Boy, we’re going though lots of change at the moment’. Often that’s followed up with: ‘We’re unusual in that regard’. But what they don’t know is just how normal it is.”

Taylor adds that when someone is ensconced within an organisation it can be hard to see the forest for the trees. “That’s

“Resilient organisations are not only adapting and agile to disruption and change; they are innovation leaders that drive disruption and change” Stuart Taylor 2021, 40% of existing Fortune 500 companies would no longer exist.

A series of ‘disruptors’ – not least of which is digital disruption – are shaking up countless industries. Citing Uber in the taxi industry and countless travel websites in the travel industry, it’s something Stuart Taylor,

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where, unless you have that crystal ball or are investing in creative innovation, everything will come as a surprise and you’ll be more reactive than proactive.”

Disruption on many levels When most people think of disruption, they

typically think of tech start-ups that are creating fundamental shifts in the way consumers engage with and receive products and services. However, Taylor warns that disruption comes back to the very basic concept of change, which affects each and every one of us.

While the current focus is on digital disruption, Taylor maintains that disruption is happening on multiple levels.

At a global level the planet is coping with massive disruption – in terms of the environment, war, overpopulation.

At an individual level there are different relationship structures, breakdowns of those relationships, and physical and mental health issues.

At an organisational level there are M&As, organisational collapses and companies redefining themselves.

“The organisational and leadership levels must firstly be sorted out in relation to constant change,” Taylor says. “It’s very hard for the individual to contribute and thrive within that environment if that top-level support does not exist. You end up with a downward spiral not just for the individual but also for the organisation.”

Are we ready for disruption?

The Oracle Cloud Agility study surveyed 2,263 employees working for large global enterprises, in order to understand business agility in the age of the cloud. The results revealed that 64% considered their organisation to be agile – that is, able to adjust quickly to new business opportunities or to iterate new products and services quickly.

Taylor says the key to agility is an organisation’s openness to it at leadership level. “Some don’t get it and others do. You can see an organisation where the CEO changes almost on a dime; they are workplaces that embrace not only disruption that is happening to them but they are also causing the disruption that is giving them competitive advantage.”

In Taylor’s view, long-term planning is dead – or if not dead, in desperate need of an overhaul. He believes the cascading of strategic planning from vision, ambition

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WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOUR INDUSTRY IS BEING DISRUPTED? Recognise when you find yourself fixated or paralysed in a state of rumination regarding the disruption while it is happening. Complaining, protesting and resisting rarely achieves anything other than breeding negativity and pessimism.

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Shift your mindset. From a resilience perspective, you need to allow yourself to make peace with the fact that the change is inevitable. A hallmark of a resilient leader is how fast they can move themselves and others from a place of adversity and seeing the environment as a challenge, to seeing it as a place of opportunity.

Leaders require empathy when working with teams and individuals, as well as a broader ‘greater good’ focus for where the organisation itself is going.

2

Invest in ‘preparedness to change’. Finding the opportunity in change is a constant challenge. This is a fundamental step that every organisation should be doing right now, on the basis that change is the norm. HR and other business leaders should be asking what they are doing at the recruitment stage, and with existing staff, to foster the practices, behaviours and competencies around change agility.

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and values down to objective X, Y and Z is antiquated. Instead, organisations are undertaking scenario planning – looking at some of the possible outcomes of the future, based on the intelligence they’ve gathered over time.

“It’s not about the absence of planning or short-term thinking; it’s more around having options,” says Taylor. “To me, when I think about resilience, it’s all about options not just at an organisational level but also at an individual level.”

For HR professionals struggling to plan for the workforce of tomorrow, the same principles apply. “One part is to question what you are hiring for. Is it about hiring for a particular skill like accounting, as opposed to hiring for a way of thinking and a mindset?

Arguably it’s both – but it can’t just be about that skill. It has to be about adaptability.

The reality is, there’s technical knowledge that goes with what one does, but there has to also be a way of thinking that makes the application of that knowledge relevant to a changing world.”

Resilience When faced with change and disruption, how we respond is a testament to our resilience.

Change is constant and Taylor suggests we need to shift our perceptions away from ‘change is bad’ to ‘how can I make this better?’ or even, ‘excellent, a new opportunity to improve’.

“Resilient organisations are not only adapting and agile to disruption and change; they are innovation leaders that drive disruption and change,” says Taylor.

He is heartened by what he sees in schools, which are increasingly teaching the skills of resilience, agility and positivity. “That wasn’t in place for previous generations, so in a way the current workforce has had to learn these things on the job,” he says.

He adds that basic steps might include foundational practices of encouraging physical exercise; helping employees understand the practices of sleep optimisation, and how to achieve calmness even when circumstances may not be conducive to calmness; through to breathing and mindfulness practices, including

Foster a culture of creativity that rewards breakthrough approaches to meeting existing customer needs and/or reaching new markets. Remove a fear-based culture where staff fear saying the wrong thing and it’s within staff interests to ‘keep your head down’. Instead encourage a risk-taking culture, allowing time and space for considering possibilities.

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competencies to reframe destructive emotions.

Taylor does not believe resilience is inherent in some people and not others; he says it can be taught. “That was the view for many years, but psychology has evolved as the understanding of the brain has evolved. We now see work coming out regarding neuroplasticity and the extent to which you can shift your default position on attributes like resilience. It’s in your hands to do that.”

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UPFRONT

L&D UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS Calls for inquiry into private training providers

Private training providers are rorting the loan scheme VET FEE-HELP at the expense of the public TAFE system and students, according to the Federal Member for Kennedy, Bob Katter.

Katter called for an urgent inquiry after claiming 75% of VET FEE-HELP payments were being made to for-profit private providers. There is currently no fee regulation in VET, unlike the higher education sector. Katter also cited an ABC report which revealed that six of the top 10 private vocational training colleges were facing regulatory sanction, prosecution or threatened legal action by students.

Starbucks trains staff to be parent-friendly

Starbucks is teaching staff in all of its 800-plus UK stores how to take a more parent-friendly approach to serving customers. This involves training employees to provide an environment in which mothers can feed their babies without being judged.

This might include tasks such as offering comfortable and private seating, helping carry equipment such as strollers, and safely warming milk bottles.

The Starbucks branches will all display ‘Parent Friendly Places’ badges in their windows to demonstrate they have committed to ensuring a supportive environment for parents.

Can digital skills help narrow the gender gap?

Women who are using digital technologies to become more knowledgeable, connected and effective are playing a key role in narrowing the workplace gender gap, according to new research by Accenture. Indeed, the report provides empirical evidence that women are using digital skills to gain an edge

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in preparing for work, finding work and advancing at work.

The report found that if governments and businesses could double the pace at which women became digitally fluent, gender equality could be achieved in 25 years in developed nations, compared to 50 years at the current pace.

Skills gap widens in financial services

Ninety-five per cent of financial services businesses are anticipating a skills gap due to the retirement of the baby boomer generation, according to a new survey.

Moreover, recruiter Robert Half claims 92% of Australian financial services leaders are concerned that the loss of baby boomers will have a negative impact on their companies over the next two years. In response, 97% of these leaders are taking measures to address the potential skills gap. This includes commitments to invest in the next generation and supporting them through training and professional development programs (44%), mentoring programs (36%) and succession planning (29%).

‘Deep reinforcement learning’ helps robots learn

Japanese company Fanuc has invented a robot which will spend the night working out how to complete a task – a departure from typical industrial robots which usually need to be programmed to do something like grab an object.

The technique, called ‘deep reinforcement learning’, allows the robot to accurately train itself without the help of an expert. This might work by picking up objects while capturing video footage of the process. Every time it gets the task right or wrong, the robot remembers how the object looked. This then becomes knowledge that is used to create a deep learning model that controls its actions.

NEED TO LEARN? IT’S OK TO LOL An L&D expert tells John Hilton that laughter really is the best medicine when it comes to learning “If you don’t like the jokes today there are six ways out of this aeroplane. Feel free to use them.”

“Now, folks. Please, this is a life vest, not a toilet seat cover.”

“If I can pretend to have your attention for just a few moments, my ex-husband, my new boyfriend and their divorce attorney are going to show you the safety features aboard this 737 800 series.”

The above quotes are just a taste of the wisecracks used by flight attendants at the major US airline Southwest Airlines.

Indeed, it’s a technique the carrier uses to effectively engage an audience likely to zone out from the standard monotonous and repetitive safety instructions.

In fact, generating laughs is part of the official corporate motto at Southwest Airlines. They also test for humour as part of the recruitment process.

Humour is one tool leaders can use in all interactions with staff, but especially in learning situations, says Yamini Naidu, director of Yamini Naidu Consulting and author of the new book, Power Play.

“Humour power is about using humour skilfully, purposefully and

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appropriately to influence,” she tells HRD. “I believe in the world of influence humour is the new frontier. And as leaders we are often afraid to use storytelling and humour because we think it might be unprofessional or it might be unsuited to the work context. But both of these are skills that can be taught and learned.”

Naidu also quoted a 2014 article by Alison Beard of the Harvard Business Review, which said that laughter “relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity”.

‘‘Humour power is about using humour skilfully, purposefully and appropriately to influence” The article also stated that on average babies laugh 400 times a day, yet for people over 35 the figure was just 15. This was in addition to a Gallup survey which showed people laugh much more on weekends than they do on weekdays when they’re at work.

“Humour is the Trojan horse of influence, and it allows leaders, for their difficult messages, to bypass the audiences’ defences,” says Naidu.

Q&A

Scott Martin Director – corporate sales AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Fast fact According to Forbes research, 70% of employers are interested in exploring the use of MOOCs, and 31% have plans to leverage MOOCs for corporate training in the near future. The World Bank, the IMF, GE and several major government ministries are licensing MOOCs content for their constituents.

ALL ABOUT MOOCs MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are generally free online courses available to anyone who wants to take the course.

While they use videos, group chats, assignments and tests, they do not generally provide academic credit, nor do students have much (if any) interaction with the lecturer. What are your thoughts on MOOCs? Learning is being disrupted like so much of modern-day life. There’s definitely a growing demand for this kind of online ‘just in time’ learning that caters to both immediate and long-term knowledge gaps. That said, I believe there are topics and elements of content that are much better served through varying degrees of human interaction. On top of this, different learning styles require learning to be flexible in terms of content and delivery.

What’s the downside for students?

I think the downside for students lies in missing the impact that a great teacher or facilitator can have on content and the level of contextualisation they bring to the table. If you want learning to really stick, often that means providing both context and experience relevant to a person’s environment. It’s hard to do this with a ‘mass’ type learning product. The other part you’re missing is the value that can come from being part of a cohort, and the wisdom from other students’ experience. The growth of webinars means this doesn’t always have to be in one location, but a forum of sorts needs to be created and facilitated to share experiences.

Do you see a time when large corporations team up with universities and other learning institutions for MOOCs subjects?

I think it’s already happening. Some Australian universities already offer subscriptions to popular online learning portals to all enrolled students, which opens up a world of supplementary learning products. They see this not as competing but working in synergy with their face-to-face and online products. Similarly, many large corporates have expanded away from traditional online and face-to-face products to sign up to the growing number of ‘learning portals’, as well as developing in-house content that can be customised directly to their needs. The pace of change in this space seems to be accelerating.

Online learning has really taken off – but it’s not the answer to all learning, is it?

In a word, no. It certainly has an important and growing place as people become more aware of what works and what doesn’t. I think it’s difficult to convert some of the people skills programs that rely heavily on interaction with both facilitator and cohort into an online space. Anyone who has experienced great content, an exceptional facilitator and an engaged cohort knows the value of face-to-face learning.

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UPFRONT

REWARDS/BENEFITS UPDATE

THE TIES THAT BIND HR policies can lag behind global expansion – but reward and recognition should not be neglected

scenarios, including overseas offices.

Pride suggests appropriate R&R strategies can also help drive a unified corporate identity among dispersed employees.

“The reason they’re so effective is because they rely on positive feedback,” he says. “I don’t imagine many employees are likely to adopt appropriate company values and behaviour if all they get is negative feedback. They’re

“Remote workers don’t always have the luxury of seeing their colleagues’ reactions to the work they have done” In the 2014 Australian International Business Survey, 74% of surveyed organisations had plans to expand to two or more markets over the coming two years. Nineteen per cent identified China as the top target country, while the US was identified by 15%.

Despite the ongoing interest in overseas expansion, it seems some important HR fundamentals can be forgotten in the flurry of breaking into new markets. With team members based overseas, HR professionals need to rethink traditional forms of performance management, engagement and reward and recognition.

“One of the most natural ways for us to judge our performance in any task is by seeing others’

NEWS BRIEFS

reactions to it. We automatically gauge our success or failure by how other people react to our efforts,” says Jamie Pride, co-founder and managing director, REFFIND. “Remote workers don’t always have the luxury of seeing their colleagues’ reactions to the work they have done. The same can be said for people who work in offices that simply don’t have good communication processes.”

He adds that if there are systems and processes in place to clearly communicate colleagues’ feedback, letting people recognise and reward others’ work, it can help drive engagement and employee satisfaction, whether in the head office or in remote-working

Of what value is feeling valued?

A survey by Hays has revealed that 62% of workers would look for another job if they did not feel valued at work.

Fortunately, most employers recognise this fact, with 87% of employers indicating that ensuring every individual feels valued is ‘very important’ or ‘important’ in engaging their workforce. The same percentage said recognition when staff do a good job is ‘very important’ or ‘important’. However, over half said they needed to improve in this area.

The survey found that 87% of employees would go ‘above and beyond’ if they were made to feel valued.

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probably more likely to leave. The positive feedback provided by reward and recognition programs, on the other hand, offers a constructive base from which to align with corporate culture.”

Pride suggests that it takes more than age-old communication channels like emails to keep remote workers in the loop. A system that employs other communications methods that are collaborative and designed for today’s employee can not only help people stay in touch but inspire them to want to stay in touch, he says.

“These communications platforms, combined with the right reward and recognition program, or even a simple workplace engagement platform, can help make sure that workers remain engaged, even if they are not in the office.”

Incentive programs miss the moral mark

Using incentive-based programs could have harmful side effects and those who win competitions due to their performance are more likely to act dishonestly later on in life, says Matthew Beard, moral philosopher at the Ethics Centre.

Conversely, non-monetary incentives like the opportunity to work on a passion project, greater autonomy in decision-making, or simple recognition of achievement are cultural inputs that aren’t dependent on an employee’s particular work over a given time. “This builds a culture of collective achievement because there is less emphasis on competitive schemes that pit employees against each other,” Beard says.

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Q&A

David Jackson Executive director SOLTERBECK

Fast fact Research by jobs website and training provider FlexCareers found that one in four women resigned because their requests for flexible working hours were denied, while only 11% reported having an ideal flexible work arrangement.

BIG DATA IN REWARD & RECOGNITION How is HR’s interest in big data and analytics playing out in the benefits and rewards space?

Contemporary reward and recognition strategies involve significant (and growing) numbers of digital interactions, and are thus a particularly rich source of data. This fertile field makes big data one of the most significant opportunities in reward and recognition today.

How can HR make effective use of the data collected through reward and recognition platforms?

Broadly, the opportunities for reward and recognition planners are the same opportunities presented by big data universally: understanding personal preferences, behaviour and activity; enhancing product design and user experience, etc.

In practice, we are seeing companies using big data in two primary areas: insight-driven planning and data-driven user experiences.

For example, in the area of sales incentive planning, big data can reveal correlations between sales practices and sales outcomes. It becomes possible to reward behaviour whilst retaining confidence in a financial return.

Another example, in terms of employee recognition user experience, is how data has become a crucial tool in its own right. For leaders, dashboards share data about employee activity, and reports provide

Office design: More than bricks and mortar

Firemen’s poles, beer tent meeting rooms, collaboration pods and space-age escalators are featured in some of the world’s coolest office spaces, according to jobs website Adzuna.

“A great working environment can make a major difference in terms of how engaged someone feels at work, the types of interactions they have with their colleagues, even how well they sleep at night,” says Serge Kotlyarov, CEO of JAGONAL. He adds that lower-budget features such as baristaworthy coffee machines and ‘end of trip’ facilities like showers, lockers and bike racks play a key role.

Work from home or more pay?

insight into employee behaviour. For employees, the intrinsic reward that practice and progress can provide has been tapped by making this data as prominent as any financial reward.

What sort of data are we talking about?

Are companies struggling to connect discrete pockets of data?

The variety of data is huge. Qualitative and quantitative, effort and outcomes, individual and team, colleagues and customers, KPIs and campaigns, snapshots and trends.

It’s not a matter of finding data but rather finding the best way to use it.

Disparate data can be a challenge. But the best reward technologies are already collating traditionally discrete applications, and companies utilising these tools are able to enjoy the benefits of aggregated data.

What might future insights gleaned from big data mean for employers?

I think the most exciting aspect of all this is the employee experience. Much reward data is inherently rewarding. As we become better at understanding and sharing this data, we create a virtuous spiral: employees feel better recognised and rewarded and performance improves, generating further intrinsic and extrinsic reward, further improving performance, and so on.

HR managers championing flexible working arrangements in their workplaces could boost staff morale and business bottom lines by allowing employees to work at home – for less pay.

Over half of Australians are prepared to drop their salary by up to 20% in order to work from home, with a further 22% prepared to take a hit of up to 10% for this same privilege, according to a recent poll by Hays. Conversely, in the poll of 8,654 people, just 23% said they were happy to commute if it meant more money.

ASIC cracks down on super fund inducements

ASIC has warned business leaders that any offer of incentives and inducements such as gifts, discounts or free tickets to sporting events in return for signing up to a particular super fund should raise a red flag.

ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer said any trustees that offered employers inducements to choose their funds should be avoided and reported to ASIC. Tanzer added that inducements could cover a range of items. Many of these inducements are prohibited under s68A of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993. www.hcamag.com

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COVER STORY

MICHELLE PHIPPS

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OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS Rapid growth into Asia and a strong emphasis on D&I are key focus areas for global liquor giant Brown-Forman. Iain Hopkins chats to its regional HR director

YOU MAY not recognise the name (unless you happen to live in Louisville, Kentucky), but Brown-Forman is one of the world’s top 10 companies in the spirits business, with famous branks like Jack Daniel’s, Chambord, Woodford Reserve, Finlandia Vodka and Jägermeister within its portfolio.

“In Louisville the Brown family is well known. They still control more than 70% of voting shares,” says Michelle Phipps, HR director of Brown-Forman in the ANZ/SEA/ North Asia regions. “Now we’re globalising and we’re comfortable that people don’t know the name Brown-Forman. However, we are also comfortable with people knowing and loving the Jack Daniel’s brand because we’re proud of the heritage and the story behind it.”

That said, Brown-Forman does plan to build the parent company name through philanthropy and activation in the community.

When asked if it’s a blessing or a curse from HR’s point of view that people may not be familiar with the name, Phipps takes the middle ground. “I think it’s an opportunity. For example, we’ll have branding at Sydney Mardi Gras. We’ll say, ‘Brown-Forman sponsor the

Mardi Gras’, but it won’t be as prominent as us saying ‘Finlandia Vodka sponsors Mardi Gras’,” she says.

D&I in the spotlight In Australia, the company employs around 150 people; in Asia-Pacific the number is 350; and globally it’s close to 4,500. The HR team is lean: three HR business partners cover Asia-Pacific, alongside L&D, comp & ben and recruitment specialists.

“It’s a lean team because we have a mixture of distribution partnerships and our own distribution channels, so our route to consumer has mixed business models in different markets,” says Phipps, who has been with the company for two years. “It’s a classic multinational business partnership structure.

It works really well for us because we can leverage best practice across markets. I have interaction with my global counterparts all the time and that’s because we have scalability – I can reach out, they can reach out, and that’s how we share best practice.”

To provide just one example of global best practice, Phipps has been instrumental in

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COVER STORY

MICHELLE PHIPPS building support for the company’s diversity and inclusion strategy. Her passion for D&I is palpable – it’s no coincidence her PhD was on communications and diversity identity.

“When I joined Brown-Forman I was lucky to come across some champions within Australia, who were championing D&I in their own way,” she says. “Globally we have some great ERGs [Employee Resource Groups], and one of them is called GROW – Growing Remarkable and Outstanding Women – and the other is PRIDE – for the LGBTIQ community.”

However, the primary focus was on the

involvement and even participation in the celebrations themselves have ensured crossfunctional engagement.

“If we want to measure the success of our D&I initiatives so far, it really comes back to the D&I councils. Employee engagement and participation has increased significantly since the councils started, and activities have been well supported. Having a vision, a charter and a plan is critical. And that plan must be committed to by the executive team, otherwise it’s just a token gesture.”

Brown-Forman’s D&I focus has been primarily on gender and LGBTIQ initiatives,

“The reason I went along was to understand why he’s one of our better sales team members.

What does he do to teach and onboard our juniors who come into the business, and how can I utilise that in HR?” philanthropic side, and while there was solid engagement from some people, Phipps was aware that leadership support would be critical for better engagement across the company. “Everyone knows D&I is part of our global agenda and is something that will help our business bring more perspectives to the table – innovation, flexibility, resilience.

All of that forms the business case,” she says.

Phipps felt it was necessary to build a more solid structure around the good intentions. She launched a D&I council in Australia, one in Southeast Asia and one in North Asia. While each council has different concerns, she positioned leaders on each.

“D&I is a leadership concern,” she reiterates.

In Australia, the company has taken perhaps the most innovative steps, signing a three-year sponsorship deal with Mardi Gras. “We’ve shifted the focus slightly so it’s not just a community activation and marketing event; it’s now a corporate event,” Phipps says. Staff events, leadership

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but does Phipps see any other focus areas on the agenda?

“Those two areas are enough for us at the moment, but certainly there are generational issues I’d like to cover. It also depends on what employees feel they’d like to do. I’m very pleased we now speak a lot more to the internal employee, we speak to our suppliers – they come to our events as well – and we continue to support charities as well. When a group of employees comes to me and says ‘can we get together as a group, can you support us?’ that’s when we’ll look at something else.”

Rapid growth Brown-Forman is expanding rapidly and one of the hotspots is Asia. While Phipps concedes it’s a “complicated market thanks to external forces”, the potential for growth is staggering.

“Around 50% of the population of South­ east Asia, something like 600 million people, are under 35,” Phipps says. “This is enormous

WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER ONE HR CHALLENGE AND HOW ARE YOU NEGOTIATING THIS CHALLENGE? “Brown-Forman is rapidly expanding and our challenge is a borderless and diverse market.

The HR strategy is the business strategy, so it’s making sure that people are in the right place at right time around our business model. That business model needs to be flexible and adaptable, so therefore our people need to be flexible, adaptable and resilient enough to be able to move with our consumer. For HR, that means planning organisational capability that we might not necessarily have yet. Where our customer is, that’s where we go, so we need to be flexible and adaptable. For HR we need to make sure we’ve got engaged, high-performing people around us, working with us, who feel valued and can contribute every day.” in terms of our target consumer. They love American whiskies and they love Jack Daniel’s. We’re touching the consumer in markets where we haven’t been before. We’re now better at receiving feedback and insight from our consumers, so while we build our relationship with the trade, we also build the category with the consumer. We can go where they are, by brand and by volume.”

Phipps mentions ‘the consumer’ a number of times throughout our conversation, so it’s no surprise to learn that she has not always worked in HR. Her early career was in sales and she had aspirations to become a sales director. She also spent some time in belowthe-line marketing at retailer David Jones.

These experiences have helped shape her HR career.

“These roles helped me understand how to sell,” she says. They taught me about communications, crisis management and leading people. I draw on those experiences all the time. I went out with one of our sales people recently and I was smiling the whole time watching him negotiating with the

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trade, outlining a joint business plan, closing the deal.

“The reason I went along was to understand why he’s one of our better sales team members.

What does he do to teach and onboard our juniors who come into the business, and how can I utilise that in HR? How can I broaden that and put more formal structure to it? Do we need the 70:20:10 model to build more of him, or something different?”

The other reason Phipps spends time on the front line is simply to build trust. “If someone knows you’ve been a salesperson or you’ve been in marketing and you speak their language, they’ll feel you understand what they’re going through. You can be in a better position to negotiate or diffuse any tensions they might come across in their roles.”

MICHELLE PHIPPS’ D&I TIPS Look for natural synergies – and make it relevant “We are sending 20 people from the business to celebrate International Women’s Day at the Drinks Association.

This combines both education and networking. The agenda of the Women in Drinks board – which I’m part of – is to create an environment in which women can achieve. I brought that same concept into Brown-Forman because it’s a natural synergy: women want to be able to network within the industry, and there are just not enough women in this industry.”

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Look for best practice outside your own confines “I’ve talked to [well-respected HR veteran] Rhonda Brighton-Hall about best practice in D&I. She has done research into this field, and so have we internally. We try to position ourselves as having insight from within our company but also externally. If you want to reach beyond the philanthropic level of D&I support I recommend you do your homework and network with other companies that are doing it well.”

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Don’t do it alone “It has to be supported by the business, with a business case, otherwise it’s just a token effort. I think some companies rely too much on the token side of D&I without making it about helping marginalised employees – because at the end of the day it’s for them and not for the company.”

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PEOPLE

HEAD TO HEAD

GOT AN OPINION THAT COUNTS? Email hrd_editor@keymedia.com.au

Has HR been too slow to adapt to a digital world?

The pace of new technology is becoming fast and furious – but are HR departments keeping pace?

Kris Duggan

Curtis Scammell

Michelle Phipps

CEO BetterWorks

Head of software development CanPay Software Inc.

HR director, ANZSEA/North Asia Brown-Forman

Technological change in the digital age is happening at an astonishing rate, driven by the demand from employees and employers for a better way of working. People are changing, and the nature of work is requiring more cross-functional collaboration.

In recent months we’ve experienced a quickened pace of adaptation to the digital world of work. HR software has traditionally been based on the org chart, with the idea that your manager can see your progress but you can’t see others’.

Similarly, annual reviews have been the primary format for offering employee feedback.

We’ve recently experienced an uptick in the number of HR leaders who are choosing to move quickly on the performance development front, to make sure employees get the regular feedback, coaching and transparency they need to collaborate effectively and understand how their work fits into the big picture.

No. Smart businesses are taking a prudent approach when considering a move of their HR operation (or any other core process) to a cloud-based environment. With HR being a fundamental part of most growing and established organisations, it’s important to plan adequately and to examine all the angles. Aside from the financial costs, businesses are taking the necessary time to research and choose the best providers – those that offer services and methods that will mitigate the risks that involve their company resources and data security.

With current estimates indicating that nearly 80% of businesses will move to cloud-based operations by the year 2020, HR software providers will need to continue developing online programs that will assist these businesses with a smooth transition. Progressive developers will utilise emerging Web technologies for their software offerings, and astute HR leaders will adopt these technologies in due course.

The question is not just around HR. Have businesses been a little bit slow to enable the organisation to change, adapt and generally do things better? I think technology often comes out of necessity in the HR arena. I don’t know many HR budgets that include HR technology innovation. The workforce is changing. The design of workforces is changing, so we’re going to need more technology, hot-desking, and remote employees – I think right now the remote element dominates most businesses, rather than the other way round.

The biggest challenge is this: no platform will be effective if the line managers and team members aren’t going to use it. It will fail.

We have Chatter, which is like Yammer. It’s not successful all the time. To some it’s great; to others it’s less effective. The tools need to be appropriate for the job at hand, and sometimes we forget that in the rush to launch the latest technology.

HR TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION According to Navigo’s 2014 Australian HR Technology Report, over 50% of HR payroll systems are over seven years old and are on-premise. While cloud systems still have a low adoption rate, there is an increasing desire for them. There’s no question HR is a hot area for new technology, from social recruiting to sentiment analysis to wearables. However, results like this indicate there has been a reluctance – or perhaps a lack of budget – to adopt the latest technology. The Navigo report indicates the spending outlook for HR technologies remains strong, and the number one reason for investment is improved operational efficiency, while cost and budget is the main roadblock.

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FEATURES

CORPORATE HEALTH

PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING: PROVIDING A HELPING HAND A psychologically healthy workplace makes good business sense, but what steps can employers take to ensure this tricky management responsibility is not neglected?

RACHEL CLEMENTS, the director of psychological services at the Centre for Corporate Health, and expert panellist on the R U OK? Day Conversation Think Tank, says a healthy employee, both physically and psychologically, is a more productive and engaged employee. It therefore goes without saying that it is in the best interest of Australian workplaces to invest in the wellbeing of their employees.

A 2012 study by Safe Work Australia (Guide to the Model Work Health and Safety Act) reported that for every $1 a workplace spends on the successful implementation of mental health initiatives, there is, on average, a $2.30 ROI. Psychologically aware organisations are moving into the prevention area of learning how to build and create a mentally healthy workplace, in order to improve the health and wellbeing of all employees.

Psychological health in focus Of course, knowing there is a problem – and having a reason to invest in preventative solutions – is different to actually imple­ menting those solutions.

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“Approaching mental health in the workplace is a sensitive issue, yet it is one that managers and HR professionals should not shy away from,” says Clements.

However, despite initiatives like R U OK? Day, the Centre for Corporate Health’s consultants reveal that many managers are anxious about having conversations with staff around their wellbeing. Often managers are not sure how to actually have a conversation with someone who is struggling, and fear that if they say the wrong thing it will make the situation worse. As a result, nothing is said and the situation is avoided. This then becomes risky and circumstances can escalate for the employee, and a small issue that could have been addressed early on can, in many cases, develop into a full-blown mental health condition.

HAVING A CHAT The Centre for Corporate Health uses a specific five-stage conversation model that assists HR professionals and managers in having sensitive conversations with staff effectively.

Top tips for having this conversation include: ff Feedback to the employee that you have noticed a change in them and that you are there to support and assist them ff Listen without judgment ff Prompt the employee to come up with solutions for getting them back on track ff Link the employee in with support services that can assist, such as an Employee Assistance Program, a GP or other health professional, an HR contact or relevant manager ff Summarise the action to be taken and schedule another catch-up to check on their progress Taking action Organisations need to take a holistic approach and partner with professionals so they have initiatives, training, assessments and advisory services covering prevention of, intervention in,

and recovery from mental health issues.

“Like all initiatives they need to have solid foundations in the organisation’s policies, be advocated by the organisation’s leadership teams, and be filtered down through the various staff levels of the organisation to become part of the organsational culture where wellbeing is firmly on the corporate radar and people ‘walk the talk’,” says Clements.

The Centre for Corporate Health advocates a holistic approach to managing an organisa­ tion’s wellbeing, with prevention always the most preferable method, rather than sustaining the cost of treating a more severe mental health disorder when someone has clearly become unwell. However, certain types of work and an individual’s psychological predisposition mean that some people are more prone to experiencing

can be embedded in an organisation’s mental health policy and procedure to ensure that if an employee starts to experience symptoms of poor mental health, managers, HR and other key members of staff know what signs to look for and are able to follow an evidencebased process to prevent the situation from escalating from low to high risk.

INTERVENE. High-risk situations, whether they have occurred due to lack of prevention/management in the early stages of a mental health issue, or in spite of all preventative efforts, do occur in the workplace. Relevant training for HR, WHS managers and senior executives ensures that they are equipped with best practice intervention strategies to manage a range of mental health situations spanning low to

For every $1 a workplace spends on the successful implementation of mental health initiatives, there is, on average, a $2.30 ROI symptoms of poor mental health than others, and sometimes an intervention approach based on best practice principles is required.

A best practice approach to a mentally healthy workplace includes the following: PREVENT. Providing training and coaching on emotional resilience gives managers and employees the necessary skills to anticipate events and access coping skills when changes occur, therefore enabling them to not be as susceptible to symptoms of poor mental health when faced with change, business or personal challenges, and increasing demands or pressures. It is important for managers to learn not only how to strengthen their own emotional resilience but how to build and maintain resilience in their staff through enhancing their supportive leadership capacity.

MANAGE. Establish a customised best practice Mental Health Intervention Framework (see case study, p21) that

medium to high risk (this may be threats of self-harm, harm to others or suicide). It also provides key staff within an organisation with the knowledge and confidence to reduce the negative impact that high-risk mental health concerns can have on an organisation.

Building resilience An increasing trend in certain professions is the introduction of resilience training. A popular myth is that personal resilience is not a genetic or personality trait; however, it is in fact a practical and learnable skill that needs to be developed in order to maintain positive psychological wellbeing in today’s fast-paced, challenging and changing workplaces. In fact, many top-tier law firms have begun to recognise just how important building the resilience of their employees is, especially in their graduate population as they embark on careers with the legal profession.

“Experience from the Centre for Corporate Health shows that, in some cases, lowered

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FEATURES

CORPORATE HEALTH THE DOMINO EFFECT Almost half of the healthcare costs in Australia are avoidable through lifestyle/behaviour-related changes.

The main causes of associated illnesses are: ff Poor nutrition ff Physical inactivity ff Smoking ff Stress

THE LINK BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLNESS Research shows that those who undertake regular exercise have better mental health and emotional wellbeing and lower rates of mental illness. In addition, studies tracking people over time show that taking up physical exercise appears to reduce the risk of developing mental disorders.

For instance, a 2011 Dutch study of more than 7,000 adults found that doing exercise reduced the risk of developing a mood or anxiety disorder over the following three years, even when controlling for socio-economic factors and physical illnesses.

However, the relationship between exercise and mental health is “complex and bidirectional” – in that inactivity can be both a cause and consequence of mental illness, according to a 2013 study, Exercise and Mental Health: An Exercise and Sports Science Australia Commissioned Review.

“When people get a problem like depression or severe mental illness, it affects their motivation and enjoyment of life, and that can drive physical activity down. But there’s also probably a reciprocal effect, in that when they exercise less, that seems to make [their mental health] matters worse,” says Anthony F. Jorm, one of the paper’s authors. psychological and emotional wellbeing is a contributing factor to the submission of psychological injury claims in the workplace,” says Clements. “Over the last 15 years we have observed a significant decline in self-efficacy – a belief in one’s competence and confidence to cope with demands and pressures – and this is having a negative impact on a person’s capability to do their job. Moreover, in many cases we are

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While employers may be tempted to tackle each of these separately, Max Andreaus, general manager of CareTrac, suggests that addressing inactivity initially has many benefits that spill into other areas. For instance, it generally motivates people to take better care of their diet, and it immediately improves their capacity to handle stress, and so on.

“In 2008, the economic cost to employers for lost productivity due to illnesses related to physical inactivity alone was estimated to be an amount equivalent to over $1,000 per employee in today’s terms,” says Andreaus. “Generally speaking, physical activity will improve our quality of life and our physical fitness.”

Some benefits of regular exercise include: ff Improved sleep ff Increased endurance ff Stress relief ff Improved mood and morale ff Increased stamina and energy ff Increased mental alertness ff Weight control ff Reduced cholesterol ff Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease ff Reduced risk for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome

seeing a reduction in an individual’s ability to return to functioning following a mental health setback, as their capability for overcoming obstacles and barriers is diminished.”

Building and strengthening resilience is not a sprint; it takes time to bridge the gap between knowing what is good for your wellbeing and resilience, and actually embedding it into your everyday life and doing it.

Any resilience initiative should be run over a series of sessions, with time for participants to put key skills and strategies into practice in between sessions, which is how the Centre for Corporate Health’s resilience education program, The Resilience Box, is formulated.

Pre-and post-resilience measures are a good way to track the development of resilience capability.

A multifaceted approach Mens sana in corpe sano. This famous phrase

from Juvenal represents the basic belief by the Romans that a healthy mind and body are not mutually exclusive – and they weren’t entirely wrong. There is an ever-growing pool of evidence to indicate that a strong relation­ ship exists between physical activity and psychological health. Furthermore, it appears that physical inactivity may be the cause and/or consequence of poor mental health in some instances.

Ideally, employers should take a multi­ faceted approach to employee wellbeing, rather than just concentrate on one area.

“Physical health has a big impact on our psychological wellbeing and should be considered as part of any wellbeing program,” says Clements. “For example, it has been shown that physical exercise can be more effective than antidepressant medication for the treatment of mild to moderate depression.”

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FEATURES

Brought to you by

CORPORATE HEALTH

A FRAMEWORK FOR BETTER HEALTH HRD chats to Rachel Clements, director of psychological services at the Centre for Corporate Health, and Vicki Irvine, mobility and wellbeing manager at King & Wood Mallesons, about how they have partnered to roll out a successful mental health intervention framework HRD: What is the Mental Health Intervention Framework?

Rachel Clements: At the Centre for Corporate Health we have developed a holistic approach to supporting an organisation’s wellbeing by developing a Mental Health Intervention Framework which guides an organisation on how to best Recognise, Respond, Refer and Review a person who may be struggling with a mental health issue. Not only does having a framework which is infused with best practice and evidence-based principles for mental health recovery assist an organisa­ t ion’s consistent response to a mental health concern but it can form the basis for an organisation’s policy and procedure for mental health and wellbeing.

Vicki Irvine: With one in three lawyers expected to experience some form of mental illness during their career, King & Wood Mallesons recognises mental health is a key issue within the legal profession and has implemented a number of initiatives to help support their people.

We worked with the Centre for Corporate Health to develop a Mental Health Intervention Framework that fits in with our internal lines of communication, was easy to follow and allows us to ensure we are responding consistently with regard to mental health and wellbeing across the firm. The framework outlines how to

recognise when someone is not travelling well; respond and have a conversation; refer on to appropriate support services such as EAP and psychological rehabilitation; and then how to review and check back in with the employee to ensure they are on track.

HRD: How was the Mental Health Intervention Framework rolled out within the firm?

RC: We developed tailored training programs commensurate to staff at different levels of the organisation in order to educate them in the management and use of the Mental Health Intervention Framework. At King & Wood Mallesons we provided comprehensive training to their key escalation points for mental health intervention within the business, such as their P&D professionals, ensuring they were confident in the implementation of the framework.

VI: We also partnered with the Centre for Corporate Health to develop a ‘Wellbeing Officer Program’ to help with the prevention and early identification of mental health concerns and to create an environment that encourages people to speak up and seek help. A range of partners, senior associates, lawyers, support and shared services staff, with a gender and generational mix, across the firm have been trained to watch out for others, help with identifying potential issues, and to make connections to help people find the right support.

HRD: What have the results been thus far?

VI: There have been a number of results from the range of interventions implemented by the firm: ff Over 100 people (almost one in 10) attended the Wellbeing Officer training across five Australian Centres. ff As a result of mandatory training of HR staff on recognising and managing mental health in the workplace, they are now more confident in recognising and responding to mental health concerns, and people are more comfortable in seeking support. ff By engaging the services of a specialist external psychological rehabilitation provider, Resilia, the firm is able to support its people to remain at work while dealing with mental health issues. Two thirds of mental health cases are managed with a psychological health expert. ff A survey of the Wellbeing Officers found that 68% of people that completed the survey had approached someone they were concerned about; 30% were approached by someone with a concern; and Wellbeing Officers had responded to situations they may have previously ignored. ff There has been a significant decrease in days taken off work.

For further information on the services provided by the Centre for Corporate Health, visit cfch.com.au.

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FEATURES

Brought to you by

CORPORATE HEALTH

TIME TO GET IN SHAPE Max Andreaus, general manager of CareTrac, outlines how a new era of corporate fitness programs is helping employees stay in shape COMPANIES ARE usually so focused on business outcomes that HR managers are often faced with a real challenge when taking care of their greatest assets: their employees.

However, as awareness of the interrelationship between health and external environmental issues has increased, there has been mounting pressure on businesses to act responsibly.

Now more than ever, consumers, potential employees and related businesses across supply chains are aligning with those organisations that share their values.

activity significantly reduces the rates of injury and absenteeism, and increases employee productivity and engagement. There are also proven benefits of greater staff retention rates and job satisfaction, not to mention a plethora of employee benefits as well.

In fact, we found it so challenging to find a solution that we ended up concentrating all efforts on corporate fitness alone. Traditional methods were difficult to implement and not a great fit for many reasons. For instance, it often meant employers needed to directly manage

Physical activity significantly reduces the rates of injury and absenteeism, and increases employee productivity and engagement The cost of poor health Larger employers are finding it increasingly difficult to ignore volumes of research evaluating the costs surrounding employee health.

Corporate health programs and the like can be complex, costly and require specialised skills to set up and manage. For these reasons and more, there is a new type of role to support HR, usually known as the wellness manager.

Twelve years ago, when my organisation was operating corporate health programs, we kept running into the same stumbling blocks. While the simplest, most effective means of tangibly improving workers’ health was getting them physically active, there was no easy way of opening those doors. Physical

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deals with gyms and offer equitable advantage to all workers across multiple work sites and separately for different types of centres.

A new era of corporate health Fortunately, corporate fitness has drastically changed since then. Today, an HR manager need only invest 10 minutes to sign up with CareTrac for employees to begin attending hundreds of fitness facilities across the country the following day. Their employer need not even bear cost, liability or back-office work. Family members can also join, further enhancing their overall quality of life and productivity at work.

Because the new era of corporate fitness is not well known or understood, many

employers are still putting off what is no longer a challenge of the past. There is no real reason to delay this immediate benefit, regardless of a more complex program that may follow.

Some organisations opt to install in-house gyms. These not only come at great set-up and maintenance cost but are riddled with liability and OH&S issues. Later on, they discover that workers generally prefer to cross the road to attend a gym because it gives them a feeling of not being at work. It also means they can exercise with their partners or friends after hours and closer to home.

One additional advantage of a premium corporate fitness solution is that members across all work sites can attain unlimited access to a variety of activity types, such as tennis, squash, yoga, indoor climbing, gym, pool, classes, or whatever they enjoy, regardless of their location or work hours.

What is CareTrac?

We are a national network of quality-assured health and fitness centres that provide employees and their families with flexible, convenient and cost-effective access where they need it.

Available options Employer-pays Our Pay-As-You-Go model can be up to four or five times cheaper than standard gym memberships. You only pay for actual usage, are protected by monthly capping, and are provided with comprehensive reporting.

Employee pays-pays Employees can sign up at one low rate under direct debit for unlimited access to our entire network. This option creates no costs, liabilities or back-office work for your business.

For further information, phone 1300 4 CARETRAC or visit caretrac.com.au

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THE CAREER ENHANCER THE HRD MBA GUIDE 2016 Looking to take the next step in your career? HRD presents its annual guide to MBAs and Executive MBAs

EILEEN BURNETT-KANT, Orica’s group executive HR, perhaps has the perfect background for a global executive. She joined the HR profession in 2008, following a broader business career spanning operational, supply and strategy consulting roles in Asia-Pacific and Europe at Coles and McKinsey & Company.

She has also worked in HR roles at Jetstar across Australia and Asia.

Backtracking further, she originally qualified as a manufacturing engineer, and subsequently added an MBA from Melbourne Business School. This mix of formal learning and on-thejob experience in a wide range of roles – not just HR – has positioned Burnett-Kant as one of the true leaders in her profession.

“My role is as commercially focused as any other executive – addressing companywide transformation, lifting performance and productivity, and ensuring the availability of talent to execute business strategy and enable growth,” she told HRD in 2015. “It goes to the heart of organisations as well, uniting and developing leadership teams and aiming to create workplaces in which everyone can be at their best and grow.”

It’s significant that Burnett-Kant undertook and completed an MBA. For many years,

despite competition from other Master’s degrees, the MBA has been viewed as the ‘shining jewel’ in postgraduate study.

“People have been predicting the death of the MBA for a long time, but the fact remains that it is still the best program for ambitious and motivated professionals to build on their experience to develop the strategic and leadership capabilities and global network that they need for the next stage of their careers,” says Professor Nick Wailes, associate dean digital & innovation, UNSW Business School.

“The MBA is still the premier qualification for aspiring managers and leaders who wish to advance their career through better business practice,” adds Michael Segon, MBA director, School of Business and Law, CQUniversity Australia.

Moving with the times That’s not to say MBAs have remained stagnant. In terms of both content and content delivery, they have had to move with the times.

Contemporary MBAs differ from traditional programs in at least two key aspects.

First, rather than treat

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SPECIAL REPORT

MBA GUIDE each topic area as separate, today’s best programs focus on integrating knowledge around solving concrete business and organisation problems.

Second, there has been a growing demand for programs that allow candidates to combine the breadth of the traditional MBA curriculum with a depth and specialisation in a particular area like technology or change management.

UNSW’s MBAX program is a response to this emerging trend.

Not surprisingly, course delivery is now also more attuned to student demands. The Australian Catholic University (ACU) MBA, for example, has changed its delivery so that course materials are supplied online well in advance of classes commencing. ACU also offers both the standard MBA during weekday evenings (which has a more international flavour) and the MBA (Executive) taught in weekend intensive mode (part-time).

“We cater for a diverse range of needs,” says Al Marshall, postgraduate course adviser and lecturer in marketing at ACU. “It’s no longer enough to teach the basics. All our course content must be practical, ethical and global in outlook. Social responsibility, innovation and entrepreneurship are cornerstones of our programs.”

EMBAs Another relatively recent phenomenon has been the development of Executive MBAs.

MBA SNAPSHOT »»The Australian MBA market is worth around $500m per annum. »»More than 30 Australian universities offer an MBA degree. »»20,000 students are currently enrolled in an MBA in Australia. »»There are 60 different MBA courses available in Australia. »»Up to 80% of students are from overseas. The top five countries for overseas students studying in Australia are China, India, South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia.

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These are designed to specifically meet the education needs of managers and executives, allowing students to earn an MBA (or another business-related graduate degree) in two years or less while working full-time. To cite one example, Monash has introduced an EMBA designed for experienced professionals who have at least six years’ work experience and at least four years’ professional or managerial experience. The MBA, by comparison, remains aimed more generally at emerging professionals with a minimum of three years’ work experience and one year of professional/managerial experience.

Practical application Given the financial outlay involved in study (see ‘Course costs’, p29), which is usually shouldered by the student themselves but occasionally also by the employer, it’s no surprise that contemporary MBAs pride themselves not just on practical application of learning but also on the business school’s ties to the corporate world. It’s significant that, even in 2016, most business schools utilise the 70:20:10 model, which emphasises experiential, social and formal education.

Marshall of ACU explains: “We follow the principles of the 70:20:10 framework organically. Our students in the MBA Executive have, on average, 17 years’ experience in industry, bringing to the cohort many valuable insights. We have industry leaders conducting guest lectures through our Masterclass and MBA experience evenings. These industry experts give real-world business challenges that are discussed and solved in groups.”

Students in ACU’s MBA (Executive) come from banking, retail, HR and accounting, through to marketing, consulting and teaching. With small, boardroom-style classes, networking is enhanced by a close working relationship between the participants. In addition, ACU offers an international study tour which exposes students to global issues to broaden their current body of knowledge.

“Learning and developing through structured course materials is the vehicle we use to launch the experiential and social/

exposure aspects of the 70:20:10 model,” says Marshall.

Wailes of UNSW echoes this practical learning sentiment, saying that “we want what students study with us on Sunday to be something they can think about putting in place on Monday”.

To create this direct connection, most of the UNSW class discussion (whether online or face-to-face) focuses on how different frameworks apply or don’t apply in particular organisations.

“We really expect our students to be constantly bringing their practical experience into the discussion and to be actively applying what they have learnt to their organisations,” says Wailes. “But the real benefit of an MBA

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and concepts may not be as effective,” says CQUniversity’s Segon.

CQUniversity does not structure its MBA using a standard model of delivery. Rather, each course’s content is assessed, the learning objectives considered and the most appropriate learning design selected and applied. That is why some courses at CQUniversity will be intensive delivery, others workshops and seminars, and others lectures. “It’s about maximising the learning experience by the most appropriate educational method,” says Segon.

Ties to business world

“We want what students study with us on Sunday to be something they can think about putting in place on Monday” Nick Wailes class is that you don’t just get to learn from your organisation and your experience but you also get insights from the experience of 20 or 25 others working across a wide variety of industries and sectors.”

The key aspect of facilitating learning transfer, however, is using the right teaching methodology or design for the course and its content.

“We must remember that MBA students are adults, so using adult learning strategies such as reflective practice, interactive techniques, role plays, simulations and real case studies for the right context will undoubtedly enhance the learning experience.

But conversely, using this approach when courses require significant conceptual understanding and application of models

It makes sense that business schools would have strong ties to the business world – but given the rapid pace of change in the business world, should MBA students expect a ‘lag’ before these changes are reflected in courses?

“It’s important for us to have a faculty that represents who we are – evidence-based practitioners,” says Joanne Earl, associate professor and MBA program director at Flinders University. “All of our lecturers have industry experience, so our class materials are rich with examples and practical application. Feedback on the relevance of our curriculum content comes from our advisory board, each of whom brings business acumen to our course through their extensive industry experience.”

Flinders University also has a strong association with the New Venture Institute to facilitate connec­tions and open doors to new opportunities nationally and internationally.

This year the faculty introduced events tailored for MBA students and alumni to allow a forum for exchange between students and industry.

Like most established business schools, the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) has, thanks to its alumni, deep connections to senior executives in almost every industry in Australia, and increasingly internationally. These connections are leveraged to ensure that AGSM’s curriculum is contemporary and relevant. This ranges from guest speakers, case studies and projects right through to direct industry involvement in course and program design and development.

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SPECIAL REPORT

MBA GUIDE It’s not just established businesses that AGSM works with. MBA (Executive) program students recently worked on a live case study with Uber to help them identify opportunities to evolve their business model.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to work with corporate partners in developing new curriculum,” says Wailes. “For example, we are just about to launch a specialisation in operational excellence in the MBAX program that was developed hand in glove with some key industry partners and in direct response

The rise and rise of technology Technology has impacted on learning, and not just the MBA. The digital medium has allowed access to more information, events as they happen, and the ability to stream presentations from leading thinkers and business leaders.

Social media has connected people in a way not thought possible just a few years ago.

Wailes suggests that, for too long, students were forced to make a trade-off between quality and flexibility. Those who weren’t able to commit to a rigid schedule were often forced

“MBA (Executive) program students recently worked on a live case study with Uber to help them identify opportunities to evolve their business model” BOSS MBA RANKINGS 2015 The Financial Review Boss MBA Rankings has been published biennially since 2007. All Australian business schools are invited to participate. Schools that participate can earn a maximum of 100 points: 55 points based on the responses of recent alumni who have graduated in the past three years, and 35 points based on data provided by the schools. Ten points are allocated to research output by business school faculty based on Excellence in Research for Australia reports submitted by universities for books, book chapters, peer-reviewed journals and conference papers. Here are the 2015 rankings: 1. University of Queensland Business School 2. Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne 3. Queensland University of Technology Graduate School of Business 4. Griffith Business School, Griffith University 5. University of Southern Queensland School of Management and Enterprise 6. Adelaide Business School, University of Adelaide 7. Bond Business School, Bond University 8. University of the Sunshine Coast, School of Business 9. University of South Australia Business School 10. Victoria University, Graduate School of Business

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to the challenges they are facing. It has been a very positive experience and has helped us develop a great new program.”

Global focus With Australian business operations increas­ ingly global in their outlook, most business schools have developed close ties with sister business schools overseas. Students in AGSM’s MBA programs, for example, have the opportunity to complete part of their degree on exchange at another leading international business school – Wharton, NYU Stern and London Business School are three possibilities.

UNSW also recently announced the formation of a major alliance with world leader in online learning and educational technology Arizona State University, and Kings College London.

to enrol in programs of less quality in terms of content, reputation and student cohort.

Technology means students are no longer forced to make this trade-off.

Through digitisation of course material, students can prepare when and where they want in an efficient manner, and can assess their progress as they go. Technology is also making it easier for them to participate in robust online discussion and debate with their peers, and with expert facilitators when and where they want.

“The contribution of technology has helped us offer greater flexibility for our students,” echoes Earl of Flinders University.

With that in mind, Flinders University launched an online fast-tracked MBA option in 2015. “Our student cohort have found the networking and online learning environment

ON THE GLOBAL STAGE INSEAD, the business school with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, topped the Financial Times’ Global MBA Rankings in 2016 – the first time the elite business school has topped the rankings since they were introduced in 1999, and the first time an MBA with a significant Asian presence has taken the top spot. It’s also the first time a one-year MBA has won this accolade.

Three Australian schools made the top 100 list, albeit in the lower half: the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM), the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the UNSW Business School, and the Melbourne Business School.

All three schools improved on their 2015 rankings. MGSM jumped 12 places to 56th, AGSM was up 13 places to 66th, and Melbourne Business School edged up three places to 87.

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MAKING THE CHOICE Al Marshall, postgraduate course adviser and lecturer in marketing at ACU, provides his tips on choosing a program.

“Shop around and look at the alternatives and consider which delivery method best suits one’s learning style,” he says. “Beyond that, and it is of huge importance, I’d consider the quality of teaching staff.” Students should also consider: »»Currency of content »»Flexibility of delivery »»Flexibility of start dates and time allowed to complete »»Incorporation of technology »»Manageable class size incredibly valuable and flexible. Students can attend intensive classes, online sessions or face-to-face – just as their circumstances demand,” Earl explains.

Some business schools have taken this one step further. The University of New England Business School (UNEBS), for example, has been offering distance education for over 20 years, and has continually adapted to new technologies to ensure its offering meets students’ needs.

UNE has over 18,000 online students. One of the faculty’s key commitments is to help busy adults study from home, and to provide a flexible education so people can balance their work, family and life commitments.

Perhaps not surprisingly, UNE’s MBA is fully online, allowing students to access course materials whenever, and from wherever, suits them the best. For some people, this might mean blocks of time at home in the evenings or on weekends on their laptops; for others it might be a case of incorporating their learning throughout the day – from doing readings on the daily commute, to completing a quiz at lunchtime on a tablet.

Course content is provided in a range of formats online – students will encounter podcasts (recorded lectures), discussion boards, readings, online quizzes and videos, as well as the opportunity to connect with academic staff and other students ‘face-to-face’ via Adobe Connect.

“The quality of the teaching is the same for

COURSE COSTS 2016

2015

$44,866

$44,200

Average MBA cost for full-fee-paying domestic students in 2016

$81,000

Most expensive business school (and MBA): Melbourne Business School (up from $79,000 in 2015)

Average MBA cost for full-fee-paying domestic students in 2015

$77,670

Second most expensive: University of New South Wales (AGSM) was second

$21,780 Cheapest: Australian Institute of Business MBA

Source: MBAnews.com.au

all on-campus and online students, and we know that students recognise this, as UNE consistently receives a five-star [maximum] rating for Overall Satisfaction and Teaching Quality in the 2016 Good Universities Guide,” says Professor Alison Sheridan, head of school, UNE Business School.

This flexibility extends to the structure of UNEBS’s MBA. Students can choose from a major study area (Human Resource Management, International Business, Project Management, Marketing or Leadership), or they can design elements of the program to suit their own interests and requirements.

There are other benefits to students: the UNEBS MBA is one of the most affordable MBAs in Australia.

“Completing a qualification through online study can be completed by anyone – and we know that the flexibility of online learning is much more achievable than attending night classes or blocks of on-campus study for working professionals,” says Sheridan.

Wailes believes the transformation of learning that technology enables is only just beginning. “We now have a platform in place that means that we can take advantage of the exciting new developments that are coming onstream in the next few years,” he says.

However, CQUniversity’s Segon warns that technology is a means by which we learn, and not a replacement for learning. “Online is simply a different way of storing or delivering information. Students must still engage in the

learning process, questioning, applying, testing and re-conceptualising the concepts we address in the MBA.”

The future Where to next for MBAs? More specialisation – There continues to be increasing demand for MBAs that allow students to specialise in a particular area. Business schools are working hard on bringing new specialisations to market in the next few years.

More flexibility – Students increasingly want to study in a range of modes: online, intensive and face-to-face.

Closer integration with workplace learning – Most of the business schools contacted by HRD expect to be working closely with companies to ensure that in-house workplace learning is aligned to and recognised as part of MBA programs. There is potential for some very exciting partnerships to develop in this area.

Broader connections – A key to the MBA experience is the people you meet and study with. You learn from them, they become your support network, and later they become key resources for you in your career.

However, this should not be restricted to just the 20 or 30 people in your class. MBAs should increasingly provide you with entry into a global network that can support you throughout your career, and technology is making this possible.

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SPECIAL REPORT

MBA GUIDE

THE MBA GUIDE 2016

Location Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane Website acu.edu.au/679606 Official name of MBA program MBA (Executive) Part-time or full-time?

Weekend intensive – part-time

• in special circumstances, applicants who do not meet any of the above requirements but who have a sound and sufficient basis for application can apply directly to the Course Coordinator.

Applicants must provide a portfolio demonstrating that their knowledge, experience, and skills are such that they are likely to succeed in the program

Duration Two years, 12 units of study

Current number of students undertaking MBA 128

Intake date(s) Six intakes per year

Cost $3,175/unit (DOM)

Strengths & emphasis Small, boardroom-style classes; flexible with six start dates per year; tailored for busy professionals; weekend intensive units; offered in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane CBDs (ability to pick up units in different states) in state-of-the-art facilities. Ethical, sustainable, responsible Admission criteria To be eligible for admission to the course, an applicant must have completed the following prerequisites: • a degree in a related discipline and evidence of suitable industry experience; or • a degree in a different discipline and evidence of substantial industry experience; or

ADDITIONAL MBA OPTIONS

Weekly time commitment Approx. 16 hours Pass rate 100% pass for MBA (Executive) students who complete Skills mastered ACU Business’s purpose is to challenge, empower and inspire graduates to make a positive difference for themselves and society. The theme of the course is ethical, global and practical decision-making. It teaches modern business practices and challenges students with the possibilities of current business theories and practices that will lead to the development of higher-level strategic skills in: • ethical leadership • change management • corporate governance • management for sustainability • global practices

Location Study online anywhere in the world, or face-to-face in capital cities around Australia Website business.unsw.edu.au/ agsm/programs/mba/mbax Official name of MBA program MBAX Part-time or full-time?

Part-time Duration Two to six years part-time Intake date(s) There are two intakes per year. Session 2 application deadline is 2 May 2016. Session 3 application deadline is 18 July 2016.

Strengths & emphasis The innovative MBAX combines an online management master’s degree with a specialisation; a new generation MBA for those eager to turn vision into action. The innovative online format allows you to gain an MBA from a leading business school with a flexibility that fits in with your lifestyle. You’ll be able to apply the concepts and tools to your professional life immediately, while preparing for great things in the future, accelerating your current career, following a new path or building a new enterprise Admission criteria There are two pathways into

Current number of students undertaking MBA Online class sizes are typically 25–28 participants and a class facilitator Cost The 2016 program cost is $52,200 Weekly time commitment 12 hours per week, per course Pass rate 90% Accreditation Students who successfully complete the program will graduate with an MBA (Specialised) master’s degree Skills mastered • Gain the knowledge and skills needed for leadership roles where business and technology combine • Cover topics not addressed in conventional business programs • Choose from a range of courses to tailor your specialised MBA to suit your career and passion • Be part of a cohort of talented managers and experienced professionals, and develop a valuable and influential global network

NSW

QUEENSLAND

University of Sydney Business School: sydney.edu.au/business

University of Queensland Business School: business.uq.edu.au

Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University: mgsm.edu.au

Griffith Business School, Griffith University: griffith.edu.au/business-government/griffith-businessschool

UTS Business School: uts.edu.au/future-students/ business/about-business/uts-business-school School of Business, University of Western Sydney: uws.edu.au/sob/changemaker.html

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the MBAX program: 1. A strong undergraduate degree (or equivalent qualification) and a minimum of two years’ professional or managerial work experience 2. At least six years’ professional work experience

College of Business, Law and Governance, James Cook University: jcu.edu.au/courses-and-study/courses/master-ofbusiness-administration

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• Five years of managerial or professional work experience Current number of students undertaking MBA 142 Cost $38,400 (based on 2016 domestic student fees) Location Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Mackay, Cairns

Weekly time commitment 12.5 hours

Website cqu.edu.au/mba

Accreditation CQUniversity’s MBA has been strongly endorsed by ranking bodies, receiving three highly recognised accolades to date:

Official name of MBA program Master of Business Administration Part-time or full-time?

Full-time and part-time Duration Two years full-time, four years part-time Intake date(s) March, July, November Strengths & emphasis Flexibility to fit around busy lifestyles and work commitments, allowing students to choose where and when to study Admission criteria Domestic students: • Australian bachelor’s degree or equivalent plus three years’ relevant work experience, or • Australian honours degree in business plus three years’ relevant work experience, or • CQUniversity graduate certificate or Diploma of Business Administration plus three years’ relevant work/ managerial experience, or

• Top 13 for value in the Australian Financial Review Boss MBA Rankings 2015 • Three-star rating with the Graduate Management Association of Australia • Fifth in Australia in The CEO Magazine 2016 rankings CQUniversity is also a signatory to the Principles of Responsible Management Education Skills mastered The MBA has been specifically designed to ensure graduates have skills in people management, leadership, change, communication and emotional intelligence, in addition to having traditional learning in areas such as marketing, finance and accounting. The program meets the stringent quality standards of the Association of MBAs in the UK

Flinders University Flinders Business School Location Victoria Square, Adelaide; online Website flinders.edu.au/mba Official name of MBA program Master of Business Administration Part-time or full-time?

Part-time and full-time Duration 1.5 years Intake date(s) Mainly March and July; January and July for online accelerated Strengths & emphasis Individual approach to career and career development. Flexible delivery

Location Online (UNE is located in Armidale, NSW) Official name of MBA program Master of Business Administration

Admission criteria Bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification or completion of the Graduate Diploma in Business Administration. Minimum three years’ work experience Current number of students undertaking MBA 36 Cost Approx. $21,058 per year (local) and $27,800 per year (international) Weekly time commitment 38 hours (including 12 hours of seminars/tutorials) x 36 weeks Pass rate Approx. 96% Accreditation AMBA assessment 2017 Skills mastered Evidence-based management practices and application. Skills to propel from middle to senior executive

in management, plus work experience Current number of students undertaking MBA 248 Cost $2,332 per unit of study Weekly time commitment 15 hours per unit of study

Website une.edu.au/unebs

Pass rate Not published

Part-time or full-time? Part-time

Accreditation HRM major is AHRI accredited

Duration Up to six years part-time Intake date(s) February, June and October Strengths & emphasis UNE has been the leading innovator of flexible study for over 60 years. UNE’s MBA now uses the latest technology to create a virtual learning space Admission criteria Bachelor’s degree or graduate certificate

VICTORIA

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Victoria Graduate School of Business, Victoria University: vu.edu.au/courses/master-of-businessadministration-bmpf College of Business, RMIT: rmit.edu.au/about/oureducation/academic-colleges/college-of-business/ Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne: mbs.edu/education-development/degreeprograms/mba Monash Business School, Monash University: monash.edu/mba

Business School, University of Western Australia: business.uwa.edu.au Curtin Business School, Curtin University: business.curtin.edu.au

SOUTH AUSTRALIA Adelaide Business School, University of Adelaide: business.adelaide.edu.au Business School, University of South Australia: unisa.edu.au/business

Skills mastered This award sets out to provide graduates with an opportunity to develop an advanced and integrated set of core competencies across a range of business disciplines and their embodied theory and principles. It will enable them to effectively identify, analyse and resolve any management issue they encounter

TASMANIA

Tasmanian School of Business & Economics, University of Tasmania: utas.edu.au/business-and-economics

ACT/NT

College of Business and Economics, Australian National University: cbe.anu.edu.au Faculty of Business, Government & Law, University of Canberra: canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/ busgovlaw School of Business, Charles Darwin University: cdu.edu.au/business

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FEATURES

OFFICE DESIGN

OFFICES OF THE FUTURE Want to build engagement, collaboration and ultimately retention in your organisation? Perhaps it’s time to think about how your office is designed

Canon’s new Ann Street office in Brisbane incorporates spaces perfect for impromptu collaboration

CAN THE design of the modern workplace really impact on employee engagement, levels of empowerment and collaboration?

Graham Kirkwood, managing director of workplace design consultancy Resource

success of the project,” he says.

This expert view is backed by research recently conducted by Canon.

The company, which has rolled out its own change program – called ‘New Spaces’

“We’ve seen the impact that not only technology but the physicality of the workplace has on engagement, on trust, and also on collaboration” Effie Fox Architecture, believes it most certainly can.

“Office design is the most powerful symbol of an organisational culture, and understanding how design and the design process can help transform a culture, work process or new brand is critical to the

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– over the last few years, was compelled to find out what other companies were doing.

“We’ve seen the impact that not only technology but the physicality of the workplace has on engagement, on trust, and also on collaboration,” says Effie Fox, director

of HR, communications and facilities at Canon Oceania. “We wanted to see what’s happening in the marketplace. Particularly as technology is evolving constantly, we wanted to know what other organisations are doing, or not, for that matter.”

The survey results indicate that organisations are lagging behind the expectations of workers in terms of how and where they work. And although most surveyed companies said they had had the same physical office set-up for many years, 66% had not thought to change it. Furthermore, 65% of employers admitted that their workplaces were ‘one size fits all’ and could be noisy, distracting and lacking in privacy.

What’s going on?

“My personal view is the economic times, the GFC, the focus on short-term cost containment, and maybe not panic but prudent survival measures have meant this has been deprioritised. Some might view

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office design as a nice-to-have. We think there’s a viable longer-term view,” says Fox.

Key considerations Just like any organisational change, extensive planning must occur before workspace change takes place.

Architectural firm PCG suggests that workplace transformation involves investment in three pillars: 1. Place (physical) – hard (built) and soft fit-out (furniture and fittings) elements 2. Technology (virtual) – information and communication technology (ICT) aspects of the workplace 3. People (social) – change management The current investment in these three workplace pillars is in response to the negotiations being conducted by organisations and their employees to leverage change and productivity improvement (see box, right).

Making a change So, what has Canon done?

The company is looking to diversify its core business by providing a strong product set, but also by providing services and

solutions to customers. This shift means more cross-functional work. Silos have had to be torn down.

Canon worked with interior design firm PTID to design floor plans which

Employer requirements

Employee requirements

Efficiency

Respect for individuality

Lower costs

Flexibility and mobility

Innovation

Pride in the workplace

Sustainability

Sustainability

Greater productivity In many workplaces today the fixed desk phone is a thing of the past, and very soon the ‘allocated desk’ will be too. The dynamic that is driving workplace change is the organisation’s acceptance that management through line of sight is dead, and management through outputs rather than inputs is one of the primary enablers of the new generation and workplace.

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There is no doubt that the nature of work is evolving, with new technologies and behaviours entering our organisations almo on a daily basis. It’s yet to be seen what the future of work will look like, but if you pay close attention, the wheels of change turning relentlessly.

Change is needed to the ‘architecture’ of work and workp

FEATURES

METHODOLOGY

OFFICE DESIGN 300

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employers said they were not considering implementing new workplace formats.

have suggests the33.7% most prominent trend at TRUST employers said they were not pods breakout meeting technology allows staff to work anywhere. the moment ABW, offering the greatest considering is implementing areas rooms WHILE It is time to get rid of formats. thenewtrust deficit and build workplace 66.3% employers consider them.

There are also spaceswould that allow for crosslicence and range of work settings for a culture of trust to boost productivity, departmental collaboration. employees, and providing organisations performance and employee retention.

RSITY AND “Regardless of where you sit in meeting the pods breakout USION areas rooms WHILE hierarchical structure or 66.3% organisational employers would consider them. t rid of the trust deficit and build you’re from a completely different area of 27.6% st to boost productivity, DIVERSITY the business, the physicality of the building nd employee retention.

AND INCLUSION allows for those impromptu collaboration opportunities,” says Fox. “People might 92.7% et rid of the trust gravitate deficit and to build certain neighbourhoods, but 83.8% 49.7% ust to boost productivity, DIVERSITY they can sit anywhere, any day of the week, and employee retention.

AND INCLUSION 92.7% of employees agreed that so it’s not unusual for sales, marketing, HRincreasing diversity would have a positive impact on of employees stated that their of employees trusted and IT people to beorganisation gathered in one area for with up to 30% more efficientsaid usebeing of their their organisation. has gender inequality contributed to them staying in of employees did not the duration of a project.” their current positions particularlyreal trustestate. their bosses. of employees said being trusted 83.8% contributed to them staying in not is not alone in making such a shift.

The majority of workplaces today sit 49.7% their current Canon positions bosses.

The research showed that many businesses were apparently not prepared to implement flexible between the static and hybrid Terms such as static, high-performance, somewhere 92.7% working conditions. of employees agreed that hybrid and activity-based working (ABW) solutions and will inevitably, in concert increasing diversity would have a positive impact on of employees stated that their have been used to label workplaces.

PCG with the provision of enabling technologies, their organisation. organisation has gender inequality

SITY AND SION

breakout areas

‘unleash’ employees from ‘allocated’ real estate and move towards the hybrid workplace concept.

DIVERSITY While Canon’s decision to revamp its

AND INCLUSION

“The success of any property transaction 49.7% should be measured against the capacity of the transaction to meet the workplace agenda”

of employees said being trusted GANISATIONS CAN contributed to them DO staying in d not

their current positions r bosses. recommends sociates leaders undertake the nsure success in a changing workplace world 34 www.hcamag.com

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32-37_OfficeDesign_SUBBED.indd RGANISATIONS CAN DO

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of employees agreed that increasing diversity would have a positive impact on their organisation.

office space in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane was due to a desire to adapt to The research showed that many businesses we change and be morenot prudent financially, apparently prepared to implement flexible the major objective was to achieve greater working conditions. engagement, collaboration, discretionary effort and also retention of people.

WHAT ORGANISATIONS CAN DO

The research showed that many businesses were apparently not prepared to implement flexible Interaction Associates recommends working conditions.

leaders undertake the following to ensure success in a changing workplace world

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3

of employees stated that their organisation has gender inequality

83.8%

5 14/04/2016 3:19:53 PM

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FEATURES

OFFICE DESIGN

“I think from our experience these things can definitely be transformed, both in terms of meeting the needs of employees but also recognising that it’s not a one-sizefits-all,” says Fox. “That means catering the technology requirements to the user, rather than the opposite.”

This is echoed by PCG, who suggest that smart investment in the workplace is guided by three overarching philosophies:

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‘Iterate people, not the workplace – get it right the first time’.

‘People can’t express what they want when they don’t know what they can have’ – allocate sufficient time and skills to fully investigate and equip the workplace with the settings and technology required to enable organisational transformation.

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The success of any property transaction should be measured against the capacity of the transaction to meet the workplace agenda.

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Just as important, Fox says, is the sense of empowerment such a design allows. “It has brought about a level of empowerment and trust to our people. What comes with collaboration areas and the technology used in such spaces – which is customised to employees’ needs – is the notion to work flexibly, and everyone’s choices are different.

That autonomy around how to structure your day produces positive behaviours in terms of empowerment.”

Fox also believes such a physical transformation can be done in a financially viable way. For example, Canon has managed to save significantly on power bills thanks to some of the sustainability features

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THE TECHNOLOGY ELEMENT Our ability to collaborate has evolved from sterile emails to more human methods of engaged discussion and sharing. This revolution has liberated workers from cubicles and monolithic PCs, allowing employees to move freely around the office and work in the environment best suited to the task at hand.

But what common challenges do organisations face and what technologies are needed to create this new environment? Brian Walshe, general manager end-user computing at Dimension Data Australia, provides his insights: Mobile devices: Smartphones and tablets are having the largest impact on workplace culture – they’re already outselling PCs. It’s critical, however, to have a strong policy framework in place to manage their role and usage. Once properly implemented, these devices provide significant efficiency gains as employees can work wherever it makes most sense to rather than being bound to their desks.

Mobile applications: Mobile apps are part and parcel of our daily lives. Employees are familiar with them and their functionality, so providing your workforce with the ability to accomplish tasks on their favoured platform is an essential part of the workspace of tomorrow.

Cloud services: Fundamentally, cloud computing is an external data centre or server used to deliver an application or store data. In a business sense, your employees can access productivity applications like email or instant messaging through cloud services, allowing them to use these anywhere and on any device. They can also store data in cloud repositories, allowing you to ensure your organisation’s IP is stored, indexed and backed up.

Collaboration and conferencing: Video, voice and web conferencing tools enable staff to collaborate with both employees and external stakeholders. However, these use a lot of bandwidth, so high-speed wireless networking is crucial for high-quality voice and video traffic.

As a final insight, Walshe suggests taking a holistic approach. “While one part of your business might crave collaboration, another may require more concentration. It’s important to think about the needs of your entire organisation and ensure these technologies work as part of a holistic strategy,” he says. of its office in Sydney’s Macquarie Park.

Fox suggests the “absolutely mission critical” element to make such a change work is open communication and consultation.

“Of course you can’t cater to every single

person’s individual requirements, but that feedback loop, the surveys we undertook, listening to people’s needs, were critical to design our offices in a way that people embraced.”

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INSIDE HR

ATLASSIAN

ALL ABOUT THE BAIT A VW Kombi van with a surfboard on the roof and the message: We’re Hiring. That’s one of the ways Atlassian gets its brand out there during recruitment campaigns, as Victoria Bruce discovers AS AUSTRALIAN tech companies battle for top talent amid a growing skills shortage, many employers are beefing up their international recruitment campaigns. But in a world everhungry for tech geniuses, how can employers attract talent to Australia’s shores?

According to software developer Atlassian, getting your company’s brand out there and promoting work and lifestyle benefits to prospective employees is key to success – especially if it involves taking to the streets of Europe in a VW Kombi van touting an Atlassian-branded surfboard with the sign: We’re Hiring.

To discover more, HRD sat down with Atlassian’s head of APAC recruiting, Catriona Staunton, for a sneak peek at the company’s winning international recruitment strategies.

Staunton says Australia is host to some world-class tech talent, but there’s simply not enough of it to keep up with growing demand.

“We just don’t have people in the technology industry with 10-plus years’ experience in the numbers that we need because the industry is still relatively new here,” Staunton says.

HRD: Atlassian embarked on a global recruitment campaign in 2015. What are some of the key points you feel made that campaign a success, and what were some of the key learnings you will incorporate into future recruitment campaigns?

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Catriona Staunton: Yes, we called it our ‘UX Surfers’ campaign and the goal was to land five user experience [or UX] designers in five days. UX designers are the most in-demand professionals in Australia right now – and last year we needed to double the size of our Sydney-based design team in order to keep up with the demand for more beautiful Atlassian products. So, while we had successfully hired some world-class designers within our own shores, we knew we needed to couple that with an international hiring campaign to keep up with the demand.

We chose to visit four cities that our research showed had a strong supply of UX talent: London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Stockholm. Now, as a talent brand, we hadn’t really talked about UX in Europe before, so we needed a big-bang campaign idea to really get that group of people to sit up and notice us as a great place for designers to work.

Our campaign ‘hook’ was our HQ’s location – Sydney – which is one of the assets that really separates us from most software companies. So we came up with the hiring tagline We’re seeking Design Thinkers, Talented Tinkerers and Wannabe Surfers to join us in the sunshine of Australia. And before flying our interview team to Europe, we ran an online advertising campaign with that tagline to warm up our target UX audience.

We took that surfing idea to the next level once we landed in Europe – tying an

Atlassian-branded surfboard to a VW Kombi van and driving it around the streets of Europe with the message that we were hiring!

Our interview spaces were in funky venues, branded in Atlassian swag. We used the hashtag #UXSurfers to allow people to follow our little hiring bus as we travelled around Europe interviewing and picking up ‘UX Surfer’ hires along the way. And we were amazed with the response to our hook; my Twitter feed was full of tweets from people who saw our bus or our ads – and that’s the sort of branding that money really can’t buy.

The campaign was definitely successful, and Georgie, Simi, Aurelie, Allard and Arjan are already having a huge impact on our business. Their families are loving their new lives in Sydney, and they’re helping us scope out our next international hiring adventure.

HRD: With Australia’s tech skills shortage, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for

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DID YOU KNOW? Five of the 10 most chronically unfilled jobs in Australia are technology related* Many chronically unfilled IT roles are the jobs that should be driving either revenue or innovation for Australian-based companies, meaning the country is struggling to remain competitive* Deloitte estimates that the digital economy contributed 5.1% ($79bn) of Australia’s GDP in FY14 and predicts this will rise to 7.3% of GDP – or $139bn – by 2020^ Employment in the IT sector is expected to grow by 2.5% per year over the next four years to 2020 (approximately 100,000 additional workers). Comparatively, employment for the economy as a whole is forecast to grow by 1.6%^^

The Atlassian team and potential employees pose next to the Atlassian VW Kombi in Europe

“When it comes to looking for more senior talent or some more niche technical skill sets there is definitely a challenge in finding them locally. So we look overseas in Silicon Valley, Europe and other tech hotspots, and relocate them to Sydney” tech companies to source home-grown talent. What is Atlassian doing to address this challenge?

CS: Well, we have dual domestic and international recruiting strategies and always try to push the boundaries for hiring the best talent Australia has to offer. One example of this last year was our ‘Pop-Up’ hiring campaign, which ran across Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

The goal of that initiative was to find the ‘best in our backyard’, and we hosted pop-up networking and interviewing events in each of the five cities. Our events had a bit of a twist: we transformed local favourites – bars, cafes and even a dumpling kitchen – into ‘Atlassian offices’ for the night to bring a sense of our office space and culture to those who came along. We brought some of the magic of the Atlassian offices on tour with us;

Sources: *Indeed.com ^Deloitte report, The Connected Continent II ^^Deloitte Access Economics report for the Australian Computer Society: Australia’s Digital Pulse

for example, the T-shirts, games, craft beer, swag, and most importantly a great bunch of Atlassian employees to deliver lightning talks. We received over 400 applications for interviews, 1,000 registrations for the networking events, and made 12 hires as a result.

Another way in which we land the best talent in Australia is through our graduate and intern programs. We invest heavily in junior tech talent and last month onboarded a whopping 80 graduates and 30 interns from the best universities across Australia and New Zealand. We believe grads and interns are the future leaders of our company, so we offer a world-class onboarding experience and ongoing training program for them.

But when it comes to looking for more senior talent or some more niche technical skill sets there is definitely a challenge in finding them locally. So we look overseas in Silicon Valley, Europe and other tech

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INSIDE HR

ATLASSIAN hotspots, and relocate them to Sydney.

Hopefully in 10 years’ time that won’t be the case and we won’t need to import so much talent, but for now that is definitely the case for some of our roles. We’d love to see changes in the school curriculum in favour of more STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics] subjects so that Sydney can become a real epicentre for technology and technical talent.

HRD: What are some of the common tips and traps when hiring overseas workers that Australian HR managers should be aware of, including issues such as visas and relocating families?

CS: Relocating overseas is a huge decision for anyone to make, and so we definitely spend a lot of time thinking about how we can make the decision, and the move itself, as easy as possible for people. We’re really proud of the new relocation program we just created called ‘Move Happy’ – which gives our international candidates a high-touch, personalised relocation experience that covers everything from flights to temporary housing, tax consultations, furniture and vehicle shipping, destination services (think housing searches, banking set-up, etc) and personalised welcome gifts. We created the program based on feedback we received from international Atlassian employees on what would have made their experience less stressful. It’s really important for us that new hires are excited about their first day in a new city, and don’t miss out on the excitement while stressing about how they’re going to find a new place or get a bank account, etc.

We try to set expectations with job applicants as early in the hiring process as possible so they have time to do their own research and discuss the move with their partners or families. Moving the family pets into Australia can be the trickiest part of a relocation – for example, cats can have a waiting period of six months or more for rabies vaccinations and tests. Understandably that’s a show-stopper for some candidates, so we need to tell them this early on!

Atlassian also has a pretty rigorous hiring process, consisting of a mix of practical

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WHO’S IN DEMAND? Over the 12 months from Dec 2014 to Dec 2015, jobs in the ICT industry were up 6%.

SEEK’s data revealed the top three roles: ff Security had a 39% increase year-on-year (Oct–Dec 2014 to Oct–Dec 2015), some of which can be attributed to the steady rise in cloud computing in Australia and the need for robust security monitoring. ff Software engineering also enjoyed a 39% increase during this period as the demand for computer software continues as a whole. ff Telecommunications roles are continuing to rise (31% year-on-year), with the ramp-up of the NBN in 2016 set to bolster this demand.

NEW JOB ADS INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY December 2015 vs December 2014 Engineering – Software Telecommunications Security Testing and quality assurance Program and project management Architects Developers/programmers Product management and development Database development and administration Web development and production Networks and systems administration Engineering – Network Help desk and IT support Sales – Pre and post Business/systems analysts Management Technical writing Other Consultants Team leaders Engineering – Hardware Computer operators

66%

17% 17% 13% 11% 10% 9% 9% 4% 3% 3% 3% 2% -2% -4% -8% -9% -12% -17% -23% -24% -46%

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assessments and face-to-face (or video) interviews. This is particularly important to get right with overseas hiring, as the consequences of a mis-hire are so much greater for the employee and the company when the person has made such a lifechanging move.

HRD: There has been some conversation around whether Australian companies should actively hire refugees as part of their CSR, given their diverse backgrounds and professional experience. What is Atlassian’s take on this?

CS: Atlassian is currently working with the Liverpool Council to help them resettle 4,000 new refugees from Syria and Iraq.

This week our interns and grads are running

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0%

20%

40%

60%

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a ‘Hackathon’ where Atlassian employees along with employees from other nearby tech companies will use design-thinking principles to come up with ideas that will make a real difference for real people. This is part of the ‘Foundation Leave’ of five days’ paid volunteering that Atlassian offers every employee each year. The Lord Mayor of Liverpool is judging that competition on Friday, so watch this space!

I’d like one of the outcomes of that initiative to be a partnership with a specialist employment agency that helps refugees find jobs. We partner with similar specialist agencies that work to find jobs for groups who often encounter obstacles, such as veterans and candidates with disabilities or mental health issues.

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FEATURES

TALENT MANAGEMENT

FITTING THE (TALENT) PIECES Effective talent management can be likened to a jigsaw puzzle – multiple components must fit together seamlessly in order for it to work well HR PROFESSIONALS would be familiar with the concept of engagement from ‘hire to retire’ – and indeed, savvy employers these days recognise that the employee life cycle extends beyond ‘retire’ and through to the alumni network.

The repercussions of this concept for talent management are multifaceted and complicated.

All about people capability Mike Erlin, Cornerstone OnDemand’s managing director, Australia and New Zealand, views talent management as essentially being about harnessing people capability – and particularly how that capability is aligned to the needs of the business.

“If I go across the spectrum of talent manage­ m ent, the critical elements are engagement, enabling people, aligning them to the needs of the business, and continually developing and adjusting them to the purpose.

This works both for individuals and their careers as much as for organisations and the planning they must do for the future workforce,” he says.

Engaging employees throughout their career with a company has long been recognised

by HR professionals as being critical, but today they have the metrics and empirical research to back up their hunches.

“I’ve been in the talent space for 17 years, and what’s great is that in the last four years, for the first time, I see the C-suite acknowledging that an engaged workforce enhances business performance,” says Erlin. “We’re used to seeing the people leaders understanding this, but nowadays because of the research and metrics from the likes of Aon Hewitt and Bersin by Deloitte, you can have a conversation with the

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CFO. You’ve got credibility when you walk in there and talk about the importance of engaging your workforce.”

Results from Aon Hewitt’s global employee engagement research clearly show the impact of engagement on financial performance and customer satisfaction: ffA 5% increase in engagement results in 3% incremental revenue growth. ffOrganisations with top-quartile engage­ ment experience a 4% increase in their incremental operating margin. ff A 55 percentage point net promoter score difference is shown for highly engaged employees versus actively disengaged employees.

“Highly engaged employees improve operational efficiency and productivity, and are advocates for the organisation’s success,” confirms Stephen Hickey, partner and head of talent consulting at Aon Hewitt Pacific. “Best Employers are confronted by the same set of market forces and economic circumstances that challenge all organisations. However, they drive increased discretionary effort from their workforce as a result of more effective, outcomes focused talent management practices.”

puzzle, and Erlin says it’s almost impossible to achieve all four if one element is missing.

In a 2014 Deloitte survey on business challenges, the number one challenge was leadership. In 2015, leadership had slipped to number two, replaced by culture and engagement in pole position.

“In 2014, employees were saying ‘we want better leadership’, so companies responded. In 2015, leadership dropped position, signalling it remains a priority and that we still have work to do to make things happen. However, engagement and culture moved to the top spot. That is a big statement saying to leaders: ‘Set the vision and create an environment for realising it’. Also very interesting was to see that L&D was number eight in 2014, and in 2015 this had moved up to number three on the priority list, emphasising the importance of committing to employee development.”

Indeed, Erlin suggests that anyone uncertain of an organisation’s commitment to engagement or talent manage­ment practices should look to the CEO. “The first component is leadership

It starts at the top Aon Hewitt’s research suggests that what sets Best Employers apart from other organisations are four critical talent management priorities: employee engagement, committed leadership, performance culture, and differentiated employment brands.

These are all interlinked pieces of the

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UK VERSION

Brought to you by

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UK VERSION

and the strategy the leader and leadership team puts in place. Then it’s about the objectives they set, the plans for execution and the environment in which to do it,” Erlin says.

“If leaders do that well, it means they’re setting up a performance culture.”

Aon Hewitt research confirms the critical role leaders play – indeed, leaders, as acknowledged in Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers research, exemplify great leadership behaviours. “Best Employers have highly engaged leaders that consistently succeed at the critical behaviours that drive high employee engagement,” says Hickey. “All organisations need to ensure that their leaders are creating a very clear picture of the future of their organisation, cascading this through their management layers, and ensuring frontline employees understand how their work contributes to the success of the organisation.”

Erlin echoes this sentiment. “Making sure employees understand their role in the company’s success and also that the company is committed to supporting and developing their capabilities towards their own individual success – that’s how you get engagement.”

It’s easy to forget the final item on the list – a differentiated employment brand – but Erlin says this is critical in today’s social mediadriven, ‘Glassdoor’ world, where with one click it’s possible for candidates to get the ‘inside story’ on working at a company.

“The social aspect pulls the wizard from behind the green curtain and you get to see what’s going on,” he says. “The reality is if you don’t deliver on the leadership front, if they don’t have a plan and don’t set up a performance culture or ensure that people know how their role adds to organisational success, you’ll never have a differentiated employer brand. Employees will be the first ones to say, ‘that’s not real’.”

Talent management in the social technology era As the consumerisation of technology continues

apace, it’s up to businesses to keep up. Erlin says it’s time to accept that smartphones and social media are here for good and have changed the way employees communicate. For talent management, this means appreciating that the multichannel, multidevice aspect of communication needs to be embedded in the operation of the business.

“In the context of talent management it goes back to the sense of creating a sense of connection and belonging,” says Erlin.

“That’s not only for the employees but for the contractors, for the partners in the company, and for the customers within the community

_logo with tagline (NAVY BLUE)

in learning at the same time), the most successful companies today are utilising the asynchronous nature of social learning – that is, their employees are learning the same material at different times and locations.

“That’s when you get truly social and collaborative learning, even though you’re in different time zones and spaces. However, this is impossible unless you embed that aspect of learning, creating groups and cohorts, with common topics of learning. If you can’t bring people together through community, and you’re trying to push them through structured learning, it just isn’t the same.”

UK VERSION

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“For the first time, I see the C-suite acknowledging that an engaged workforce enhances business performance” Mike Erlin of the company. That social aspect has to manifest itself in terms of regular two-way communication. For example, if Alan Joyce was to post something on a blog I could reply to Alan Joyce.

“In the context of an effective business operation it’s also about feedback. It’s feedback both for recognition of a job well done and constructive feedback if not. It’s how individuals are performing on projects, how they’re performing against their goals and objectives; it’s about knowledge sharing and collaboration.”

This feedback should be collated and utilised in a more structured conversation – but it’s critical that the social elements are embedded in these systems in the first place.

“If you didn’t have that social integration you miss it,” Erlin says.

Erlin also sees the impact of social tools on another critical aspect of talent management: L&D. While he says there will always be a place for traditional synchronous learning (whereby a group of employees are all engaged

Even the ‘social chatter’ generated by social forums can be useful. “If you just enable social chatter, that has very little benefit,” says Erlin.

“If you enable social chatter and align it around things like company values or a purposeful objective or a strategic initiative, then you can check the pulse of the business and the surrounding community. That’s high value and that’s how social plays in this space.”

Technology in perspective For all the focus on technology and the social aspect of work, Erlin urges business leaders not to forget that technology is always an enabler; it’s not the solution.

“When it comes to talent management, the solution is the leadership, the plan and its execution. If you have that, the culture – and the engagement – will follow.”

Cornerstone OnDemand is a global talent management software provider that is pioneering solutions to help organisations realise the potential of a modern workforce – cornerstoneondemand.com.au.

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FEATURES

GOVERNANCE & COMPLIANCE

CORPORATE CULTURE: WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR? What role does culture play in mitigating risky behaviour? Do your employees feel they can freely speak out if they know something is amiss? Rani John explores the connection between a healthy culture and business success THE TOPIC of corporate culture, and its relationship to the management of risk, has received increasing attention in recent years – and rightly so. This attention has come not only from regulatory agencies and law-making bodies but also, critically, from within organisations.

Corporate culture is often thought of as what is truly important in an organisation, and how people actually behave within it. A healthy culture is an essential component of any company’s success, often leading to increased productivity, creativity and innovation. So it comes as no surprise that we’re seeing corporate culture become a key area of consideration for corporate boards, senior executives and HR.

Assessing corporate culture Culture is not as easily assessed as seemingly more objective factors like revenue and costs.

Nor is it static. For example, organisational change can often have a significant impact on culture. So it is incumbent on boards and senior management to effectively understand, monitor and influence culture on an ongoing basis.

An important consideration is how to ensure that good-quality information about culture flows up to senior management and the board, and then how they can act to effectively shape culture when it’s clear that certain aspects need improvement.

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Responding to concerns A recent DLA Piper interactive report on corporate culture noted that the process by which a company manages, addresses and responds to perceived discrepancies between its stated values and principles and its day-to-day behaviour is the true test of robust governance.

A key part of this process is allowing room for employees to constructively question and challenge conduct that is potentially inconsistent with the company’s values and principles. Employees need to be confident that when they do so they will be heard by leaders, and that they will see action taken when conduct doesn’t align with those values.

Discussing this topic in the report, panellist Simon Longstaff from The Ethics Centre noted the importance of measuring what you

a robust and meaningful way, you’re in much safer territory.”

A source of competitive advantage Getting culture right is not only an antidote to risk; it potentially gives a company a competitive advantage.

Research conducted by the Harvard Business School and others supports a positive correlation between strong corporate culture and long-term financial success.

If a company is – and is perceived publicly as – doing the right thing by its customers and other stakeholders, and doing so ‘better’ than its competitors, rewards follow not only in the form of superior reputation but superior financial performance.

As fellow panellist Steve Tucker, executive

ASIC is increasingly focusing on corporate culture. It views appropriate corporate culture as key to achieving investor trust and confidence and market integrity, and poor culture as a flag for poor conduct say your company stands for, and identifying the ‘gaps’.

“It’s these ‘gaps’ that create a vacuum for potential corporate hypocrisy, where employees will say, ‘If they don’t care about this, why should I?’ Organisations should work hard to identify, and then to close those gaps,” he said.

A transparent feedback process is a critical element of a company’s risk management plan, and a key part of effective organisational governance.

As Peter Kell, deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), pointed out during the discussion: “Any organisation that wants to encourage a healthy culture, and identify problem areas, needs to treat whistleblowers seriously.

They need to have systems in place where whistleblowers can feel confident that they’re going to be protected if they come forward with sensitive information. If that happens in

chairman of Prodigy Investment Partners, noted in DLA Piper’s interactive report: “A culture that engenders trust and allows a flow of information will pay you back with an efficiency dividend inside the organisation, and with loyalty from your clients and stakeholders outside your organisation.”

The regulatory environment In the last 12 months we’ve seen a number of public statements from both ASIC and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority on the topic of culture. For example, ASIC’s chairman and commissioners have spoken about the three Cs of effective corporate culture: communication from the top about what is expected; challenging behaviours inconsistent with those expectations; and not being complacent about the state of a company’s culture. ASIC is also advocating for changes to the law so that senior management are held personally accountable for failure to

TOP 5 TIPS FOR MANAGEMENT AND HR DIRECTORS Management should ‘walk the talk’ – that is, continuously and visibly model the behaviours they expect to see throughout the organisation.

Setting the tone from the top is key to influencing culture within a company, but equally important is ensuring that it cascades to every level of the organisation.

Think about how reward and incentive structures are likely to impact on day-to-day behaviours. Do they align with the company’s stated values?

Give employees room to constructively question and challenge conduct that is potentially inconsistent with the company’s values, without fear of reprisal for raising difficult issues, and with confidence that the company will take steps to address problematic conduct, even if the details of those steps, for legal and other reasons, can’t be disclosed.

Effective and authentic communication at every level of the organisation is key to achieving all of the above. Think about what will work best in your organisation.

That might have multiple dimensions. implement good corporate culture.

In its regulatory activities, ASIC is increasingly focusing on corporate culture. It views appropriate corporate culture as key to achieving investor trust and confidence and market integrity, and poor culture as a flag for poor conduct.

That regulatory focus is another reason why fostering a healthy culture is key. It can assist in preventing conduct issues from arising in the first place, and mitigating the consequences for a company if they do arise.

Rani John is a partner at DLA Piper.

For further information, visit dlapiper.com/en/australia.

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FEATURES

LEADERSHIP

ANN SHERRY: THE CONNECTED LEADER Ann Sherry is a visionary with strong values who has always extolled the virtues of inclusion and collaboration – all of which makes her a great example of a modern, connected leader, writes Jane Hayman In a world where becoming a senior leader is actually less attractive to many people than it used to be, Sherry is a great role model. The most recent Global Workforce Leadership Survey found that only 11% of professionals aspire to board-level positions. Among these respondents, only 36% of women versus 64% of men aspire to be C-level executives, highlighting a striking gender divide in career ambitions. Sherry is indeed a ‘Woman of Influence’ and has been instrumental in advancing the careers of many of the women around her. For example, at Westpac, she was struck by how management meetings across the business were always “100% men”, so she deliberately set out to change the culture and make it more inclusive.

The connected leader ANN SHERRY, the chief executive of Carnival Australia, was recently awarded the 2015 overall Australian Financial Review and Westpac Woman of Influence Award.

The award recognises Sherry’s achievements in corporate leadership and her promotion of diversity and equality during her career. Her unique career trajectory is well documented.

She has worked in the public sector as head of the Office of Status of Women, introduced maternity leave to corporate Australia in her

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role at Westpac, and moved from a senior HR role to CEO at the Bank of Melbourne. She was also the first woman to head up a bank in New Zealand. As CEO of Carnival Australia, she is credited with moving the cruise company into a phase of unprecedented growth. She is also on the Australian Rugby Union board and as part of the Jawun project has connected corporate, government and philanthropic organisations with Indigenous people to bring about change.

I believe Ann Sherry is a great example of a connected leader. She is someone who can set a clear purpose and direction; she operates with a strong set of values; she collaborates and includes others in decision-making; and she can act swiftly to achieve goals.

This style of leadership is explored by Cirrus CEO Simon Hayward in his book, Connected Leadership: How to Build a More Agile, Customer-Driven Business. It is distinctly different from the traditional top-down, hierarchical style of leadership,

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which is increasingly difficult to maintain in a digital age where the world is complex and fast-moving. Sherry personifies many of the factors of connected leadership.

1

Purpose and direction

When people in an organisation have a common understanding of why they exist as an entity, have a clear sense of what they are trying to achieve and the strategy to get there, and there is a shared mission around which people can unite and flourish, success usually follows.

Sherry has said: “It’s important that people want to work for you and that you can get things to happen that once people would have thought were impossible – because possibility turned into the actual is empowering for everyone. People also need to know what you stand for, and being able to translate that right through an organisation is important.”

2

Authenticity

Leaders who act ethically and who build relationships of trust and respect gain strong commitment from the people they lead. Leadership based on balanced judgment and fairness of decision-making engages colleagues and encourages them to develop effective, connected relationships across the organisation. When Sherry arrived at Carnival, there was an ongoing scandal involving the tragic death of a passenger.

Although she had not been part of the organisation at the time, she said the tragedy had happened in “my business”, and spoke with real human emotion about how the way it had been handled was “awful”, and of the need to seek closure and not let it drag on.

3

Devolved decision-making

The sharing of power across an organisation results in many decisions being made closer to the customer, where they can have an immediate impact. While key strategic decisions are best made centrally, service-oriented decisions are best taken as close to the customer as possible. For this to work well you need a climate in which people feel safe to take a risk.

TOP TIPS FOR WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP Set a clear purpose and direction Help people understand why your organisation exists and what your strategic goals are. Ensure that everyone is communicated with as an individual so they can make sense of these things and understand the part they play.

Be authentic Be yourself, and be clear and uncompromising about your values. Show that you mean what you say by the way you behave. This builds trust and helps others have confidence in you.

Devolve decision-making Enable others to take responsibility for decision-making. Be clear about that responsibility and give people freedom as well as support. Be brave about ‘letting go’, and don’t take responsibility away if things don’t always go right. Instead, use it as a learning experience.

Be collaborative Start with your team and drive collaboration from there, across functions and locations, focused on providing quicker and better service to the customer.

Be agile Seize opportunities when they come along, take risks, and learn from the things that don’t go well. Then move on.

Sherry has said: “People need to be clear about who does what and about delivering the goods at the end of the day. There are things that are mine to do and I do them. And there are things for others to do and I delegate them. I have high expectations of people who work for me that they’ll pick up their job and get on with it.”

4

Collaborative achievement

Collaboration means close working between teams as well as within teams so that end-to-end processes work efficiently.

Great teamwork is based on dialogue and mutual influence, with team members working closely with each other and reward structures reflecting collective merit more than individual performance.

Perhaps Sherry’s greatest collaborative achievement has been the way she has worked to include women in the executive space: “I just don’t think there’s any lack of talent here.

You can’t have merit-based procedures if everyone looks the same. Companies need to get under the cultures that shut women out.”

5

Agility

allowed to adapt to changing circumstances, to share what they learn, and to operate in a culture that supports experimentation without blame – to fail fast and learn as a driver of innovation and pace.

Sherry’s entire career to date illustrates her innate agility and comfort with change.

She has said she has a higher tolerance for risk than most people: “There’s always a riskreward trade-off. Often people don’t do that trade-off very well. They don’t consider the upside. They only consider the downside.

Sometimes things don’t work, but there’s really not much downside to that.”

When accepting her recent Woman of Influence award, Sherry said it was vital to support each other to create an Australia that values contribution regardless of gender.

She challenged corporate cultures that do not recognise the value of women at every level. Here are some top tips to help women and all leaders succeed by becoming more connected leaders.

Jane Hayman is lead consultant, Cirrus. She welcomes your views on this article and can be contacted at jane.hayman@ cirrus-connect.com.

Agility requires that colleagues are

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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

RESILIENCE

STRENGTH FROM WITHIN Businesses are taking steps to steel their employees to cope with an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world.

Barbara Jones outlines one approach

MUCH HAS been written about the effects of stress and complexity on our workforce today.

More than ever in the history of business – and history in general for that matter – we are in a time of discontinuous change, a term coined

by Charles Handy in 1994. This means that we aren’t changing along a continuum, but are actually moving into a whole new paradigm.

The new norm in which business now operates is a norm that is beset with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This can be stressful – and complex!

Leadership development consultancy Executive Mandala believes the challenges brought about when operating in these high-pressure contexts offer opportunities to step into the ‘mental growth’ space. This is often referred to as resilience, and the key element of mental growth and resilience is developing high levels of psychological insight – awareness of one’s own mental processes. Mind strength development is crucial to building this.

Developing psychological insight (psychological capital) is what helps people to get through tough times. When technically competent people can cultivate such insight/mental strength, they have a much better chance of dealing with both stress and complexity. By being able to improve their ability to self-regulate their

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thoughts, emotions and behaviour, they can begin to enjoy a range of positive effects on their performance and wellbeing. (See box below.)

In 2013, Executive Mandala launched the Executive Mind Centre with specific services in this area. Tech company First Data Resources Australia was an early adopter of these services. In 2013, it launched mind strength development programs for its people.

These programs, called Building Resilience, were introduced initially as part of an overall change program, and were offered to all levels throughout the organisation. Janette Lemonjian, HR director at First Data Resources Australia, wanted to give staff going through the change process a program that was genuinely “for them”. She wanted to give them not just skills and knowledge that would equip them to perform more

Mind strength development and self-regulation

CORE AND SECONDARY PROCESSES LINKING PSYCHOLOGICAL INSIGHT TO SELF-REGULATION

Psychological insight and mind strengthbased practices

• decoupling of self from experiences and emotions • decreased use of automatic mental processes • awareness of physiological regulation

1. Response flexibility... decreased 2. Rumination...

3. Empathy...

4. Affective regulation...

5. Increased selfdetermination and persistence...

Improved selfregulation of thoughts/ emotions/ behaviour

6. Increased working memory...

7. More accurate affective forecasting

Source: Executive Mandala

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waiting list of participants eager to start. But, in reality, for the program to be successful it was essential that people were committed and ‘signed on’ for the entire eight weeks, which we understood was a considerable commitment.

So, with the full backing of our leadership, we agreed to ‘share’ in the commitment, meaning that if the individual gave an hour of their personal time per week, the organisation would do likewise, and hence we had full participation for two hours each week.

easily within the work environment, but competencies that would support them in their broader life context.

Here, Lemonjian outlines the program and its benefits to First Data employees.

Q: What had you hoped for when you commissioned the eight-week program for First Data people?

A: As with many organisations, we were

 

 

for the decision-making process, both at work and in one’s personal life the ability to maintain or improve one’s personal motivation and morale support recovery or coping mechanisms for dealing with the stressful times more readily the development of skills to withstand pressure and improve concentration the skills to cope more effectively with

“We were seeking answers as to how to build organisational resilience and to support our people to see the bigger picture and stay the course” experiencing continual change, which in turn was contributing to concerns for our culture locally. We were seeking answers as to how to build organisational resilience and support our people to see the bigger picture and stay the course. We believed it was critical to bring people on the journey of change with us, while building their personal fortitude and perspective.

More specifically, we were targeting a program that provided:  improvements in performance/support

change, and/or potential frustrations or disappointments.

Q: Describe some of the outcomes for both individuals and First Data.

A: A key outcome for the organisation has been the ‘buzz’ created through delivering something new and completely outside the square, not only developing the employee but also strengthening the ‘individual’ within.

Immediately following the initial eightweek program, news was out and we had a

Q: What approaches/practices were of most benefit to you and your people at work and at home?

A: Based on feedback we’ve collated over the programs run to date, key benefits are noted as learning mind strength techniques and providing tools to maintain equilibrium, focus and calmness; allowing oneself the freedom to make personal choices on how to react; gaining an appreciation for the ‘impermanence’ of a situation and how to navigate through the now; and permission to call ‘STOP’ and take a minute to think about how one’s reactions impact others.

Q: Have people been able to sustain these practices? How has that shown up in the workplace?

A: Whilst sustainability of these practices is largely up to the individual, I can say we’ve noticed a greater degree of tolerance amongst past participants. They understand there is a bigger picture at play and they have a choice as to how they will react or engage.

Q: Were there any pitfalls along the way?

What were they? How were they overcome?

A: Really the only pitfall has been how to support the ongoing development or practice of the mind strength learnings. As with all learnings, practice makes perfect, and the application of new-found skills is essential in order to embed them and have them become part of one’s personal resource toolkit.

Barbara Jones is the director of Executive Mandala. For further information, email barbara.jones@executivemandala.com.au.

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FEATURES

HR SUMMIT

HR professionals from all industry sectors gathered at Sydney’s iconic Luna Park for Australia’s number-one independent HR event – the National HR Summit 2016

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FEATURES

HR SUMMIT

Join us at these HR Summit events: Perth 25-26 May Melbourne 27-28 July Brisbane 19-20 October Find out more and register at www.hrsummit.com.au

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PEOPLE

CAREER PATH

HR CHANGE MAESTRO

Ingrid Jenkins is currently Microsoft Australia’s HR director, but her career has covered work in the manufacturing sector and a stint overseas 2015

JOINS MICROSOFT AUSTRALIA Jenkins joined Microsoft, motivated by the transformation the organisation is going through – including the launch of a new HR operating model – and the convictions of the Microsoft leaders she met during the interview process.

Microsoft’s mission is to ‘empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more’ – the company culture is critical to achieving this

2013

JOINS AN AUSSIE COMPANY In October 2012, Jenkins commenced with freight and logistics company Toll Holdings as divisional HR manager.

After spending the majority of her career in a multinational organisation, Jenkins was keen to experience a different industry 1997 and be part of a large Australian-parented organisation.

A CHANGE OF PACE

Jenkins’ professional career commenced not long after collecting a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Sydney.

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Jenkins joined Telstra’s technology group as GM human resources in June 2013. During her tenure, she led an enterprise-wide review of the HR business partner roles, making recommendations on how to enable the HR BP role to drive greater business outcomes.

“I was keen to continue my experience in an Australian-parented organisation as well as to return to the IT&T industry, which I continue to find one of the most exciting industries in the world.”

REVIEWS TELSTRA’S HR BP FUNCTION

2012

Jenkins’ decision to move to Cumberland Industries fulfilled a need for a change of pace, while also fulfilling her desire to gain wider experience. She joined the not-for-profit organisation as HR manager.

2016 & BEYOND

1998

A BOOMERANG EMPLOYEE – AND AN OVERSEAS STINT

1993 A START IN HR – AND IR

1992

GRADUATION

Jenkins returned to the Alcatel Submarine Division as the site HR manager. She remained in this role for approximately two years before being offered an opportunity to be the HR director for SE Asia North, based out of Bangkok for two and a half years.

“I was always attracted to having an opportunity to work overseas, so I accepted the role and moved to Bangkok within one month of the offer. Upon returning from Thailand I was the HR director (ANZ) for more than seven years.”

Jenkins worked with Alcatel-Lucent (formerly Alcatel) for the majority of her early career. Starting out as a temporary contractor with the Alcatel Submarine Division, based out of Sydney, she was soon offered an HR administrator role. Within a couple of years, Jenkins was promoted to HR business partner and continued to broaden her HR experience.

“In addition to my generalist HR skills, working in a manufacturing environment gave me a great exposure and experience in industrial relations.”

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PEOPLE

OTHER LIFE

5,000 pairs of pointe shoes a year

30,000

costumes – comprising 1,000s of multiple parts and accessories

200+

live ballet performances to 270,000+ people in Australia each year

PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES Few people get to work behind the scenes of a cultural powerhouse.

Angela Kelly gets to combine a love of performing arts with her day job ANGELA KELLY, HR director at The Australian Ballet, relishes the challenge of working in a creative and stimulating environment with such a rich history. The company is made up of a diverse team of artisans and professionals, including dancers, musicians, several artistic teams, medical and fitness personnel, expert wardrobe and production staff, as well as artistic operations, corporate services, 56

finance, marketing and fundraising teams.

“I am inspired every day by the commitment of our artists and the dedication of people behind the scenes who work together to deliver amazing productions enjoyed by audiences right across Australia and internationally,” Kelly says.

For over 50 years, The Australian Ballet has been the defining face of ballet in the AsiaPacific region. Founded in 1962, it has become one of Australia’s most iconic and respected

brands. In 2014, a new phase of its evolution was completed when Orchestra Victoria became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Australian Ballet.

“The diversity of our people and the work they do provides a rich and stimulating environment for our HR team to immerse themselves in, helping to build capability and ensuring the company is prepared for challenges of the future,” Kelly says.

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