Human Resources Director 16.04

HCAMAG.COM ISSUE 16.04

HOT LIST The HR high achievers who are giving their organisations a competitive edge

A CULTURE OF HEALTH What inspires J&J’s people strategy

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HR AWARDS FINALISTS Recognising the industry’s best

SALARY & JOBS GUIDE 2018 Talent’s new horizons

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AUGUST 2018

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CONTENTS

@HRDAustralia facebook.com/HRDAustralia

UPFRONT 02 Editorial

The evolving world of HR

03 Head to head

How HR is managing changing expectations in the post-#MeToo world

05 Expert insight

Ten tips for managing mental health in the workplace

06 Statistics

What drives commitment of younger workers to their employers

08 News analysis

Supporting LGBTQ employees goes far beyond flying a rainbow flag

FEATURES

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2018 HR SALARY + JOBS GUIDE

While HR departments are showing a return to growth, competition for talent is getting tougher. HRD takes a look at the latest trends in HR careers and compensation

10 Employment law update

New rights to unpaid leave for victims of domestic violence

12 Recruitment update Is age diversity overlooked?

PEOPLE 78 Career path

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HOT

LIST 18 SPECIAL REPORT

HOT LIST 2018

HRD profiles Australia’s high-achieving HR leaders who are breaking new ground in their profession

FEATURES

Mathew Paine rises to the challenge

80 Other life

Hitting the trail with Michael Charest

FEATURES

BUILDING EMPLOYEES’ TEAM SPIRIT How the right team-building activities can reveal new strengths in your employees, enhance working relationships and build a better team

36 Talent management

How a flexible people management solution can suit businesses of all sizes

54 Workplace learning

Creating a culture of learning within the workplace

58 FEATURES

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PEOPLE

A CULTURE OF HEALTH

Johnson & Johnson’s CHRO, Peter Fasolo, explains how analytics and a commitment to health are the drivers of its people strategy

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Cathay Pacific’s Tony Reynolds talks about the power of design thinking to transform the employee experience, leading to great customer outcomes

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UPFRONT

EDITORIAL www.hcamag.com AUGUST 2O18 EDITORIAL

The evolution of HR

E

volve or die – that’s the motto every leader is living by in today’s uncertain world. With the onslaught of new technologies, disruptive analytics and business transformation, it’s more important than ever before that HR take the lead in agility.

And while Darwin probably didn’t have the evolution of strategic development in mind when he wrote The Origin of Species, you can’t deny the similarities between human advancement and the evolution of the people function.

Once upon a time, HR was little more than an administrative process – a role that was part of a larger body of internal management. We’ve gone from what was essentially a personnel job, dealing with paperwork and filing, to a function sitting at the very centre of the business structure. AI and automation have overhauled manual processes, giving HR room to grow into something much more creative and free-thinking. Organisations are now realising that much of their net worth is

AI and automation have overhauled manual processes, giving HR room to grow into something much more creative and free-thinking tied up in the functionality of their HR departments, and are taking active steps to future-proof their people for the encroaching tidal wave of new business practices.

According to KPMG’s recent Evolution of HR report, 58% of global companies are shaking up their HR structures in order to realise further efficiencies, while 45% are looking to see more quality improvements. As companies are investing more money and time in developing HR departments, HR leaders are having to become adept at speaking the language of these decision-makers. This doesn’t always come so naturally for HR practitioners, who may be more used to quoting career progression schemes than cold, hard figures.

However, if there’s one thing leaders of today agree with, it’s that people are the heart of any good organisation. Surely then it should follow that, as the champions of people, HR is the common denominator throughout all facets of a company?

Once HR has mastered the art of conversing in numbers, there’s no telling how the function will grow and evolve and transform into yet another intrinsic aspect of business strategy. After all, HR has pretty much mastered every other facet of organisational development.

The team at Human Resources Director

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Senior writer Emily Douglas Writers Hannah Go, Tom Goodwin, John Hilton, Iain Hopkins, Libby Macdonald, Nicola Middlemiss Production Editor Roslyn Meredith

ART & PRODUCTION Designers Marla Morelos, Joenel Salvador Traffic Coordinator Freya Demegilio

SALES & MARKETING Marketing & Communications Managers Michelle Lam, Danica Mendoza Business Development Manager Matthew Nutt

CORPORATE Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil

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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.

3/08/2018 2:58:17 PM

UPFRONT

HEAD TO HEAD

How is HR navigating the post-#MeToo world?

What is HR doing to manage changing expectations in the wake of the grassroots campaign?

Jessica Ciccozzi

General manager people and capability QinetiQ Pty Ltd “I’m acutely aware that employees don’t always feel comfortable stepping forward to raise workplace harassment concerns. The #MeToo campaign provided us with a valuable platform to proactively discuss these issues more openly.

“It’s easy to become complacent, but we have a duty of care to ensure we are always focused on reviewing our workplaces, training, and frameworks. This requires a continuous, long-term strategy driven from both the top down and bottom up, requiring open and honest discussions. It also requires all leaders to be engaged and to communicate with their teams regularly on acceptable behaviours, even when problematic behaviours aren’t evident.”

Steve Reid

Chief people and culture officer oOh!media “HR teams today are hit with so many priorities, from compliance to the future of work. Addressing each individually is an immense effort and likely beyond the capacity of any single HR team.

“The #MeToo scandal and banking royal commission are clear examples of why HR should be primarily and obsessively focused on building culture.

A great culture promotes openness, inclusion and belonging, enables change, and demands acceptable standards of behaviour.

“The question is, is HR doing enough to create cultures that prevent these scandals in the first place? Maybe not.”

Mathew Paine Director of HR ICC Sydney

“The #MeToo movement has swept the country over the past year. Businesses all over the world have moved to improve their HR policies: the Society for Human Resource Management indicates that half of businesses surveyed have, or are planning to, make changes to policies to improve how their businesses manage harassment.

“This is an opportunity to take stock, to set up or reconsider processes. HR has a leading role in educating teams and creating safe places for everyone. It’s up to every one of us to ensure our people are aware of what’s right and what’s wrong in any work environment.”

#HOWWILLHRCHANGE According to recent research by Lean In, about half of respondents say their companies have taken steps of some kind in the wake of the #MeToo movement, including action against harassers, updated policies or making employee guidance and training available. Also identified is a new lack of comfort among male managers when it comes to such common workplace activities as mentoring, or working alone or socialising with a woman – almost half report being uncomfortable with doing so. Senior-level males are 3.5 times more likely to hesitate to have a work dinner with a woman employed at a junior level than with her male counterpart, and five times more likely to avoid travelling for work with a female junior.

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EXPERT INSIGHT

OPINION

Hacking your leadership style HR directors looking to turbocharge their productivity must hack their current approach with new ways of thinking, writes Scott Stein A RECENT Forbes article entitled ‘Why leadership training doesn’t work’1 identified how many leadership training programs offer limited success because they focus on theory rather than how to implement practical strategies, and also don’t take the time required for such skills to stick. In addition, many staff are tired of attending training sessions that regurgitate leadership concepts from the 1980s and 1990s and may not connect to today’s accelerated digital world.

These trends are intensifying the need for HR directors to find innovative ways to enable their people (and themselves) to learn new skills while executing business plans in these fast-paced environments, and many feel overwhelmed.

This is where leadership hacks come in.

A leadership hack is anything that helps you (or your people) accomplish more in less time. This can include: • • • •

Shortcuts that may not be commonly known Simplified steps to make a task easier to do Fast-tracking processes to speed things up Any approach that simplifies and speeds up a task

To accomplish more, HRDs need to adopt new ways of thinking and influencing that enable them to do more with less.

One area in need of hacking is the timesuck represented by technology and email.

Many people are locked into the common pattern of checking and rechecking their inboxes, which fragments focus and can interfere with decision-making. The answer could come in the form of the 321-Zero system

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devised by New York Times bestselling author Kevin Kruse as a product of his study of the habits of successful billionaires, entrepreneurs and Olympic athletes. The system calls for checking email at three scheduled times per day (morning, noon, and night) and simultaneously setting a timer to 21 minutes, then making a game of getting the email inbox to zero in that timeframe. This hack lends itself to greater focus and a clearer ‘in tray’.2 HR leaders also have tasks that should

what they think the steps should be and guide them through the process. Capture what they share on an iPad or piece of paper to ensure understanding. Once the steps are identified, ask them in what order they should execute the steps, and mentor them towards the most efficient method. To finalise the delegation hack, schedule a couple of check-ins when they will update you on their progress.

One other crucial area that often needs to be hacked is team meetings. Who hasn’t been to a meeting that was a waste of time? Add up the lost time and productivity and it’s clear that meetings are ripe for hacking.

The problem with most team meetings is simple: the purpose of the meeting gets lost.

Staff will often complain about the amount of time taken, with people talking in circles, or, most importantly, a lack of clarity on the purpose or outcome of the meeting.

Team meetings typically fall into one of four types: reporting, problem-solving, decisionmaking, and strategy development. Should the wrong format be used, attendees switch

HR directors need to find innovative ways to enable their people (and themselves) to learn new skills ... in these fast-paced environments, and many feel overwhelmed be delegated that are nonetheless held on to.

Many do not want to take the time required to delegate, or don’t trust the abilities of the person they would be entrusting the task to. A Harvard Business Review article titled ‘Why aren’t you delegating?’3 found that almost 50% of companies were concerned about the delegation abilities of their people but most did not offer any training on how to delegate.

A delegation hack could change this dynamic into one that empowers an individual and frees up time for the leader.

The hack is simple: the leader must invest 10 to 15 minutes in working with the individual to create a one-page plan laying out the essentials of the task. Rather than tell them what you want them to do, start by asking them

off, frustration levels rise, and it can take much longer to reach an outcome. Selecting the right meeting for the right situation increases the effectiveness of everyone involved and eliminates wasted time.

By implementing a number of leadership hacks, HR directors can fast-track their performance, and that of their people, to gain a competitive edge in today’s world.

Sources: 1Forbes: ‘Why leadership training doesn’t work’. Aaron Levy, 2018; 2 The Kruse Group: ‘15 secrets successful people know about time management: The productivity habits of 7 billionaires, 12 Olympic athletes, 29 straight A students, and 239 entrepreneurs’. Kevin Kruse, 2015; 3 Harvard Business Review: ‘Why aren’t you delegating?’ Amy Gallo, 2012.

Scott Stein has helped thousands of leaders implement fast-track strategies to improve results. He is the author of Leadership Hacks: Clever Shortcuts to Boost Your Impact and Results. www.scottstein.com

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EXPERT INSIGHT

Brought to you by

WORKPLACE RELATIONS

Mental health in the workplace Dianne Hollyoak provides 10 tips for effective management of employees’ mental health MENTAL ILL-HEALTH costs Australian businesses $10.9bn per annum. This does not include the indirect human cost, such as high turnover of staff, presenteeism, increased absenteeism and subsequent use of personal leave. Mental ill-health, if not managed properly by the business, can result in claims of bullying, harassment, discrimination, workers’ compensation, unfair dismissal and general protection.

It is estimated that 45% of Australians will experience mental illness at some stage of their lives, whether caused by anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, or other factors. Some Australians experience much higher rates of mental illness than the general population, such as Indigenous Australians and people living with disabilities.

With the increasing incidence of mental ill-health in Australia, businesses can no longer afford to ignore it. Taking a proactive approach to caring for employees can significantly improve workplace culture, showing staff they are cared for. This in turn boosts productivity and improves staff retention rates, impacting the bottom line.

Employers have a legal obligation to help employees with mental ill-health and ensure they don’t suffer discrimination in the workplace as a result of their condition.

Privacy is key, and managers must be aware of their obligations of non-disclosure. It is recommended that companies seek advice on specifi c state and territory legislation regarding return-to-work programs, particularly if a workers’ compensation claim is involved.

10 tips for managing employees’ mental health

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Provide a safe and healthy workplace, identifying practices that may contribute to the mental illness of workers, and taking action to eliminate or minimise risks identified.

Have a workplace Mental Health Plan and train managers in implementing it.

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Know how to effectively respond to employees who are unable to perform their duties because of mental ill-health.

Ensure managers are sufficiently trained in mental health, employee entitlements, and how best to ensure a mental illness does not become work related and avoid claims arising from mismanagement of the employee concerned.

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Remember that each individual will be different, and so will their needs. Therefore any management of the employee should be tailored to their particular circumstances.

Given the prevalence of mental ill-health in Australia, along with the increased focus on mental health in all parts of the community, how your business manages mental health can distinguish you from your competitors, leading to many benefits, the least of which is your ability to attract and retain good staff.

How your business manages mental health can distinguish you from your competitors, leading to many benefits Have an Incident Response Plan and make sure key stakeholders are trained to act the right way at the right time.

Have an Employee Assistance Program in place and regularly assess its services, surveying your employees regarding its effectiveness.

Offer flexible work arrangements, where feasible, that can accommodate people living with mental illness.

Ensure managers are familiar with procedures for handling unexplained or other absences, and that they cater for employees who are suffering from mental ill-health.

Ensure managers are trained in managing employees’ conduct and performance, especially when they are aware that an individual has a mental illness.

Know your legal obligations with respect to managing employees that are suffering from a mental illness or disorder, whether or not it is a result of workplace stress.

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6 7

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What you can do today • Review policies and procedures to ensure managers are clear on their legal obligations.

• Create a Mental Health Plan.

• Conduct a workplace and safety audit to minimise risk to employees.

• Have an Incident Response Plan and train key stakeholders regularly.

• Survey employees to gauge efficiency of Employee Assistance Programs.

• Schedule regular performance management training for managers.

For guidance in this area, call Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors or visit ablawyers.com.au.

Dianne Hollyoak is a director at Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors (ABLA). Serving business and only business, ABLA is trusted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is the leading voice for business in the Fair Work Commission.

Contact Dianne directly on 1300 565 846 or dianne.hollyoak@ablawyers.com.au.

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UPFRONT

STATISTICS

Loyalty has to be earned

MILLENNIALS LOSING FAITH Businesses rose in the estimation of millennials over the two years from 2015, before dropping significantly this year, according to the results of the most recent survey on the subject.

Companies looking for a longer commitment from younger workers must evaluate how closely their values align MILLENNIAL WORKERS have strong ideas about how companies should behave – and what they see happening before them has a pronounced influence on the length of time these younger workers are willing to stay with their employers.

According to the 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey, younger workers need a return on their loyalty. To stay put they must believe that this will result in material improvement to their circumstances long term, or improvements to their individual development, and that these

44%

of millennials say business leaders are making a positive impact on the world

42%

of millennials believe business leaders are having a negative impact

benefits would be superior to what would be gained by leaving.

Employee loyalty is, in one interpretation, a reflection of how closely the priorities of millennials match up with their perceptions of the motivations of the organisation. A company that seems to be permanently preoccupied with profit is unlikely to inspire loyalty in its workers. Of the millennials responding to the survey who described their employers as prioritising profit, more than half hoped to leave within two years.

69%

27%

of millennials working for diverse organisations are likely to stay with them for 5+ years

of millennials working for non-diverse organisations forecast staying with them for 5+ years

Source: 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Millennials Disappointed in Business, Unprepared for Industry 4.0

LOYALTY LEVELS LOW

EMPLOYERS OUT OF STEP

Almost every second millennial anticipates leaving their employer within two years. Levels of loyalty among the next cohort are even lower – more than six in 10 Gen Z respondents say they would leave within two years if offered the option.

Businesses seem to be poorly attuned to the issues that matter most to millennials; certainly organisations are unlikely to prioritise subjects that this generation ranks as most important.

Millennials Gen Z

61%

Generate jobs/provide employment Improve society, eg educate, inform, promote health and wellbeing Innovate: develop new products and services, generate new ideas, etc.

32% 19%

Improve/protect the environment

14%

Improve skills of its employees Generate profit

28%

Expect to leave within two years

Expect to stay beyond 5 years

Source: 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Millennials Disappointed in Business, Unprepared for Industry 4.0

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0

10

What businesses should try to achieve

35%

My organisation’s priorities

29% 26% 24%

15%

Produce and sell goods and services

36%

33%

21%

Drive efficiency; find quicker and better ways of doing things

12%

39%

25%

Enhance livelihoods (of its employees)

43%

43%

25%

51% 33% 34%

20

30

40

50

60

Source: 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Millennials Disappointed in Business, Unprepared for Industry 4.0

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80

75%

70

Millennials who say businesses focus on their own agendas rather than considering the wider society

80

75% 64%

Millennials who say businesses behave in an ethical manner

59%

60 50 40 30 20

38%

33%

21%

2015

2016

47% 47%

44% 39% 34% 2015

2016

2017

2018

80 70

65%

Millennials who say businesses have no ambition beyond wanting to make money

58% 52%

48% 45%

44% 37%

30 20

53%

50

20

2018

2017

50 40

62% 57%

30

23%

70 60

60

40

80

Millennials who say business leaders are committed to helping improve society

70

2017

2016

62% 54%

50%

50 40

44%

48% 34%

30

30% 2015

60

20

2018 Agree

2016

2017

2018

Disagree

Source: 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Millennials Disappointed in Business, Unprepared for Industry 4.0

WHAT WORKERS WANT Among the factors rated as ‘very important’ on young workers’ wish lists when choosing to work for an organisation, a positive workplace culture came second only to financial rewards and benefits.

51%

Financial rewards/benefits Positive workplace culture

52% 44%

Flexibility (ie hours and location)

44%

Opportunities for continuous learning

25%

Wellbeing programs and incentives

Reputation for ethical behaviour

22%

Diversity and inclusion Opportunities to volunteer/make a difference in the community

12% 0

10

20

Flexibility of working practices apparently correlates with loyalty of staff. More than half of those who consider their workplace to be flexible in terms of the timing and location of their work say they forecast staying beyond the five-year mark.

50%

Expect to leave within 2 years

55%

Expect to stay more than 5 years

48%

35%

33% 33%

Millennials

27%

19% 19%

63% 57%

FLEXIBILITY DRIVES LOYALTY

33%

27%

17%

Gen Z

30

40

50

60

31%

70

Source: 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Millennials Disappointed in Business, Unprepared for Industry 4.0

There is more flexibility – I have more options in terms of where and when I work

There has been no change in flexibility in terms of where and when I work

There is less flexibility – I have fewer options

Source: 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Millennials Disappointed in Business, Unprepared for Industry 4.0

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UPFRONT

NEWS ANALYSIS

A history of Pride The whole world recently celebrated Gay Pride, giving employers the chance to showcase their commitment to the LGBTQ community. But how much of this is real and how much for show?

GAY PRIDE is a chance to celebrate the LGBTQ community across the globe, offering the opportunity for world-leading brands to showcase their diverse workforces. With its roots going as far back as the Christopher Street Liberation Day parade on 28 June 1970, organised in memory of the Stonewall Riots in New York City, Gay Pride marches have become part and parcel of any inclusive society’s political agenda.

are 13% more likely to stay with them rather than jumping ship to a new role.

With these compelling statistics, LGBTQ employees are still not buying into the idea of coming out at work.

“I think it’s the experience of all LGBTQ people,” says Michael Bach, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion.

“Personally, mine was affected by time.

I came out privately in 1986, but coming

“Putting up a rainbow flag is one thing, but making sure [your office is] a safe space is a whole other matter entirely” Michael Bach, Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion While summertime is synonymous with Pride celebrations, organisations need to recognise that promoting diversity in HR’s agenda should be a constant, ever-evolving process, not a week-long performance.

Out & Equal Workplace Advocates’ firstever global analysis of LGBTQ workplace allies found that over 50% of organisations need to do more to support LGBTQ issues.

Meanwhile, workers who believe their employers are supportive of a diverse agenda

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out at work wasn’t really an option. I was, admittedly, 16, and working was just slinging hamburgers somewhere, but even when I got into the professional workforce no one was out. It simply wasn’t an option.

“As LGBTQ people we look for a symbol of some kind that says, ‘This is a safe place where you’re not going to be discriminated against’.”

One demographic of LGBTQ employees who seem to slip under the radar again and again is the transgender community. Out

& Equal Workplace Advocates found that over a quarter of trans employees claimed to have been fired or denied promotion due specifically to their gender identity, putting transgender workers at a greater risk of unemployment.

“The power of leadership-ally behaviour is hugely powerful and reassuring to trans individuals,” says Janine Chidlow, MD of Resource Solutions, the global PR firm.

“Organisations need to make sure from the outset that their workplace is a safe space where they can be who they are. For trans individuals, their own sense of who they are does not necessarily match the sex that society assigns to them when they are born. Collecting employees’ gender identity on HR forms and employee surveys must be done in an inclusive way. Allowing employees to describe their gender in their own words demonstrates an understanding that gender is not just female and male. Every transition

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LGBTQ IN THE WORKPLACE

45% of LGBTQ employees hide their identity at work

Over 50% of organisations need to do more to support LGBTQ issues

20% of LGBTQ employees believe their manager doesn’t care about diversity

is different, so the framework should be flexible to an individual’s needs to help eliminate confusion or mismanagement.”

of Two-Spirit identities.”

‘Two-Spirit’ refers to a person who has both a masculine and feminine spirit, and

“The power of leadership-ally behaviour is hugely powerful and reassuring to trans individuals” Janine Chidlow, Resource Solutions The trend towards favouring cisgendered employees, and those who are gay or bisexual, marginalises the rest of the community.

“Gender identity and gender expression are areas woefully under-represented,” explains Colin Druhan, executive director of Pride at Work Canada.

“Senior leadership roles taken by LGBTQ employees mainly show gay or bisexual leaders, but there are very few trans executives. Then there’s a lack of awareness

is used primarily among people who are indigenous to North America, such as Native Americans, Aboriginals, Inuit, Metis, and People of the First Nations. Before the arrival of Europeans, Two-Spirit people were revered for being gifted, and there were reports of warfaring women marrying women and men marrying other men.

While it might be more difficult to cater to these lesser-known variations of the LGBTQ community, it’s HR’s role to learn how to

do so and educate their employees.

“Some employers are better at it than others,” Bach says. “Organisations that are on the Corporate Equality Index or Stonewall UK’s list – these are probably doing a better job than most. But the reality is, an employer at the top of the house can claim to be inclusive and supportive, but it may not filter down to all sectors of the company.”

For all the bells and whistles sounding at the top of the chain, an employee in a far-flung branch may still hear homophobic abuse from an ignorant manager. It’s less about glorifying your commitment to LGBTQ employees to the outside world, and more about ensuring your internal workplace dynamic is as supportive and transparent as possible. After all, an inclusivity agenda without any backing will only end up falling apart.

“That’s where the disconnect is,” Bach says. “Employers need to spend more time on education around what LGBTQ inclusion looks like in a very practical sense. Putting up a rainbow flag is one thing, but making sure it’s a safe space is a whole other matter entirely.”

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UPFRONT

EMPLOYMENT LAW NEWS BRIEFS Pizza Hut franchisee fined for sham contracting

A Pizza Hut franchisee has been fined $216,700 in the Federal Circuit Court after exploiting a delivery driver under a sham contract and using false records to try to cover it up. Judge Michael Jarrett imposed the penalties after Dong Zhao and his Gold Coastbased company admitted breaching sham contracting laws when they misrepresented to a delivery driver that he was an independent contractor, not an employee. Judge Jarrett also found that Zhao had actively sought to mislead the Fair Work Ombudsman. Zhao was penalised $36,700 and his company, Skyter Trade Pty Ltd, was fined an additional $180,000.

Employee allegedly dismissed for tweets on abortion rights

Cricket Australia has been accused of dismissing an employee for posting a series of abortion tweets supporting abortion reform in Tasmania. In a tweet in June, she described the government’s rejection of a motion to re-establish abortion services in the state through public hospitals as “most irresponsible … gutless and reckless’’. The 39-year-old was allegedly stood down by Cricket Australia after the organisation claimed her social media posts had “insulted” the Tasmanian government and made her position “untenable”. Williamson has engaged employment law firm Maurice Blackburn and an initial hearing is listed at the Fair Work Commission for 17 August.

Airline staff claim they were dismissed for speaking Korean

A group of former Delta Air Lines employees are filing a lawsuit against their ex-employer, claiming they were fired for speaking Korean. The four Korean-born women allege in the

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lawsuit that they were “singled out and admonished” for speaking their mother tongue. One of the claimants explained to local media that because the airline deals with daily flights to South Korea some passengers felt more comfortable when the employees conversed with them in their own language. A spokesperson for the airline said that Delta did not “tolerate workplace discrimination or harassment of any kind”.

Employer fined for not paying compensation for unfair dismissal An employer has been penalised $130,000 for causing “financial and emotional hardship” to three workers by terminating them and refusing to pay unfair dismissal compensation ordered by the Fair Work Commission. The penalties, imposed in the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne, are the result of three separate legal actions by the Fair Work Ombudsman in response to William Hancock and his company, WCH Services Pty Ltd, breaching the Fair Work Act. Ombudsman Natalie James said the penalties sent a message that “serious consequences” applied for failing to comply with Fair Work Commission orders.

Migrant worker underpaid 93 weeks’ wages A migrant employee in Sydney has been underpaid the equivalent of 93 weeks’ wages over a period of almost four years. The employee claimed that he did not take any morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea breaks and usually ate his lunch while making deliveries. Nader Bastawrose, Amgad Samaan and Ashraf Youssef – who operate four pharmacies under the Save and Deliver brand – have each been penalised $15,000 in the Federal Circuit Court. Judge Robert Cameron found that Bastawrose, Samaan and Youssef were not novice employers and that there was no reason to suspect they were unaware of the applicable employment entitlements.

Unpaid domestic violence leave begins Here’s what employers need to know about the new leave entitlements for victims of domestic violence Earlier in the year, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) announced that 2.3 million Australian workers would be able to access five days’ unpaid domestic violence leave a year.

Consequently, from the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2018, Modern Awards will be varied to allow employees access to the five days.

This is the first time the FWC and the Fair Work Ombudsman are making it a requirement for business owners to have a policy for dealing with domestic violence and supporting victims, according to Nicholas Hackenberg, senior employment adviser at Employsure.

“Employers should always take the necessary steps to ensure staff feel comfortable talking to them about sensitive topics such as domestic violence,” says Hackenberg. “They need to reassure their staff that all conversations will be handled appropriately and will be confidential.”

‘Family and domestic violence’ means violent, threatening or other abusive behaviour by an employee’s family member that seeks to coerce or control the employee, or causes them fear or harm.

Employees can take the leave if they need to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence and it’s impractical to do so outside their ordinary hours of work.

So how much proof will an employee have to provide in order to be eligible for this new leave entitlement?

Hackenberg says the law is “deliberately flexible” to make it accessible.

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“Therefore, there is no requirement for an AVO [Apprehended Violence Order] to be in place. However, there are some good ways to validate the request,” he says.

“The evidence can come in a number of forms, such as a police report, court documents, a note from a family violence support service, or a statutory declaration.”

According to Hackenberg, it’s essential for employers to communicate this new leave entitlement to employees, to ensure they are

“(Employers) need to reassure their staff that all conversations will be handled appropriately” aware of how and when to notify them of their request for this leave.

“The notice requirements are similar to personal leave requests. Employers can set their expectations,” he says.

“The best way to do this is to first have an open and relaxed conversation with employees about this leave entitlement and how they want them to approach taking some time off. Then employers should include it in their policy.”

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, recently announced legislation will grant victims of domestic violence up to 10 days’ paid leave a year and flexible working arrangements to help deal with the impacts of the violence.

From April next year all victims of domestic violence in New Zealand will be able to get support from their employers without worrying about losing their jobs.

Q&A

Disciplining a union member Trent Sebbens Partner ASHURST

Fast fact The Fair Work Ombudsman’s audit of Glebe (NSW), Richmond (Vic) and Fortitude Valley (Qld) has recovered $471,904 for 616 workers after it found that 72% of the 243 businesses had breached workplace laws.

What should employers consider when disciplining a union member?

Disciplining union members or representatives can involve legal risks, such as where it is alleged that the employer has breached some of the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act. When the facts surrounding an adverse action taken against an employee involve a protected reason – such as union activity or involvement in industrial action – an employer will need to ensure that the reason for any disciplinary action taken against a union member is for lawful reasons, so that the reverse onus of proof under the general protections provisions can be met.

However, some useful points to remember are: 1. An employee who is a union delegate will not be protected by a cloak of immunity from disciplinary action by reason of their union position if that employee engages in misconduct or poor performance; 2. It is possible for an employer to disaggregate the conduct of an employee, such as protected industrial activities that they are lawfully engaged in, from other unlawful or unprotected activities; and 3. This approach will also apply to Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs), who are often union-elected members, when the HSR is exercising their powers under work health and safety legislation.

How can employers deal with any potential risk?

Employers should carefully determine whether the reasons for taking adverse action against an employee include the exercise of any workplace rights or engagement in industrial activities – and any action taken should be taken for those reasons.

Where an employee has recently exercised a workplace right or engaged in industrial activities prior to any adverse action being taken, then allegations of breach of the general protections provisions can and do arise.

The reverse onus that applies can be met by the decision-maker giving evidence, accepted by the court, that the reason for the taking of action was not motivated by any unlawful criteria.

While union delegates will not automatically have immunity under the general protections where their misconduct or poor performance can be severed from their lawful industrial activities, navigating a course through these, at times, rough waters can be challenging, and a cautious approach needs to be taken.

www.hcamag.com

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3/08/2018 3:02:31 PM

UPFRONT

RECRUITMENT

Is HR overlooking age diversity?

Diversity positively impacts innovation, culture and profits, but there’s not enough focus on age diversity

“thorough assessment of the recruitment process” to identify and mitigate where age discrimination may arise.

“One of the key traits we assess is learning agility – in a nutshell, the ability to pick new ideas up quickly,” he says. “Research suggests that although you can make small improvements to your learning agility, it is more or less fixed and is not dependent on age.”

Consequently, choosing candidates based on learning agility can help add some objectivity to the hiring process. From there it’s about

“I’ve seen reverse mentoring work very well, reducing knowledge gaps with workers” Older adults offer leadership and experience yet are often overlooked in the hiring process as HR instead focuses on millennials. That’s according to Ben Eatwell, CMO at Weploy.

Eatwell adds that this is often driven by the desire to “nurture the next generation of talent”, as well as the satisfaction of having a major impact on these younger minds.

“What is surprising is how early on in your career age bias starts to become a factor – research shows it can harm your job chances, with hireability decreasing 8% each year after the age of 35,” Eatwell says.

“That’s quite a long way from retirement! We know diversity positively impacts innovation,

NEWS BRIEFS

culture and profits, but often age diversity has less focus.”

Eatwell says there are many advantages to employing older adults, particularly in positions where experience and leadership are needed.

However, this doesn’t seem to be translating into more opportunities for older Australians.

“I think this has to do with trying to fit workers into traditional organisational structures – by exploring more agile, networked and outcomeoriented structures it can not only improve diversity but also productivity.”

For HR professionals looking to boost the number of older Australians employed, Eatwell says the starting point should always be a

Employers struggling to recruit team players

More than three quarters (78%) of Australian general hiring managers have hired an employee who did not fit well with the team, according to research by Robert Half. Its survey of 460 Australian hiring managers reports that the top reasons why employees typically do not fit in well with their teams include an inability to work collaboratively (45%), a lack of team spirit (43%), a lack of adaptability (37%), misalignment with company culture (34%), and an inability to work independently (33%).

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developing a culture of lifelong learning.

Mature employees have a huge amount of experience to share, which can be “leveraged to increase overall productivity and morale”.

“Also I’ve seen reverse mentoring work very well, reducing knowledge gaps with both younger and more mature workers,” he says.

So, what is lost by having nobody senior around?

“Often it’s the times of crisis when calm is needed, or when team morale is affected by a failed project, that age-diverse workforces show critical value,” says Eatwell.

He adds that leadership is a quality that is not tied to age, but the “reassurance of someone who has seen a crisis and worked through it to tell the tale”.

Most organisations undergoing restructures The majority of employers (52%) are currently restructuring their organisations or departments to keep up with changing business needs, according to research by Hays. Key drivers are a change in the required skill sets (48%), digital transformation (31%), a requirement for a more flexible workforce (27%), a merger or acquisition (19%), and downsizing (13%). The survey of over 3,000 organisations reports that 67% of employers are worried that skill shortages will impact their ability to effectively operate their business in either a significant (26%) or minor (41%) way.

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Q&A

The challenges of hiring Lee-Martin Seymour CEO/Co-founder XREF

Fast fact Around 40% of current Australian jobs have a high probability of being automated in the next 10–15 years, according to research by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

What do you see as the key recruitment challenges employers are facing?

Issues such as the war for talent, tighter immigration laws and a lack of industry-ready graduates are all increasing the need for employers to speed up recruitment, do reference checks and police checks, and focus on onboarding.

With a buoyant recruitment market there are more people contracting than taking permanent roles.

Navigating the contractor minefield when trying to hire a permanent, committed candidate is also difficult However, the industry has an addiction to automation, and not everything needs to be automated. HR professionals are choosing automation over candidate education or proper recruitment behaviours and principles. The tech landscape is in abundance, but organisations need to decide whether the technology they want to adopt is business critical and fit for purpose.

With candidates in high demand, the chances of hiring someone who is not who they say they are or can’t actually do what they say on their résumé, is high.

And with the number of roles a candidate is applying for at one time increasing, employers need to find a competitive advantage and adopt approaches that will allow them to hire fast and with confidence.

How significant is the problem of candidate deception for employers?

It’s not an urban myth; it’s a fact. Our Xref Recruitment Risk Index research found that: • 71% of jobseekers will admit to exploiting flaws in the traditional reference-checking process to land a role.

Candidates made to ‘moo’ during interview

Reports have recently emerged of footwear giant Schuh making candidates imitate farm animals and wear bags over their heads during their interviews. According to jobseeker Dom Wright, 17, staff at a UK branch of the store asked 25 people to act out “humiliating” scenarios during a two-hour interview. In a bid to win a sales position, the candidates were told to ‘moo’. Wright said: “I got there and all 25 of us were given a bag and an animal we had to pretend to be. They said I had to be a cow.”

• 56% avoid choosing someone who might give them a bad reference.

• 51% choose someone who will provide a good reference rather than the most appropriate person, including someone they worked with but not closely (11%), a family member (11%), a friend (16%).

• 42% admit to having deliberately lied to a potential employer.

• 23% would actively encourage a referee to lie on their behalf.

What do you think HR needs to get better at in order to recruit the best candidates?

Firstly, it’s critical to understand the key, unique selling points about the organisation you are hiring for and decide how to tell its story. Then, understand why the role exists and what the benefits are for a candidate’s career, and learn to educate candidates to reduce the risk of losing them to a competitor.

HR professionals must also be careful not to fall into the trap of restricting their hiring efforts to the times they are actively hiring, and aim to meet great candidates at any time to help build a pipeline. Part of this involves implementing a passive candidate strategy to reach the best talent that is not actively seeking a new job but might be the perfect fit.

Finally, we need to get better at understanding that HR and talent acquisition are separate. HR should focus on existing talent, and talent acquisition should run as a recruitment business within the organisation. It should be run commercially to hold the business and talent acquisition professionals responsible for retaining the talent they source, with a direct reporting line to the CEO, not just HR leaders.

Digitisation set to be a net gain for employment

The number of Australian employers reporting a lack of skills as a major impediment to hiring has trended down over the last five years and is now well below the global average at 34%, reports the ManpowerGroup 2018 Talent Shortage Survey of employers around the world. In response to the impact of automation, 21% of Australian employers expect to grow their workforce, while 62% plan to maintain current head count over the next two years. This suggests digitisation will be a net gain for employment across Australia in the near term if jobseekers have the right blend of skills for the digital age.

New gender diversity initiative announced

Gender diversity within the stevedoring industry is one of Patrick Corporation’s greatest challenges as a limited number of women have strong industry experience. Consequently, its new WILpower program is a two-year structured cadetship that aims to deliver on-the-job learning in operational roles for “talented women who may lack industry experience”. It includes a full-time, competitive salary, a tertiary qualification offered in partnership with a university, job rotations across a broad spectrum of roles, individual mentoring and ongoing support. www.hcamag.com

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3/08/2018 3:02:51 PM

PEOPLE

GLOBAL HR LEADER

DRIVING A CULTURE OF HEALTH Peter Fasolo, Johnson & Johnson’s CHRO, on what inspired his flourishing HR career and why he’s investing in analytics HRD CAUGHT up with Peter Fasolo for a chat about what drives him in his role as CHRO at Johnson & Johnson, and about the underlying values and thinking behind the company’s impressive people strategy.

HRD: What sparked your interest in the HR profession?

Peter Fasolo: My interest in HR has largely been spurred by a true love of psychology and working with people. After completing my PhD in the field, I began consulting for smalland medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs and CEOs. It was in this role that I started to see the impact that the make-up of top teams could have on optimising performance both within a specific function and also more broadly across an organisation.

Throughout my more than 25 years working in the healthcare industry and within HR, this continues to be a driving force for me. Being able to do this work at a company like Johnson & Johnson, which is so deeply rooted in its purpose and mission, makes it that much more impactful. As a function, our work is not only geared towards creating maximum impact for the

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organisation but also to fostering a culture in which our employees feel inspired to change the world for the better, and that is something I hold deeply.

HRD: Tell me more about the progress of your people analytics team.

PF: When I became CHRO in 2010, I

we’re able to draw. For example, we’re now leveraging predictive analytics to optimise the workplace and drive decisions.

The outputs from this work span a range of areas, from measuring worker productivity to understanding how we can better retain university hires. It’s also been key to developing differentiated talent strategies

“This year marks the 75th anniversary of Our Credo, and it is just as relevant today as when it was written” made it a priority to invest in people and data analytics because I knew it would be a key differentiator to put the organisation on a path towards making evidence-based workforce decisions. Our people analytics team, which was established a few years ago, first focused on using operational and descriptive analytics to understand the impact of changes on our organisation.

Since then, we’ve challenged ourselves to continue to look for new and innovative ways to deepen and broaden the insights

for emerging markets. In China, for example, we began to notice a trend of high attrition rates over a 12-month period. Through data and insights, we were able to identify key factors driving the attrition – from lateral moves to receiving a bonus below target or having a lower performance rating – and put strategies in place to alleviate those factors and put us on track to reverse the trend.

As CHRO, it is my job to ensure that we’re developing and retaining talent, while also anticipating future needs, and our people

www.hcamag.com

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PROFILE Name: Peter Fasolo Company: Johnson & Johnson Title: Executive vice president, CHRO HR experience: 25 years Previous roles: »»Chief talent officer, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (2008–10) »»VP, HR, Johnson & Johnson (2004–07) »»Various HR roles, Bristol-Myers Squibb (1992–2004) Qualifications: »»Doctor of Philosophy, University of Delaware, »»Master’s degree, industrial and organisational psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University »»Bachelor’s degree, psychology, Providence College

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3/08/2018 3:04:52 PM

PEOPLE

GLOBAL HR LEADER analytics team continues to play an important role in our HR and recruitment strategy.

HRD: How would you describe J&J’s credo?

PF: At Johnson & Johnson, ‘Our Credo’ is at the root of everything that we do. It was created by General Robert Wood Johnson in 1943 in order to help us, in his words, “define better answers for the problems of the day”. This year marks the 75th anniversary of Our Credo, and it is just as relevant today as when it was written.

Within the HR function and across the company, the credo serves as a set of values to guide all decision-making. Each paragraph of the credo reminds us of a different set of stakeholders that we serve, and this includes our employees who are the heart, mind and soul of the company.

HRD: How is that a driver of your culture of health and your Healthforce 2020 goals?

PF: Rooted in the values outlined in Our Credo, we have made a commitment to helping

To date, we’ve seen strong employee engagement around these initiatives. For example, we’ve trained close to 67,000 employees in the principles of Energy for Performance®, a program developed by the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute that teaches people how to be more spiritually nourished and physically focused, and how to direct their energy towards what is purposeful in life.

At Johnson & Johnson, our culture of health is woven into the fabric of our company, and while we are thrilled with these results, we are proud to say that our investment in health and wellness has a rich history and will continue to be a focus over the long term.

JOHNSON & JOHNSON AT A GLANCE:

HRD: How has AI impacted your people strategy?

Employs approximately 134,000 staff

PF: The talent acquisition landscape is evolving quickly, and we’ve made it a priority to explore emerging platforms and technologies, including artificial intelligence, that will allow us to continue to attract the world’s most exceptional, diverse talent. One of the ways we

“We set a goal to have the world’s healthiest workforce by 2020 by empowering and engaging at least 100,000 employees towards a ‘personal best’ ” employees, families and communities live well across their whole lives – spiritual, mental, physical and financial. We believe that when our employees are fulfilled in all aspects of their lives, they bring their best selves to work, enabling us to deliver products that improve the health of consumers around the globe.

A few years ago, we set a goal to have the world’s healthiest workforce by 2020 by empowering and engaging at least 100,000 employees towards a ‘personal best’ in health and wellbeing via the principles of Energy for Performance®, innovative digital health tools, and advancing a culture of healthy eating and physical activity.

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are implementing AI from a talent acquisition perspective is through key partnerships.

Working with Textio, we’re using AI to enhance the quality, diversity and efficiency of our job postings. Based on a 2016 pilot, this has led to an increase in both qualified applications and gender diversity. We’re also leveraging Google API to optimise candidate search on our careers site. This has resulted in a 41% increase in high-quality job applicants per search.

This approach allows us to experiment before we scale. For us, it’s about much more than jumping on the digital bandwagon – we have a duty to our customers and patients to continually innovate and improve.

Founded by the three Johnson brothers in 1886

Sells in over 175 countries and operates in more than 60

Worldwide headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

World’s third-largest biologics company

World’s sixth-largest pharmaceuticals company

www.hcamag.com

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3/08/2018 3:04:55 PM

SPECIAL REPORT

HOT LIST 2018

HOT LIST

HRD showcases Australia’s high-achieving HR leaders who are creating competitive advantage for their organisations

IT’S NOT easy being the head of HR in a large organisation.

As the HR professionals featured on the following pages will attest, HR often gets thrown the tasks that are deemed ‘too hard’ by other managers.

Be it downsizing or rightsizing, HR must step in when others step away. But it’s not always grim – many of those profiled in this year’s Hot List have steered initiatives around diversity and inclusion, broken down walls of discrimination and prejudice, and shone a light on neglected areas of business. They have also

MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Andrew Daly

Group executive customer development, Maxxia W: maxxia.com.au/ employers E; business@maxxia. com.au

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It is widely understood that we are in the midst of a tremendous disruption in every industry and organisation. This disruption is fundamentally changing the workplace, the workforce, and how we hire and manage people. While overall demand for workers will likely remain strong, these changes will lead to a shortage of people with the right

treated people with respect in difficult circumstances.

Some of these HR leaders have the accolades to prove it, having been recognised by the likes of Aon Hewitt and Great Place to Work, or won an Australian HR Award. Yet HR is a profession that all too quietly goes about its business, so HRD is pleased to put the spotlight in this year’s Hot List on the inspiring HR practitioners leading the way in the field.

Read on for highlights of the achievements and innovations of 2018’s top HR leaders.

skills for the jobs of the future. Official estimates from the ABS forecast that Australia is likely to have around 1.4 million unfillable job vacancies by 2025.

HR leaders across all sectors are facing the challenge of building positive employee experiences and a compelling employee proposition that delivers real value in attracting and retaining talent.

For more than 30 years, Maxxia has been helping organisations gain an edge

with tailored employee benefit programs.

We support over 1,200 organisations and their HR teams across multiple sectors in being forward-thinking in their benefit program strategies. We are entrusted to provide tangible value to over 300,000 employees with a range of benefits.

Maxxia is proud to sponsor HRD’s 2018 Hot List, which showcases HR’s high achievers and acknowledges those forging new ground in their profession.

www.hcamag.com

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Brought to you by

HOT LIST INDEX NAME

COMPANY

PAGE

Alonso, Pablo

Amadeus IT Group

24

Bashinsky, Alec

Blackhall & Pearl Talent Services

19

Betts, Jane

Australian Unity

26

Campanella, Christian

Pernod Ricard Winemakers

29

Clas, Butch

Dow Chemical

24

Cramlet, Erin

Stryker

24

Crawford, Fiona

InfoTrack

21

Davies, Gwilym

Brisbane Airport Corporation

22

Diab, Alex

NSW Business Chamber

20

Fraser, Helen

Laing O'Rourke

26

George, Nada

American Express

30

Hayes, Liam

Aurecon

30

Kristof, Amber

L'Oreal Group

27

Lea, Helen

MYOB

19

Lynch, Chatelle

McAfee

33

Marcot, April

Talent International

20

Marzicola, Nicolina

HP Inc.

22

Phipps, Michelle

Brown-Forman

23

Revis, Amanda

Suncorp

28

Saunders, Gemma

Medibank

26

Schneeberger, Michael

Medtronic Asia Pacific

20

Sibree, Alison

Oracle

28

Thomson, Natalie

Merlin Entertainments

22

Toomey, Brendan

Hilton Worldwide

28

Watson, Shiona

PepsiCo

30

ALEC BASHINSKY Managing partner BLACKHALL & PEARL TALENT SERVICES

2018 continues to be an eventful year for Alec Bashinsky. In addition to completing his work at Deloitte and serving as non-executive director at Nvoi, which provides a tech platform for connecting organisations and business professionals, in May Bashinsky became part of Blackhall & Pearl Talent Services, a consulting group that advises board and C-suite members on HR transformation, the future of work and the talent experience.

As a strong advocate of innovative/digital HR, Bashinsky works tirelessly to educate businesses and individuals on the roles and interactions of technology and talent in the marketplace. An example is Blackhall & Pearl’s Organisational Network Analysis, which provides business leaders with greater insights into, for example, the roles teams play, the communication channels utilised, and the subcultures formed.

When it comes to adopting technology, Bashinsky advises leaders and practitioners to go beyond cost and people reduction and think about the ultimate benefits that the business stands to gain. For Bashinsky, having the right technology will not only enhance the nature of tasks employees are engaged in but also sharpen people’s instincts in decision-making.

HELEN LEA Chief employee experience officer MYOB

Recognising the persisting gender imbalance in the STEM fields and technical roles, Helen Lea and the team at MYOB created the ‘DevelopHER’ program to provide fully paid full-time internship roles to qualifying candidates in the hope of attracting more female talent by offering better opportunities.

Lea says the goal is to build a diverse workforce that will encourage innovation – but that, just as critically, helping to address the gender imbalance in the industry is “the right thing to do”. The program was piloted in 2016 and is due for another cycle this year in Melbourne; it is open to all women interested in a tech career, regardless of previous work experience, and includes professional training from Coder Academy, as well as on-the-job learning and mentoring.

www.hcamag.com

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3/08/2018 3:05:26 PM

SPECIAL REPORT

HOT LIST 2018 ALEX DIAB General manager, HR NSW BUSINESS CHAMBER

APRIL MARCOT Head of people & culture TALENT INTERNATIONAL

For April Marcot, ‘people’ and ‘culture’ are inextricably intertwined concepts at Talent International. “Our culture is ultimately one that appreciates our people,” she tells HRD, explaining how any success the organisation has had stems from the passion and hard work of the team. Moreover, given the nature of its business, the company thinks of ‘people’ not only in terms of its own employees but also of its clients. “We work with jobseekers every day, which gives us great insight into why people seek a new employer,” Marcot says.

As testament to its dedication to people, Talent International was awarded the gold medal in the midsized organisation category in HRD’s most recent Employer of Choice survey. The company also did exceptionally well in key areas such as diversity and inclusion and rewards and recognition, the latter being particularly integral to its culture.

For 2018, Marcot and her team have chosen to focus on health and wellbeing, in line with the 100% Human at Work movement in Australia, as well as on learning and development by investing in the best learning programs and equipping leaders with the necessary tools, support and autonomy to drive the organisation.

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Alex Diab has been going from strength to strength – from being named a finalist for the HR Director of the Year award at the 2017 Australian HR Awards to leading the NSW Business Chamber to become HRD’s Employer of Choice for 2018.

For Diab, these accolades confirm that the NSW Business Chamber supports a “higher-purpose culture” that was built on “a passion to create a better Australia by helping businesses maximise their potential”.

In 2018, Diab’s focus is on increasing the capabilities of the Chamber’s people leaders in order for them to effectively guide their teams through the endless waves of disruption. Recognising the immediate impact external events can have on the business, Diab points to the need for agile workforce planning and modelling, as well as inspiring leaders with versatile experiences and skill sets.

Diab also hopes to improve communication by emphasising authenticity across all media channels, while keeping things consistent with the norms set by the social media age.

MICHAEL SCHNEEBERGER Vice president, HR MEDTRONIC ASIA PACIFIC

2017 was an action-packed year for Mike Schneeberger and his team. In July, Medtronic completed the sale of three businesses to Cardinal Health Inc. – a key achievement considering the global scale of the divestiture. For Schneeberger, this meant working closely with employees of both Medtronic Asia Pacific and Cardinal Health to ensure a fair and successful transition.

Within the same year, the company also acquired Covidien, which was considered the largest deal of its kind in the medical devices industry. With the doubling of company size overnight, Schneeberger and his team quickly embarked on developing an efficient HR model that would effectively serve the now considerably larger organisation.

On top of these transition and integration projects, the team also piloted a leadership development curriculum to support leaders at all levels and offer employee experiences that emphasised learning by doing and creating opportunities to learn from others.

www.hcamag.com

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3/08/2018 3:05:31 PM

Brought to you by

FIONA CRAWFORD General manager, HR INFOTRACK

With the work ethic and rigour that come from being an Olympic medallist, Fiona Crawford has cultivated an unrivalled high-performance culture at InfoTrack Group, which has propelled it to become one of the fastest-growing tech companies in Australia. For the past four years, the staff number has kept pace with the company’s rapid growth, increasing by at least 50% annually. Following InfoTrack’s acquisition of CreditorWatch and merger with LEAP, Crawford’s responsibilities expanded to leading the HR departments for the new businesses, which means more than 500 employees now fall under her mandate.

Crawford was responsible for improving recruitment turnaround time and updating InfoTrack’s induction plan for new employees, which now includes a ‘see you soon’ postcard sent two weeks before the new hire starts; a welcome gift on the first day; team introductions, including coffee with the CEO; departmental inductions; and a gift package upon completion of the probation period.

Deciding that development and succession planning had to be prioritised as well, Crawford launched a series of workshops focusing on behavioural effectiveness and leadership for employees across the business, and the initiative has resulted in over 50 internal transfers and promotions within the last year.

www.hcamag.com

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3/08/2018 3:05:34 PM

SPECIAL REPORT

HOT LIST 2018 NICOLINA MARZICOLA Regional head of HR for Asia Pacific and Japan HP INC.

Over the past two years since Hewlett Packard’s restructuring, HP Inc. has implemented an overarching HR strategy called the Intentional People Strategy. This is a multifaceted talent strategy that is focused on cultivating a growth mindset that drives innovation and empowerment.

Since joining HP as an HR manager in Canada back in 1997, Nicolina Marzicola has held various roles within the organisation, and in October 2015 she was given regional responsibilities across the Asia-Pacific and Japan. She has been fully involved in the rollout of the new talent initiative and is particularly excited by the potential it holds for unlocking innovation in the HP workforce. In December, HP launched a new Smart Manufacturing Applications and Research Centre, which is intended to be an innovation hub in Singapore.

HP’s Intentional People Strategy includes initiatives that promote a strong sales culture and improve regional talent plans, career rotations and hiring. It also includes HP’s diversity and inclusion programs, along with social impact initiatives that contribute directly to the local community.

GWILYM DAVIES Head of people performance and culture BRISBANE AIRPORT CORPORATION (BAC)

Like all businesses, BAC is facing an environment of rapid change and disruption, and the top priority for Gwilym Davies and his team is to challenge the organisation to think and act differently and consider how it can do things better. Within the past year, Davies has applied this to BAC’s latest Enterprise Agreement negotiations. He challenged both staff and union bodies with the idea of undertaking a full EA negotiation within a single day, which they were able to do by changing the ‘negotiation’ process into a much more productive ‘collaborative workshop’ that allowed all parties to work together and propose changes that benefited both the business and the people.

As BAC goes through a leadership transition period, Davies and his team are focused on maintaining a strong culture of trust and engagement through effective communication and implementation of a detailed engagement plan. This will provide the new CEO with opportunities to communicate first-hand his vision for BAC and will include running a staff engagement survey to set the benchmark for the start of this new period.

In the year ahead, Davies hopes to enhance digital collaboration between staff across different teams and locations through the implementation of new technologies.

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NATALIE THOMSON HR director MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS

In the last 10 years, Natalie Thomson has steadily progressed from being an HR officer to now sitting on the executive team and overseeing the HR function for the Australia and New Zealand division of Merlin Entertainments (home of the Sydney Tower Eye, Sea Life Aquarium Sydney and others). This includes talent acquisition, L&D and payroll functions.

Over the last two years, Thomson and her team have shifted the L&D agenda to reflect the needs of the frontline teams and are looking at implementing integrated online learning to enhance the experience.

Thomson has also worked closely with the broader ANZ executive team and general managers to align the people initiatives and structures with business objectives and ensure the engagement strategy will lead to a positive cultural change across the business, with more emphasis on reward and recognition as well as D&I initiatives.

In 2018, Thomson and her team expect to develop more systems that will drive stronger communication and streamline processes for team members and managers. They will further cultivate the employer brand in the local market and build stronger talent pipelines within and outside the company.

www.hcamag.com

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3/08/2018 3:05:45 PM

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MICHELLE PHIPPS Vice president, HR – APAC BROWN-FORMAN

Michelle Phipps has accumulated more than 20 years’ experience in HR and more than 10 years’ working in executive roles within Australian-based multinationals.

As one of just four women on the 26-member Drinks Association Board, Phipps is an active member of several of its committees working to educate industry members on inclusion and build women’s presence in the drinks industry.

A strong believer in the formula of ‘leadership x culture = results’, Phipps brings a distinct knowledge of cultural authenticity to her work, which has enabled her to lead her small team of HR professionals to many accomplishments, including reducing turnover from 11% in 2014 to 7% in 2018. This year, Brown-Forman was also named the LGBTQI Organisation of the Year and listed as a finalist in the Quentin Bryce Gender Equity and Michael Kirby LGBTQI awards. At least one third of the company’s staff is active in employee resource groups dedicated to gender equity, LGBTQI issues, young professional advancement, and responsible consumption. Phipps is involved in all the ERG committees and diligently works on incorporating their individual plans into the organisation’s strategies.

Phipps is also responsible for building and executing the company’s 2025 strategy, which covers leadership, culture, capabilities and systems, and involves pushing for an ANZ/Asia-led global investigations protocol to produce and train HR business partners across the organisation.

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SPECIAL REPORT

HOT LIST 2018 BUTCH CLAS HR director, SEA and ANZ DOW CHEMICAL

PABLO ALONSO Asia Pacific HR director AMADEUS IT GROUP

In 2017, Pablo Alonso and his team at travel tech company Amadeus managed to successfully grow the local talent pipeline for the large markets in Asia-Pacific – Australia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. By leveraging its employee base of nearly 2,000 in the region, the team managed to reach out to candidates at university campuses, on technology forums and at recruitment events, as well as through the new APAC Graduate Talent Program – all of which focused on showcasing the company’s technology as well as its opportunities for people looking to build a fulfilling career revolving around technology and travel.

Being part of a tech-driven company, Alonso sees the need to not just keep up with digital disruptions but stay well ahead of the game through effective talent attraction. “At Amadeus, we are adapting our sourcing efforts to attract more people that are savvy both on the technology and business needs of the travel industry and can help our customers navigate through these challenges,” he says.

On top of recruitment, the team has also rolled out programs such as the APAC Knowledge Academy, which allows employees to test their skills and take the coursework needed for them to upskill.

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Dow Chemical took out the gold award in the 500+ Employees category in HRD’s 2017 Employer of Choice Awards. Butch Clas, who has been working in Singapore for over 10 years, told HRD the award was the culmination of lots of HR work for the team at Dow Chemical.

Dow has high market growth expectations of Singapore and Southeast Asia, and it will be up to the HR team to support that growth and drive expansion.

At the tail end of 2017, Dow Chemical merged with DuPont, and Clas told HRD about the changes this would entail; he said some of the business would spin off (agriculture and electronic materials) into new companies, while several new businesses would move across from DuPont. “We’re going to have to manage all of these changes over the next few years while not losing track of our objectives,” he said.

Clas is also excited about shifting his HR team away from administration and further into strategy with the launch of a self-service HR tech portal, including mobile phone apps to enable 24/7 transactions, called HR Next Generation. “It means new digital technology that we’re all going to have to embrace, and it’ll change the way we work,” he said.

“Going digital will help our employees and leaders access information 24/7 via cloudbased computing.”

ERIN CRAMLET Senior HR director STRYKER

In 2017, Erin Cramlet played a key role in a major milestone for medical tech company Stryker as it topped the annual list of Great Places to Work, representing a significant leap from the company’s position four years ago.

Cramlet attributes Stryker’s success in part to effective recruitment, which she describes as a mix of art and science. She and her team have partnered with Gallup to study their best performers in various roles and identify the characteristics that make them especially effective. Instead of focusing solely on candidates’ backgrounds, Cramlet finds it more important to zone in on their natural strengths and work on enhancing and leveraging these skills.

For Cramlet, the culture at Stryker is all about achieving the perfect balance between maintaining drive and competitiveness on one hand, and extending care and empathy on the other. She advises other HR practitioners to not think about earning accolades as the end goal but to simply focus on creating the environment and culture that will make people look forward to work, which is the foundation for success in the business.

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CHATELLE LYNCH Senior vice president and chief HR officer MCAFEE

As CHRO, Chatelle Lynch brings to the table not only her experiences in people management but also her invaluable expertise in technology and data, both of which help her establish a solid foundation for any people/business decision.

Lynch firmly believes that effective HR practitioners must work towards building strong business acumen in order to get buy-in from different stakeholders and decision-makers. Her specialisations in compensation and M&A have positioned her as a significant contributor to the business over the years, allowing her to work her way to the top within the decade she has spent at McAfee.

Lynch’s role as head of people in a tech company has enabled her to serve as an advocate for women in technology.

She is an executive sponsor for Women in Security (WISE), one of the company’s employee-run networks, which allows women and men to come together and share the experiences and perspectives of women in the industry in order to help them get ahead in the workplace.

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SPECIAL REPORT

HOT LIST 2018 HELEN FRASER General manager, human capital LAING O’ROURKE

Helen Fraser recently joined Laing O’Rourke as general manager for human capital after close to four years as HR director for Aecom’s Australia and New Zealand operations. In the past year, Fraser has focused on reshaping the culture at Aecom through a redefinition of ‘flexwork’, gradually moving away from traditional ‘output-based’ measures to incorporate more ‘input-based’ approaches.

Fraser describes the notion of flexwork as an ongoing conversation between team members and managers that leads to challenging the status quo. She has worked with her team to implement term-time contracts, which allow Aecom to offer technical professionals an alternative work schedule that follows the school calendar and aligns annual leave with school holidays. This is an attractive prospect for employees with children, which reflects the company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

In the last three years, Fraser has witnessed how Aecom’s efforts on inclusion have led to a 60% increase in the number of women in leadership roles, and to women graduates making up 47% of new recruits within the past year. She acknowledges that this is only the beginning of a much-needed cultural shift that will enable the business to improve its service and keep innovating in the years to come.

JANE BETTS Group executive, HR AUSTRALIAN UNITY

Jane Betts has transformed the people function at Australian Unity, significantly impacting the organisational culture over a challenging three years. Betts led the organisation through a major growth strategy that involved 10 acquisitions, including the notable integration of Home Care NSW, which tripled the organisation’s FTE and required a rapid scaling of the HR function.

Betts conducted a review of the people function with key stakeholders and employees, and externally benchmarked all services against best practice. The review served as a catalyst for the transformation of all support functions, and was utilised by an external consulting company advising on enterprise design to validate the company’s HR strategy and set direction.

Under Betts’ leadership, the HR function was able to mature significantly and achieve record savings, with substantial cost reductions in WorkCover premiums and in recruitment, as well as the successful negotiation of enterprise agreements and implementation of a significant digital technology agenda.

As a people leader, Betts proves that her work goes beyond hitting the numbers.

She finds fun and creative ways to engage her team by communicating through poems and bonding through karaoke sessions, and constantly supports them through various milestones/life stages, from engagements to weddings to having children of their own.

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GEMMA SAUNDERS Head of organisational development MEDIBANK

In addition to overseeing organisational development at Medibank, Gemma Saunders leads the initiatives for diversity, inclusion and employee experience, and was recently nominated at the LGBTI Awards for setting up the company’s LGBTI employee network.

Medibank has also participated in the Australian Workplace Equality Index in the past few years, which has allowed Saunders and her team to benchmark their existing provisions against best practice for LGBTI inclusion.

This led them to revise their policies to specifically include same-sex couples in parental leave benefits and the dress code; offer counselling services for employees dealing with marriage equality issues; and organise activities such as participation in the Mardi Gras parade – all of which have helped establish the link between LGBTI inclusion and the overall wellbeing of the organisation and its members.

In the year ahead, Saunders and her team will continue to channel their efforts towards improving LGBTIinclusive services within the health and wellbeing sector.

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AMBER KRISTOF HR director L’OREAL GROUP

Contrary to the stereotypical notions people have of beauty and fashion businesses, Amber Kristof revealed to HRD that the culture at L’Oreal Australia revolves around collective success and is marked by diversity, inclusion and a strong set of business ethics, while facing an extremely competitive market. In line with this, it’s become crucial for Kristof and her team to emphasise the researchoriented and innovative nature of the business in order to attract different kinds of talent, including drawing in more male talent to the female-dominated industry. This commitment to equality and science has also led the company to invest in philanthropic initiatives, such as the For Women in Science program, which awards fellowships to exceptional female scientists to help further their research.

Given the continued emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurial skills, Kristof and her team have focused on maintaining a steady stream of training and development opportunities to engage employees and attract candidates. These include coaching, L&D sessions, hackathons, and ideas for a school of excellence to help millennials and young jobseekers jump-start their careers and cultivate a sense of loyalty to the company.

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SPECIAL REPORT

HOT LIST 2018 AMANDA REVIS Chief people experience officer SUNCORP

BRENDAN TOOMEY Vice president, HR, Asia Pacific HILTON WORLDWIDE

From starting out as a busboy in his earliest days to now serving as the head of HR for all of Hilton’s Asia-Pacific operations, Brendan Toomey demonstrates how success results from a combination of patience, hard work and good opportunities. “In my career, I’ve been blessed because I have had opportunities created every step of the way,” he tells HRD. “Someone would tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘We’ve got this job here – are you interested?’ And that does still happen even up to this day.”

For Toomey, the focus on engaging talent at the individual level is crucial, given the talent acquisition challenges in the hospitality industry.

The success of Hilton’s employee engagement strategy, which covers everything from benefits to L&D through to CSR and employee volunteerism, has been possible because of the commitment of the leaders to lead by example. Showing support for this, Toomey came up with his own goals for the health and wellbeing Thrive challenge, include walking and/or running 50km a week, drinking more water and eating more healthily, practising mindful listening, spending less time on social media and having more in-depth conversations with the people around him.

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At Suncorp, Amanda Revis has managed to keep diversity and inclusion at the top of the agenda by identifying it as a positive contributing factor in an innovative work environment. For Revis, fostering inclusion results in “an environment where everyone can be themselves”, which frees them up to be more expressive and creative and to come up with better solutions for their clients and community.

To put this into action, Revis and her team have done a thorough review of all their policies – from recruitment to performance management – to ensure inclusion at every turn and that they are concretely and constructively put into practice.

The team also launched the Inclusion@Work Index/survey, in partnership with the Diversity Council of Australia, and this has helped them identify key strengths and areas for improvement. As gender balance remains a major part of Suncorp’s D&I strategy, Revis and her team continue to work closely with an internal diversity council headed by the CEO and a number of senior leaders, with equal representation among the genders.

ALISON SIBREE Senior VP of HR, APAC and Japan ORACLE

As a 23-year veteran of Oracle, Alison Sibree has witnessed first-hand how rapidly changing the technology sector can be. Oracle’s tech offerings are increasingly cloud-based, and this shift has coincided with the change in HR’s status within organisations. The technology used by Oracle’s HR team is focused not just on making the lives of HR professionals easier but also on making the lives of employees easier – in other words, the focus is on the employee experience.

Sibree recognises the unique talent acquisition challenges facing a global company like Oracle, and with her regional perspective she acknowledges that talent challenges differ widely from location to location.

“Japan is my most challenging market because finding people with the right skills there, and who have the flexibility to move jobs and organisations, can be a challenge,” she tells HRD, “Whereas in India or China I find people are more willing to jump to a new organisation, provided you have an attractive EVP.” She adds that digital transformation means that Oracle requires new employee skill sets – and having those skill sets, such as a global mindset, agile thinking, and strong interpersonal skills because they have to deal with new ways of working – can be difficult to find.

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CHRISTIAN CAMPANELLA HR director PERNOD RICARD WINEMAKERS

With over eight years’ experience in C-suite roles, Christian Campanella is part of Pernod Ricard’s global HR strategic committee responsible for setting the group HR strategy and direction, with operations and teams across multiple countries. As part of Campanella’s long list of responsibilities, he leads a group of 50 HR professionals based in Australia, New Zealand, Spain and the USA. The last few years have been eventful for Campanella: he developed a three-year people, culture and innovation plan that incorporated the company’s global strategic direction and initiatives and drove structural changes within the HR delivery model; he also implemented a global graduate wine ambassador program, run across 15 countries.

In addition, Campanella led the HR work for the acquisition/integration of two businesses in the US and one in China, which entailed leading the change management process following a EUR10m capital investment and operations relocation.

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SPECIAL REPORT

HOT LIST 2018 LIAM HAYES Global chief people officer AURECON

Within the past year, Liam Hayes made employee experience at Aurecon the absolute top priority. This involved recruiting an industrial designer with an innovation background to embed design thinking into the business, as well as conducting interviews to gather insights from clients about the key attributes they expect from the people at Aurecon. The research led his team to develop eight key attributes, which now serve as the standard against which potential talent is being measured.

As head of people and a member of the global leadership team, Hayes’ goal is to maintain a ‘human-centric’ approach in Aurecon’s leaders, which he has repeatedly demonstrated by implementing innovative programs, such as the MindMatters initiative for mental health issues in the workplace.

Hayes is also a member of the Global CEOs Future Ready team of nine leaders, who have a focus on the different skills, attributes and technological needs of a future-ready engineering workforce. He was the only HR leader to be named Young Executive of the Year in 2017 by the Australian Financial Review BOSS magazine.

SHIONA WATSON Senior director, HR PEPSICO

One notable accomplishment for Shiona Watson and her team at PepsiCo has been consistently earning the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s Employer of Choice citation – which the company has received four years in a row – because of their commitment and efforts to uphold work-life quality and flexibility. To foster this kind of culture, Watson and her team rolled out a couple of initiatives that not only provide a framework for productive discussions and work arrangements between employees and managers, but also actively encourage senior leaders to work flexibly and make this a positive and empowering concept. In addition, they have enhanced PepsiCo’s leave benefit for primary carers, increasing paid leave from 12 to 16 weeks, which is above the Australian average.

L&D is another point of focus for Watson and her team, given the range of development programs they maintain to support continuous learning for employees and the community.

These cover coaching, mentoring and leadership training for women, as well as an online learning portal, informal lunch and learns, sponsorship of higher-education qualifications, and scholarships for the children of PepsiCo employees.

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NADA GEORGE Vice president, HR – Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the Philippines AMEX

A perennial on HRD’s Hot List, Nada George has been recognised with countless accolades for her leadership of HR at Amex. For example, the Philippines, which is a relatively new site for Amex, won its first Employer of Choice award in 2017. Malaysia won the Aon Best Employer award for the seventh consecutive year, and in Australia the WGEA has recognised the company’s ‘Why I won’t ask your salary’ campaign, which supports pay equity. The most recent accolade was the 2018 Champions of Flexible Work Award from the FlexAgility Group.

Talent is a key focus area for George, and she concedes that each market has different challenges – be it attracting talent in competitive environments, engaging talent, or building strong career paths for talent outside their own business units.

“It’s important to understand the talent segments we want to focus on and build a multidimensional strategy – both shortand long-term – because there’s really no silver bullet and no ‘one size fits all’ solution,” she tells HRD. In the year to come, George will be kicking off Amex’s annual employee satisfaction surveys – this is an area the team dedicates a lot of time to, partnering with the business to review, analyse, understand and implement meaningful plans at both a business unit level and country level.

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FEATURES

SECTOR FOCUS: TEAM BUILDING

Building a better team Team cohesion is an essential feature of the modern workplace environment. So how can managers better enhance their staff’s teamwork?

THE LAST 20 years or so have seen corporate team building undergo a considerable evolution. The cringey ’90s cliché of unfortunate team members being asked to fall back into a ‘trust circle’ after hours of collective arrhythmic drumming is now a thing of the past.

Rather, team-building exercises of the

“What people often don’t realise is that the environment for team-building activities is completely – and deliberately – different from the workplace,” says Cromie. “When you take people out of their day-to-day workplaces, it allows them to step up and demonstrate qualities that may not have been noticed before.”

“When you take people out of their day-to-day workplaces, it allows them to step up and demonstrate qualities that may not have been noticed before” Michael Cromie, general manager, Corporate Challenge Events 21st century are instead aimed at providing a more meaningful experience, one with lasting impact and positive benefits for the team – and actually encouraging employees to have fun in the process, too.

Michael Cromie, general manager of Corporate Challenge Events, is passionate about the positive impact that team-building events can have on the collective psyche of the workplace.

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Bringing employees on board Still, some negative stereotypes around team-building days have lingered in the popular consciousness, even if the reality is far different. For this and other reasons, workers are not always enthused about the idea of spending the day with their co-workers outside of the office environment.

Nonetheless, Cromie contends that this doesn’t necessarily need to be a barrier to a

successful team-building experience.

“Ultimately, managers are responsible for selling their staff on the idea,” he says. “But the upside is that most people like to have fun. If you can leverage that, you’re going to get much better results.”

Where managers often put their foot wrong is focusing on the ways team building will benefit the business as a whole, rather than the individuals involved. While it’s true that this is an important component of team-building exercises, it’s an impersonal approach that makes employees feel as though they are assets, not people.

Rather than doing this, Cromie says making team-building events sound like an invitation to fun – not simply a workplace obligation – will encourage more active and positive participation, which in turn yields a better experience for everyone on the day.

Additionally, explaining how the positive effects of team-building activities can directly benefit employees as individuals will also make for a more cooperative team.

Benefits of team building At its most basic level, team building provides an opportunity to remove staff from an office environment so they can get to know one another on a different, more intimate level. It also provides opportunities for people to try out activities that they might not otherwise get to experience.

Importantly, it often requires staff to learn new communication strategies for working alongside each other in new situations, enhancing existing intra-office friendships and hopefully creating new ones. When used correctly, this combination of elements can feed back into employees’ working relationships, enabling them to work alongside one another more effectively and creating a better collaborative environment.

“It helps your employees get a better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, which helps them to better

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complement each other once they’re back in the workplace,” says Cromie.

Selecting the best activity for your team During his time in the industry, Cromie has worked with a huge variety of organisations in search of team-building activities. He stresses that it is important for organisations to be transparent about their previous forays into team building so that programs can be properly tailored to avoid any past pitfalls, while ensuring a new and unique experience. Team-building exercises can involve the investment of considerable time and money, so it’s important to ensure there are measurable

effects in place, developed in conjunction with your provider.

“Make sure you are clear about your objectives,” says Cromie. “This helps providers like us offer a palette of activity options for your specific needs.”

Typically there will be some back and forth between the client and the provider to determine group size, desired outcomes and suitability of individual activities.

“As you might expect, managers tend to look for more outcome-focused events,” says Cromie. “Staff typically just want to have fun. But I think there’s room for both if you choose the right program.”

Many organisations also seek to combine their philanthropic efforts with team building.

With more companies investing in corporate responsibility programs and looking to give back to the community, charity-based teambuilding programs continue to increase in popularity. Some options have included constructing furniture, toys or other items for disadvantaged members of the community, while others choose to look at creative fundraising activities.

Additionally, Cromie notes that a lack of time is often an issue for businesses. In the ever-changing modern marketplace, allotting several consecutive days for a corporate retreat is often unfeasible. There’s been an increased shift towards shorter events, running anywhere from two hours to half a day.

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SECTOR FOCUS: TEAM BUILDING

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GETTING STAFF INVOLVED If you’re considering a team-building activity for your staff, don’t just spring it on them – get them involved from the planning stage. Ask them what sort of activities they’d like to do. The final decision may rest with you, but that doesn’t mean other staff can’t be involved. A failure to communicate effectively at managerial level can be a key driver behind other issues in the workplace.

Getting staff more involved at an earlier stage will help them feel a greater sense of engagement with the activity.

Nonetheless, Cromie remains resolutely positive about the benefits such events can offer. Currently, Corporate Challenge Events offers more than 40 different team-building options, customisable for a wide range of age groups, ability levels and time required away from the office.

Staying safe Being out of the enclosed office naturally introduces a new set of potential risks for employees. Awareness is crucial, and it is essential for any provider to carefully

are complex and will vary from organisation to organisation. It might be to mix up teams so different departments are learning to work together, to teach more effective leadership skills, to enable staff to communicate more effectively, or to assess the next generation of leadership talent within your team.

Recent years haven’t just seen a shift in the style and delivery method of teambuilding activities; there’s also been a shift in the staff they’re offered to. Traditionally, team building events have tended to be seen as important opportunities for senior staff, such

“If people walk away from our events with a more positive mindset and attitude about their team, then we have done our job” Michael Cromie, general manager, Corporate Challenge Events

CORPORATE CHALLENGE EVENTS Established in 1994, Corporate Challenge Events is an industry leader in delivering team building, corporate training and culture solutions for organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

Corporate Challenge Events is an accredited provider of FISH! training by The Training Store. Visit www.corporatechallenge.com.au for more information.

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outline safety requirements to participants from the outset.

Corporate Challenge Events places substantial emphasis on safety, with Cromie describing it as “paramount”. The activities of the organisation are deliberately lowrisk, aimed at ensuring all participants feel comfortable with what they are doing and only challenge themselves if they are able.

“People have different levels of limitations, and coordinators need to be mindful of people’s individual needs,” says Cromie.

“Bringing them out of their comfort zone in an affirming way can be very positive, but throwing them into the deep end can potentially cause injury, or just sour them on the experience.”

Creating a better work environment The reasons for seeking a team-building day

as department heads. This is understandable, given that senior staff often have a much broader umbrella of responsibilities and work with a much wider range of staff than their subordinates. Cooperation and team cohesion is especially important at this level.

Nonetheless, many organisations are now seeing the value in offering these teambuilding opportunities to more junior staff.

Ingraining a better attitude to teamwork at an earlier stage of employment will theoretically yield far more long-term benefits – and people can enjoy themselves while creating a better workplace culture, too.

“After our events, we always have participants say that they didn’t expect to have as much fun as they did,” says Cromie.

“If people walk away from our events with a more positive mindset and attitude about their team, then we have done our job.”

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FEATURES

SECTOR FOCUS: DIGITAL STRATEGY

Standing at the forefront of HR delivery With HR constantly evolving, many off-the-shelf solutions are no longer meeting professional needs.

HRD speaks to Mike Ellis of Synchrony Global to discover how the company is offering something new to the market HR DEPARTMENTS have undergone drastic evolution since the old days of ‘Personnel’. Once overseeing day-to-day tasks such as payroll, hiring and firing, the present and future of HR is more closely aligned with driving workplace culture

Synchrony Global, developing a more effective tool was driven by a desire to better the HR workplace, along with simple necessity.

With more than 18 years in the industry, he’s seen first-hand how radically the HR space has shifted, and personally experienced the

“Best practice talent management shouldn’t just be something for large, tier-one organisations. Every single company should be able to focus on their most important asset – people” Mike Ellis, chief commercial officer, Synchrony Global and helping develop staff to their full potential. Consequently, changing times demand changing technology. Yet digital HR tools have traditionally been a mixed bag, offering some core features while frequently lagging behind the current needs of the wider industry.

For Mike Ellis, chief commercial officer at

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reasons why HR professionals need the appropriate digital tools.

“In the past, companies tended to run their HR departments off spreadsheetbased programs,” Ellis says. “That was fine for storing data, but it didn’t offer much for compiling holistic information – something that was increasingly necessary as the

demands of the industry changed.”

At an individual level, businesses tend to have a myriad of reasons for requiring more effective HR management systems. New legislation can also play a role in the adoption of new technologies. For example, the Budget Savings (Omnibus) Bill 2016 made Single Touch Payroll a legal requirement for organisations in Australia. Accordingly, numerous organisations found it necessary to reassess their payroll platforms. Given the new reports and greater transparency required, many Australian businesses recognised the benefits of integrating payroll with core HR on a single platform.

In other cases, changing technology has been a keen driver, with many businesses eager to move to cloud-based storage. Reducing costs, shrinking office space, streamlining processes, improved security and an overall desire for the business to appear ‘current’ can be key influencers on this front.

Managing shifting priorities Whatever the specifics of your business, Ellis proposes that HR departments rethink their priorities beyond simple process improvement and compliance when selecting a management system.

With the HR landscape changing so rapidly and the demand for skilled workforces increasing, organisations need to invest in solutions to identify, attract and manage their talent; create efficiencies through digitisation and automation; and increase employee productivity by providing consumer-grade experiences.

“We felt that best practice talent management shouldn’t just be something for large, tier-one organisations,” Ellis says.

“Every single company should be able to focus on their most important asset – people.

But the best technology wasn’t available at the time for the SMB space.”

The end result was Synchrony People + Payroll – a flexible and modular solution that offers functionality to manage every

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SYNCHRONY GLOBAL single point in the employee life cycle.

“Once you hire a new employee, you need to ensure you get early engagement with them. It’s generally accepted that you’ll know within the first 30 days if an employee is going to be productive or not,” says Ellis.

“Of course, that’s really based on the way you onboard a new employee, so there are huge practical benefits to having a proper HR management system in place.”

The underlying technology is powered

by SAP SuccessFactors. Synchrony People + Payroll aims to harness the breadth of technology and options that SuccessFactors offers, while removing the time, complexity and cost of set-up by providing preconfigured templates for SMBs as well as large, complex and enterprise organisations. All of these

Synchrony Global is a leading provider of cloud HR and payroll solutions and services, including SAP SuccessFactors as an SAP Gold Partner. Synchrony’s services optimise HR delivery through best practice cloud processes, innovative technology and robust, high-quality operational services. They have also created an SAP Qualified Partner-Packaged Solution, Synchrony People + Payroll, based on SAP SuccessFactors technology, that is providing transformational human resource management capability to organisations of all sizes.

templates are based on industry best practice, while these shortcuts reduce delivery costs and time frames by up to 90%, in addition to being substantially more user-friendly.

It is currently localised across 44 countries to attract, identify and manage talent with leading technology and best practice processes. Importantly, it offers flexibility and scalability for businesses of any size.

While the out-of-the-box version includes comprehensive tools for people management, additional modules can be added as an SMB

grows and changes – an “adopt and adapt” process, as Ellis describes it.

“We found that businesses were often a bit lost trying to implement these big changes themselves,” Ellis says. “Those vendors or partners gave it to IT or HR and said, ‘Here, this is your problem’. We knew that what we were doing could make a big difference.”

By working with SAP, Synchrony felt it could develop pre-packaged solutions built on best practice, tools and templates that could be implemented quickly and provide

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SECTOR FOCUS: DIGITAL STRATEGY Brought to you by

ENDING THE FEAR OF CHANGE

enterprise-grade tech to SMBs – all without the usual barriers to entry.

Clients with existing technology in place are often hesitant about shifting to new systems as this could mean updating their procedures to be in line with industry best practice. But Ellis maintains they don’t need to be afraid of change.

“It’s about explaining to the client that they’ve invested in this new technology and you really want to them to experience the full benefits of it,” he says.

Future trends in HR delivery Working with its customers, Synchrony has already been able to identify specialist requirements and customise Synchrony People + Payroll for industries such as health, aged care, retail and hospitality, manufacturing, mining, and government and the public sector. Synchrony will also continue to proactively evolve and optimise the product to be at the forefront of both industry and technology trends.

“Working with a tool like this in Australia is really fantastic,” Ellis says. “As we also have offices internationally, we’re able to pick up

Chatbots and other self-service tools are likely to be embedded into future products to enable managers and employees to perform a larger number of tasks themselves, minimising the need for large service centres in the process. Ellis sees them as relieving HR staff of the burden of relatively mundane but frequently time-consuming tasks such as leave requests, updating staff details, and potentially even exit interviews. The benefits aren’t necessarily limited to the HR department either; employees will be empowered to make their own changes to the system as necessary, streamlining their own roles and reducing wait times in the process.

Ultimately, the trend towards AI and automation is aimed at removing much of

“Identifying new job roles to leverage the full potential of AI in HR should be a major business concern for organisations today” Mike Ellis, chief commercial officer, Synchrony Global on the trends here, take them into other parts of APAC and then into the wider world.”

In the future workplace, HR will be a split function; HR leadership will provide strategic functions driving corporate strategy, rather than simply responding to it. In turn, the delivery of HR solutions will be closely aligned to IT. Accordingly, Ellis is of the opinion that organisations will need to start building HR teams that partner with IT and digital transformation teams. This can then be used to better enable information-sharing on the latest AI products and services, as well as on how other functions such as IT or marketing can embrace AI to drive growth.

“Identifying new job roles to leverage the full potential of AI in HR should be a major business concern for organisations today,” says Ellis. “They need to develop expertise in how AI will impact HR.”

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the grunt work from the HR department and employees alike. Departments will have more time on their hands to optimise workflow and drive high-quality employee experiences, which in turn can onflow into increased profitability for companies.

Yet digital transformation in HR is more than the simple implementation of self-service platforms and technologies for HR; rather, it carries the potential for new discourse about HR operations. Providing new ways of streamlining HR tasks related, for example, to employee learning, training and performance will lead to better employee engagement, innovation and motivation.

“You’re enabling more of your business partners and your HR staff and C-suite to really act as strategic HR partners rather than focusing on and being bogged down in transactional work,” Ellis says.

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ANNUAL REVIEW

HR SALARY AND JOBS GUIDE

TALENT’S NEW HORIZONS: 2018 HR SALARY + JOBS GUIDE With 2018 more than halfway behind us and 2019 fast approaching, HRD takes a look at the latest trends in HR careers and compensation

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LOOKING BACK over the last 12 months and ahead to the year to come, it’s clear that HR is still very much an industry evolving. Public – and perhaps more crucially managerial – confusion around the nature of HR continues to dissipate, and its function in the modern workplace is arguably better understood than ever before. Salaries remain relatively static, but there have been spikes.

Ultimately, at a macro level the HR department should be driving positive cultural change within its home organisation.

At a micro level, this is achieved by empowering and equipping employees to perform to the best of their abilities, and by encouraging a positive workplace culture.

Easier said than done, of course – this is something that will look different for every organisation, depending on the individual workplace. Additionally, it will continue to shift as roles ebb in and out of vogue, according to changes in the wider marketplace.

There is other cause for celebration, too: after several of years of redundancies, restructures and offshoring throughout the industry, the 2017/18 financial year marked a return to growth for HR departments.

However, that doesn’t mean that HR professionals can simply rest on their laurels and expect to cruise by for the next 12 months.

“HR as a function is an enabler,” says John Baker, joint group managing director of The Next Group. “HR professionals need to consistently demonstrate that the work they do is adding to the performance of the business.”

Competition for top talent is also

becoming tougher as more organisations seek to expand their internal departments.

The big names in the business can potentially have their pick of roles – and that’s if they can be encouraged to leave their current positions at all.

“I believe the market is demonstrating some signs of being moderately talent-short, at a time when demand is probably over the midline,” says David Owens of HR Partners.

“Supply is somewhat constrained, so it’s a competitive market for talent.”

Generalist roles HR generalists remain highly sought after, with employers seeking staff who can perform across a range of areas while also providing support to organisations that are undergoing rapid growth.

46%

of employees are currently looking for or planning to look for a new job in the next 12 months

53%

of people who plan to change jobs are driven by a lack of promotional opportunities

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ANNUAL REVIEW

HR SALARY AND JOBS GUIDE

DO YOU SEE THE GENERAL OUTLOOK FOR THE ECONOMY IN THE FORTHCOMING 6-12 MONTHS AS...

Weakening?

8% 52%

Static?

40%

Strengthening?

IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS, HAS BUSINESS ACTIVITY…

9% Decreased?

17% Remained the same?

74% Increased?

IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS, DO YOU ENVISAGE BUSINESS ACTIVITY (ACROSS ALL INDUSTRIES)…

4% Decreasing?

42

19% Remaining the same?

77% Increasing?

Charlotte Perkins, manager at Frazer Jones, says there has been an increased interest in junior positions, particularly as many HR departments continue to upgrade the nature of their roles.

“There’s an increase in clients looking for HR junior staff to support them with the hands-on, operational frontline work,” she says. “HR managers are looking for HR coordinators and HR advisers to free them up from day-to-day details, in order to get more involved in large-scale strategy and projects.”

One of this year’s standout roles is that of HR business partner. They’re increasingly sought after as organisations favour strategic multiskilled generalists over consultants or advisers. And with highly skilled professionals in short supply, employers have offered more competitive packages.

That said, Baker cautions against employers that use job titles “creatively” to attract talent.

“HR business partner is one job title we often see abused,” he says. “In principle, HR business partner is meant to be a senior strategic and commercial role, partnering with a leadership team. However, we often see it being used for more junior HR advisorequivalent roles – some employers try to leverage the prestige of the title without remunerating accordingly.”

It’s a cautionary note for those looking to climb the HR ladder: seize opportunities, but make sure you pay close attention to what is actually being offered to you before accepting a role.

Lisa Morris, director of SA and NT at Hays, says different states face their own unique challenges. Many Western Australian businesses, for example, are attempting to attract back top HR professionals who moved interstate during the downturn.

“We’ve also seen the market in SA shift heavily towards temporary roles, due to the change in government,” she says. “There

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DO YOU THINK SKILL SHORTAGES ARE LIKELY TO IMPACT THE EFFECTIVE OPERATION OF YOUR BUSINESS/DEPARTMENT?

33% No

41%

26%

Yes – in a minor way

have also been a number of our key defence organisations appointing HR professionals.”

Specialist roles Salaries remain relatively static for the industry as a whole, but there have been upward spikes in a number of specialist areas.

Among specialists, talent acquisition has emerged as a particularly hot market. Many larger companies are looking to internalise functions that may have traditionally been carried out by agencies or specialists in the past. This seems largely driven by cost saving, as well as the desire to exercise greater autonomy over the recruitment process.

The HR department should be driving positive cultural change within their home organisation

Yes – significantly

A recurring theme is that, ironically, it can be difficult to attract top talent for talent acquisition roles. This is due to the wider staff shortage in the domestic market and the fact that many top names are content in their current roles.

There has also been concern in the industry about the reduced possibility of attracting overseas HR staff in general, due to the changes to 457 visa legislation.

Staff arriving from overseas must now be paid a minimum of A$90,000, receive a two-year visa, and are no longer provided with a pathway to permanent residence or citizenship. It’s a less attractive package

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ANNUAL REVIEW

HR SALARY AND JOBS GUIDE

Salaries remain relatively static for the industry as a whole, but there have been upward spikes in a number of specialist areas

for employers and employees alike. Longterm planning is made considerably more difficult for businesses, and there is far less incentive for prospective overseas employees to relocate.

Nonetheless, Owens is sceptical that this will have a significant impact on the industry, saying there is simply a wider appreciation of the benefits of HR, which accordingly drives demand for talent.

“I don’t really think that the 457 discussion is applicable to HR in a significant way,” he says. ”I do think the value proposition for HR practitioners, their skills and the benefits they provide are simply more widely accepted, which means there’s more competition for talent.”

Larger external factors may also come into play over the next few months. Though preliminary findings will not be released until September, the royal commission into banking and financial services has already caused blowback across a number of industries. A number of HR professionals seem eager to dissociate from banking and finance roles due to the current controversy.

However, it is likely this will eventually stabilise; with the commission’s final report due in February 2019, finance and associated industries may make more attractive offers to lure staff back to the field.

On a similar note, remuneration specialists have also seen an increase in advertised roles. This is likely due to wider business growth necessitating HR expansion.

“As they expand, organisations eventually need to put in place structured remuneration frameworks,” says Perkins. “Previously, HR business partners or external consultants may have been carrying out these tasks, but there’s been a push to bring remuneration specialists back in-house.”

HOT ROLES HR advisers – Broad skill sets at this level will continue to attract higher salaries as companies endeavour to capitalise on positive market conditions.

HOT

Talent acquisition specialists – As more organisations seek to save on external and consultant costs, talent acquisition specialists find themselves increasingly sought after across a variety of industries.

HOT

Change managers – Overseeing transitions in the workplace, change managers are proving to be vital team members for many companies as they seek to bring themselves into the modern business world.

HOT

L&D instructional designers – The need for high-quality learning materials has helped drive continued interest in and demand for professionals in this field.

HOT

Remuneration specialists – There was an upswing in demand for remuneration specialists during the 2017/18 financial year, particularly as the end of the financial year approached.

HOT

WHS specialists – Safety legislation continues to evolve at a rapid rate, necessitating a greater need for WHS specialists in and around workplaces.

HOT

IN YOUR NEXT REVIEW, DO YOU ENVISAGE ASKING FOR A PAY RISE?

Yes

28% 48%

Senior roles Movement has been more minimal at the senior staff level. Given the comparatively small size of the Australian market in relation to the

44

24%

Not sure No

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SALARY COMPARISONS FOR PERMANENT ROLES Hays ($)

Robert Walters ($)

Frazer Jones ($)

Michael Page ($)

2017 HRD median

2018 HRD median

% change (median)

HR director (large employer)

280,000

295,000

240,000

300,000

260,000

287,500

10.5%

HR manager (large employer)

180,000

180,000

180,000

166,000

176,250

180,000

2.1%

HR business partner

120,000

145,000

145,000

133,000

133,250

139,000

4.3%

HR adviser

85,000

97,500

105,000

95,000

86,250

96,250

11%

HR coordinator/administrator

65,000

65,000

62,500

70,000

65,000

65,000

IR manager/ER manager

160,000

177,500

160,000

158,000

165,000

160,000

IR adviser/ER adviser

110,000

-

112,500

108,000

110,000

110,000

N/A

L&D director

220,000

-

195,000

-

207,500

207,500

N/A

L&D manager

150,000

147,500

130,000

145,000

144,750

146,250

1.0%

L&D adviser

95,000

102,500

100,000

95,000

101,875

97,500

4.2%

L&D coordinator

70,000

-

72,500

93,000

70,000

72,500

3.5%

Trainer

85,000

-

110,000

70,000

85,000

85,000

N/A

Diversity manager

150,000

-

-

-

150,000

150,000

N/A

Diversity adviser

110,000

-

-

-

110,000

110,000

N/A

HOT

Recruitment manager/talent acquisition manager

130,000

147,500

185,000

-

150,000

147,500

1.6%

HOT

Recruitment adviser

95,000

112,500

100,000

-

97,500

100,000

2.5% N/A

Role

HOT

N/A 3.0%

Workforce planner

110,000

175,000

-

-

142,500

142,500

HOT

Change manager

200,000

185,000

212,500

-

185,000

200,000

8.1%

HOT

L&D instructional designer

160,000

120,000

140,000

111,000

120,000

130,000

8.3%

Organisational development manager

150,000

155,000

205,000

-

177,500

155,000

12.6%

Organisational development adviser

110,000

105,000

130,000

-

130,000

110,000

15%

HOT

Director of remuneration and benefits

200,000

-

215,000

-

207,500

207,500

N/A

HOT

Remuneration and benefits manager

150,000

180,000

-

165,000

New entry

165,000

N/A

HOT

Remuneration and benefits adviser

100,000

107,500

135,000

115,000

109,000

111,250

HRIS adviser

100,000

-

100,000

103,000

100,000

100,000

N/A

WHS director

170,000

-

220,000

-

175,000

197,500

12.8% N/A

2%

Health and wellbeing manager

120,000

-

-

-

120,000

120,000

HOT

WHS manager

140,000

180,000

165,000

160,000

140,000

162,500

16%

HOT

WHS adviser/coordinator

100,000

105,000

107,500

90,000

87,500

102,500

17.1%

Injury/RTW Manager

130,000

-

125,000

-

127,500

127,500

N/A

Average

133,659

134,500

0.6%

Hays: Figures are the median from a low and upper range (eg $160k–$170k); all figures are Sydney-based for companies with >1,000 employees; all salaries exclude superannuation.

Robert Walters: Figures are for Sydney permanent roles, taken from the median of a lower and upper range; figures are basic salaries inclusive of superannuation but exclusive of benefits/bonuses unless otherwise specified.

Frazer Jones: Figures are inclusive of superannuation and exclusive of incentives and other benefits. Figures are for ‘large’ organisations.

Michael Page: Salary ranges in the median from a lower and upper range. All figures relate to ‘large’ organisations.

While we have taken great care, these salary ranges can only be approximate guides as there are often specific circumstances related to individual companies. Contact your recruitment agency for additional information.

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ANNUAL REVIEW

HR SALARY AND JOBS GUIDE

international industry, there is accordingly a smaller pool of roles available, so this is not a total surprise.

Nonetheless, it’s created a number of interesting challenges for senior staff who have been working overseas for a number of years and are now looking to return home.

Prospective employees who have gained valuable experience from working in major international markets such as London, Dubai or the US may still find it difficult to lock in an equivalent role in Australia.

There’s also less movement at the senior level because many senior staff appear to be satisfied with their current roles. Recruitment is often relatively discreet, with roles not always openly advertised; a senior employee looking to move on may reach out, or a recruiter may get in touch at the right time.

But eager recruiters should be aware that senior staff can rarely be tempted away from a comfortable role by the simple promise of more dollars in their pocket.

“HR executives move roles in order to expose themselves to business improvement activities,” says Morris. “They look for roles where they can have an impact, and as a result, remuneration is not always the key driver of a career move.”

More employers are also looking at means of restructuring, to save on overheads. This

DOES YOUR COMPANY OFFER FLEXIBLE SALARY PACKAGING?

67% No

46

Remuneration The FY18/19 Hays Salary Guide: Salary & Recruitment Trends suggests that 89% of employers are planning to give their employees a pay rise in the next 12 months, while only 48% of employees definitely intend to ask for a pay rise at their next review. Nonetheless, 67% see it as the biggest priority for their career over the next 12 months.

Whether or not they’re happy with their pay rise remains to be seen, though; 65% of employees intend to give their employees an average pay rise of 3%, which is theoretically comparable with cost-of-living increases.

Given the increasingly competitive nature of the HR industry – particularly in specialist and senior roles – employers need

OF THOSE WHO ANSWERED YES, THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS WERE INDICATED AS BEING COMMONLY OFFERED TO (%)…

21% 10%

49%

20% Car

Yes

33%

potentially eliminates a number of senior roles when they attempt to get more junior HR staff to fulfil similar functions. Still, there are positions to be had for those who demonstrate the right qualities.

“I think CEOs and business leaders are much more astute about what they need from their HR leaders these days,” says Owens.

“They value experienced players, and they don’t really think that their expectations for quality professional HR people should be any different from any other category of senior executive.”

27%

38%

16%

6% 4%

19% Bonuses

Private health insurance

16% 47% 6% 6% Above mandatory superannuation

25%

5% 12%

41% 67%

Private expenses

33%

29% 61%

4% 6%

65% Other

41% 15%

11%

Parking

25% 12% 6%

57%

Salary sacrifice

All employees

Less than 50%

More than 50%

Few employees

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to look at what else they can offer if they can’t necessarily stump up the cash.

“Organisations need to take a holistic view of their remuneration programs and ensure they have clear objectives and deliver value to both employer and employee alike,” says Nidhi Malik, senior consultant in Willis Tower Watson’s talent and rewards team.

The form this takes will vary depending on the organisation, but examples include increased flexibility around working hours, reduced days in the office, working from home, increased training prospects, and improved prospects of upward mobility in the organisation. Some staff will place greater emphasis on this than take-home pay. Sixtyseven per cent of employers are now offering flexible working conditions, so if your business isn’t already offering it, then it’s in the minority.

“I’m very much an advocate of hiring someone on a four-day-a-week basis if they’re still able to perform the same tasks as someone else in five days,” says Claire Hunt, manager of the HR recruitment team at Robert Walters.

“Often people will work more smartly and efficiently with their time, which will always be better for a business.”

On a similar note, the wider employee population is also changing; with greater casualisation comes a more diverse array of staff, and companies need to make sure they’re treating all of those categories equitably.

“Companies need to be mindful of fairness and ensure the incentive spread reflects the diversity of their workforce,” says Malik. “This isn’t just in relation to gender – it’s also about incentivising mature-age workers, flexible workers and contingent workers.”

Other trends There’s a public perception that the wider Australian workforce has seen an increased move towards casualisation, with both shortand long-term contracts becoming the norm, rather than full-time employment. This hasn’t just affected HR; it’s a widespread phenomenon. Accordingly, it breeds concerns about long-term job security. However, there may be a shift towards more permanent roles in HR and other industries by the end of 2019, after the next federal election is finalised.

The full impact of the royal commission also remains to be seen. While it has theoretically been centred around the banking and finance industry, it’s entirely

IS IT YOUR POLICY TO COUNTER-OFFER STAFF WHEN THEY RESIGN?

No

Sometimes

Yes

59% 39% 2%

OF THOSE YOU COUNTEROFFERED, ON AVERAGE, DID THEY...

Leave anyway?

45%

Stay longer than 12 months?

30%

Stay 3–12 months?

22%

Stay less than 3 months?

3%

BOOSTING YOUR CHANCES OF A PAY RISE Looking to boost your pay in the next 12 months? Lisa Morris of Hays suggests that it’s crucial to use your accomplishments and the value you add to your organisation as the basis of your negotiation. If you clearly demonstrate your worth, you’ll be in a stronger negotiating position. Hays’ tips include: Prepare a list of your recent achievements that exceed your objectives. You may need to look back at your original job description.

Also list any changed or rising work volumes or duties you’re now undertaking and consider projects you’ve been involved in.

Then list the resulting benefit to the organisation of your results.

The aim here is to provide strong evidence to support the value you provide, so focus on outcomes.

Have a fallback position. If your employer cannot afford to increase your salary, can you agree a date for another pay review in three or six months?

What about additional benefits?

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3/08/2018 3:08:27 PM

ANNUAL REVIEW

HR SALARY AND JOBS GUIDE

AVERAGE HR SALARY INCREASES OVER NEXT 12 MONTHS 70 60

65%

50 40 30 20 10 0

3%

18%

4%

2%

11%

3–6%

6%+

>10%

0%

likely there will be a flow-on effect to other fields of business.

“Everything is being audited far more closely now, with companies going through everything with a fine-tooth comb,” says Hunt. “From an HR perspective, this will affect internal processes, because they’ll have to be so much tighter on making sure everything is well documented for compliance purposes.”

Though the push for digital records over paper is already well underway, the legislative changes that follow in the royal commission’s wake are likely to increase the drive for better compliance procedures, not least to ensure future ease of access and greater transparency.

On a more positive note, employers have indicated greater interest in developing a positive company culture. Qualifications and experience both remain crucial edges in workplace success, but a ‘hire for attitude, train for skill’ approach is also becoming increasingly common.

Overall, things look promising for the wider HR industry. Talent shortages will likely continue to present challenges, but with better public recognition of the skills required and the increasing necessity of utilising them, the outlook for the next 12 months is encouraging.

All graphs, unless indicated otherwise, are taken from Hays 2018 Salary Guide

GENERAL HIRING TRENDS Business activity increased for 74% of employers in the past 12 months, while more than three quarters (77%) expect it to increase again in the next 12 months.

Over half of employers (52%) are currently restructuring their department or organisation to keep up with changing business needs.

Staff turnover increased for 32% of organisations in the past 12 months, with overtime also up by 34%.

46% of employees plan to look for a new job this year, with 53% citing a lack of promotional opportunities as the main reason.

24% of employers now utilise temporary and contract employees on a regular basis.

67% of employers, compared to 65% last year, are worried that skill shortages will impact the effective operation of their organisation or department in a significant (26%) or minor (41%) way.

59% of employees say they sometimes counter-offer staff when they resign – a significant increase from 38% last year.

However, 45% left anyway and 22% stayed but left within 12 months. Only 30% stayed for more than 12 months.

Flexible work practices are the most important benefit for 73% of employees, with 84% of employers offering them. Companies not offering these arrangements are now in the minority, and need to consider the effect it may have on attracting new staff.

48

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19 September 2018 • The Westin Sydney

RETHINK THE FUTURE OF HR TECHNOLOGY • Insights from HR leaders featuring Telstra, ANZ, QBE, Nestle Nespresso, Fujitsu and more • Two streams of content starting from as little as $185 • Networking opportunities with 200+ HR professionals PRINCIPAL PARTNERS

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FEATURES

SECTOR FOCUS: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Is AI the new HR? The notion of AI often conjures up images of automation without human involvement. But while it offers HR the potential for great leaps forward in organisational processes, human intervention and decision-making are still required THE MODERN conception of AI has its antecedents in world mythology, through figures such as Galatea or the Golem. Later medieval and enlightenment thinkers would expand on the concept, directly or indirectly contributing to the development of the modern computer in the process.

The idea of AI has also flourished in

is challenging,” says Darren Hnatiw, chief technology officer at Frontier Software. “But the common factor in each is an intention to enable computers to behave in ways that mimic human behaviour and intelligence.”

AI has a huge number of potential applications within a business context, for example completing repetitive, low-value-

“HR needs to acknowledge reality and find ways to embrace AI as part of the HR toolset” Darren Hnatiw, chief technology officer, Frontier Software science fiction, with one of the most famous examples found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

But AI research as we understand it today emerged in 1956, at the Dartmouth Conference, an extended brainstorming session that helped lead to the modern understanding and definitions of AI. There are numerous subclassifications of definition to consider, but they consistently differentiate on task complexity.

“Arriving at a precise definition of AI

50

add tasks. It offers tangible benefits, such as the capacity to assimilate and analyse large amounts of data, reducing human input time and the capacity for error. According to Deloitte’s 2018 Global Human Capital Trends report, organisations overwhelmingly agree that AI is very important. However, of the 72% of respondents acknowledging this, only 31% are ready to embrace it. Those HR teams that have already applied AI to their processes are reporting impressive results and setting the benchmark for an AI-led future.

Volume recruiters are already using AI to assess responses to screening questions.

Using the internet, virtual interviewers can concurrently interview hundreds of applicants, narrowing the applicant pool to around 10%, helping assess prospective employees before opting for an in-person interview.

“The reduction in time to hire can provide a significant competitive edge, especially when competing for limited resources,” says Hnatiw.

AI is enabling passive candidate sourcing by identifying likely candidates from verified data sources. Using recruiter-defined parameters (eg location, skill set or industry), AI can return lists of potential candidates, predict their readiness for a move, develop and send communications, and map responses. Success rates for marketing campaigns based on these analyses have, anecdotally, been as high as 16%.

There are other workplace applications, too. Sentiment Analysis uses AI to examine the spoken or written word with the intent to identify the prevailing feeling or emotion.

AI can compare individual employee computer activity – emails, browsing, etc.

– to identify changes to defined baseline behaviours that might suggest an employee is considering leaving.

AI’s capacity for rapid analysis also lends itself to person-centric solutions. It can deploy lists of job-specific contacts for new starters, individual learning pathways and provide graphical representations of core competencies, comparing one employee to their peer group.

New employee self-service systems are using chatbots to engage employees. Users are asked what they want to do, and the bot shows them how. For systems used infrequently by employees, chatbots enhance the user experience, providing an interactive assistant as the interface.

“One area that has attracted a great deal of positive attention is AI’s capacity to remove bias, particularly in recruitment processes,” says Hnatiw. “Using only data,

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Brought to you by

LEVELS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI isn’t influenced by writing style, candidate photographs, alumni or other affiliations.

This leads to better and more diverse shortlisting. It has also been reported as selecting candidates suitable for horizontal career moves, via assessment of other, very different roles.”

For many HR practitioners, however, AI is a step too far. They view AI as something that removes the ‘human’ from the HR equation, and that may even hijack processes completely. A recent blog post by Ibrahim Diallo received worldwide attention when he described his own experience of an HR system automatically – and erroneously – terminating an employee. Due to the construction of the AI system, human

Artificial intelligence

Refers to machines designed to behave like humans. Typically, they do one thing very well – eg Google maps can suggest fastest routes.

Machine learning

The science of getting computers to learn and act like humans, improving learning by amassing and analysing actual interactions – eg websites that prompt “people who bought this also bought...”.

Deep learning

Advanced machine learning that teaches computers to learn by example. Deep learning is a key technology behind self-driving vehicles that can obey road signs and recognise pedestrians or obstacles.

intervention was unable to stop it from happening. The system sent termination advice emails throughout the organisation and the employee was forced to take three weeks’ unpaid leave until the AI was overruled. Aside from the inconvenience, potential legal ramifications and impact on earnings, the employee reported a change in his perceived trust relationship with co-workers when he was ‘reinstated’.

The relationship between AI and decisionmaking appears to be a focus of concern for those who don’t support it. Indeed, a 2015 Accenture survey found that only 14% of firstline managers and 46% of executives would trust advice derived from AI. Supporters of AI argue that, as human beings, we are not capable of comprehending the complexity behind the algorithm that draws a conclusion.

Detractors counter with arguments around

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AI algorithms not being as nuanced as human thought processes. On a similar note, Hollywood and wider science fiction has not always painted a positive picture of AI either; most readers would be able to recall at least one AI-inspired movie that depicted a dystopian future ruled by robots.

Nonetheless, the reality is that AI is here to stay, not only within an organisational context but in every aspect of our lives.

“HR needs to acknowledge reality and find ways to embrace AI as part of the HR toolset,” says Hnatiw. “AI can supplement

sets to enable data-driven decision-making.

Managers can use AI to complete routine administrative tasks, such as planning and manual analysis, which is estimated to take up to 54% of their time. The hours recouped can then be invested in strategic and staff development activities that typically absorb about 17% of a manager’s time.

The impact on workforce composition and skill redevelopment that AI will bring is a future state that HR must begin to anticipate.

With AI assuming responsibility for positions that perform repetitive tasks, the emergence

Augments human skills Restructure work Source: 2018 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends

“AI will leap forward significantly in a shorter time frame than that which brought us our smartphones” Darren Hnatiw, chief technology officer, Frontier Software

FRONTIER SOFTWARE Frontier Software was formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1983, and our products are the result of more than 30 years’ investment in technologies and people, focused on the provision of integrated HR and payroll software solutions.

For more information, visit www.frontiersoftware.com.

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human interaction, but it’s not a complete replacement.”

Even with large-scale AI implementation, a human must still interview and select a successful candidate from a pool narrowed

by AI. Data generated by AI can only be used to inform a decision made by a human HR practitioner. A human must confirm reported sentiment; humour, sarcasm and wit may present the exact opposite picture of the sender’s actual intention. Chatbots need a person to whom escalated transactions must go. Automated termination processes need input from HR to ensure the parameters are stringent and also reversible if necessary.

When viewing AI as more of a colleague than a cure-all, HR can assume a key role as AI evangelists, promoting and supporting company-wide applications. For managers, AI can provide succinct analyses of large data

of skill sets traditionally perceived as less important, such as design and creativity, will impact the future needs of organisations.

Workforce planning models must also be updated to accommodate the possibility and impact of a future that includes AI. For those who see the rise and importance of AI as somewhat exaggerated, remember this: the game-changing first iPhone was only released in 2007, sparking a smartphone revolution in its wake. Today, few people could do without them.

“Assuming that the pace of technological change is a constant is a mistake,” says Hnatiw.

“It is exponential, not linear, so AI will leap forward significantly in a shorter time frame than that which brought us our smartphones.”

The human beings in winning organisations know this and are already preparing – make sure you are one of them.

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SECTOR FOCUS: LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

A new culture of workplace learning Developing a culture of learning within the workplace is integral to continued business innovation – and easier than ever, thanks to the power of technology TRADITIONALLY, training, learning and development have been the domain of senior management. Companies have typically been willing to invest in the upskilling of their top team members and then rely on the trickle-down effect to

Fortunately, recent years have seen a greater shift towards providing training to a broader variety of staff. Organisations now see greater value in providing additional training to employees before they reach a senior position, better equipping them for

“As technology continues to evolve and offer greater ease of access, there’s been a greater democratisation of learning” Rosie Cairnes, regional director of Skillsoft (Australia & New Zealand) ensure that other staff reap the (secondhand) benefits.

Given the cost that can be involved in training, this has been an understandable approach, but it isn’t necessarily effective.

Not all managers are gifted communicators, and if staff move on there’s also the potential for knowledge to be lost before it’s been passed on – not to mention the risk that important information can become garbled during transmission.

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their roles in the process. Many of these changes have been driven by technology, which enables greater access to learning resources at a more cost-effective rate.

“Classroom-style learning is a valuable tool, but it naturally means the instructor has to limit their attention to a select few students. It’s also not cost-effective for businesses,” says Rosie Cairnes, regional director of Skillsoft (Australia & New Zealand). “But as technology continues to

evolve and offer greater ease of access, there’s been a greater democratisation of learning.”

Though the emphasis has often been on further developing existing ‘leaders’, in the modern workplace virtually everyone is a leader of some sort, Cairnes says. Yet this mindset is still in the process of filtering into the Australian work landscape; it’s a process Cairnes is passionate about hastening.

“Everyone’s a leader of their own domain, and so you need to be thinking about leadership development,” she says. “You’ve got to not just think about your top tier but what’s happening with your frontline.”

Workplace learning in a digital age One of the great positives about utilising technology for learning delivery is that it is not confined to physical structures or instructor-to-peer ratios. Accordingly, it can enable organisations to reach a far greater number of employees, providing them with ongoing training as the nature of their roles changes.

Still, not all technology is created equal.

Cairnes stresses that businesses should be looking for a partner, rather than a provider, when instituting learning solutions.

“You should be seeking a partner who can understand the unique business issues that you’re trying to resolve, while also demonstrating results and impact,” says Cairnes. “The organisations who are really willing to partner effectively tend to get the best results, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

In Skillsoft’s case, learning is delivered by Percipio’s Embedded Learning Synchronized Assistant (ELSA). With access to the awardwinning intelligent learning platform via a browser plug-in, the experience is available for all users throughout their workday, within their natural workflow.

Percipio has also been designed to be an open learning platform that enables organisations to access curated content, including proprietary resources and assets

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SKILLSOFT from other sources. It has highly flexible deployment options and can operate on its own or be integrated with HRIS and learning management systems. Additionally, it is device agnostic, allowing staff to access training on the device that best suits them – particularly helpful in a world where BYOD is becoming the norm.

This integration of learning into the workday is particularly crucial; it’s estimated that most staff dedicate around 1% of their working week to development. To break it down further, that equates to around 24 minutes a week. It’s a small window of opportunity for staff, and accordingly the learning solution needs to have a formula that speaks to the modern learner.

Skillsoft is the global leader in e-learning. We train more professionals than any other company and are trusted by the world’s leading organisations, including 65% of the Fortune 500. At Skillsoft, our mission is to build beautiful technology and engaging content. Our 165,000-plus courses, videos and books are accessed more than 130 million times every month, in 160 countries and 29 languages. With 100% cloud access, anytime, anywhere.

Still, this doesn’t mean there’s no place for longer-form training.

“We take the view that micro learning on its own doesn’t serve every occasion,” says Cairnes. “You need to have a micro and macro approach to delivering up learning so you can deal with the moment of need but you can also provide something more structured if the need calls for it.”

Additionally, people have different learning needs, which must be factored in when making a decision about platforms

and partners. Skillsoft provides a variety of learning types that can be drawn on to service a relevant teaching situation.

Employees may benefit from a role-play scenario or discussion panel or by hearing from a thought leader. Conversely, the relevant message may be equally effectively conveyed through an animation or by following how-to instructions.

“You can’t just spit out a learning formula that treats all subjects in exactly the same fashion,” says Cairnes. “We take the view

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STAYING AT THE CUTTING EDGE Skillsoft regional director Rosie Cairnes says it’s key to seek a learning partner who demonstrates a history of innovation.

“With the space around learning changing so much thanks to advancements in technology, you really want to be sure that you’re partnered with someone who is constantly invested in innovation,” she says. “You want to make sure that their solutions aren’t just right for now, but will keep up with the advancements in the field.”

that you’ve got to have a varied treatment according to subject and moment of need for the learner.”

Creating a learning culture Still, having all the tools in place will be for naught if the right atmosphere for learning isn’t also present.

For businesses who are seeking further training for their staff, it’s crucial to establish a culture of learning. This must have innovation at its core, and a clear vision that staff and senior management alike can grasp easily. But it’s not as simple as placing “learning culture” in the company’s mission statement and hoping

full (and effective) participation.

“Marketing is key for conveying this message at a critical-mass level,” says Cairnes. “The organisation needs to raise awareness about why a learning culture is really important, and that really comes from management.”

In addition to spearheading the marketing around a new learning culture, management must also clearly demonstrate their commitment to it. This can be manifested in a variety of ways: avid reading habits, regularly participating (or leading) learning, providing recommendations for resources, etc. Perhaps most importantly, their efforts must be visible to other staff, to

“Learning needs to be something quite intrinsically personalised for everybody, and something that everybody engages with” Rosie Cairnes, regional director of Skillsoft (Australia & New Zealand) that things flow from there. Staff need to be made aware that learning is something the organisation actually values and views as a priority.

Similarly, it must be clearly demonstrated that the training is relevant and useful for staff. Learning solutions must be aligned to the larger goals and targets of the business, with a clear agenda outlined as to why a learning culture matters. The future of work demands skills based around problem-solving, decision-making and critical thinking, along with having a basic understanding of disruptive technologies that are impacting the way we work and our experiences, such as the internet of things, machine learning, blockchain and artificial intelligence. Employees must be convinced of the practical benefits to their current and future roles in order to ensure their

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help set an example of expectations. While many staff are eager for learning, no one wants to feel like their boss doesn’t take the exercise seriously.

“Senior management sometimes give the impression that they think learning is something that needs to happen for everyone but themselves,” says Cairnes. “But learning needs to be something quite intrinsically personalised for everybody, and something that everybody engages with.”

Implementing such a culture can be a lengthy and involved process, but it’s increasingly necessary. Companies that can provide their employees with not only the tools they need to perform their tasks but also the opportunity to enhance their existing skills are more likely to retain staff for longer and make a more valuable contribution to their industry.

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INSIDE HR

View from above Design thinking has taken over Cathay Pacific’s HR operations to the extent that anything that does not add value to the employee experience is being stripped out. Iain Hopkins chats to Tony Reynolds about the logical next phase of HR’s evolution TAKING INSPIRATION from the likes of Airbnb, Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has repositioned its HR team as an ‘employee experience’ team.

For Tony Reynolds, Cathay Pacific’s general manager of employee experience, it’s a natural part of the organisation’s evolution; in fact, it’s the only natural way forward.

“I think it would be very difficult to execute on a fantastic customer experience

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if you aren’t first delivering a great employee experience. In fact, I don’t think you can have one without the other,” he says.

The mandate is simple: to merge the employee experience philosophy with the customer experience philosophy. In doing so, Reynolds and his team are aiming to consider every touchpoint along an employee’s journey.

Underpinning it all is data and a firm belief in the power of design thinking.

Reynolds, who looks after four centres of excellence – one of which is data and science analytics – says this is deeper than a rebranding of HR. “We still need to do the traditional HR tasks like performance management, paying people on time and so forth. So we’ve retained those bits, which do have an impact on the employee experience. But the philosophy underpinning it is much broader

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and a bit different. Really how we define it is that it’s anything an employee feels about the business and the brand.”

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO A POSITIVE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE Simply Irresistible Organization™ model

Driven by data Cathay Pacific is clear on its value proposition to customers. “Cathay wants to win and be competitors by delivering a premium customer experience,” Reynolds says. “We’re not just about great products or great routes; we don’t want to be a low-cost carrier, and we’re not really about attracting price-sensitive customers.”

To execute on that value proposition, Cathay has always made sophisticated use of data insights. The organisation has been building its digital capabilities over the last two or three years in order to drive positive experiences at all the touchpoints one might expect, from how people think about buying from Cathay, to what they buy, the online experience, the check-in experience, security, baggage, and then after-flight service.

“The employee experience uses the same model,” says Reynolds. “What are the key touchpoints that have an impact on the employee experience? It’s about human-centred design. How do we start to do this better?”

Reynolds cites the example of the design of Cathay’s recruitment centre. A candidate will walk up to the recruitment centre, where they will be greeted by cabin crew and handed a boarding pass that includes the interview time, and then escorted to the gate where the interview will be conducted. “We immerse people in our brand from the start,” he says. “That goes through pre-boarding and onboarding. People get a very tailored experience, depending on who they are.”

Internal benchmarking Cathay utilises typical data points around employee engagement, and partners with Qualtrics for an annual engagement survey, along with pulse surveys “to get the high-level insight into how people are feeling”, Reynolds says.

He adds that the company is not interested in benchmarking against other organisations that are at other stages of maturity and use different people strategies. “Internal

Meaningful Work

Supportive management

Positive work environment

Growth opportunity

Trust in leadership

Autonomy

Clear and transparent goals

Flexible work environment

Training and support on the job

Mission and purpose

Select to fit

Coaching

Humanistic workplace

Facilitated talent mobility

Continuous investment in people

Small, empowered teams

Investment in development of managers

Culture of recognition

Self-directed , dynamic learning

Transparency and honesty

Time for slack

Agile performance management

Fair, inclusive, diverse work environment

High-impact learning culture

Inspiration

Cross-organisation collaboration and communication Source: Deloitte University Press | dupress.deloitte.com

benchmarks are what really matters,” Reynolds says. “Our questions focus on how we’re going in terms of delivering against our market-leading customer experience. Are we

you to deliver a great customer experience.”

Reynolds concedes that employee Net Promoter Scores and engagement indexes by geography and employee group are nothing

“What are the key touchpoints that have an impact on the employee experience?

It’s about human-centred design. How do we start to do this better?”

Tony Reynolds, Cathay Pacific doing enough to support our employees in delivering a great customer experience – as opposed to how do you feel about the training and your immediate manager? It’s all geared to whether we are doing enough to support

new, but he says the platforms used and the analysis that can now be undertaken are far more sophisticated.

“It doesn’t take six months to analyse everything and then come up with action

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FEATURES

INSIDE HR

“It doesn’t take six months to analyse everything and then come up with action plans department by department.

We can do things quite quickly and prioritise easily” Tony Reynolds, Cathay Pacific plans department by department. We can do things quite quickly and prioritise easily.”

The “more interesting” newer element is cross-pollinating employee data with customer, commercial and operational data. Reynolds says some of the insights are invaluable. For example, Cathay now

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knows that what their customers are most frustrated by is not the same as what the employees who work closest with customers might view as a frustration. He uses food as a hypothetical.

“Many of our customers may feel if they don’t get their beef or lamb, then that happens

on an airline and they’re not particularly bothered by it. But our employees may feel that we’re a premium airline; people have paid a lot for a ticket and we can’t give them a meal they want – that’s a problem. So that’s the kind of data we’re starting to use to drive our action planning and programs of work.

We weren’t able to do that in the past, so we have a more comprehensive set of data across the whole organisation.”

Linking HR to the frontline Part of Cathay’s success with employee experience has been in ensuring that HR is never far from the frontline – no mean feat for an organisation that employs 12,000 cabin crew and 3,500 pilots.

“What’s really critical is how we design

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STARTING FROM SCRATCH

How can other HR professionals build an employee experience mindset into everything they do? Tony Reynolds provides his tips.

Take the lead from the customer experience “The starting point here, and I think it would apply elsewhere, would be to really take a lead from the customer experience. It’s hard to argue against not aligning your customer experience with your employee experience, so it’s the most useful place to start on the journey. Any organisation can choose the way it recruits and how it onboards; you’re not subject to these internal bureaucracies and internal histories – you can decide you’re going to do things differently.”

Candidates for jobs at Cathay Pacific are immersed in the brand from their first interview

our frameworks,” Reynolds says. “All of them should be about driving great customer outcomes; how we incentivise, drive and recognise great customer outcomes. All our HR frameworks are built around that concept now, or they will be if they aren’t yet.

And to do that you need to be working with people who are on the frontline.”

In some instances it means involving these frontline workers in the solutions, but Reynolds is mindful that many crew members choose their career for lifestyle reasons. They want to check their rosters and fly; they may not be interested in these ‘nice to haves’. Involving them gives them more buy-in, Reynolds says, while it also bolsters HR’s reputation internally.

“HR has traditionally been very distant from the frontline. It’s been a reactive journey.

But HR has a big impact on the way people feel about the brand, not just through training but all our frameworks, and today it’s our focus, our philosophy – people in my department get sick of me saying ‘we’ll prioritise the employees closest to our customers’.”

Where to next?

Looking ahead, Reynolds says his biggest

challenge is engaging frontline employees – the cabin crew and pilots – which he says is a challenge shared by all organisations with geographically dispersed employees.

“For an airline you almost have an absentee workforce,” he says. “No one is sitting in an office anywhere; they are flying, so it’s a hard audience to engage.”

The key, he adds, is face-to-face engagement. “That’s a challenge – it might take three months to get face time with everyone; otherwise, if there are too many people out of operation we can’t fly our aircraft.”

To improve engagement with these employees, the employee experience team is launching what Reynolds calls “big, bold expos” to attract people’s attention and get them excited about the future. They’ll also be launching a new portal and communications hub. Incentives are being reviewed, shifting away from a traditional model that rewards people for length of service, towards a model that truly recognises those who deliver exceptional customer outcomes.

Another focus area is the physical environment. “We want to make it look and feel like we’re obsessed with the customer and it’s an exciting place to be,” Reynolds says.

Take that mindset through the whole employee life cycle “How is that experience different at different levels?

How do you segment it? What technology do you use? Where do you invest your time and effort, and why? Take that through the entire employee life cycle, through your onboarding experience, through your development, career development, and offboarding. If you’re expecting people to execute a great customer experience, the place to start is with your employees.”

He also wants to shift away from looking back through the rear-view mirror. “I was a consultant for a while, and for a lot of organisations it’s all about the history. Airlines are the same: first flight, first plane. We need to focus on the future: our new business-class proposition; where we’re flying to next.”

Finally, Reynolds adds that he’s “got the bug” from the airline industry, and despite its challenges it’s an exciting field to be in.

“You certainly have some challenges running global operations and transforming the business at the same time. Add to that the nature of our business, where things go wrong all the time. Whether its air traffic control or technical faults, there’s always something going wrong that can slow you down. But it’s an amazing place to be,” he says.

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AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O18

2018 Friday 7 September | The Star Sydney

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION

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AWARD SPONSORS

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EVENT PARTNER

Hundreds of nominations from across the country were received this year for the Australian HR Awards. We are pleased to present the industry leaders and game changers who made the shortlist OVER THE years, the Australian HR Awards has come to define excellence in the HR profession, recognising and highlighting the outstanding achievements of those at the forefront of industry best practice and leadership.

This year, at The Star Sydney on 7 September, we will be handing out 20 trophies to recognise the teams, leaders and rising stars who stood head and shoulders above the rest with their dedication and hard work in the past year.

Nominations for the awards were again very strong, with competition fierce in every category, so simply making the list of finalists is an achievement to be celebrated.

The Australian HR Awards is the leading independent

awards event for the HR profession, where the industry’s rising stars, HR directors and CEOs at the forefront of visionary leadership in people management are acknowledged.

Along with our publisher Key Media, we would like to thank all those who submitted nominations this year and all our sponsors who make the Australian HR Awards a success.

We look forward to celebrating your success at the gala event this September, hosted by Logie-winning actress and presenter Natalie Bassingthwaighte, with entertainment provided by Furnace and the Fundamentals and Linden Furnell.

For more information and to book your table, visit www.hrawards.com.au.

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AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O18

DAVIDSON AUSTRALIAN HR DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

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IRONFISH AUSTRALIAN HR MANAGER OF THE YEAR

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Ironfish plays a key role in the Australian property market as a leading property investment services company in Australia and China. We support our investors in acquiring a diversified property portfolio, backed by the confidence of the latest research, personalised strategies and quality investment opportunities.

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EVENT PARTNER

AUSTRALIAN RISING HR STAR OF THE YEAR

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AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O18

HAYS AUSTRALIAN HR TEAM OF THE YEAR (≤1000 EMPLOYEES)

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Ironfish plays a key role in the Australian property market as a leading property investment services company in Australia and China. We support our investors in acquiring a diversified property portfolio, backed by the confidence of the latest research, personalised strategies and quality investment opportunities. In addition to our 14 offices across Australia and China, we have our own development arms in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Our holistic and personalised service approach also includes educational workshops, property management and mortgage broking.

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EMPLOYER OF CHOICE (1–99 EMPLOYEES)

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AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O18

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• • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • •

ALDI Stores Assetlink Campbell Arnott’s Deloitte Australia Flight Centre Travel Group Merlin Entertainments Nestlé TAL The Star Entertainment Group

CanTeen Family Planning Victoria HomeStart Finance KU Children’s Services Maari Ma Health Aboriginal Corporation Merri Health Peoplecare

PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

Formerly operating as Accumulate, the company has helped many of Australia’s largest organisations understand how to use recognition and appreciation to influence great work. Now backed by the insights, experience and scale of the O.C. Tanner Company, which serves thousands of clients in 150-plus countries, the company is better positioned than ever to help clients inspire and connect their people, and build great workplace cultures.

Winner 2017 Australian HR Director of the Year: Carlene York, assistant commissioner, NSW Police Force

W: octanner.com/au

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EVENT PARTNER

BEST CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

BEST GRADUATE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

FINALISTS

FINALISTS

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• • • • • • • •

City of Canterbury Bankstown Coles Supermarkets Energy Queensland ghd Hair LION RACQ Roche Products Pty Limited Singleton Council

AMP Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers Commonwealth Bank of Australia Honeywell Ltd icare Nestlé Pernod Ricard Winemakers Queensland Government Chief Information Office

Winner 2017 Australian HR Manager of the Year: Jane Shand, Endeavour Foundation

Winner 2017 Australian HR Champion (CEO) of the Year: Trent Innes, Xero

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AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O18

CONVERGE INTERNATIONAL BEST HEALTH & WELLBEING PROGRAM

BEST LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

FINALISTS

FINALISTS

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• • • • • • • • •

Accor Hotels, Sydney Olympic Park Bechtel HR Team, Wheatstone LNG Project Brisbane Airport Corporation Pty Ltd Commonwealth Bank of Australia Deloitte Australia Peoplecare Rockend Technology Pty Ltd Virgin Australia

Adshel Coca-Cola Amatil Deloitte Australia Flight Centre Travel Group Hollard Insurance icare Johnson & Johnson Rio Tinto Westpac Banking Group

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Converge International has six decades of leadership in employee wellbeing; it is a pioneer in the delivery of mental health and wellness programs to workplaces in Australia and overseas. Its expertise lies in supporting organisations in managing risk, boosting employee engagement and promoting positive mental health.

Winner 2017 Australian HR Team of the Year (≤1000 Employees): Queensland Treasury Corporation

Lana Schwartz E: lana.schwartz@convergeintl.com.au P: +61 2 8264 3126 or 0403 246 561 W: www.convergeinternational.com.au

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EVENT PARTNER

BEST LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

BEST RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN

FINALISTS

FINALISTS

• • • • •

• • • • • • • •

Adshel Coles Liquor Deloitte Australia Edwards Lifesciences Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) • International Convention Centre Sydney • L’Oreal Australia • MinterEllison

Aegis Services Australia Pty Ltd Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers Commonwealth Bank of Australia Glencore Agriculture/Viterra Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) The Star Entertainment Group VetPartners Virgin Australia

Winner 2017 Employer of Choice (≥1000 Employees): PepsiCo

Winner 2017 Best Health & Wellbeing Program: Youi

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AUSTRALIAN HR AWARDS FINALISTS 2O18

ACHIEVERS BEST REWARD & RECOGNITION PROGRAM

BEST HR TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY

FINALISTS

FINALISTS

• • • • • • •

• Claim Central Consolidated • Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) • Merivale • MyBudget • Nintex • Nova Entertainment • Xero Australia • Youi

Assetlink Dexus Employsure InfoTrack Rockend Technology Pty Ltd Siemens Limited Youi

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Achievers’ mission is to change the way the world works. Its Employee Success Platform is specifically designed to drive higher levels of employee engagement. As part of Blackhawk Network, Achievers is a global leader in enterprise Employee Recognition and Reward solutions.

Winner 2017 Australian HR Team of the Year (>1000 Employees): International Convention Centre Sydney

Matt Seadon, general manager recognition and incentives E: matt.seadon@bhnetwork.com P: 0401 972 103 W: achievers.com.au

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EVENT PARTNER

JOBACCESS BEST WORKPLACE DIVERSITY & INCLUSION PROGRAM

BEST WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY PROGRAM

FINALISTS

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Brown-Forman Australia Energy Queensland ISS Facility Services Philips Australia & New Zealand QinetiQ TAL The Star Entertainment Group Unilever ANZ

Colin Biggers & Paisley Lawyers EY Family Planning Victoria L’Oreal Australia Melbourne Water Corporation MSD Australia Roche Products WE Buchan

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JobAccess is the national hub for workplace and employment information for people with disability, employers and service providers. JobAccess provides free and confidential information through a comprehensive, easy-to-use website and telephone service. JobAccess can provide helpful advice about financial support, workplace modifications, flexible work environments and a range of other tools and resources for employers.

Winner 2017 Best Workplace Diversity & Inclusion Program: Vision Australia

JobAccess P: 1800 464 800 W: www.jobaccess.gov.au

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FEATURES

MANAGEMENT

Five ways to become an inspirational manager Inspired employees are productive employees.

Aaron Hurst offers five tips for spurring your team to greatness

WE HAVE known for a long time that having engaged team members is better than having people who are simply satisfied. Engaged employees are 44% more productive – that’s like adding a part-time person to your team at no additional cost.

According to Bain & Company, however, it looks like engagement is too low a bar. It turns out that inspired employees are 125% more productive than satisfied ones. That’s like adding more than one full-time person to your team.

Why is inspiration so powerful?

When we are inspired, we are releasing serotonin and dopamine, two of the most critical neurochemicals. They are deeply connected to our wellbeing and energy.

Serotonin makes us feel significant and important, while dopamine motivates us to act to achieve goals and gain a sense of progress.

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They are the fuel behind the fire that boosts productivity by an incredible amount.

My grandfather, JE Slater, intuitively understood the power of inspiration. His advice to us growing up was to “always keep exhilaration in front of exhaustion”. I can remember very few moments with him when he wasn’t in a state of inspiration. He was always full of joy, wonder, momentum and energy.

Like my grandfather, I am nearly always exhilarated at work. I wasn’t always that way – it was something I had to learn and develop.

I have been researching and experimenting with it for more than 20 years. Here’s what I’ve learned about how to help people be inspired:

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the destination may be far away, if we believe in it and want it, we can be exhilarated by making measurable progress towards it.

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See the superhero in people

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Let people grow and fail

My friend Tara Russell is an inspiring manager. When I see her working with her team, you can feel the energy and exhilaration. She takes the time to see the potential in people and to help them see it.

When you’re around someone who sees you for who you are and who you can become, it is inspiring. It gives you a sense of significance, which produces serotonin, but also gives you a sense of hope and anticipation for the future (our friend dopamine again).

Define a shared purpose

While we gain meaning from the journey, what inspires us is usually the dopamine-producing pleasure of seeing ourselves make progress towards a goal. While

It’s a cliché at this point, but it’s an important one: Give people permission to fail.

This isn’t intended to drive innovation alone

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When we are inspired, we are releasing serotonin and dopamine, two of the most critical neurochemicals. They are deeply connected to our wellbeing and energy but also the experience of taking risks, which is thrilling and inspiring. When you ask people about the manager who most consistently inspired them, they almost always point to the one who believed in them enough to push them out of their comfort zone.

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Cultivate curiosity

Most of my inspiration comes from being curious. It isn’t doing anything or making any impact. It is self-generated and is 100% in my head. I just love asking “What if?” all the time.

I read for at least an hour every day and am always looking to uncover new research and then spend days playing with possible implications and applications. I learn about business models and wonder what it would look like to superimpose that model on a totally different business in a different industry. What if what we assume is true isn’t?

As managers, we can encourage building habits that provoke curiosity. The trick is to find out what triggers curiosity for each person. It is usually ultimately tied to the person’s psychological purpose drivers.

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Celebrate inspiration

In my book, The Purpose Economy, I share the nightly practice that Jennifer McCrae has built with her family. At dinner, rather than ask her kids what they learned at school, she asks them to share one thing that moved or inspired them.

I have adopted this practice in my office during our team meetings. It helps us to see the abundance of sources for inspiration all around us if we are just open to it.

Aaron Hurst is the foremost expert on the science of purpose at work. In 2014, he brought global awareness to the rise of the fourth economic era in history, the purpose economy. He is the author of The Purpose Economy: How Your Desire for Impact, Personal Growth and Community is Changing the World and the co-founder and CEO of Imperative, the technology platform for leaders in the new economy. For more information, visit imperative.com.

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FEATURES

FLEXIBLE WORK

Is too much flexibility killing productivity?

Are your employees taking a flexible work policy too far? Anna O’Dea offers some tips for getting productivity back without taking away this desirable benefit

IN TODAY’S digital world, employees expect the opportunity to work at times and in places that suit them. The days of being chained to a desk from nine to five are disappearing as companies embrace the digital tools that free their talent to work from anywhere at any time, yet still stay connected. Strategy planning in

cracks are showing. Some leaders are worried that productivity is taking a hit and team culture is dying, as people aren’t as present in the office. They know some staff are taking too many liberties, but they don’t want to snatch back the benefit.

If this sounds familiar, it might be time to

When setting boundaries, look at your own behaviour first. Are you being responsive when off-site; taking interest in your staff so they feel energised? a cute cafe, a conference call in transit to save time, skipping train delays to sort spreadsheets from the couch – the appeal is obvious.

The employers I talk to at Agency Iceberg know that offering freedom is a competitive way to attract and retain great people. But

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tighten up flexibility in your business. Here are some questions to consider.

Are my employees taking advantage?

If you’ve hired well, you should have

committed people. But talent of all tenures, generations and personal situations can lose focus when you loosen structure. Watch for signs such as missing meetings, being difficult to reach online or via mobile in agreed hours, not hitting targets, or failing to meet deadlines.

Keep an eye on increasing requests for flex-time favours that don’t suit your business.

Too many Friday afternoons off, despite the promise of making up time on the weekend, is unlikely to suit client-facing roles.

How much flexibility suits what we do?

Think about the type of work that must be done, and when and where it’s best performed. Consider the ideal situations for teamwork, client meetings and mentoring.

What’s the right mix of in-person or online interactions for each – for example, daily in-person WIPs, weekly face-to-face strategy sessions, or continual dialogue online?

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Should flexibility be earned?

If you give freedom to one part of the business, you should give it to all, with awareness of what’s appropriate for each role. But for new hires, it could help to set a probation phase. You can understand their working style, build trust and ensure they know what’s expected.

How can I get some discipline back?

When setting boundaries, look at your own behaviour first. Are you being responsive when off-site; taking interest in your staff so they feel energised? Then ask your team how they view the situation, as they could be struggling to adjust to digital life, and you can think about how to better manage the change.

Easy ways to get structure back include

booking regular in-person meetings and agreeing on hours they must be available to clients and colleagues. Set expectations for response times, regardless of where the employee will be working from.

How can technology help?

You can keep everyone in easy reach by supplying quick messaging tools (such as Skype for Business, Slack or Google Chat) and video conferencing capabilities.

Project management cloud platforms such as Toggl are great for time tracking, and workflow dashboards such as Trello help you see what everyone’s up to on projects.

How can culture help?

You want people to be selfmotivated and happy to come into the office, and to stay focused on their

work when off-site. Culture can play a big part in getting momentum back. Set up workshops to share insights, challenges and encouragement. And there’s nothing wrong with team lunches and Friday celebrations to bring back the spark! Flex is the future – but within reason.

Digital freedom is here, and everyone wants to embrace the benefits. Considering these questions should help you offer flexibility while keeping productivity high and a great company culture alive.

A recruitment expert and the founder and director of Agency Iceberg, Anna O’Dea has placed thousands of employees in the best workplaces. O’Dea is also the founder of #LeadingLadies, an award-winning interview series featuring C-suite professionals’ career journeys. For more information, visit agencyiceberg.com.au.

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PEOPLE

CAREER PATH

ALWAYS REACHING HIGHER There is nothing Mathew Paine likes more than setting and rising to a challenge

Mathew Paine’s interest in employment law was sparked when the then-chef was driven to legal action to recover what was rightfully his from a past employer. Enrolment in a related university degree HAS FIRST BRUSH WITH followed that experience.

(EMPLOYMENT) “I worked a year of 80-hour weeks and they didn’t want to pay out LAW 2001 any of my entitlements. I went to the industrial tribunal and through that DISCOVERS THE WORLD OF HR experience realised I was interested in employment law, and had an interest in What started as a gap year for Paine in England opened up a new world seeing people treated well at work.” of opportunity when, having already enrolled in an HR course in London, 2006 he landed a position as HR assistant at the Trafalgar Hilton in the GOES BIG AT THE HILTON days before the flagship location opened.

Promoted to HRM while studying for a master’s, “The HR manager was Aussie and took me under her wing – she could see that Paine was offered a position at I was really passionate about HR as a career and eager to learn.” the UK’s largest hotel.

“I was 25 and the youngest HR manager at the Hilton.

2008 I got a call out of the blue on a Friday afternoon saying BRINGS CONSISTENCY TO YWCA the role had come up – would I think it over on the Paine returned to Sydney at the time of the GFC and weekend?’ At first I thought it was too big, but I enjoyed it.” took a post at the YWCA just as the organisation was gearing up for a major change.

2010 “[The new team] came into the organisation and RETURNS TO LUXURY HOTELS led the transformation. It was about streamlining practices with a commercial approach. In the world Paine moved back into the world of luxury hotels of hotels everything has consistency and standards, and this organisation had little. with a post at Sofitel. One unlikely highlight of his I was able to standardise, adapt policy, and put programs into place – that was the time at the global giant was the restructuring and beauty of coming from the Hilton.” outsourcing of two departments that saw the loss of more than 100 staff.

2014 “We turned that around to be as positive as possible. We held a job fair for the WELCOMES A NEW CHALLENGE laid-off staff and arranged employment with our competitors – it made for a really happy ending. “ Knowing that the International Convention Centre Sydney – then under

1999

2017

TAKES A SEAT ON THE BOARD

Hankering to both pursue charity work and accrue board experience, Paine took his place as a director on the board of the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Australia’s oldest community-based HIV organisation.

“I knew somebody who had HIV; it was a harrowing experience. I thought, ‘What can I do to help?’ Later I added the position of nonexecutive director of [cloud-based payroll and HR software organisation] at Definitiv, which is in the early years of growth and aligns with my experience at the ICC.”

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construction – was to be enormous, Paine threw his hat into the ring.

“What challenge could be better than a $1.5bn project opening from scratch?

A greenfield start-up – the ultimate clean slate. We needed 1,800 employees ready to go. We hired 100 people a day; we got 45,000 applications and won the prize of best recruitment campaign and HR Team of the Year [in 2017]. It was mentally and physically exhausting.”

“What challenge could be better than a $1.5bn project opening from scratch? A greenfield start-up – the ultimate clean slate”

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PEOPLE

OTHER LIFE

TELL US ABOUT YOUR OTHER LIFE Email hrdeditor@keymedia.com

Charest was drawn to the Pacific Crest Trail’s variety of climate a nd scenery: desert, snow, rivers a nd mou ntains are all to be fou nd along the trail’s 4000km

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scoops of peanut butter (and two energy bars) are Michael’s fuel each morning

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hours spent walking the Pacific Crest Trail every day

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pairs of hiking shoes bought for the trail; each lasts 500 miles

HITTING THE TRAIL Senior HR director Michael Charest was the last person anyone expected to take a hike MICHAEL CHAREST describes himself as an “urban tourist”, so it surprised everyone when this HR professional announced he was setting off on a five-month quest to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in North America.

“This is an out-of-the-box project for me; I needed to get out of my comfort zone.”

Preparation for the quest – item number

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eight on Charest’s bucket list – included up to five hours on the treadmill while bearing a 40-pound backpack daily for 10 weeks. This was meant to ready the HR generalist, who had only done day hikes, for the physical challenge, and, most importantly, to break in his hiking shoes.

But all that effort has paid off in spades

on the trail, Charest says, and not just in terms of the sponsorship funds he is raising for MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

“The views are incredible – every 15 minutes you have a ‘wow’ moment. And the solitude and time to think while walking is very precious.”

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