The big HR issues for 2013


With every second minor celebrity offering free arbitrary advice these days on the larger issues of the human condition, I found this admission by Bill Gates refreshing: “I save my public voice largely for the issues where I have some depth.”

It’s an observation that I’m very conscious of as each new year comes around.

AHRI enjoys the benefit of a member base that signals through research and social media the emerging areas of professional interest, and there are many issues on the horizon each year that affect the ways in which HR practitioners focus their energy or adjust their practice in the pursuit of  maximising business strategy or seeking organisational solutions.

As the CEO of the professional institute, I’m conscious that we need to be attuned to the big issues affecting practitioners but I’m also mindful, like Gates, that we need to save our voice for those issues in which we can develop depth by conducting research and make meaningful contributions that are helpful for business and enlighten policy developers as well as the general public.

Last year we worked with the Economist Intelligence Unit and our American cousin, SHRM, in a study on global workplace flexibility that was based on data collected from 51 countries.

We also conducted research with Deloitte on social media and HR, and worked with Deakin University on another of our longitudinal workplace relations studies.

In addition, we looked at gender equity, mature age employment and disability employment, all issues that can affect for better or worse Australia’s workforce productivity, business profitability and national prosperity. We also surveyed the membership on coaching and mentoring, staff turnover, learning and development and working hours.

We either published or will be publishing a report on the results of these surveys for public consumption.  Most of the 2012 reports gained media attention, some of them prominent attention in the form of page one coverage in the national press.

Sometimes I’m asked why AHRI gets involved in large questions of public policy. Don’t AHRI members simply want a professional association that can assist them to do their job more efficiently and effectively?

I’m sure members want that, and we work persistently to provide them with tools and resources available for member use.  We are overhauling those this year with a more contemporary website and a new product now in development called AHRI: ASSIST which will provide real-time HR advice to members at the click of a mouse.

Our monthly member magazine and quarterly refereed journal are also there to enable members to keep informed on developments in business and the profession that are happening in Australia and elsewhere.

In most of these member offerings we make an assumption that businesses don’t operate in a vacuum and neither do HR departments.

To be effective businesses need to know about what’s going on in the economic, political and social environments in which they exist and operate, otherwise they can lose touch with changes that occur in their customer base which will inevitably affect revenue and profitability.

To do that businesses need switched-on people who are engaged with the enterprise, understand the world outside the organisation and are committed to what the enterprise is attempting to achieve.

In other words, while we assume that national prosperity affects customer activity and, in turn, the profitability of enterprises, we also know that national prosperity depends on sound government policy and effective delivery of policy.  Writing in the London Review of Books this month, the author of Capital, John Lancaster, describes what happens in a country, such as the UK, when the economy is depressed.

Imagine for a moment that you come across an unexpected ten pounds. After making a mental note not to spend it all at once, you go out and spend it all at once, on, say, two pairs of woolly socks. The person from the sock shop then takes your tenner and spends it on wine, and the wine merchant spends it on tickets to see The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and the owner of the cinema spends it on chocolate, and the sweet-shop owner spends it on a bus ticket, and the owner of the bus company deposits it in the bank. That initial ten pounds has been spent six times, and has generated £60 of economic activity. In a sense, no one is any better off; and yet, that movement of money makes everyone better off. To put it another way, that first tenner has contributed £60 to Britain’s GDP. Seen in this way, GDP can be thought of as a measure not so much of size – how much money we have, how much money the economy contains – but of velocity. It measures the movement of money through and around the economy; it measures activity. If you had taken the same ten quid when it was first given to you and simply paid it into your bank account, the net position could be argued to be the same – except that the only contribution to GDP is that initial gift of £10, and if this behaviour were replicated across the whole economy, then the whole economy would grind to a halt. And that, broadly speaking, is what is happening right now. People are sitting on that first tenner.

In the UK that description is roughly true but not in Australia, or not yet.

So what issues are the big ticket challenges for 2013 that will be likely to affect business activity and national prosperity in which the Australian HR profession has a stake?

Against the backdrop of the economic malaise in Europe and the US, some of AHRI’s most senior members put their minds to that question at a meeting last December. They came up with this short list of business challenges to be faced this year:

  • A tough marketplace: pressure on costs and increasing competition compounded by a strong dollar and a reduction in consumer spending
  • Change fatigue
  • Increasing government regulation
  • Developments in technology, including social media

The same group turned their minds to what might be the key HR issues for 2013 and came up with these:

  • Leadership development and culture
  • Making diversity and inclusion a reality
  • Sourcing and retaining talent
  • Improving productivity and managing costs

Many prompts come to mind when thinking about those lists and for many businesses they include building leadership and succession pipelines, maximising the diversity of the talent pool, power shifts to the customer and transforming the cost base of customer service, dealing creatively with unions, and the perennial HR conundrum of doing more with less without increasing risk.

This month the AHRI board will be looking at the HR research issues for 2013, and these will be among them.

What are your thoughts? Have I missed any big ones?

Lyn Goodear is the chief executive of the Australian Human Resources Institute

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Eric Cooper
Eric Cooper
11 years ago

Lyn, Howdie, My concern is what I see as a mallaise.Having worked in HR through 4 recessionary periods I see every day now the news from professional bodies highlighting job losses (nurses,air lines,care staff etc).Added to this is a statistic which came home really hard.Some 60% of the workforce are temporary or casual.What is the future job market for young people.Who is game enough to hire our sons and daughters and train them.The social impacts,family stress and general sense of uncertainty that must exist in the young community is a real concern.Technology is here to stay but at what price.Where… Read more »

Bill Richards
Bill Richards
11 years ago

Hi Lyn, I agree with a lot of what Eric said. But where does all this eminate from – Leaders! It is interesting to see the perennial ‘leadership development’ on this list. Given all te time that organisations, universities (MBA/EMBA programs)spend on leadership development, you would think we should be a lot better at it! Maybe we should be looking more closely at the people we select? There are leaders and those that lead. Also,for me, there are two very strong factors that influence talent retention – positive work environment and leadership. It’s leadership which builds the positive work environment.… Read more »

Richard Rawling
Richard Rawling
11 years ago

Hi Lyn I think you have mssed the productivity question, closely followed by the Federal election. The latter will rekindle the equity and industrial angst issues. The former is the big one and sits at the heart of much of what we should be doing in HR. People often define it, and notions like flexibility, in ways that suit their arguments. But the core truth is that unless Australian workforces deliver for the money invested in them, then firms will make (at times) harsh decisions to resize. I think it is still right to say that despite such resizing, there… Read more »

Shane Higgins
Shane Higgins
11 years ago

Lyn, some very thought provoking issues in your comments. I would certainly see an organisation like AHRI being involved in policy issues. I agree with the group’s 4 key issues, however I also think the Federal election is a key issue in terms of environment and I agree with Eric’s view on casualisation of the workforce and entry level jobs; both have a huge impact on the workforce and organisations. In terms of our business, it is very much about employers being educated to the benefits of workers over the age of 45, but particularly over the age of 55… Read more »

Rita DÁrcy
Rita DÁrcy
11 years ago

Lyn, there are some interesting points raised in your blog, but equally so in the responses provided. Just a couple of considerations: * Leadership development has a strong connection with culture but it should be separated out as a key area of focus. Culture is made up of more than just leadership and it has a huge role to play in the retention of talent. A recent McKinsey & Company research paper (2012) talks about motivation systems and creating communities and not companies at work. * Further to the point above, I think Engagement is a big ticket item for… Read more »

More on HRM

The big HR issues for 2013


With every second minor celebrity offering free arbitrary advice these days on the larger issues of the human condition, I found this admission by Bill Gates refreshing: “I save my public voice largely for the issues where I have some depth.”

It’s an observation that I’m very conscious of as each new year comes around.

AHRI enjoys the benefit of a member base that signals through research and social media the emerging areas of professional interest, and there are many issues on the horizon each year that affect the ways in which HR practitioners focus their energy or adjust their practice in the pursuit of  maximising business strategy or seeking organisational solutions.

As the CEO of the professional institute, I’m conscious that we need to be attuned to the big issues affecting practitioners but I’m also mindful, like Gates, that we need to save our voice for those issues in which we can develop depth by conducting research and make meaningful contributions that are helpful for business and enlighten policy developers as well as the general public.

Last year we worked with the Economist Intelligence Unit and our American cousin, SHRM, in a study on global workplace flexibility that was based on data collected from 51 countries.

We also conducted research with Deloitte on social media and HR, and worked with Deakin University on another of our longitudinal workplace relations studies.

In addition, we looked at gender equity, mature age employment and disability employment, all issues that can affect for better or worse Australia’s workforce productivity, business profitability and national prosperity. We also surveyed the membership on coaching and mentoring, staff turnover, learning and development and working hours.

We either published or will be publishing a report on the results of these surveys for public consumption.  Most of the 2012 reports gained media attention, some of them prominent attention in the form of page one coverage in the national press.

Sometimes I’m asked why AHRI gets involved in large questions of public policy. Don’t AHRI members simply want a professional association that can assist them to do their job more efficiently and effectively?

I’m sure members want that, and we work persistently to provide them with tools and resources available for member use.  We are overhauling those this year with a more contemporary website and a new product now in development called AHRI: ASSIST which will provide real-time HR advice to members at the click of a mouse.

Our monthly member magazine and quarterly refereed journal are also there to enable members to keep informed on developments in business and the profession that are happening in Australia and elsewhere.

In most of these member offerings we make an assumption that businesses don’t operate in a vacuum and neither do HR departments.

To be effective businesses need to know about what’s going on in the economic, political and social environments in which they exist and operate, otherwise they can lose touch with changes that occur in their customer base which will inevitably affect revenue and profitability.

To do that businesses need switched-on people who are engaged with the enterprise, understand the world outside the organisation and are committed to what the enterprise is attempting to achieve.

In other words, while we assume that national prosperity affects customer activity and, in turn, the profitability of enterprises, we also know that national prosperity depends on sound government policy and effective delivery of policy.  Writing in the London Review of Books this month, the author of Capital, John Lancaster, describes what happens in a country, such as the UK, when the economy is depressed.

Imagine for a moment that you come across an unexpected ten pounds. After making a mental note not to spend it all at once, you go out and spend it all at once, on, say, two pairs of woolly socks. The person from the sock shop then takes your tenner and spends it on wine, and the wine merchant spends it on tickets to see The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and the owner of the cinema spends it on chocolate, and the sweet-shop owner spends it on a bus ticket, and the owner of the bus company deposits it in the bank. That initial ten pounds has been spent six times, and has generated £60 of economic activity. In a sense, no one is any better off; and yet, that movement of money makes everyone better off. To put it another way, that first tenner has contributed £60 to Britain’s GDP. Seen in this way, GDP can be thought of as a measure not so much of size – how much money we have, how much money the economy contains – but of velocity. It measures the movement of money through and around the economy; it measures activity. If you had taken the same ten quid when it was first given to you and simply paid it into your bank account, the net position could be argued to be the same – except that the only contribution to GDP is that initial gift of £10, and if this behaviour were replicated across the whole economy, then the whole economy would grind to a halt. And that, broadly speaking, is what is happening right now. People are sitting on that first tenner.

In the UK that description is roughly true but not in Australia, or not yet.

So what issues are the big ticket challenges for 2013 that will be likely to affect business activity and national prosperity in which the Australian HR profession has a stake?

Against the backdrop of the economic malaise in Europe and the US, some of AHRI’s most senior members put their minds to that question at a meeting last December. They came up with this short list of business challenges to be faced this year:

  • A tough marketplace: pressure on costs and increasing competition compounded by a strong dollar and a reduction in consumer spending
  • Change fatigue
  • Increasing government regulation
  • Developments in technology, including social media

The same group turned their minds to what might be the key HR issues for 2013 and came up with these:

  • Leadership development and culture
  • Making diversity and inclusion a reality
  • Sourcing and retaining talent
  • Improving productivity and managing costs

Many prompts come to mind when thinking about those lists and for many businesses they include building leadership and succession pipelines, maximising the diversity of the talent pool, power shifts to the customer and transforming the cost base of customer service, dealing creatively with unions, and the perennial HR conundrum of doing more with less without increasing risk.

This month the AHRI board will be looking at the HR research issues for 2013, and these will be among them.

What are your thoughts? Have I missed any big ones?

Lyn Goodear is the chief executive of the Australian Human Resources Institute

Subscribe to receive comments
Notify me of
guest

6 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Eric Cooper
Eric Cooper
11 years ago

Lyn, Howdie, My concern is what I see as a mallaise.Having worked in HR through 4 recessionary periods I see every day now the news from professional bodies highlighting job losses (nurses,air lines,care staff etc).Added to this is a statistic which came home really hard.Some 60% of the workforce are temporary or casual.What is the future job market for young people.Who is game enough to hire our sons and daughters and train them.The social impacts,family stress and general sense of uncertainty that must exist in the young community is a real concern.Technology is here to stay but at what price.Where… Read more »

Bill Richards
Bill Richards
11 years ago

Hi Lyn, I agree with a lot of what Eric said. But where does all this eminate from – Leaders! It is interesting to see the perennial ‘leadership development’ on this list. Given all te time that organisations, universities (MBA/EMBA programs)spend on leadership development, you would think we should be a lot better at it! Maybe we should be looking more closely at the people we select? There are leaders and those that lead. Also,for me, there are two very strong factors that influence talent retention – positive work environment and leadership. It’s leadership which builds the positive work environment.… Read more »

Richard Rawling
Richard Rawling
11 years ago

Hi Lyn I think you have mssed the productivity question, closely followed by the Federal election. The latter will rekindle the equity and industrial angst issues. The former is the big one and sits at the heart of much of what we should be doing in HR. People often define it, and notions like flexibility, in ways that suit their arguments. But the core truth is that unless Australian workforces deliver for the money invested in them, then firms will make (at times) harsh decisions to resize. I think it is still right to say that despite such resizing, there… Read more »

Shane Higgins
Shane Higgins
11 years ago

Lyn, some very thought provoking issues in your comments. I would certainly see an organisation like AHRI being involved in policy issues. I agree with the group’s 4 key issues, however I also think the Federal election is a key issue in terms of environment and I agree with Eric’s view on casualisation of the workforce and entry level jobs; both have a huge impact on the workforce and organisations. In terms of our business, it is very much about employers being educated to the benefits of workers over the age of 45, but particularly over the age of 55… Read more »

Rita DÁrcy
Rita DÁrcy
11 years ago

Lyn, there are some interesting points raised in your blog, but equally so in the responses provided. Just a couple of considerations: * Leadership development has a strong connection with culture but it should be separated out as a key area of focus. Culture is made up of more than just leadership and it has a huge role to play in the retention of talent. A recent McKinsey & Company research paper (2012) talks about motivation systems and creating communities and not companies at work. * Further to the point above, I think Engagement is a big ticket item for… Read more »

More on HRM