To keep pace with a rapidly evolving energy sector, Alinta Energy’s HR team has reimagined the skills it needs to thrive in the future. Its General Manager of People and Culture Partnering explains how in this HR case study.

Alinta Energy’s recent success stems from its ability to keep pace with the seismic shifts reshaping the energy sector. 

As the industry accelerates towards net zero, agility has become a competitive necessity. But transformation on this scale can’t be powered by strategy alone. 

To enable the organisation’s rapid evolution, Alinta’s HR function had to become a catalyst – streamlining internal systems while competing fiercely for top-tier talent in an increasingly crowded energy market.

“We realised that to build the workforce we need for the future, we couldn’t rely on external hiring alone. We had to create pathways for emerging talent,”  says Felicity Gillard MAHRI, General Manager of People and Culture Partnering at Alinta Energy.

As well as investing in employees through development conversations, it was also important to evolve the talent strategy from reactive to proactive, says Gillard.

“We need to identify skill gaps and prepare our people for what’s coming next.”

To support this, they’ve embedded learning and development initiatives across the entire business – with a specific focus on keeping Alinta’s HR team’s skills up-to-date and in line with global best-practice.

“Every employee has a development plan, and we actively map critical skills to future business needs. For our HR team, we’re leveraging the Australian HR Capability Framework as one of the many tools to guide them to develop for the future.” 

As an AHRI organisation member, Alinta has access to the full capabilities of the Australian HR Capability Framework.

“It’s a good visual tool to show people where the world of HR can take them. It helps HR employees identify the skills they need to have more meaningful career conversations with their leaders. 

“For example, someone might say, ‘I’m a People Services Advisor, but I want to move into HR reporting. What skills do I need to get there? Should I gain experience in technology, or should I focus on analytics?’ This framework guides those discussions.

“We’ve also bought a skills library through another provider for the broader business. We will start using this to build clear development plans to ensure our team members have clear pathways for growth.”

Enhancing HR’s toolkit

It’s important to Gillard that those working in HR expand their expertise beyond traditional HR capabilities.

“In HR, our skills are transferable, but industry-specific knowledge is crucial. Understanding policies, regulations, market trends, financials, and the broader political and regulatory landscape helps us operate effectively in a highly compliant industry.

“We believe that collaboration and stakeholder engagement are essential across all roles. One of our core values is ‘One Alinta’, which means we focus on influencing, storytelling and working together to drive our initiatives – which all require strong communication skills.”

Explore AHRI’s overcoming stakeholder resistance short course. 

Alinta also provides responsive training opportunities tailored to immediate business needs. Gillard and her team closely monitor employees’ learning interests and adapt offerings accordingly.

“For example, if several employees express interest in improving their board presentation skills or business writing, our learning team will source a provider to deliver that training.

“We’re a newly formed and growing HR team, so we make sure to carve out that professional development time for HR to ensure we stay relevant.

“To me, that means being accessible and visible, and broadening our knowledge. Being a strategic HR business partner isn’t just about understanding HR principles. You need commercial and financial acumen, strategic thinking skills and the ability to collaborate across functions – from finance to technology to legal.

“Being a great HR professional today requires curiosity and a continuous learning mindset.”

To facilitate this learning, everyone in Alinta’s People and Culture team participates in a different strategic initiative working group, as part of a professional stretch assignment.

“That’s an opportunity for them to explore something new or to think about how their skills can be utilised in a new and interesting way in relation to those initiatives,” she says.

The growing emphasis on HR analytics is another focal point for the team.

“No matter the industry – whether it’s retail, energy or finance – data is always at our fingertips. Our decision-making needs to be data-led. That means building digital literacy within HR and ensuring we’re using data to support workforce planning, engagement and performance management.”

She cites a recent initiative at Alinta where HR partnered with technology teams to leverage generative AI for administrative efficiencies. 

“We knew our people were struggling with manual processes, so we implemented a pilot program using AI to streamline workflows. It’s a small change, but one that will have a big impact on productivity and employee experience.”

“Being a strategic HR business partner isn’t just about understanding HR principles. You need commercial and financial acumen, strategic thinking skills and the ability to collaborate across functions.” – Felicity Gillard MAHRI, General Manager of People and Culture Partnering, Alinta Energy

Flexible thinking

Another important capability Gillard encourages the HR team to hone is operating within ambiguity.

“HR requires you to navigate the grey areas, and to be flexible and adaptable in your thinking. While 80 per cent of what we do is guided by best-practice and structure, the remaining 20 per cent demands nuance, situational awareness and the ability to read between the lines.”

During the pandemic, HR practitioners showcased their ability to “operate within the grey”, prompting a noticeable shift in how many organisations leveraged their HR teams. This shift, Gillard believes, has solidified HR’s position as a strategic business function.

“Businesses now recognise that people strategy isn’t separate from business strategy – it’s integral to it.”

Historically, Alinta’s HR advisers, as they used to be called, were expected to be all things to all people, says Gillard.

“But the speed that the business and customers need us to operate in means that HR can’t do that anymore.”

Now, they’re being positioned as true business partners – guiding, advising and ensuring their initiatives align with the company’s strategic goals. This mindset shift has led to structural changes within the organisation, where HR has evolved from a small, generalist function to a team of specialists in learning, talent acquisition, remuneration and governance.

“Understanding where the energy industry was headed, we took a step back and asked, ‘What do we need to set ourselves up for the future?’ We then structured our HR model in a way that allows business partners to focus on change management and commercial leadership, which are key priorities for our executives. 

“We leveraged subject matter experts in learning and remuneration to develop our people, attract the right talent and ensure competitive remuneration. There’s now a strong collaboration across all areas to support our future workforce needs.”

The team collaborates with subject matter experts, for example, in learning to identify and implement the essential skills needed for Alinta’s future workforce.

“We hold regular stand-ups for HR business partners and Centre of Excellence leaders to ensure alignment on priorities and keep initiatives fit-for-purpose. As a highly organised business, we also conduct quarterly planning to map out both business-as-usual and strategic initiatives. 

“This allows us to allocate resources effectively, identify areas for development and streamline efforts to improve efficiency.”

Take your HR team’s capabilities to the next level by leveraging AHRI’s EOFY Corporate Training offering, or explore an organisational membership to give your entire team access to a range of useful research, resources and more.

Preparing for the future

The ideal HR function of the future will need to be adaptable, flexible and data-driven, says Gillard.

“It should also be deeply embedded into the business’s strategic initiatives so that we can demonstrate value. Things have changed a lot since I first started, when HR was seen as a cost centre. Now, senior leaders are seeing the value and impact of HR.

“What’s great about [organisations] like AHRI is that they help us work towards that goal. We can tap into its network, which has a lot of futuristic HR people, which shows us how we should be thinking about things. 

“One of the great things about working in HR at Alinta is that we pay for AHRI membership for our HR team, so they can access HRM Magazine and they get notifications of the learning opportunities. We will often pin [AHRI’s resources] into our professional development channel, so, during professional development time, our people can read an article or attend a webinar that sparks their interest.”

For practitioners wondering how to continue maintaining relevance in the field of HR, Gillard’s advice is simple: be curious.

“Understand business strategy as deeply as you understand HR. And, most importantly, never stop learning.

“You’ve got to stay relevant, you’ve got to keep your networks updated and you’ve got to understand, from a commercial leadership point of view, what’s going on in the world and how that might impact your organisation.” 

A longer version of this article first appeared in the April-May 2025 edition of HRM Magazine.