Megan Edwards summarises the debate from IES' 2017 annual conference, which considered the future direction of HR and people management.
The landscape of HR is changing; Brexit, the gig economy, technological development, older workers and stagnant real wage growth are all contributing to uncertainty and inevitable change within the HR sphere. With speakers from both the academic and practitioner worlds providing their assessments, our annual conference considered HR’s future direction and purpose.
Helen Fairfoul, CEO of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, kicked off the day with her perspective on where HR is now and where it needs to get to. Helen urged delegates to ‘turn a challenge into an opportunity’ and embrace innovative methods to drive HR people strategy.
Professor Paul Sparrow reiterated this sentiment; HR is facing horizontal and non-functional people-related issues. He urges the HR profession to work more collaboratively and creatively, aligning to performance outcomes in order to deliver strategic expertise that adds value to organisational performance.
The UK’s flexible labour market was the topic of focus for Professor Sian Moore of the University of Greenwich. There is an increased demand for line managers to match work demands to workers, distancing ‘non-standard’ employment from the remit of HR. The knock-on implications for learning and development, job satisfaction, stress, equality and diversity, and productivity all need to be considered.
Later in the day, Global Head of People Organisation and Culture Integration, Sandy Begbie, shared Standard Life’s innovative and people-focused talent management practices. At Standard Life Aberdeen, ‘talent’ refers to everyone, not a few select people. They employ a ‘talent pipeline’ to nurture the development of all staff, from those on internships all the way to the executive team. Caroline Nugent, director of HR & OD at oneSource, followed Sandy and stressed that HR rarely promotes the brilliant work that it does. In doing so, it can enable collaboration and sharing within the profession.
IES’ Stephen Bevan and Duncan Brown summed up the events of the day and left us with some critical questions to consider. How is the changing environment altering the ‘psychological contract’ between employer and employee and the ‘value proposition’ offered to employees? Will the nature of HR roles need to change and what new skills will HR professionals of the future need? Finally, how will demographic and technological change affect how and where employees work in the future?
In acknowledgement of current turbulent times, the Institute has published a collection of articles addressing today’s pressing issues for organisations. Pulling together existing research and their own insights and experiences from working with organisations, the team of researchers and consultants have offered their reflections on how leaders and HR practitioners can successfully navigate the imminent challenges.
In this IES Perspectives on HR 2017 essay, Peter Reilly writes with Professor Maura Sheehan on the role that HR might play in workforce innovation.
