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R A C O N T E U R . N E T
WHO PROVIDES HR
SUPPORT FOR HR?
HOW TO TACKLE
STAFF TURNOVER
10
03
EXPLORING HR ROLES
OF THE FUTURE
14
FUTURE OF HR
R A C O N T E U R . N E T
03
/future-hr-2020-dec
as 2020 been the tough-
est year ever for human
resources
professionals?
Many experts think it has, with the
coronavirus pandemic presenting
threats to both employees' job secu-
rity and wellbeing, as well as driving
major organisational change with
very little time to prepare.
In a period when remote working
has become normal and negatively
impacted the physical and men-
tal health of the teams they look
after, the key question is: who is tak-
ing care of the carers to prevent HR
burnout?
The dangers are very real, as
a survey for VMware suggests.
Of the 950 HR directors in the
Europe, Middle East and Africa
region surveyed, 51 per cent wor-
ried relationships with their team
and other colleagues would suf-
fer as a result of remote working.
A third admitted they felt more of
a need to be online outside their
normal working hours, while 28
per cent reported stress levels
had increased as a result of this
new pattern.
Research from HR consultancy
LHH in UK and Ireland was even
starker, showing 93 per cent of HR
decision-makers feel more pressure
than ever before.
Laura Welsh, head of HR at LLH,
says: "HR professionals are being
looked to by anxious employees and
leadership teams during this dif-
fi cult time, and are having to take
part in decisions that require emo-
tional intelligence, resilience and
empathy. If HR professionals don't
look after themselves, it can have
an adverse impact on their ability to
make these decisions. They should
apply their own oxygen mask fi rst."
Suggesting regular check-ups and
one-to-ones, as well as being strict
with boundaries, Welsh says these
things are vital to "creating a safe
space to express your feelings and
discuss any issues that arise".
For many, this may be easier said
than done. Charles Alberts, head
of health management at global
professional services fi rm Aon,
believes human resources needs to
look outside itself for the answer to
HR burnout.
"There are various reasons for this,
not least the stress we place our-
selves under in recognising the sig-
nifi cance and impact of our work on
others and an expanding remit to
provide greater support to people in
the business."
Alberts describes it as “vicarious
stress”. "When we listen to others
and how they are feeling, such as
stressed, anxious, depressed, we run
the risk of taking those feelings on
ourselves and feeling overwhelmed.
"We may not take action to look
after ourselves because we per-
ceive what we're going through to
be not quite as bad as those whom
we have supported."
Supervision is one answer, similar
to that received by counsellors and
psychotherapists. "We don't currently
adopt this practice as standard for HR,
line managers or mental health fi rst
aiders but, given the changing nature
of these roles and increased emotional
demands, we would be missing an
opportunity not to adopt supervision
principles that are common practice in
clinical settings,” he says.
Clinical psychologist Dr Nick
Taylor, co-founder of Unmind,
agrees. He says: "It's crucial we
support HR professionals or the
productivity and wellbeing of
the organisation could
suff er.
Organisations must embrace tech-
nology, investing in mental health
platforms and tools that allow HR
teams to learn about their own
mental health proactively.
"It's important to ensure they too
have an accessible and non-judg-
mental place to turn if they need
support, so they can continue to
deliver support for the workforce."
According to Culture Amp's HR
for HR survey of more than 1,000
HR professionals in June, just 34
per cent of respondents felt able to
switch off from work to make time
for rest and only 43 per cent felt their
levels of stress were manageable.
This could be why Peter Ryding,
founder of the HRD PathFinder Club
for senior HR professionals, says he
has seen an increase in HR directors
seeking external networks, coaches
or mentors to discuss professional or
wellbeing issues.
Other measures include the chief
executive or C-suite off ering HR pro-
fessionals unpaid leave or greater
levels of fl exible working to combat
burnout, alongside better access to
employee assistance programmes.
Additionally, the chance to out-
source work and redeploy staff from
other parts of the business to assist
temporarily or permanently could
help reduce strain.
But it is cultivating a positive cul-
ture around mental health from the
top down that will ultimately open
up channels of check-in and com-
munication so HR teams can signal
if they are struggling.
Chartered psychologist Lucinda
Carney, founder of Actus, a virtual
HR software platform, says: "HR
professionals have been thrown in
at the deep end, entering uncharted
territory almost overnight, and
often without training. It has been
HR who have had to keep teams
together, ensuring the cogs are still
turning in organisations, while
dealing with ever-changing busi-
ness challenges and employee leg-
islation. This sort of burden has
begun to take its toll."
HR consultant Lesley Richards,
head of the Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development
in Wales, fi rmly agrees, but sug-
gests such sorely needed change is
appearing slowly over the horizon.
"In non-COVID times, the ques-
tion of who provides HR support for
HR people is a long-avoided issue,”
she says. “But colleagues are now
regularly asking after each oth-
er's wellbeing. More compassion-
ate and understanding leadership,
supported by campaigns such as
#bekind or #hrtogether, will be a
legacy of the pandemic.”
Who provides human
resources for HR?
FUTURE OF HR
@raconteur
/raconteur.net
@raconteur_london
As employees struggle with job insecurity, health concerns
and stress, we should spare a thought for human resources
professionals who are facing unprecedented challenges
Jonathan Weinberg
Journalist, writer and
media consultant/trainer
specialising in technology,
business, social impact
and the future of work and
society.
Francesca Baker
Journalist and copywriter
writing for the BBC,
Metro, Stylist, EY, Roche,
Mitsubishi, The National
Lottery, National Trust
and others.
Cath Everett
Journalist specialising
in workplace, leadership
and organisational
culture, with a focus on
the impact of technology
on business and society.
Bradley Gerrard
Business and fi nance
journalist with bylines in
the Daily Telegraph, FTfm
and Investors Chronicle.
Distributed in
Jonathan Weinberg
Published in association with
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B U R N O U T
Publishing manager
Ellen Catchpole
Acting managing editor
Francesca Cassidy
Associate editor
Peter Archer
Digital content executive
Taryn Brickner
Chris Stokel-Walker
Technology and culture
journalist and author,
with bylines in The New
York Times, The Guardian
and Wired.
UNLEASHGROUP.IO
68%
33%
CIPD 2020
of people professionals said
employee health and wellbeing
was one of their top three priorities
during the COVID-19 outbreak
43%
said employee
engagement
was one of the
top three
said retention
was one of the
top three
The World has changed and the technology needed to find the best
people has changed too.
“The Global economy has been significantly impacted over the last year
and this has profound effects on how we find and hire the right people
to survive and thrive in the future.”
explains Andy Randall, CEO of eArcu.

It might seem that with the change in the economy, that finding
people is easy. But are they the right people? Are they invested in
your organisation? Will they make a difference? Or even stick around?
Andy Randall continues,
“Larger numbers looking for work, smaller resourcing teams, a
turbulent economy and a major shift to virtual collaboration have
changed the employment market beyond all recognition. To be
successful in 2021 and beyond requires a new set of tools and a fresh
approach to resourcing.”
Is it time to upgrade your
Resourcing Technology?
Find out about our
more-for-less offer,
visit www.earcu.com
It’s vital to make every word count when you’re hiring the talent that will be the future of your business. In those 8 seconds, you need to tell your
story and inspire the most diverse, talented job seekers. To become the No 1 destination for their job applications.
8 seconds. That’s all you’ve got. Can you attract the best?
It’s clear that the winners will be those agile teams who adopt
the smartest technology to engage with all kinds of candidate
communities.
eArcu is the market leading Talent Acquisition Suite,
powering some of the World’s most admired employers’
recruitment strategies. You get the reassurance of a
trusted market leader, and the excitement of award
winning innovation – all in one organic package.
The future of resourcing?
It’s all about agility.
Production manager
Hannah Smallman
Art director
Joanna Bird
Design director
Tim Whitlock
Design
Sara Gelfgren
Kellie Jerrard
Colm McDermott
Samuele Motta
Nita Saroglou
Jack Woolrich
Sean Wyatt-Livesley
R A C O N T E U R . N E T
F U T U R E O F H R
05
04
ew fathers are thought to
have been put off taking
paternity leave during the
coronavirus pandemic, fearful of
losing their jobs.
With the UK’s unemployment
rate set to rise above 7 per cent in
2021, according to the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and
Development,
experts
believe
fathers and non-birth parents
could be less willing to take time off
after a birth or adoption for some
time to come.
“In terms of take-up of paren-
tal leave over the furlough period,
I would expect there to be a sig-
nifi cant decline in the numbers of
people taking it,” says Jon Taylor,
employment law specialist at EMW.
Taylor believes the economic
uncertainty created by coronavi-
rus would encourage workers to
“keep their heads down and not
create hassle for their employer”.
Although there is no hard data yet
to support this assertion, others
share the same view.
“For people worried about los-
ing their jobs or who are more at
risk of becoming unemployed, I
could imagine that such people
would try to avoid paternity leave,”
says Dr Christopher Rauh, lecturer
in Economics at the University
of Cambridge.
In particular, this would be the
case for shared parental leave,
which allows parents to split 50
weeks of leave after a birth or adop-
tion, and is available beyond the
statutory two weeks qualifying
fathers and non-birth parents are
entitled to when their child arrives.
Beyond time off , paternity leave
gives fathers the chance to con-
nect with and feel responsible for
their child.
Rauh says research shows the pos-
itive eff ects of paternity leave on
the normalisation of gender roles.
“When men take paternity leave,
they are more likely to take on
household duties and more likely
to spend time with the children,”
he says. “The risk [with the pan-
demic] is that we see a reversal of
this, with the move away from tra-
ditional roles being put at threat by
the crisis.”
Bradley Gerrard
Experts warn fewer
fathers will take
paternity leave due
to the employment
and economic
shocks caused by
the coronavirus
pandemic
One unexpected casualty of COVID-19
P AT E R N I T Y L E A V E
In addition, women are more
likely to have lost their jobs during
the pandemic and so have taken
on
childcare
responsibilities,
says Rauh. His research indicates
women were more likely to either
initiate being furloughed or put on
furlough, mainly due to their role
as mothers.
“I suspect many thought it would
be temporary, but it might lead to
permanent changes in the gender
balance because if you spend time
out of work, it reduces your chances
of getting work, and your wages, in
the future,” he says.
Lockdowns have aff orded many
working fathers more time at home
with their children. But this has
largely been in place of the com-
mute they no longer do, rather than
a formal break from work and doing
more around the home.
“Anecdotal
evidence
suggests
the mother has still been the one
expected to do all the home-school-
ing, while the father has worked from
his home offi ce,” says Helen Astill,
managing director of Cherington
HR, adding that while she had not
witnessed a drop-off in statutory
paternity
leave, shared parental
leave remained extremely rare.
Even before the pandemic, two
thirds of new fathers were failing
to take paternity pay in the year to
March 31 because of the low level of
statutory compensation.
At £151.20 a week, or 90 per cent
of their average weekly earnings,
whichever is
lower, the fi nan-
cial disincentive is usually a cru-
cial impediment to fathers taking
paternity leave. And an economic
downturn could exacerbate this.
“The problem is that men often
feel they need to fi t into the societal
role of the breadwinner for their
family and, with a global crisis
and an economic downturn to con-
tend with, it can be hard to ration-
alise taking time off work when
they could be earning money,” says
Jamie Mackenzie at employee bene-
fi ts specialist Sodexo Engage.
“Businesses therefore need to be
sensitive to this fact when discuss-
ing paternity leave with employees
and outlining the options on off er.”
For companies keen to modern-
ise their paternity leave policies,
experts say it’s important manag-
ers listen to their staff about what
they want.
FTSE 100-listed insurer Aviva
offers all new parents a year’s
leave with the first 26 weeks on
full pay, something which has led
to an equal 50-50 split in male and
female staff taking parental-re-
lated leave in the year to the end
of October.
Such a generous off er is rare in
the UK, but Anthony Fitzpatrick,
Aviva’s employee relations and
global policy
lead,
says
any
improvement to parental leave poli-
cies is positive.
“Not every organisation can off er
members of staff paid leave for 26
weeks, but if they listen and engage
with their employees, they can
make a small change that’s relevant
to their company and aff ordable,”
he says. “Small changes can make a
huge impact on the lives of employ-
ees and their families.”
An important step is to make
paternity and maternity leave pack-
ages consistent and ensure shared
parental responsibilities are repre-
sented in a company’s culture.
Firms must also actively share
information on paternity
and
shared leave, especially as research
by meeting provider PowWowNow
in March showed just a quarter (25.9
per cent) of fi rms provided details
without being asked.
This lack of transparency could
help explain why just 3.8 per cent
of eligible couples applied to use
shared parental leave in the 2018-19
tax year, according to HM Revenue
& Customs.
And coronavirus isn’t helping.
Jobs website DirectlyApply found
the number of job posts on its site
that mentioned paternity leave fell
by 90 per cent between January
and October this year.
Commentators agree the onus is
on the individual to take parental
leave. But they also believe work-
places must support fathers and
non-birth parents to take leave to
help in the drive for gender equal-
ity, something that will benefi t
everyone in the long run.
N
The mother has still been the
one expected to do all the home-
schooling, while the father has
worked from his home offi ce
Kelly Sikkema/UnsplashCommercial feature
here’s no doubting the fact
2020 has brought huge
changes to the way we work
and do business. Our slowly evolving
methods and procedures have been
forced into hyperdrive. Light was cast
on outdated processes that continue
to hold business growth back.
But while it’s long been no secret that
constant and clear feedback is what
enables everyone to move in the right
direction, it’s only recently more com-
panies have realised the annual pro-
cess of evaluating the work of employ-
ees, and paying or punishing them
accordingly, is increasingly out of step
with their overall goals.
Performance management is broken
and it has been for a long time. This
year has only underscored just how
critical it is companies fi x it. Employees
have long come to fear traditional per-
formance reviews and their unneces-
sary bottlenecks, which slow down the
fl ow of much-needed feedback and
guidance, and adds to existing frustra-
tions. Without continued, clear insight
on how to best meet the needs of the
business, employees are unable to be
effective in their roles.
Many organisations are now moving
to more frequent growth and develop-
ment-focused conversations between
managers and employees. Changing
attitudes towards performance man-
agement aren’t just driven by business
needs though. Jack Altman, co-founder
and chief executive of Lattice, a people
management software platform that
enables people leaders to develop
engaged,
high-performing
teams,
believes something bigger is at play.
“Continuous people management
highlights a shift from accountability
Shift performance
management
to drive business
growth
Performance management: do it right and it can
fast-track company growth; do it wrong and it can
erode the foundation of your employee experience
to growth,” he says. “Employees want
more than a paycheque. They want
to understand how they impact the
bigger picture and how they can suc-
cessfully accomplish their career goals.
Continuous feedback gives employees
ongoing insight to understand and adapt
to business needs and expectations, so
they can become top performers.”
If nothing more, 2020 has demon-
strated the need for businesses to be
agile to the changing climate around
us. As our world shifted, the human
resources function has needed to
stretch beyond just compliance into a
strategic arm, charged with enabling the
continual success of their people. The
need to simplify and drive effi ciencies
has become increasingly clear. To meet
these evolving needs though, HR tech-
nology is rapidly pivoting to focus on
supporting this new mission and meet-
ing new business and employee needs.
“HR technology should mirror trans-
formation of the HR function,” says
Altman. “As HR’s mission and scope
evolve to meet business needs, lead-
ers should look for tools that not only
enable performance management, but
also provide insights into the engage-
ment and growth of their teams.”
With employees actively asking to be
more involved in their career growth,
companies are looking for new ways
to ensure managers give this support
and new tools to help make these
discussions more collaborative and
structured. Software that’s able to
provide transparency and alignment
enables both employees and their
managers to hold more structured
and impactful conversations.
Top-tier performance management
software solutions are easily used by
both people teams and employees
alike. They provide a singular frontend
experience for employees, while offer-
ing deep analytics to people teams and
management. They also enable manag-
ers to share guidance and growth paths
while giving people leaders better
understanding of how top performers
are experiencing the company. They
take into account the near-term and
longer-term needs of their employees
as they grow within the company.
We’re all living in especially disrup-
tive times, when company success
depends on rapid pivoting. The ability
of organisations to engage and bring
their staff with them will be what helps
them get through these tough times
and beyond.
T
To learn more about continuous
people management or Lattice
please visit www.lattice.com
Continuous people
management
highlights a shift
from accountability
to growth
ore people have moved to
online shopping and learn-
ing in the last fi ve months
than in the past ten years.
2020 was the year HR changed for-
ever. In HR technology terms, it tur-
bocharged the shift to online. The
profession has endured a global cri-
sis, one unheard of in our lifetime
and for which the future economic,
social and human impact is still
unfolding. The events of 2020 have
reinforced in me that the future of
the workforce is changing more dra-
matically than anyone can predict,
and it's led to fundamental changes
in our labour force and economy.
That's why the statistics behind
our in-depth research this year Why
HR Projects Fail are both scary and
heartening. HR has been stoical
in this crisis, the unsung hero and
superhero on the leadership team,
leading remote working, contin-
gency planning and repeated busi-
ness transformations.
HR leaders recognise all mod-
els were broken: business, leader-
ship, strategy, culture, engagement,
compensation, learning. The radar
organisations fl ew into this crisis
with hasn’t worked and won't be
the one they need fl ying out. This is
why the research we're working on
behind the scenes is fundamental
as CHROs and the C-suite rethink
how they do business and retool
their organisations for the real-time
COVID economy.
At UNLEASH, we've always asked
our industry to call out the truth for
full clarity and integrity; to clearly
defi ne what's working, what isn't
and explore HR's direction of travel.
Our Why HR Projects Fail report for-
mulated 8 Golden Rules for successful
HR projects that enable leaders to get
the best out of the systems they com-
mission over the next 12 months.
We gathered perspectives from
over 1,000 global HR leaders, rep-
resenting an estimated $4 billion of
managed HR tech budget.
Based on our analysis, we've iden-
tifi ed that project excellence corre-
lates with attention to eight critical
factors. I'm happy to share 1 and 5.
1. Focus on outcomes
Ask the question, what do we
need to achieve? Leadership teams
must understand their objectives
before signing expensive con-
tracts. Organisations that have
clear goals and stick to their vision
are more likely to achieve transfor-
mational outcomes.
Imagine the contract has been
signed with the vendor or service
provider. Think of the questions you
now need to ask yourself, your team,
and your organisation.
Don't sign a multi-million-dollar HR
technology contract and start ask-
ing questions on business strategy,
resources, fi nance, IT, user adoption,
language, culture, data management,
integration, training and return on
investment afterwards.
5. Build on solid data
Data that's not clean or ready is the
most frequently encountered chal-
lenge for HR tech projects.
Predictive became redundant in
this crisis. It wasn't designed for
this level of chaos or a virus turn-
ing the global economy on its head
with on-and-off lockdowns. That
said, HR analytics can serve a much
bigger purpose over the next six to
twelve months.
Think of the skills your organ-
isation will need to match your
business strategy in 2021. This cri-
sis has put strategy firmly in the
hands of the CHRO. In a world of
never normal, business and front-
line leaders must be armed with
HR reporting that enables us to
understand who’s coming back to
the office, who's staying at home,
and the hybrid worker who loves
both, and when.
HR hack for 2021: if you don't have
data scientists in your HR depart-
ment, steal them from IT.
HR and workforce tech is coming
of age under the spotlight. Getting
it right means HR can become the
business value driver it's always
aspired to be.
‘COVID is not
an inventor. It is a
time machine that
has pulled the HR
profession forward’
M
O P I N I O N
Marc Coleman
Founder and chief executive
unleashgroup.io
MOTHERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE STOPPED WORKING DURING COVID
The number of mothers who have been furloughed or laid off is signifi cantly higher than the number of fathers
Institute for Fiscal Studies 2020
Mothers
Fathers
18%
32%
34%
16%
21%
38%
30%
11%
Working
from home
Not working:
furloughed
Not working: laid
off, fi red or quit
Working outside
the home
R A C O N T E U R . N E T
F U T U R E O F H R
07
06
Commercial feature
igital transformation has shot
up the corporate boardroom
agenda, with organisations
racing to keep up with rapidly evolv-
ing customer expectations in the dig-
ital age. This is particularly visible in
the retail sector where, before the
coronavirus pandemic, 87 per cent of
customer experience journeys were
already starting online, according to
Salesforce research.
But the need to transform tran-
scends all sector, as agile “born-tech”
startups disrupt traditional industry
incumbents weighed down by bloat
and legacy.
If the pace of change wasn’t fast
enough already, coronavirus has
dialled it up further. By forcing even the
most vehemently analogue consum-
ers, and indeed businesses, to inter-
act and carry out tasks online, it has
left organisations with no choice but
to meet their customers where they
are on digital channels. The pandemic
has subsequently accelerated digital
transformations by six years, according
to research from Twilio.
However, simply taking the step to
embark on a digital transformation
by no means guarantees success. The
cold hard truth is 73 per cent of digital
transformations fail, an Everest Group
so many nuances and it’s important
to have the agility to get them right
because if people don’t understand
that agility is local, rather than macro,
a digital transformation is unlikely
to succeed.”
For born-tech, digitally native com-
panies, agility is often intrinsic. For
legacy companies in traditional indus-
tries, however, it’s very diffi cult to
achieve. Agile is more than a meth-
odology, it’s a mindset that focuses
on failing fast and learning fast.
Allowing failure to be part of a com-
pany’s psyche requires a major cul-
tural shift in the way businesses have
worked previously.
Born-tech
organisations
have
brought this to the market and their
reward is the fl exibility and adaptability
that allows them to thrive.
To keep up, going-tech companies
need to fi rst understand how many
people in their current workforce can
be redeployed or retrained to work
in a new digital environment and how
much talent needs to be acquired. This
requires effective workforce planning
and support in the thought process.
Once they’ve done that, organisa-
tions then need to decide how to sup-
plement existing talent with new talent,
bringing in the necessary skills to sup-
port transformation. This might mean
recruiting hundreds of new people
because there is no relevant talent in
house or cherry-picking talent in cer-
tain areas.
“You need to learn as a company
where you are, in terms of the tech
you have and what you’re looking to
do, and make sure you hire people who
have undertaken those types of pro-
jects before,” says Mike Scullion, man-
aging partner at Elements. “If you’re a
going-tech company going through a
digital transformation, you probably
don’t want to bring people in who have
only worked at born-tech companies
because they haven’t seen the trans-
formation from a traditional business
to a more digitally focused one.”
Elements’ embedded partnership
model is designed to build and accel-
erate the success of digital transfor-
mation agendas through people, con-
necting big strategic vision to the talent
capable of bringing it to life. For each
partner Elements works with, it builds
a bespoke team of embedded consult-
ants and, by advising from the inside,
its people can go deeper and inspire
more meaningful change. They truly
understand each company’s mission,
values and culture, and then convey all
of that to the wider talent marketplace.
Having pioneered and built this
unique model around its fi rst embed-
ded partners, themselves among the
biggest global brands, Elements has
since rolled it out across both born-
tech and going-tech organisations
around the world.
Its experience with leading born-
tech businesses,
in particular,
is
hugely appealing to large corporations
embarking on digital transformations.
Being involved from an early stage in
the growth of these digital natives, and
building the systems and processes
that allowed them to attract, hire and
deliver talent in hugely competitive
areas, provides a blueprint. However,
adapting to the bespoke needs of
a going-tech company is the key
to success.
“If people didn’t understand digital
was the future before, they certainly
will now,” says Goldstein. “Companies
that hadn’t already started digitalising
have suffered the most during the pan-
demic and will continue to. We partner
with organisations to understand their
mission and enable them to success-
fully execute them. We’re there to sup-
plement and support them internally,
working with talent acquisition and
human resources teams to provide the
fi repower and knowledge to drive pow-
er-centric digital transformation.
“Our passion for outstanding can-
didate experience and our unrivalled
stakeholder management, treating our
clients as partners and being treated
as equals by them, is what drives our
success. The opportunity to digitally
transform is now and people should
be embracing this moment to adapt
their environments and cultures for
the future.”
study shows. And one of the most
common reasons for this is companies
prioritising technology over the impor-
tance of people.
“Digital transformations fail when
people are not brought along with it
and they don’t understand the ‘why’,”
says Daniel Goldstein, group chief
executive of Elements, which provides
strategic consultancy and in-house
talent acquisition to some of the big-
gest born-tech and “going-tech” busi-
nesses in the world.
“If people don’t understand the ‘why’
of transformation, they’re not going to
get on board with the ‘how’ and actu-
ally delivering it. You can buy the best
technology, but unless your people
are absolutely brought into it, and are
really driving it, it’s just not going to do
what you want it to.
“Transformations also
fail when
they’re forced onto people. A fi xed
approach to solving problems doesn’t
work. If the people at the end of pro-
cesses, who are actually doing the
work, don’t feel it’s working from them,
they’re not going to adapt the way
they work.
“What might work for your people in
digital might not work for your people
in fi nance or sales. Approaching it as a
one size fi ts all is a mistake. There are
Putting people at
the heart of digital
transformation
Most digital transformations fail because companies neglect
the crucial people element. Getting that right requires a
unique, embedded and agile approach to talent acquisition
D
The opportunity to digitally
transform is now and people
should be embracing this
moment to adapt their
environments and cultures
for the future
For more information please visit
weareelements.io
hat’s in a name? When it
comes to hiring candidates,
a lot. Names can reveal our
gender, ethnicity and even age, and
these revelations can leave the door
open for bias.
Recruitment bias both perpetuates
inequalities and impacts commer-
cial success. Human resources teams
need to be hiring a diverse workforce
because it’s good for society and good
for business, but too often old ways
of thinking trip up diversity efforts
before they get started.
Advancements in technology might
help. Artificial intelligence (AI) in
HR has had some high-profile mis-
haps but, used correctly, it can hugely
increase equality of opportunity.
A report from talent management
software company Headstart found
38 per cent of hiring managers in
the United States actively admit to
discriminating
against
potential
employees, based on their protected
characteristics. But discrimination
can occur even with strict diversity
The technology grabbed headlines for
perpetuating discrimination in recruitment,
but new artificial intelligence solutions
can help root out the biases holding talent
management back
New tools
to tackle bias
W
Francesca Baker
and inclusion strategies in place,
often because we are unaware of our
own biases.
It starts before candidates reach the
interview room, with bias in job list-
ings. A milestone piece of research
in the Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology showed adverts in
more male-dominated fields, such as
engineering, frequently used word-
ing which is typically interpreted as
masculine, including terms such as
“competitive” or “dominant”. That
was in 2011. Eight years later, job
A R T I F I C I A L I N T E L L I G E N C E
site Adzuna found 60 per cent of all
industries in the UK still had a signif-
icant male bias in their job ads.
But help is at hand. Ethical AI
systems, trained with appropri-
ate algorithms, can help parse job
adverts, weeding out language that
causes problems and making them
more inclusive.
British consumer giant Co-op is
working with augmented writing
platform Textio on one such initi-
ative. Using AI, the tool can reveal
hidden gender bias in writing and
suggest amendments. It can also be
aligned with company values, iden-
tifying language which is most likely
to appeal to inclusion-minded people.
As part of a larger company effort
to improve hiring diversity, phar-
maceutical company Johnson and
Johnson increased the proportion of
under-represented candidates by 22
per cent, simply by changing the lan-
guage they used.
Applying for a job is merely the first
step, however, with the interview
itself offering further opportunities
for bias to creep in.
AI interview platform Metaview
applies natural language processing
to job interviews to help organisations
reduce bias and inconsistency. It auto-
matically records and transcribes
interviews, providing hiring manag-
ers with data and insights which can
help inform their decision-making.
The platform also offers interview-
ers guidance, with feedback on met-
rics such as the structure of the inter-
view or their rigour and consistency
in asking questions. "Metaview ena-
bled us to scale our hiring quickly
without compromising on quality, as
well as reducing interview bias,” says
Liz Savory, chief of staff at software
company Wave Financial.
Talent matching platform pyme-
trics is also using AI to improve fair-
ness and inclusion in hiring. The
tool conducts behaviour assess-
ments designed with specific job
roles in mind, rather than simply
right or wrong answers. The assess-
ments have been rigorously tested
for bias across gender and ethnicity,
and come with adjustable options
for those with disabilities. Using the
tool, one leading investment firm saw
female representation of candidates
increase 44 per cent and application
to offer for females up 62 per cent.
Despite these and other posi-
tive advances, worries over using
AI in HR remain. “AI is designed by
humans so it is vulnerable to the
biases of the people who develop
the system,” says Hayfa Mohdzaini,
the Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development’s senior research
adviser in data, tech and AI. Without
due process and care, there is still
nothing to stop AI simply replicating
the biases of its programmer.
Another issue is the lack of out-
come data at mass scale. There are
enterprising tech startups developing
potential solutions, but will they solve
the major issues? Amazon stopped
using their AI hiring systems when
it was found they perpetuated bias
against female applicants. When a
global monolith using technology
to underpin a multi-billion-dollar
empire can’t get it right, it should give
HR professionals at smaller compa-
nies pause for thought.
Aon’s AI hiring assessment solu-
tions have been used by compa-
nies such as Deloitte, Burger King,
Siemens and O2. Yet Aon’s director of
global products Richard Justenhoven
is cautious. “Letting AI models self-
drive with their own judgement
calls is not right. Don’t treat them as
omnipotent tools,” he says.
When it comes to using AI in HR,
not all responsibility can be left
with technology. HR leaders must
play a role.
Learning algorithms do exactly that
– learn – from data fed into them.
High-quality input should be tested
and adjusted regularly. And HR
needs to monitor outcomes, check-
ing AI-aided recruitment processes
are not negatively impacting minor-
ity groups.
IBM Research has launched a
series of toolkits and resources to
help organisations check for and
correct bias in AI systems. They
also help AI designers and devel-
opers ask the right questions about
the social and ethical aspects of the
technology they create.
Michael Hind, IBM distinguished
research staff member, says despite
advancements there is an essential
need to address and govern how an
AI model or service is constructed
and deployed.
Elizabeth Adams, of the US Digital
Civil Society Lab in partnership with
the Center for Comparative Studies
in Race and Ethnicity, at Stanford
University, concludes:
“We can-
not assume technology will correct
human bias. We need to build ethics
into the entire process, including an
ethical auditing process.”
We cannot assume technology
will correct human bias. We
need to build ethics into the
entire process
35%
65%
of HR professionals believe their
organisation has the statistical
capability to check whether their
talent acquisition processes are
free of bias
agree that AI technology has the
potential to improve diversity
and inclusion
IBM 2019
HOW TECH CAN BOOST D&I EFFORTS
Using AI, machine learning, natural language processing and sentiment analysis to create a diverse culture can improve the odds
an employee agrees their organisation is inclusive.
O.C. Tanner Institute 2020
Professional development
Technology implemented in this area
% increase in odds of feeling the organisation is inclusive
Job recruiting
Leadership development
Analytics
Engagement
Performance management
60%
47%
38%
21%
17%
16%
Zia Soleil/GettyImages
R A C O N T E U R . N E T
F U T U R E O F H R
09
08
PEOPLE PROBLEMS
Not only has COVID-19 resulted in unprecedented changes in the way offi ce employees work, it has thrown
unexpected challenges at human resources professionals the world over
TOP CHALLENGES OF WORKING REMOTELY
Survey of employees who work remotely or have the option to and are in roles with digital output
74%
INTERNAL TENSIONS
How employees and executives view organisational support during the pandemic
of HR professionals say
they can be effective
working remotely,
compared with just 66 per
cent of all other workers
85%
of offi ce workers
would like a combination
of offi ce-based work
and remote working
moving forward
72%
say a lack of social
interactions is likely to
impact their mental health
if they are to continue
working remotely
34%
38%
80%
46%
86%
51%
23%
REMOTE NEWBIES ARE STRUGGLING
Experienced and newly remote workers who say WFH is worse for the following reasons
10%
31%
13%
45%
25%
KNOWING WHAT YOU’RE DOING
Remote workers were asked if they know exactly what is expected of them as they work remote, such as working hours, availability and productivity
MAINTAINING PRODUCTIVITY
Whether onsite or remote workers are as or more productive than before the pandemic
HOW FLEXIBLE WORKING
MIGHT CHANGE AFTER
COVID-19
Percentage of business leaders
who are intending to deploy the
following strategies
Working remotely some of the timeWorking remotely all of the time Flexible daysFlexible hoursShortened work weeksOtherNone of the aboveManaging at-home distractions
Collaborating with colleagues/clients
Isolation/loneliness
Motivation
Taking adequate time away from work
Disconnecting from work/burnout
Networking/fostering career development
Other
None of the above
1%
6%
24%28%28%29%35%35%47%
51%
33%
11%
4%
Yes – everything is crystal clear to me
Almost – I feel expectations have not been formalised
Not really – I’m only accountable for my own productivity
Not at all – I do not feel we have set standards for remote work availability and productivity
Believe the organisation is helping staff learn
the skills needed to work in a new way
Believe the organisation is supporting the physical
and emotional health of its workforce
Believe the organisation is providing clear
guidelines and expectations for how to work
Overall satisfaction with working arrangement
Productivity at work
Sense of belonging at work
82%47%43%42%15%5%6%Individual tasks
Managerial tasks
Collaborative tasks
As or more productive
Less productive
Stayed onsite
Stayed remote
Transitioned to remote
LinkedIn 2020
Slack 2020
PwC 2020
GitLab 2020
Wrike 2020
*Numbers do not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding
Gartner 2020
Boston Consulting Group 2020
Slack 2020
IBM 2020
Employers
Employees
Newly remote workers
Experienced remote workers
26%
74%
36%
64%
45%
55%
44%
56%
34%
66%
23%
77%
56%
44%
40%
60%
24%
76%
R A C O N T E U R . N E T
F U T U R E O F H R
11
10
Commercial feature
hile the social challenges of
2020 compounded by the
coronavirus pandemic have
highlighted the joint responsibility both
parties have for employee welfare,
research carried out by employee
experience platform Perkbox reveals
the true extent of the mismatch
between leaders and their staff.
More than a third (36 per cent) of
employees felt less connected to their
colleagues and 32 per cent felt lonelier
than ever before, yet only 20 per cent
of bosses saw maintaining emotional
wellbeing as a signifi cant challenge to
be addressed, compared with 45 per
cent of employees.
As organisations emerge into a
new working world, where the lines
between work and life have blurred,
they must fi nd new ways of connecting
with employees, and which ultimately
improve their wellbeing and the
success of the business.
Perkbox’s Head of People Mona
Akiki explains: “To succeed, a business
needs employees who perform at
their best and for this to happen
employees need to be mentally and
physically healthy. The new working
world has meant some organisations
are no longer in the offi ce and as a
result managers are no longer able to
notice warning signals. Ironically, this
also holds true for essential workers
who may be physically present, but
whose sole purpose is to maintain the
wellbeing of others.”
Many are predicting the events of
2020 will bring about a permanent
new norm for businesses. Employers
should,
therefore,
be
focused
on providing a positive employee
experience, which
in
itself has
evolved during the crisis. Previously
How 2020 turned
a spotlight on
employee happiness
How employees feel and how their employers
think they feel are often two different things
focused on perks within the physical
offi ce space, employee experience
is now being reset to create a more
meaningful and
lasting emotional
connection
between
employer
and employee.
Perkbox’s research found 60 per
cent of business leaders recognise the
emotional wellbeing of their employees
has suffered more since COVID-19 and,
while 36 per cent now plan to invest
more in wellbeing initiatives, 24 per
cent clearly see the problem, but have
no plans to invest in improving it.
“Employers need to be more creative
and build various types of support
systems,” says Akiki. “Apps like Zoom
help staff feel less lonely and more
connected, but that isn’t enough. If
employees are to perform at their
best, they need to know where to
turn when things get tough, as well as
how to celebrate wins. It’s as simple
as creating communities within the
organisation and making it easy for
employees to reach out.”
Stronger connections are also needed
to encourage better, more regular
interactions between employees and
managers to surface any concerns
before
they
become
obstacles.
The COVID crisis has made people
re-examine priorities and that includes
feeling valued at work. People are still
willing to work hard, but they want to do
it for an organisation that cares about
them as an individual and values their
contribution to business goals.
“Wellbeing is no longer just a perk,
but an expectation, in life and at work.
Without it, people will ultimately burn
out and leave,” says Akiki. “Employers
that factor wellbeing and employee
experience into how they do business
will have a more driven, productive,
healthy and happy workforce.”
Learn how Perkbox helps companies
improve their employees’ experience
at perkbox.com
W
Pre 2020
Work
Work
Life
Life
Post 2020
Employers that factor
wellbeing and employee
experience into how
they do business will
have a more driven,
productive, healthy
and happy workforce
Perkbox’s top tips
Organisations
Employee experience should
become one of the main business
priorities for all organisations, as
it is integral to achieving business
goals. There should be strategies
that also focus on making people
feel healthy, happy and engaged,
in life and at work.
Managers
Now more than ever, managers need
to build better relationships and a
stronger sense of connection with
their employees based on regular,
recurring discussions to reinforce a
positive employee experience and,
crucially, be ready to spot signals
when things aren’t going well.
Employees
Creating relationships and
reaching out to others is good
for colleagues and benefi cial for
the individual. Loneliness isn’t
necessarily physical. You can
be busy in your job and still feel
isolated and lonely, so nurture
those relationships. Notice the
individuals who fi ll you with
hope and positivity, and surround
yourself with them.
THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE (EX) EVOLUTION
EX
EX
No matter how hard you try,
employee attrition can be
unavoidable,making online
recruitment inevitable.
The coronavirus pandemic
has thrown up an entirely
new challenge: successfully
identifying and onboarding
employees remotely. So in the
world of the Zoom interview,
what should you look for?
“The critical thing about
video interviews is that, as
with in-person interviews, 85
per cent of communication is
non-verbal,” says Professor
Heather McGregor at Edinburgh
Business School. “You have
fewer non-verbal clues in a
video interview.”
So paying close attention to
those non-verbal clues when
they appear is important: how
is the candidate dressed?
How comfortable are they
communicating through a
webcam, given it’s likely to be
the norm for some time
to come?
And what’s their background
like? “The fi rst thing you have
to think about is whether
they’re going to have a green
screen background or not, or
whether they blur it out,” says
McGregor. “I think that matters
because you communicate
so much through what you
don’t say and people make
assumptions.”
Making assumptions is one of
the biggest risks for businesses
looking to hire people in the age
of Zoom. Assumptions affect
decisions and it can be easy
to misconstrue a misplaced
pot plant or a slightly messy
background as an indication
someone is unreliable when
it could simply be that they’ve
had to home-school their
children due to a COVID-19
outbreak at nursery.
That personal touch is
diffi cult to replicate online, too.
“Your personal expression is
not as easy to read when you’re
in a little square, especially if
you’re in a panel interview,”
says McGregor. “Your bit of
the screen is small; unless
all the people on the panel
have been told to put you on
speaker view, you’re small.
When you’re speaking, you
don’t have the same level of
expressiveness digitally as you
do in person. I think it’s harder
to convey things.”
So bear all this in mind and
be prepared to make decisions
without all the information you
would normally have with an
in-person interview.
How to nail a remote interview
mployee attrition can be
a difficult challenge for
businesses at the best of
times, but the coronavirus pan-
demic and the chaos it has wrought
on workplaces compounds issues
of staff retention.
Employee
engagement
has
become a major issue as work-
places become remote: UK pub-
lic
service
productivity
fell
by a third in the second quar-
ter of 2020, according to the
Office
for National Statistics.
And world-changing events like
pandemics crystallise thoughts
about the future. Some employ-
ees may be re-evaluating what
they want as a work-life balance
and coming to the conclusion they
need to leave the company.
“I’ve never seen human resources
more prominent in the workplace,”
says Sir Cary Cooper, professor of
organisational psychology and
health at Manchester Business
School, and president of
the
Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development. In a competi-
tive business world, where a num-
ber of employees are likely to look
at changing careers, making sure
you attract and retain talent is key.
Data compiled by the Health
and Safety Executive pre-pan-
demic found 57 per cent of all
long-term absences from the work-
place were down to stress, anxiety
and depression. That’s likely to be
compounded as employees find
themselves away from the colle-
giate atmosphere of the workplace,
left to fend for themselves against
tough deadlines. “How do you pick
people up remotely who aren’t cop-
ing?” asks Sir Cary.
It requires building robust rela-
tionships with colleagues outside
work-oriented goals to reduce the
rate of employee attrition. This
starts at the very beginning of
the process.
“Everyone needs to look at their
induction processes and think
about whether they need to widen
them to make people feel part of
the organisation,” says Professor
Heather McGregor,
head
of
Edinburgh Business School.
She recently did an entire inter-
view process for a new position at
the same time as another new col-
league and it was months until they
found a way of working together
efficiently, when they were finally
able to thrash it out together in a
physical room.
“It’s diffi cult to build relation-
ships over Zoom,” says McGregor.
“When you arrive in a company, the
Checking in on people, and pro-
viding wellbeing support through
initiatives that
identify where
problems are coming to a head,
and acting quickly to try and solve
them, is the solution to the revolv-
ing door of workers leaving the
company for pastures new.
“We should be doing regular well-
being audits to see how people
perceive their work environment
because of the rapidly changing
induction needs addressing, and
the second thing is how do people
build relationships? What are you
going to do to help people who have
never worked in the company, who
have only ever been online?”
Many things have been put on
pause or stalled as the pandemic
bites, but one thing that can’t is
the potential for workplace pro-
gression. One of the biggest con-
tributors to employee attrition is
workers feeling they’ve reached
the limit of where they can go in a
company. Professional growth and
a sense of purpose drive employ-
ees the most to work well. Knowing
there’s still the potential for pro-
motion is key.
“We don’t have the right kind of
line manager in the UK and many
other countries,” says Sir Cary.
“We recruit and promote people
to managerial roles on the basis
of their technical skills, not their
people skills. Now, more than ever
before, we must ensure there’s par-
ity, when people go for managerial
roles, between people skills and
technical skills.”
Managers must be able to reas-
sure workers there are opportuni-
ties for progression to keep down
the number of employees who
leave, and they can do this with
support from HR. Providing a
roadmap for where someone comes
from and where they can go means
they’re less likely to head for the
door. Job security and assurance
are key in times of crisis and pro-
viding both avoids losing vital tal-
ent at a time when onboarding new
employees is more complicated
than ever.
It’s also more difficult to pick up
signals that something is wrong
when the workforce is scattered to
the winds. An unhappy employee
usually makes themselves known
when you’re interacting with them
in an office eight hours a day. When
they’re communicating only via
email or occasional video calls, it
can be difficult to identify issues.
nature of work,” says Sir Cary, who
points to the example of the last
significant change in our econ-
omy, the 2007-8 financial crash.
Then, an HR director in the finan-
cial services sector came to him
and spoke about “regrettable turn-
over”. “We’ve lost 35 per cent of our
staff,” the HR director said. “How
do we retain them?”
The answer
is
support and
providing a sense of purpose.
“Millennials, unlike previous gen-
erations, will leave if they don’t
like the culture they’re in,” says
Sir Cary.
But it’s not
just millennials;
confronted with the enormity of
a world that has totally change.
People are recalculating what they
want from their workplace and
employee attrition is rising. While
the market for workers is likely to
be significant, due to imminent
economic turbulence, it’s far easier
and cheaper to invest time in well-
being initiatives than lose a tal-
ented worker and have to replace
them with someone new.
Chris Stokel-Walker
E
Why you might
be about to lose
vital talent
The coronavirus pandemic has given employees
time to assess what they want from their job,
so businesses must be vigilant about wellbeing
and progression to avoid churn
E M P L O Y E E A T T R I T I O N
What are you
going to do to help
people who have
never worked in
the company,
who have only
ever been online?
TOP 10 REASONS FOR LEAVING A JOB
A survey of over 250,000 US employees, across all sectors, found that more
than 3 in 4 employees who have quit could have been retained by employers
The Work Institute 2019
monzenmachi/Getty ImagesN O T S U B B E D
Career development
Job characteristics
Work-life balance
Involuntary
Manager behaviour
Retirement
Compensation and benefi ts
Work environment
Relocation
Wellbeing
22%
8%
12%
7%
11%
6%
10%
5%
10%
8%
R A C O N T E U R . N E T
F U T U R E O F H R
13
12
he coronavirus pandemic
has given the chief human
resources offi cer (CHRO) a
voice and infl uence like never before.
With the crisis initially playing out
as a workplace or people challenge,
and now a humanitarian emergency,
HR leaders have been off ered an
opportunity to prove their worth to
the executive team by helping steer
their organisation through wide-
spread uncertainty. And signifi cant
numbers have seized the chance.
Jo Taylor, managing director of
HR consultancy Let’s Talk Talent,
explains: “There has to be a ship’s
captain and it has tended to be HR
making sense of the chaos, hand in
hand with the chief executive. CEOs
have been relying on their guidance
while trying to keep the lights on, so
HR has embraced the adage ‘it’s our
time to shine’ and done so.”
Chris
Underwood, managing
director of executive search and
leadership development
consul-
tancy Adastrum Consulting, agrees,
pointing out that the current CHRO
role as crisis manager may be a new
one, but on the whole the profession
has risen to the challenge.
“As a collective, HR leaders have
done really well, so they now have a
voice and their stock is high at sen-
ior level and among colleagues,” he
says. “While in the past, they were
often seen as either the ‘fun police’
or ‘a bit fluffy’, their influence
on how the organisation should
operate has been front and centre
this time.”
In other words, the CHRO role has,
almost overnight, become less tacti-
cal and more strategic, not least as
the crisis has “given people the abil-
ity to rip up the HR rulebook and
rewrite it”, says Taylor.
This scenario has resulted in those
HR leaders who have embraced the
opportunity becoming “more like
the conductor of an orchestra by
taking a more holistic view and col-
laborating with other functions to
make things happen”.
Another central consideration for
HR leaders, meanwhile, has been
in fi nding an appropriate balance
between undertaking operational
and strategic activities. In practice,
this has meant ensuring the right
team is in place to deal with day-to-
day issues, while HR leaders provide
mindset have fl ourished, while
those with a fi xed mindset have
struggled,” she says.
The importance of having a growth
mindset can most clearly be seen
in the newly adopted CHRO role of
change manager. While HR leaders
were traditionally seen as risk averse
with a focus on “keeping people out
of trouble and the organisation out
of court”, throughout the pandemic
they have had to act with “previously
unimaginable fl exibility, agility and
speed”, says Underwood.
As a result, not only have HR lead-
ers facilitated and driven workplace
change, ranging from support and
communication
around
remote
working to digital skills develop-
ment, they have also changed the
rules of engagement to ensure they
are now more based around people.
One example is the shift from a tra-
ditional one-size-fi ts-all approach
to policies and procedures towards
a more nuanced, personalised way
of dealing with things to cope with
the inherent complexity of the cur-
rent situation.
Put another way, the humanitar-
ian nature of the crisis has led to
“the ‘human’ being put back into
HR” as a result of the growing real-
isation that “workers are human
beings rather than just employees”,
says Brian Kropp, head of research
for analyst fi rm Gartner’s HR prac-
tice. This means the CHRO role has
increasingly become that of a guard-
ian of wellbeing.
“There’s an increasing sense that
employees are now stakeholders
in running their companies rather
than just shareholders, which is
leading to more humane ways of
working,” he points out. “ESG [envi-
ronmental, social and governance]
was building before COVID hit, but
the pandemic has created an envi-
ronment in which organisations are
being tested to see if they’re true to
their values and those that are will
thrive post-pandemic.”
Tongwen Zhao, who joined Quorn
Foods as director of people and
planet in July, agrees. The com-
pany has brought HR and sustaina-
bility together under a single remit
to ensure environmental values
are both embedded into its culture
and refl ected in its employer brand.
Zhao expects this approach to
become more widespread as climate
concerns among internal and exter-
nal talent pools continue to mount.
“The ability to integrate your
people responsibilities with other
areas of the business is an essential
weapon in the arsenal of the modern
HR leader,” she says.
Another essential skill, in a world
in which technology is increasingly
disrupting and changing everything,
is being tech savvy. On the one hand,
this means HR leaders have to under-
stand which tasks and processes the
organisation would benefi t most
from automating, not least to free
line managers’ time up to focus on
supporting their team’s needs.
On the other, it is about knowing
how to use data insights and analy-
sis eff ectively to plan, exert suitable
infl uence over senior executive deci-
sion-making and make appropriate
business cases for action in key peo-
ple areas, ranging from recruitment
to talent management.
In fact, Kropp says, although it
may seem counter-intuitive, the
eff ective use of data actually helps
HR leaders to “support employees
in a more humane way” by enabling
them to combine empathy with
business acumen.
Linda Mountford, HR director at
canned fi sh brand John West, says it
is essential to “recognise the power of
data and technology in transforming
the entire employee experience”.
Taylor agrees. “Technology is the
cornerstone. You don’t have to be a
whiz at IT – you have a team for that
– but knowing what’s possible with
technology and data is important
now and will be even more vital in
future,” she says.
To illustrate the point, Taylor cites
an article published in the Harvard
Business Review in August entitled 21
HR Jobs of the Future. The study con-
tends that of 60 new roles that are
likely to be created in the fi eld over the
next ten years, 21 will have high levels
of organisational impact. Of this 21,
more than half (12) will include a mid-
to-high tech component, while the
rest, which consist mainly of employee
wellbeing and experience roles, will
have a low-to-mid tech element.
But as part of this shift to a more
automated world, Kropp also expects
the CHRO role to morph correspond-
ingly, adopting a much stronger ven-
dor management element. While
roles, such as HR business partner,
will remain and newly created posi-
tions will come about, he anticipates
other jobs in areas like recruitment
and learning and development will
increasingly be outsourced.
“There’ll be fewer solutions devel-
oped in-house and more partnering
will take place,” he forecasts. “We’re
already seeing a shift due to the cur-
rent economic environment as peo-
ple look to get rid of fi xed costs, so
the future is coming at us now.”
Nonetheless, Taylor does not
expect to see the demise of the HR
function or a drop in the status of
its leader, any time soon, even if the
operations side of the equation does
contract due to automation.
“The human-centricity of HR won’t
disappear, so while the operations
side may shrink, the people side,
which deals with things like diversity
and inclusion and employee experi-
ence, will grow. And successful HR
leaders will become increasingly
adaptive, imaginative and think vir-
tual fi rst,” she concludes.
With unprecedented people challenges
comes unparalleled power for the
human resource professionals helping
organisations navigate the HR
demands of coronavirus
Shifting role
of the CHRO
T
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not only oversight, but also insight
and infl uence at the executive com-
mittee level.
The
single
biggest
diff eren-
tial between those whose star is
now shining, or not, is attitude,
says Taylor. “Those with a growth
C - S U I T E
John Lamb/GettyImagesTOP CHALLENGES FACING THE CHRO
HR leaders from Fortune 1000 and private companies cite the top challenges facing them as they go into 2021
Those with a
growth mindset
have fl ourished,
while those with
a fi xed mindset
have struggled
In the past, they were
often seen as either
the ‘fun police’ or ‘a
bit fl uff y’
PwC 2020
Upskilling/retraining
employees to help
drive revenue
Addressing mental
health issues of
employees
Having access to the
right data to make good
workforce decisions
Onboarding
new
employees
Maintaining
employee
productivity
Achieving
diversity and
inclusion goals
Preserving
jobs
28%
23%
20%
12%
25%
22%
14%
R A C O N T E U R . N E T
F U T U R E O F H R
15
14
Commercial feature
he gig economy has trans-
formed the labour market
over the last decade, driven
by the rise of companies such as Uber
and Deliveroo. A study last year by the
University of Hertfordshire found that
one in ten working-age adults in the UK
now work in the gig economy, which is
twice as many as there were in 2016.
However, its growing influence is expos-
ing the challenges that exist in the area
of candidate screening and onboarding.
Traditional
referencing
procedures
continue to be labour intensive, often
delayed while waiting for companies to
respond. Every organisation has their
own policy on referencing and employ-
ers often provide the same reference on
multiple occasions, as people move from
job to job. This can delay the screening
process and impact onboarding time-
frames. And with all the focus now on
culture, amplified by increases in remote
working, human resources teams want
both a quicker turnaround and a better
understanding of candidates.
“Referencing has always been a chal-
lenge and there’s often a sense of
Groundhog Day and duplication of
effort,” says Georgina Wilson, director of
strategy and planning at Vero Screening,
the largest UK independent employ-
ment screening company. “Particularly
when moving quickly between roles, the
need to repeat referencing procedures
can frustrate both the candidates, who
have to go through the same process and
delays, and HR because it’s a costly and
admin-heavy task.
“And the days of references which gather
detailed feedback are largely gone. These
days, it tends more towards a basic, tick-
box quantitative assessment  of a per-
son’s time with companies, based on
dates of employment and position held.”
New data protection regulations,
Digital credentials
will help facilitate
frictionless screening
Self-sovereign identity and digital credentials are set to
transform screening processes, enabling a more qualitative,
employee-focused approach and holistic view of candidates
such as the General Data Protection
Regulation, which give data subjects
more control over their personal data,
partly solve these issues by allowing
people to request access to their pre-
vious screening reports and then share
them with new employers. But how can
employers be confident in the validity
of such reports, coming directly from
the prospective employee as they do?
Powered by blockchain, digital cre-
dentials will address the issue of
authenticity and credibility, while
simultaneously speeding up employ-
ment verification dramatically and
driving down costs. This will leave time
and money for HR to focus on gaining a
more holistic view of candidates.
In this model, employers can shift their
focus to complementary services,
such as social media screening which
offer a better sense of an individual
and have more direct relevance to
culture. These emerging technologies
will enable a more qualitative, employ-
ee-focused approach to screening,
with faster turnarounds better suited
to today’s more fluid workforce, which
moves around at pace.
“We read about blockchain everywhere
at the moment. It’s being leveraged in
all sorts of sectors and while it’s not at
the forefront of the HR sector at the
moment, we’ve seen a lot of move-
ment over the last year, particularly
since the coronavirus pandemic hit,
and it’s starting to happen,” says Steve
Woodrough, chief technology officer at
Vero Screening.
“It certainly needs to. Automation tech-
nologies are speeding up recruiting
processes, but the average candidate
screening process can still take up to
ten days, which is just not acceptable in
the gig economy where people need to
be onboard much quicker. Blockchain
will help accelerate that.”
There are still hurdles to overcome
before digital credentials and self-sover-
eign identity are integrated into screen-
ing processes. It’s a very large, complex
model with many stakeholders – data
subject, owner, issuer, recipient – spread
across millions of different companies
and individuals around the world. The
Velocity Network Foundation, which
Vero has joined, is looking to establish
the model around which data will start
to be shared, with companies and their
HR systems feeding into an “internet of
careers” ecosystem.
“Screening will still be critical to the safe
onboarding of new employees. But with
digital CVs we’ll be able to use verified
information to speed up and enhance
the process. We can then shift our focus
to dynamic rather than static checks,”
says Woodrough. “Candidates will carry
with them a certified professional his-
tory, including qualifications and roles
with other employers. That’s the static
credentials. Then we can layer on top the
dynamic checks that change over time
to provide a quick, comprehensive and
fully up-to-date report, transforming the
screening process. ”
For more information and to
find out more about Vero’s range
of screening services, please visit
www.veroscreening.com
T
Digital credentials
will address the issue
of authenticity and
credibility, while
simultaneously speeding
up employment
verification dramatically
and driving down costs
he start of the decade
has been one of the bus-
iest on record for human
resources departments, but by the
middle of the 2020s their make-up
could look very diff erent, with a
whole wave of future HR roles com-
ing on stream.
Cognizant’s 21 HR Jobs of the
Future report, published in May,
acknowledges the scale of change
ahead, observing: "This is HR's
moment of truth to lead the organ-
isation in navigating the future of
work and prepare workers for the
next decade."
It suggests the need by 2025 for
roles such as a chatbot and human
facilitator, gig economy manager,
chief climate response leader and
human bias offi cer.
Roles such as the
“chief heart offi cer”
or “head of anti-
racism” may seem
gimmicky, but
they represent a
real statement of
purpose and intent
for the future of
human resources
HR will look very diff erent in 2025
T
Jonathan Weinberg
Robert Hoyle Brown, vice presi-
dent of Cognizant's US Center for
the Future of Work, says: "There
are fi ve core themes across HR's
jobs of the future: individual and
organisational resilience, organi-
sational trust and safety, creativity
and innovation, data literacy, and
human-machine partnerships."
Highlighting a
couple more
examples, he explains that human
R O L E S
network analysts would study the
“natural network” of how people
come together and stay connected
using artificial intelligence (AI)
and data analytics, while softer
HR skills would be exemplified in
roles like chief purpose planners,
who identify social causes, align
stakeholders and encourage infor-
mation, ideas, content and influ-
ence to flow.
Nick Matthews, vice president and
general manager, Europe, Middle
East and Africa, at Culture Amp,
an employee experience platform,
believes such change to future HR
roles is reminiscent of companies
appointing chief risk offi cers after
the 2007-8 fi nancial crash.
"We're seeing the rise of new roles
that would have been unheard of
before: director of remote experi-
ence, chief wellbeing offi cer, and
welfare and resilience managers,”
he says.
"What might once have been
deemed outlandish job titles now
represent a response to unprece-
dented crisis; organisations' deter-
mination to reach out to and sup-
port their employees.
"Today's novel job roles such
as director of remote experience
refl ect changing company operat-
ing structures, signifying depart-
mental functions have been rede-
fi ned in recent years by better
connectivity, easy-to-use software-
as-a-service solutions and new app-
based business tools."
Others believe a scientifi c and
data-driven approach to talent and
recruitment will also change the
HR department by 2025, giving
rise, for example, to the algorithm
bias auditor and HR data detective.
Dr Ryne Sherman, chief science
offi cer at Hogan Assessments, says:
"Research shows HR leaders are less
likely than the typical person to be
data driven. HR departments that
are able to break with the status
quo and bring in analytical minds
to build better and more effi cient
talent management systems, will
be miles ahead of the competition
and well positioned for success."
Janine Chamberlin, senior direc-
tor at LinkedIn, agrees. "Data-
driven HR teams will also guide
companies on their future hiring
needs based on new skill require-
ments or skills gaps within their
organisations and hold businesses
to account on diverse hiring,”
she says.
Diversity and inclusion could be
an area where future HR roles will
change fast. Barrington Hibbert
Associates, specialists in executive
recruitment within the fi nancial
services sector, has noticed more
fi rms recruiting for diversity-spe-
cifi c roles within their HR function
and say it has escalated exponen-
tially this year.
Voice platform Thoughtexchange
now has a head of anti-racism,
diversity, equity and inclusion,
a title that chief people offi cer
Dessalen Wood says was created
because "we mean business".
She explains: "Put the problem in
the title. Make it something you can't
look away from, no matter how hard
the work to address it will be. Having
a head of anti-racism, diversity, equity
and inclusion does the one thing miss-
ing from traditional diversity and
inclusion titles, it acknowledges sys-
temic problems exist. It says to our
employees, our customers and the
public, this is real and we are no longer
going to look the other way."
As the rise of AI and machine-learn-
ing takes over parts of the business,
Derek Irvine, senior vice president of
strategy at human capital manage-
ment technology fi rm Workhuman,
predicts a chief heart offi cer will
bring more humanity to the work-
place, treating employees as people,
rather than numbers.
"This new role requires not only
people management and develop-
ment skills, but also an in-depth
understanding of human behav-
iour and a high level of emotional
intelligence,” he says. “Candidates
may come from outside traditional
recruiting spheres, from a broader
range of fi elds and experience."
But if such talent is to be sought
elsewhere for now, is enough being
done within HR to prepare new
entrants for these future roles?
Ruth Cornish, co-founder and
director of HRi, a membership
organisation for independent HR
and people professionals, believes
current training regimes and qual-
ifi cations will have to change.
"The
Chartered
Institute
of
Personnel and Development qual-
ifi cation will need a complete over-
haul. And there will be space for a
new, more practical qualifi cation,
encompassing the role of technol-
ogy, allowing HR practitioners to hit
the ground running once they qual-
ify. This will be a game-changer in
the industry,” she says.
Cognizant's Hoyle Brown also
sees the change coming to future
HR roles from the spread of outside
infl uence and lifelong learning.
"From history to communications,
to computer science, to economics
to philosophy, the future of work
is a prism that cuts through seem-
ingly every discipline found in the
modern university, to HR's poten-
tial benefi t,” he concludes.
"In fact, one of our jobs of the
future is literally called the uni4life
co-ordinator. Ultimately, the job of
HR, today and in the future, will be
to get that balance just right to cat-
alyse the future of work for the com-
panies they serve.”
What might once
have been deemed
outlandish job
titles now represent
a response to
unprecedented crisis
f 2020 was the year employ-
ers radically shifted their
thinking about the fea-
sibility of working from home and
the importance of employee mental
health to the sustainability of a busi-
ness, then 2021 will be the year when
the focus moves to how remote work-
ing and the rise of environmental,
social and governance (ESG) metrics
will change pay packets.
These pay shifts are unlikely to be
as fast-tracked as the 2020 upheavals
were, but the underlying pressures
to change are coming from diverse
directions and align to predict long-
term workforce changes.
Employers are questioning why
they should continue to pay a pre-
mium to staff who used to come
into expensive offi ce hubs such as
London, but who now work remotely
from elsewhere.
The idea that how much an
employee is paid is partly based on
their location is often forgotten by
employees, but it is certainly front
of mind for employers scrutinising
ways to reduce expenditure on work-
place leases and offi ce-based perks or
the cost of redundancies and recruit-
ment during this tumultuous time.
The ongoing eff ects of the COVID-19
crisis on pay and benefi ts, released
on December 1 by the Reward &
Employee
Benefi ts
Association
(REBA), shows that as many as one in
seven (15 per cent) medium-to-large
employers have regionally weighted
salaries under review by their human
resources reward team.
Employers in several sectors, par-
ticularly among technology and
professional services fi rms where
many staff worked remotely for most
of 2020, are considering whether
employees should have their sala-
ries adjusted according to the going
rate of the region in which they will
be working for the foreseeable future.
HR and reward directors say review-
ing pay policies for remote workers is
very much on their agenda, although
few have the appetite to be the fi rst-
in-sector mover to make the change.
The risk of losing their top talent to a
competitor employer needs to be del-
icately weighed, while ensuring staff
feel engaged and cared for after such
a tough year is vital.
But on the fl ip side, HR are aware
that not putting in place a clear,
upfront policy for a post-pandemic
pay structure will lead to employ-
ees making decisions about where to
work remotely without being aware
of potential future pay adjustments
or tax hits should they choose to work
from abroad.
However, what that policy could
look like, and its implications for
employer
costs
and workforce
planning, needs a crystal ball.
Expectations are that there will be a
greater emphasis on outputs and per-
formance than ever before.
This is not the only reason that
well over a quarter (28 per cent) of
the employers responding to our
REBA research plan to review their
pay strategies in 2021 and nearly
two-thirds (58 per cent) have either
agreed, or will review changes to,
bonus performance metrics for the
coming 12 months.
In most cases, the changes are
linked to changing fi nancial met-
rics, but quietly creeping up are
broader objectives that employers
want their workforces to focus on.
The acronym ESG has fi ltered across
from the world of investment into
executive remuneration targets and
is starting to be mentioned in con-
nection with broader employee pay
and bonus targets.
I don't want to give the impression
of a sea-change with regards to pay
and ESG, as the going is very slow.
However, green, environmental and
social initiatives right across the
employee reward package are notice-
ably on the up, from choosing electric
company cars to caring for the welfare
of staff . To me, these are symptoms
of investor pressure on corporates to
review their long-term sustainabil-
ity using ESG targets. These will fi l-
ter down into all employee bonuses,
incentives and performance objec-
tives in the coming years.
It comes as no surprise the REBA
research identifi ed that a quarter (25
per cent) of employers plan to rea-
lign their reward strategy in 2021 to
match changing company purpose
and values.
‘Employers plan to
realign their reward
strategy in 2021 to match
changing company
purpose and values’
I
O P I N I O N
MoMo Productions/GettyImages21 HR JOBS OF THE FUTURE
The roles which nearly 100 senior HR leaders see the function evolving into over the next 10 years
Harvard Business Review 2020
Debi O’Donovan
Director, Reward & Employee
Benefi ts Association
Mid to high-tech within 5 years
Mid to high-tech within 10 years
Low to mid-tech within 5 years
Low
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
High
Level of tech-centricityLow to mid-tech within 10 years
Chatbot and human facilitator
Director of Wellbeing
Employee enablement coach
Chief purpose planner
Distraction prevention coach
HR data detective
WFH facilitator
Second act coach
Gig economy manager
University4Life coordinator
Algorithm bias auditor
Human network analyst
VR immersion counselor
Genetic diversity offi cer
Workplace environment architect
Future of Work leader
Climate change response leader
Human bias offi cer
Chatbot and human facilitator
Strategic HR business continuity director
Human-machine teaming manager
HR AND
PAYROLL BOSSED
KEY FUNCTIONALITY
Leave Management
Scheduling and Timesheets
Payroll Management
Performance Appraisal
Onboarding and Off-boarding
Centralised Employee Directory and Database
Recruitment Management
Organisational Chart
ABOUT SAGE HR
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Finance Controller, Kingpin Communications
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Director of Operations, BetterSpace
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