HR in the New Year and the New World of Work Interviews with Icons and Influencers, part II

HR in the New Year and the New World of Work
Interviews with Icons and Influencers, part II

--by Jill Evans Silman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Senior Performance Consultant, Insperity

In the last issue of HRMatters, we compiled a mashup of Josh Bersin’s Nine Predictions for HR in 2015 with Libby Sartain and Laura Ramey’s thoughts on the same. We want to continue that storyline this week as we hear from Texas HR Influencers Virda Rhem and Michelle Friesenhahn.

Josh Bersin wrote in HRMagazine (Jan/Feb 2015) that this year will be a transformational year in many areas of talent management. He asserts that the global economic recovery, changing demographics and rapid changes in technology have come together to redefine the entire nature of work and the workplace itself. Businesses must think about talent very differently than they have in the past.

Diversity and inclusion, brand and reputation, candidate experience and employee engagement, corporate purpose and mission, and even how you manage the hourly workforce are all related. So, Bersin suggests we need to expand our vision and think holistically about everything we do in HR as part of a "talent ecosystem."

Josh Bersin’s Nine Predictions for HR in 2015

Principal and founder of Bersin by Deloitte, Josh Bersin recently shared these nine predictions in HRMagazine:

Culture, diversity, engagement and retention will become frontburner issues
Performance management will continue to be redesigned
More companies will deal with overwhelmed employees
Corporate learning will be transformed and take on more importance
Companies will redesign talent acquisition, leveraging network recruiting, brand reach and new technologies
Talent mobility and career management strategies will become necessary to compete
Leaders will invest in talent analytics and workforce planning
Companies will take advantage of new tools in HR technology
HR teams will get a new design and a new focus on professional development

See the original article here.

Armed with Bersin’s ideas we were able to ask Texas’ HR influencers Virda Rhem and Michelle Friesenhahn their predictions and advice, their thoughts and opinions on just what our organizations need to do to prepare for the new world of work.

Jill: Virda, make a prediction for how HR will redefine the workplace.

Virda: Over the years, we’ve heard how integral the human resources function is to company operations. Those conversations were often internally driven by those in our profession, trying to convince folks outside the profession that the statement was true. Today, there is a growing realization that our workplaces are evolving in new and different ways, and our response path is not clearly defined. As a result, HR is redefining the workplace, with the support of and in collaboration with leadership and staff alike, to address common challenges, including:

The convergence of leadership’s increasingly high expectations for staff performance vs. employees’ increasingly high expectations for flexibility in managing work and home responsibilities;
The ramifications of leading and working in a multi-cultural and multi-generationally compressed environment;
Ensuring that our strategies for identifying, recruiting, developing, engaging and retaining talent keep pace with the socially-networked and mobility-minded nature of the people who comprise our organization; and
Identifying the sweet spot between maximizing an organization’s bottom line profits (financial or otherwise) and demonstrating (financially or otherwise) how the people who make-up our organizations are valued.

The redefinition lies in the necessity to collaboratively address all of these challenges, rather than being able to selectively pick and choose where to focus resources. Social media and 24 hour access to information keeps issues at the forefront and impedes a company’s ability to postpone difficult, complex, or potentially uncomfortable decisions.

Jill: Give us insight in order to prepare and prioritize in this new world of work.

Virda:The list of opportunities I mention is not exhaustive and our approach to prioritizing for innovation depends on our organization’s foundation. Before we can figure out where our organization needs to go, we need to understand where we are. To prepare for Innovation an organization should be open and honest about its status. Take a look at the current programs, practices, policies and procedures in effect. Determine how applicable they are to today’s workplace. On paper, they may work well. However, do they still work as intended, or as effectively as they should? How are we addressing the proliferation of social media as it relates to our hiring decisions, to our organization’s brand, to day to day management decisions? To what extent are we maximizing our access to analytics in making decisions and, what is our organization’s comfort level with applying analytics? Are we staying on top of changes in legal requirements and how to meet today’s organizational interests within the framework of legal limitations?

How are we, as human resources professionals, preparing ourselves for what lies ahead? Are we arming ourselves with an understanding of workplace trends and the resources available to address the changes on our horizon? Have we elevated our competencies so that we can offer the leadership our organizations will need moving forward? We may not have all the answers – but we must be in a position to provide credible guidance to other company leaders and staff.

Jill: Michelle, what are your thoughts on this new world of work—especially as it relates to small business?

Michelle: Given the small business environment in which I operate, this is more of an observation from experience. As we’ve discussed, the Human Resources profession is in the midst of great change. When you operate in a small business environment, these changes are no less impactful to your business. However, dealing with this rapid pace of change in technology and competition for talent creates seemingly greater challenges due to the limited financial and people resources of smaller companies that are much more readily available to the large companies.

One area we are struggling with, as an example, is the transformation that is taking place with performance management. Our employees are no less frustrated with the old processes and systems. As much research has suggested, we are trying to revamp the program and remove the ratings. Smaller companies don’t typically have the ability to invest in new systems, consultants, and training. We have to find creative low-cost/no-cost programs that do not always replicate best practices. What I see happening is a divide between the reality of a small company’s ability to keep up with the pace of the HR technology and program changes in order to compete for the talent and the big company headline grabbing programs, such as those touted at Google, Zappos, and Southwest Airline, to name only a few.

Understanding your company culture and branding it will be one way for the small companies to compete. As a small company, we are focusing on our culture and the attributes that it takes to be successful here. There are always going to be those in the workforce that really want all of the perks that the big companies can provide, but there will also be those that are attracted to the more intimate environment of a small company where people feel that can have a bigger impact and broader opportunities. Those are the employees we will continue to target in the talent grab.

We spent time as a management team evaluating the characteristics of our most successful employees and defined them as our Version 4.0 Attributes—you know we’re a software development company so we like versions! These are intentionally defined as attributes needed to achieve future company growth strategies. So we have linked these attributes to our business strategy. We have integrated these attributes in our performance management process and will also begin integrating in our development programs. For many large companies, this is not an innovation but rather a way of doing business. However, for many small companies it really is about prioritizing. The trouble you can encounter is getting so busy meeting your business and customer needs that you don’t carve out the time to spend on your employee development needs.

Jill: Back to you, Virda, tell us how you’re making a difference in your workplace today.

Virda: As a guaranty association, TPCIGA does not have the benefit of knowing when we will receive a new insolvency, how large the insolvency will be, or what particular skill sets will be required for responding to the insolvency. Our business is based on flexibility and the need to respond quickly, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the insolvent estate. TPCIGA spent a significant portion of the last two years completing a series of process audits and program reviews to determine how to most effectively and efficiently position ourselves for innovation and response to industry changes. The assessments led to confirmation of our business practices in many areas. In some instances, opportunities for innovation were introduced: enhancements to our benefit programs and information technology systems, revisions in policies and processes, and a renovation of our facilities. Several of these opportunities were addressed in 2014. Other responses will be implemented later this year. These innovations were identified based on the specifics of our organization and were advanced based on HR, leadership and staff collaboration.

What do Texas HR professionals need to know or do to be effective in today’s and tomorrow’s business world? The new world?

As Libby Sartain said in the last issue of HRMatters Online, we need to invest in talent, using data and analytics to effectively fulfill the organization’s needs. We also need to manage greater mobility and be agile enough to shift with changing priorities, projects and initiatives. And, we need to shed some of the old—old policies, old rules and old tools that no longer serve the flexible workplace of the future.

It’s time to be bold, innovative and forward-thinking, according to Josh Bersin. As he put it, yesterday’s approaches don’t necessarily make sense today. In his words, we need to re-engineer the workplace and rethink the way we attract, engage and manage people. We need to try new things, deliver bold solutions and drive our businesses forward.

More about Virda Rhem, SPHR, SHRM-SCP: Virda has amassed more than 25 years of human resources and diversity management experience in high technology, manufacturing, service, not-for-profit and consulting environments. Since 1994, she has served as a director at Texas Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association in Austin. Virda is a member of the Executive Management Team and is responsible for all Human Resources, Planning and Business Services functions. After attaining an undergraduate degree in Business Education, Virda went on to receive Masters degrees in Personnel Management and in Business Management. She has completed certificate programs in Diversity Training, Mediation, and through the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Director Professionalism program. She has has served in numerous volunteer leadership capacities at the chapter, state and national levels since joining SHRM in 1992. Rhem was 2005-2006 director of the Texas State Council of SHRM, during which time the TSC was the recipient of SHRM’s first State Council Pinnacle Award for its Sharpen the HR EDGE initiative. Prior to serving as a director-at-large on the SHRM Board of Directors from 2008-2013, Rhem served on the Area IV Board as diversity director; on the Workplace Diversity Special Expertise Panel; and as a regional representative on the Society’s Membership Advisory Council. Rhem is active in several community, professional and service organizations in addition to her involvement with SHRM. Virda has authored articles and been quoted in several national publications, including USA Today, Entrepreneur Magazine, HR News, Professional Woman’s Magazine, HR Magazine, HR Matters, and Jet Magazine. She has been featured on the Washington Post’s "Live at Work Online" program as a workplace diversity issue panelist.

Michelle Friesenhahn, SPHR, SHRM-SCPhas more than 20 years of HR management experience and is Vice President of Human Resources for a subsidiary of Ultra Electronics—a world-leading group of 30+ small businesses operating in the Defense & Aerospace, Security & Cyber, Transport, and Energy markets. The small company business model allows for greater agility in the design and delivery of products to meet unique customer needs. Each subsidiary company operates using "collaborative autonomy". In her role, Michelle provides both the operational support and strategic human resources leadership. In the spirit of their business model, she provides HR consultative leadership in the areas of talent acquisition, performance development, benefits and wellness, and succession planning to her own unit and the other Ultra businesses around the world when needed. As a past president of the Austin Human Resource Management Association, she is an effective platform speaker and group process facilitator. She is currently serving on TexasSHRM and on the Capitol Area Workforce Board. She has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Southwest Texas State University and is completing her coursework toward a master’s in human resource development. Michelle has been actively involved in supporting the community through her work with the Capitol Area Workforce Board, Capitol Area United Way, the Chamber of Commerce, Lone Star Girl Scout Council and the Austin Children’s Shelter Board of Directors.

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