Experts discuss holistic wellbeing, redefining hybrid strategies, leadership development and legal updates
The start to HRD’s National HR Summit Australia — with the support of event partners ELMO Software and Remote — was an insightful one.
As businesses re-emerge following the challenges of the past few years, HR leaders are displaying a delicate mix of caution and enthusiasm.
The day started with an inspiring keynote speech from Dean Boxall, head coach of Olympic gold medalist Australian swimmer, Ariarne Titmus.
He reflected on the choice to truly live his words, translating them into actions and tangible benchmarks. Boxall spoke of adhering to rigid performance standards as the Olympic journey progressed to hold himself and his athletes accountable.
He noted the mental toughness required to persevere and talked about his no-stone-unturned approach and adaptability in the face of challenges.
Creating a holistic approach to workplace wellbeing strategies: In a session looking at holistic approaches to wellbeing strategies, Laura Kirby followed with an analysis of the relationship between performance and pressure. As chief mental health officer at Commonwealth Bank, she expanded on the concept of a healthy pressure balance, allowing employees to achieve outcomes while embracing opportunities to disconnect.
Kirby noted the benefits of a fully holistic approach from businesses, incorporating an understanding of mental, physical and financial health factors.
She also explored the different options available to employers to deal with this burnout phase affecting staff. Suggestions included meeting-free days or automated inbuilt breaks in meetings to allow employees to recoup their energy.
Panel: Retention through engagement: The day’s first panel discussed contemporary ideas to promote retention through staff engagement. The panellists discussed what an employee value proposition (EVP) looks like in 2023 and how it must resonate with employees.
They recommended using reliable talent data and thorough pre-launch testing to create an EVP that speaks truthfully to your company's DNA. The panellists also noted an increasing difficulty in engaging with team members, remarking that recent employee feedback indicated that staff felt overworked and undervalued.
To address this, they spoke of the importance of “recognition moments” across the business, identifying regular opportunities to celebrate accomplished work. Finally, the panellists agreed that a sense of career progression is a top priority for workers in the current climate.
The panel included:
Legal update: The new ‘positive duty’ and flexible work arrangements: Julian Arndt, Associate Director, Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors, delivered a practical presentation exploring legislative reforms and how they may affect businesses. Firstly, he spoke of the new ability for employees to arbitrate a rejected flexible work request at the Fair Work Commission.
If companies wished to avoid such arbitrations, Arndt suggested that offering greater workplace flexibility may be a solution.
He then explored the implementation of new “positive duty” laws relating to discrimination and harassment, noting that many companies may not currently comply with the changes. Arndt suggested that businesses had yet to fully understand the proactive attitude required to provide the safest possible environment for team members, per the new legislation.
Examining the state of HR in Australia: Jason Portelli, Culture and Engagement Manager, ELMO Software, discussed extensive data analysis and insights conducted by ELMO, highlighting the state of human resources in Australia in 2023.
He noted that recruitment and data solutions remained the top challenges for respondents, and there was an ongoing discussion around the balance of flexible working arrangements versus face-to-face time.
Portelli also highlighted the risks of cybercrime and the threat to sensitive data held by HR professionals. He stressed the importance of security measures such as multi-factor authentication. Finally, Portelli noted that the increasing complexity of data used by businesses was informing their operations in new and exciting ways.
Panel: Refining your hybrid work strategy to attract talent: The second panel explored how hybrid work strategies will naturally differ between different types of employees, with departments such as sales potentially requiring more office time.
They noted that lockdowns and changing hiring practices required adaptable thinking from businesses. The panellists agreed that companies must place a premium on employee feedback and reporting to find the right mix and engage the most suitable Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers.
They also remarked that there was still a strong desire for accessible office space in many instances, with flexible working options preferred by staff to fully remote conditions. All panellists also agreed that leaders and managers required further development to identify changing behaviours from employees in remote working environments.
Panellists included:
Panel: Accelerating leadership development to build capability: The final panel for the day discussed how modern leaders should consider cross-skilling and working laterally across various parts of a business to become agents of change. The panellists noted business leadership in 2023 involves the management of multiple stakeholders and an ability to evaluate and scrutinise the success of programs objectively.
They remarked that more effective leaders had the capacity to be generalists instead of specialists, adapting to different tasks and displaying an understanding of various roles. The panellists agreed that the strongest leaders used vulnerability as a skill, not a weakness, adopting a whole-of-person approach to reach their full potential.
Panellists included:
It was a fantastic day to explore the state of the industry. With another day of intriguing presentations ahead at the summit, stay tuned for more insights.
