WE ARE PLUNGED INTO AN ECONOMIC ICE BATH, STRAIGHT AFTER A FUG OF A GLOBAL PANDEMIC WHICH LED INTO A BROILING CAULDRON OF POLITICAL TURMOIL. NOW IS NOT JUST ABOUT PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH EFFICIENCY, IT’S ABOUT FINDING SUSTAINABLE BALANCE THAT KEEPS EMPLOYEES WELL AND HAPPY AND ENGAGED. RESILIENCE, AGILITY AND CREATIVITY ARE VITAL SKILLS, AS CRITICAL STAFFING DECISIONS ARE MADE AND KEEPING ESSENTIAL TALENT AND SKILLS CLOSE WILL BE EVEN HARDER, GOING FORWARD.
There is no doubt that society and industry has witnessed a greater degree of turbulent change in the past four years than in any other period of time in my working life. I don’t believe it’s over yet and nor do I believe we know with any certainty what is yet to come, or where the final ‘resting place’ will be. Business and HR functions generally like certainty and dislike ambiguity, but uncertainty and ambiguity is the new name of the game.
We have to resist the temptation to box and label everything prematurely. The Great Resignation, where did that come from? Was it a real phenomenon, or was it simply the market catching up from a time of very little movement during the peak of the pandemic? As for quiet quitting, is this any different from the lack of engagement and productivity seen and tolerated across organisations for years and years? My point here is that whilst we chase these new headlines, something else will bubble up whilst we are distracted, which we risk missing and so we must maintain the objectivity to differentiate between certainty and uncertainty. What is reasonably sure is that the current financial crisis is unlikely to ease any time soon. Some analysts are saying that energy prices may well stay at these levels for years to come and that we may now be in a new age of persistently higher inflation and interest rates. Of course, as and when inflation does start to fall, inflation is only a measure of change, so higher prices may well remain long after inflation drops. When considering impactful HR in a financial crisis, my belief is that we need to look at this through a wider lens, because issues don’t exist in isolation and life is becoming more and more complex and difficult to navigate. So, here is my straight eight for contemplation – not gospel and certainly not exhaustive – just eight, top-of-mind considerations.
- Maintain and embed what we learned about our organisations and our people during COVID: With many organisations pushing their people to come back to the office, we should ask ourselves ‘why’ rather than just bringing them back to the way things used to be. From my own experience we’ve definitely seen the benefit of teams being back together, for relationship, social and learning reasons, but that doesn’t need to be five days a week. Asking ‘why’ remains one of the most powerful questions we have to make sure we’re doing the right things.
- Consider what practical help we can provide to people: This could, at its simplest and cheapest, be signposting what help is available externally from the likes of Government or Citizen’s Advice, through to the middle ground, such as re-iterating what’s already available. At Skanska we have recommunicated the savings available through our ‘myRewards’ web pages, highlighting examples to show, for instance, how much can be saved over a year on the weekly shop at Sainsbury’s. Of course, there’s the ‘extra’ approach if it can be afforded. We decided we would make a cost-of-living payment to our lower paid staff, which seemed the right thing to do, in line with our purpose and values.
- Focus on wellbeing: If people are experiencing stress due to financial concerns, it’s also likely this could be on top of other stresses. We’ve had good feedback from the few webinars which we’ve run with mental health support organisations, along with articles and workshops on resilience. Our mental health ambassador network has also been very helpful to many people through the stresses and strains of the past few years. If you don’t have one, it’s well worth considering.
- Recognise and talk about the things that are on people’s minds: With organisations now being trusted to a greater extent than Government, NGOs and the media – according to the latest Edelman trust barometer – this sets out a clear mandate for organisations to play a role in societal leadership as part of their business activities. Over the course of the last three years there have been a number of issues where our own employees have expected the company’s leaders to take a position including Black Lives Matter and Wade vs. Roe. This would not have been the case even five years ago, but the role of companies in society is changing and people want to trust their leaders.
- Prepare for the unknown: Prior to 2020, many of us had cyberattacks, ethical breaches and the like on our enterprise risk registers, but what about a global pandemic which to all intents and purposes would lock down the modern world? I’m guessing not so many. If we don’t know exactly what’s coming and I would argue we don’t, then in addition to the training and re-skilling plans we have in place, perhaps the best thing we can teach our leaders and managers is how to lead through change and ambiguity. This makes it more critical than it’s ever been to put them in unfamiliar situations as part of their development, rather than just developing in a more ‘vertical’ fashion.
- Climate change is not a tomorrow issue: Our organisations contribute to global warming but given the responsibilities I’ve already suggested we have to society, we have to play an increasing part in reducing our carbon emissions. This could include; cutting down on travel to meetings which could be hosted on Teams or Zoom, being clear on which part of our operations cause the most emissions, ridding company car fleets of combustion engine vehicles and progressing to hybrids or EVs. We did just this at the end of 2020 and it has been very well received and it would be even better if there were not so many issues with the supply of new vehicles.
- Make the important things the important things: HR seems to be constantly in search of the new and shiny and whilst I’m a big fan of meaningful improvement, there are HR staples which we know that if we do well, will bring good results. I’m not going to list them, but you’ll know what they are. Dave Ulrich’s original work on the HR model – and the four key roles for HR – have been reinterpreted and repackaged many times. But for me, the original premise still stands – people champion, strategic partner, change agent and administrative expert. These simple four roles remain a north star for the work of HR functions across any industry and the closer we stay true to these, the more effective we will be. Most strategies, change initiatives, transformations fail – not because the idea was wrong – but because not enough time and energy was spent on the hard yards of implementation. So perhaps it’s better to focus on doing a great job of implementing well the things we have which we know are good, rather than reinventing and creating.
- Salary inflation is hard wired: Material prices will return to more normal levels once supply increases, but salary inflation once absorbed never leaves. Clearly this a tough act to balance – salaries have to be competitive – but a bidding war for talent based on purely money just leads to the market overheating. An inclusive culture, values, opportunities for personal development and growth – as well as retention and engagement discussions, focus on flexibility, wellbeing and being part of a wider purpose – can all help with retaining good people in a more sustainable way than money. Anyone can complete on money, but very few can compete with a truly inclusive employee experience. I’m pretty sure that complexity and ambiguity will continue to be the hallmark of modern times and the issues these bring will cause more difficulty for people and organisations. But if we stay true to our purpose and make the important things the important things, then we stand the best chance of managing through. The financial crisis will pass, as all things do. But we need to be ready for what comes after, whatever that may be.
