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 hrfuture.net

SEPTEMBER 2020

CREATE
CONNECTION ON
A VIRTUAL STAGE
KUBESHNI GOVENDER
Lessons to learn for presenting in a virtual
environment.

58
 Connect
with others.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 3
 BE KIND TO YOUR MIND.

MENTAL
HEALTH
IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS

PHYSICAL
HEALTH
KNOW SOMEONE OR EMPLOYEES WHO
NEED HELP DURING LOCKDOWN?

Contact the SA Federation for Mental Health: +27(11) 781 1852

or
The Department of Health (Mental Health Information Line): 0800 567 567

56
 FIND THE
Editorial
OPPORTUNITIES rather
Executive Editor
Alan Hosking than the obstacles
W
(tel) +27 11 888 8914
alan@hrfuture.net
hile the 2020 pandemic
Managing Editor has provided much
Kelsey Hosking disruption across the globe,
(tel) +27 76 1413355 it’s important to maintain
kelsey@hrfuture.net perspective by seeing
it in context. Throughout history, our
Advertising predecessors have had to face various
challenges such as droughts, pestilence,
Sales Enquiries plagues, wars and the like. This current
Kelsey Hosking pandemic is therefore one of a long line
(tel) +27 76 1413355 of those significant events that will be
kelsey@hrfuture.net added to the list of dark times that form
part of the history of the human race.
Subscriptions Covid-19 has indeed created
Elvira Cruz massive challenges for countries and
(tel) +27 11 888 8794 communities, populations and individual
finance@osgard.co.za people. It has resulted in loss of life
and loss of income across the globe.
Finance It has destroyed lives, businesses and
incomes by restricting business activities,
Financial Manager freedom and movement between
Elvira Cruz countries. Millions of people have
(tel) +27 11 888 8794 experienced various forms of discomfort,
finance@osgard.co.za ranging from severe trauma and tragedy
to mild inconvenience.
HR Future Magazine Regardless of the level of discomfort
or suffering, however, just about
@HRFuturemag everyone on the planet has in some or
other way experienced the effects of
HR Future Magazine the pandemic and very few of us are the
same people we were at the beginning
of 2020.
Photographs/images: But, while such disasters involve an
www.depositphotos.com
www.pexels.com element of suffering and tragedy of
www.canva.com varying degrees, a certain amount of
good or growth also emerges from them.
For instance, the two World Wars
resulted in a significant number of
injuries and deaths. They also resulted in
significant advances in technology, air
travel and medical care. The advances
can and will never justify the injuries
and deaths, but one can’t ignore the
advances that have taken place in the
midst of the catastrophes.
HR FUTURE is SA’s human strategy
magazine published by Osgard Media We have been facing a crisis in which
as a support to all HR Executives,
Chief Executive Officers, Managing
every single death is regrettable. But at
Directors, Financial Directors, HR
practitioners and senior line managers
the same time, the pandemic achieved
who are committed to creating in weeks what very few executives or
shareholder value through human
capital. The views expressed in articles change management experts could
featured in HR FUTURE are the views have pulled off – shifting the majority of
of the relevant authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the employees around the globe to working
publishers. Claims for non-receipt of
magazines must be made within three
remotely.
months of publication of the issue.
Claims made thereafter will not be
The question we need to ask ourselves
honoured free of charge. is: what other opportunities lie hidden in
© 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this time of crisis?
this publication may be reproduced
in any form or medium without prior
written approval from the editor.
ISSN 1608-8506 2
EDITORIAL
For example, as far as healthcare is
concerned, what vaccine will emerge to
make us more resistant to this virus? And
in the world of work, what new strategy,
process, technology, app or concept
will emerge to revolutionise the way we
work?
It’s ironic that we learn very little – if
anything – from success. In fact, success
causes companies and people to relax
and think nothing can possibly go wrong
now that they’re succeeding. That,
however, is when they are at their most
vulnerable. That is when they need to
start innovating to move beyond their
present achievements. But, alas, few do
that as success also tends to blind the
successful.
Adversity, on the other hand, is what
really causes us to dig deep inside
ourselves to find ideas that can help us
overcome the obstacles we face.
I therefore want to encourage you to
train your eyes to look for, spot and seize
those opportunities that may be lurking
in the mists of this crisis. Bear in mind
that they will not necessarily announce
themselves to you. You will require a
certain amount of skill and courage to
seize the opportunities that await you.
They will, however, not last for ever, so
timing is equally important.
I am deeply struck by the courage
shown by the thousands of ordinary men
and women who supported troops or
faced death in the two World Wars to
withstand the forces of evil seeking to
overwhelm them. It’s once again time
for men and women in the workplace
to draw on their courage to look for
and seize opportunities that will cause
tremendous good to come out of bad
during these times in which we’re living.
As a case in point, this month’s Cover
Story on page 8 by my dear friend,
Kubeshni Govender, shares lessons
on how to operate with comfort and
efficiency in a virtual environment,
pointing out that this show must go on.
Take a break
from the news.

HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 1

 38 30
Upfront Sustainable Businesses
2 Editorial 36 Build more sustainable businesses in a
6 Contributors post-Covid world
Global masterclass Smart Workspaces
10 Takeouts from a Survey: Adapt or Lose the
War for Talent: Why your employee 38 Smarter workspaces will help us recover
experience needs an upgrade faster
Remote employees Hybrid Teams
12
Do remote employees feel like 40 How to lead a hybrid team in a post-
contractors? Covid 19 world
Leadership Returning to work
14 How Covid-19 has redefined leadership 42 How to do “Back to Work”
16 How to use connection for team
development Feedback
Knowledge Management 44
Meaningful feedback is personal
18 3 Unique steps to make knowledge
management easy Management
46
Manage with Menopause in mind
Future of Work
30
Covid-19: Preparing for the Future of Work Valuable Employees
48 Revaluing employees post-Covid-19
Talent Management
32
HR challenges in the new normal Labour law
52
How old is too old for a co-pilot to fly?
Millennials
34 Grow more socially responsible Wellness
Millennials 48 Bosses, cut working moms some slack

4
 CONTENTS
THIS MONTH'S FEATURES

20 Is Big Hit Entertainment manufacturing
talent?
24 Lead your people through uncertainty
26 Psychological Safety is the new
business imperative
28 Is your company safe from hackers?

48 34
COVER
STORY

08
Create connection
on a
virtual stage

Kubeshni Govender
Chairperson of the Board of
Associates of Gender Links and a
Knowledge, Learning and
Leadership consultant with an
OD focus

HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 5

Meet our panel of
EXPERT CONTRIBUTORS
from around the globe
South UK Canada
Africa

08 Kubeshni
Govender 10 Steve
Black 12 David
Creelman

US Netherlands US

14 Larry
Clark 16 Marco
Buschman 18 Mostafa
Sayyadi

India India US

20 Mitthi Jyoti
Sharma 20 Lalatendu Kesari
Jena 22 Ed
Mitzen

UK UK Netherlands

26 Ben
Renshaw 28 Stephen
Burke 30 Michael
Klazema

6
 Get insights from
our Global and
South African
Thought Leaders
and Experts!

India Republic of US
Ireland

32 Stephen Leslie
Hembrom 36 Robin
Fisher 38 Bradley
Wingrave

UK UK South
Africa

40 Dr Penny
Pullan 42 Naomi
Thompson 44 Dr Marina
Clark

UK South South
Africa Africa

46 Kate
Usher 40 Dr Mark
Bussin 40 Daniela
Christos

HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 7

 Create connection on
a VIRTUAL STAGE
Lessons to learn for presenting in a virtual environment.
F
acilitation has become
the most enjoyable
part of my work as a
consultant. But it did not
start that way. In truth,
the possibility of large groups of
people herded into one space
to deal with problems that
emerged over time – usually in
Kubeshni Govender three days – used to terrify me,
until I found a way to ground,
be present and connect with
the ‘energy’ in the room. Enter COVID19 and in
a ‘room’ defined by my screen, time exhausts
and people seem both near and far at the
same time, I started to feel my anxiety of large
systems return.
In the last few months, professionals the
world over have had to find connection in a
virtual space for themselves and for people,
teams and organisations who desperately need
to come together as the world falls apart.
The lessons that I have learnt in doing
online facilitation are explained best through
the metaphor of my first love – the theatre.
In the creation of a meaningful production
what is experienced in two hours of staged
performance is preceded by months of
preparation by teams of people, many of whom
you will never see. Preparation is vital for online
facilitation. For us this means preparing the
technical side of the engagement, working
through the programme (script), ensuring the
presenters and speakers are working in synch
with the overall plotline, and that the ‘audience’
are briefed about being active participants
because there are no gallery spaces in this
auditorium.
Share the cognitive load
Preparation for virtual facilitation starts with
contracting. Clients might have the idea that,
because it’s ‘just’ online, less might be more.
Not so. There are so many more variables that
facilitators need to manage during an online
session that one person might be overwhelmed,
especially if the meeting runs for a full day or
over multiple days. At the moment, facilitators
manage what’s happening on the screen,
unmuted colleagues having side chats,
comments in the chatbox, WhatsApp messages
8
updating the programme, timekeeping and
breaks and online collaboration tools. All the
while ‘testing the temperature’ of the room
to make sure participants are still engaged.
Academics talk about the ‘cognitive load’
implicit for both learners and facilitators of
new learning platforms, suggesting that this
is a necessary transition in transformative
pedagogy as technology mediates the shift
from academic knowledge to new learning.¹ Big
words aside, an ensemble cast is needed for
this virtual production.
Role differentiation is essential for co-
facilitation teams. During the Each One Hold
One Connect Series (www.eoho.info), the
facilitating founders decide who is going to
open and bring people into the room, who
will hold the conversation, keep the discussion
going in the chat room and who will close and
take stock of what happens in the virtual hour.
Every session has a different content expert,
and the facilitators take turns to rotate their
roles, which makes hosting the meetings lighter
for all of them.
Hold it all lightly
In these ‘early’ days of COVID19-compelled
virtual engagements, there are bound to be
as many lessons as there are success stories;
having a sense of humour and flexible stance
is essential. Unlike a stage performance,
tolerance for variance in the script seems to
be part of the production. In facilitation of a
relatively large group of people (130 or more),
I had the privilege of working with the talented
Jeremy Timm. Jeremy and I share a history with
this client, a connection with each other, and
a common language of intent (we schooled
in the teachings of the International Gestalt
Organisation and Leadership Development
Programme). Our connection with each other
was vital to being able to create a meaningful
connection in the room. As we introduced
new collaboration tools to the client system,
we keenly looked for feedback and made
adjustments to the programme. We asked for
and acknowledged inputs from participants
even by allowing changes to parts of the
program when we felt the energy was lagging.
I received a message at the end of day one
that encouraged me: “Have not seen this broad
 From
South
COVER STORY Africa

participation in a long time. The tech is helping input.

a lot.” And it did, the technology-enabled the It is possible to transpose live for virtual – in
frame of the virtual space and the tools that which case a conference room is substituted
Jeremy introduced for collaboration brought the for a virtual room and facilitation proceeds
voices of over 100 people into the room, in an as it would ‘traditionally’. But there is scope
efficient and smooth process (we used www. to fundamentally re-think the communication
menti.com and google docs, in previous sessions and knowledge architecture through the use
www.mural.co worked great as well). of these technologies with the potential of
resetting our learning assumptions through
See and be seen technology-mediated learning. What if we
Perhaps the most difficult part of connecting use the tech for more than just as a means to
in a virtual space is working with sight and photocopy ‘traditional learning’, reinventing
sound. As a facilitator, I am aware that I have our communities of learning on the virtual
much more ‘screen time’ than speakers or stage. James Paul Gee theorises on Affinity
participants. On most virtual platforms (Zoom, Spaces where learning happens by groups
MS Teams, Google Hangouts, etc.), the display of people who are drawn together because
screen defaults to the person who is speaking. of a shared, keen interest or engagement
Again, a stage / TV metaphor helps. Mute in an everyday activity. A virtual multiverse
buttons can be fiddly – to avoid mistakes – I of learning is different from the existing
consider myself in a live mic situation from understanding of communities of practice: “This
the time the call starts till I hit ‘Leave’ or ‘End distinction clarifies that what is important for
meeting’. I encourage speakers on a programme understanding learning are the affordances of
to turn on their video, especially if they are not the environment, and that participation within
speaking to a presentation or any onscreen affinity spaces is a much more fluid endeavour
content. I struggle to absorb content from than is typically attributed to membership in a
only one source, so if I am looking at someone “community”²
speaking, it makes it easier for me to connect I am grateful for learning through the
with them and their message/content. adjustment from ‘live’ to virtual facilitation.
How we construct the visual frame is another My anxiety around how I present myself and
way to influence how you ‘land’ in a virtual connect with others eases as I find different
room. Well in advance of a live session – I use my ways of gathering data from participants and
Photobooth application and take a picture of technology. The theory of affinity spaces offers
me and how I would appear ‘on camera’. I make an exciting way of thinking about teaching
adjustments to the lighting; I look at what is on and learning processes mediated by various
my bookshelf, and the desk. If I am connecting technologies. I am curious about exploring
via my laptop (as opposed to via my phone), I the boundaries of time and space through the
lift my computer onto a small box so that the ‘affordances’ of this digital stage … Pandemic
built-in camera is eye level with me to avoid notwithstanding, this show must go on.
participants on the call looking up my nose or
staring at my ceiling. On the matter of staring, I References
try and use the 50/70 rule, which recommends ¹ Dr Bill Cope, “From Didactic Pedagogy to New
that you should maintain eye contact for 50 Learning”, College of Education, Illinois
per cent of the time while speaking and 70% ² https://www.informalscience.org/sites/
of the time while listening. When I do look at default/files/AffinitySpacesFinalReport.pdf.
the computer camera, I resist the temptation
to look at myself, and I look at the green light
indicator of the built-in camera. Then the Kubeshni Govender is a Knowledge, Learning
illusion is almost that I am conversing with you and Leadership consultant with an OD focus,
– it’s personal. I do the same thing when I am working with large and small systems through
listening with intent at someone else speaking. coaching and facilitation interventions as
As a facilitator, I offer other visual cues that I a Gestalt Organisational Development
am listening – I silently nod, laugh, look curious, Practitioner. She is Chairperson of the Board of
take notes and sometimes share a verbal ‘sound’ Associates of Gender Links; an NGO promoting
of acknowledgement if I think the speaker might gender equality and justice across fifteen
need the reinforcement. When I am facilitating, countries and has run Black Earth Consulting, a
I consider myself the audio-visual partner public sector management consulting company
of the person who is speaking and coach to for 13 years. She is a Co-Founder of Each One
participants as I encourage conversation and Hold One.

HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 9

 Takeouts from a Survey:
Adapt or Lose the War
for Talent: WHY YOUR
EMPLOYEE
EXPERIENCE
NEEDS AN
UPGRADE
PROFILE
Steve Black is the Chief Strategy
Officer at Topia.
Steve Black

A new report commissioned by HR tech company Topia explored

what employees really think about their work-life: what makes it
great or dreadful. They surveyed 1,000 full-time employees across the
US and UK. The findings reveal that HR and employees are not on the
same page in many areas. Significant improvements are needed
as HR teams continually seek to attract, develop, and retain the
best talent possible. Alan Hosking speaks to Co-Founder and Chief
Strategy Officer of Topia, Steve Black, to break down the findings.

Before we discuss the survey experience.

findings, what are your thoughts on
employee experience?
Employee experience is more than a buzzword
these days – it’s a competitive differentiator
needed to attract and retain top talent. A
strong workplace culture has become more
important than office perks, like stocked
refrigerators, which HR has traditionally focused
on when trying to elevate the employee
If we now turn to the survey findings,
which finding gave you the most
hope for the future?
It was refreshing to see that employees crave
international experiences. Right now, COVID
is making international work experiences
difficult, but everything we are seeing suggests
that, when it’s safe to travel again, people

10

will be more ready than ever to immerse
themselves in a different culture. Nearly 60%
of employees believe international experience
is critical to career growth and mobility,
and over one third would consider moving
abroad. Offering global mobility opportunities
is crucial for creating a positive employee
experience for those who seek career
advancement and growth through exposure to
diverse cultures.
What were the most startling
findings?
One quarter of the employees we surveyed
feel they have to hide parts of who they
are at work, and 44% of HR Professionals
believe their personal beliefs could limit their
career potential. Employees want to bring
their true selves to work, and they should be
able to without fear. A big part of a positive
employee experience is feeling comfortable,
safe and valued at work. Cultivating an
environment that welcomes and encourages
all viewpoints and lifestyles is essential for
creating a positive employee experience,
especially as our work and personal lives
continue to overlap in this new world
we’re living in. People want to work in an
environment where they can be themselves
and devote their creative energy to their work.
Another startling finding is that our
respondents said HR tasks can be so
cumbersome, employees would rather
complete household chores. More than one-
third of survey respondents rated submitting
PTO requests more annoying than doing
the dishes. Other HR tasks didn’t fare much
better. Only 41% of respondents rate their
company’s HR tools as simple and easy, and
most participants say HR tasks take three to
six different applications to complete!
Does HR understand what
employees want?
The survey revealed that HR and employees
are not always on the same page. For
example, HR Professionals overestimate how
well they’re doing: 40% of general employees
rate their company poorly, compared to
just 21% of HR staff. Regarding what makes
a great employee experience, office perks
came in dead last (19%). Yet, a quarter of HR
Professionals (24%) think office space and
free food/game perks make the employee
experience exceptional, compared to just
16% of general employees. Clearly, there is a
disconnect here. My advice for HR leaders is
to reconsider workplace benefits – especially
now that so many of us are working remotely.
Start by asking employees what they want.
From
GLOBAL MASTERCLASS the UK
What tips can you offer to HR teams
based on the survey insights?
It’s critical for HR to understand the importance
of focusing on workplace culture and employee
experience; both have become the primary
reason most employees stay with their current
job. COVID-19 has elevated the need for a
strong workplace culture, as many of us are
feeling more disconnected than ever. That’s
why workplace culture platforms have seen
exponential growth in the last few months. At
Topia, we’re seeing more companies coming
to us seeking better ways to manage their
employee experience. There’s a real appetite
for change, and I hope that sticks.
Tell us about the role of technology
in the employee experience.
Don’t overlook the role of technology in keeping
employees happy. Half of employees say the HR
technology at their company is glitchy or doesn’t
always work correctly, is disjointed and hard to
keep track of, difficult to use, or overall not a
great user experience. It seems that HR may not
realize how dissatisfied their employees are with
the tech – 14% of general employees say the
HR tech is overall not a great user experience,
double the 7% among HR employees.
We know employees feel frustrated
completing HR-related tasks, so I urge
companies to consider ways to consolidate and
integrate tools. 60% of employees are using two
to five different technology apps for HR-related
purposes each month. This might include apps
for hourly tracking, expense reports, PTO and
payroll. One in three spend two hours or more
each month completing HR-related tasks. And
the most telling finding: 58% of employees think
they spend more time completing HR-related
tasks each month than they should have to.
We asked employees what could make the
HR technology experience better. Forty-four
percent of employees want the applications to
be more connected (so that it doesn’t require
them to switch between different tools to find
the right info, complete a task, etc.)
Your tech should be making the lives of your
employees easier so they can focus on their
day-to-day tasks. If it’s not, make a change.
Any final thoughts or takeaways you
want to share?
These results show us where companies need
to change their focus to meet employee
experience expectations. With the shift to
remote work and the risks and opportunities that
presents for employees and organizations, now
is the time to make sure you understand what
employees want and need, and factor that into
your plans. We all have to develop and retain
our top talent – now more than ever.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 11
Do REMOTE
EMPLOYEES
feel like contractors?
The work-from-home movement has resulted in employees seeing
themselves in a different light.
W
hen
employees
start working
from
home, do
they begin feeling more
like contractors than
employees? There is a wide
variation in how people
David Creelman relate to their employer,
however, let’s run with the
assumption that remote
workers will feel a bit like contractors and see
where it takes us.
The reasons why a newly remote employee
might feel their relationship with an employer
is becoming weaker are easy to identify. One
is that the workplace is now their home, not
someone else’s property. As well, the lack of
physical proximity and social relationships
with co-workers reinforces that sense of
separateness.
We might worry that this loss of connection
will create problems until we recognize that
we’ve used contractors for years and those
relationships typically worked out quite well.
Maybe the employee who feels like a contractor
will be as good as, or better than, the old style
employee.
How is the contractor mindset different from
the employee mindset?
The essential difference in mindset between a
contractor and employee is that the contractor
believes the company owes them nothing more
than professional courtesy and a paycheque.
The contractor does not expect the company to
re-hire them, to promote them, to worry about
their wellness or enable their development. It is
strictly a relationship between two businesses.
This may sound like the contractor has lost
a great deal, however, in my experience,
contractors don’t think that way. They take
responsibility for their own development and
their strategy for remaining employed is to offer
12
a valuable service in a professional way. The
contractor’s freedom and escape from office
politics more than offset any disadvantages.
An employee who starts working remotely and
gradually shifts to a contractor mindset, will
begin to see the company in a different light.
Luckily for them, unlike contractors, they’ll get
regular paychecks and some nice benefits.
Implications for managers
The main difference in managing a contractor,
rather than managing an employee, is that
the needed output is more clearly defined. An
employee can be at their manager’s beck and
call. A contractor works to deliver some agreed-
upon services in an agreed-upon time frame.
I’d expect remote employees to begin to
push back against the “beck and call” style of
management. They’ll want to have something
more like a “results-only work environment”
(ROWE) where what they need to do is fairly
clear cut. The ROWE approach can be a good
idea at any time, not just when it’s forced
upon managers by a change in circumstance.
If remote work leads organizations to the
discipline of ROWE that’s by no means a bad
thing.
It’s worth noting that contractors do flex
with the changing demands of a project. It’s
not like everything is in black and white on a
piece of paper. Nonetheless, flexing only goes
so far. It’s about shifting management style in
the direction of more planning and more clarity
about deliverables.
Conclusion
Organizations need to be aware that, as time
passes, workers who have become mainly
remote may start feeling differently about the
company. They may feel more like contractors
who have a short-term professional relationship
with the company, not employees who are part
of the ‘family’.

This shift in attitude is not necessarily a
bad thing. It does require more discipline in
management. This increased discipline should
not be hard to adopt since many managers
already have experience using contractors.
However, managers do need to recognize they
may need to change.
From
REMOTE EMPLOYEES Canada
David Creelman is CEO of Creelman Research,
in Canada, www.creelmanresearch.com. He
helps to elevate the analytics and business savvy
of HRBPs, and is best known for his workshops
on Agile Analytics, Evidence-base Management
and the Future of Work. His new book with Peter
Navin is The CMO of People.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 13
How Covid-19 has
REDEFINED
LEADERSHIP
Be prepared to shake up your leadership practices in the new world of
work.
Larry Clark
I
n times of crisis, leaders are more intrinsically
motivated to be visible, with a heighted
sense of responsibility and ownership to
properly shepherd their employees through
hard times. This fact could not be truer than
it is right now, as leadership boundaries have
been stretched seemingly overnight by the
coronavirus crisis. While the coronavirus crisis
will not last forever, it has led to many valuable
lessons that leaders can use to be stronger in
the future.
Start with yourself
In a time where empathy, listening and
connecting with people is the mantra (and we’ll
get to all that), a leader’s first order of business
is to get their own self together. People know
when their manager’s tank is empty, and your
ability to read the temperature of your team, be
present and deal with the pressure of business
14
and unpredictable human emotion is directly
tied to your personal capacity and state of
being.
Leaders can be the model for self-care
for their teams by first creating a sense of
balance for themselves. For example, schedule
time for workouts, a bike ride with the kids, or
movie night. Additionally, with many people
still expecting to work from home at least part
of the time, leaders can establish new rituals
and rhythms in the day and week that promote
balance. For example, they can schedule time
to step away from their computers, begin and
end the day with specific “transition” tasks, and
even designate different spaces in the home for
work and non-work activities. Even committing
to an hour without picking up a mobile device
at the end of the workday can be restorative.
These types of activities can take the important
role of transition that used to be built into a
morning or evening commute.
In the absence of traditional vacations,
leaders could take “vacations” as time to focus
on family time, caregiving and self-care. This
pause will allow leaders to take a breather and
leaves them feeling refreshed and clearheaded
once they return, leading to greater productivity
and well-being.
Communicate consistently and
authentically
Between prioritizing the health of employees
and making decisions on pay cuts or layoffs,
employee well-being has come to the forefront
for managers and will continue to be the focus
until a vaccine is found. As we enter the phase
of office re-openings and trying to cultivate
a sense of normalcy, it will be up to leaders
to make their employees feel like they remain
the number one priority. They want leaders to
prioritize their physical, emotional, and mental
well-being. For leaders, this means leading with
transparency and honesty in order to uphold
workforce morale at a time when employees
are worried about their jobs, their own health,
and the health of their friends and family. It
is essential that leaders remain in consistent

contact with employees through new and
more regular means of communication. Virtual
meetings, group Slack channels, answering
employee questions posed on bulletin boards,
or having small group discussions are all ways to
get that done.
Another tactic is setting a recurring meeting
with senior leaders where employees receive
updates on the company’s plans and business
performance. Having these meetings on the
calendar, where leaders can be personal and
authentic, will help ease employee anxiety and
make them feel like the company is putting
them first.
This kind of honesty and authenticity goes a
long way towards fostering trust among both
parties and creates a sense of collectiveness
that is essential during times of crisis. It also
helps employees feel a stronger connection
to the company, as research shows that
employees who receive regular updates from
their companies have more positive views of
their employers and are more likely to be proud
to work for their companies (55%).
See your people
Similarly, the coronavirus crisis has
demonstrated the need for empathy among
leaders. In times of crisis, often the most
important factors affecting an individual and
their performance are completely invisible to a
leader. So empathy doesn’t start with building
an emotional connection – it starts with really
seeing your people and their unique situation
through their eyes. It means asking questions,
creating space for people to talk, and letting
people know – through words and actions – that
you heard them. Leaders will shoulder much of
the responsibility for ensuring a smooth return to
the workplace, so they must acknowledge the
numerous ways the everyday lives of employees
have been impacted and how they continue
to change, while also helping to address them.
For example, an employee with school-age
children at home might be concerned about
juggling their needs with those of their job. An
empathetic leader will work with that employee
to show that they understand their concerns
and create a situation where that employee can
flex their work hours in order to better manage
their responsibilities
Leaders will also need to take greater
responsibility for the well-being of their
employees. We know that not every leader is
what you might call a “people” person, but
every leader can create more time during their
days to check-in with employees and help with
real-time problems that arise as they transition
back to the office.
By connecting on a personal level, leaders can
help their employees develop an understanding
of each person’s work context so they can be
more sensitive to each other’s constraints, now
From
LEADERSHIP the US
and in the future.
Be flexible
The coronavirus crisis has caused leaders across
the world to answer to its whims. No one can
predict what will happen next, so leaders are
forced to make decisions on a daily, sometimes
hourly, basis. As a result, it is expected that
leaders become ambidextrous, and more adept
at making decisions under pressure.
To help leaders navigate the next phases of
the coronavirus crisis and for any future crises
that might emerge, L&D teams must prepare
them to be agile, resilient, and adaptive. They
must prepare them to pivot as needed and
adapt as new information comes in as they
identify what’s working and what’s not working.
For example, doctors at Mt. Sinai in New York
City used skills they developed through a
leadership development program we developed
in partnership with them to work on the
frontlines of the coronavirus crisis. These doctors
used their new learning in how to be adaptive
in the face of volatile, uncertain, complex,
and ambiguous times to shift from their usual
areas of practice to serve in the Covid-19 ICU,
learning adult care on the fly, and figuring out
how to direct teams of people they had never
worked with before. In training employees to be
adaptable, they will be more prepared to make
difficult decisions and come up with creative
solutions to get to a desired outcome.
In a knowledge worker environment, this
flexibility extends to remote work. Stay-in-
place orders showed that permanent remote
work on a variety of schedules is possible, and
in some cases, more productive. For those
industries where it is possible, leaders can offer
employees the continued flexibility of remote
work, to help ease the anxiety that some might
be facing as the “return to work” phase begins,
and will also help build a leader’s reputation
as being understanding to the needs of their
employees.
The world will look radically different as
a result of the coronavirus crisis. While it is
important for leaders to apply the lessons
they’ve learned during the pandemic moving
forward, it is also important that they remember
the key attributes in being a good leader:
driving performance and preparing for the
future. Perhaps what we all have learned is that
there is more than one way to get that done.
Larry Clark is Managing Director of Global
Learning Solutions at Harvard Business
Publishing Corporate Learning in the United
States. He leads the team of learning solutions
managers around the globe who partner
with clients to design and develop learning
experiences unique to each organization’s
needs.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 15
How to USE
CONNECTION for
team development
Move beyond traditional leadership development to get good results.
T
he traditional method of team
development works at the individual
level. For example, you make a team
member aware of his dominant style
of thinking, acting and communicating,
and of the impact this has on connection
and collaboration within the team. There is
a range of tools available to help achieve
this, such as DISC, MBTI, Insights Discovery
and Management Drives. The next step is to
teach this person how he can make the best
use of his style and talents and how he can
connect and communicate with colleagues
more effectively. This results in a change in the
mutual collaboration, and team results improve.
In other words, changing the way an individual
thinks, acts and connects will cause the team to
develop.
You can expand on this so that everyone
within the team becomes aware of their
16
Marco Buschman
dominant way of thinking, acting and
communicating. If this information is then
shared across the team, and they start to
understand more about each other, they will
be better able to make use of each other’s
styles and strong points. From then on, they
can make agreements about how to connect
and communicate with each other, leading to
even better results for the team. This is fine,
of course, and it’s still a traditional approach
to team development based on improving an
individual’s ability to connect and collaborate.
Or, there’s this variant: if two colleagues
still can’t get along with each other, and
this negatively influences the atmosphere in
the whole team and has a negative impact
on the team results, then a mediator, coach
or consultant is called in to work on their
relationship. And, there’s an ultimate variant:
if it turns out that someone ‘doesn’t fit’ in the

team, then he is replaced by someone who’s
‘a better fit.’ Just as with an engine, if the
defective part cannot be repaired, it will be
replaced. Simply disconnect.
To summarize, within the traditional approach
to team development, the assumption is that
changing a part of the team will have an
impact on the connection and performance of
the whole team. It’s a perfectly legitimate way
of influencing the team … yet there is also a
modern and more powerful approach available.
System approach
The modern approach to team development
is based on the system approach. This
involves acknowledging that individuals
have an influence on other team members.
Additionally, it is assumed that the culture
of connection within the team has an even
more powerful influence on the individual.
You’ve undoubtedly experienced this yourself
when you were working in a team with low (or
even hostile) morale, or a team that seemed
to function effortlessly. Think back to what
influenced the atmosphere of connection of
the team and what impact this had on business
results and your way of thinking, acting and
communicating.
The point of departure within this modern
approach to team development is that the
culture of connection that the team creates
has an enormous influence on the individual
members, on their interaction and, therefore,
on the results achieved. And so, we can say,
change the team culture of connection and the
results of the team will change correspondingly
(both in a negative way and in a positive way).
Once the culture of connection has changed
so that there is amongst others sufficient mutual
trust and respect, and that diversity is valued,
in addition to further developing the culture
of connection, it is possible to ‘zoom in’ on the
individual qualities. Only then is the time ripe for
making use of techniques from the traditional
approach.
Six principles
When working on team development based
on the system approach, six key principles can
be distinguished as I describe in my book The
Connection Quotient. By consistently applying
these, as a manager you make yourself and
your team members aware of the way in which
connection and collaboration takes place, and
you stimulate the desired team behaviour.
1. Reveal the system to itself. Holding a
mirror presenting the prevailing culture
of connection to team members enables
them to make their own choices about the
From
LEADERSHIP Netherlands
direction they want to follow. What team
behaviour do you observe?
2. Pay attention to the energy field in
which the team is operating. In other
words, make explicit that which is not
expressed in words but is present in
the connection. What atmosphere of
connection do you perceive?
3. Highlight and develop values diversity.
This is about appreciating and accepting
everyone’s opinion and way of thinking.
Or, ‘Everyone is right, but partially.’ Can
we stay connected although we have
different viewpoints?
4. Listen for the undercurrents rising. This
is a special version of paying attention to
the energy field. It is about naming the
direction in which the team as a whole is
developing. What can you see changing in
the team connection?
5. Reinforce co-responsibility. All team
members are responsible for the tasks
allocated to them. And as team members,
they have a collective responsibility to
achieve the goals (and mission) of the
team. This transcends the individual
responsibility. How do team members
connect and support each other?
6. Increase positivity, reduce negativity.
Instead of focusing on naming what has to
be improved, a lot of attention is paid to
things that are already going well and on
how they can be expanded further. What
is there to be celebrated?
Stay focused on the team instead
of the individual
These six principles are not overly complex. The
real challenge lies in applying them consistently.
Can you simultaneously put all six principles into
action on a day-to-day basis? And rather than
focusing on the individual performance and
style, having a constant focus on the team as
a system and naming what’s happening in this
connected system. By doing so will achieve the
agreed results based on a powerful connection.
Perseverance is the key to success here.
Marco Buschman is a leadership expert,
inspirational speaker and master certified
coach based in Den Haag, the Netherlands.
He specializes in facilitating and supporting
organizations in creating best-performing
cultures where results and productivity are
combined with an atmosphere of trust, respect
and an appreciation of differences. You can
order his book The Connection Quotient at your
local Amazon website. More info: https://www.
marcobuschman.com.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 17
 3 Unique steps to
make KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT easy
Effective Knowledge Management is a driving force for business success.
K
nowledge is identified
as a multi-faceted
concept, and is distinct
from information and
data. Data has been
defined, by Haridimos Tsoukas and
Efi Vladimirou, as raw entities,
and information is understood as
a meaningful pattern within these
Mostafa Sayyadi raw entities¹.
Knowledge can be understood as
a concept for solving problems.
In particular, Knowledge is a combination
of rules, procedures, beliefs and skills that
positively contribute to solving organizational
problems. The key take-away for executives
is that knowledge is a resource that enables
organizations to solve problems and create
value through improved performance and it is
this point that will narrow the gaps of success
and failure leading to more successful decision-
making.
Knowledge, with its wide classifications,
can be classified into individual and collective
knowledge. Executives recruit followers based
on their individual knowledge which refers
to the individual’s skills, prior-knowledge
and proficiencies, sometimes referred to
competencies. Collective knowledge, on the
other hand, has been defined, by Sharon
Matusik, as “organizing principles, routines
and practices, top management schema, and
relative organizational consensus on past
experiences, goals, missions, competitors,
and relationships that are widely diffused
throughout the organization and held in
common by a large number of organizational
members”.²
Thus, collective knowledge is part of the
executive’s protocol and comes fairly natural
at the higher echelons of the organization.
Executives follow Thomas Davenport’s and
Laurence Prusak’s concern that concludes that,
if an executive cannot inspire its followers
to share their individual knowledge with
others, then this individual knowledge is not
valuable to the organization³. Therefore, like
tacit knowledge, individual knowledge can
18
become a valuable resource by developing an
organizational climate of openness for members
to exchange their ideas and insights.
Executives must create a climate of trust and
openness for individuals to share individual
knowledge. This is not new, Wolfgang Wagner
and Katsuya Yamori show that new technologies
drawing on social-software systems through
sharing individual knowledge around the
organizations can positively contribute to
create collective knowledge⁴. Therefore,
executives should build an atmosphere of trust
and openness and use technology to convert
individual knowledge into valuable resources for
their organization to close the performance gap
and help organizations prosper. Executives have
been now introduced to one important category
of knowledge. Knowledge can be articulated, or
shared, and executives can now assess whether
knowledge is a valuable factor for commercial
objectives.
Executives still wonder where knowledge
is and how it can be captured, utilized and
enhanced when it comes to decision-making.
Managing knowledge is not anything new,
scholars have considered the various processes
involved. Executives embrace the process
perspective because it takes a task-based
approach by translating the management
of knowledge into various organizational
processes. Accordingly, the process perspective
develops a firm-specific approach by which
organizational knowledge provides a significant
contribution to business objectives through
the context-dependent way it is managed.
Process perspective can also help organizations
identify their inefficiencies in each process, and
subsequently recover them on an instantaneous
basis which enables executives to prevent
further operational risk.
A good example of this, executives can
look at three step processes of knowledge
accumulation, integration and reconfiguration.
This model to managing knowledge reflects a
more strategic and practical perspective, as
it is process oriented and most applicable in
the context of leading organizations. In this
model, organizational knowledge, firstly, is

accumulated by creating new knowledge from
organizational intellectual capital and acquiring
knowledge from external environments. In doing
this process, executives can particularly develop
a workplace which is effective in:
• Acquiring knowledge about new
products/services within our industry;
• Benchmarking performance with
competitors or industry;
• Using feedback to improve subsequent
practices;
• Utilizing teams (e.g. committees or
management teams) to manage
knowledge resources;
• Developing and implementing education
or training programs;
• Carrying out a career path program or
recruitment program to acquire experts;
and
• Conducting organizational events (such
as a “knowledge contest” or “knowledge
fair”) that promote knowledge activities.
Secondly, knowledge is integrated internally to
enhance the effectiveness and efficiencies in
various systems and processes, as well as to be
more responsive to market changes. In doing
this process, executives can particularly develop
a workplace which is effective in:
• Monitoring or controlling organizational
knowledge to keep product or services in
line with market requirements;
• Regularly assessing knowledge
requirements according to environmental
changes;
• Linking the knowledge sharing system
using various software and programmes;
• Defining “core knowledge” or “core
competence” areas;
• Using expert groups to evaluate the
quality and effectiveness of organizational
knowledge;
• Disseminating organizational knowledge
among employees; and
• Rewarding individuals or teams based on
the quality of knowledge generated.
Thirdly, the knowledge within organizations
needs to be reconfigured to meet environmental
changes and new challenges. In this process,
knowledge is globally shared with other
organizations in the environment. In doing this,
executives can particularly develop a workplace
which is effective in:
• Creating knowledge alliances with
suppliers, customers, or other partners;
From
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT the US
• Sharing knowledge management visions
and goals with external partners (such as
suppliers and customers or other partners)
to develop collaborative activities, shared
goals and trust-based relationships with
them;
• Extending (or linking) knowledge related
policies or rules (measurement, rewards)
with external partners (such as customers,
suppliers or other partners);
• Linking our knowledge sharing system
with external partners (such as customers,
suppliers or other partners); and
• Facilitating and implementing activities
such as conferences, contests, seminars
with external partners.
In conclusion
Executives that manage knowledge and use
it as an important driving force for business
success find their organization to be more
competitive and on the cutting edge.
Executives now know that applying knowledge
management using the process perspective
is advantageous and good sound strategic
implementation. I walk exectuives through a
process of knowledge accumulation, integrating
knowledge into day-to-day operations, and a
continuous reconfiguration to recognize the
changes occurring in external environments and
respond to them quickly and effectively.
References
¹ Tsoukas, H., & Vladimirou, E. (2001). What
is Organizational Knowledge?. Journal of
Management Studies, 38 (7), 973-993;
² Matusik, S.F. (1998). The Utilization of
Contingent Work, Knowledge Creation, and
Competitive Advantage. The Academy of
Management Review, 23(4), 680-697;
³ Davenport, T.H., & Prusak, L. (1998). Working
knowledge, Boston, MA: Harvard Business
School Press; and
⁴ Wagner, W., & Yamori, K. (1999). Can culture
be a variable? Dispositional explanation and
cultural metrics. In T. Sugiman, M. Karasawa,
& C. Ward (Eds.), Progress in Asian Social
Psychology, vol. 2, Seoul: Kyoyook-Kwahak-Sa
Publishers.
Mostafa Sayyadi is a Senior Management
Consultant and Former Leadership Team
Member of San Diego-based The Change
Leader Consulting Inc. He is an Associate Fellow
of the Australian Institute of Management,
a Book Author and Business and Technology
Journalist.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 19
 Is BIG HIT
ENTERTAINMENT
manufacturing talent?
A case study on developing successful talent in the K-Pop culture from Korea
and beyond.
O
n September 24th,
2018, BTS became
the first K-pop group
to address the 73rd
session of UN General
Assembly at their launch of
Generation Unlimited Campaign.
Their message resonated with
millions around the globe and
Mitthi Jyoti Sharma inspired the young population to
speak for themselves and create
their own identity.
K-pop, a genre of popular music
originating in South Korea, has
dominated the eastern music
market since the mid-2000s. In
2012, PSY’s, ‘Gangnam style’,
had swept the world in a Korean
wave with its catchy beats and
amusing dance, topping the music
charts in more than 30 countries
Lalatendu Kesari Jena and garnering appreciations even
from political leaders around the
world.
In 2019, BTS, a South Korean band of seven
boys, also known as The Bangtan Boys, became
the fourth most successful group on Billboard’s
Top Billboard 200 Artists - Duo/Group ranking.
Their influence, today, is comparable to that
of The Beatles. In 2019, TXT, a band of five
South Korean boys, became the fastest K-Pop
group to appear in the US charts by debuting
at No. 1 on the Billboard Emerging Artists for
the first time. Both BTS and TXT, are trained
and managed by Big Hit Entertainment, a South
Korean Entertainment agency, established by
Bang Si-Hyuk.
According to the paper “Big Hit Entertainment
and Blockbuster Band BTS: K-pop goes global”
by Anita Elberse and Lizzie Woodham, Bang
Si-Hyuk, along with his executives, carried out a
thorough market research in 2011. This resulted
in the development of a sustainable business
model whose highlights were overcoming the
shortcomings of existing K-pop idol systems and
fostering balanced relationships with the artists.
The talent development model of Big hit
20
Entertainment, like the K-pop idol system,
focuses on creating a ‘wholesome image’,
as the genre demands a visually captivating
performance and compelling music. The process
of recruiting and developing talent begins
with scouting potential talent from various
sources, through online or offline channels and
conducting open as well as closed auditions.
There is no age barrier for auditioning. Selected
applicants sign temporary trainee contracts
and enter the development process. Inside the
system, they are given a chance to explore their
talent, coached in various aspects like singing,
dancing, modelling, acting, foreign languages
and media training, and are also provided with
mentorship programmes.
For every 20,000 applicants in Big Hit, only
20 to 30 make it to the trainee phase where
they again face competition amongst each
other. The trainee system is an up-or-out system
where several assessments are carried out to
track trainees’ progress and the competition
eventually eliminates candidates over time. The
cost of training them is borne by the company
and it also provides residence facilities to
trainees who do not live in the city. Throughout
the process, the company ensures that the
decision-making rights of individual artists
are preserved. When a team is ready for their
debut, they move into a house together and
peer evaluations are carried out. This helps in
identifying a suitable team leader, establishing
each member’s role in the band, identifying the
band’s vision and how they picture themselves
together.
The talent management process is a unique
360-degree approach in Korea where the
company provides a full suite of services for the
artists, viz, record labels, publishing operations,
managing concerts and tours, merchandising
and licensing activities and so on. Moreover, a
community platform called ‘Weverse’, managed
by Big Hit’s digital-platform-development
subsidiary, allows both the fans and artists
to post exclusive content and interact with
each other. In a first of its kind approach, Big
Hit encouraged its artists to upload behind-
 From
CASE STUDY India

the-scene footages of the band consisting of with Variety. However, for every trainee that
fun as well as serious moments between the debuts in the marketplace, there are a dozen
members, often revealing the real struggles of who do not. Sometimes, the debuts fail to
their lives and not just the successful outcomes. receive public appreciation and the eventual
This initiative aided in changing the existing loss affects the companies also. In a cut-throat
stereotypes about Korean Idols and in making world, it would not be possible to thrive if the
the fans realise that they are ordinary people artists did not persevere. In their speech at UN,
behind the manufactured ‘idol’ image. the group leader RM, speaks about the struggles
of BTS in their early years and asserts that their
Fandom culture success is a result of continued efforts by the
Engaging fans is a critical aspect of the talent band members and BTS ARMY’s support.
management process of the companies. The There is no doubt that Big Hit has marketed
fandom culture, a mainstream culture of South the talent of K-pop industry ingeniously.
Korea, is essential to the success of every artist/ According to Forbes, BTS and The Beatles were
bands post their launch as the fans go a long the only two groups to have sold one million
way to show support for their favourite idols. albums in physical sales in July 2020. Influence
For instance, in June, BTS’s fans matched the marketing and brand awareness, through social
donation of BTS and Big Hit of US$1,000,000 media seems to have expanded the fandom
for the Black Lives Matter Campaign within culture of South Korea throughout the world as
24 hours of the announcement by BTS. In the BTS effect makes impressive contributions
return, BTS members leave no stones unturned to the country’s economy and popularity. Lenzo
in showing their love and gratitude towards Yoon, the global CEO of Big Hit, plans to partner
their fandom, referred to as the BTS ARMY. with top corporations through their US-based
Even TXT, in their talks with teenVogue, reveal branch, Big Hit America, and adopt localization
that they feel responsible as influencers for strategies to improve the band’s global
their fandom, MOA. The company facilitates presence and overcome cultural barriers. Along
interactions of the artists with their fans through with CJ ENM, it has started a survival South
various platforms, often resulting in a para- Korean reality show, I-Land which will follow
social relationship, causing fans to develop an the creation process for next generation K-pop
illusion of being in close friendship with their stars. The company continues to research and
idols. Hence, much of the popularity of the band innovate as it expands into new markets and
is attributable to the company’s endeavours in sectors.
managing active relations with the fans and Big Hit Entertainment has ambitious plans
customers throughout the globe. of acing the entertainment industry globally.
Such attempts raise the question, whether the
talent development and management practices
Talent development and of the company will be acceptable to artists
management in other parts of the world as K-pop industry
It is evident that the talent development and continues to be targeted for ‘manufacturing
management process is highly streamlined and, talent’, producing ‘hybridized acts’ without any
in addition to honing their natural talent, artists originality, treating artists as employees and
are imbibed with all possible skills required to be forcing unrealistic expectations on them. Big
a star. The genre of K-pop, by its own standards, Hit’s model, supported by localization strategies,
requires artists to be multi-talented. While many has the potential to facilitate aspiring artists
might think, TXT, unlike BTS, has had it easy from in finding their own place, by catering to their
the start, CEO Bang believes they have greater own fandom and fulfilling dreams in this highly
expectations to meet, as stated in an interview competitive world. However, every band or artist

HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 21


needs not be burdened with achieving BTS-level
success. It also entails that the company needs
to adopt policies which will allow more artists
to thrive, rather than be eliminated, in the talent
development process and increase the number
of launches at the same time.
Spotting and retaining talent
It is worth noting that the transnational nature
of K-pop acts has been able to capture
the worldwide audience, despite language
barriers. Similar attitude must reflect in the
business strategies of the company to achieve
its expansion objectives. In a broader sense,
success is recognising the talent and potential of
individuals and giving them opportunities to grow,
just like Bang Si Hyuk did with BTS. A significant
feature of the model appears to be the balance
between efficiency of the trainee system and
the artist’s individuality. Prioritising their place in
the system and maintaining healthy relationship
with the artists is a significant practice of the
company, as K-pop industry is notorious for
pressurizing artists to meet their employer’s
expectations. Acknowledging an individual’s
contribution in successful ventures is indispensable
to talent retention as evident from the fact that
BTS re-signed with Big Hit Entertainment for
another seven years in October 2018.
22
From
CASE STUDY India
In conclusion
Corporate businesses must recognise their
employees’ efforts and value their customers to be
sustainable. Strategic investment in training and
development, continued research and innovations,
effective marketing strategies and active
management of customers are the key takeaways
from the story of Big Hit Entertainment.
Mitthi Jyoti Sharma is a Doctorate Student
(HR) at Xavier School of HRM, Xavier University,
Bhubaneswar, India. She has teaching experience
of 13 months as an Assistant Professor at Mount
Carmel College, Bangalore, and has published
papers in International journals on the concept
of Professional Excellence. She wishes to explore
HR analytics and sustainable HRM practices as a
part of her research career. Lalatendu Kesari
Jena is an Assistant Professor (Human Resources)
in Xavier School of HRM, Xavier University,
Bhubaneswar, India. He specializes in the areas
of Human Resource Planning, Performance
Management, Learning and Development, and
Talent Assessment. He completed his Ph.D. from
IIT Kharagpur, India, on the topic “Workplace
Spirituality and Human Resource Effectiveness”
and is pursuing Post Doc. on “Employee Retention
and Leadership Challenges” at Loyola Leadership
School, Universidad Loyola, Seville, Spain.
 R us
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Contact elvira@hrfuture.netHR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 23

 Lead your
people through
UNCERTAINTY
How to help employees thrive, even when their career goals are
uncertain.

T
Ed Mitzen hese uncertain times filled with
racial unrest, a global pandemic,
massive unemployment and economic
anxiety have caused some people
to reevaluate their lives and their
priorities. Within that introspection, there are a
few potential outcomes, whether it’s reassessing
career goals, losing sight of them or coming to
the realization that some workers are happy in
their jobs and do not aspire to a higher position.
Whether a worker likes the road they are
on or sees a fork in it approaching, company
leaders who want to keep valued people should
empower them to achieve the career paths of
their choosing.
Don’t steer them down a path that you
envision. Some companies have rigid career
progressions and, if someone does not want
to follow that path, eventually they are shown
the door. We’ve had great employees whom
we wanted to promote but who wanted to
stay in the jobs they had. Maybe they aren’t
motivated by money or it’s more important for
them to spend time with their families than to
get a promotion that may require more travel.
At our company, that is not just accepted but
encouraged, because we know the value of a
good employee no matter what their career
trajectory looks like, and want to support them
in that journey.
Especially now, it’s important for companies
to understand that and respect having valued
performers who are happy and productive
in their roles as opposed to saying, “These
people don’t have what it takes to grow within
the company; let’s cut them loose.“
The following ways help employees who might
be wobbly on their career paths or struggling
in some ways, and let them know they’re worth
keeping:
•  Approach performance with guidance

24

and caring. Even the best employees
sometimes fall short of performance goals
and expectations. It’s incumbent on the
company’s leaders – who have invested
time in the person and often seen good
results – to look for ways to help. Asking
employees how you can help when they
are struggling is extremely powerful.
By looking for ways to help employees
when they need it, you build a stronger
relationship with them. Not only will
this build loyalty to the company and
a culture of caring for each other that
positively affects everyone, but a stronger,
supportive culture will benefit your clients
as well.
• Strive to make people’s lives better. Life
is hard, so try to remember that work
serves life, not the other way around.
Employers should do everything they can
to help their people, including outside of
work, and especially now, with change
and anxiety fairly constant in our lives.
If employees have a lot going on at
home, understanding those stresses and
accommodating for those situations goes
a long way. Whatever you can do to ease
concerns outside of work is the right
thing to do and will drive focus to your
employees’ projects in the workplace.
• Celebrate successes. Most companies
don’t celebrate enough. Those that do,
find they will keep most of their best
employees, who feel appreciated and
assured that they’re at the right place in
their career. Find reasons to acknowledge
the great things your team does. It makes
a big impact on your staff and incentivizes
them further.
Goals can change, people can change, and
circumstances can change. But when you’ve
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UNCERTAINTY the US
Whether a worker likes the road
they are on or sees a fork in it
approaching, company leaders
who want to keep valued
people should empower them
to achieve the career paths of
their choosing.
taken time to know your people, you as a leader
can help them through almost anything that’s
throwing them off course. And, in the process,
you keep your company on track to meet its
goals. You end up with great performers at all
levels of the company who are happy to be in
their roles, and your culture benefits greatly.
Ed Mitzen (www.edmitzen.com) is the founder
of Fingerpaint, an independent advertising
agency grossing $60 million in revenue, and
ForbesBook author of More Than a Number: The
Power of Empathy and Philanthropy in Driving
Ad Agency Performance. Mitzen also built
successful firms CHS and Palio Communications.
Fingerpaint has been included on the Inc. 5000
list of fastest-growing companies for seven
straight years and garnered agency of the year
nominations and wins from MM&M, Med Ad
News, and PM360. Mitzen was named Industry
Person of the Year by Med Ad News in 2016
and a top boss by Digiday in 2017. A graduate
of Syracuse University with an MBA from the
University of Rochester, Mitzen has written for
Fortune, Forbes, HuffPost, and the Wall Street
Journal.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 25
PSYCHOLOGICAL
SAFETY is the new
business imperative
How to create psychological safety for your team and organisation.
I
had been invited to deliver a leadership
and cultural development programme for
an operational division in the transportation
sector. I met with a range of stakeholders to
conduct my customary diagnostic interviews
which gives me the necessary data upon which
any programme is designed.
Ahead of the interviews I met with the senior
Director who suggested that in my interviews I
put away my laptop and simply engage people
in open conversation. The Director indicated
that it was a low trust environment where any
external people are viewed with suspicion and
formal note taking might increase the cynicism
of my presence.
Sure enough, I was met with a mix of
26
Ben Renshaw
responses from outright hostility to mild caution.
When I shared my findings with the Director and
his HR Director my primary recommendation
was the need for create an environment of
psychological safety. I suggested that the only
way to deliver meaningful development work
was for people to feel safe enough to speak
up without the fear of negative consequences.
Unfortunately previous development activity
had become associated with delivering
organizational efficiencies and colleagues had
lost their jobs. No wonder I was not met with
open arms.
In a recent conversation, Amy Edmonsdson,
Novartis Professor of Leadership and
Management at the Harvard Business School

and author of The Fearless Organization. shared
with me the following:
“To do their best work, people need to feel
secure and safe in their workplace. I define
psychological safety as a shared belief held by
members of a team that the team is safe for
interpersonal risk taking. Individuals feel they
can speak up, express their concerns and be
heard. This is not to say that people are ‘nice.’
A psychologically safe workplace is one where
people are not full of fear, and not trying to
cover their tracks to avoid being embarrassed
or punished. What I am advocating is candour.
Being open. And sometimes that might mean
being direct to a fault, knowing that you have a
right and a responsibility to ask hard questions
about the work such as: Is this the right
decision? Are we collecting the right data? Do
we know the impact this might have on others?”
Psychological safety starts with an internal
decision to have the courage to speak up, have
a voice, encourage others to take risks, have
their back and challenge the status quo. Ruth
was determined to have psychological safety as
a key success factor in her team. As a marketing
expert she was used to working in highly
competitive environments where people jostled
for creative hierarchy and were happy to throw
others under the bus to get ahead.
She had developed sharp elbows to protect
herself from the threat of others, but it drained
her energy and went against her open and
collaborative personality. In our coaching work,
Ruth came to the realization that the only
way she would fulfil her potential was to step
forward with what she believed. She started
communicating about psychological safety
through her social network and introduced it
to campaigns at work. She caught a wave.
With the increased lens on topics like diversity
and inclusion, wellbeing and mental health,
psychological safety had gone mainstream.
Ruth advocated ways of building psychological
safety at work including:
• Speaking up in a meeting to propose a risky
or untested idea;
• Admitting publicly that the project you
championed failed, and offering lessons
learned in the process;
• Disagreeing with your boss or offering a
different way forward than they’d previously
considered; and
• Willingly giving up time or resources to help
out someone on your team, taking away
from the resources you have to achieve your
own goals
Creating psychological safety from a team
perspective means the leader has to take a
stand for it. If the leader is on-board then a
valuable process for the team is to schedule
a couple of hours where they can explore the
topic based on the question: “What does it
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MENTAL HEALTH the UK
mean to have psychological safety as a team?”
This will allow everyone to have voice and to
contribute their point of view at which point the
leader can summarize the team’s insight and
use it to agree on ways of working together.
For instance, a Retail Leadership Team
I recently coached agreed on three key
indicators to demonstrate psychological safety:
1. Assume good intent;
2. Go direct; and
3. Let go.
What this meant for them was that, whatever
went on, they would start by looking for the
good. They would deal directly with each other,
rather than going behind each other’s backs
and they would drop any baggage in order to
move forward swiftly.
For an organization to develop an
environment of psychological safety it requires
the Executive Committee, or equivalent, to be
clear and aligned about what it means and how
to demonstrate it in the company. At Google
they conducted a study code-named “Project
Aristotle,” a tribute to the famous philosopher’s
belief that it’s possible to have a whole that is
greater than the sum of its parts. Studying 180
teams, the researchers interviewed hundreds of
executives, team leads, and team members. 
After poring through the data, the research
team isolated specific factors that influenced
organizational and team effectiveness.
They clearly ranked one factor as most
important: psychological safety. At Google
it refers to: “An individual’s perception of the
consequences of taking an interpersonal risk or
a belief that a team is safe for risk taking in the
face of being seen as ignorant, incompetent,
negative, or disruptive. In a team with high
psychological safety, teammates feel safe to
take risks around their team members. They
feel confident that no one on the team will
embarrass or punish anyone else for admitting
a mistake, asking a question, or offering a new
idea.”
There are 4 behaviours which if demonstrated
can bring psychological safety to life in an
organization:
1. Listen more, talk less;
2. Praise generously;
3. Reframe negative feedback; and
4. Pay attention.
Succeed, and you will unleash the potential
within individuals, teams and your organization.
Ben Renshaw is one of the world’s most
sought-after leadership coaches and speakers.
He works with C-suite executives in FTSE 100
companies that include Coca-Cola, Heathrow,
IHG, P&G, Sainsbury’s, Sky and Unilever. 
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 27
Is your company
SAFE FROM HACKERS?
Twitter hack exposes massive cyber security flaw that affects us all.
Stephen Burke
I
ntroducing a cyber security aware culture,
supported by real time accountability, is
the only solution to shield organisations and
individuals in a time of cyber attacks and
Twitter hacks.  
Every day brings a new security threat or a
new report of a massively destructive cyber
attack and 2019 was one of the worst years
on record for attacks and breaches. Over
the course of 2019 there was a massive 54%
increase in data breaches – many with dire
consequences. What you read in the press is
the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the
fates of global players such as Verizon, Capital
One, British Airways and many others, with the
implications of many attacks still yet to be seen.
Predictably, IT companies continue to innovate
to provide the best in class infrastructure
solutions, and yet the attackers continue to
prevail and profit while businesses are crippled
28
or heavily fined or both.
In 2020, the outbreak of Covid-19 ripped
up any virtual defences organisations had put
in place by forcing employees to work from
improvised home offices, with devices that were
neither up to date nor secure. Businesses had to
rely on the common sense of their employees to
keep their systems safe, leaving them exposed
to cyber criminals and targeted attacks.
It wasn’t much later that the World Health
Organisation reported a fivefold increase in
cyber attacks compared to the previous year.
Fast forward to July, and the news of a Twitter
hack that targeted the accounts of US leaders
Joe Biden and Barack Obama is being reported
everywhere, leaving the public with one big
question. If not even our leaders are safe, then
who is? Although cyber attacks and Twitter
hacks aren’t new phenomena, this particular
incident has opened up a public discussion
about cyber security and what organisations
and individuals can do to prevent them from
happening, even with limited resources and a
remote workforce. 
Using technology to counter the problem,
while necessary, is only one part of the whole
solution. Passing the responsibility to the IT
function for your company’s defences to these
criminals is misguided at best. Enterprises are
now discovering the technology piece only goes
so far. It is just one piece of the armoury. 
Cyber security awareness training
The fact is that 90% of all breaches are caused
by human error – a massive statistic when you
consider that even the most technically robust
of networks can be undone by one simple
absent-minded click on a phishing email.
Unfortunately the best technical solutions in the
world cannot secure your IT infrastructure alone.
Your IT department will be the first to agree that
their day-to-day challenge is dealing with users
who undo all their good work! Just as it takes an
army to be trained to use the weapons they are
given so it is that your people should be trained
to defend your company’s systems. The only way
to effectively ensure that your defences are not

breached is to train your foot soldiers how to
use their technical arsenal.  areas of weakness and give your IT people solid
The type of vulnerabilities that are being
exploited by criminals are varied and difficult to
address internally without expertise: A natural
step to address these vulnerabilities is cyber
security awareness training. Many organisations
that do implement cyber security training
programs often just train the technical staff
– missing the real source of the problem – the
employee at the frontline. The fact is that every
computer, every communications device, is an
open door to a criminal and at the moment
untrained employees are not only opening the
door, they are propping it open and inviting
them in.
For other companies, training their staff
comes after they have been attacked and
the source of the breach is revealed. The
organisations that really do understand that
these attacks are never going to go away and
plan long term protective measures are the
ones that build a real cyber awareness culture
recognising that cyber security is a real business
issue.
The practice of doing this is actually relatively
simple and resource and cost effective. There is
a lot to be gained from a staged approach:
Stage 1. Assign responsibility and
authority
The most important thing to consider is that
cyber security shouldn’t be put in the hands
of a single department. It should be seen
as a company-wide initiative and given the
recognition of importance that it deserves.
Select a department, individual or team that
has connections across the organisation and
give them the authority to implement team
training and awareness and incentivise people
to buy into the initiative.
Stage 2. Assess buy-in
Keep tabs on the progress and ensure that
everyone in the organisation has a cyber
security mindset. For example, check that
your finance people have checked your cyber
security cover in your insurance policy. Your
company might even save on the premiums by
demonstrating your preventative measures.
Equally, your HR department should update
your social media and use of email guidelines
and they should build the training into the
development plans of your employees.
Stage 3. Attack your own defences
Start running real time cyber attack simulations
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CYBER SECURITY the UK
across your network. This will show your greatest
signposts on technical vulnerabilities and also
give you priorities for staff training.
Stage 4. Train
Implement training and ensure that it is done
across the organisation, both horizontally and
vertically. If you are a global organisation, look
for training that comes in native languages –
avoid machine translations. Your C-suite should
be trained in the same way the most junior
person is trained. Cyber criminals don’t care
who they target so everyone who is on your
network is a potential target.
Stage 5. Communicate, reward,
motivate
Make sure that you talk about what you are
doing. Share success and tell employees about
how you are keeping them and the company
safe. What they learn at work they can benefit
from at home. Reward people who are cyber
heroes. This will in turn motivate others, and
keeping cyber security on the agenda will make
sure that, as employees come and go, your
culture will remain.
Stage 6. Review and measure
It is good to have clear KPIs when you start.
Make sure you keep reports on where your
weakest points are in your organisation – it
may be a department where you get a lot of
temporary workers – and put together measures
to eradicate those weaknesses. 
These steps give you the foundations to
building a great cyber security culture within
your organisation. The key is to run them
on loop. Keeping your people up to date
and trained makes them your most valuable
custodians of your company’s network. Technical
solutions can be massively costly and that
can often swallow a lot of the budget (and
attention) when it comes to cyber security.
However, implementing a program like this can
be surprisingly cost effective and ultimately
invaluable. The human touch works both ways:
it can bring you down or it can be the best
defence. It’s your decision.
Stephen Burke is the CEO and founder of
London-based Cyber Risk Aware that provides
thousands of users with a front line of defence
against cyber criminals, significantly reducing
the material risk of employee error via phishing,
ransomware, CEO Fraud and Malware attacks.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 29
 COVID-19:
Preparing for the
FUTURE OF WORK
COVID-19 has created one of the most unique challenges in history for
professionals in Human Resources.
H
R Professionals
are charged with
understanding how the
human capital of an
organization functions:
how to find, recruit, screen, hire,
bring onboard, train and support
it to create successful outcomes.
HR ensures that the human capital
of an organization supports its
Michael Klazema
growth, goals and future.
What happens when a public
health crisis puts that human capital in
jeopardy? HR Professionals are trying to answer
that question right now. The answers should
inform every decision that you make as your
organization prepares for the future of work.
No going back
At the beginning of the novel coronavirus
pandemic, the common refrains for businesses
were, “once this is over” and “when we can
go back to normal.” Most professionals were
talking about the virus as a brief inconvenience
or a disruptive but temporary problem. As 2020
progresses, businesses cannot shake off the
ongoing impact of COVID-19.
Most states lifted their stay-at-home orders
in May, officially ushering in a new chapter of
moving from “quarantine” to “reopening.” Yet,
as the economy has reopened – as restaurants
and bars have resumed in-person service,
teams have headed back into the office, and
families have resumed their summer routines
– coronavirus cases have skyrocketed. On the
Fourth of July, Florida recorded 11,458 new
cases of the virus – breaking a record that New
York set in April for the highest single-day case
total for a state.
For businesses, the takeaway is simple:
“normal” remains out-of-reach.
The New Normal and the potential
Future of Work
HR professionals will have an essential role to
30
play in deciding on the “new normal” within their
organizations.
Businesses across the country are hard at work
planning their return-to-work policies. While
business owners, executives and managers will
play key roles in these discussions, it is vital for
HR representatives to have a seat at the table.
A return-to-work strategy is a plan for bringing
the human capital of an organization back
into an office, restaurant or retail environment.
Planning for the future of work needs to
incorporate HR considerations, from what
employees want to how to best keep them safe.
Businesses are taking the ongoing threat
of COVID-19 very seriously. Some of the most
prominent employers in the United States,
including tech giants such as Twitter, Facebook,
Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, have
announced that they are looking at expanding
quarantine work-from-home policies.
Twitter’s announcement came early, with the
company informing employees in May that most
of its team would be allowed to work from
home forever. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
has said that half of the company could be
working remotely permanently by 2013 and
noted that Facebook is “aggressively opening
up remote hiring.” Microsoft President Brad
Smith said that a gradual return to the office
wasn’t just the company’s plan but a point of
social responsibility.
These reactions emphasize that the future of
work may be remote. Working from home isn’t
a new concept: a Gallup poll from 2016 found
that 43 percent of respondents were able
to work remotely “at least some of the time.”
However, now that so many organizations have
had to operate with a remote workforce due to
stay-at-home orders, there is a lower barrier-
to-entry for businesses that were previously
resistant to work-from-home arrangements.
Global Workforce Analytics predicts that
managers won’t have the same fears or
reservations about remote work post-pandemic,
both because they’ve seen their teams function
in this mode and because they’ve gotten a

chance to try it themselves.
Develop a strategy for your business
Not every job can be performed on a work-
from-home basis, and not every organization
has had a 100-percent-successful remote
transition. Global Workforce Analytics has
estimated that only 56 percent of American
workers could work from home permanently;
the rest either need to work in-person or must
come into the office from time to time. For
organizations that are considering a highly
remote future, it will fall to HR Professionals
to assess individual roles and departments to
determine which functions can be executed
from a distance and which demand an on-the-
ground or hybrid employee.
According to a Gallup poll, 51 percent
of American workers want to return to the
workplace eventually, some of them as soon as
possible, some only after COVID-19 fears have
entirely subsided. Understanding where your
employees fall on this scale can help guide your
return-to-work policy and give you hints on how
to execute the process without alienating staff
or risking turnover.
Other considerations include keeping
employees safe when they do return to work
and adopting technologies to keep in-
person teams and remote teams connected.
Reconfiguring office layouts and furniture
to allow for barriers and social distancing
has been a popular and heavily-discussed
approach. A bright spot in the return-to-work
planning process is that many organizations
have mastered new digital resources during
quarantine, from Google Teams to Zoom to
Dropbox, that they can continue to leverage to
enable stronger work-from-home arrangements
in the future.
HR teams must understand the hiring and
onboarding implications of COVID-19 and the
resulting boost in remote work. Video interviews
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might replace your in-person interview routine
to minimize exposure risk. Your recruiting
approach may focus on finding individuals who
have work-from-home experience or possess
key remote work soft skills (including strong
communication, self-motivation, and comfort
with technology).
The importance of Due Diligence
Don’t forget the background check, which
remains a critical due diligence step even in
this unusual time. While the pandemic initially
caused delays or disruptions to the background
checks pipeline, those disruptions are no longer
key concerns for businesses.
With virtual work-from-home arrangements
serving as a realistic option for new hires and
face-to-face interviews potentially becoming a
thing of the past, the way that employers get to
know their candidates and employees has been
forced to evolve. With less personal contact
between employers and prospective new hires,
a formalized screening process for candidates
is even more essential than it was before.
Remote and temporary workers can still
influence company culture, digital workplace
safety, and brand reputation. A smart
background check strategy that incorporates
a robust range of searches, such as criminal
history, education and employment verifications,
reference checks, and more, will help you to
make strong, well-qualified hires at a time when
stability is something that every employer needs. 
Michael Klazema is the Chief Marketing
Technologist at VODW in Utrecht, Netherlands,
and the lead author and editor for
backgroundchecks.com. He has over two
decades of experience in digital consulting,
online product management, HR, employee
screening, and technology innovation.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 31
 HR challenges in the
NEW NORMAL
H
The pandemic has presented an opportunity for HR to reinvent itself.
R jobs are becoming
challenging as the work
dynamics are changing.
The processes of
Industries have improved,
machines have advanced over
the years, but the basic principles
remain the same. In contrast, HR
is about dealing with people who
Stephen Leslie are constantly changing in terms
Hembrom of behaviour, habits, thinking or
according to their circumstances,
be they personal or professional. This makes it
more difficult because, while dealing with and
understanding people, their state of mind is more
important when communicating with them.
Talking to people in person, HR personnel
can view body language, facial expressions
of the employee and so forth, which is helpful
during communication. However, with the
pandemic where the workforce is mostly working
remotely from home the situation is a bit more
complicated.
The turn of events during the pandemic has
not been very encouraging for Industries and
business being slow and layoffs across the world
have brought fresh HR challenges. Some may say
it is easier to communicate without having any
feelings attached. However, the impact it has
on the employee and their family is immense. No
wonder we see depression cases on the rise with
a few leading to grave consequences. HR, known
for its empathetic attitude, understanding nature,
for offering solace and support to the employees,
is now no more than a robot, delivering
messages without any feelings by phone, Zoom
or WhatsApp, based on a decision taken by the
company.
A rather new dimension of HR is coming to the
fore, where a change in strategy is required to
do things in the new normal. We may never go
back to the old ways of working and there will be
a mix of both Office and work from home. The
challenges which HR therefore faces now are as
follows:
Managing a workforce spread
across geographies
HR, till recently, was managing the workforce
across geographies through office culture.
However, this has changed with the global
pandemic. Many organisations, especially
organisations with IT capacity, have allowed
employees to work from home. The same is the
case in other sectors with people working from
32
corporate or regional offices barring the plant,
which requires people to report for duty. Due to
this recent trend, most are preferring to relocate
to their home towns, which not only makes them
feel safe but also helps them in taking care of
their elderly parents, escape from the hustle
and bustle of city life, save on rent and so forth.
However, managing a workforce spread across
regions and geographies with limited or no control
requires a new way of managing people. HR
Professionals therefore need to upgrade with
the best technology which will help in managing
the workforce remotely, depending upon the
organisation.
Compensation Management
Compensation Management is a critical part
of HR. Apart from the standard compensation,
employees are also provided with certain
allowances which are based on location, cost
of living, etc. With the movement of people
from offices to remote working, Compensation
Management has to be reworked. Fixed
compensation, variable compensation, special/
project allowances etc have to be re-aligned to
the changed circumstances. At the same time, the
compensation components would also undergo
change, with some things possibly becoming
irrelevant, such as a Petrol Allowance, Uniform
Allowance, Transport Allowance and others, which
may get replaced with Internet and Telephone
Allowance, Remote Office expenses etc.
HR policies
HR policies are to be reviewed and amended
considering prevailing circumstances and based
on future work strategies which their companies/
firms may adopt or will adopt going forward.
For IT companies, it is clear that, on average,
about 30 to 50% of their workforce would now
be working remotely, if not more. Few companies
such as Google have also rolled out allowance
for purchase of a desk, keyboard, mouse etc., and
there are other employees who get a technology
allowance, furniture allowance, telephone and
Internet broadband allowance. It should not come
as a surprise if sooner or later the Government
may also come out with certain tax relaxations on
such allowances if the pandemic lasts long.
Contract management
It is also expected that HR would have to change
the standard format of the offer/appointment
letter with terms and conditions for working from
home. This may provide clarity on aspects of work

such as dual employment during WFH, attendance,
leave, travel, termination clause etc. as these are
critical to avoid litigation in future.
Reward and recognition programs
The reward and recognition program policy will
have to be worked out differently. The feeling of
being rewarded before one’s colleagues in town
hall meetings or conference rooms has become
redundant and the same feeling cannot be
replaced or generated online. HR will have to think
out of the box to recognise talent and in assessing
the individual for a reward and recognition
programme. The reward going forward can
range from a family Pizza party to gifting a Netflix
subscription or any other ways, such as providing
a vacation to a resort or may be PS4/Xbox
game CDs etc. The motivating factors of being
recognised among the herd will be missing but HR
can capitalise on the feeling of making employees
proud before their family members by recognising
their efforts. This will not only create a win-win for
employees but also for the company.
Association and belonging
Another challenge which HR faces is a sense of
belonging and association with the company. How
often did people feel a part of the company or
a group, when they wore the company-provided
uniform and attended the office, spending quality
time over a cup of coffee or tea getting to know
each, other apart from working together? The
sense of association and belonging which the
company uniform or physical presence in the
office creates would be difficult to overcome.
Human beings tend to associate themselves and
develop closeness; hence, the biggest task would
be for HR to bring in the cohesiveness, bonding,
sense of pride working with a particular brand
when employees are working remotely.
Communication
HR communication is another challenge in
which emails, phone calls and messages play an
important part. However, it would be relatively
easier to send messages to a large number of
employees through group mailers or messages.
The situation gets difficult when the employee
communicates to HR in a remote environment.
With so many employees working remotely or in a
mixed environment sending messages and emails
to resolve their queries, it becomes difficult for HR
to respond to all of them. Sometimes, a few mails
or communications to the employee get missed.
Earlier, when employees were in the office, it was
easier to sort out things when one could directly
walk up to HR and get the issues sorted out. The
same was applicable when HR used to resolve
issues upfront.
Performance Management
Another complex phenomenon and highly
debated topic is the Performance Management
of employees. When people worked from the
office right under the noses of their bosses, they
had complaints about the assessment. Imagine
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TALENT MANAGEMENT India
the situation of assessment remotely, though it has
its own pros and cons. The essence would be to
ensure that the KRAs/KPIs are properly drafted by
the Reporting Officer and that the performance
is measured based on outcomes. Employees
can now be provided with feedback via video
calls, which can be recorded, as compared
to the earlier practice where some managers
escaped providing feedback, filled in the form and
submitted it to management. Technological tools
can be utilised for performance assessment.
Training and Development
The challenge which HR faces is to ensure that
the employee stays relevant to their jobs. HR
should utilise the free Webinar and provide some
certificate programme which the employee should
be able to complete online. Employees should be
encouraged to participate in programs of their
own free will other than business programmes
which may develop their skills, such as learning
new languages, new programming codes, further
studies and so forth.
Talent Acquisition, Management
and Retention
Another important challenge which HR faces is
in the area of Recruitment, Management and
Retention. Employees working remotely may not
switch easily, which was not the case earlier
as employees relocated from Tier-III/II to Tier-I
cities for more jobs, growth, better schooling,
medical facilities and so on. Now, the jobs have
moved to their homes and it will be harder to
poach candidates who are already settled with
a work from home option. Equally, the retention
of employees would also be challenging and
research needs to be done on what extra benefit
a company can offer that others can’t. More
than the compensation, the major attraction
during remote work could possibly be perks such
as Mediclaim facilities including parents, mobile
and Internet reimbursements, work culture where
companies trust their employees and are more
output-oriented rather than monitoring activities
on the go through various software systems.
Employee connection and engagement
One more important aspect will be employee
connection and engagement. HR will have to
make a conscious effort to actually touch base
with employees and understand the issue being
raised by them, empathetically listen to them
over phone, and suggest solutions. Also, they
need to conduct regular activities to keep teams
motivated and associated through monthly
birthday celebrations virtually, encouraging them
to participate in online team gaming activities,
and sending gifts and cards through online portals
such as Amazon or Flipkart to employees on their
birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions.
Stephen Leslie Hembrom is the Deputy General
Manager (HR) at Corporate STEAG Energy
Services (India) Private Limited in Noida, India.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 33
Grow more
SOCIALLY
RESPONSIBLE
MILLENNIALS
Enjoy long term success and higher staff retention by enhancing your
social responsibility.
B
y this point, we all know that
Millennials are a powerhouse
generation that is currently at its
prime both in the workplace and
as consumers. The majority of the
Millennial generation is now in their 30s with
the older end beginning to enter their 40s. This
means they are entering leadership roles in
companies, becoming financially settled, and
beginning to really direct markets with their
values.
One thing is for certain, Millennials are not
like other previous generations before them.
For one, they are the first generation to come
of age with technology, which gives them a
huge competitive edge in today’s economy.
But they are also products of global economic
downturns, political uncertainties, and now a
pandemic.
All of this has led Millennials on a unique
path. In general, the generation values fiscal
responsibility, giving back to their communities,
and supporting socially responsible companies.
If you are a business leader looking to hire
Millennial employees, it is important to
understand the values your company holds and
how that is likely to impact the choices your
target employees are making.
The Millennial workplace
Today, Millennials make up nearly 50% of the
workplace and by 2025 they are expected to
comprise nearly 75% of the global workforce.
If you are a successful business, chances
are you’ve got numerous Millennials taking
leadership roles and directing day to day
activities. In the coming years, their impact is
going to continue to grow.
Workplaces are rapidly changing to adapt
to the new powerhouse generation. More
and more of them are working to create more
34
collaborative environments with tech-friendly
workspaces and plenty of room to grow and
adapt. Even further, gone are the 9-5 rigid
workdays; Millennials are calling for greater
workplace flexibility and most companies are
answering.
Millennials have long been considered by
older generations as a group of young people
looking for handouts. Though Boomers and Gen
Xers may still have negative opinions, research
is indicating that stereotype isn’t exactly true in
the slightest. Most Millennials are hard-working
and have strong core values; they aren’t afraid
to jump ship for a company that is doing more
to align with what they believe and help them
reach their career goals.
Attracting Millennials
Thus, attracting talented Millennials forces more
companies to look inward rather than outward.
Specifically, it means that companies are taking
a deeper look at their guiding principles and
working to better align them with the values of
the employees they are trying to attract. For
most companies, this means working towards
greater social responsibility.
The vast majority of young people looking for
jobs are in search of something where they can
make a positive difference. This can mean a
lot of things, but in general, the most popular
companies to work for are those that prioritize:
Environmental awareness such as cutting
down on waste products, limiting shipping
distances, and giving back to non-profits and
communities that promote conservation and
sustainability;
Social responsibility by paying all employees
along the supply chain a fair wage or giving
back to the local community through company-
sponsored service projects and events; and
Diversity promotion, for instance, taking

a strong stance on workplace equality and
fairness based on race and gender. Promoting
collaboration and employee team-building is
also a bonus.
In order to do this for your company, take a
deep look at your policies and practices. Are
there things you can do to reduce waste in
your supply chain? Can company events work
towards bettering the community? Would you
consider your employees diverse in experiences
and backgrounds? Once you hire this talent
are you giving them training and appropriate
compensation for the work they do?
Core values and customers
Like it or not, Millennials are also one of the
largest consumer groups in today’s global
economy. That means making changes that
are going to help you attract more Millennials
into your workforce are also going to attract
more of them to your business in general. These
changes can garner you more talent and more
business!
We can see this playing out on a larger stage.
For instance, in the US and UK alone, nearly
86% of survey respondents indicated that they
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MILLENNIALS the US
were less likely to spend money on a brand that
they didn’t consider socially responsible. In fact,
they were actually willing to spend more on
products that were produced sustainably and
fairly.
Not only are Millennials more likely to support
these changes, but younger generations are
indicating that they are as well. Generation
Z – as it is currently known – appears to
hold corporate environmental and social
responsibility to an even higher standard.
Ultimately, corporate social responsibility is the
way of the future. Those companies that are
quick to make adaptations to this new employee
standard are those that are most likely to
see long-term successes, greater employee
satisfaction, and overall increases in retention.
Noah Rue is a journalist and content writer
from Boise, Idaho, US. He is fascinated with the
intersection between global health, personal
wellness, and modern technology. When he isn’t
searching out his next great writing opportunity,
Noah likes to shut off his devices and head to
the mountains to disconnect.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 35
Build more
SUSTAINABLE
BUSINESSES in a
post-Covid world
It’s time for business to include all stakeholders – including the environment.

Robin Fisher

I
Over recent months, the COVID-19 pandemic
has shown that as humans we are all
connected. There are also parallels with
the climate emergency we are facing: both
require a global response, long-term thinking,
and businesses to play their part.  – including employees, partners, communities
Lower levels of air pollution and greenhouse
gas emissions due to reduced travel and
commuting may be of little comfort in the midst
of a global health crisis. However, it is important
to recognise the potential of what can happen
when we do work together. For too long, many
companies have ignored the environmental
impact of their actions and dismissed
sustainability as optional. As businesses, we
talk a lot about the importance of stakeholders
– but there is no greater stakeholder than the
planet.
At this point in time, talks have somewhat
shifted from when we will open to how we
can open. As businesses across different

36

industries move into this phase, there is a
unique window of opportunity for firms to act
to inspire and unite people for a cause, while
rebuilding existing policies and processes with
sustainability in mind.
Reopening safely
As we look to the second phase of this crisis
– recovery and reopening – return-to-work
readiness will be crucial. While the initial phase
required a rapid shutdown, and the ability to
make decisions quickly, this second phase will
need to be more structured, strategic and
gradual. As government guidance develops
and changes, businesses will need to adapt
accordingly, and technology will continue to
play a key role in keeping people connected,
supporting leadership decisions, and helping
organisations adapt to change.
All kinds of businesses have already had
to shift, scale and adapt their products to
work in new ways, and the technology sector
has a responsibility to support. Never have
things like data availability and the ability for
teams to collaborate on a problem in real
time been more important. Shift management
and compliance to new health and safety
regulations compound the imperative to digitally
transform in the face of this pandemic. There’s
an ongoing need for tools to help communicate
with agility.
Technologies to put sustainably at
the heart
On top of this, there is a real need for
more sustainable work practices and a rare
opportunity to implement them as businesses
rebuild in a post-COVID world. Integrating
technology into sustainability processes can
help businesses maintain visibility over their
own impact and offer the highest levels of
accountability to employees, customers and
stakeholders.
For example, understanding carbon emissions
from energy usage and company travel can
be daunting for businesses, not to mention
time-consuming. By combining data-driven
insights and carbon accounting technologies
into a dedicated platform for sustainability,
organisations can efficiently quantify their
carbon footprint and create an environment
where they can begin to understand their own
impact.
Utilising data is critical in the journey to
corporate sustainability. By mining and
publishing data-driven insights, businesses can
prove their commitment to carbon-conscious
and sustainable practises to both internal and
external onlookers such as regulatory agencies,
as well as using them to take action. Data
visualisation is a very useful way to evaluate
From the
Republic
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESSES of Ireland
corporate environmental impact, track energy
patterns and emission trends, and importantly
help to make the sustainability business case to
executives. Once an organisation understands
its own impact on the environment, decision
makers can begin to create roadmaps and
programmes with the environment at the heart.
Other sustainability initiatives to
consider
It is not enough for any company to only think
about its own footprint, only through catalysing
global systemic change can we hope to reach
a 1.5 °C future. To deliver unprecedented, timely
environmental action, we need to achieve
new levels of collaboration among businesses,
NGOs, governments and other institutions on a
global scale.
Collaborative initiatives have been rising over
the last few years and are now more important
than ever. Some examples of these include 1
Trillion Trees – pioneered by the World Economic
Forum and key invested partners – seeks to
connect, empower and mobilise a global
reforestation community of millions, unleashing
their potential to act at an unprecedented
scale and speed to ensure the conservation
and restoration of one trillion trees within this
decade.
Additionally, one of the most powerful tools
businesses have to drive change is voice. This
could mean committing publicly to the Paris
Agreement of aligning to a 1.5 °C pathway,
writing open letters to government backing
recovery plans to build a more inclusive,
stronger and more resilient economy or joining
influential climate advocacy events such as
LEAD on Climate 2020. The May event brought
more than 300 companies together digitally and
helped unite them to look at their systems and
agree to build back better after COVID-19.
The environment should be a key stakeholder
for every organisation. Business can be a great
platform for change and encourage employees,
citizens and future generations in taking action
to help make a more sustainable climate.
Businesses need to prepare for their future
under the context of the new normal. Ultimately,
what this means is figuring out how to not just
replace what was there before but to take time
to use innovative technologies to build a better
future that respects the environment and the
future of the planet.
Robin Fisher is Senior Area Vice President -
Growth Markets at Salesforce Emerging Markets
in Dublin, Ireland. He currently oversees the
corporate direction and strategy for Salesforce
in Central/Eastern Europe, CIS, Middle East and
Africa. 
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 37
 SMARTER
WORKPLACES
will help us
RECOVER FASTER
Here are ways in which smart, connected technologies are helping
businesses to safely reopen their doors.  
W
ith an estimated 2.7
billion people (or
80% of the global
workforce) having
been affected by
COVID-19-related lockdowns,
returning to work isn’t an event, it’s
a process of recovery, efficiency
and resilience.  With all cameras in a workspace linked to a
Bradley Wingrave For businesses to survive the
present and thrive into the
future, they will need to adopt
technological advances that will help them work
smarter, safer and more sustainably.  sickness days, employee working hours, and the
 
Recovery
The first step in reopening businesses post-
lockdown is to enter the ‘recovery’ stage,
whereby workplaces and processes adjust to a
‘new normal’. As we progress into the recovery
stage, businesses will need to ensure their
workplaces and office spaces are equipped to
prevent the spread of the virus.
Businesses, government agencies and
commercial property owners need to adhere
to local and national safety guidelines, which
include:
 
• Staff screening;
• Checks for shared spaces;
• Desk occupancy;
• Social distancing; and
• Cleaning status.
Fever scanning technology
The presence of fever is a common symptom
of COVID-19, which is why scanning individuals
for high temperatures is recommended while
reopening workspaces.  safety functions required under COVID-19
Although some businesses have resorted to
using hand-held temperature scanners, these
are not a preferred solution for a number
of reasons, including poor accuracy and
38
inefficiency. A more effective solution is the
use of thermal imaging cameras with facial
recognition that report into a central dashboard
and send real-time alerts if fever is detected in
an individual. 
Different cameras can provide different
functions, such as smaller cameras for access
control and larger cameras for crowd scanning.
cloud-based software dashboard, relevant
staff have access to employee health data
and automated reporting. Along with fever
monitoring, this data can be used to monitor
exit and entry of visitors and employees.
Smart hygiene 
Companies that are reopening are looking for
ways to replace high-touch items with smart,
automated or mechanised alternatives, using
technology to mitigate risk, keep employees
safe and work environments clean. Examples
of this include voice-activated controls for
elevators and doors and smart lighting that can
be controlled remotely or activated by motion
sensors, instead of light switches. 
Efficiency
All stakeholder groups, especially employees,
have increased expectations for physical,
emotional, financial, and digital safety. This
begs the question of how organisations
can improve overall safety without placing
unrealistic burdens on their resources. 
Part of the answer lies in smart buildings and
offices that use connected devices and smart
office applications. Integrated cameras, sensors
and devices can provide critical workplace
protocols, minimising the need for manual,
resource-heavy interventions. 
Some of the functions performed by smart
building technologies include:

• Occupancy monitoring;
• Cleaning management;
• Automated water temperature testing and
flushing;
• Air and ventilation monitoring;
• Temperature monitoring;
• Fire safety;
• Lighting control; and
• Building energy management.
All of these enable businesses to implement
safety measures and procedures with the ease
of automation, empowering staff with accurate
data to better inform decision-making. Another
consideration is that these technologies enable
remote building management, which means that
building managers no longer need to be on site
to monitor and manage various aspects of their
facility for safety and compliance.  enable effective collaboration and task
Resilience
To be truly resilient, a business can’t simply
return to where it left off before the crisis.
Rather, a resilient organisation is one that has
transformed and is moving forward faster than
ever before.
With employees still encouraged to
work remotely where possible, the use of
videoconference and cloud-enabled file-
sharing has become critical. Companies looking
to ensure business continuity in the long term
should find ways to embed these technologies
in workplace processes to empower employees
to work remotely. This may require some degree
of digital transformation in order to seamlessly
integrate cloud-based software and systems.
In some cases, employees may even be
replaced by ‘virtual employees’ with artificial businesses, Bradley is dedicated to leveraging
intelligence (AI).  the power of technology to streamline business
Perhaps, in some ways, the COVID-19
From
SMART WORKSPACES the US
pandemic has forced us to put a foot on the
accelerator when it comes to digital adoption.
Our now virtual lifestyles have changed the
perception of what’s possible, which has
challenged the role of the physical environment
and traditional workplace processes. 
In closing, here are some tips for recovery,
efficiency and resilience: 
 
• Develop a staggered return-to-work plan; 
• Use rigour in determining which functions,
work, and roles need to return to the
physical workplace;
• Develop policies and plans in accordance
with the latest guidance on testing,
safety, and sanitation;
• Support teams working remotely with
seamless technology solutions that
management;
• Anticipate HR scenarios such as family
situations, pay disputes and work refusals; 
• Consider other support that you can
provide to improve the mental and
physical wellbeing of your staff; 
• Establish feedback channels; 
• Understand and comply with legal
requirements; and 
• Assess what supplemental technology
and tools you can use to achieve your
objectives in a compliant, safe, cost-
effective and efficient manner.
Bradley Wingrave is the CEO of Smarter
Technologies. Having run numerous successful
operations in the UK and beyond. 
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 39
 How to LEAD A
HYBRID TEAM in a
post-Covid 19 world
Follow these top HR tips to keep your hybrid teams united.
Dr Penny Pullan
A
s we move into a hybrid situation in
many workplaces, with some people
in the office and others remote, it’s
important to think carefully about how
to get the most out of this new way of
working.
First of all, what exactly do we mean by hybrid
working? This happens where a team has a
mixture of some people working in the office
and others working virtually, either from home or
another location, such as a co-working space
40
or a café. Those in the office might be there full
time or just a few days a month. Indeed, people
might take it in turns to travel to the office,
meaning that one person could work from the
office one day and work remotely the next day.
The key thing to remember is that the team is
split on any given day, with some in the office
and others dispersed geographically.
How did we get to this hybrid
situation?
During the initial surge of the COVID19
pandemic, many organizations went virtual
within just a few days, sending employees home
to work remotely using collaboration tools. This
was full virtual working, which requires a special
style of leadership: virtual leadership, which
is a more facilitative approach than many
leaders employed beforehand. In this style of
leadership, leaders focus on making it easy
for each person to do the best job they can.
It focuses on the people aspects, in order to
get the tasks done. But we’ve not finished with
virtual leadership yet …
There is a major threat to team unity, which
comes with hybrid working. It is very easy to
overlook. This danger lies in the fact that some
people will be in the office, while others remain
working from home, which means that there
is a disparity. Those in the office will be at
an advantage compared to those working at
home. They can glance over to see what others
are doing. They can have conversations with
the advantage of the richness of in-person
communication: seeing body language really
clearly, as well as hearing the full details of
voice tone. This builds rapport and trust in a
very natural way that just happens when people
share the same space, which remote workers
can’t access. This disparity can cause problems
and it can feel as if things are unfair to those
not in the office.
The answer to this threat is to work hard to
create a level playing field. Leaders need to
ensure carefully and deliberately that remote
team members are not forgotten or treated

as second class team members. Let’s take
team meetings as an example. To keep a level
playing field, consider holding them as fully
virtual meetings, with everyone joining from
their laptops or mobile devices over video
conference. The alternative would be to have
those in the office together in a meeting room
and the rest joining remotely. Choosing to go
virtual means that you have levelled the playing
field for everyone. What I find is that, unless
leaders make a positive choice to create a level
playing field, it just doesn’t happen.
Virtual leadership
Remember virtual leadership, where the leader
facilitates every member of the team to do their
best? This becomes even more important in a
hybrid situation. Leading in the hybrid context
is not easy, in fact, it is probably harder than
when everyone was remote! Keep focusing on
each person, remember the level playing field
and work hard to keep things fair and consistent
between all members of your team. It makes
sense to develop your own virtual leadership
and that of your hybrid team members. I’ve
worked on this with teams for more than a
decade, during which I’ve found several aspects
to focus on. These include:
• Yourself as leader: understanding
your skills, preferences, strengths and
weaknesses;  ongoing need for virtual leadership, the focus
• Others in your team: understanding
their skills, preferences, strengths and
weaknesses, and finding ways that your
team can work together effectively,
building on each other’s skills, strengths
and preferences, and covering up for
weaknesses;
• Technology: develop skills to use virtual
technologies effectively, and choose an
appropriate mix of live and asynchronous
(different time) collaboration tools
to support your whole team working
together;
• Leading effective and engaging virtual
meetings;
• Working effectively in between meetings,
using those collaboration tools; and
• Overcoming complications such as
differences across generations, cultures
and languages.
From
HYBRID TEAMS the UK
My next tip concerns team performance. Under
pressure, too many leaders jump into setting
goals and assigning actions. Make sure that
you spend time orienting the team to a clear
team purpose and identity, especially if anyone
new has joined or if your hybrid team is newly
formed. Before diving into goals, build trust
between team members. Ensure that everyone
knows who the other team members are and
what each person has to offer to the team as a
whole. When you set goals, make sure everyone
understands the assumptions you are making
and, as ever with hybrid teams, be really clear.
Don’t forget to have fun
Finally, having fun together as a hybrid team
is a great way to feel united. With a little
creativity, you can design a shared experience
that works for all. One team I know sent out
boxes of treats, nibbles and drinks, each crafted
to suit the preferences and dietary requirements
of each team member. These were marked
clearly: ‘Keep for the team meeting on 5th July’.
When the time came, people opened up their
goody boxes and joined in with their colleagues
on video. This was great fun, showed each team
member that they mattered and turned the
team meeting into a memorable, multi-sensory
experience!
So, remember the level playing field, the
on team performance and having fun together.
My hope is that these tips will help you to
overcome the undoubted challenge of leading
a hybrid team. All the best! 
Dr Penny Pullan is an expert in Virtual
and Hybrid Leadership at Making
Projects Work Ltd. She’s the author of
the bestseller and CEO Today Top 5
book for lockdown, Virtual Leadership:
Practical strategies for getting the
best out of virtual work and virtual
teams at KoganPage. Penny works
with leaders and teams who are
grappling with the challenges of our
virtual and hybrid world, to enhance
collaboration and effectiveness
across dispersed and hybrid teams.
Follow her on Twitter.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 41
How to do
“BACK TO WORK”
Ideas to help businesses support the wellbeing of their staff as they
consider a return to work.
Naomi Thompson
F
or several months now, employees
across many sectors have been away
from the office or work environment
and adjusting to a ‘new normal’ way of
working, whether socially distanced or
remotely.
During this time, employers have had to
consider how to balance productivity and
business performance with the wellbeing of
their employees, with many workers having to
face new challenges of their own. A recent
Benenden Health survey found that nearly one in
five people who are experiencing poor mental
wellbeing said that work was causing the most
stress in their daily lives.
Many employees are also having to balance
non-work pressures, such as juggling caring
commitments and managing financial concerns,
making this a difficult time for both employers
and employees.
42
Now many businesses are starting to consider
a return to work strategy, whether moving back
to operations as they were pre-pandemic or
deciding to retain some of the new ways of
working discovered over the past few months.
With the coronavirus still present in society,
businesses must work together with employees
to ensure safety and wellbeing are priorities in
any return to work strategy.  
Here are some top tips to achieving this,
all of which will also help enhance employee
productivity and subsequent business
performance.
Remain flexible
Throughout this uncertain period, many
employees have been forced to juggle different
areas of their lives, for example through the
closure of workspaces, nurseries and schools.
Those with caring commitments may have
found it difficult to adhere to strict working
hours and as such, maintaining this flexibility
with employees where possible in the longer
term can be a big boost to the productivity and
wellbeing of such individuals.
Don’t rush
For many, returning to a physical place of
work will be easier and more comfortable than
for others. After a challenging few months,
employees may still be anxious about returning
to work – whether holding fears about catching
the virus itself or feeling isolated after being
on furlough leave – so employers should be
understanding to individual circumstances
and recognise that this may be a daunting
transition.
Make sure you talk to your team and consult
them on their ideas for the best way to return
to the workplace. This will help to reduce stress
and anxiety levels and boost wellbeing and
performance at work.
Boost mental wellbeing
During lockdown, many businesses and
individuals have worked hard to protect

and promote positive mental wellbeing and
this should continue even in a more ‘normal’
environment.
It would be easy to forget some of the things
that businesses have been doing during this
period of working to ensure that employees
remain positive and healthy, but these should
be retained and built upon if returning to work
in the coming weeks and months.
For some, the regular video calls, quizzes
and end of week drinks will have been highly
beneficial and vital for morale and wellbeing.
As an employer, you should try to continue this
employee interaction when returning to work
and don’t just assume that everyone will have
their own activities planned with family and
friends. Instead, maybe look to arrange some
outdoor team meet-ups or a team picnic to get
colleagues back together.
Open up
The best solutions for improving mental health
in the workplace are often the simplest.
A recent Benenden Health survey found that
the coronavirus has had a negative impact on
the mental wellbeing of more than a third of
people (35%). Offering a safe and confidential
space for staff to talk is fundamental in helping
address these issues and also contributes to
removing the stigma surrounding mental health
being discussed in the workplace.
Some employees who have really struggled
during this time may also benefit from
professional advice, and employers can help
From
RETURNING TO WORK the UK
provide support by pointing their workers in
the direction of counsellors or mental health
practitioners.
If your workplace has trained Mental Health
First Aiders, make employees aware and
encourage them to utilise what support is
available to them on their return.
Encourage exercise
One of the foundations of good mental
wellbeing is good physical health. Keeping
active can help reduce the likelihood of
depression and anxiety, which can be
exacerbated by current circumstances.
Simply encouraging employees to make the
most of the opportunity to get some fresh air
and exercise each day can be of great benefit
for their mental health and many businesses
have been doing this during lockdown.
For those who may find exercising alone
difficult, consider launching lunchtime sporting
groups for employees. Whether yoga, Pilates,
circuit training or anything else, these activities
are great for our physical and mental wellbeing
and provide an outlet for colleagues to spend
more time with one another.
If you would like any additional advice on how
to help your employees return to work safely in
the wake of the coronavirus, Benenden Health’s
Matron, Cheryl Lythgoe, shares guidance here.
Naomi Thompson is Head of Organisational
Development at Benenden Health in the UK.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 43
 MEANINGFUL
FEEDBACK
is personal
This article focuses on how the practice of feedback in
organisations is often misplaced and misunderstood.
Dr Marina Clark
T
he process of giving and receiving
feedback referred to in this article is
only directed at the verbal feedback
on performance that is contracted
between individuals at work.
The purpose of this practice is to improve
performance. There are several flaws in the
44
Part Two
assumptions held in this well-used management
practice, namely, our ability to give objective
feedback, the issue of rank and power in
feedback, the fallacy that it is ‘just’ feedback on
behaviour (‘don’t take it personally’) and that we
have a mature ability to integrate feedback.
Simultaneously, the absence of feedback
evokes feelings of being invisible or ignored
and one’s performance deemed to be
inconsequential.
Our assumptions about the ability to
give feedback and the purpose of
feedback are flawed
In an insightful article (Why Feedback Fails.
Harvard Business Review, March-April 2019),
Ashley Goodall pronounces three myths that are
associated with feedback. The first myth is that
feedback is the source of truth. The only truth
here is that humans are unreliable assessors
of other humans’ behaviour. Our evaluations
are deeply coloured by our own unconscious
biases. Research shows that feedback is more
distortion than truth. The second myth is that
feedback contains useful information, and that
this information is the magic ingredient that will
accelerate someone’s learning. Neuroscience
research points out that focusing people on
their shortcomings or gaps impairs learning. The
third myth is that our feedback will bring out
excellence in another person. The underlying
assumption here is that great performance is
universal, analysable and describable, and that,
once defined, it can be transferred from one
person to another.
People are reticent to give
feedback, for good reason
In practice, individuals find it difficult to simply
hear feedback as an individual response to
their work, whether it is corrective or positive
feedback. The ability to give corrective
feedback is also difficult for many, as there is
the constant fear of harming relationships at

work. Direct feedback is further hampered by
the influence of power distance between roles,
in fear of the possible negative decisions that
may influence reward and the psychological
safety of the relationship. The obstacles
to receiving and giving feedback across
different race, gender and other social identity
boundaries, should not be underestimated.
Feedback is not just an observation
of behaviour. It is a judgement
Many training programmes are directed at
developing the ability to give objective and
unambiguous feedback. Despite the good intent
of the trained person providing feedback, the
feedback itself is often not felt as an objective
or helpful assessment of behaviour by the
receiver of the feedback. The reason is that
the assessment feels more like an opinion,
which reflects a judgement on how the person
and performance is experienced, how an
individual could improve to be better. This
judgement amplifies the existing performance
as well as survival anxiety that is prevalent in
organisations.
Why is that? Instead of feedback being seen
as an objective assessment against a set of
key performance indicators, it becomes more
complex and experienced as a judgement
directed at the identity of the individual and
their position in the team. In trying to integrate
the feedback received, the individual must work
through the projections of others and their own
introjections that occur during the feedback
process. (This is explored Part Three.)
On a very personal level, feedback is often
internally interpreted as a subjective judgement
of the value of their work, and their membership
and belonging to the team. The psychological
safety which we all need for performance, is
paradoxically threatened by the very practice of
feedback that tries to boost performance.
Feedback can be described as a
socially constructed phenomenon
that is highly subjective, filled with
interpretation and judgement
It is the responsibility of People Management
consultants to ensure organisational
understanding of the purpose of feedback. This
is to build strong relationships that will enable
From
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FEEDBACK Africa
the conversion of their talents into meaningful
work.
In a systems thinking paradigm, work could
be described as an outcome of the dynamic
interplay within a network of relationships.
Simply put, work happens through relationships.
The individual’s effort can only be delivered
and appreciated through the interplay
of relationships. It is the quality of these
relationships that enables and disables
performance.
Feedback is a dynamic process with
the purpose to engage relationships
and keep them open
Feedback is the mechanism to keep work
relationships engaged and open to each other,
to allow for the flow of information, meaning,
energy and ideas. The feedback provided
cannot be positioned as an objective truth,
as our own humanness will not allow that. The
feedback cannot be used as a mechanism to
‘fix’ someone or to improve their performance
towards excellence.
Systemically, feedback helps the organisation
as a system to self-regulate, to regroup
around viable ideas and to enable the flow of
information as energy. Feedback as mechanism
most strongly assists with clearing relational
obstacles in this necessary energy flow, rather
than seen as a mechanism to directly control
and improve performance.
Recommendations
Therefore, feedback should be provided with
diplomacy and tact, while working respectfully
with the soul and spirit of colleagues. The
person is not an object to be fixed. Feedback
is always subjective and relational. Feedback
is an expression of the relationship amongst
colleagues, and with the organisation. With
this understanding of the purpose of feedback,
the quality of relationships with each other,
and with their organisation may increase.
This represents self-regulation on a personal,
interpersonal and organisational level.
Dr Marina Clark is a Psychologist and
Organisation Development Consultant.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 45
Manage with
MENOPAUSE in mind
Managing team members who are dealing with or managing their
menopause symptoms takes empathy.
Kate Usher
M
enopause is not a choice. It is
a fact of life that every woman
will experience. How and when
is a genetic lottery. The average
age that women will experience
symptoms is between 45 and 55, the average
duration is between four and eight years,
however 10 years is not uncommon. To be clear
that is every day and every night of those
years, there are no holidays or away days. It is
an endurance event. A woman’s Menopause
can last for over 26%¹ of her career. There is
a list of 40 symptoms, of which women can
experience one or many, ranging from mildly
annoying to completely debilitating. They vary
in nature and severity over the duration too.
Each woman’s experience is as unique as their
fingerprint.
46
This degree of variability makes the
Menopause complex to manage. If you then
add the social discomfort and its taboo status,
it becomes one of those thorny issues that many
would rather not discuss for fear of saying the
wrong thing. Yet we must.
There are more women in the workforce than
there have ever been and, importantly, one in
three hold managerial positions². Women, just
like men, are at their most able, experienced
and valuable to the organisation as they reach
their mid 40s. Losing employees at this stage of
their career, whatever their pay grade, is costly
and potentially damaging.
Preparation
Preparation is key to most discussions in the

workplace and the Menopause is no different.
To do this successfully, there needs to be
a recognition of a multi-tiered approach;
organisational, managerial and personal. This
approach is nonexclusive and incorporates
everyone from the post room to the board room.
Firstly, the most important consideration in
managing women during Menopause is that
they wish to not only maintain their careers but
also their financial position. Women are vested
in the organisation and want to keep achieving.
Ambition is not tethered to declining hormones.
Normalising this phase of women’s lives
has to be a priority. General education and
awareness remove the stigma and discomfort
in discussing this subject, while engendering
empathy. This is the same for both managers
and team members. Organisations in Africa
have considerable experience in successfully
managing subjects in this way. Most have
invested in clear and simple education around
HIV and Aids.
Normalisation makes this process easier for
all involved. Women feel more confident asking
for support so that they can continue with their
careers. For some that means maintaining their
trajectory to the board room.
Managers must be supported. They cannot be
expected to speak on behalf of their employers
with little or no information. Menopause policies
or guidelines need to be created, outlining
what adjustments can be offered to female
employees, and under which circumstances. For
many their social discomfort will drive a need
to accelerate the process, or potentially to skip
or dismiss the conversation completely. This is
not acceptable. Part of the managerial role is
to have conversations of this type. For some,
empathetic yet professional conversations do
not come naturally, and so training needs to be
provided. Managers are not impervious to the
stress of these situations.
Unconscious bias in this area is common. This
is complex, uncomfortable and has historical
roots. It often sits just beneath the surface and
is not always immediately discernible. It must be
recognised and challenged. Women are now an
established and increasingly powerful tranche
of the workforce.
Adjustments
Flexibility will be needed for many to enable
them to manage symptoms including
depression, anxiety and insomnia. Prior to
Covid-19 many employers were suspicious
of flexible working. The fears and prejudice
surrounding it has largely been dissipated. HR
From
MANAGEMENT the UK
departments are becoming increasingly active in
supporting a healthy work/life balance.
Other common adjustments are places to
which to retreat, to manage mood swings and
anxiety. Comprehensive and private washing
and sanitary facilities, plus ready access
to sanitary ware and clean uniforms where
applicable, are recommended.
The emotional and physical impact of
Menopause is not to be underestimated, too.
Visible and accessible coaching and counselling
facilities are a positive signal that that this is a
female and second phase friendly workplace.
This is not a one-stop-shop
This level of communication and provision, both
at an organisational and individual level, needs
to be approached as an evolving process.
Organisationally this entails a continuous cycle
of awareness,
Menopause needs to be included in the
Employee Value Proposition (EVP), onboarding
process, annual compliance modules and
management and fast-track training.
Due to the duration of this phase of a woman’s
life, and the fact that the symptoms and severity
can and do change, frequent and flexible
reviews need to be arranged.
Whilst empathy is an important part of this,
women too need to be reasonable and meet
their employers halfway. They will be better
equipped to do this through the awareness
programmes organisations can provide. It is a
thoroughly worthwhile investment beneficial to
employer and employee alike. They can help
women retain accountability for their careers,
even if Menopausal symptoms mean they require
temporary adjustments.
Menopause is no longer something for women
to manage stoically. It is something for us all to
understand and be open to discuss. Employers
need to recognise the impact of Menopause on
their female workforce. Those who do will be
able to recruit and retain the best talent at a
time when this will be more critical than ever.
References
¹ Assuming a career spans from age 22 to 60
the State Pension age in SA.
² http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=11375.
Kate Usher is a highly experienced Menopause
and Relationships Coach in London, UK. She is
the author of Your Second Phase: Reclaiming
work and relationships during and after
Menopause. 
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 47
 REVALUING
EMPLOYEES
post-Covid-19
Use these metrics to reset the value of your employees.
Dr Mark Bussin
C
ovid-19 proved to be a hurdle greater
than no other, leaving businesses
to rebuild what was knocked
down, to stabilise what they had
built and to build something new
to achieve growth. A study by the Economic
Research Institute (ERI) found that the majority
of businesses have refrained from making
workforce or compensation changes. The
expectation and hope is that the compensation
growth rate will not be appended by a minus
sign despite the expectation of a decrease in
growth. However, businesses should grab the
opportunity to reset the value of employees and
generate a greater investment in them.
Regardless of all the negative implications
of Covid-19, its after-effect has left businesses
with free rein in reshuffling the way the
workforce works. Leadership must thus reinvent
the wheel to attend to its employees who are
the backbone of business and achieve growth
and sustainability for their empire.
48
Daniela Christos
Current HR standing compared to
where we want to be
In order to reset the value of employees, it is
important to establish where we are now in
relation to where we would like to be so that we
can identify and apply the necessary changes.
Current standing: Forgetting about
return on investment (ROI)
Employees are often identified as critical
success factors to businesses, and most
organisational policies and frameworks are
directed toward ensuring the well-being and
the success of these individuals. A mistake that
businesses often make is allocating budgets
to increasing the value of these employees
but overlooking the value created by the
activity. Allocating budgets is done purely for
the purpose of doing so, rather than for the
outcome. Adequate metrics to measure the
value of employees and their ROI are often

absent.
Where we want to be: Introducing
HR metrics
Businesses must quantify employee costs and
employee performance to establish the ROI.
Thus, to address this problem in a post-Covid-19
world, we need to do the following:
1. Develop HR metrics to value employees;
2. Focus on ROI regarding HR initiatives
(training, turnover, employee total
rewards, cost of labour, etc.) – These
should be measured financially and
according to goals; and
3. Allow shareholders to be in the know
when it comes to the ROI of employees.
This requires transparency from business,
with reporting on metrics. Metrics expand
engagement of stakeholders and ease the
decision-making processes for businesses.
Step-by-step guide to valuing
employees
The World Economic Forum, in collaboration
with Willis Towers Watson provides seven useful
principles to guide us in resetting the value of
employees.
Principle 1: From profit to purpose
Businesses currently focus on profit by
attempting to generate value for a constricted
cluster of stakeholders. Rather, business should
focus on dispersing value among diverse group
members such as employees and a larger array
of stakeholders.
Principle 2: From corporate policy
to social responsibility
Business tends to fixate on compliance with
its code of conduct within the walls of the
workplace although these values should not be
limited to location and all stakeholders should
exercise these values within the community.
Principle 3: From a stand-alone
entity to an ecosystem
Businesses often practise as stand-alone
entities and often fail to consider themselves
as part of a larger eco-system. They thus
From
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VALUABLE EMPLOYEES Africa
have a larger responsibility to adhere to the
moral code of the larger society and broader
business, and to carry out their Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR).
Principle 4: From fixed roles to
empowering employees
Many businesses tend to have fixed roles for
employees. These roles stipulate what tasks
the incumbent will perform when they enter
the organisation, often tying the employee
down to the fixed role. However, work should
be more meaningful and allow employees to
exercise their talents. Thus, employees should
be allowed to perform duties outside of their
job description and reduce routine work.
Principle 5: From the workforce as
an expense to the workforce as an
asset
Businesses often see employees as an expense
and attempt to reduce this expense. They may
thus neglect the well-being of the employee
and attempt to minimise employee costs. This
may be unhelpful to the organisation as the
employee will then reduce their value to the
organisation by reducing their engagement,
motivation or performance. It is thus best for
businesses to view employees as an asset,
which they may invest in and reap greater
return thereafter.
Principle 6: From looking at past
financial metrics to looking
toward future metrics
A norm in analysing business success is to
review previous financial performance. This
may not be constructive and it is encouraged
for businesses to rather look toward the future
for potential and assess where value can be
created or increased.
Principle 7: From quarterly to
generational
Although a short-term view of performance
may be tempting by conducting quarterly
reviews, it is better to focus on a long-term
view that allows the business to see whether,
for example, training has been successful or
whether an employee is well-suited in their job
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 49

role, rather than making a drastic decision that
didn’t allow the employee to prosper in such a
short time period.
Revaluing employees post-
Covid-19
1. Define the cost of labour
With Covid-19 having reshuffled the workplace,
the way employees function is often different to
how they did before. Many permanent, on-site
employees have now become contractual or
remote workers. It is important to match the
input of each employee, according to their
new-found way of work. Which temporary
employee contributes most to the business?
Which remote employee is best at increasing
team morale? Assess these employees’ cost to
company in relation to their job type.
2. Re-define ROI
In order to attach a value to employee, the best
way to move forward is with a grading system.
Grades may be determined by matching an
employee to a job profile. Once the grade is
determined, employees should be assessed
for their value regarding ROI. For instance,
employees with skills of more importance to the
business, with training, and other such factors
should be valued higher, whereas employees
that lack the necessary skills for success should
be valued lower. Using measurable objectives,
the business will be able to work out the ROI for
each employee and attach a value to them.
3. Decide what to measure or
implement holistic metrics
There are many ways to assess an employee’s
performance. However, as there are so many
different types of performance, it is important
50
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VALUABLE EMPLOYEES Africa
to measure an employee’s performance in each
performance realm. For example, Employee X
may be quick to produce quality work whilst
Employee Y is not. However, Employee X is as
successful as they are because Employee Y has
dedicated all their time to help train Employee
X. Thus, these are two different performance
measures, namely, output and organisational
citizenship behaviour.
As such, employees should be measured on
all different types of performance. Businesses
should determine what type of performance is
most significant to them and value employees
as per how they score on the desired measure.
Otherwise, businesses should create a holistic
measure where each employee is scored on
each type of performance, create a list in
descending order of holistic performance, and
value employees accordingly.
Conclusion
In a post-Covid-19 world, it is up to leadership
to generate growth by attending to previous
business problems. The long and the short of it
is that metrics are missing which can ease up
the valuation of talent. When these metrics are
implemented, employee value may be assessed
as per their cost of labour, ROI and their
performance.
Dr Mark Bussin is the Executive Chairperson
at 21st Century Pay Solutions Group, a
Professional at UJ, Professor Extraordinaire
at NWU, Chairperson and Member of various
boards and remuneration committees, and
a former Commissioner in the Office of the
Presidency. Daniela Christos is a Candidate
HR Practitioner/Consultant at 21st Century Pay
Solutions Group.
Make time
to unwind.

HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 51

HOW OLD IS TOO
OLD for a co-pilot
to fly?
Defence to a dismissal based on age in terms of s187(2)(b) of the
Labour Relations Act, 66 OF 1995.
T
he Labour Appeal Court, in Brian Joffe
t/a J Air v CCMA and Others (2018)
29 SALLR 2 (LAC), considered the
following important issues:
(a) In terms of s187(2)(b) of the LRA,
a dismissal based on age is fair if an employee
has reached either the normal or agreed
retirement age for people employed in that
capacity. With reference to Rubin Sportswear v
SACTWU and Others [2004] 10 BLLR 986 (LAC),
what is the test applied by the Labour Appeal
Court in casu when giving meaning to the term
‘normal’ so appearing in the said statutory
defence?
Overview
This appeal concerned the normal retirement
age for a co-pilot of an aircraft engaged
in international commercial air transport
operations.
52
Dr Brian van Zyl
Pertinent facts of the case
The appellant was a local and international
commercial air transport operator. The third
respondent (‘Harrison’) had been employed
by the appellant as a co-pilot. The chief pilot
was Mr David Pratt (‘Pratt’). The latter had
commenced his employment with the appellant
on 1 June 2005 and the former on 13 June 2005.
They both turned 60 during 2015. Harrison
turned 60 on 23 January 2015 and Pratt on
29 May 2015. Their employment was subject
to the South African Civil Aviation Regulations
(‘SACAR’).
Pratt and Harrison had been the only pilots
in the appellant’s employ. The fact that they
turned 60 in the same year had created a
dilemma for the appellant’s business because of
the provisions of SACAR.
In January 2014, Pratt had informed Harrison
that the latter’s licence would not be renewed

in 2015 as the appellant was thinking of
employing someone else.
During 2015, Harrison had met with the
appellant and suggested that the latter use a
Pick ‘n Pay pilot as Pick ‘n Pay had a pool of
pilots. If implemented, the suggestion would
entail that they rotate. One of them (Pratt or
Harrison) would have always flown with one of
the pool pilots. The appellant had intimated
that he would discuss the suggestion with Pratt.
This had never been done.
When Harrison found out that his suggestion
had not been discussed with Pick ‘n Pay’s
chief pilot, he sent an email to the appellant
informing him that Pratt had not discussed his
suggestion with Pick ‘n Pay’s chief pilot. The
appellant thanked him for bringing it to his
attention and requested Harrison to leave it with
him to deal with. Nothing happened. Harrison
kept asking Pratt whether the appellant had
made up his mind but was unable to get a clear
answer.
On 4 May 2015, Harrison had a meeting with
Pratt. Pratt informed him that the appellant had
employed another pilot on 1 May 2015 and that
his (Harrison’s) last day in the appellant’s employ
would be on 31 July 2015. The new pilot would
officially commence his duties on 1 June 2015.
The appellant had a scheme in place in terms
of which the two pilots were each paid 25c
for every kilometre flown. Harrison received his
share in the form of a lump sum payment of
R220 000.
Harrison was dissatisfied with the manner
in which his services were terminated and
referred the dispute to the CCMA. Conciliation
failed and he had then referred the dispute to
arbitration. He characterised the dispute as a
‘substantially and procedurally unfair dismissal
related to operational requirements’.
Findings of the Labour Appeal
Court
Musi JA (Jappie and Savage AJJA concurring)
It is common cause that the parties had not
agreed on a retirement age. The appellant
also had not had a normal retirement age for
its pilots. The appellant had only relied on the
provisions of the regulation for his contention
that 60 years was the normal retirement age.
SACAR defines a ‘co-pilot’ as follows:
‘co-pilot means a licensed, type-rated pilot
required by these regulations to serve in any
piloting capacity other than as PIC [pilot-in-
command], but excluding a pilot who is on
board the aircraft for the purpose of receiving
flight instruction.’
A pilot-in-command (‘PIC’) is defined as ‘the
pilot designated by the operator as being in
From
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LABOUR LAW Africa
command and charged with the safe conduct
of a flight, without regard to whether or not
he or she is manipulating the controls’. It was
common cause that Pratt had been the PIC.
In order to properly grasp what SACAR
regulates, one had to discern what it says
in order to understand what it does not say.
It says, firstly, that a pilot who has attained
the age of 60 years may act as a pilot of an
aircraft engaged in international commercial air
transport operations if he or she is a member of
a multi-pilot crew and is the only member of the
multi-pilot crew who has attained the age of
60. Secondly, a pilot who has attained the age
of 60 may act as a pilot of an aircraft engaged
in international commercial air transport
operations where the relevant authority of a
foreign state has given permission for that
pilot to be a member of the aircraft flight crew
notwithstanding his or her age.
SACAR does not prohibit a pilot who has
attained the age of 60 to fly an aircraft
engaged in international commercial transport
operations. They permit such pilot to be a
member of a multi-pilot crew under certain
conditions. The conditions are, firstly, that
the other pilot must be younger than 60 and,
secondly, irrespective of the age of the second
pilot, the pilot who is above the age of 60
may be part of a multi-pilot flight crew if the
relevant authority of a foreign state has given
permission for the pilot to be a crew member.
Foreign authority is defined, in SACAR, as
‘the authority of a foreign state that issues
the air operator certificate and oversees the
operations of its air operators’.
The argument that the normal retirement age
for a co-pilot is, in terms of SACAR, 60 years
is absurd. This is so because it would mean
that a PIC who has more responsibilities and is
responsible for the safe conduct of a flight may
retire at 65 whereas a co-pilot, who generally
has lesser responsibilities, should retire at the
age of 60. In the Labour Appeal Court’s view,
SACAR does not contain a normal retirement
age for a co-pilot. At best, they set conditions
for a co-pilot to meet before such pilot can
be engaged in international commercial air
transport operations. The Labour Appeal Court
stated that the conditions only applied to a
copilot engaged in international commercial air
transport operations and not to a pilot engaged
in local commercial air transport operations.
The appeal was dismissed with costs.
Dr Brian van Zyl is the Presenter of the South
African Labour Law Report Seminars, www.sallr.co.za.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 53

Bosses, CUT WORKING
MOMS some SLACK
Male managers will have to change how they manage employees who
M
are working moms.
y experience of
working moms is that
they’re extremely
committed to their
jobs. They know that
historically, women have had to
work harder, relatively speaking,
than men in order to get the same
recognition. They also know that
Alan Hosking men with the same qualifications
and experience get paid more
than they do. So, when it comes to their jobs,
they don’t mess around. They take their jobs
seriously.
Apart from their commitments at work, they
can never separate themselves from their
commitments at home – if married, as a wife
and partner, as a mother, as a home manager
and so on. If a single mom, they have even
more pressure to get children sorted on their
own, with no-one to share the parenting
responsibilities with.
Pre-Covid-19, bosses didn’t really care much
for a working woman’s plight. They expected
them to come to work, do their jobs and deliver
the goods. After all, isn’t that what they got
paid to do?
But in a post-Covid-19 world, bosses are going
to have to change their views and treatment of
working mothers. They’re going to have to be
a lot more accepting, understanding and, yes,
more empathetic. Now, if there’s something
that drives your common or garden male /
executive/manager/team leader up the wall,
it’s being told to be empathetic – you know, all
touchy feely.
Well, if executives/managers/team leaders
think that the war for talent is over, I’ve got
news for you. Believe me, it’s only started!
Watch carefully what happens as companies
start getting back up to speed again. They’re all
going to be looking for the very best talent they
can lay their hands on to help them fly - and fly
a lot higher than they previously did so that they
can make up for five lost months of production
and revenue generation.
The smart companies are going to put out
their feelers in the market place and source
the best talent in town. And then they’re going
to make them offers they can’t refuse. I’m not
talking only of financial offers. That may be part
54
From
WELLNESS South
Africa
of it, but they’re going to offer them working
conditions that will make those working moms
jump at the opportunity and jump ship from
your lousy team/company with its petty minded
company culture, micromanagement approach
and “suck it up or else” attitude.
And, in a flash, they’ll be gone, leaving you
spinning in their Jetstream.
So, if you think things are going to just go
back to normal again and you can expect your
female staff members to continue as before,
forget it.
Bosses, be prepared to make some serious
changes – in yourself. Be prepared to see your
staff differently, treat them differently (read
better, more empathetically), and you will have
a better chance of retaining them and keeping
them engaged.
Most managers are wise to the fact that
they’re expected to be flexible from here on
out. But they don’t necessarily know what that
means in the real world. They therefore don’t
translate that flexibility into what they must
actually do or not do.
If you want to introduce flexibility into your
management practices, start questioning
every decision, answer or response you give
to a situation or request by your female staff
members. If you find yourself wanting to say,
“No,” to some or other request, ask yourself
privately and quickly, “Is that REALLY the right
response?”
That doesn’t mean you become a walkover,
agreeing to every request. It does however
mean that you start thinking with a more longer
term mindset. If you want to keep staff members
for the long term, you’ve got to treat them in a
way that makes them want to stay for the long
term.
A good question for a male manager to ask
himself is, “How would my wife respond if I
treated her like I treat my female employees?” It
can all be summed up in two words: be nice!
Alan Hosking is the Publisher of HR Future
magazine, www.hrfuture.net. He helps leaders
acquire new leadership skills to lead into the
future, and is an age management and self-
mastery coach to senior executives. Alan is the
author of best seller What nobody tells a new
father, available at hrfuture.net.
 NEX T GE N
AR TI F ICIAL I N TELLIGENC E

NEX T G E NER A TIO N

A R TI F I C I A L I N TELLIG EN CE

AI THAT LEARNS 
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Digitise Expertise
1. Identify bottlenecks of top Decision
Makers/Experts
2. Create "Virtual Experts"
3. Set Decision Makers free to create REAL value
for the company
Access Expertise
1. Have your Experts available to the entire
workforce
2. Create efficiencies without risk trade-off
3. Experts available 24/7/365
Optimise Expertise
1. Don't replace existing Expertise
2. Process efficient, quick, real-time decisions
as if they were all analysed by the Expert
3. Increase productivity, increase customer
satisfaction and save money

Didyou
Did youknow?
know?
Your Human Experts often
Your HumanneedExperts
to override existing
will typically rulesthe
"break forrule"?
sound reasons.
Their instinct and
For example: Theyexperience
would know'tells'
thatthem what
a senior toliving
lady do ininthe interests of
a retirement the company
home whenknown
might not have faced she
withneeded
low data situations.
to FICA her account.
The Human Expert would typically not have closed her account, as they would've looked at certain bits of info on the account and used
FOR A NO-OBLIGATIONS,
their ethics/empathy STRATEGIC
to intuitively analyse the scenarioCONVERSATION TO FIND
and see what the problem OUT
is likely to HOW
be, andYOU CANnot
therefore SCALE
close the account.
Whereas, the typical cold "systemUPapproach" would have
YOUR HUMAN been to close
EXPERTS, the account as it was flagged as "Not FICA'd".
CONTACT:
This is what could blow up on social media and create a PR nightmare as well as a major loss in clients for the company.
Kelsey Hosking kelsey@hrfuture.net 011 782 3719

Get in touch: HR Future kelsey@hrfuture.net 011 782 3719

Authorised resellers of TOM (Tacit Object Modeller) by Merlynn Intelligence Technologies.
HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 55
 Take care of
your body.

HR FUTURE · SEPTEMBER 2020 57

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