If there is one thing that everyone agrees on, it’s that the new normal will be the golden era of “hybrid working”: a combination of remote and office-based work that can meet varied needs from both employees and employers.

However, that’s where the agreement ends. Companies are asking: what do we need to do to make hybrid working work? What’s more important – equipment or policy? And will our company culture allow it?

Hybrid working is not a transition back to pre-COVID norms. It’s a new opportunity that can help organisations leverage the best of both worlds.

What we’ve found is that hybrid working is different from either remote working or “normal” office life, in terms of technology, collaboration, human capability and workspace. But with some careful planning, smart use of technology and the adoption of effective collaboration solutions, the hybrid working model may truly represent a new and improved future of work. Here are five things to consider.

1. Employees need tools that are purpose-built for hybrid working. When the crisis first hit, organisations scrambled to provide remote working technologies using whatever tools were available at the time, often with jury-rigged solutions that originally assumed to be temporary. Effective long-term hybrid working will require purpose-built, ultra-portable devices that allow employees to work anywhere. Features such as smart stand-by and long battery power will become much more important, because these features allow easy transitions between home, office, and everywhere in between.

In particular, hybrid working means more multitasking. A PC alone has limited multitasking capability, so it will be important to free up its resources for uninterrupted productive work, while personal assistant devices such as Lenovo’s ThinkSmart View handle collaborative and administrative aspects.

2. Office environments play a key role in creating connections with the dispersed workforce: Having an office space that is optimised for a hybrid working model is important to facilitate a dispersed workforce. When colleagues in an office huddle room can quickly and securely dial in a remote teammate, silo thinking is reduced. Devices such as the ThinkSmart Hub facilitate this kind of safe, collaborative environment.

Effective long-term hybrid working will require purpose-built, ultra-portable devices that allow employees to work anywhere.

3. Up-front planning is worth the extra effort: The dynamic pandemic situation, coupled with having a fleet of devices connected within and outside of your network using various applications and devices, have made IT environments a lot more complex. It can save headaches later on to engage an external IT service provider at an early stage. The right partner can help deploy devices, configure workspaces, and design a centralised IT management system. This frees up internal resources to focus on more strategic matters.

4. Ad hoc, personal communication is just as important as official communication: When teams don’t meet in person, many organisations have turned to official “town hall” meetings or mass emails to keep colleagues informed.

However, close integration of teams happens just as much through informal, ad hoc discussions as through official channels. Is your office set up to ensure these can happen on the fly? Both working practices and technology need to be carefully arranged to meet this need.

5. Hybrid working is most effective when corporate policy is updated to match the reality: Hybrid teams are different from fully remote teams and require different policies. It is important to establish IT and HR policies that make it clear how and where employees are allowed to work and which digital tools and equipment will be provided, as well as working hours, ground rules, and expectations. Employees will more easily thrive in a hybrid working environment when they have access to training resources on how to use new tools, and when cybersecurity hygiene is properly implemented.

The new normal will be the golden era of “hybrid working”: a combination of remote and office-based work that can meet varied needs from both employees and employers.

Hybrid working is not a transition back to pre-COVID norms. It’s a new opportunity that can help organisations leverage the best of both worlds. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and some restructuring may be necessary, finding the right balance can help maximise productivity, employee satisfaction, and corporate success.

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Australia was previously a huge manufacturer of a huge range of products that are now sourced offshore, but the pandemic has shone a stark light on the vulnerable position our reliance on overseas manufacturers leaves us in. The Australian Government has pledged to re-evaluate supply chains and put a greater focus on niche manufacturing within the country as well as investing $1.5 billion. The industry is responding by embracing innovation and increasing their ability to compete in a global market. This will provide more jobs for Australians, in addition to the 1.3 million the industry already employs.

With Australia’s reignited manufacturing industry set to boom, with more jobs, more innovation and more digitalisation, we need to be fully prepared to compete in a global market. The required digital capabilities will be essential for both existing and prospective employees to ensure we can take full advantage of the local sector’s anticipated growth.

As the Australian manufacturing industry prepares itself to fill essential skills gaps left by employee turnover, ageing workforces and halted migration, young people are in a great position to be able to fill the growing number of roles available to find secure employment. Whilst innovation is becoming a top priority and the utilisation of digital tools and technologies will become commonplace, future talent and existing workers will need transferable digital skills to keep up with the pace of change.

According to PwC, in the next 15 years, 33 per cent of manufacturing jobs will become augmented by technology, requiring a balance of human and machine resources. Whilst 30 per cent of jobs (640,000 approximately) will become fully automated.

People should be a priority for manufacturing businesses and upskilling them must be a priority, too. Here are some ways that a manufacturing company can invest in its people and future proof its business.

1. Provide learning opportunities for employees so they can grow

People are an organisation’s greatest asset and investing in learning and development opportunities for them has many benefits. By enabling them to learn new skills and become proficient on new systems, they are enabled to grow, gain confidence in their newfound skills, and potentially providing them with opportunities to move up into more senior roles, or into different areas in the business.

Throughout this process, employee engagement should be driven using recognition badges and leadership boards. These social reward structures also offer an opportunity to track employee engagement and performance.

Microlearning offers learners with limited free time the opportunity to upskill in manageable, shorter modules which help to increase knowledge transfer and engagement and increase development speed.

2. Choose easily accessible online training platforms

Many businesses have had to shift to a more digital environment, in all departments from operations, to sales, and distribution. In many instances, this has meant forgoing the old paper-based systems and having to quickly train their employees to use the company’s digitally enabled ERP systems more effectively. For some employees this may be the first time they are using an ERP system, so it is important to have easily accessible online training platforms that enable them to learn, not only the basics of how to use the ERP software, but also how to gain the most from the individual modules that are relevant to their specific area of focus.

3. Personalise your employee’s learning experiences

Today, everything from recommended restaurants on food delivery apps, to online shopping, or suggestions on what to watch via streaming services are all driven by AI. These recommendations are based on past choices, which are an indication of previous interest. Therefore e-learning experiences be personalised as well. An ERP solution provider should run training on a platform that offers personalised learning experiences, across all devices with modules that are less focused on heavy theory, and rather infused with useful practical applications, curated content, and microlearning assets. The platform should be able to identify each user’s particular area of interest and make recommendations of courses the user might be interested in enrolling in, in the future.

Employee engagement should be driven using recognition badges and leadership boards. These social reward structures also offer an opportunity to track employee engagement and performance.

4. Choose micro-learning to help time-constrained employees to study

Let’s be honest, many people battle to find the time to complete additional studies, and the longer and more intense the course, the more difficult it becomes to remain engaged and prioritise that required time. Microlearning offers learners with limited free time the opportunity to upskill in manageable, shorter modules which help to increase knowledge transfer and engagement and increase development speed. Because the modules are smaller, they often cost less which helps to reduce training costs for an organisation while still ensuring their employees are getting valuable learning transfer. A recent LinkedIn Learning survey recently showed that 58 per cent of employees prefer opportunities that allow learning at their own pace.

The future of work in the Australian manufacturing sector will be vastly different from what we know today, but it will offer unique rewards, opportunities, and challenges for those who want secure employment in an essential industry. By upskilling our manufacturing workforce with digital skills and investing in their learning and development, people will be able to find their feet in a radically new workforce as digitalisation becomes an inescapable reality.

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The past year has been a torrid one for many businesses – and HR professionals have been in the thick of it. They have helped employers implement remote working policies and kept communication channels open at a time of unprecedented disruption and uncertainty. And, as the economic downturn has continued to bite, they have tackled the difficult task of letting good people go.

Great employee engagement makes tough assignments like these easier. It can also boost productivity and improve morale across an organisation. Both will be critical for Australian enterprises this year as they collectively tackle the challenge of rebuilding markets and profitability in the wake of the COVID downturn.

There is no hard-and-fast definition of “skill gap”; however, it can be described as deficiencies in performance caused by lack of prowess.

There is plenty of work to do. Australia’s GDP plunged a record 7 per cent in the June quarter of 2020 and although it is since rebounded, Australia’s Reserve Bank governor has warned businesses and individuals to expect an “uneven and drawn out” recovery.

Data analytics – the process of collecting and analysing raw data to produce conclusions and actionable insights – can be a valuable tool for HR departments as they galvanise employees for the battle and keep them focused on growing revenue and profitability.

Here are a few ways local HR departments can put analytics to use.

Make it easy for employees to seek help
Regardless of the touchpoint used, employees should be able to raise requests easily. Ensure your help forms are comprehensive, concise, and well-organised to collect all necessary information from employees so that service reps can provide speedy, satisfactory resolutions. Review the number of back-and-forth conversations between service reps and employees to understand if your help forms are truly helpful. Too many back-and-forth conversations indicate that your support forms do not collect necessary information, so your service reps have to reach out to employees several times.

Data analytics – the process of collecting and analysing raw data to produce conclusions and actionable insights – can be a valuable tool for HR departments as they galvanise employees for the battle and keep them focused on growing revenue and profitability.

Use first contact to keep employees informed
For employees, nothing is worse than raising a request and waiting endlessly for it to be resolved. One way to manage employee expectations is to set them on first contact, providing clear and realistic deadlines for resolution—especially when the request cannot be resolved on first contact. This will help employees prioritise and schedule their activities, and ensure they remain productive even as they wait for their requests to be completed. Use AI-enabled predictions to understand the time taken to complete requests and convey projected turnaround times to your employees.

Empower employees with effective self-service options
According to Gartner, 70 per cent of users prefer self-service technical support to working with a support rep. Unfortunately, only nine percent of users are able to resolve their issues using self-service. Even so, do not hesitate to invest time and money in creating self-service options for employees—it empowers employees to resolve their own issues and cuts down your workload. Once you’ve created enough self-service manuals, be sure to evaluate them periodically to ensure they’re effective and efficient.

Identify and troubleshoot process bottlenecks
Process bottlenecks are the silent killers of productivity. Analyse your processes thoroughly and see if requests are getting held up in the pipeline or bouncing among HR staff due to excessive workload, lack of skill, high demand of services, or other discernible factors such as unavailability of resources. With the issues identified, take steps to resolve them at the earliest.

Promote healthy competition within the team
Always encourage HR personnel to go the extra mile and provide personalised solutions to employees. Create dashboards to track HR performance and foster a healthy spirit of competition. Provide non-monetary rewards, send out thank-you emails, set up brainstorming sessions, create team-based activities, and encourage your staff to resolve employee problems as a team when the situation calls for it. Reward star performers and encourage the others to be more creative and innovative in their roles.

Identify skill gaps early on and train staff to close those gaps
There is no hard-and-fast definition of “skill gap”; however, it can be described as deficiencies in performance caused by lack of prowess. So how do you identify skill gaps? Build key performance indicators to determine how your HR staff contribute to your team or the business. Use employee reviews, 360-degree performance evaluations, peer observations, and performance benchmarks to identify star performers and those who need training. Then provide training to help your staff improve their skill set.

Regardless of the touchpoint used, employees should be able to raise requests easily. Ensure your help forms are comprehensive, concise, and well-organised to collect all necessary information from employees so that service reps can provide speedy, satisfactory resolutions.

Helping steer your organisation towards a stronger future
A company is only as good as its people and, in tough times, a top team can mean the difference between sinking and swimming. Data analytics can be deployed to help your people management division function more efficiently and get your workforce at large working more effectively. In 2021, it’s an investment that may pay for itself many times over.

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Many organisations have Reconciliation Action Plans in place, a framework towards creating social and economic opportunities for First Nations Australians. But what does this mean in practice? As the Government sets out new frameworks for Closing the Gap, progressive leaders are looking at ways to act. But how do you ensure you’re rolling out a plan that will have desired impact.

I worked within a number of organisations before launching my own company, Yanun Project Services, and saw how many responsible businesses were implementing Plans. As a proud Ngarrindjeri man who mentors a number of young Indigenous people into careers, I know first-hand what is just hot air, and what actually contributes to actionable change. The main things to consider are:

• Longevity
• Mutual benefit
• The bottom line
• Enriching and empowering lives

The most important thing about developing a RAP is to do it for the right reasons. If you’re doing it just to tick a box and appear more attractive externally, it’s doomed to fail.

Here are my tips to making it work:

Ensure that your organisation has a sense for what ‘reconciliation’ means.
Reconciliation Australia refers to it as an ‘ongoing journey’ that at its heart is ‘about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians’.  Brainstorm how ‘reconciliation’ can be defined in simple terms, and what will demonstrate achievement? Familiarise yourself with the Five dimensions of reconciliation to build an understanding of why all elements are essential for progress.

Consider whether you need a RAP.
In some cases other policies might be better – such as an Aboriginal Employment Strategy or Indigenous Participation Plan. Research why a RAP will make a difference, to your company and the wider community. Then identify what type of plan is most appropriate: Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate. You can read more about the different types here.

Involve.
Include influential figures from across the business. Approach Indigenous employees first, and then put a call out to the wider group. There needs to be buy-in from a diverse group, so they understand why it is important and how it benefits everyone internally, and externally.

Bear in mind however, that while you should seek input of any Indigenous employees, it is not their responsibility to develop and deliver it. The way I look at it, if somebody burnt your house down on purpose, it would not be you as the house owner responsible for putting a plan in place to reconcile the relationship.

Testing a draft plan on First Nations people inside and outside your organisation is a great idea but do not lean on them to do the legwork.

Challenge yourself to look beyond the ‘easy wins’, and where, for example, you can support Indigenous entrepreneurs by placing trust in them to deliver important business functions.

Find out what base you are coming from
Before you start making a plan to create change, establish where you currently sit. Analyse the proportion of Indigenous staff members, suppliers and contractors you have.

Consider the efforts you are currently undertaking. Running events during NAIDOC week, for example is valuable, yet it’s not just about communicating Reconciliation on awareness days, but continuously. Constantly reinforce how people can get involved. Beyond employment, look at supplier bases, history, financial backing and philanthropic efforts. Explore every facet of your business.

Develop your action plan
A RAP is not a theoretical document, it should be a detailed proposal for what you have decided to do and achieve. It can include a range of things, such as:

• Small, local events to support local Indigenous people
• Mentorship schemes to support First Nations people to progress in your industry
• Contracting Indigenous companies to engage as suppliers.

Be meaningful in your commitment. Indigenous businesses are around 100 times more likely to employ Indigenous people than non-Indigenous enterprises, a staggering statistic. But equality of employment is just one element – it needs to go beyond just staff, and into the heart of everything companies do and stand for. If you outsource to an Aboriginal travel company for example, that’s good, but challenge yourself to look beyond the ‘easy wins’, and where, for example, you can support Indigenous entrepreneurs by placing trust in them to deliver important business functions.

Set SMART goals
(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound), that aspire to demonstrate material change. Ensure accountability for achievement directly lies with strategic leaders in the business, and isn’t just delegated to someone without the authority to execute them.

Constantly reinforce how people can get involved. Beyond employment, look at supplier bases, history, financial backing and philanthropic efforts. Explore every facet of your business.

Refer to Reconciliation Australia.
Ultimately it can only be referred to as a RAP if it has been endorsed by the body. This takes time, so factor this in.

The most important thing about developing a RAP is to do it for the right reasons. If you’re doing it just to tick a box and appear more attractive externally, it’s doomed to fail. Be honest about your organisation’s track record when it comes to Indigenous engagement and realistically consider how change can occur. By reflecting on how all employees, regardless of level or responsibility can make a difference, collectively, we can move forward with meaning and impact.

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The competition for acquisition and retention of both customers and talent will be exceptionally intense in 2021. Coupled with relentless market challenges, industry disruptions and the new hybrid workplace models, its mission critical for C-Suite & HR leaders to step up and stand out with personal brands that inspire and influence with integrity.

The business case for personal brands
Consistently, global and national surveys ratify circa 80 per cent of consumers and employees trust organisations whose leadership have an active and engaging social media presence.

The Hootsuite Social Trends 2021 report saw a dramatic increase in social engagement during 2020 and that ‘people want to connect with people’. Their research indicated that 73 per cent of all marketers ranked new customer acquisition as their top priority for 2021, representing a 58 per cent year-over-year increase.

The global Brand Fog report found 93 per cent of people were more likely to purchase from organisations whose leader’s beliefs on social issues aligned with their own. And 75 per cent of employees felt it important their CEO communicated their opinions on social issues publicly.

Business advisory firm Brunswick Connected Leadership research found 60% of candidates would research the CEOs social media. Of significance, over 83 per cent (5:1) of employees prefer to work with organisations whose C-Suite leaders use social media factoring it as an important element for satisfaction and retention.

Standing out is about differentiating yourself in a way that is accurate but inimitable as everyone has a professional narrative that is unique.

Indispensable benefits
Trust and engagement is amplified with transparent personal brand management. Value touchpoints are vast across organisational and EVP brand awareness, talent acquisition, referrals, social proof, sales, marketing, networking, investor relations, product launches and feedback.

HR leaders need to embrace social media as a method to augment other talent attraction strategies and engage on a parity level. Top talent in the new working environments and commercial marketplace have more leverage now and are actively going to be reviewing leaders and people custodians with a steelier gaze.

HR leaders can also take a strong front foot to assuage bias perception of candidates who are reluctant to apply for roles. Diversity, inclusion, ageism and all other biases erode the hiring eco-system and candidate confidence. HR leaders who hold purpose and strong policies to knock these issues have a real opportunity in their personal brand narratives to address these issues and indeed they must.

And for industries which have an inherent degree of market mistrust (for example, finance, recruitment, banking, marketing) the need to ameliorate divisive perceptions via social media and personal brands is essential. This will positively impact new client acquisition and work towards changing reputations.

LinkedIn – the imperative platform
The undisputed professional social media ruler is LinkedIn. With over 722 million global and 11+ million Australian members its value for personal brand and engagement is implicit.

The doyen of recruitment activity from its inception back in 2004, today in 2021, the benefits to marketing, sales and networking are matchless.

However not everyone uses the platform in the same way but as the world’s largest database and Google indexed reference site it is critical to show up on LinkedIn with authority.

Google is the kingpin of searches and LinkedIn profiles show up on the first page. So even if LinkedIn isn’t the first touchpoint for referencing, all roads lead to Rome there.

Top talent in the new working environments and commercial marketplace have more leverage now and are actively going to be reviewing leaders and people custodians with a steelier gaze.

Elements of personal brands
There are five key elements that coalesce how a person is perceived and experienced. Rhetoric (perceived) must meet reality (experienced). Congruency is vital. And whilst the notion of disingenuous PR brand spinning is unacceptable, there are adroit ways to communicate which is accurate, candid and creative. Below are the five elements which follow after self-reflection, reality checking, creative marketing mindset and courage.

1. The why and ‘why below the why’. The drivers below the hyperbole.
2. Goals, values, passions. Your small and bigger goals for your career and organisation. This can and should incorporate the social issues that matter as appropriate. Of course social responsibility endeavours, volunteering, sporting and board activities sit here.NB: Refer research above from Brand Fog aligning social issues and leadership trust.
3. Personality and character. The nuances which are uniquely yours. Your vibe does attract your tribe. It’s pointless crafting a narrative of dissimilar traits to reality.
4. Equity, skills, unique value, education genius which is demonstrated and factual. Some leaders, and dare I add, women can often struggle here. Reality statements are not value judgements’ and there is a thick line between bragging and chest beating to stating actuality with clarity and confidence.
5. Visual, appearance – a photo tells a thousand words. An accurate representation of how you show up in a meeting either in person or via Zoom is essential.

Whilst the above just touches on the elements, it must be said that creativity is not deceit but crafting messages without clichés and banality. Standing out is about differentiating yourself in a way that is accurate but inimitable as everyone has a professional narrative that is unique.

HR leaders need to embrace social media as a method to augment other talent attraction strategies and engage on a parity level.

Summing Up
It is simply vital for all C-Suite, management and HR leaders to take their personal brands seriously to inspire and influence genuinely. It not only maximises success and opportunity but is a barricade to negative market assumptions. The implementation of branding needs consistency across social media, LinkedIn and websites.

In a swirling sea of competition and noise, personal brands which are transparent and trustworthy are pre-eminent pillars of organisational strength and leadership.

Image Source: Unsplash

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1. What are some of the risks or watchouts with a hybrid workforce? I.e. some staff in the office and others at home 

There are a number of watchouts that HR departments and business leaders need to be aware of. Social isolation is a big one. While working at home, many employees will feel the absence of social interactions we’ve become accustomed to while working in the office, which could lead to disengagement or a negative effect on mental wellbeing. While some degree of socialness and connectivity can be achieved with online interactions, many of us will still miss the incidental interactions that happen we’re in the kitchen or in the corridors.

Another challenge of a hybrid workforce is it can be difficult to demonstrate productivity. When we work alone, we can lose track of the importance of each other’s (and our own) contributions, and this can impact employees who use recognition as their personal driver in the workplace or make it harder to identify those who are vying for, or deserving of a promotion.

Be conscious of quiet achievers. You may need to provide more professional development conversations and coaching to encourage dialogue and to highlight these individuals’ performance and achievements.

Accessibility can be a barrier to a functioning hybrid workforce, and needs to be a strong focus for all workplaces. How do organisations ensure they are accommodating the accessibility needs of all team members? Are the tools being used incorporating accessibility? What other barriers are contributing to a lack of access equality amongst employees?

Timeliness also needs to be considered. With hybrid workforces, we need to reset expectations around response times and availabilities. We need to be more forgiving of delays or the non-immediacy in responses from colleagues.

2. How can HR teams and business leaders ensure all employees are involved in the decision-making process when the team is spread across multiple locations? 

Communication is key. Being aware of and using the various tools available to the business to improve communication is the first step. It’s also important to review how team members currently communicate amongst themselves before making any drastic changes.

Set expectations or ‘SLAs” of response times, with an awareness that this will vary amongst team members. Start using collaborative tools, such as online/cloud-based document solutions that allow multi-user editing and commenting.

While working at home, many employees will feel the absence of social interactions we’ve become accustomed to while working in the office, which could lead to disengagement or a negative effect on mental wellbeing.

Be timely in introducing initiatives or activities that require contribution to decision-making. Be aware that employees may have altered schedules or availabilities and provide enough lead-time to reduce stress and pressure, whilst potentially improving quality of contributions.

3. How can HR teams and business leaders ensure performance and pay reviews aren’t biased against employees working remotely?

Create uniform processes for one-on-ones and performance reviews for both office-based and remote workers. Use templates for these if possible. By setting processes, and repeating them each time, you can start to introduce new and expected behaviours over time, rather than being ad-hoc and creating uncertainty.

Be conscious of quiet achievers. You may need to provide more professional development conversations and coaching to encourage dialogue and to highlight these individuals’ performance and achievements.

Introduce mentor programs – this can provide an opportunity to not only contribute to an employees’ success and development, but offers an additional way to seek feedback on performance and potential of the mentees.

Introduce 360-degree reviews or feedback collection, while making sure there are transparent processes and definitions of what constructive feedback is. This will offer a more rounded view of an employee’s performance and potential.

Communication is key. Being aware of and using the various tools available to the business to improve communication is the first step.

4. What can organisations do to maintain a strong sense of camaraderie and collaboration when the team is no longer in a single location?

A first step is always asking employees for their thoughts and input. Gauge the desires and needs of all individuals and teams before seeking or determining solutions. This will help to ensure time, money, and productivity is not wasted on ineffective or underutilised solutions.

Investigate what other companies are doing and incorporate those into your business and processes. Keep up to date with new technologies and insights into hybrid working and workplaces. Follow best practices and regularly review the solutions you’ve implemented.

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Every business, regardless of its size, industry or maturity is exposed to integrity risks such as fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest and employee misconduct. Internal integrity risks remain a persistent threat to businesses as motivated employees look to take advantage of weak internal controls, outdated business practices or lucrative opportunities to commit fraud and engage in misconduct.

To add to the complexity of running a business and managing risk in 2021, there is a global pandemic hanging over the business landscape and the associated security risks. Outside of the organisation’s walls, businesses are coming under increased threat from cyber criminals with issues like business email compromise (BEC), phishing and data breaches.

The risk landscape in 2021
As we enter a new calendar year, businesses and governments are attempting to get back to ‘normal’. The impact of COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for organisations to reassess how they manage and mitigate integrity risks within the business to protect their people, reputation and bottom line.

In times of uncertainty, instances of employee misconduct, fraud and corruption can significantly increase as employees facing mounting financial pressure rationalise behaviour and take advantage of opportunities to enrich themselves. Unfortunately, for businesses, this is bad timing.

As businesses grapple with navigating and surviving a global pandemic, the focus of the organisation shifts to cutting costs, remaining “open for business” and minimising the impact of day-to-day operations. Investment in proactive initiatives is put on the back burner – and rightly so.

However, with signs of economic recovery on the horizon, the time is now to consider how you will look to prevent and mitigate integrity risks from occurring or increasing in your business.

Risks to your organisation can be internal, such as theft, fraud, bullying and employee misconduct. External risks can include corruption and collusion with suppliers, third-party fraud and business email compromise.

How to manage the new risks
Proactive risk management needs to start at the top of the organisation. Most business owners and leaders understand that leading a business involves a degree of risk. The key is to ensure that, as your business matures, you build the capability to identify, assess and manage risks in a prudent manner. There will always be a degree of risk and quantifying this is known as a Risk Appetite Statement. While that might sound like a complicated step for your business, it doesn’t have to be.

It’s important to recognise that integrity risks can take many shapes and forms. Risks can be internal to your organisation, such as theft, fraud, bullying and employee misconduct. Or external to your organisation, such as corruption and collusion with suppliers, third-party fraud and business email compromise. Taking a moment to stop and think about what risks your business faces is a simple but important first step.

For most businesses, the best place to start is to focus on your employees, their roles and the behaviour you expect from them. This is often captured in your organisation’s policies, such as a Code of Conduct,Bullying and Harassment Policy or Conflicts of Interest Policy.

Perhaps one of the biggest areas of opportunity for businesses in 2021 is to review and update your policy suite to ensure employees understand what is expected of them and attest to these policies. When we conduct internal investigations into fraud or employee misconduct, we often encounter employees who are not familiar with the policies, cannot remember the last time they read the policy or where it is located – there is an evident disconnect.

Another area of opportunity is to improve the way conflicts of interest and gift and entertainment is managed. These two areas present the greatest area of risk for an organisation as they affect the greatest number of employees across all roles.

In almost every organisation we work with, we see an inadequate approach to how these risks are managed. Registers for tracking conflicts of interest and gifts are often underutilised, empty and siloed across business units. Importantly, there is a lack of oversight and review at an organisational level.

Every business, regardless of its size, industry or maturity is exposed to integrity risks such as fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest and employee misconduct.

Moving to Centralised Compliance Software
Large organisations often have polices and other integrity initiatives located on an intranet site, however in 2021, this is an outdated way to manage risk.

Cloud-based software now exists for virtually every aspect of running a business and compliance is no different. A cloud-based compliance software, such as the one we use at Core Integrity (www.corethix.com), can dramatically improve your integrity risk and compliance program.

There are several simple initiatives that can be implemented through a cloud-based compliance platform to help proactively manage risk in your business, including:

• Ensure all company policies are located on the one platform to maintain version control of each policy and distribute these to all employees automatically by role, function and location for reading and attestation.
• Move all conflict of interest and gift and entertainment management online so employees can submit declarations in real time for management to review, approve or investigate.
• Migrate incident, issue and safety reporting online so employees can submit issues via mobile devices as they occur rather than waiting to return to the office to submit a paper-based form.
• Leverage technology to integrate your organisation’s whistleblower or ethics hotline into the compliance platform to improve the reporting experience.
• Drive engagement and use by employees by leveraging communications and announcement functionality.

Now is the time to proactively assess and mitigate the potential integrity risks in your business and examine the opportunities to enhance your compliance program to ultimately engage with your employees. Prevention is always the best method to ensure your organisation is protecting its people, reputation, and bottom line.

Key Takeaways

• Most business owners and leaders understand that undertaking a business involves a degree of risk. The key is to ensure that, as your business matures, you build the capability to identify, assess and manage risks in a prudent manner.
• Risks to your organisation can be internal, such as theft, fraud, bullying and employee misconduct. External risks can include corruption and collusion with suppliers, third-party fraud and business email compromise.
• Engage integrity risk experts such as Core Integrity to educate your people about your internal policies such as a Code of Conduct, Bullying and Harassment Policy or Conflicts of Interest Policy.
• Review and update your cyber security systems to ensure your software reflects current risks and protect your organisation’s data, resources, and accounts, such as centralised Compliance Software like Corethix.
• Work from the top down to implement culture and policy that reflects the guidelines for a workplace that encourages integrity.
• Implement reporting systems that support internal and external whistleblowing and at a minimum, discuss potential issues within the workplace.
• Move all conflict of interest and gift and entertainment management online so employees can submit declarations in real time for management to review, approve or investigate.

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Fear is key to our survival. Fear’s job is to protect us from danger by pointing out risk, physical and social risk. It tells us to avoid situations that put us close to risk and it does this by triggering a physiological system designed to help us fight, flight or freeze. Clever. Except, when it gets involved in things that they need not. Often our fear voice tells us to avoid risks that would be good for us. Here are a few common ways fear can interfere with our performance in a team. Fear wants us to:

• Hide that we do not understand something in case people think less of us.
  But then we might not know how to support each other, or we may have gaps in our knowledge, worse we hide mistakes or errors. We also get some people anxiously striving for perfection which slows down workflow.
• Agree with the most powerful person in the room.
  Fear tells us to only voice opinions that are safe and sanctioned. This makes for much less useful conversations or ideas. It promotes groupthink and makes true inclusion of any difference very hard. We also see over-reliance on the leaders to make decisions and we become vulnerable to command control leadership styles.
• Keep quiet or in the background in case we get judged.
  Employees may feel they need to present a mask instead of their true self. We get people who are not psychologically safe enough to point out new ideas, mistakes, or misunderstandings. This breeds silence, disengagement and wasted potential. The team fails to build on each other’s potential, and we get silos of workflow or relationships.
• Put walls up, defend or attack to protect our status or position.
  Even when this is not toxic, we can end up battling in ways that stop the progress of good ideas.
• Stick to what you know, do not risk failure.
  This is of course why and how we struggle to change or be agile.

As individuals in a team, the more we fear, the more we protect ourselves. The more we protect ourselves, the less we trust, each other and ourselves. Fear limits our performance as a team.

When our fear voice is in control and we are not, our behaviours become guided by fear-based intelligence, not by our intelligence or even our goals.

Fear-based conversations
Fear does not always look like cowering in the corner biting our nails. A good way to assess fear in your team is to consider your conversations.

When conversations are combative there is some level of fight happening. We see people sparing over things which appear to be territorial, more blame centric or ego-based and while they take up huge energy and attention, they are not constructive. When the airtime in a group is disproportionately shared, it indicates that some people’s intelligence is not being capitalised and it would be worthy to investigate the level of fear.

When conversations are full of polite, pleasant conversation it can be a sign that there is not the safety to discuss things at a deeper level. Peaceful conversations avoidant of emotion or robustness means that we avoid courageous conversations. It can lead to a lack of energy in a team or a surface level of conversation that fails to get to the conversations that matter. It can also point to people hiding their true feelings only letting them out in less appropriate ways. This is the type that I most frequently see at work and the type that have the most to gain through working on their fear.

Fear tells us to only voice opinions that are safe and sanctioned. This makes for much less useful conversations or ideas. It promotes groupthink and makes true inclusion of any difference very hard.

Controlling our fear
Managing our fear means we can have courageous conversations that lead to remarkable team performance. Examining the courage, the vulnerability, humbleness, openness, sharing, asking for help, good listening and contribution by all, fun meetings, ability to change direction or adopt new ideas are key indicators of a group of people who are managing their fear well.

Fear is natural, necessary, and normal. It can even be very motivating if we have a good relationship with our fear. However, if our fear voice becomes very loud it can dominate and tell us what to do. When our fear voice is in control and we are not, our behaviours become guided by fear-based intelligence, not by our intelligence or even our goals. Our choices become fears choices.

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It’s fair to say that at the start of 2020, few would have predicted the turmoil to come. A global pandemic was simply not on anyone’s radar, and those who did anticipate such a disruptive, game-changing event were probably not taken seriously. Such is the nature of forecasting in such a rapidly changing world – the risk of getting it wrong has never been higher.

Read on for our five emerging trends that will shape the HR profession in 2021.

Trend #1 – HR will consolidate – and build upon – the strides made in 2020

Few issues have tested one profession’s mettle quite like COVID-19 has tested HR. Tasked with handling everything from troublesome technology and team-building to sickness, furloughs, poor mental health, low morale and new ways of undertaking and assessing work tasks, HR proved itself the go-to, unifying function in a crisis.

So, what does this ultimately mean for the profession? In years to come, will 2020 be noted as a significant break-through year for the profession? Evidence suggests the answer is “yes”.

Trend #2 – Adoption of a ‘dynamic skills approach’ will escalate

Instead of predicting the future, a dynamic skills approach anticipates skill shifts as they are occurring in real time, and adapts to those shifts in an iterative, course-corrective way.

A dynamic skills approach calls for two-way skills transparency between the organisation (e.g. what skills it needs, what skills it no longer needs, or where its needs are unknown) and the employee (e.g. current skills and interests). HR is then able to create channels for employees and the organisation to exchange skills information, which facilitates a better match between employees and their organisation to pursue mutually beneficial and flexible skills development.

Ultimately, a dynamic skills approach helps HR sense shifting skills requirements in real time, develop skills at the time of need, and empowers employees to make informed skills decisions. According to Gartner, this dynamic approach leads to employees applying 75% of the new skills they learn and can result in a 24% improvement in overall employee performance.

The shortcomings of traditional performance management processes have been acknowledged for some time, to the extent that appraisals have become maligned by both managers and employees.

Trend #3 – ‘Hyper-automation’ will fast-track digital process adoption

Hyper-automation allows organisations to augment humans and automate as many business and IT processes as possible using advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA). Hyper-automation extends across a range of tools that can be automated, but also refers to the sophistication of the automation. That is, the tasks to be automated.

A good example is the recruitment function. Automation has already helped with job ad placement and resume screening. More sophisticated uses of technology in recruitment include chatbots that engage with candidates and AI-driven face screening that analyses candidate reactions during interviews. The next step is to integrate the technology used at each step of the hiring process and automate processes even more. Integrated HR platforms are already helping organisations to do this – by linking, for example, the recruitment and onboarding functions, and extending through to the learning & development functions of business.

When basic HR tasks are automated, the HR function can shift from being a supportive and mainly transactional department to a business-driven, strategic department.

Tasked with handling everything from troublesome technology and team-building to sickness, furloughs, poor mental health, low morale and new ways of undertaking and assessing work tasks, HR proved itself the go-to, unifying function in a crisis.

Trend #4 – Performance management will finally catch up to agile business operations

It makes logical sense that as workplaces reinvent themselves, so too must the processes that enable employees to excel in this brave new world. However, there’s one stubborn process stuck in time, and that is performance management – specifically, performance appraisals. Born in the 1970s, traditional end-of-year appraisals are clearly not up to the task. The shortcomings of traditional performance management processes have been acknowledged for some time, to the extent that appraisals have become maligned by both managers and employees.

IBM identified the reinvention of performance management as a key component of the profession’s shift to “HR 3.0”.

Key characteristics of this approach are:

• Shorter-term goals
• Continuous feedback
• Multi-dimensional assessment or no assessment
• Managers accountable for ratings and conversations
• Results being used to coach employees to higher performance, continual skill building and internal opportunities
• Mobile applications and tools allowing for continuous feedback and updates

Trend #5 – Workplace cultures will reform and reset post-pandemic

Since the pandemic, some leaders have been forced to ask tough questions. For example, did the choices and actions taken during the height of the crisis reflect our culture and the values that define us? If not, where was the disconnect?

Other leaders may be asking how many of their organisational values are contingent on everyone sitting in the same room. How can one demonstrate a value like “continuous innovation”, for example, if the ideation process is dependent on everyone being in the office?

COVID-19 confirmed that many entities and individuals can work effectively in a crisis. However, a popular meme circulating post-pandemic highlighted the need to take a fresh look at all aspects of life: “In the rush to return to normal, use the time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.”

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Navigate the year ahead with our highly anticipated 2021 HR Trends eBook, packed with the latest insights. Download the full copy here.

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In recent years, however, greater insights and expertise have emerged in this domain. Let me identify some of the great “myths,” breakthrough principles, and practices you might apply to have more success in the future.

Myth #1: “People are motivated by money.”
My friend and colleague, Alan Colquitt, a veteran PhD. with 32 years’ experience in corporate HR research roles, offers an explanation for this myth:

“We are prisoners of our own flawed assumptions, beliefs, and mental models. We learned in basic psychology and economics classes that people are motivated by money and tying rewards to individual performance will improve results.

“These programs have not been broadly successful… And even when they do work, they can have undesirable side effects and unintended consequences like increased competition, reduced intrinsic motivation, and other bad behaviour…”

As Alan points out, the myth is the belief that people are motivated only by money. Get the money right and the problem will be solved. In fact, people are motivated also by many other things (many of which are also desperately needed by their organisations).

Tip #1: “Pay people enough money so that it is no longer an issue,”

says author Daniel Pink. The question is, “how much is enough?” Those, whose earnings are comparable to others in their community and industry for similar work, seldom have an obsession with earning more money.

Myth #2: “Rewards are needed to motivate people.”
Alfie Kohn explains this myth, “You can’t motivate another person,” he says, “so framing the issue that way virtually guarantees the use of controlling devices.”

In the 1960s Pay for Performance systems were hailed as the big innovation in rewards. The biggest challenge with pay for performance is to avoid defining performance too narrowly – at the expense of other critical performance elements.

Tip #2: Don’t be seduced into believing that controlling devices such as individual pay for performance or individual bonuses are the only way to motivate high performance.
The controlling devices are all extrinsic motivators: rewards are contingent on performance. Intrinsic motivators are deeper and longer lasting. These motivators have been described best by Edward Deci as “the need to feel effective or competent in relation to one’s environment.” Effective reward systems are comprised of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators.

Myth #3: “You get what you pay for.”
“One of the most thoroughly researched findings in social psychology is that the more you reward someone for doing something, the less interest that person will tend to have in whatever he or she was rewarded to do.” – Alfie Kohn

So, you may get what you pay for, but the spark dissipates over time. Meanwhile, you might not get many other things that you also need!

“We are prisoners of our own flawed assumptions, beliefs, and mental models. We learned in basic psychology and economics classes that people are motivated by money and tying rewards to individual performance will improve results.

Tip #3: Compensate associates for a broad spectrum of contribution – individual, team, organisation, and company performance – mirroring what the organisation and marketplace require to survive.

For example:

• Research indicates bonuses motivate performance only for mechanical skills.
• For cognitive skills, bonuses actually drive poor performance.
• Designing roles for autonomy, mastery, and purpose drives cognitive skills.

Myth #4: “I know my people.”
How well do you really know what motivates each of your people? Consider this research conducted by Professor Ken Kovac at George Mason University:

The 10 elements here are a mixture of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. The results of Ken’s research are representative of many similar studies I have seen. For example, supervisors almost always list “good wages” as number one on their employees’ list; yet “good wages” are usually no better than number five on the employees’ list. I realise the preferences of your people may be different from this study. Therefore, read carefully Tip #4!

Tip #4: Compile a profile of the key work-related needs of people in your organisation and then design your purpose/goals and the work itself to align with your people’s intrinsic motivation:

The product of your design work will be an improved rewards system.

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