The future of HR won't look like its past

22 April 2010 8:53am

The economic downturn has forced employers "to do a lot more with a lot less" and a return to previous levels of spending is unlikely, says News Digital Media's executive director of emerging businesses, Michael Solomon.

"The fact is, the same people who walked into the office two years ago and said 'We've just cut your learning and development fund by a million dollars,' are not about to walk back in there and go 'Oh, it's all good now, here's your million dollars back'."

Companies have been restructured and reengineered and "everything, from the beginning of [the recruitment] process to onboarding and developing your people, has changed forever more".

"Everyone knows that," says Solomon. The question is, how can employers put themselves on the front foot for the future so they can be "ahead of the game" instead of a "me too" down the track?

He says a major challenge for HR will be to make well-informed decisions on how to spend their budget, "given that we're probably not going to return to spending what we did prior to the GFC".

Develop and promote your brand

As Generation Y employees overtake baby boomers to become "the most dominant generation in the Australian workforce", and retirement rates overtake birth rates, the ability to operate on a "new horizon" will be critical, he says.

"We know that if there was a talent shortage two years ago, moving forward there's going to be a general people shortage," Solomon says, and as attraction becomes more crucial, so will brand development.

"The key thing to developing a consumer brand - especially for the current generation - is around flexibility, work/life balance, what people say about you as an employer at parties or barbeques, use of technology - they're the things that Gen Y tells the next Gen Y, and that create the employer brand.

"It's not about putting a big Nike swoosh on the front of your ad and saying 'come and work for us, we're great'," Solomon says. "I think the current generation's a bit more savvy than that and getting your offering right and your onboarding right is the core driver of your employer brand - not whether people have heard of you as a business or not."

Solomon will explain how employers can "bend with the times" and use their branding to "hook" talent at the 2010 AHRI National Convention in Melbourne next month.

If you have some HR news to share or would like to suggest a topic for an article, click here to email the editor.

Comments closed

Engage new hires as brand ambassadors and boost productivity
Talent acquisition must never cease: analysts
Corporate Australia not immune to "bad behaviour" damage

Latest headlines

Advanced search

search for	from date

	to date