HR fit for the future – Being brave and courageous

Is bravery and courage in the workplace now ‘coming of age’? Bravery and courage are generally considered to be synonyms. Philosophically, the two nouns differ in meaning. Courage entails a cause, most commonly passion, love, compassion, concern, etc. whilst bravery can be without a cause.

The turbulence of the marketplace, new opportunities constantly emerging, the uncertainty about the future, the lack of job security, the need for greater flexibility and creativity all indicates that predictability is history. All these shifts have created new demands for organizations and propelled the field in some completely new directions. The HR function is evolving, with the changing ways of business. This change is forcing the future HR professionals to balance a range of roles, both at the business and the employee end. We need brave and courageous HR professionals and leaders who are willing to display courage in creating, implementing and communicating differentiated initiatives that support workplace cultures that can shape the future of their organizations.

Brave and Courageous organizations are willing to be Alternative

With digital disruption happening incessantly, organizations need to be bold and embarked on the path of digital enlightenment. They must be willing to challenge traditional norms both within their organizations, and even within our society. The willingness to experiment is important when embarking on such business transformation, so as to make experimentation intentional to drive initiatives that are bolder and distinctive.

One of my favourite examples are those brave and courageous organizations that have experimented and later on instituted a four-day work week, but still getting paid for five days work week. Microsoft Japan did an experiment last August this year, that involved closing its offices every Friday in August and found that labour productivity increased by 40% compared with August 2018. Full-time employees were given paid leave during the closures. According to OECD, leading today’s trend is the Netherlands, where the average weekly working time (both full-time and part-time workers) is about 29 hours — the lowest of any industrialized nation. In the Harvard Business Review study, it was found organizations that have implemented shorter workweek, nearly two-thirds of leaders reported increases in staff productivity and work quality due to a reduction of sick days and overall increased in well-being.

With the increasing trend of alternative workforce such as independent or contingent workers, having more organizations to implement shorter workweek can be a reality in the near future. One practice that sets high-performing organizations apart is having a high-level view of combined workforce is to make more-efficient use of resources or quick decisions on when to scale up, scale down or fill skills needs. Strategic workforce planning that includes contingent workforce management built into core HRM systems can make this more possible, thus shifting management of contingent workers from transactional to strategic and collaborative. This also requires current HR practitioners to be more agile, to prepare for this new type of employment relationship by updating HRM policies, processes and philosophies to provide these workers with a more positive experience.

What I love about some of these examples is that companies do not have to have a ton of funds to find ways to make the change. Flexibility and alternative approaches can be as simple as providing employees a voice and empowering them to make decisions. Anything that makes life easier or better for employees becomes a win-win because when a company invests in employee success, the employee invests in the company’s success. For this to happen, equipped with people analytics and insights, HR professionals can decide for themselves how courageous they wish to be in their role and have the foresight to want to make a difference. The important thing to emphasise about HR courage is that increasingly those HR professionals who display courage will be relying less on their HR technical expertise, and instead they will need to have the credibility and influence with business leaders to make a difference.

This is an exciting time for the HR profession. With people becoming a core differentiator for companies, HR manager of today has more power to create a real change. With more power comes more responsibility, and HR professionals today must equip themselves with the right know-how and skills to lead these changes. Now, more than ever, is the time for HR to be bold, reinvent, and lead organizations into the new world of work. No amount of technology can replace the forward-thinking thoughts and actions that being brave requires. Like most things, the more you embed bravery and practice being courageous on daily basis, the easier it will come. When we have the audacity to be brave, things move. Be the Change.