brokeringedge

I meet many people each week, ranging from corporate clients to consultancy staff and of course consultants. Therefore I hear many stories, but one that has stuck with me over recent weeks is the story I heard from an extremely busy senior HR & LD Manager (yes dual responsibilities!) and one that I know is a familiar one.  She was heading out to grab a quick sandwich and jumped in the lift with 2 others and overheard them chatting.  They were both bemoaning the demands of their jobs and the need to work late the previous night and punctuated the conversation with "those people with their cushy jobs in HR have no idea!". I really felt for this busy HR professional, who had just talked me through the top 15 key deliverables for her and her team over the next 6 months.  Each project was a full-time job in itself.  I don't know if there is an answer here, other than to say that the HR fraternity feels and indeed shares this pain.  But I do see the positive in this also, in that HR has been striving to be heard and earn a seat at the Executive table as business strategy is defined and implemented. It seems the boundaries between management and HR are definitely blurring. HR executives are increasingly taking part in business strategy, while line managers are accepting a great responsibility for more administrative HR matters. A recent study by Fiona Graetz, of Deakin University's Bowater School of Management, says the convergence of management and HR has been accompanied by growing recognition of the importance of change management.  Interestingly, the topic of change has been added to the Coles Myer Institute's leadership course.   In addition, Dave Ulrich, an HR expert from Michigan University, notes that HR is increasingly focused on adding value to the overall business strategy.*  So to all you busy HR professionals...keep up the great work, it seems all your efforts are paying off!!! 

Also, following up on our WebPoll question in August, regarding the number of organisations with Mature Age policies... Discrimination Alert recently reported that 37% of Australian employers surveyed by Adage had devised ageing workplace strategies. Some 80 per cent of these employers claimed that the strategies had reduced their turnover rates, while 73 per cent reported that they had boosted staff morale.  Ipac, AMP and Insurance Australia Group are among the employers with ageing workforce programs.  Something to think about!!!  Tell us what you think on this topic, by participating in this month's WebPoll below.

We are very proud to announce the launch of our new  Blog. The Professional Edge will continue on a monthly basis by all means, and should you need any top up during the in between times, then please, we encourage you to visit our Blog and make comments....so we know we are, and continue to be, on the right track and hitting the mark!

Happy Consulting and best of luck for the spring carnival flutter!

Deirdre

* ABIX HR Monthly --- Page: 16-23 : October 2006 Original article by Steve Packer

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