Skills to survive and thrive
In the current climate, supporting your current and future talent with the right skills development has become business-critical.
From understanding, tracking, and analyzing existing employee skills, to finding better hires from both internal and external applicants, it is imperative to be able to detect, manage and grow your workforce skills at scale.
Watch this on-demand webinar with our expert panel from Oracle Cloud HCM and Petrofac, moderated by Tom Haak, as they discuss strategy and tactics for:
- Assessing skills gaps and current capabilities
- Sourcing the right talent vs developing the right skills
- Creating a dynamic skills approach that builds organizational resilience
Hype or not? Why is there attention today around skills?
From a people perspective, skills have always been important, enabling people to be in the right positions in the business to optimize performance. But I think it’s widely recognized now, that skills are rapidly changing.
Allie Boddington, Executive Director – HR Transformation, Oracle Cloud HCM
Tom Haak, director of the HR Trend Institute, considered that the focus on skills and implication on the HR domain has come about through a shift in attention from skills over the traditional “job” employee categorization. Today, he told the audience, it’s about “What skills can you deliver, instead of the ‘bucket’ of a job.” This mindset shift is allowing HR leaders the opportunity to redeploy people and reskill them to ensure they remain relevant to the organization, rather than the traditional “jobs” route, which doesn’t necessarily map or utilize the whole potential of an individual.
Allie Boddington from Oracle Cloud HCM started off the conversation by discussing her view on whether the skills hype is justified or not. She highlighted the Gartner research, released earlier this year, that uncovered the extent that the skills required in today’s workforce have changed over the last four or so years and why this demonstrates that the attention around skills is justified. Allie considered that the reason for these changes have come about from digital disruption and the changing nature of work and the skills required to remain relevant in the workforce, as well as the changes in employee expectations and elements of “the employment deal” -where employees expect to be provided with the tools to learn, “to come into an organization, to do great work, and enjoy it.”
Mirroring Allie’s view that “the skills needed for doing just the same job are changing, let alone for new jobs or better jobs”, Russell Gomes from Petrofac provided his perspective that globalization and thereby the opportunities now available through the “work from anywhere” approach, and competition for talent, means that an employer has to be providing development opportunities. He told the audience that an employer needs to be upskilling and reskilling their talent to ensure the organization has the appropriate talent in-house, but also in order to retain that talent through offering the opportunities and career paths that come with a focus around skills and development.
Where are the biggest gaps?
The focus on skills is often centered around “technical skills – data, digital, analytics…” said Allie. However, she highlighted there is also a growing recognition that the softer skills and leadership and management skills oftentimes need work too.
People work for people and they want to work in an environment and within teams that allow them to do their best work.
Allie Boddington, Executive Director – HR Transformation, Oracle Cloud HCM
She believes that generating an environment through bettering leadership skills will in turn create a culture of an organization that is agile and adaptable. And Russell similarly believed that every organization is different in where their gaps are. But, having the technology to help diagnose the skills gaps, will provide a map for bettering workforce planning struggles.
Tom questioned the panel on whether there’s perhaps too much emphasis in the skills narratives on the individual, and what the pair thought about this. Allie, using HR as an example, noted that oftentimes leaders will look at skills they need to deliver an initiative through the lens of the specialism. Instead, she said, we need to be looking at working towards getting cross-functional teams who can provide the right balance of skills for a particular project – moving towards “solving the problem with the best people”. She believes that this provides an organization with fluidity and gives interest and motivation to an individual’s work.
How do we close the skills gap?
“Where are the 2 or 3 performance concerns for the organization?” is a great place to start, Allie told the audience. Knowing where you can create the most value in the organization will help to focus your time and energies around skills and development.
Both panelists agreed that the solution might not always be upskilling and reskilling in-house, but that there’s nothing wrong with hiring people outside of the organization to provide the skills that are necessary for certain projects.
Russell touted the benefits of leverage technology, along with Allie, throughout the panel session. Russell, a user of Oracle Cloud HCM, believes that technology is a true enabler of being able to map the workforce to skills and then to diagnose where the gaps are that need improving. He told the audience that a fully integrated cloud platform has the capabilities of demonstrating where critical roles are within the business, as well as offering talent modules that allows self-service for improving and growing an individual’s skills.
Upon being questioned whether this self-service type model was enough to be effective, both Allie and Russell agreed that technology is a real enabler for process automation, for reducing costs, and diagnosing the gaps in the first instance (a task that is often daunting and overwhelming). However, both agreed that this technology definitely needs to be coupled with good leadership that creates an environment of empowerment and a culture where there is a hunger to learn, and thrive, and exceed.
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Talent Mobility, Recruiting and Productivity in the era of change
The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has shone a light on the importance of people in driving business success, and as organizations look to realign themselves in the era of change, it is no surprise that talent is at the top of most business agendas. Organizations globally must find ways to ensure their workforce is resilient and ready for new purposes and goals.
Whether it is rapidly hiring to fill front-line needs, or looking within and leveraging internal talent, HR needs greater talent awareness, access, and acquisition efficiency. The pressure for speed and agility on talent and recruitment teams has never been so great.
So how are some of today’s leading organizations leveraging technology to make sure they have the right people ready for new roles? And how are they enhancing internal and external collaboration so people can reach their full potential?
This was the topic of discussion in an UNLEASH webinar held in partnership with Oracle HCM Cloud. The session, moderated by Tom Haak, an HR industry influencer and Director of the HR Trend Institute, featured Oracle Cloud Human Capital Cloud (HCM) customers from all over the world.
Watch this webinar on-demand to hear discussions on these key themes:
It’s time to get creative with mobility
Despite the enormous advantage of access to a much wider, diverse talent pool, many HR teams are still facing a lot of resistance from management when it comes to hiring from further afield. Mauro Ghilardi, Director of People and Transformation at A2A Group, a leading energy solutions company, said this was due to management still wanting control and the ability to bring someone into the office at a moment’s notice, without significant cost.
“Once we are able to establish a new way to operate, we will be much clearer [in terms of] how many days or weeks people have to stay in the office. We will then be able to engineer if we can really have talent like Sarah in Edinburgh or Jérôme in Dubai, working for us as an Italy-based company,” Ghilardi said.
Jérôme de Mallmann, Vice President Performance, Productivity, and Group People Department at DP World, a multinational logistics company based in Dubai, has noticed a massive shift in candidate expectations with questions such as ‘If I want to live in X but work in X, how often do I have to come to work?’ becoming increasingly frequent.
De Mallmann noticed the shift to remote working had caused noticeable increase in productivity at DP World. This has led to greater investment in creative talent mobility solutions that embrace the virtual world.
“We are trying to increase virtual mobility, which means that instead of having somebody relocating to somewhere else, which is always a painful, time-consuming process, we keep people where they are but engage them in some other activities and not necessarily a full-time job,” said de Mallmann.
For context, Oracle’s new product called ‘Opportunity Marketplace,’ is an internal gigs marketplace for employees to find internal job postings as well as volunteer opportunities and other new projects they can get involved with. This gives internal employees the opportunity to participate in international projects from other departments and facilitates a sense of internal mobility.
Redefining the scope of HR
The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtfully catalyzed a much-needed revision of the scope of HR. No longer are HR’s responsibilities limited to managing people on the payroll but instead organizations are adopting a much broader perspective, which can adapt in the era of change.
Sarah Henry, Vice President of HR Transformation at Oracle has observed that when talking to employees’ conversations are becoming increasingly focused on coping with contingent workers or workers that are on the payroll but are also freelancers.
“The boundary of HR is no longer your permanent employees; your talent pool grows exponentially outside your internal employees,” Henry said.
“Payment is almost the easy bit. There are far bigger questions around how you manage performance and other talent management processes,” she added.
Contingent workers have different expectations, wants, and needs to permanent ones. They don’t want to be tied down by one particular job but instead want multiple projects going on at the same time — this is key for them to have an interesting and diverse career. But with so many new types of workers entering the workforce, the line between ‘external’ and ‘internal’ talent is blurrier than ever.
Digital transformation in HR
The changing scope of HR has brought technology providers like Oracle Cloud HCM to the fore, and systems are getting a lot better at understanding the fluid nature of people and work.
De Mallmann spoke about how technology has enabled his company to get rid of a lot of non-value add tasks. While at first there was apprehension over making people feeling insecure or threatened in their roles, he said the exact opposite had actually happened.
“People have had to work less as they become more efficient, leaving more room for tasks that are interesting, which links to motivation and a sense of purpose we are all looking for,” de Mallmann said.
Ghilardi explained how on top of driving productivity and efficiency, one of the biggest benefits of digital transformation is the ability to analyze employee data and make better predictions about future behaviors. However, with this ability, Ghilardi also mentioned there was an ethical concern over how companies should collect and use employee data.
The role of HR
“So, what does all of this mean for HR and how is the role changing?” Tom asked the panel as they wrapped up the discussion.
“Rather than changing, it is just becoming more important,” Henry said. “Every HR [team] does operating models in different ways but what I am seeing is that people did not stop investing in HR tech projects because of COVID, if anything they increased it.”
If organizations have learnt anything over the last 12 months, it is that they have a responsibility to look after their employees and to build flexibility and resilience into their workforce.
“HR is going up to the top,” Henry commented. “As focus becomes greater, the function will need to grow, becoming more intrinsically important in organizations,” she added.
De Mallmann echoed Henry’s comments, noting how it is now in the hands of HR teams to decide how they now want to be involved. Technology developments and the changing nature of how work is perceived has thrust HR into another dimension.
“It’s all about how HR wants to position itself and take the opportunity to be a greater part of the business team,” said de Mallmann. “It’s about where we want to position the curser, not about fighting to get the seat.”
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Why moving your payroll to the Cloud can be the bastion of your digital HR transformation
For most organizations, moving your payroll solution online (to the Cloud) makes business sense.
Not only does it improve payroll processes and accuracy in a secure environment, but it can empower your payroll team and improve employee experience – regardless of where they work or where they are in the world.
Payroll finds itself at the forefront of huge innovation post-Covid-19. But it needs to be operated in the Cloud in order to take advantage of many of the benefits like self-service and automation. Making the leap can be intimidating for organizations and for many it’s the last bastion of digital HR transformation. Join us to hear from fellow HR leaders how they have managed this transition, their lessons learned, the pitfalls to avoid and the real business benefits delivered.
Reasons to Attend
- The business benefits of making the move to the Cloud and why it’s not just a ‘nice-to-have’
- Must-have practical insights and discussion on how to make the change
- Meet and connect with fellow HR and Payroll professionals facing similar challenges to you
- What you need to build your business case and get started ASAP!
Why join an UNLEASH Roundtable?
Amid the current disruption, HR leaders need to get ahead of the exponential trend where work, technology and how work gets done have changed forever. But how should we approach the relevant questions, given the radical uncertainty we continue to face as the pandemic becomes more protracted than anyone imagined? Our exclusive Virtual Roundtables are designed to explore where business leaders are focused now, key challenges and prioritization for the rest of the year, and what matters most in planning for what’s next.
What to expect
- An in-depth discussion with 8-10 senior executives from the world’s leading organizations.
- Robust conversation based on pre-supplied questions and active participation from every attendee.
- The chance to share your genuine perceptions and challenges, with an agreement on Chatham House Rules.
- A professional post-event editorial write-up summarizing actionable insights and next steps.
How to take part
Why should payroll be in the Cloud?
For most organizations, moving your payroll solution online (to the Cloud) makes business sense.
Not only does it improve payroll processes and accuracy in a secure environment, but it can empower your payroll team and improve employee experience – regardless of where they work or where they are in the world.
Payroll finds itself at the forefront of huge innovation post-Covid-19. But it needs to be operated in the Cloud in order to take advantage of many of the benefits like self-service and automation. Making the leap can be intimidating for organizations and for many it’s the last bastion of digital HR transformation. Join us to hear from fellow HR leaders how they have managed this transition, their lessons learned, the pitfalls to avoid and the real business benefits delivered.
Reasons to Attend
- The business benefits of making the move the Cloud and why it’s not just a ‘nice-to-have’
- Must-have practical insights and discussion on how to make the change
- Meet and connect with fellow HR and Payroll professionals facing similar challenges to you
- What you need to build your business case and get started ASAP!
Why join an UNLEASH Roundtable?
Amid the current disruption, HR leaders need to get ahead of the exponential trend where work, technology and how work gets done have changed forever. But how should we approach the relevant questions, given the radical uncertainty we continue to face as the pandemic becomes more protracted than anyone imagined? Our exclusive Virtual Roundtables are designed to explore where business leaders are focused now, key challenges and prioritization for the rest of the year, and what matters most in planning for what’s next.
What to expect
- An in-depth discussion with 8-10 senior executives from the world’s leading organizations.
- Robust conversation based on pre-supplied questions and active participation from every attendee.
- The chance to share your genuine perceptions and challenges, with an agreement on Chatham House Rules.
- A professional post-event editorial write-up summarizing actionable insights and next steps.
How to take part
Apply to get a seat at this exciting UNLEASH Roundtable today. Please note that all attendees are screened. Your company name will be shared with other participants to help us create the most useful discussion possible.