Do We Really Value Others?

A week after the CIPD Question Time event on the future of work, one of the things discussed is still playing on my mind.

There was complete agreement from the panel that the focus on University education was screwing up the country, and that past and present decisions by various governments had brought about some unintended consequences (more on that later).

In particular the perceived value of trades has been greatly diminished - as Lembit Opik remarked "We need to rehabilitate the idea of trades as valid professions". 

An almost maniacal focus on increasing the percentage of teenagers that go to university has left little focus for manual skills in other areas. 

Almost 50% of school leavers are presently attempting to gain degree level education, despite the fact that (according to this mornings quarterly labour force survey) the UK has 424,000 graduates under the age of 25 in non-graduate work.

The original target was a nice, clear goal for government to set - but now plumbing, carpentry, building, mechanical and other trade skills are seen as somehow 'lesser' options in the UK - and then we complain about economic migrants 'stealing our jobs' in these areas.

Madness. 

This morning the government announced a £2000 tax break if both partners are in employment. 

Those that choose to give up work to look after their children have been overlooked by successive governments, and this announcement reinforces it - otherwise their tax free allowance would move to their partner. 

This is the latest in a long line of policies designed to reduce 'unemployment' by increasing the number of mums returning to full  time work.

The most undervalued part of British society right now are the stay at home mums. Which leads to the general perception that those that stay at home to raise children are less valuable to society. 

My Wife gave up a senior management role at a London graphic design agency fifteen years ago to look after our four children and support me at work. I can categorically say she works harder than me, for longer hours, for less thanks and provides a heck of a lot more value. 

But that's increasingly seen as a 'lifestyle' choice that's no longer as appreciated as it once was - and 'Mum' is no longer seen as valid role.

Madness.

Now - those unintended consequences .....

After the event (held at Kings University College) I was talking to one of the lecturers present - and expressed my view that University places should be free for all. I would not have driven myself into debt to go when I was 18 - and believe that money should never be a barrier to education. 

(I'm also happy to be taxed more to provide better education for those who will be part of my welfare in old age)

The lecturer agreed, but for different reasons. She sees an 'entitlement' culture emerging from students - who now feel that they are paying for their degree and deserve it, no matter how little effort they put in, or what their level of aptitude and intellect. 

Coupled with increasingly measured and socially open methods of lecturer 'judgement' where students evaluate staff internally and post external online reviews of their abilities - the educational system is in danger of suffering irreparable damage.

Simply put, students are increasingly empowered to bully their way to a degree, given that they believe that have bought it already.

Sadly though, the idea of 'degrees for all' has meant that the old system was financially unsupportable and funding was needed - the only way of fixing the problem would be to reduce the number of places at University to the point where the taxpayer could fund all. 

Which would promote competition for those places left and let only the brightest, most apt and hardest working gain success at Univeristy (just like the workplace).

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Society doesn't function if all parts are not valued. Neither do companies. It's important to remember that we all have our role to play, and appreciate efforts of everyone around us.

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It's Time For HR To Bare It's Teeth

I've spent most of this week at the 2013 CIPD annual conference - and it's been a great experience, hearing and talking with those leading the HR field - both up on stage and in the world of Twitter and Blogs. 

How would I measure the success of such an event? No surprises, of course I focus on culture and engagement.....so how did it measure up?

Well the culture was fantastic, and just what you'd expect from a group of people committed to a career of making the lives of those in companies better (don't laugh, it's absolutely true - bad reputations often come from misunderstanding). I found everyone was open to new ideas and seeking new ways to improve the bottom lines at their companies. There was an open collaborative culture everywhere you looked.

Engagement - well, the halls were full, the stands were packed and the speakers got feedback (mostly positive, but no one was shy about disagreement) from those in the sessions and out in the twittersphere. Note to presenters - don't use "Gen Y" anymore - tech is changing too fast, and it's not applicable.

Better than that though, was the overwhelming momentum that was generated AFTER the event had finished for the day - heated conversations at dinner tables (and occasionally in bars) were joined by all as the topics of the day were bounced around. 

My favourite after conference debate concluded thus:

Stop asking to be at the executive table, and take the seat. Too many times (as Peter Cheese pointed out) HR talk about this and don't take action. If you're not already at the CEO meetings, here are some pointers:

1. Everybody listens to the head of sales, she brings a forecast of upcoming revenue, facts to back it up and everyone in the room relies on that income for their wages.

2. Everybody listens to the development head, he brings an update of how the products are performing, when the new ones are out, and how that's going to impact sales.

3. Everybody listens to the head of communications, she brings a communication plan that supports the sales of the current products, and the new ones about to release - and how that's going to impact sales.

4. Everybody listens to the legal head - he brings a report of the threats and opportunities to the safe running of the company, and how that's going to impact sales.

See the pattern? How do you impact sales?

If, and I mean if, your HR head is not a direct report to the CEO - then you have a problem. 

HR is not an overhead. I hear this too many times from the IT folks as well. HR is the custodian of the most valuable data about the most valuable (and typically most expensive) asset any company has.

HR owns the success and failure of all of the other departments, and should be measuring that. Companies live and die by the people who work there, not the product, or the service, or the sale. 

What does HR bring to the table? The most engaged people are those who bring the greatest sales, who develop the best products, who deliver the best soundbites to the press. 

They also provide the innovation and intrapreneurship for the company - every other head in the room is looking for that (they may think they know, but in my experience, the reality and the 'managed up' perception is rarely the same).

Sales teams with good culture fit make more money than those that don't. HR govern the interview process, and own that data. Compare your culture profiles to that of the highest achieving sales people and demonstrate the value (in the example below ALL the quota exceeders are solid culture fits).

High attrition is possibly the greatest cost to any company. HR knows where that voluntary attrition is happening across the whole company - the other heads only see their own issues - mitigating that risk is something that HR are not only the best qualified to do, they are the ONLY function with the appropriate skills.

I recently had a conversation with a friend at LinkedIn. "Who do you think knows more about what's happening in your company - HR or us?" they said. 

LinkedIn know who in your company are looking for jobs, who's engaged, who's leaving, where they are going, what they are posting, which groups they are in, who they are connected with - HR often don't take the time to even look at these facets. A good company with proper career management, high percentage of culture fit and great collaboration should know ALL of this.

The elephant in the room is that the HR team gets blamed for all the evils within a company, and rarely does anything to correct the perception. 200 people being laid off - instinctively the population believes that the names on the list were put there by HR. Often it's HR managing the process, delivering the news and dealing with the fallout - sadly, they can also take the blame.

No pay rise? It's HR again. Lack of development opportunity? Lack of promotion? Benefit cut? All HR. 

And yet it isn't - that the decision of the CEO and his team to build a better and stronger business, HR advises and implements. 

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So here's the thing. 

It's time for HR to bare it's teeth. You are the best qualified, most connected, most influential part of any business. You have the skills, the talent and the AUTHORITY to help deliver better business results throughout all functions

PROVE that you act on behalf of the business, whilst representing the voice of the employee. 

You KNOW how to strengthen and build a better culture, improve engagement, create better leaders and management, recruit and look after the wellbeing of the employee. You have the data to prove it and the motivation to do so.

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