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Changing employee expectations towards flexibility and wellbeing, coupled with access to new technology, is changing not only how HR teams work, but how they are viewed within companies.
In this interview, former Adidas’ Executive Board Member, Amanda Rajkumar, gives an insight into the key issues that HR teams are tackling, as well as a glimpse into a future in which HR teams may have a battle attracting employees to a traditional workplace.
Key takeaways
- Employee expectations vary dramatically from market to market; but the shifts during the Pandemic continue to have an impact.
- Decision agility is allowing HR teams, which have often been cumbersome, to act quicker and more decisively, but this has to be supported by the C-Suite.
- Cloud-based systems should be a basic requirement for large organisations.
- HR departments are crying out for AI to be deployed for some basic jobs.
- Attitudes towards wellbeing continue to evolve and adapt.
Amanda Rajkumar is an experienced, board level HR practitioner with a career-long interest in inclusive, motivated workforces. Her most recent role was as Adidas’ Executive Board Member overseeing Human Resources, People, and Culture.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Goldsmiths College, London University, UK, and began her professional career as a research psychologist before joining recruitment consultancy JM Management. From 1998 onward, she held senior HR leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase. She joined BNP Paribas in 2009, where, over eleven years, she was responsible for Global Human Resources for different business divisions based out of Europe and the US.
Entering the Nuanced Debate of WFH vs. RTO
Q: Do Employee Expectations Continue to Change After the Pandemic and What Impact Is This Having?
A: It’s not news that the pandemic fundamentally changed ways of working, but it has been interesting to see just how much employees value and prioritise flexibility now, and I don’t see that going away. I’ve just come back from a trip to the US, where a lot of companies have taken a harder stance in making it compulsory to be in the office five days a week.
While it seems to have been received relatively well by those employees I spoke to in the US, the UK and Europe will be different, and I’m interested to see how companies manage that. Employee expectations differ much more than you think between markets, so a one-size-fits-all approach really doesn’t work.
WFH vs. RTO is a nuanced debate. When you dig into why companies want employees in the office five days a week, lots of companies argue that in-person collaboration and connections are important – I agree with that. But the other side of that is a genuine feeling from employees that they are more engaged when they are offered flexibility.
Individuals want to know that the organisation they work for cares about their well-being – if you’re going to mandate returning to the office full time, companies need to be able to articulate well the reasons why and how this benefits their employees. Otherwise, you run the risk of RTO mandates perpetuating a culture of valuing presenteeism over performance.
It’s almost like the Emperor’s New Clothes. Everyone used to go into the office five days a week because they didn’t know any different. The problem is that now they know there is an alternative. I think it’s going to be challenging to expect employees to act like there was no pandemic and no change to their ability to work well outside of the office.
The Emergence of ‘Decision Agility’
Q: What Is Decision Agility and What Role Is It Playing in HR?
A: HR departments are often seen as burdensome operational groups that always follow the same, predictable pattern. But the pandemic, social movements like Black Lives Matter, and geopolitical instability have really created a very different role for HR.
The HR teams making a genuine difference almost always have enlightened CEOs and Boards who have committed time and energy in the past couple of years to focus on solving these issues. They’ve believed in, and backed, HR.
Decision agility involves making decisions quicker and faster without necessarily having all the data at hand. Organisations have had to start thinking differently, relying more on HR to help make such decisions – which has really widened the HR role.
Decision agility is also about trust – giving people the freedom to deliver in whatever way works best for them. Companies should care about the quality of the output, not about when or where the work is done.
How AI is Already Changing HR
Q: AI May Take over Doing Some of the Low-Value Tasks in HR. Do You Think HR Departments Are Ready for This?
A: Yes, I do. They’ve been crying out for it. Historically, there has been a lack of investment in technology for HR departments – but there is so much low-hanging fruit that can be picked using AI.
The most “advanced” companies are the ones that have done their research and now use Cloud-based systems. This, in my view, is a basic minimum for large organisations.
While I do have concerns about AI usage in the selection of candidates, other parts of HR such as benefits data and other administrative items – are often still being recorded in spreadsheets – and are obvious areas that can benefit from better technology. I think in the same way as Finance departments, HR departments can massively benefit from AI.
Q: How Will Approaches Towards Employee Wellbeing Change in the Next Five Years (If at All?)
A: I think approaches will continue to evolve and adapt – there’s still a lot to learn and the effects of the last two or three years have not yet fully been realised.
Attitudes towards work have changed; I recently read a report that said that 70% of Gen Z respondents would consider being freelance as a viable career option – they want to be entrepreneurs, working with purpose, doing their own thing and not for corporate entities.
I am absolutely convinced this is to do with what they saw and experienced during the pandemic, which was hours and hours of people online and never fully switching off.
So there’s a big question around how we, as HR teams within companies, are going to change their minds. We need to be gearing ourselves up to create workplaces that look and feel more entrepreneurial.
We need to think seriously about how we create workplace cultures that make employees feel they can fulfil their own ambitions outside of work and don’t have to fit into this 9 to 5 corporate tradition.
Cloud-based HR Software Essential for Any Business
Q: What software does every HR department need to have in place? Is there a minimum?
A: Cloud-based systems are a must – they centralise employee data and ensure that performance, compensation, learning and promotion data is aggregated smartly. Most companies are still existing with different databases with different datasets, meaning pulling together an employee report requires a lot of manual manipulation. It’s not efficient and it doesn’t allow for flexible, fast decision making.
In my career, I’ve experienced firms with a lack of investment in these systems across HR departments – they seem low priority but they could not be more important.
There are also so many tools available to support recruitment and assessment. I’ve seen and used some great tools that compile and aggregate individuals’ experience and achievements as well as their interests. It brings a much more holistic perspective, which is particularly important when we look at social mobility or diverse representation.
If you’re serious about attracting the widest group of individuals to your company, you need to have these tools in place.
Q: Does this change with the size and nature of the company?
A: I’ve worked in both large and small companies – I think both need to invest in smart employee systems.
I come from a banking background, which is regulated and the demand on having robust, confidential and compliant systems is non-negotiable. It’s very different in other industries, where they are seen much more as a nice to have.
I know of many companies that are just embarking on their journey using the Cloud – it can be expensive and time consuming, but it is worth it. Once you have that functionality in place, growth is much more streamlined. You’re essentially making your life easier in the long term, even if it feels like a pain at the time.
Q: What questions do HR departments need to be asking about their work to find the right software to support them?
A: When I go into an HR department, the first thing I ask to see is data – the key metrics, number of employees, retention levels, attrition rate, promotion criteria and demographic data. I appreciate that not every company will have that, but it’s always my first port of call.
You must have the basics to understand the baseline of the company, before you can consult with stakeholders on their views for culture.
If you want to have a high performing organisation, you need to have a strong data analytics team. Just having the data from employee surveys and pulse checks is not enough; you need to have a team that is able to break down the data into something meaningful and informative.
An analytics team can take that data and provide informed insights – this means that the HR team can sit down with the CEO and Board members and show them exactly what is happening. HR software is a critical tool in equipping the C-Suite to see what is going on in the wider company and what needs to be done.
If resources for a data analytics team aren’t available, the HR team needs to be data proficient. If, as an HR professional, you don’t know your attrition rate or why people are leaving, that is a real problem. Put simply, you won’t be able to do your job.
Q: How often do HR departments need to be doing an audit of what packages they have in place?
A: Obviously, this depends on the size of the company. I would suggest at least yearly, but some HR departments will have two/three-year cycles. When a new HR lead comes in, I think they need to do a complete review of what is already in place.
They need to ensure that the right data is being collected in the right way and in the right place. They need to be confident that they have the hiring, performance, compensation, and promotion data they need to get to grips with the business they’ve just entered.
HR leads are sometimes hired specifically to firefight in a company – when that has happened to me, data has been absolutely essential for me to do my job.
That first review of the critical KPIs – such as time to hire, attrition rates, demographical hiring and performance rankings versus overall company performance – provides volumes of insights and also can dictate where the deeper work needs to be done. It means you can prioritise and tackle the most critical issues first, with the confidence that the data and tools are there to tackle less critical issues when the time comes.
