Section 3: Policy and Governance – who owns it?

Section 3: Policy and Governance: Who owns it?

Policies underwent significant change and had a deep impact on recruitment and HR processes. Companies tried to meet workers' needs, becoming more flexible and giving more independence to employees with varied outcomes. But the real issue, according to the session attendees, is the ownership of policies and governance, especially in the current climate.

FLEXIBILITY COMES FROM THE TOP

More empowered employees impact leadership processes, whether around people's contracts or the actual workplace itself. Flexibility is needed to apply a recruitment policy, for example, to align with times that respect employee needs. At the same time, guidelines from CEOs and managers are essential to answer important questions such as: “What's the culture like here?”, “What is a typical working week like?”, “How will I work?”.

As a matter of fact, according to the attendee Elizabeth East from WJEC, when it comes to recruitment “In order for businesses to be successful they need to look at policies and processes. Many organisations now are becoming so much more flexible, which is what people want, it’s what candidates want. People will be looking for that balance, and for some it will have more importance than salary.”

Essentially, decisions around flexibility need to come from those who set the culture. It is necessary that senior leaders set the parameters needed to ensure successful processes and policies can be developed.

Customer Focus
HR Process

CHALLENGE:

The speed of on-boarding new staff meant the process could not keep pace with the retailer’s dynamic rate of expansion

“Our new colleagues are able to feel engaged with and valued by the business much more quickly through this streamlined process”

David Grady, IT Director, B&M Retail

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A BENCHMARK FOR TALENT

The talent shortages we’ve all read about in the news have been felt by HR teams across the country.

As claimed by Ricoh’s own Lena Russell, Head of People Experience & Talent, HR teams are:

“Struggling from a candidate perspective to match talent to the business needs - the speed of change in the marketplace is just really, really difficult”.

In this regard, despite the recent action calls from the British government to “go back to work”, as underlined by Caroline Roberts, HR Director at CBI:

“There are external factors, there is rampant inflation for instance. Whether it's your shopping bill or buying white goods, there has been a 20% rise in the last three months on some frequently purchased items, and wages aren't going up. So, people are saying: ‘well, I really can't afford to come into the office now.’”

For those living further away from their office, asking them to make the drive to work during the recent fuel crisis was like asking them to choose work over life – the office over the supermarket or their children’s school – rather than ensuring a balance between the two is struck.

According to HR, at the moment, what we are lacking is clear direction. Employees are not looking for random statements, but rather for guidelines, in terms of recruitment policies and value propositions. This should not negatively affect the culture of the company, but it should create an organisational infrastructure that aims at a unified workforce.