Organizations must heavily invest in future skills upgrades in order to thrive in the new world of work: Paul Birch

Efforts for skills development of the workforce must have an impact on creating better employment and stronger business. While much focus is placed on technology in future-of-work discussions, other factors, such as flexibility and skill shortages, play a large role in how work will be done.

In an exclusive interview, Paul Birch, Chief People & Culture Officer, Transdev, Australasia, shares how organizations can work towards developing skills and ensure having the right skills in the right place along with insights on the employment outlook across industries, occupations, and skill levels in Australia.

Paul Birch is Chief People & Culture Officer at Transdev, Australasia based in Melbourne. Paul has worked at the C Suite HR executive level for more than 25 years across various industries, including airlines, oil and gas construction, engineering, and transportation. He has extensive international experience and has worked and lived in India, UAE, Australia, and the UK performing global and regional roles. Paul has recruited talent from all over the world and believes a multi-national workforce gives any organization competitive strength and diversity of ideas.

Q. Now more than ever, organizations are reflecting on the new realities of a post-COVID workplace and the necessary changes that accompany this ever-evolving landscape. What does employee and company success look like in a new era?

The pandemic has had a profound effect on the Employer-Employee relationship, and it will never be the same. Those employers who look backwards yearning or commanding for things to return to the old normal are corporate ‘King Canute’s’ trying to turn the tides around, and will fail to attract & engage the one thing they desperately need – ‘People’.

This often means the HR Leader must be the bearer of bad news providing a new dose of reality to CEOs and Boards. At the same, they must come up with effective solutions in an environment that organisations and their leaders have never experienced before.

Successful organisations will be those who are prepared to universally invest in the development and well-being of their employees and provide them with excellent service. Give employees a clear purpose and vision for the organisation and provide the flexibility and trust in them to perform. They also need to be prepared to think out of the box and invest in new ways to sustainably source and attract new talent.

Q. As per the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s unemployment rate plummeted to 3.5% in June, the lowest rate in 48 years. The fall in unemployment occurred despite another increase in the workforce participation rate rising to a record high of 66.8 per cent. In your view, what are some of the key factors influencing this employment growth?

Australia is now experiencing critical skill shortages across every sector of public and private enterprise.

For a country heavily dependent on migration for talent and skills, closed its borders for 2 years during COVID 2020 – 2021 and experienced a significant loss of labour resources. Over 500,000 temporary workers have left the country since 2020 due to the pandemic and are returning at a trickle. In 2019 net migration added 250,000 to the population. By March 2021 net migration was minus 95,000.

International students, an important source of temporary labour, is down by 200,000 compared to 2019. In Australia, during COVID many baby boomers left the workforce for good bringing forward their retirement.
For those industries heavily impacted such as airlines, retail, and tourism many laid-off employees won’t be coming back to those vulnerable sectors and have opted for new careers.

Total job vacancies nationally were 480,100 in May 2022 an increase of 13.8% from Feb 2022. (source Australian Bureau of Statistics Quarterly Job Vacancies Report May 2022). The Australian economy is experiencing strong growth in goods and services and exports all fueling increasing demand for labour and higher wages. Economists are now predicting that unemployment will further reduce to 2.9% by the end of 2022.

Q. Enticing foreign-born workers whose skills are in high demand is a globally competitive playing field. What policies should Australia adopt to attract these foreign workers?

Australia is a country of migrants with over 30% of the current population born overseas. The current top five countries that are a source of permanent migrants in rank order are – China, India, the UK, the Philippines, and Vietnam (Australia Govt Dept of Home Affairs 2020-1).
The Australian Govt is increasing the range of occupations that qualify for permanent or temporary visas and is attempting to speed up the application approval process which compared to other countries like Canada and New Zealand takes too long.

However, employers could do a lot more in proactively attracting and recruiting overseas talent at all levels, not just a small number of senior executives or specialists. Rather than just wait to see who arrives as new migrants, Australia companies need to go and source talent in their home countries in greater numbers and be prepared to sponsor them and provide the extra support that new migrants need.

For many Australian HR professionals, this will be a whole new experience. For many organisations, this will be a new cost of doing business where alternatives are scarce.

Q. The most pressing challenge facing business today is a shortage of skills. With workplaces under enormous strain, it is placing a handbrake on economic growth. How can organisations work towards developing skills and better ensure having the right skills in the right place? Tell us about some of the best practices at Transdev.

Transdev Australasia recruits close to 1,500 new “Journey Makers” every year.

One thing I have learnt is that there is no “Silver Bullet “and you must be prepared to try many things at once and accept failures, learn fast, move on, and try something else. Recruitment by itself is not the answer you have to be investing in other activities in parallel.

At Transdev, the following practices are implemented:

• Generating recruitment data to understand what is happening. For example, if you are using social media channels to advertise roles you need to understand target market responses including numbers, locations, and demographics of candidates. Understand why candidates are dropping out of the process and adjust your approach.
• Have a compelling employee value proposition that sets you apart and attracts candidates who would never have considered a career in public transport. At Transdev we previously launched a new EVP “Journey Maker “that has been very successful in attracting diverse talent during COVID.
• Invest in sourcing and recruitment – significant increases in expenditure on digital and hard copy advertising and recruitment fairs,
• Invest in training to attract and retain talent. During COVID we recruited over 500 new employees into trainee and apprentice roles where they are given accredited training leading to a qualification. The majority had never worked in public transport before.
• Employee referral and retention programs offer financial incentives.
• Optimise available Govt incentives and grants to fund skills development.
• Regular review of employee compensation and benefits to maintain competitiveness.
• Leadership training and development programs have accelerated during COVID not decreased.
• Skill shortage workshops with business leadership teams to create action plans and joint ownership.
• Employee communication and services have been enhanced by mobile apps designed to increase engagement and satisfaction.
• Employee wellbeing programs and activities.
• Review of HR Policies that are aligned with the new environment – For example Flexible Working, Leave Entitlements, Remote Working, Cyber Security.

Q. It’s already clear that COVID-19 won’t cease to be an issue for individual workplaces and our economy for some time yet. In your view, what are the top issues that need to be identified by businesses to prepare for the future of work?

Offering permanent flexible working arrangements on a mass scale to attract and retain employees. This is not just for the office based but also for those in operational roles where flexibility is harder to give.

Take a global approach to talent acquisition, searching beyond the domestic market.

Heavily invest in future skills upgrades and employee wellbeing.

Train leaders on how to perform and behave in the new world of work. Focus on engagement and motivation and their role in attracting and retaining talent.

Use technology to provide great employee services and open communication. Give them the same or better level of services and experience than that would be given in their private lives. It’s now a hygiene factor, not a nice one to have. Continue to lobby Govt and Industry bodies to make changes that will remove barriers and create new initiatives to tackle skill shortages.

Source: GWFM NEWS