THE 21st CENTURY WORKPLACE & SHRM

 

THE 21st CENTURY WORKPLACE & SHRM

   

 Available at Group of Multiethnic People Studying About Teamwork

This is why SHRM is laying out our vision for the 21st century workplace. Drawing from our HR expertise and our nearly seventy-year history of helping people and organizations thrive we identified three principles to make the new workplace work.

(01)  we must have a workplace that is innovative—that gives organizations and people the flexibility to determine how, when and where work gets done. People want to provide value and they want to be valued. But they're trying to balance work and personal lives that are more intertwined than ever before.

SHRM has been surveying the employee benefits landscape for 20 years, and do you know what has tripled in that time? It's not healthcare benefits not retirement benefits it's certainly not pay—It's telecommuting. If a company can achieve its' goals while making their employees' lives a bit easier they are on the right track because in the 21st century workplace innovative, creative work practices—will determine success.

Available at : Skills Learning Personal development Competency Business concept.

Skills Learning Personal development Competency Business concept 2021.

 

(02) we must have a workplace that is competitive-that allows companies to attract, recruit hire and train the talent they need. The reality is the skills in highest demand are in the shortest supply Everything from the so-called soft skills in communication, leadership and others, to the technical skills needed for today's jobs. As a result, the competition for talent is immense. About two out of every three HR professionals say they're having a hard time hiring for full-time jobs while many people are still searching for good jobs! And in this frenzied effort to match jobs with where the skills are people and companies are moving around the world. So no organization will be able to avoid the global competition for talent. To compete and win in the 21st century workplace, companies will have to be much more creative and flexible in the way they approach everything from recruitment to employee engagement, from performance management to benefits. But you know, even with a workplace that is innovative and even with a workplace that is competitive, we still want and need a work place that is equitable—fair to people and the companies they work for. A workplace that gives everyone a fair shot and equal pay for equal work. Because I think very few people - if any- are productive if they don't believe they are treated fairly.

 

As HR professionals, we must lead the conversation about the 21st century workplace and bring all of our skills to bear on it. Already, many of you are doing just that. Look at companies like Google with their campus culture or Tata in India with their own university concept or Zappos with their flat organizational structure or Adobe with their enlightened view on performance management. All of these organizations and others of all sizes are trying to redefine the employee-employer relationship for the 21st century. But not everyone is on the same page.

 

(03)  Take the recent overhaul of the U.S. overtime regulations. The spirit of the overtime regulation is to boost incomes of hard-working employees who do indeed work overtime to help their businesses succeed; to restore that basic sense of fairness. But the new standards the Department of Labor set, are simply too much, too quickly and out of step with today's work environment. Millions of workers may lose the professional 'exempt' status they worked hard for and more importantly lose the flexibility that goes with it. The rule may return us to that outdated way of working I mentioned earlier where people feel bound to their desk and the clock. Of course, SHRM led the coalition to make the voice of HR and business heard on this important issue. You can't imagine what this regulation would have been without SHRM's input. In fact, a member of Congress recently called me to thank SHRM for our work leading the response to the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations. You can be sure that SHRM will continue that work to ensure your voice is heard and to get you the information you need to comply. But the bottom line is this:

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Creative Startup Team have meeting in their new office. Blon

 

(04)  Leaders here in Washington and around the world are developing policies like this overtime rule to try and strike a balance between the needs of companies and the people who work for them. They need our help and ideas because a cornerstone of the 21st century workplace, will be getting this balance right. SHRM is taking these principles of innovation, competitiveness and fairness to all elected leaders, government officials and candidates for office to influence policies as they are drafted. I want to thank the 262 SHRM state councils and chapters that have alread signed onto these principles. And this week you'll learn more about adding your voice to this conversation.

(05)  HOW HR CAN HELP.

But there's another way you can help. Don't just talk about what the 21st century workplace should look like. Lead the way there. Shape the policies set the new standards that will make people and companies winners in today's business environment. You see, there is no more one-size-fits-all approach to human capital management. What we need most is flexibility to think and do things differently than we did fifty years ago. We need new ideas for a new workplace. Like those employee benefits packages and those talent and telework strategies that our colleagues talked about in that commercial? That's far more than putting policies on paper. They're about building the new employee-employer relationship that will work in your company. That will make people, businesses, society and even nations stronger. They're about making the 21st century workplace work.

(06)  HR HAS RISEN TO THE CHALLENGE BEFORE.

You know, in only a few decades HR has evolved from a brand new occupation into a global profession. Just look around this room. HR has gone from personnel administration to human resource management to people strategy to talent management and now, is expected to be the leader in business today. HR was on the frontlines when legislation on fair labor standards and civil rights and retirement and leave changed the face of the workplace. And we have always been the ones focused on the greatest resource -the human resource-even as others thought cash or new technology was all it took to build a great company. But here's my point:

 

Each and every time this profession has been called upon to make the workplace work we have risen to the challenge. I have no doubt we will do it again. As for those voices we heard last year questioning whether or not HR was up to the challenge? Well one of them recently reported and I quote- "We believe HR is turning the corner." I say, not only have we turned the corner we're full speed ahead.

 

(07) CONCLUSION,

HR has already come so far as a profession and our work is too important to stop It is the Decade of Human Capital. People, business and society need your human capital expertise - your leadership to solve some of the toughest challenges they face. So let's lead the way on policies that make sense for today. Let's take the relationship between employers and workers to the next level. Let's do what only HR can do. Let's make the 21st century workplace work.

1      Reference,

2.       Anders, G., “Rich Bank, Poor Bank,” review of The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs (The Penguin Press, 2008) The New York Times, Oct. 12, 2008.

 

3.     Cohan, W. D., “The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Cayne,” Fortune, Aug. 18, 2008, page94.

 

4.      Degeorge, F., Patel, J. and Zeckhauser, R., “Earnings Management to Exceed Thresholds,” Journal of BusinessJanuary 1999, 72(1) pages 1-33.

 

5.      Ernst & Young, 2008 Global HR Risk: From the Danger Zone to the value Zone—Accelerating Business Improvement by Navigating HR Risk, October 2008.

 

6.      Frase, M. J., “Smart Selections,” HR Magazine, December 2007.

 

7.      Gladwell, M., “The Talent Myth: Are Smart People Overrated?,” The New Yorker, July 2, 2002, pages 28-33.

 

8.      Jensen, M. C., “Paying People to Lie: The Truth About the Budgeting Process,” European Financial Management, September 2003, 9(3), pages 379-406.

( End)