Earlier this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers released a “10Minutes” paper offering companies advice on how to transform their human resources in order to get more value out of it.
The paper recommended a move towards outcome-oriented performance measures, by focusing more on the impact of HR on the overall business, the value created by HR, performance based on talent and the revenue, profit and cost of a company’s workforce compared to its productivity.
Four key insights of how HR can help the bottom line were explained.
1. Build the brand – enhance company reputation by aligning the external brand with desired corporate culture
2. Align talent and corporate strategies – find talent that will help turn strategy into reality
3. Develop talent – Encourage talent and leadership development while creating a performance culture
4. Measure success – measure the impact of HR activities on business results
The paper cites data from PwC’s 13th Annual Global CEO Survey that found 79 percent of CEOs intend to refocus on how they manage people through change, which suggests “a fundamental need to align HR strategies with the overall business strategy.” ...(read more)
Working from home, satellite offices, job sharing and flexibility around when job hours are worked. With the traditional 9 to 5 workday becoming extended around increasingly busy lifestyles, new thinking about how work is undertaken may need to enter the workforce faster than is now occurring.
International studies have shown that flexible work environments increase job satisfaction, enhance employee loyalty, lower stress and reduce staff turnover rates. So what do organisation’s need to start thinking about and more importantly, what’s in it for them?
Pivot talked to Sydney-based Nathan DeFries – Director, Compensation & Benefits, Asia Pacific – from Luxottica, the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of eyewear (including brands like OPSM, Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ban and Oakley), for his views on this rising trend...(read more)
My neighbour recently bought a flash new weed sprayer to assist with controlling his garden, and save all that time using a watering can. Unfortunately during his first use of the tool, the technically-challenged fellow pumped the pressure up too high and blew the top off the sprayer, covering himself and his garden with a good dose of poison.
Technology is great for achieving efficiencies, but badly applied it can be disaster. As Microsoft founder Bill Gates once said, “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”
The same is true when applying technology to managing HR. These systems offer huge potential to improve staff engagement, but organisations need to be careful not to assume technology is the best solution to an HR problem.
HR is an essentially ‘human’ management function. It is about maximising a company’s investment in people, but also about relationships, communication, respect and lots of other human values. Too often people forget this when applying information technology to HR. It is not the same purely analytical process as an accounting or production management system...(read more)
Pivot Software has been named one of three finalists in the Emerging Exporter category of the 2010 Air New Zealand Cargo Canterbury Export Awards.
The Awards celebrate and recognise the outstanding achievements of exporters in Canterbury. “Canterbury is heavily dependent on exports and imports and it is very encouraging to see the exporting success stories that are identified through the Awards.” says Peter Townsend, Chief Executive of the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce.
“We continue to be amazed at the entrepreneurial flair of our exporting community and the way they take such a novel approach to developing and servicing international markets” adds Townsend.
Sometimes you've got to think small to think big.
When Christchurch-based human resource management software firm Pivot Software first entered the Australian market three years ago it didn’t herald its arrival by splashing out on flash offices. Instead the company got friendly with an Aussie outfit.
HR consultancy Hewitt had a great list of clients in sectors Pivot wanted to target, such as the professional engineering space. “So we used that as a kind of test ground to gauge the interest,” says Pivot managing director Pip Youngman. “We tried to create a beachhead.”
Through working the relationships, Pivot gained a key customer — engineering services company Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM). The company is an important player in that market, says Youngman, “and as a result anything that was happening with them was very interesting for their competitors”. The win also generated talk amongst the close-knit HR community, she says — and the buzz was infectious....(read more)