Many people make New Year Resolutions. Following age old wisdom, they make the targets very specific and, frequently, unrealistic.

Perhaps, as we go into a calendar year which is still massively influenced by recent events, our goals might be more general. To reflect on a few:

• Purpose
• Positivity
• Controlling the Controllable’s
• Looking after others better
• Protecting our health
• Decide the things which need changing
• Stop doing things because they are just expected of you
• Learn to have Difficult Conversations
• Accept fewer fools in your life
• Have fun

Work Horizons

In 1991, Rover Group signed an agreement with the Trades Unions called the ‘New Deal’. At its core, in return for full flexibility from the workforce, the Company committed to ‘Jobs for Life’, in effect no compulsory redundancies. However, there remained a need to change the balance of the workforce, particularly an imbalance between white collar (staff) and blue collar (manual) workers.

In the years leading up to this deal, the company had used external consultants to provide outplacement support. It was, to be brutally frank, low level. For example, everyone had the same CV but with a different name on it and a few tweaks to the job titles. We were spending a lot of money for, in effect, PR purposes.

These pressures combined to create an internal outplacement function, which was called Skills Network. I developed it from an almost literal blank sheet of paper. Whether the affected people sought a role within Rover Group or with an alternative employer, most of the help was common, individualised CV, interview practice, personal coaching. Given there wasn’t any Compulsory Redundancy, there was also a need to find productive projects for the people whilst job hunting.

Of course, throughout the time up to April 2005, when MG Rover went into Administration and ultimately liquidation, we supported thousands of people. Not everyone asked for much help except their redundancy cheque, but some needed to be ‘re-built’. Probably our most concentrated efforts were through the rests of 2005 as we established who needed to be retained to close the business down, what the effects on pensions were and where there were jobs. As an aside, being involved in a business closure, and supporting central and local government was an intense learning period.

By Work Horizons director, Rob Ball.

As we, potentially, return to the workplace but in a hybrid approach in which time is split with working from home, there will be many effects.

To consider one, it is generally assumed that women will spend more time at home than male colleagues. This was a view strongly expressed by the experts in a Reuters Conference seminar. A specific negative for women may be that men build strong collegiate relationships in the workplace, which exclude them.

Nothing deliberate or discriminatory by design, but it could put the clock back by years and enlarge the pay gap between the genders.

It has been more than 50 years since the ‘Equal Pay Act’ was given royal assent.

The purpose of the act was stated as:

 ‘An act to prevent discrimination, as regards terms and conditions of employment, between men and women’

Progress however, has not been stunning. Fifty years on, the UK’s overall median gender pay gap is still almost 20%. More encouragingly perhaps, is that the national debate on this subject has moved on from’ preventing discrimination ’, to ‘being fair’, which has more of a moral foundation in that ‘It’s only right that people receive the same pay for the same work isn’t it?’

So, more needs to be done to close this gap and to bring genuine fairness into pay. The publishing of gender pay gap reports required since 2017 in the UK, for employers with a headcount of 250 or more, has at least provided more transparency. In addition to legislation, active investor scrutiny and feedback from internal stakeholders, has kept the subject in the spotlight. As a result, many responsible employers have started to take serious action to address the gap, but the problem and the moral imperative, still exist on a large scale.

Both transparency and the availability of more data, are likely to grow as pay gap reporting extends to subjects like ethnicity, disability, and age. Whilst this will be welcomed, the solutions and action plans to address some of the fairness issues that these reports are likely to reveal, are a lot less clear.

At the time of the 1970 Act’s introduction, the science of Reward was in its infancy . Most salary structures that were negotiated with trade unions were typically rigid, and placed more emphasis on company service than on individual contribution and personal performance. Since then, there have been significant changes in Reward thinking, particularly in areas like market and competitor information, salary surveys, digitisation of employee benefits and self-service, and the concept of ‘total reward’ coming into play. However, arguably, the complete redesign and overhaul of the reward system, to ensure fairness and take account of the major changes to the world of work, has not been a major priority for businesses.

Pressures are now growing beyond gender pay issues. This will mean that the companies will be forced to take more radical action in this, and to pay more regard to the factors which are important to employees that many companies have yet to take account of in their Reward policies and practices. Covid-19 has played a large part in driving these changes, bringing home working, wellbeing, and mental health, firmly onto the employment agenda.

Structurally, the employment market has transformed, and account now needs to be taken of an ageing workforce, and the different workplace and employment demands of the various work generations. Research shows that generation Z ,for example, see workplace flexibility as the most sought-after benefit, and desire employers to provide support with things like assistance with student debt.

Senior HR people are also wrestling with how to maintain a balance of fairness in organisational reward, between those who are home working, and those who are required to come into the office on a regular basis.

Then there is the important question of talent Attraction and retention to consider. As we move out of the worst impact of the pandemic, many companies are reporting difficulty in hiring staff with the right skills, and in a number of cases are simply jacking up salaries to attract talent. While this might give a short-term answer, the issues of fairness to existing loyal staff who might now be getting paid less than the new hire are significant.

All of these external changes highlight the continued need for transparency in Reward, but also emphasise the need for flexibility in response and speed of action, to ensure that effective strategies and policies are developed and deployed.

These need to be supported by high engagement with stakeholders ,excellence in communication, and a serious commitment to transparency and fairness. Moreover, the strategy must support the business aims and help it succeed in attracting, retaining, and motivating the best talent available.

Some organisations have branded this as a ‘smart’ Reward strategy, but whatever its name, the challenge for organisations to rethink and redesign is real, exciting, and significant. The time has come to be creative, innovative, and bold.

In our consultancy work with organisations facing this challenge, we are able to draw upon highly experienced resources within the Work Horizons team, who have developed responses, solutions, and strategies to address complex Reward issues. The importance of having an effective Reward Strategy in your organisation cannot be overstated – we can help you get it done and get it right!

As part of growing the strategic and practical contribution to their businesses, many HR leaders have appointed people responsible for diversity and inclusion in their organisations.

The incidence of creating such roles is growing and there is no doubt that the importance of diversity and inclusion is firmly on the HR agenda in most progressive businesses. In doing so, it’s important to remember that diversity and inclusion are two separate concepts with connected but different goals. 

Diversity is aimed at recognising and taking account of the diverse needs of individuals from different social, economic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, genders, disabilities, sexual orientations, religions and more. All these factors can provide relative measures of performance, and many businesses now report on these as part of their annual reporting cycle.

The business case for diversity has been around for decades, but the practice of Diversity Management only really began to take effect in the 1980s particularly in the USA with processes like affirmative action gaining momentum. The work of researchers such as Kelly and Dobson (1998) made the point that diversity wasn’t just the right thing to do, it was good for business.

Inclusion is the process of creating an environment in which individuals or members of groups feel welcomed, heard, respected, supported, valued and able to reach their full potential, whatever their background or identity or whatever disabilities they have. 

Gallup undertook research in 2018 and stated that ‘’recognising that diversity and inclusion are very different things is the first step in the journey toward creating a uniquely diverse and inclusive culture.”

In our experience, the necessity of managing diversity and inclusion well goes far beyond the remit of human resource management. A number of concrete steps are needed for diversity and inclusion to become an embedded part of corporate culture, which HR can lead on and drive, but should share ownership with business leaders.

Some of the steps we recommend that clients take are:

• Demonstrate and communicate that senior management is responsible for Diversity and Inclusion, and for fair and equal employment 
• Develop and publish policies which have input from people at all levels in the organisation to establish clear procedures on non-discrimination and equal opportunities 
• Have outstanding recruitment and on-boarding processes which provide opportunities for all

• Create effective ,accessible and innovative training programmes at all levels 
• Support ongoing sensitisation and unconscious bias campaigns to combat stereotypes.
• Hire and develop leaders who promote a diverse culture
• Set measurable goals and specific time frames to achieve aims.
• Speedily address complaints, manage appeals, and provide support to employees in cases where discrimination is found.
• Listen to your people ,establish internal groups and forums to get real and valid feedback and celebrate differences.

Clearly, there is a lot more to do besides this, but having a well-structured, planned and measurable diversity and inclusion programme is fundamental to achieving success.

Within Work Horizons, we are fortunate to have outstanding and respected consultants who have world class diversity and inclusion experience. Recent success in this area includes working with a client on reviewing, refreshing, and enhancing their established approach to diversity and inclusion. A really positive feature of this work was that we were able to bring people of all levels together to share their thoughts and experiences through facilitated workshops. This was a fitting example of how to get diversity and inclusion more fully embedded in the organisation culture and to make this happen quickly.

Work Horizons would be pleased to support your diversity and inclusion efforts with our experienced and credible team.