By Angela Hickmore, Managing Director, Norman Broadbent Interim Management.
For the Interim HR community , 2017 will see the continuing trend for driving business change and as a natural consequence changes to the people agenda. <div>During 2016, we saw organisations reshaping their business to create greater efficiencies and greater capacity, the investment in and impact of technology, the potential threats from Brexit and the age old issue of talent acquisition and retention. Not surprisingly, these changes create interesting and varied opportunities for experienced HR interim professionals.</div> <div></div> <div>But now in the throws of 2017, change is driven by different levers. In discussions with clients from the start of the year, there is increased interesting in engaging more with employees, a focus on employee well-being and the need to look at culture - all of this with the recognition that this will all lead to improved productivity, customer engagement and business performance. Whether it be the banks, car manufacturers or retailers, corporate scandals have been linked to bad practice causing lack of trust and a break down in culture. Further scandals on "fat cat " salaries juxtaposed with failure to pay minimum wage are all driving organisations to look again at the employee and the culture and behaviours which prevail.</div> <div></div> <div>Remuneration was a big topic in 2016 with a high demand for interim staff specialising in reward. For 2017, the challenges still remain in creating fair compensation schemes which are competitive and support talent acquisition and retention but also support high performance and productivity. Several large employers in 2016 like Deloitte and Accenture announced they were scrapping ratings within the annual performance review. New ideas are clearly needed on how to link pay to performance and for many clients the idea of taking interims from outside their own sector to stimulate new thinking and ideas is attractive.</div> <div></div> <div>With permanent hiring in certain areas such as Digital, Risk and Finance being at times difficult in 2016, there was an increased need to provide interim cover for Gap Management. Whilst this will be a reccurring theme in 2017, increasingly the challenge for many HR functions is working with the business to challenge old job descriptions and to create meaningful new profiles which may have a different combination of skills, knowledge and experience whilst also embracing the impact of disruptive technology. Clients are asking us for interim support to help rethink new organisational designs and capability requirements.</div> <div></div> <div>And finally , there is the continuing changing face of flexible employment including remote working, working part time, job-shares, and an agility to create a blend of permanent, contract and interim staff. Whilst none of this is new, it is becoming more the norm, and alongside employee engagement and well-being having the right people at the right time ensures the ability to gain the competitive edge .</div> <div></div> <div>Today more than at any time, HR leaders are tasked with finding people solutions to support business transformation , and to finding the solution quickly.</div> <div></div> <div>If we can support your HR function and business with specialist interim Executives with some of the many challenges business face in 2017 please contact Angela Hickmore, Managing Director of Norman Broadbent Interim Management, on angela.hickmore@normanbroadbentinterim.com or 07483015584.</div> <div align="justify"></div>