Perhaps the most alarming statistic was that only 55% of respondents said their organisations had a clear people strategy, suggesting that almost half of Australian-based organisations do not have a clear and well-defined people strategy in place. At a time when, more than ever, businesses expect maximum strategic value from their HR functions, surely it’s slightly concerning that such a large number of organisations seemingly do not have a clear people strategy?

 suggesting that HR is right up there with the most analytical functions in business and even a little ahead of what we perceive to be the most quantitively oriented functions such as Finance. Clearly, more and more HR functions are using data to drive conversations with the business and to provide meaningful insights into future workforce needs, attrition, employee engagement and other key people metrics. 

One of the most fascinating survey results was on the topic of tenure, with 40% of our survey respondents saying they had been in their current organisation for less than one year and only 1% for 10 years or more. On top of that, over half of respondents (58%) said they were thinking of seeking a new role in the first half of this year. Whilst it’s commonly known that job tenure in Australia has been declining steadily over the last two decades for a number of socio-economic reasons, the results do suggest that, on the whole, organisations still have work to do in engaging, developing and retaining their people. Clearly, this isn’t lost on senior HR leaders, evidenced by those previously touched on strategic pillars of leadership capability, culture and employee engagement.

On a final positive note, flexible working continues to evolve rapidly. We’ve noticed a significant shift in the uptake of flexible working practices over the course of the last five years, with advancements in workplace technology transforming the way we do business. Of course, technology is only a part of it, and there has no doubt been a marked cultural shift as Australian employers increasingly embrace flexible working conditions – and employees demand them! Our survey revealed that 90% of respondents have access to flexible working arrangements, chief amongst them the ability to work from home (90%), non-standard hours (64%), part-time opportunities (62%), and study leave (41%).