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What are companies looking for in HR leaders these days? Anything new? 

Good question. If we think about just this year, you could say that everything has changed. HRD’s and CPO’s have tackled a challenge like no other.  They have drawn upon all their expertise, skills and knowledge (new and old) to safely guide their organisations through this storm (often with leaky boats and old maps!).   It is fair to say that logistics, comms, risk and most importantly employee wellbeing have been front and centre.   A massive undertaking and by no means is it over yet but well done to each and every HR leader who has steered their people through it.

But lets put Covid aside for the moment (its’ had more than its fair share of the limelight), and I would suggest that the profile being sought was already shifting.    In what way?  This may sound obvious, but HR technical depth has never been more important.   It wasn’t long ago that some companies were deliberately sourcing outside of the HR discipline for the top HR job. Whilst this had many HR folk scratching their heads and questioning their value, it seemed to satisfy a perceived gap in strategy and/or innovation.  I take nothing away from that approach and in some businesses it has been successful.  But fast forward and we have had a couple of Royal Commissions, including the Hayne Royal Commission, along with more than our fair share of under payment scandals.  There is a heightened focus on governance, compliance and adherence to legislative practices. Risk and HR have never worked more closely together and rightly so. Yes organisations still want to create “great places to work” and rest assured competition for talent will get tougher post Covid, but they want to ensure that the great place they cultivate is also doing the right thing.   Fundamental to this is an HR service delivery model that works and systems that can process the complexity of our employment practices and industrial instruments.  An HR leader that knows how it all connects from process through to culture will be in high demand.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of requirements and each role will vary the weighting on specific elements ie IR and OD, along with nuances dependent upon industry, size, maturity, complexity and ownership structure.   If anything, the list keeps getting longer as the expectations continue to rise for anyone holding a C-suite role.   But there does seem to have been a subtle shift towards valuing technical proficiency, so long as it is delivered in a commercially and culturally aligned way. 

Angela Horkings - Director

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