New skills the priority as companies regroup after pandemic

HR skills still needed post-pandemic, even as businesses turn to tech.

Sarah McCann-Bartlett on the need for reskilling

It’s been a tough year for many of the nation’s human resource practitioners as they have felt the impact of business cost-cutting.

Many have spent weeks or months making staff redundant, turned around to put some of their own teams out of work, and sometimes even had to sack themselves, says Sarah McCann-Bartlett, chief executive of the Australian HR Institute.

Those left behind have, paradoxically, often found themselves with a wider and, arguably, more challenging remit.

“If we look back at the pandemic, we see the HR role has actually changed and expanded into broader issues such as risk management, helping design future business strategy and become an essential part of the leadership of the organisation,” says McCann-Bartlett.

An AHRI survey released this week found that practitioners were increasingly focused on the need to upskill workers, especially in digital skills, automation, robotics and AI as part of the business recovery in 2021.

The survey, Skills for a Post-Pandemic Future, found that recruitment was expected to accelerate in early 2021, according to 80 per cent of HR practitioners, but only just over half (50.8 per cent) were confident their organisation’s workforce had the skills needed for recovery post-pandemic, and only 22.3 per cent were confident that they would recruit for the specific skills needed.

Only 36.1 per cent were confident their HR team had the skills required for a post-pandemic recovery. They cited barriers such as a lack of time and resources, a focus on reacting to present priorities or emergencies, a lack of strategic planning, and access to affordable courses.

And some expressed frustration about the HR role in the crisis, with one saying: “Senior leaders are cutting costs too lean, and HR’s previous strategic partnering role has taken a back seat to deal with more operational issues.”

McCann-Bartlett says digital technology is “essential and inevitable”, adding that HR people need to develop their digital competence and also work out how to partner with chief technology officers because “the relationship between people and machines will be symbiotic, mutually supportive”.

She says HR people need to be involved in developing the skills that can’t be done by IT.

“IT is never going to be innovative or creative or be capable of critical thinking or have emotional intelligence,” McCann-Bartlett says.

“The more AI does the learning, the more we are going to have to be critical about the decisions AI makes. Are they making logical and ethical decisions?”

McCann-Bartlett says the profession is at the “cusp” of introducing the training needed to manage increased digitalisation of the economy, but “the future of tech is so unknown that it is hard to envisage the training that we will need”.

She argues, however, that people will need to be adaptable and have “changeability” competence. And even with massive hardship because of COVID-19, the pandemic may well have allowed some workers to develop skills that will help them re-enter the workforce next year.

“When you think about the skills that have taken businesses through the pandemic — resilience, changeability and adaptability,” she says.

“When you think about people who are looking for jobs again.

“I am hoping employers will look more broadly and take into account these essential skills.

“The thing about a person who has worked in a lot of casual or temporary jobs in various sectors is they have learnt adaptability and changeability.”

McCann-Bartlett says next year will be very tough, but “if you think creatively about your journey in an out of the workplace and how to apply skills like resilience and being a good communicator” you could be well placed to obtain a job in a new area.