Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

HR needs to grab its chance to lead

by Personnel Today 23 Sep 2003
by Personnel Today 23 Sep 2003

HR directors must take the lead in rebuilding employee trust and creating a
new work culture that engages staff and fosters innovation if their businesses
are to compete in future.

This was the message from Professor Richard Scase to delegates at Personnel
Today’s HR Directors Club last week.

Speaking aboard HMS Belfast, Scase said HR must demonstrate strategic
leadership if UK organisations are to adapt to compete in a world undergoing
fundamental economic, demographic and geo-political transformation.

One of the key challenges facing HR, is re-establishing the trust staff have
in business – eroded as a result of scandals such as Enron, numerous
pension-fund disasters and increasing cynicism over high rewards for
under-performing directors.

"There is a low trust culture. The attitude is: ‘why should I bother;
if they are pillaging the business, why shouldn’t I?’," said Scase.
"We need to rebuild that trust and rebuild the psychological
contract."

Companies have to operate in a new economic reality of low growth and
increasing competition from south-east Asia.

Scase told the audience that the ongoing uncertainty created by Iraq and the
war on terror contributed to poor-performing stock markets and reduced business
investment.

Consequently, he expects the business landscape to be dominated by
cost-cutting and consolidation, and anticipates increased migration of
financial and business services jobs to India and China as a result. "It
is not just data processing jobs," he said. "Calls centres in India
are moving up the value chain."

Employers must also respond to the UK’s changing demographics, with the
labour market increasingly dominated by women, older workers and ethnic
minorities.

Another challenge for business, said Scase, is finding ways of engaging the
next generation of workers, who are increasingly non-conformist,
individualistic and cynical.

He told delegates they must become more strategic if they are to lead the
change necessary to meet the challenges they face.

HR must lead a redesign of the workplace so that work environments foster
and encourage sociability, and help organisations tap into employees’ tacit
knowledge to unleash creativity and innovation.

"If people are still at the bar at midnight at corporate events, that
is usually [a sign of] a high-performing business," he said.

As part of this organisational change, the Anglo-American business model –
which focuses on short-term results and the bottom line – must evolve into one
where emphasis is placed on long-term sustainable value.

Employers must improve how they manage diversity, create entrepreneurial
work cultures that are fun and engaging, and redesign work practices to provide
more flexibility and choice to individuals.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Scase concluded that businesses which achieve these aims are more likely to
attract and retain the best human capital, and deliver a competitive advantage.

By Ben Willmott

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Engineers pay deals sink to 12-month low
next post
Amsterdam prize winner

You may also like

FCA to extend misconduct rules beyond banks

2 Jul 2025

‘Decisive action’ needed to boost workers’ pensions

2 Jul 2025

Business leaders’ drop in confidence impacts headcount

2 Jul 2025

Why we need to rethink soft skills in...

1 Jul 2025

Five misconceptions about hiring refugees

20 Jun 2025

Forward features list 2025 – submitting content to...

23 Nov 2024

Features list 2021 – submitting content to Personnel...

1 Sep 2020

Large firms have no plans to bring all...

26 Aug 2020

A typical work-from-home lunch: crisps

24 Aug 2020

Occupational health on the coronavirus frontline – ‘I...

21 Aug 2020

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+