Shantel Earle, HR business partner at SOAS University of London shares her vision for the future of the HR profession.
When I studied HR in college, I was surprised by the basic people concepts that can make a massive impact to organisations. I did a four-year sandwich degree including one year of paid work experience which was extremely useful in securing a permanent role after graduation. For anyone looking to get into HR, I would recommend gaining experience shadowing or finding a mentor to support with development into their ideal role.
The future of HR:
Victoria Coombes, Mental Health Concern & Insight IAPT
Niki Blaho, Pension Protection Fund
Evie Szymanska, Equiniti
My main concerns for HR are change management and wellbeing. Change management can be a scary and daunting process for staff, so it is the responsibility of senior managers and HR to ensure staff are fully engaged with any change management process from the start. Health and wellbeing of staff is especially concerning during change, but supporting wellbeing initiatives across the organisation can be kept straightforward.
Attraction and retention of valuable staff will remain a top priority for high-performing institutions. Not only are job-seekers looking for a salary when searching for roles, they are after the full package. Organisations need to have creative and agile policies in order to attract key staff. Retaining the correct staff will also be important as the employers market becomes increasingly competitive. I think global mobility of skilled workers will definitely increase over the next five years.
Employee relations will still be an issue when I retire. Best practice relations processes will keep a close eye on case law as defined by the employment tribunals. In the future, I hope that more disputes can be resolved informally.
My plan is to demonstrate the impact that HR has on organisational effectiveness and raise the profile of the profession overall. As I embark on this HR journey I plan to constructively challenge the status quo and create some waves in the industry.
Working collaboratively with senior HR colleagues across the industry, to share knowledge and learn from each other is also key. I also want to encourage those who are graduating from university to try to get into HR as it is a fun, dynamic and interesting sector. There is room to grow and personal development is at the forefront of all effective HR practitioners’ minds. This means that you will have the support of your team when you are ready to progress.
This article was first published in the November/December 2022 issue of HR magazine. Subscribe today to have all our latest articles delivered right to your desk.
