‘Shared purpose’: How HR can better cater for the next generation

One HR expert has spoken about how professionals can navigate the employee value proposition amid the multigenerational workforce, the AI transformation, and the growing need to adapt to changing wellbeing needs.

In a recent HR Leader Podcast episode, Mariam Hares (pictured), Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation chief people and culture officer, spoke about the headline challenges and hurdles facing HR professionals and their teams, what it says about the market that we’re currently in and what’s going to constitute best practice when it comes to addressing some of those key challenges.

EVP: Connection and belonging

Hares noted that over the past few years, flexibility, a sense of purpose and impact at work have become increasingly important for job candidates. Based on research conducted internally at the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation, employee value proposition (EVP) elements are focusing more on what companies do for connection and belonging, as opposed to previously popular perks such as competitive salary, and career development.

Candidates were also found to apply for companies that provide autonomy and agency. She noted that the “next generation” in the workforce is seeing organisations as responsible for their growth beyond their professional lives and growth just within their organisations.

“Talent out there, especially the next generation, is looking for the shared purpose. They are motivated by a deep emotional purpose. They want to know that all these hours putting in the grind, what’s it all for?” Hares said.

In addition, Hares found that employees are seeking to drive and personalise their own corporate wellbeing programs as opposed to accepting blanket wellbeing programs for all staff, such as subsidised gym memberships. She noted that this is “no longer attractive to the broader talent market”.

“People want way more agency to take up initiatives that are meaningful to them because things like wellbeing mean so many different things to different people. Having a program and approach to wellbeing that [provides workers with] agency to choose how they want to take that up is really important,” she said.

Striking a balance between competing desires, needs and demands

For Hares, HR professionals must spend time understanding their organisation before looking at how they can attract and understand the organisation and how the workplace’s culture has been developed and defined.

“It’s not just about the big picture of our purpose; it’s also about the everyday experience,” she said. She added that giving workers the tools and freedom to create a life and career that works for them is crucial.

“Because [workplaces are] so diverse, we can no longer just [be] in the ‘corner office’ [and] decide … the program that we’re going to give staff. We need to let people choose,” Hares said.

Lessons to not be stuck in old ways

Reflecting on the shift to the more holistic role that the function is becoming, Hares recalled: “I reported to the CFO, and he really drilled into me that you need to think beyond HR. You need to understand and basically strive to be a finance director, an IT director, a marketing director.”

“You need to do your job really well … It’s important to be able to understand and incorporate all of those other key pillars of our business, and that’s really stuck with me. So I think having AI will allow us to do that”.

Given the impacts AI will have on workplaces and how work is done, Hares noted that it is “natural to be scared … in the beginning” of the AI transformation; however, she said that we cannot ignore the need to embrace the technology.

For Hares, having an open mind towards AI is crucial because of the impacts that it will have on roles. “There’s quite a lot about uncertainty across employees at every organisation in this space and what it means for their job. So it’s really important that we as leaders seek to understand it as much as we can,” she said.

AI presents the opportunity for HR professionals to work on more strategic work as it will be able to take over process-driven and admin tasks, Hares said. She also advised the importance of “teaching people how to use it … Making sure that your team [and] you have a baseline understanding and a foundational understanding of how AI can be used.”

Hares encouraged that HR professionals be open to change and evolve with the developments of AI – “not being stuck in old ways”.