What are your main concerns in HR today?
We’re still not good enough at understanding our talent. Hiring is still largely subjective and full of different biases. People have different ways of attracting talent and every business will have a certain approach, and as a result we struggle to articulate what ‘good’ actually looks like and to link the results of our talent programmes to success. We need to find the best available evidence to support our HR strategy and guide our business decision-making; it’s all about improving overall efficiency.
What will become more important for HR over the next five years?
The role of HR systems and their integration with other systems, particularly those that house information about the interactions and performance of our people, will be crucial. We now work in an environment inspired by digital disruption, innovation and fast-moving change that requires us to be more strategic, innovative, and forward-thinking. As automation becomes easier to do at scale there will be a need to focus on the processes used to capture information about our people. As a result, HR metrics will become more critical and we must ensure our business uses these to measure its own performance, productivity, efficiency and effectiveness, and influence decision-making.
What subjects will HR still be tackling when you retire?
HR will always want to ensure it is getting the best out of the people that work for us, as well as ensuring that they have the right environment to succeed. It will therefore always be necessary, and challenging, to have an employee proposition that appeals to and retains the very best talent, and I think we’re still a long way away from developing an understanding of good recruitment selection. Currently the thinking of our managers is still largely intuitive and I believe that this will continue to pose a problem for hiring.
What do you plan to do to change HR for the better?
While robotics, automation and cloud solutions will be capable of routine work with great accuracy, humans will always have a key role in HR. The Talent Intelligence approach at Advanced reflects my passion for making hiring and promotion decisions based on objective data around performance and a candidate’s potential. I am also passionate about opening opportunities up to people who are otherwise overlooked by mainstream methods and watching them flourish. I think as an industry we can do much better at assessing performance and candidates’ strengths objectively.
Nick Gallimore is head of talent acquisition at Advanced
