Future-proofing worker’s skills, learning as a business, and HR’s response to the coronavirus were three of the many topics discussed as part of the HR Exchange Network’s latest online event – HR and Future of Work.  This is the second year for the event, which is free-to-attend.

Day Two featured presentations from GE Healthcare, Thoughtexchange, Parkland Health and Hospital System, University Federal Credit Union, Administrate, Kaplan Professional and Akebono Brake Corporation.  Below are the top takeaways the first day of the online event.

HR and Future of Work

Future-Proofing Skills

The first session of Day Two was presented by GE Healthcare Head of Global Digital Learning Christopher Lind.  He said reskilling the workforce given everything happening in the space should definitely be one of the top three priorities for HR professionals.  Additionally, he provided some potential steps in achieving this; five to be specific.

1. Become Masterful Storytellers
2. Shift the mindset
3. Get out of the box
4. Understand the work; Understand learning
5. Embrace technology

Learning as a Business

John Peebles is the CEO of Administrate.  During his presentation, he told audience members it is critical to view learning and development as a standalone business.  That means understanding the stakeholders, the investment needs, the return and the profit and loss.

HR’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic

With everything happening in the world right now as it relates to the coronavirus, we provided a session aimed specifically at how HR should help lead the response to the pandemic.  Eric Torigian, Vice President and Assistant General Manager of Global HR for Akebono Brake Corporation led the presentation.  It is very difficult to pull out one thing as a takeaway.  As such, a brief over view of his presentation included steps HR should be following in dealing with the response.

1. Safety first - make sure employees and teams are protected.
2. Manage your teams – get everyone accounted for and secured.
3. Communications – transparency is the name of the game.
4. Leadership alignment – know how to lead the team.
5. Team alignment – know what the team is working on and what is mission critical.
6. Customer alignment – know how to keep the business healthy.
7. Working times – know when employees are working because it will be different going forward.
8. Employee relations – understand this will forge a new company culture.

Crowdsource meeting agendas

Dessalen Wood is the Chief People Officer at Thoughtexchange.  Her presentation focused on remote meetings and how to make them productive.  One of the strongest points of the presentation was around crowdsourced agendas.  Basically, meetings become more productive if the people involved are able to help set the agenda.  Rather than a leader coming in and planning out what to discuss, allowing participants to weigh in on the topics allows for a more productive, focused meeting.

Connecting People with their Purpose Will Help Fight Employee Burnout

The final session of the day featured a panel discussion on employee burnout.  I moderated the discussion.  Panelists included Rhonda Hall, the VP of HR and Organizational Development for University Federal Credit Union and Vishal Bhalla, the Chief Experience Officer for Parkland Health and Hospital System.  The most critical point to come out of the discussion was the need to reconnect people to their purpose.  Without it, employee burnout will quickly result.  It is also a significant tool in helping alleviate burnout for someone experiencing it.

Next Online Events

The HR Exchange Network has other online events planned for 2020 including HR Tech APAC set for June 16^th and 17^th AND the HR Tech Online Summit North America set for June 23^rd and 24^th.  Both events are free to attend.  To sign up, click on the event’s name.

Photo courtesy:  Pexels