Another Financial year is upon us!  

A hectic time when budgets are negotiated, performance is reviewed, and strategies re-aligned.

2023/24 will, I am sure, see a major focus on people across our organisations especially as we are still experiencing labour shortages and a consistent increase in the cost of goods. Keeping the lights on is more expensive; the cost of doing business is increasing which inevitably means the consumer pays: discretionary consumer spending should decrease, and the supply chain and logistics is still a little messy out there – although, there are signs of this improving.  

Add a war, threats of war and we are in an uncertain world!

So, one big question: How do you balance your people costs versus operational costs?

Optimum are seeing some focus areas:

• Restructures – nearly every business is looking at their organisation structure and ensuring they have the right people in the right jobs: some will cut their workforce; some will add some key roles in line with their strategy
• Job grading / levelling – with the same pay reform in Australia, this has been a major focus for our customers: our own methodology is getting great feedback!
• Leadership assessment – as both part of the recruitment process and assessment as a group – to ensure an organisation has the talent required to execute their strategy. In a candidate short market where many people have been promoted or gained a higher salary and higher responsibilities this has to be a major focus to help with staff retention and minimize under-performance.
• Engagement data – April to June have been busy with many organisations using our EmployeeLife™ platform to gain results ready for the end of Financial Year.
• Retention: this remains a huge focus for most organisations.
• Attraction – many organisations have beefed up their Talent Acquisition / HR teams over the last 2 years – more reforms are expected in 2024 and it will be interesting to see if the current investment in internal recruitment remains as the labour market eases.
• Wellbeing – it is well publicized about the increase in mental health and stress related aspects in the workplace: companies simply have to take a more proactive approach.
• Diversity and Inclusion – with metrics in place and the right strategy this will open the door to other talent pools, but your managers and people leaders need to understand the individual.

The key to a people-focused business is productivity and getting a Return on Investment (ROI) – there are some key things any business can implement or review at this time of year.  

1. Ensure your Position Descriptions are up to date and truly reflect the role the employees’ accountabilities and responsibilities. This is a back-to-basics approach but remains a critical aspect in my opinion. I use the analogy of building a house: your PD’s are the foundations – if these are not correct then KPI’, role clarity, who does what gets really blurry really quick.
2. Analyse the organisation chart – Are there any areas you can streamline, outsource or enhance? The role AI will play in some roles is very real so anyone not thinking about this may get left behind!
3. Is your Vision, Mission, Values aligned to a world post Covid? Do not under-estimate the importance of this to help attract and engage employees.
4. Skills analysis and a 9-box exercise, or similar – an oldie but still a goodie in my opinion: this is a useful exercise to do to ensure your people have the right skills and aptitude – This also links into training and development needs and succession planning.
5. KPI’s – clear performance indicators and measuring outputs remain key in any working environment.
6. Performance framework – Discussions (both positive and constructive are a key aspect with development). Ensure this process is embedded and consistent.
7. Leadership development – This is my one area that I think any business should invest in. From the top down to first time or aspiring managers. Optimum have a strong suite of assessments to measure Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Leadership, Coping and Thinking styles to help with this.

Add the workplace reforms and it looks like a lot of work for HR and people leaders.

With tighter budgets we are seeing a trend of outsourced HR for certain projects or pieces of work – the value adds. If you need help then we would be happy to talk to ensure your business is fit for 2023/ 2024.  

To conclude, this is a great time of year to sense check that everything is in place for the next financial year.

STEPHEN CUSHION
General Manager – Consulting

Stephen joined Optimum in 2015 as the General Manager of the Consulting practice based in Brisbane. Stephen brought with him vast experience across HR consulting and executive recruitment, having previously worked for a global top tier talent management organisation and market leading companies.