The world is undergoing a consequential paradigm shift. The primacy of climate as a mainstream socio-political and economic issue is forcing businesses to reengineer longstanding operating models in the pursuit of sustainable outcomes, while consumer-driven pressure on sustainable distribution models and events like the recent COVID-19 outbreak are a wake-up call for global enterprises to confront their own supply-chain dependencies.
Beneath these challenges is a shifting technological bedrock. We are collecting data at an unprecedented and exponential rate, mining the complexities of the world in greater depth than ever before, all the while regulatory landscapes struggle to reign in practices and protect consumers that want to participate in the world with greater privacy and security safeguards.
Employers and their employees are simultaneously grappling with the often over-dramatised rise of AI, trying to ascertain whether dystopic fears around vast job displacements will impact them before they have the time or capacity to evolve into prophetically touted roles that are yet to exist. This, then, is a small snapshot of the world we live in, and for Human Resources professionals, it is a world of immense opportunity.
Human Resources professionals have specific opportunities to empower employees with a lived purpose and to genuinely pursue business for the better; to have serious conversations around algorithmic ethics, employee privacy and wellbeing; and to train employees in analytical methodologies and explore pragmatic approaches for transitioning people into new roles. Connect Media and Australia Post gathered leading Human Resources executives from around the country to candidly confront these challenges and opportunities.