beqom recently sponsored the LEAP HR: Financial Services event in London. Spanning three days, the event brought together international HR leaders who shared with us their thoughts on where Human Resources was heading in the Financial Services Industry.
The event covered debates and seminars from several industry leaders including Christian Finckh (Chief HR Officer, Allianz SE), Simon Lloyd (Chief People Officer, Santander) and Nick Ulycz (Head of HR, HSBC).
With stimulating high-powered interactions and deep discussions about the right balance of practical business points and technical knowhow, LEAP HR: Financial Services was the place to be for HR leaders in December. Here are our highlights from the conference:
Change
3 factors driving change in the Financial Services Industry (FSI) are: Regulation, Technical Transformation & Customer focus.
- In order to compete in a fast-evolving environment, banks and financial services institutions need to consider changing their processes, culture and systems.
Collaboration
The HR model is evolving to a CEO - CHRO - CFO relationship making collective decisions together.
- HR Teams focusing more on processes than on strategic outcomes are in danger of having a percentage of their team outsourced.
Alignment
The new competitive environment in the FSI is driving a need for aligned employee systems and aligned incentive frameworks.
- Digital systems often took paper processes and made them much more efficient. But these efficiency gains masked an opportunity cost. Perhaps much greater gains were possible by looking deeply at the process itself and its outcomes. Today, many large enterprises are actually constrained by the very systems that, while they make processes more efficient, can’t adapt when the process itself needs to fundamentally change.
Process Management
40% of CEOs say performance management adds no discernible feedback due to wrong processes in place.
- Research from staffing firm Office Team one in four employees says performance appraisal process isn't effective. One speaker pointed out: it’s well known that the most effective people write their own goals. Referencing Daniel Pink’s work, autonomy is clearly shown to drive higher performance in the workplace. So why does the current performance management process limit autonomy and impose goals?
Organization
We're moving away from a hierarchical organisation by giving every employee a voice in the company.
- While long discussed, organisations have often struggled with the perceived lack of control from flatter / more fluid structures that come with this concept.
- Executives from organisations which are hundreds of years old are setting their companies on course away from traditional performance management to a culture of “continual feedback” and “consequence management”.
Job Mobility
Large enterprises are moving away from retention and promoting higher turnover in order to ensure they have the best person in the job.
- One of the characteristics of the millennial generation is mobility. Large enterprises are discovering they move jobs even when they are engaged.
The importance of adaptation in HR processes
was a central and recurring theme that most speakers brought to the table. The technology that makes these processes efficient and under control is key and was identified as a factor limiting an organisation's ability to innovate. Industry consultant Michael Rose's prediction for 2016 is that: The move to shake up performance management systems will accelerate as organisations realise just how out of touch are the 1950s systems they operate.
At beqom, we focus exclusively on managing compensation for large enterprises who cannot afford to compromise on their compensation strategy - now and in the future.
