AHRI’s DEI Champion of the Year Award winner, Katie Wyatt, says the path to inclusion in 2024 remains bumpy and unpredictable, but the challenges only make her more determined. Head of Culture and Inclusion at Coles Group Katie Wyatt says it’s a fascinating time to work in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). In some ways, it’s getting easier, but in other ways harder. The proud Noongar Yamatji woman, from Whadjuk Noongar country around Perth, found the failure of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum “incredibly tough”. “It really made me stop and think about the challenge we have a ..read more

An evidence-based approach allows HR practitioners to enhance decision-making, manage risk and increase their impact. What does this approach look like in practice, and how can HR get started? With the HR function playing a more strategic role than ever in many organisations, the ability to make evidence-based decisions has quickly become a critical skill for practitioners. As HR leaders know well, in an era defined by rapid change and disruption, the stakes are too high to rely on gut instinct alone. By grounding strategies in evidence, HR practitioners can offer clarity amid uncertainty and ..read more

Non-compete clauses are in the spotlight following significant legal developments in Australia and abroad. Could it be the time of reckoning for these restraints? Non-com­pete claus­es are currently under scrutiny from var­i­ous quarters. Broad­ly speak­ing, non-com­pete claus­es are a form of post-employ­ment restraint that pro­hib­it an employ­ee from work­ing for a com­peti­tor of their pre­vi­ous employ­er for a spec­i­fied peri­od in a defined geo­graph­ic area. The ratio­nale for non-com­pete claus­es being imposed on depart­ing employ­ees is to pro­tect the legit­i­mate busi­ness inter ..read more

Complex conversations have fast become an essential part of the HR function. Three experts share tips to help facilitate challenging discussions effectively – from legal considerations to guiding leaders. Amid the many geopolitical and local challenges taking place at the moment – such as the imminent US elections and enduring global conflicts – complex conversations have become an inevitable fixture in workplaces, and it often falls on HR to navigate them while also considering the psychosocial safety of those involved.  This means HR needs to learn how to handle these conversations effe ..read more

To get cut-through with reskilling and upskilling, learning and development programs need to be designed with employees’ context-of-use in mind. Picture this: you’re the Chief Learning Officer for a large organisation and have been tasked with addressing a range of critical skill gaps in your workforce. You find a seemingly suitable learning platform and invest thousands of dollars in it, spend hours preparing an internal marketing campaign, and then, when it comes to the roll-out period, no one signs up. What went wrong? “Investing in a platform is not investing in your people,” says Rod Farm ..read more

High-performance teams only exist when they’re built upon a foundation of trust and psychological safety. Experts share tips to help HR bake both into their strategies. Businesses stand to gain a lot when they embed trust at their core. As well as being morally important, it’s an organisational enabler.  Research conducted by Paul J. Zak, Founding Director of the Centre for Neuroeconomics, found that high-trust companies gain 76 per cent more engagement from their employees, 40 per cent less burnout and 50 per cent more productivity. Also, their employees take 13 per cent fewer sick days ..read more

Gravitas and influence don’t come naturally to a lot of people. They are qualities most need to shape and hone over time. An executive presence expert shares some tips for HR. Have you ever presented information to your peers and colleagues with confidence and then presented that exact same information to a group of senior stakeholders and felt completely out of your depth? If so, you’re not alone. Feelings of Impostor syndrome or a sudden onset of self-doubt are incredibly common when engaging with executive and board-level leaders for the first time. Often, it’s the absence of executive pres ..read more

While one-on-one coaching can be effective when working with individuals, the issues that emerge at a team level often require a different approach.        HR professionals are often involved in supporting a coaching culture, training others to coach, and coaching employees themselves.   One-to-one coaching is a well-established practice, and can be very effective, but it often doesn’t address challenges that occur at a team level. Team coaching is starting to gain traction in many organisations as a way to address more complex ways of working and r ..read more

Introducing AHRI’s brand-new podcast, Let’s Take This Offline: conversations to inspire HR. Subscribe to AHRI’s new podcast, Let’s Take This Offline, to stay in the loop with each episode release. Listeners get access to resources that will help them put each episode’s learnings into action and AHRI members gain exclusive bonus content that’s distributed via the AHRI LinkedIn Lounge. Season 1 Episode 4 Building stronger relationships at work with Michael Bungay Stanier A key part of being an effective HR practitioner is about building strong, strategic and trusting relationship ..read more

Middle managers are arguably the backbone of any organisation. But the job can be a tough one. Here’s how HR can help. Middle managers are working in increasingly hybrid workforces, often geographically dispersed and requiring more flexibility than ever before. Amid a cost-of-living crisis, social and political challenges, and the long-tail mental health impacts of the pandemic, employees are coming to work seeking support for personal issues from their managers. Middle managers are also expected to do more with less, such as boosting productivity in organisations battling employee shortages a ..read more