Book 1

WHITE PAPER people@work/2020 The Future of Work and the Changing Workplace: Challenges and Issues for Australian HR Practitioners Peter Wilson AM National President Australian Human Resources Institute

people@work/2020 is a White Paper published by by the Australian Human Resources Institute. Steering Committee Peter Wilson AM Principal Author and Research Director Kevin Brown Chief HR Officer and Head of Corporate Services National Broadband Network Company Limited (Chair) Bob Barbour People and Culture Director Lion Nathan National Foods Andrea Grant Group Managing Director, Human Resources Telstra Corporation Limited Colleen Harris Executive General Manager, Human Capital Strategy National Australia Bank Jim Nolan Vice-President, Human Resources Australia and New Zealand GE Corporate Robert Orth Director, Human Resources, Australia/New Zealand IBM Australia Limited © Australian Human Resources Institute, May 2010. All rights reserved The Future of Work and the Changing Workplace: Challenges and Issues for Australian HR Practitioners 1 Preface After nearly three years of research, this Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) white paper reviews and assesses the major trends and issues likely to influence people at work by the year

leadership The paper draws on scenarios, analyses and reviews by other leading domestic agencies such as the Business Council of Australia, and global organisations such as Rand, MIT, The World Economic Forum and Price Waterhouse Coopers. In no sense does the study try to replicate or compete with research undertaken by those bodies. The approach in the paper has been to use the best-of-breed thinking from within those organisations to draw comparisons and conclusions from across their findings, to calibrate them against AHRI’s own research of workplace trends and the HR profession, as well as from global best practice standards in people management. Our overarching objective for the people practitioners at work is to distill these major pieces of research, thought leadership and other influencers of future change in the workplace into a compendium that describes the nature, shape and dimension of HR practice itself by 2020, in order that the HR profession can maintain its relevance and leadership in guiding sensible, fair and productive workplaces for the people employed within them. This work would not have been possible without the strong support and counsel provided by a Steering Committee comprising some of the best and most innovative HR leaders in the nation today: ffKevin Brown, Chief HR Officer and Head of Corporate Services, National Broadband Network Company Limited (Chair) ffBob Barbour, People and Culture Director, Lion Nathan National Foods ffAndrea Grant Group Managing Director, Human Resources, Telstra Corporation Limited ffColleen Harris, Executive General Manager, Human Capital Strategy, National Australia Bank ffJim Nolan, Vice-President, Human Resources Australia and New Zealand, GE Corporate ffRobert Orth, Director, Human Resources, Australia/New Zealand, IBM Australia Limited On behalf of AHRI, and in my capacity as Research Director and writer of this paper, I would like to place on record and sincerely express my thanks to the members to that Steering Committee for the countless hours they have spent reading drafts and guiding the research with the ultimate aim of having it add value to the professional directions of HR practice in the years ahead. The Steering Committee was drawn from and represented the members of AHRI’s National President’s Forum (NPF), which is the peak networking group of HR practitioners from the top listed companies on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), and other leading global and national companies. The full list of NPF organisations is shown in Appendix 1, as is the national structure of AHRI in Appendix 2. The NPF is an invaluable source of insight and guidance to AHRI’s own research as well as the events and professional development programs AHRI provides to the HR profession. Notwithstanding that guidance and advice, the content of this paper cannot be construed as reflecting the views of individual Steering Committee members, their employers or other NPF members. Full responsibility for the content of the paper is accepted by the writer, on behalf of AHRI.

Further this booklet has been well served by the excellent contributions of Dr Peter Saul in his capacity as adviser to the Steering Committee, and also to Sandra Cormack of AHRI who has worked professionally and consistently as its program manager. Paul Begley, Anne-Marie Dolan and Stephanie Regan from AHRI have done excellent work assisting in the editing and production of the final version. My sincere gratitude is also extended to AHRI CEO Serge Sardo and the National Management Team, AHRI’s Board of Directors and State Councils who keep the organisation operating effectively in the provision of services to members, thereby enabling me to spend time on research and issues such as this. Finally I would also like to extend many thanks to my Executive Assistant Amanda Mackey who works cheerfully and tirelessly behind the scenes to make things happen. Peter Wilson AM National President Australian Human Resources Institute peter.wilson@ahri.com.au May 2010