Victoria Coombes, Business Associate at People and Mental Health Concern and Insight IAPT shares her vision for the future of the human resources profession.
I spent time working at Walt Disney World in Florida taking care of new recruits. When I returned to the UK I decided to study for my Masters in HRM through the Open University. Shortly after starting the course, I was offered my first position as a Human Resources and Learning Assistant. Working full-time while studying was challenging but rewarding as I was able to apply my learning immediately, especially useful as six months later I ended up as the only HR professional in the business.
Recruitment and retention is an important approach as there is a real global shortage in health workers. As a non-profit organization, we can’t always match the high salaries that other providers can offer, so we need to make sure we give our colleagues the best work experience possible.
The future of HR:
Work reinvented: take the future of work into your own hands
Future Leader: Niki Blaho, Pension Protection Fund
Future Leader: Evie Szymanska, Equiniti
Employee engagement has always been important, but it will have to be a key focus for Human Resources for the next five years. The pandemic showed many people that I don’t need to work in an office all day, every day, to do your job effectively.
We also have generation Z entering the workforce, who bring with them a different perspective on what they want to experience in the workplace. It will be crucial for Human Resources to respond to this challenge and ensure that companies adapt to the expectations of the workforce.
I’d love to think that by the time I retirewe will have mastered equality, diversity and inclusion, having created truly diverse and fair workplaces where everyone’s unique talents are celebrated and no one is left behind. It’s great that this has become a bigger talking point in recent years, and there is a lot of work going on in many organizations and throughout society at large.
I think sometimes human resources can be seen as too bureaucratic., worrying more about the processes and putting bureaucratic obstacles. I am looking forward to doing my part to increase faith in HR and show that we really can.
add value.
This article was first published in the September/October 2022 issue of HR magazine. subscribe today to get all of our latest articles delivered right to your desktop.
