Companies need to ‘walk the talk’ on culture change

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Targets are helpful, but real change means creating the right culture and behaviours.

Global industry leaders have spoken about the need to embrace a hybrid work culture, digital technology, more diversity and above all the adoption of a clearer, purpose-driven company ethos at a global roundtable HR forum session hosted by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC).

Speaking at the forum today (10.9.21), which addressed some of the people and talent resources challenges facing the infrastructure sector following the Covid-19 pandemic, an expert panel discussed the current situation around people, work and culture and what the industry needed to do to ensure the attraction and retention of talent.

The question of corporate and people culture was highlighted as being of critical importance. “Companies are only attractive to talent if they not only have a purpose-driven culture, but they also need to ‘walk the talk’”, said Tim Shaw, partner and sector leader for infrastructure at global executive search and interim management firm, Savannah Group. According to a recent World Economic Forum survey, over 40% of employees globally are considering leaving their current employment to seek further flexible and more attractive work situations, Shaw said, highlighting that “leadership communication needs to be more effective and there’s a need for a balancing act to ensure talent is retained.”

Shaw also highlighted the business case for diversity, saying that according to a recent study “the greater the female representation, the higher the performance” Women scored higher than men in most leadership skills, especially soft skills and they scored higher when championing change, he stressed.

Stantec’s chief HR officer, Asifa Samji, agreed with Shaw, saying that purpose was the ultimate motivator to ensuring that staff feel inspired in their workforce. When asked if quotas and targets can be a helpful tool, Samji said: “Creating a culture and behaviour change is far more sustainable for long term success. She went on to say that creating roles and opportunities for the next generation of leaders was vital to ensure that the industry attains and retains talent – and this had to include embracing a hybrid work model and flexibility. Asked about the challenge of closing the gender wage gap in the industry, Samji said that she thought this was a complicated issue and “we cannot close the gender wage gap until we understand where the issues really lie”.

Addressing some of the people issues around innovation and digital, Aurecon chief people officer, Liam Hayes, said: “Furthering innovation will lead to a more inclusive and better workforce so let’s not be afraid to embrace technology and innovation.” Hayes also highlighted the issue of paying attention to staff wellbeing and health and stressed that in his view this has never been more critical.

In a post-Covid environment, after all that society and businesses had been through over the past year and a half, Hayes said that now was the time to make change and improve the working environment for staff. “There has never been a more opportune time to reimagine some of these elements of work, work-life balance and the future of the industry,” he said.

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