The global tug-of-war of work will be played out at Talent Summit Dublin

The world of work has changed immensely for many people over the last few years. In most organisations the responsibility of navigating these unprecedented times fell to the HR department. Having played a blinder by not only facilitating an almost instantaneous change to remote work they also managed to build and maintain company culture throughout, as well as guide people through returning to a new way of working once the lockdowns ended. For those in HR, it may sometimes seem like a somewhat invisible job, working behind the scenes to keep things moving and people happy. It is an endless tug of war that requires a very agile skillset that is finally being recognised for the creative thinking it brings onboard.

The push and pull of the new world of work

For all the benefits of remote or hybrid working, there have also been unique challenges. Whether that’s maintaining culture remotely and trying to ensure employees onboarded remotely still feel part of the team, to navigating a brand-new problem – virtualteeism.

Similar to so-called presenteeism where people feel they have to be seen in the office, virtualteeism is where people think or feel they always have to be online and don’t really get a break from work. Having a culture where people feel this and then work longer hours, will harm their wellbeing, and is something that companies need to be mindful of, says Robert Mac Giolla Phádraig, founding director and chief commercial officer, Sigmar Recruitment.

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He set up Talent Summit in 2011 to share thought leadership to create better working environments for all and since its inception has brought in an impressive array of speakers to the Dublin conference, which will be held on Thursday, March 9th in the Convention Centre this year.

Creating and maintaining a culture remotely falls almost squarely on the heads of the HR or People teams, and Talent Summit seeks to showcase the strong talent and innovation in this function.

Talent Summit

Talent Summit is one of the largest HR leadership conferences in Europe, and the largest in Ireland. The theme of the conference is what he describes as the tug of war of work and how the narrative around post-covid work has largely seen employer interests pitted against that of employees. “Our objective is to share global thought leadership to create better work, for all stakeholders” says Mac Giolla Phádraig.

“We’ve heard much around how the power dynamic has shifted between employers and employees, with flexibility going in one direction, but not the other. In many ways, we’ve lost the conversation around other stakeholders. What does this new way of working mean for customers, shareholders and society? We want to look at a range of themes and best-in-class global thinking to make work lives better and more sustainable.”

Mac Giolla Phádraig says it’s a very confusing labour market right now. “For example, we’ve seen a lot around the lay-offs in tech, but most are actively recruiting and have challenges in retaining their people all at once. We’ve seen an erosion of confidence which is a key driver in the labour market, as it’s a key factor for people’s decision whether to move to new jobs, and also for employers to invest in new job creation.” As if getting their companies through the pandemic wasn’t enough, HR leaders continue to navigate and lead at this rocky time.

A talented line-up

Talent Summit will bring some thought-provoking speakers and companies to Dublin. “We have some really great speakers I’m particularly excited about,” he says. “One area we’re looking at is the emergence of new leadership development programmes. Leah Hollander is head of leadership and development, at NASA, and she will be talking about how they create purpose-driven leadership there.” You may remember the story of when President John F. Kennedy visited the NASA space centre in 1962 and asked a janitor on the premises what he did. “I help put people on the moon,” he responded, illustrating, in an anecdote, the company’s unparalleled sense of purpose driven leadership and pro-active followship.

Also on this theme, Danish plastic brick construction toy firm LEGO will speak about its leadership playground and how it gives ownership for leadership development to non-people leaders. “They have ‘leadership playground builders’ – people who bring projects together to allow people to develop their leadership skills even though they’re not people-leaders,” he explains.

“LEGO brought a diverse group of people together and developed a manifesto around its leadership development. To decentralise a process like that is highly unusual and ground-breaking. Most will have their leadership develop a strategy and values and cascade it through the organisation. LEGO did the opposite. It brought a diverse group of people and gave them a mandate to develop values that would work for the whole company. The team wanted to develop these behaviours that you see in playgrounds where children are curious and focused – in short LEGO practices what it preaches.”

Earth is the only shareholder

Another interesting company speaking is Patagonia. An outlier in terms of their organisation’s purpose and philosophy, the shareholding changed to support the planet and conservation methods and now ‘earth’ is their only shareholder. “We’re going to talk to Evelyn Doyle, their head of people and culture and what that change means internally for the company, and how the company culture is lived out in real life,” he explains.

“It’s the only company that I know of that has a bail-out policy for employees for certain types of incidents. For example, if you’re arrested at any climate protests, the company will bail you out. You can imagine the type of people they attract – a tribe with a real sense of purpose.”

The transformation of HR

HR itself has undergone something of a revolution – even before this new world of work came into being. There are several CEOs who have made the move from HR to the top table such as Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, and Noel Keeley, Group CEO of Musgrave. Both will be speaking at the conference. “HR has always spoken about being this elusive seat at the table, and now the elusive seat is moving to the top seat. This mirrors a global trend – Chanel, Heineken – both of its CEOs are former HR department heads. As organisations increasingly value people-focused skills, the profile of the chief people officer is rising along with ambition levels.

Talent Summit will take place on Thursday, March 9th in Dublin’s Convention Centre. Click here to buy tickets.