Utility Week

UtILItY WeeK | 23rd - 29th September 2016 | 23 Operations & Assets Views from the speakers: "If you can't keep up to date with these very significant [whistle blowing] issues, are you encouraging a speakup culture? Are you encouraging transparency? Or are you really saying: 'I don't really want you to worry too much about this.'" Wendy Addison, International whistleblowing research unit advisory board and lecturer "People in other parts of the organisa tion – sales, market ing, finance – have stopped looking at what happened last month and are using data to create a forwardlooking view of what is likely to happen in the next six or nine months. In HR we have always tended to look back wards – looking at what turnover and absence rates have been rather than what data is telling us they will be. Predic tive analytics could change this." Andy Campbell, HCM strategy director, Oracle 1. The challenge of workforce renewal is increasing because we are not looking to replace skills like for like. Job roles and skills for tomorrow will be different. 2. A proactive approach to whistleblowing can help develop a "listen up" culture and reinforce the development of desired employee behaviours. 3. The "shadow of the leader" is important. People interpret their organisation through their leaders, and line managers have a particularly important leadership role. 4. The role of the manager will continue to change in a technologically advanced world. A decline in "deference" and a trend for "immediacy" will drive towards analytics based management delivering "ondemand" employee support. 5. Whatever approach is taken to increasing diversity, avoid putting it in the corporate social responsibility "box". It is a real business activity with real benefits. Five key points to take away Rosie MacRae, head of diversity, SSe SPEAKER focuS SSE has led the utilities sector in publishing information about its workforce gender ratios and pay gaps. Rosie MacRae's presentation at the HR Forum sharing how the company is trying to move forward with its performance in both areas was one of the highest rated by delegates in their feedback. MacRae highlighted that diversity and equal pay statistics can be misleading. SSE knew that 31 per cent of its workforce were female, but digging deeper into the numbers if found that less than 10 per cent of them earned more than £40,000. MacRae said there was a realisation that progression to positions of influence was a problem for female employees. In response, it published an ambition to see 25 per cent of its women earning more than £40,000 by 2025. Having committed itself to increasing "difference" within its workforce, MacRae said SSE conducted a review of how it was spending money projecting its corporate image to the public. This revealed that a large emphasis had been placed on sports sponsorship in the past but that the sporting events were all male – for instance, large rugby and golf tournaments. Rather than moving away from its sports sponsorship approach, SSE decided to echo its challenging diversity ambitions in its external messaging. It struck a four-year sponsorship deal with the women's FA. SSE's support for this competition not only funds major events but also a grass roots scheme to encourage young girls to take up football. In association with:

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