Professor Niall Moyna, School of Health & Human Performance, Dublin City University (DCU); Sarah Manning, HR Director EMEA, Zendesk; Simone Macleod-Nairn, Executive Director & Head of HR, Irish Life and Lisa Finnegan, HR Director, LinkedIn (Photo: Karl Burke)
PARTNER CONTENT IN ASSOCIATION WITH IRISH LIFE
The Business & Finance Employee Experience Breakfast Briefing, sponsored by Irish Life, took place this morning at the Stephen’s Green Hibernian Club.
This event, highlighting agile working environments, the future of work, diversity and inclusion, and the war for talent, had some of the most forward-thinking minds in the Irish work environment in attendance.
Panel make-up and structure
A panel, moderated by Anthony Kelly, Senior Consultant at Carr Communications, consisted of Sarah Manning, HR Director EMEA, Zendesk; Simone Macleod-Nairn, Executive Director & Head of HR, Irish Life; Lisa Finnegan, HR Director, LinkedIn and Professor Niall Moyna, School of Health & Human Performance, Dublin City University (DCU).
Lisa Finnegan said:
“We’re very much a purpose-led organisation.”
What was meant by this is the way in which LinkedIn operates, i.e. all employees should have a purpose within the firm, and the organisation has a duty to tailor that to suit each person.
Finnegan continued: “It’s not an eight-hour day anymore.”
One example being allowing employees branch out into “side hustles” – this is doing a passion away from the desk.
Culture
One of the topics on show was how companies need to adapt and shape their surroundings and culture to meet the ever-changing paradigm of the workforce.
Niall Moyna said:
Graduates are not stupid – the minute they walk into a company, they smell a culture.
He then continued: “You do not create a culture in six months – it takes four or five years to create a culture.”
Business & Finance Employee Experience Breakfast Briefing, sponsored by Irish Life, at Stephen’s Green Hibernian Club (Photo: Karl Burke)
Sarah Manning highlighted how important it is to get this right first and foremost:
The employer brand will come – it’s the culture we have to get right.
Putting the final touches to this point, Lisa Finnegan said of culture that it “eats strategy for breakfast, all day, every day.”
The Agile methodology and adaption
The Agile methodology is the evolution of requirements through the collaboration of teams and end users.
Simone Macleod-Nairn spoke specifically of what this means on a real, tangible level:
I don’t think there are any barriers to Agile working… Agile working is how a company wants to position itself.
This methodology can be used to align companies with their current and future goals. More importantly, however, it enables them to adapt to what their future goals, and indeed hiring processes, will throw at them, i.e. bring forward flexibility.
“Have you set up a culture that allows you adapt to change?”, said Professor Moyna.
Some great ideas and techniques were brought up in this insightful panel discussion on the future of work, change, flexibility and employment. With these ideals put in place, a better work environment and workplace in general can easily be established.
