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How green are your HR practices? The fourth wave of greening HR

In this first article in a series of articles about green HR practices, Belia Nel explores how green your organisation’s HR and talent practices are. Focusing on the HR carbon footprint of your organisation, she suggests ways to effectively and efficiently deal with HR issues.

by Belia Nel

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
	Belia Nel is a certified Performance Improvement Technologist with the International Society for Performance Improvement and can be reached at belia@leadersoflearners.co.za

As the world licks its economic wounds and heads into a new decade, it is time to rethink just about everything – particularly people practices in organisations. It is the people that will force change, however difficult it may be for leadership. The green way of work is upon us, whether we want to embrace it or not.

Alec Howe, future forecaster, refers to “time splintering, work spillover and leisure spillover”, and how work-life balance will no longer be the topic on the corporate agenda.  It is more about how a day will be “chopped up” and how time will be allocated in a “splintered” way.  Richard Sandford, a learning researcher, says mid-life drop-outs are cynical about another economic recovery and disillusioned with the recession, particularly the lack of career stability. 

Will HR leadership be able to adjust current policies and practices to incorporate the new work-life challenges of people? The workforce is also continually becoming hyper-taskers, and brick and mortar organisations will have to provide the technology to keep people engaged, while at the same time adding value to the business. With life expectancy extending and retirement disappearing, it will be normal to have multiple and totally different careers in one lifetime. Should organisations take notice and audit current strategies, or are we simply going to miss the opportunity to retain talent in multi-dimensional career options?
 
How green are your organisational HR practices?
A new year in a new decade has a sense of renewal for organisational performance practices and a proactive way to review would be to consider how green the organisational HR practices are. Many factors will influence a decision to consider a green HR strategy. A simultaneous review of the past HR carbon footprint should give an indication of future-driven strategies in a new way of work that addresses not only the environment, but also the people practices in the second decade of the 21st century. We should have our eyes firmly fixed over the HR horizon contemplating and strategising the new world of work through green glasses. As an organisation the focus should be on greenperformance improvement results for clients and all those we serve.

Dave Ulrich refers to the quality of talent and leadership as the “hole in the boat”. Talent in any organisation is chaotic and the biggest challenge is to compete in a complex, competitive environment. If we refer to greening HR practices, knowledge and talent are “above the ground” vs “in the ground”. This will govern the way we approach a new thinking of greening HR and talent practices. 

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