HR Leaders - HR Leaders 2021

Welcome to this most recent addition to the Topco suite of powerful publications. Top HR Leaders joins the ranks of our distinguished editions, some of which, like Top Empowerment, have been inspiring businesses to do better business for over 20 years.

As with most things that have happened since November 2019, the Covid pandemic played a critical role in decisions we have made over the last 2 years at Topco HQ. First and foremost, we pivoted to digital – with our events and our publications. Secondly, during 2020 we took a close look at how the businesses who managed to build their ships as they were sailing them, were able to survive and adopt an agile approach which would eventually lead from surviving to thriving. We discovered that a key role was being played by HR practitioners.

In this list of Covid challenges which face the workplace, compiled by PwC, the role of Human Resources is loud and clear:

1 - Managing health and safety

Ensuring a healthy and safe work environment needs to remain a priority.

2 - Leading and communicating change

As we navigate through these changes, organisations must lead with purpose to manage the adoption of new working practices and employee concerns.

3 - Operating under new demands

In these turbulent times organisations must look to ramp up operations to meet evolving demands. Organisations must set-up return-to-work schedules based on volume forecasts, regulations and new operating hours. What needs to be determined is which employees do you need – when and where?

4 - Encouraging empathy in policies and culture

Leadership teams must make an effort to understand the new situations their people face. This requires organisations to ensure they are set up to account for employees’ individual circumstances and comfort levels, including underlying health issues, child care, etc.

5 - Changing facilities and technology

In order to ensure safe distancing, organisations may need to reconfigure their workplace.

Top HR Leaders acknowledges and celebrates the key role that HR practitioners play not only in the survival of businesses – but also the trajectory to abundance.