More than one hundred Human Resource (HR) Professionals have gathered in Accra for the 2019 Ghana HR Summit organised by Mercer, a global consulting leader in advancing health, wealth and career , in partnership with Learning Organisation Ghana to brainstorm on the future of work and how it will be created.
The two-day Summit which started on August 13th, 2019 took place at the Labadi Beach Hotel on the theme “Building an Agile Workforce”.
The experts, some of whom are Chief Executive Officers, Heads of Departments, Senior Managers among others, focused on the challenges the Human Resource Industry is facing and how they could adapt to new trends that focus on employee inclusiveness to simplify the work experience.
One key challenge to the HR functions across the African continent is that it is often administrative, not strategic and doesn’t have any influence on capability. Another career-limiting challenge is that most organisations don’t have ladders for people to climb in terms of promotions.
The Mercer’s Global Talent Trends 2019 report has revealed that 73 percent of executes predict significant industry disruptions in the next three years, up from 26 percent in 2018.
The report further notes that the sharp shift in perception about the future business environment applies across geographies and industries, although it is most pronounced in the Life Sciences, Consumer Goods and Energy Sector.
Speaking at the event, Deon De Swardt, Business Development Leader (SSA), explained that more than half of executives expect Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation to replace one in five of their organisation’s current jobs.
“Organisations need to focus on increasing access to the gig economy – having more people that are flexible, that deliver pieces of work without necessary working for the company. One of the things that I feel Africa is shying away from is flexibility – where they work from, what the kind of work they do, and as to whether they share jobs or not. I feel there is no sufficient trust in organizations to allow people to be measured on output rather than the time they work.” Mr. Deon De Swardt, Business Development Leader (SSA).
Commenting on the event, Siphiwe Moyo, an International Speaker, Facilitator and Author, said: “it is important for HR experts to adapt to new trends in the industry by exhibiting good quality leadership that will have a positive impact on workers”.
“Work is changing, the HR of ten years ago cannot be the HR of today. So, we need to build an agile workforce, that is change resilient, emotionally resilient and do a lot of reskilling projects in order to strive in the fourth industrial revolution.”, he added.
The experts were taken through topics such as; Connectivity in the Human Age (Mercer Global Talent Trends 2019 Insights) and Powerful Decision-Making with HR Metrics and Analytics which was presented by Mr. Deon de Swardt as well as “Unpacking Compensation & Benefit Trends in Ghana and West Africa” presented by Mr. Jean Mboule, Senior Business Development Manager, Mercer.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Mercer.