HRM/New Work

New Work@EIPA – the new role of HR management to design the future world of work

The pandemic has intensified discussion about increasing flexibility in working times, places of work and home office. New Work, with the demand for ‘purpose’, will continue to require more from organisations, leaders and HR management. Empowerment, personal responsibility, self-organisation, collaborative and agile forms of work, sustainability, flat hierarchies, project structures and other keywords are cited as areas for action.

At the same time, the 5 D’s (Digitisation, Decarbonisation, Diversity, Demography, and Democracy) need to be managed.

Public Managers will be decisive in determining the success or failure of the green and digital transformation in the hybrid world of work. Transformational, inspirational or even employee-focused leadership has long been a topic of discussion, and is only increasing in relevance. The attitudes and mindsets of the workforce must be shaped. Employees need to be inspired to accept new things and thus to embrace processes of change in order to ensure the enduring implementation of reforms. Value oriented and discrimination free cultures become the base to manage a diverse workforce.

Lifelong learning and the personal responsibility of employees for their own development and health are bringing change to HR management. Workability– skills, health and commitment – must be promoted at every phase of life. Good working relationships and conditions (wellbeing in the workplace ) have a positive impact on employee engagement and performance.

Knowledge is becoming obsolete increasingly quickly. As a result, lifelong learning is becoming a necessity to promote workability at every phase of life. At the same time employees should be encouraged to take on a greater responsibility for their personal development and thus also for their learning needs. In this respect, the educational opportunities must also change accordingly. Knowledge management is becoming a key issue for the future, with laboratory facilities also playing an important role to also promote innovation.

The target of a modern talent management is to promote employees diverse competencies from the beginning of a person’s professional career, to its end. Overall, in view of the shortage of skilled workers, new talent groups must be leveraged and recruitment processes redesigned. Public Administration must position itself as a competitive employer, by paying attention to sustainable HR management, career opportunities at every phase of life, and diversity management. Participation and collaboration all offer incentives to attract and retain talent.

EIPA offers a range of public goods on these topics, in the forms of free events, web panels and a regular blog series. Our activities target public sector managers in the EU and national public administration, but are also of interest to HR managers in the private sector.