Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 13 and that is to HR's detriment, he says. "It's incumbent on people who are engaged in HR to understand and stay abreast of real scientific evidence — not the garbage, not the stuff that's being peddled, not the stuff that's actu- ally harmful for employees — but real scientific evidence can have an impact that demonstrates their strategic value." Once more workers return to the workplace, managing where to seat them will be another challenge that can illustrate HR's strategic expertise, says Brick. "Most people seem to have adapted pretty well to working away from the office and, frankly, the productivity has been much better than anyone expected, [but] there are employees who just aren't suited to that environment and we're finding that as well. That's going to lead to problems when we move back into the workplace." Keeping HR's value updated For HR professionals to stay within that strategic mindset, a number of new areas will have to be studied, says Miller, and none is more important than recog- nizing an organization's core business purpose. depend on many factors, says Miller. "If organizations are thinking about going back to what was normal, that's going to put HR back into just being that administrative, tactical func- tion. But if organizations are reflective and they stick to the value that's been created through the pandemic with the HR function, that conversation is going to move forward," he says. "HR plays an important role to help lead organiza- tions… The future of the profession is actually in a great place now as a stra- tegic advisor for organizations going forward." How HR practises its craft will also go a long way in determining its future responsibilities, according to Zweig. "The longstanding problem with HR, for over a century, [is that it] has been practised like it's an art but, really, it should be understood as a science and then delivered like art. What I mean by that is the fundamental tenants of understanding human behaviour — we know a lot about it, we have lots of scientific evidence about it — and the key is to be able to use that knowledge and practise it effectively as a practi- tioner in HR." But many still cling to the older ways, "If you can understand and connect to the business operations, you can then take a look at it as an HR professional to say, 'How do I create value for our organization that's going to help us grow and prosper, even in times of dramatic change?' That value alignment between your role as an HR professional and what the business does is going to be critically important as we move into the future." Gaining knowledge into human insight and behaviour is another needed tool in the HR arsenal, according to Zweig. "HR is about people, so advanced degrees in psycholog y, advanced degrees in any area that's going to give you the training and engaging and understanding scientific evidence will help." But once that level of scientific knowl- edge is achieved, it's important not to slip into the old ways, he says. "Rely on people to provide you evidence that have those qualifications, not consultants that just have a lot of experience in some industry at some time; not people who speak well and again engage in virtue signalling but have nothing to back it up. The biggest question an HR person needs to ask is: "HR has been practised like it's an art but, really, it should be understood as a science and then delivered like art." David Zweig, University of Toronto 'Show me the evidence.'" In addition to formal education, talking to other experienced profes- sionals is always a good idea, says Birch. "You've got to reach out to your colleagues. I know several CHROs who formed their own learning networks because they were just grappling with what do we do next and so they quickly came together in a network to support each other. It was a great hands-on-deck moment for HR, and they came through in so many ways." CHRR

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