From occupational safety to legal counsel: How HR providers envision the future of people management

In the week that the APG, the Portuguese Association of People Management, announced the winners of the “Best HR Providers 2022”, Pessoas magazine interviewed the winning companies to find out how they envision the future of people management and HR and how they are contributing to it. 

In their own way, HR service providers play a key role in people management, and the future of human resources depends on them as well. On the one hand, occupational health and safety providers are, perhaps more than ever, one of the pivotal players in the game - as even the return to the office depends on them -, but companies that provide training, coaching, and professional development services are also crucial, due to the need for training for the new remote and hybrid working models. What is more, legal counsel is essential to ensure juridical and legal certainty on this transformation journey. In the week that the winners of the "Best HR Providers 2022" were announced, an initiative, promoted by the Portuguese Association of People Management (APG), Pessoas magazine interviewed each of the companies honored for their exemplary approach to these issues.

“Looking at the current business context, the digital transformation of HR is a real and imperative need. However, the digital transformation of the HR department has a considerable impact on the company, and involves everyone in the company, as well as the internal processes and procedures,” states Ana Cláudia Rangel, responsible for the department of Employment Law at the law firm Raposo Bernardo & Associados – Sociedade de Advogados, the only company that has been awarded in the “Legal Counsel Services” category.

Rangel emphasizes that "the digital transformation journey has brought a myriad of benefits, including increased productivity, automated work processes, and innovative tools that reduce errors and increase work flexibility. However, in some cases, there are still challenges to address, such as the investment and the need for constant updates, as these tools are constantly evolving."

Legal counsel & occupational health and safety - key players in the future of HR

It is precisely because of the new ways of communicating and working based on new technologies that there is an emerging need for specialized legal counsel that can legally support digital transformation and the challenges and issues that can arise from it. “The internet, data science, and digital channels are catalysts for new legal issues, new relationship possibilities, and ways of working within companies that need to be legally framed and guaranteed," argues Ana Cláudia Rangel. 

Consequently, the field of legal counsel has felt the need to update itself so as to contribute to a digital future, to help prevent problems, and above all, to open up new horizons together with the people management and human resources departments, providing them with all the legal security they need when it comes to exploring new data processing platforms, digitalizing the recruitment and hiring process, interacting online, and creating new ways of working. 

Similarly, the field of occupational health and safety also needed to be updated quickly, as there was a trifecta of challenges to overcome: First, there was the need to ensure that all safety measures were in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among employees. Secondly, there is the current challenge of making the workplace a safe environment for people to return to, and finally, now there seems to be the challenge of “guaranteeing the emotional balance of the employees” as explained by Pedro Malpique, Sales and Marketing Director at Atlanticare, an organization that has once again won in the "Occupational Health and Safety" category.

Pedro Malpique also adds that “occupational health and safety services will contribute immensely to this cause, by promoting psychosocial risk assessment, behavioral training, and health and well-being activities in companies.” 

What is more, ensuring a good level of health, safety, and well-being in the workplace has a direct impact on a company's performance and business sustainability. An idea that is corroborated by Rute Castanheiro: “It is essential to maintain the working capacity, confidence, motivation and productivity of employees, as these aspects are key to the operation, development, and competitiveness of any company." Castanheiro is the General Manager of Centralmed, a company that has also won in the "Occupational Health and Safety" category.

Prepare for new ways of working

Training providers play an important role in the well-being and mental health debate - "In addition to training, coaching, and professional development, it will be necessary to improve the skills inherent in the new hybrid work models, paying particular attention to the well-being, resilience, and emotional intelligence of employees" says Ricardo Martins, the General Manager of Cegoc, which won the “Training, Coaching and Professional Development” category along with Dynargie, MTW Portugal, Olisipo, and Rumos. 

“Some of the disruptions that were expected to happen in ten years’ time ended up happening much sooner. The pandemic forced people to distance themselves, pushed organizations that had never considered it to adopt remote work, and even those providing training had to reinvent it and find solutions that would allow the continuity of training plans (for the few that were not frozen) and the development of professionals and organizations,” explains Sandra Viegas, Sales Director at Olisipo. 

The last two years have been a time of experimentation for Cegoc. Training rooms have been transformed into studios, and the use of collaborative digital platforms for training purposes has been diversified... But always with a single objective in mind: "To contribute to the critical development of skills and the adaptation of everyone to a world that is eminently digital and constantly changing," assures Ricardo Martins.

"People are increasingly facing new challenges that require them to (re)align their mindset and develop and improve their skills," says João Barbosa, Country Manager at Dynargie. Barbosa adds, "As long as there is room for the human element in organizations, Dynargie feels better and better equipped to intervene in the human side of business, supporting organizations in their transformation and change processes."

Regarding the new skills required in the labor market, João Barbosa believes that this has led to "a brutal acceleration in the way we have started to look at soft skills, technology, and the whole digital dimension.”

Jorge Lopes, Head of Rumos Training, goes into more detail by claiming that “The future of HR will be marked by increasingly important issues such as workforce flexibility, versatility, and a team culture that encourages feedback and autonomy, as well as the issue of well-being, the preparation of managers for remote leadership, and the dynamics of remote teams and their impact on the organizational culture.”

Additionally, Jorge Lopes predicts that issues such as the qualification of employees and the development of their digital skills, particularly in programming, cloud, data & analytics, and cybersecurity will become increasingly important and even play a decisive role.

Recruiters adapt, and so do those who they recruit 

When it comes to recruitment, the pandemic opened the door to the creation of new jobs and forced companies to rethink their strategies. “The pandemic and its resulting changes have simply dictated which markets, sectors, and positions have become a focus for Portugal and the rest of the world, and which positions are likely to have less potential in the medium and long term,” says Miguel Almeida, Lead Operations Manager - Specialized Recruitment at Kelly Services.

"Recruitment and selection will always play a crucial role in the integration process of new human capital into companies, which must be conducted professionally and impartially, based on a significant sample of candidates and using a variety of sources to search for professionals on the market, guaranteeing recruitment with the lowest possible risk for companies. The future will always be about strategically adapting and optimizing this whole process," continues Miguel Almeida, representing one of the winners in the "Recruitment, Selection, Skills Assessment and Outplacement" category.

Similarly, the digital world and the increasing focus on virtual dynamics have forced companies to adapt their recruitment processes. Interviews migrated onto the screen, and even onboarding processes were just a click away, at least during periods of mandatory confinement. Although physically (and temporarily) distant, there was an opportunity for various platforms and digital media to optimize their dynamics in the market and for potential professionals to become more active in this environment. A fact that, as Miguel Almeida explains, has led to an ever-increasing number of candidates and effective access to excellent professionals.

“We are moving toward a hybrid work model based on work flexibility and with a focus on performance rather than on hours or location. In other words, more profitable companies and happier employees. One of the most pressing changes is the use of video technology to conduct interviews, so one of the challenges is and will be to adapt the approach to the remote model," says Álvaro Fernández, Managing Director of Michael Page. "We also have to be very careful with the integration process," he adds.

In terms of leadership, Álvaro Fernández believes that promoting employee autonomy and defining concrete activity indicators will be essential to manage teams according to the circumstances. Communication based on trust and proximity, rather than on control, will also be a skill that leaders must not neglect.

"As remote or hybrid work becomes the norm, it is very important that employees continue to feel heard and supported. It will continue to be critical for teams to use tools to share experiences and collaborate virtually. Using video conferencing or email to publicly acknowledge efforts and results will help employees feel that their work is valued and that they are part of the team," suggests the Managing Director of Michael Page, a company that won in the “Recruitment” category.

On the other hand, after the reign of technical skills, behavioral skills are gaining ground and are becoming increasingly important in the talent selection process. Soft skills such as resilience, flexibility, teamwork, results orientation, innovation, and creativity are valued more than ever before. "It is about finding solutions to new problems," says Fernández. At the same time, digital skills will be "an almost indispensable requirement for working in an increasingly online environment.”

With regard to temporary work, a category in which Success Work was awarded, the company's director, António Duarte, believes that temporary work and companies specializing in HR have a fundamental role to play in the current context.

According to António Duarte, "We are living through troubled times and economic uncertainty. The world is still recovering from a pandemic and now faces a war in Ukraine. In addition to the humanitarian crisis, we are once again facing an economic crisis, partly as a result of rising energy prices. In the field of human resources, companies need to plan their strategies rigorously, taking into account the current situation. We believe that temporary work agencies and specialized HR companies are very important strategic partners.”

"We also have to consider that the labor market has changed in the last two years. People are now expected to be more resilient, autonomous, and have critical sense. Emotional intelligence is becoming more essential and imperative. In addition to all this, it is necessary to take into account the bureaucracy that comes with hiring a new human resource," concludes António Duarte.

Consulting to “align” those that “do not speak the same language”

Sara Batalha, the CEO of MTW Portugal believes that consulting is the solution to connect different departments that need to be aligned more than ever before: “It makes it possible to align departments that do not speak the same language, from management and human resources to marketing and communications. These are the pillars of an internal culture that is based on constant (re-)learning”. 

However, the main impacts of consulting on the market are related to "increasing sustainable profitability of companies", "improving stability" and "identifying business and career development opportunities".

Batalha believes that the biggest challenge for the future is “to be willing to restart, renovate and relearn every day, and to inspire our team to live in discomfort as a catalyst for growth.” In this way, consulting acts as a trusted advisor, able to help companies navigate an uncertain future at the rapid pace of change.

“The field of consulting will contribute significantly to the future of HR in organizations, as it carries a growing strategic importance for business development. It is expected that there will be a sustained investment in the specialization and development of HR professionals, particularly in procurement consulting,” emphasizes Sofia Quelhas, consultant and trainer at OnSynergy, a company that won in the “Consulting” category along with MTW.