The evolution of the workplace – and workforce

When I started as a human resources manager at Toyota in 2002 the company had just launched the Prius in Australia. This was the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle and Toyota wanted to convince the world of its importance. How the world has changed now.

"It is recognising change is coming, being aware of emerging trends and being ready to act which holds us in good stead.”

It is recognising change is coming, being aware of emerging trends and being ready to act which holds us in good stead.

To say the ANZ workforce has been resilient in the face of global change is an understatement. COVID-19, work from home and new technology are among the myriad changes the workforce has taken in its stride in recent years.

Looking ahead, I see further change this year and several key areas will be priorities.

Engaged and productive

Enabling our people to be more productive and engaged in their work is critical in an environment of increased competition, rapidly evolving technology and a competitive labour market.

What does ANZ’s already well-engaged staff need to do even better? We believe tools like Artificial Intelligence and process simplification will help build further productivity in our workforce.

Productivity is an ongoing discipline for us, not a one-off program of work, and we will continue to invest in the growth and momentum of our business.

Talent counts

Attracting and retaining talent is critical. Although the labour market has softened in many geographies we operate, overall it remains strong.

Traditionally financial institutions compete for talent. However digital transformation means we now compete with companies outside the industry, such as software providers.

Given the soft outlook in the economy, especially over the first half of the year, and population growth exceeding employment growth, our economists expect Australia’s unemployment rate to increase slightly during 2024.

But I don’t see this having a material impact on ANZ as an employer. We’ll still need people with specialist skills who can work effectively in a large organisation.

At the same time wages play an important role in attracting and retaining talent, together with flexible work, support for wellbeing, career progression and professional development.

Diverse and sustainable

The area of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is continuing to evolve. Diversity of our workforce, inclusive culture, environmental sustainability, corporate governance and contributing to the community – these are all core to our purpose and culture.

We need to think about how people with different experiences work together. For example, each new generation will have similarities and differences to previous generations.

Organisations need to consider how to tap into the unique skills of each generation – including Gen Z. This generation has used digital communication from a very young age and this has influenced how they learn and work.

I have also observed a generational change in values and interests particularly related to environmental sustainability and social issues. With two Gen Zs at home, I am feeling optimistic about the impact this next generation will have on our society.

Hybrid work

We’re learning more each day about hybrid work - what works and what doesn’t. This will only continue in 2024. Over the years our flexibility practices have evolved and will continue to do so.

We’re considering how to fine-tune hybrid working for different roles in different locations, flexible practices to attract and retain talent and how we evolve the workspace to cater for teams working in a hybrid fashion.

Importantly we need to consider what type of work is more effective in the office alongside colleagues compared with at home.

Upskilling

As technology evolves rapidly we’re also focused on reskilling and upskilling our people to build their capability for the future, particularly in areas such as AI, cyber security, data science, software engineering and automation.

ANZ has been using AI for years, including tools for voice identity protection and proof of identity and for the analytics we perform on fraud and cyber threat trends. We use AI for the identification process in ANZ Plus digital platform, including customer selfies for login and high-value payments.

We treat generative AI, including ChatGPT, as an augmentation tool. The person using the AI is still accountable to review its response and ultimately make the decision on whether to use it.

This technology may change the nature of some roles rather than remove the need for them and some staff may be freed up to perform higher-value functions. 

As in life, we can expect change to happen in business. At ANZ we are looking ahead to changes and focused on assisting our workforce to grow through that change.

Elisa Clements is Group Executive of Talent and Culture at ANZ