Welcome to a slightly longer newsletter than usual. We have included some additional components aimed at highlighting the extent to which HR Partners works with the HR community to engender connectivity, the recognition of excellence and the provision of HR Salary data.

This month we show the current levels of remuneration for HR Managers around the 3 eastern states. Once again we hope that in this newsletter there is something for everyone.

Seasonal Greetings to you all.

Regards,

David Owens
Managing Director
HR Partners is pleased to continue recognising excellence in HR Leadership. We would like to congratulate Kerrie Field of St Vincent’s & Mater Hospital Sydney for her outstanding achievement - winning the HR Partners Award for Best HR Leader 2008. We also extend our congratulations to all finalists of this award.
We are pleased to announce Rhys McKenzie has joined our permanent desk in Melbourne. Originally from New Zealand, Rhys has spent the last 12 months in London and has now decided to make Melbourne home. He has extensive experience in consultancy and in-house recruitment as well as generalist HR and retail management, having worked for companies such as Westpac, CMC Markets and The Warehouse Ltd.

Rhys can be contacted on 03 9603 0601 or rmckenzie@hrpartners.com.au.
Bronze Medallist - HR Partners

HR Partners would like to thank the Human Capital Magazine and its Readers for their vote. We were delighted with the news of winning the Bronze Award for Most Preferred Recruitment Agency 2008!

HR Partners runs 6 HR Network groups for HR Professionals - 3 in Sydney, 2 in Melbourne and 1 in Brisbane. We have over 300 corporate members drawn from the full spectrum of Australian Business.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our presenters from 2008. Our presentations have once again covered a wide range of subjects with some of our speakers true leaders in their field.

We would also like to thank all of our members for their continued membership and involvement and we look forward to providing an even more compelling networking and learning opportunity in 2009.

Next year we aim to make registration and member communication much more streamlined and we anticipate announcing some exciting developments in the next newsletter. In the meantime, to learn a little more about the HR Network Groups, their locations and organisers - please visit www.hrpartners.com.au/page/hr_network

 

HR Network Group (first forum dates for 2009):

Sydney CBD - TBA
Norwest - 10th February 2009
North Ryde - TBA
Melbourne CBD - 4th March 2009
Melbourne Leadership - 15th April 2009
Brisbane - 18th March 2009

In our last newsletter we announced that Kathryn Bellion had won the scholarship to the Leaders Program by MGSM.

The Judges chose Kathryn for her strong academic credentials, her high level of motivation and her ability to express how the program would meet her educational needs. She also clearly specified the benefits of winning including how this would enhance her career, her employer/company and the HR profession. Kathryn works for a not for profit company in Melbourne and explains her motivation for applying and what winning the scholarship means to her.

Why did you apply for the HR Partners’ MGSM HR Leaders Program scholarship?
I was excited to see HR Partners very generous offer to fund a scholarship to the MGSM’s HR Leaders program in Sydney in this newsletter. The information on the MGSM website outlined a consolidated, intensive and thorough program for senior HR practitioners to hone the knowledge and skills essential to our capacity to function at the required level in HR now and in the future. To attend such a program and at the same time offer benefits to and save costs for my employer, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to finding innovative ways to treat and prevent conditions affecting children’s health) was very appealing and so I applied.

What does winning the scholarship mean to you?
The scholarship presents a great opportunity to develop professionally and personally by capitalising on my academic qualifications and experience, to network with colleagues and to attend one of our country’s leading business schools. I look forward to the program and cannot thank HR Partners enough for their generosity and the judges for selecting my application.


Kathryn Bellion
Head of Human Resources
Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Now with over 4000 salary contributions our HR Salary Survey website is the most comprehensive salary survey ever to be completed by the Australian HR Community. Below is a brief snapshot of Median HR Manager salary packages across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (total salaries surveyed in brackets).
You too can Know Your Value and find out what you're really worth. Simply visit www.hrsalarysurvey.com.au - it's anonymous and free.
Ilana Atlas, Group Executive, People & Performance for Westpac, discusses with us what makes a great HR professional, her biggest people challenges, and the future role of HR Management in modern big business.

Gail Kelly, Westpac’s CEO is well known for her passion about people.  When she and I spoke about HR Professionals she immediately spoke of her respect for them but also of her desire to have line Managers share the passion for people, why is that?
Gail Kelly became Westpac’s CEO in February this year. She says that her first impression of Westpac was the strength of the culture and values in Westpac and the capability of the people. She quickly set a new agenda for the company – to be the leading financial services company in Australia and New Zealand. To achieve this our ambition is to earn all of our customers’ business!
She believes that a key lever to deliver this bold agenda is for every single people leader in the business to be accountable for managing their people – having the right people in the right roles, setting a clear direction, clarifying accountabilities, coaching and skilling people to achieve results and living the Westpac Group values. HR professionals deliver value by supporting people leaders to do this well.

What is your biggest people challenge at Westpac?
The major focus over the last six months and the next six months will be the merger with St George Bank. As many of you know, there are a myriad of people issues that need to be addressed in a merger. The HR teams in Westpac and St George have been at the centre of the merger activity. Westpac and St George are both successful businesses, with iconic brands and highly complementary cultures. The similarities between the organisations are striking. Both are people organisations - employees are proud, they are committed to their customers, each other and the community. However, as in any post merger integration, despite similarities, there is much to do – particularly enhancing the individual brands.

In addition, our strategy to earn all our customers’ business, which will be accelerated by the merger, requires substantial HR input and support. This includes hiring and developing people who love serving customers, skilling them to build long term relationships with customers, designing incentives that reward success and the right behaviours and supporting people by creating a culture of respect.

What attributes make a great HR Professional?
The key attributes are passion and a commitment to our values. HR professionals also need a deep understanding of the business and how money is made, a strong partnership with their people leaders to be great coaches and deliver robust programs and initiatives. They also must work effectively across the People function, have a commitment to ongoing development, and always put customers at the centre of everything we do.

What do you see as the future role for HR Management in modern big business?
HR needs to deliver a new combination of services and solutions to help the business be successful in the future.

First, it needs to provide high quality strategic advice to the business on how to best attract, motivate and retain the right people to deliver on the business’ objectives. This is where strong business acumen, organisation development and project skills are critical. The insight provided to the business has to be founded on good benchmarks, workforce analytics, understanding of competitor activity, as well as what works within the business.

Secondly HR needs to provide solutions, both commoditised and high value add, to help the business succeed. Economies of scale are not enough. Economies of skill is where the new value lies. The solutions need to be standard and automated where it makes sense and tailored where business value is created. This is a challenge for systems and processes. So the shared services and HR specialists need to be able to work with the business to make these tradeoffs. This requires understanding the business and where value is created, strong analytic skills and the ability to design systems and processes that are standard yet flexible. 
 
How does your HR Team contribute to the achievement of your businesses strategic objectives?
In Westpac, HR has a seat at the table. Our HR people are integral to the business and are well respected for their contribution both in attracting a disproportionate share of talented people to the company and then having them perform to their best.  While we have more to do, we are well down the track of delivering the capabilities and solutions that are outlined above. Our HR people are keen to add more value to the business and we have a set of initiatives underway to support that.  We’re proud of what we have achieved so far.

Facilitated by the Mind Gallery - now is the time to Create, Connect and Focus to meet the challenges ahead.

HR Partners, together with 40 guests, stepped back in time to enter the 100 year old Dome, which forms part of the historic Mission to Seafarers at Docklands. On a night in September, the Dome was transformed into an artists studio, where curious guests experienced a night of networking, creativity, art and fun. Trish Elkington, Director of the Mind Gallery believes that with tough times ahead, now is the time for employees to think creatively, connect with their team and focus on what they can do to make the biggest impact to their organisations success. To view the whole article please click here.