Issues for the HR Committee: the risk view

In the third and final Directors’ Series session in the 2014-15 program, our panel of contributors explored issues for the HR Committee of boards each stressing how the traditional focus of this committee has been under pressure to widen in scope. Where in the past topics such as interaction with the CEO, succession planning and compensation were dominant agenda items, talent management, productivity and inclusion now compete for attention.

It’s clear to me that these new pressures are not immaterial nor unsuitable for discussion at board level but rather central to sustainable long-term strategy. To extend the observation shared by Heather Stockton in her comments on emerging issues, the accelerated changes felt by organizations due to technology disruption at work combined with forecast demographic shifts in the workforce bind these emerging HR issues tightly to strategy.

If one of the board’s responsibilities is to challenge management’s assumptions inherent in strategy – the choices, trade-offs and implicit appetite for risk – then ‘stress testing’ management’s approach to emerging talent risks moves these items from ‘should do’s’ to ‘must do’s’, to borrow the distinction so thoughtfully argued by Paul Cantor.

In approach, I agree with the suggestion tabled by Ken Hugesson in which HR Committees set aside time in their annual calendar to engage in a discussion of emerging talent risks free of the pressure from other traditional topics to gain confidence that management’s approach to these issues is sound.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts to this (or other thoughts stimulated by the panel) in the comments below.

To access an archived video of the April 9th Directors’ Series session please follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2ag39SARnM3iNLTBwXxCBehNxQ5H_pw7

 

 

 

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