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By Human Capital Magazine
January 31, 2012 8:01 PM EST
Of the 12 HR professionals profiled in Human Capital over the past year, Peter Godfrey’s response as to why he enjoys working in the HR space wins out for succinct honesty: “I like its simplicity!” he says.
While he concedes that the term ‘simplicity’ is a little tongue in cheek, he adds that the perception is that ‘anyone can do’ HR. Not so. Godfrey has a slightly different view of what it takes, which takes into consideration the unique specialisation that HR is. He explains the scope of this role in full:
“You need to be capable of understanding the prevailing labour law framework, its key instruments and processes, and their application to your organisation, with an increasingly international complexion. Add to that an understanding of employment law fundamentals inclusive of employment contract matters. Overlay some psychology as it manifests in people’s behaviour at work, determines cognitive ability, and drives engagement and performance. Tie that to the sociology of workplaces as relatively complex social systems, and the plurality of interests that pervade organisations. Throw in an appreciation of contemporary change and project management and leadership theory and practice, blended with the political economy of the day, and inject your current organisation’s strategic plan, key measures, balance sheet, and market forces. Some technology and systems savvy, risk and compliance awareness, and there you have it. Simple!”
Yet it’s that tapestry that Godfrey admits he finds truly interesting and constantly challenging.
Path to HR
Godfrey’s path to his current role has indeed been rich and varied.
He is currently on assignment with managed services and facilities management company Spotless at Group level as general manager human resources. He previously spent 14 years with Australia Post, and 11 years with the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association. He is also the principal of Starting 5 People Solutions, a boutique people management consulting practice.
In many ways Godfrey’s early career set up the direction his future roles would take. A set of circumstances in 1986 led him to a role as the research assistant on a state government funded OHS study into injuries affecting retail supermarket workers. The project was directed by a Professor from Monash University’s medical school, sponsored by the Shop Assistants union, and supported by the two major retailers at that time.
At the conclusion of that project the Shop Assistants union offered him a role in its state branch in the Research team. Over the next decade research grew into advocacy, bargaining, dispute resolution, and policy work on the full range of matters that are of concern to unions and their members including awards and agreements, unfair dismissals, state and national wage cases, safety, workers compensation, and superannuation. His last role with the Shop Assistants was as senior national industrial officer principally focused on enterprise bargaining with all of the major employers in the retail industry.
The bridge into Australia Post was Godfrey’s industrial and employee relations capability. Over the next 14 years or so Australia Post afforded him the opportunity to learn, grow and progress, as well as generalise into broader HR roles and focus on the full suite of HRM including organisation design and development, talent, succession, recruitment, workforce planning, performance management, and remuneration and benefits, while building and leading HR teams focused expressly on delivering business outcomes.
Godfrey notes that his ‘proudest achievement’ in HR occurred during his time at Australia Post (2003-2010), during which he firstly built and then led a high performing team and function.
“My HR team at Post consistently achieved customer feedback ratings at or above 80% satisfaction, while also returning their own employee engagement scores at or above 90%,” he says. “These results were achieved by an outstanding group of people providing an end to end HR offer for a business division of over 9,000 employees. As a further measure of the effectiveness of our HR function that division of Post also returned employee engagement scores of 80% and above, which exceeded many Australian and global employee engagement norms.”
The scale, unique trading and operating environment at Australia Post also equipped Godfrey with the skills to work and lead comfortably in “complex and often ambiguous environments”, he says.
It also places Godfrey in a unique position to comment on the skills, capabilities and knowledge that HR professionals must possess in order to operate in today’s complex work environment:
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