HR in 2022: Amer Iqbal featured in HRM Magazine cover story
With so much discussion revolving around the “Great Resignation”, and with the business world finally looking to re-emerge from the grips of Covid-19, it’s no surprise that HRM Asia have chosen to focus their last issue for 2021 on the topic of Shifting power back to employees. Amer Iqbal’s piece on the topic has been quoted in the cover story of the Nov/Dec 2021 issue.
VIEW THE FULL STORY AT HRM ASIA >
Here is Amer’s original piece on the topic:
DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK
In 1984, Apple aired one of the most iconic ads of all time. A woman runs into a crowded theatre, the sea of expressionless faces illuminated with the dim flicker of an authoritarian figure filling their minds with propaganda. The woman throws a sledgehammer, shattering the screen and setting the masses free. We’ve always been drawn to tales of individuals taking the power back. While the 80’s revolution was apparently about selling beige, box-shaped computers, 40 years later we find ourselves fighting for a more noble cause: breaking down the walls between work and life, ushering in a re-emergence of self.
As the ship pulls into Q4 and FY22 planning sessions kick off around the globe, it’s hard not to feel a sense of optimism. After 18 months of false starts and failed reopenings, 2022 is shaping up to be a time of rebirth and reinvention.
The single greatest challenge, and equally the greatest opportunity for organisations will be the shift of power back to the people.
Organisations will need to battle the easy option, fighting the urge to just go back to the way things were. Sure we’ve been through a pandemic, but we’ve learned a lot. Reverting back would miss the huge opportunity to rethink how things could be better.
How can we put a positive lens on the doom and gloom we’ve heard so much about?
The great resignation - all those people are leaving their jobs to find purpose and autonomy… could we be the ones to offer it?
Mental health crisis - if managers acted more like mentors, would people still feel the need to check their personality at the door?
Hybrid workplace - if most people WFH anyway, why not tap into the advantages of lean, just-in-time skills from remote freelance and gig workers?
Those organisations who can successfully serve the needs of their people and unlock the potential of the individual will sail into 2022 riding high. Say it together now: “We shall prevail!”
