The workforce of the future

Are you keeping up with the pace of digital change?

Work, workforces and workplaces are responding to technology at an exponential pace. Success depends on having a strategy that reimagines all aspects of workforce management from accessing, aligning, engaging, rewarding and, ultimately, leading the workforce of the future. Instead of being considered as a support function as it previously was, today, HR functions are leading digital workforce transformations across organisations. This is happening across three main areas:

Digital workforce

In the digital age, technology has made navigating many complexities in our lives a seamless process. We can book vacations, watch movies and purchase products, all within a few taps of a screen. We have become used to coherent user experiences and therefore anything less at the workplace would only cause frustration. Companies must enable smooth employee experiences with technology, particularly because top talent will expect nothing less. Moreover, technology enabled processes can only improve employee engagement and productivity, leading to better business outcomes. In this way, HR can contribute directly to the successes of the firm.

Digital workplace

In the digital age and in the context of constant change, organisations now face the challenge to create a working environment that fosters productivity, boosts employee engagement and enables the use of technology and communication tools.

A digital workplace will disintegrate communication barriers and lead to greater efficiency, growth and innovation. It also enables quick sharing of knowledge, which is crucial in the workplace.

Workplace and workforce needs are constantly evolving and technology makes it easier to be up to date quickly. For example, the pandemic caused massive disruption when all employees were forced to work from home from one day to the next. A digital workplace allows the integration of technology that employees are using (e.g. email, instant message, HR apps, virtual meeting rooms, etc.).

The integration of these tools have the potential to make a real cultural change. Employees will be able to access their work and tools anytime and anywhere so that they can be connected both online and offline. Technology also enhances the employee experience and allows them to have more choices and flexibility and personalisation.

In some ways, this can be considered a natural evolution of the workplace, especially given the circumstances created by the pandemic where remote and flexible working have become the norm. This is already being done on some level in many firms (e.g. when employees reply to emails on their mobile or record a sales opportunity in a company-approved digital platform). Organisations that do not evolve into a digital workplace are at risk of becoming inefficient, irrelevant and of not attracting top talent.

Digital HR

The HR function is shifting from ‘doing digital’ to ‘being digital.’ Digital HR is the application of advanced technologies and analytics, digital traits and behaviours, and HR customer centricity through the lens of the organisations HR Operating Model to optimise HR to deliver sustainable organisational performance.

HR functions that are able to take up the challenge of not only digitally transforming HR operations and the workforce but also the way work is done, will be at a huge advantage. It is essential that HR leaders do not underestimate the importance of exploring new technologies, platforms and methods of working. As with other functions, the HR function will be better positioned to face constant change if they are agile. This is particularly relevant during this time where the pandemic has caused rapid, unforeseen change. It is critical that leaders invest in technology that enables agility through constant innovation for HR to contribute to positive business outcomes and employee experience.

On March 24, our Human Capital team will be hosting an online event that will focus on HR Transformation through Technology. During the session, participants will:

• Learn more about the digitisation of HR

• Gain insights on how to approach HR digital transformation

• Understand the key aspects on facilitating such transformations

• Explore the relationship between HR digital transformation and the enhancement of the overall workforce experience within organisations

• View a live demo of SAP’s Successfactors

“A digital workplace will disintegrate communication barriers and lead to greater efficiency, growth and innovation. It also enables quick sharing of knowledge, which is crucial in the workplace.”

For more information and to register for the event, please visit www.deloitte.com/mt/hc

The Act will now be piloted by Hon Miriam Dalli, the appointed minister for energy and water management. One augurs that on top of the purely cosmetic changes promulgated in the first bill, the act will introduce serious changes to revive this dying sector of our economy.

The changes in the bill have not really upset any apple cart, except that it says that the minister may, on grounds of national security refuse to allow access to any entity which is effectively controlled by third countries or third country national. In my opinion, to revive interest in exploration of our Continental shelf (last attempt was more than a decade ago) the Act needs to grant better tax concessionary rates to investors similar to those granted to non-resident investors which form the backbone of our commercial ecosystem.

We have granted purpose built factories to deserving manufacturing foreign entities at a subsidized rent (remember building of massive aircraft hangars) - so it is only fair that we can design incentive legislation to attract foreign investors with deep pockets (not the pioneer oil prospector types who buy licenses to start exploration with an aim to sell out at the moment they strike oil).

It is a pity that for over a decade, the Continental Shelf department has not allocated any resources to promote the vast untapped acreage. Readers may argue – why waste resources once such initiatives in the past never rendered a return.

There was a time when the party in government fearing a low turnout of the party faithful, announced plans for oil exploration a few months ahead of a general election. There has never been a serious attempt to exploit our geophysical attributes in Central Europe so close to many oil producing neighbours.

Given a realistic holistic approach, the oil and gas sector may bring supplementary benefits such as increased work for local oil rig servicing companies which are steadily increasing their turnover dealing with neighbouring countries.

Gas, despite being a fossil fuel, is considered by many as having a key role to play in Europe's energy transition, and the industry is working hard on ways to decarbonize gas and secure the future of Europe's vast gas infrastructure.

Blending hydrogen into the existing natural gas pipeline network has been proposed as a means of increasing its distribution. Natural gas can be mixed with hydrogen to enable it to be distributed in existing pipelines thus solving the disruptive brittle effect of pure hydrogen on steel pipes. Linde, a major producer even worked on technological solutions to extract pure hydrogen when it is mixed with gas. Mr Severin, a spokesman for Linde, believes this technology can be the key to reduce costs to transport large volumes of hydrogen over long distances.

Other opportunities when amending the Petroleum Act involve creating in Malta a centre for arbitrage work in international disputes arising among oil and gas producers and host countries. This is an opportunity for experienced lawyers who take up this specialization in their studies at tertiary level. More options can be created for engineers. It is a pity that, so far only three types of engineer courses are provided at University, AUM and MCAST. These may be expanded to cover degrees specializing in petro-engineering or deep-sea exploration. Just mention the prospect of offering our Continental shelf acreage for deep sea exploration - and today this sounds like a joke. Yet, many neighbouring countries have been successful in attracting inward investment. To start with, Cyprus announced it signed its first natural gas exploitation deal worth $9.3 billion with a consortium comprised of industry giant Shell, US-based Noble and Israel's Delek.

The 25-year license is for the Aphrodite gas field, the first to be discovered off Cyprus, by Texasbased Noble Energy, in 2011. It is estimated to contain over four trillion cubic feet (over 113 billion cubic metres) of gas. The value of this production contract will render Nicosia an average yearly income of $520 million over an 18-year period. Italy's ENI and Total of France are also heavily involved in exploring for oil and gas in a number of fields offered for exploration - off Cyprus.

One appreciates, that it took Cyprus almost a decade since it discovered oil up to the time when it started monetising its worth. No wonder, the rich Sicilian Vega oil fields to our north have an estimated resource of 1 billion barrels of oil in place, located only 20km away from us. Needless to say, experts predict that the proximity of similar concessions and similarity in geology to the producing basins of Tunisia and Sicily lend support to the theory that oil strikes for Malta cannot be excluded.

The “intra-basin” ridge trend offers a new and highly prospective oil strike in our waters. We have not exploited the rich heritage of scientific surveys at our disposal which were carried out over the years yielding imaging of the Cretaceous and Jurassic sequences -enabling several large leads to be defined at this stratigraphic level. Five years ago, there were rumours that a National Oil Company was being set up run by experts to help promote upstream business. So far, the idea seemed to have been shelved.

Four years ago, it was thanks to a scoop by the Times of Malta, which revealed that the government appears to be trying to start a new push for oil and gas exploration after a hiatus of eight years.

The question, many ask is why was this unique opportunity shelved? The writer took interest and followed news concerning this economic sector yet both the PN administration, later followed by the PL government never manifested any serious drive to attract investors. Perhaps the second reading of the Petroleum Act opens the door to a bi-partisan drive for chasing future discoveries.

George Mangion is a senior partner of an audit and consultancy firm, and has over twenty-five years’ experience in accounting, taxation, financial and consultancy services. His efforts have seen PKF instrumental in establishing many companies in Malta and placed PKF in the forefront as professional financial service providers on the Island.