Market View

Adaptive HR in a Dynamic World: Navigating Diversity, Jurisdiction, and the Modern Workforce

Interview with

Frieza Mahmood

Chief People Officer, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

About Frieza Mahmood

Frieza Mahmood has served as Chief People Officer at an NHS hospital trust for 4 years. In this capacity, she has led major workforce transformations including planning for a new hospital opening, navigating pandemic demands, and restructuring his department. A key priority has been increasing collaboration across integrated health and social care systems.

Frieza, as we delve into the evolving nature of work, how have these changes influenced your HR strategies, particularly in technology and processes?

The evolving work landscape has challenged us to rethink our approach, because our people are our greatest asset. Despite the perception that we're primarily about personalised service, we've explored the potential benefits of the digital world to support employee needs effectively. We consolidated traditional roles and reassigned responsibilities based on skill assessments, allowing us to deploy people in roles where they could excel, fostering a culture of trust and flexibility. How could we do that differently? We started opening our minds to what was available in the digital world that would help assist us in relation to employee requests for support and help.

The new hospital project and the pandemic accelerated our shift towards automation, AI, and productivity tools, making agility possible for the first time. We relied heavily on our employees' goodwill and desire to help, even if they weren't in traditional clinical roles, which opened up new opportunities and allowed us to leverage people's skills in environments where they could thrive.

Can you share how an adaptive HR approach was crucial in overcoming recent challenges within your organisation?

One challenge we addressed was the inefficiency of traditional employer relations processes, which were sometimes perceived as having punitive outcomes without fostering improvement. By analysing data trends over several years, we identified the need for more targeted training and support in specific areas. This led to the creation of the 'just culture work stream', a proactive initiative focusing on cultural adjustments and fair treatment to prevent issues. This approach reduced the duration of formal processes, improved retention, and ensured actions taken were constructive. We used data to drive this integrated, multidisciplinary group, focusing on proactive actions needed from a cultural perspective to preempt issues.

We analysed trends over 4-5 years regarding the types of people going through investigations, performance management, or other concerns, and stratified the data into areas where more training or support was needed due to skills deficits versus negative culture issues. The 'just culture work stream' reduced formal processes not delivering satisfactory action by over 45%, increased retention, and reduced timescales from 4-6 months to under 20 days. While it would have been good to go "big bang" after seeing examples working elsewhere, the NHS resists change, thinking we're unique. If we keep thinking that way, we'll never try to be different.

With the focus on cost containment and operational efficiency, how important is adaptability in HR technology?

Historically, our legacy systems weren't designed for today's agility, largely driven by payroll but lacking in business intelligence capabilities, requiring workarounds and bespoke solutions. Legacy systems were designed for a different time and purpose, they weren’t designed to be flexible and agile. Modern HR technology transforms these systems into dynamic tools, streamlining processes, enhancing data usability, aiding decision-making and operational efficiency.

Adaptability in HR platforms is crucial, technological advancements and proper interoperability greatly enhance processes delivering more effective solutions. We aim for a dynamic, user-friendly interface that facilitates HR processes and supports our staff and managers by providing easy access to essential information, aiding in their day-to-day tasks.

What are your top priorities for HR technology moving forward?

Our key priority is to simplify system interactions with a user friendly interface, and without the need for users to understand the underlying complexities. We're focusing on automating routine tasks, like handling basic inquiries through chatbots, which could significantly enhance efficiency and employee satisfaction, while reducing time spent on routine queries to HR. This technology isn't just about automation; it's about delivering a cohesive platform that provides comprehensive support and information to our workforce, enhancing their overall experience and engagement.

Another personal concern is the inefficient use of talented, values-driven employees, who spend excessive time on mundane tasks like email and telephone inquiries about basic policy details or support queries. Implementing AI-driven chatbot technology, widely used in other sectors, could significantly improve efficiency and job satisfaction by handling these routine inquiries.

How does the integration of new technologies impact your strategic planning in HR?

Adaptive HR technology has the potential to revolutionise our approach by enabling better data analysis and more informed decision-making. The ability to gather insights across systems, integrating them into our HR platform, allows us to identify key areas for improvement and highlight successes thereby delivering actionable insights to the organisation. Furthermore, by leveraging the platform’s capabilities including AI tools, we can automate routine tasks and focus on strategic HR initiatives that foster a supportive and productive workplace. This shift not only improves operational efficiencies but also aligns with our goal to be a more adaptive and responsive organisation.

In particular, HR technology helps us better position our talented, values-driven HR team, who historically have spent excessive time on mundane tasks like email and telephone inquiries about basic policy details or support queries. Chatbot tools can significantly improve efficiency and job satisfaction by handling these routine inquiries.

About Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust is a large acute care hospital trust serving communities across West Birmingham and Sandwell. With over 8,500 staff, it provides comprehensive health services across multiple sites while also leading major transformative projects, including a new hospital opening in 2024. The Trust collaborates closely with regional partners to enhance integrated and equitable care across sectors.