The Future of Work is 100% Human

Building ‘100% human’ organisations that put people at the heart of everything they do is a win-win proposition for both business and society. ChapmanCG continues to support 100% Human at Work. Our latest contribution comes in the form of a collection of case studies gleaned from our Australian partners, entitled the ‘100% Experiment Collection’. Click here or on the image below to read the compelling case studies. We are proud to see ChapmanCG profiled amongst such lead brands as Ignite Global, EY and Virgin for our 'Flexible and Virtual Working' which contributes to making us a 100% Human organisation. It has been a pleasure and an honour to work with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Unite along with our HR friends and partners to compile the '100% Experiments Collection’. We hope these remarkable case studies inspire HR and business leaders alike to explore innovative ways of working. The organisations featured in the collection are innovating and testing amazing new ideas to make their workplaces more human. We hope this inspires you to try new things and to explore new ways of working within your own organisation.

Here's how we live the 100% Human at Work initiative at ChapmanCG (As originally appearing in the 100% Experiments Collection)

ChapmanCG partners with CEOs and CHROs in every industry to appoint their global, regional and country Human Resource teams. As an entirely virtual business, ChapmanCG offers great flexibility in how our people work. This has enabled us to attract best-in-class talent from all over the world and from all walks of life. This includes a very diverse range of talent from different ages, ethnicities and backgrounds right across the world. The key ethos of our people strategy is enabling our employees to design their working lives around their individual circumstances in order to perform at their best, rather than trying to fit themselves into a pre-defined box. In particular, the ability to work from home or anywhere you choose has enabled us to hire people who may not have easy access to a traditional 9-5 office-based environment, including people with disabilities. We hired our first person with a disability in 2010. This was an initiative of two of our Senior Managers, who realised that we were finding it difficult to get the right talent for our rapidly expanding company. We look for individuals with a high level of self-motivation, drive and a determination to succeed. We soon realised that people with disabilities often have these qualities in large order. They have had to adapt and be flexible, and often they lead by example with a positive attitude when overcoming obstacles, both in life and at work. How does it help to humanise the workplace and enable employees to bring their whole selves to work? Empowering our employees to work in the way they work best: As a virtual business, we can’t clock watch, which means we start from a point of trust and need to empower our people to do their jobs well from day one. We also can’t observe physical performance or physical appearance, which means we focus on business outcomes instead. This enables our people to work in any ways that suit them, and go about achieving the results in ways that make the most of their own unique abilities and skillsets. We provide the tools needed, and then our people are free to work in the ways, at the times and in the places that best suit them, whether that’s working from their home, a co-working space or from a café in another country. Bespoke role design: We design our job roles around our people, including both their skills and capabilities. This enables them to bring their full range of talents to the work environment. This can include anything from specialist support, including adding or removing specific job elements to harness that person’s abilities, or flexible and part-time working arrangements. Individual career pathways: Our flexibility extends to our career development approach, and we work with our people to come up with their own individual career pathways. This may include building skills to move into a new role, or working from a different part of the world to build experience in a new market. We also provide mentoring support for each new person that comes into our organisation to ensure we can tackle any challenges they may be coming across at an individual level and support them to continue to develop and learn. Whole-of-life approach: We recognise that our people have many different talents, interests, needs and goals in their lives. When we employ someone, we employ the whole person including these many different facets, and we work to support these too. For example, we have supported many of our people to compete in the Paralympics, Iron Man competitions and ultra-marathons, as well as undertake further study or explore new areas of the world. We celebrate personal milestones as well as work ones.

The results

A diverse global workforce: These flexible, virtual working arrangements have allowed us to build up a very diverse employee base. Around a fifth of our people have disabilities, and we employee people from 14 nationalities. This diversity enables us to come up with a range of innovative solutions to business challenges, to build relationships with a broad range of clients from start-ups through to large multinational companies, and has helped to fuel our rapid global expansion over the past 10 years. High retention rates: When our people move internationally, the remote nature of our workplace means they have the opportunity to pick up and take their job with them. When they want to build a new skillset or take on the new role, our flexibility means that we try to provide them with opportunities to do this within ChapmanCG. This has led to our very high retention rates, with many of our original employees still with the organisation 11 years later. Personal achievements: Our flexible, virtual working arrangements enable our people to better integrate their work with their ‘whole life’ – exercise, study, hobbies, travel and their social and family lives. This approach also means that they can bring their ‘whole self’ to work, knowing that there is a broader understanding and support for who they are.

Again, click through here to read some brilliant new ideas from featured organisations.

A heartfelt thank you thanks to Atlassian, Bupa, ASX, QBE Insurance, Mirvac, Travelex, Diageo, Ravensdown, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment and McNaughton & Wills Ltd for sharing their journey with us.Thank you also to the ChapmanCG team for gathering the information from our business partners. We are proud of who we work with.