Following a decade of research and three years of development, testing and refinement, Subscribe-HR now delivers to you a world first in Performance Management automation and Employee recognition built on a foundation of over 20 years of knowledge and wisdom. For those of you reading this, it might well be easy to dismiss that first sentence as marketing jargon and potentially empty promises. However, Subscribe-HR has delivered other firsts since we started the business: Subscribe-HR was the first software company to create and offer the 'free trial' business model.

Word on the street is that HR needs to adjust its focus from engagement to the more appropriate 'culture management' if business wants to really create workplaces that employees want to be a part of, and will be willing to make a long term commitment to. A recent article on HR Daily indicates that this shift will require HR to focus on 'Employees' relationships and emotions, their sense of meaning and purpose, Leadership capabilities and behaviours, and how these factors align with organisational goals.' The time has also come for organisations to pair this culture management focus with filling the gaps in organisational culture and for the purpose of creating more well rounded, human workplaces.

Creating a culture where Employees are given real-time feedback and recognition might just be the most underestimated strategy in business. And according to the Wall Street Journal, ‘awards, recognition and praise might just be the single most cost effective way to maintain a happy productive workforce.' It’s no secret that ‘Performance Management’ doesn’t achieve what its meant to, but how can you tap into the power of real-time feedback and recognition to improve and enhance managing performance in your business? 

Here at Subscribe-HR, we have long been advocates for building more human workplaces. Our focus is on building software that at its foundation enables and facilitates the end-goal of making such workplace environments possible. Ultimately, building a human workplace culture, and making work more 'human' is the best way to create more engaged, productive, and ultimately more happy employees. Right about now though, you might be wondering exactly what it means to make work 'more human.' Just as 'The Human Era' heralded the decline of the Institutional era and ushered in a search for trust; trustworthiness in others, in businesses and in brands, building a human workplace culture is shaping up to be an essential ingredient in positively impacting the employee experience, culture management, and leadership. At its core, it is about creating workplace environments where people can show up at work and be fully themselves, that is; be whole and imperfect, be real, and be accepted.

At first glance, you might not think that how you manage performance, or your performance appraisal process have anything to do with employee wellness. Yet enabling your employees to achieve a reasonable level of work-life balance as well as giving them the skills and tools needed to succeed at work, is an essential ingredient in creating great a workplace culture in which your employees thrive. Often, work-life balance issues have their roots in the level of expectations that management and leadership set for employees, and the subsequent way that employee performance in relation to those expectations is then managed.

A report from the CSIRO entitled 'Tomorrow's Digitally Enabled Workforce' outlined the workforce trends and workplaces of tomorrow. With Australia's shift away from the mining and resources sectors, the focus is now firmly set on generating an ideas boom through science and innovation. Jobs of the future are likely to be more flexible, agile, networked and connected, often remotely. Shared office spaces will double in number and the traditional office will become a thing of the past as workers become more mobile and independent. Companies may opt for staffing models which include a smaller number of core staff, with many other roles provided by the freelancer. In fact freelancing has already become a large (and growing) employment model in other countries, with Australia set to follow this growing trend. What do businesses need to consider when planning for the future of work?