Gartner ReimagineHR Conference 2024 Sydney: Day 2 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from the Gartner ReimagineHR Conference, taking place this week in Sydney, Australia. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference. You can read the highlights from Day 1 here.

On Day 2 of the conference, we are highlighting when the change experience becomes the employee experience; how to deliver on the employee experience promise by bringing EVP to life; and why it is important not to neglect your core performers.

• Gartner Announces the Top Trends Shaping HR Priorities in Australia in 2025
• Gartner HR Survey Finds 39% of Australian Job Seekers Are Struggling to Find a New Job

Presented by Neal Woolrich, Director, Advisory, Gartner

The average employee experiences four times as many organizational changes as they did eight years ago. While continuous change is taxing for employees, it also presents opportunities to enhance the employee experience. In this session, Neal Woolrich, Director, Advisory, Gartner, explained how to positively impact the employee experience by including employees in key moments of change.

• “Employees, not just organizations, must navigate today’s unpredictable business environment, including volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA).”
• “Change creates more ambiguity, which is the most challenging aspect of VUCA for employees. Resolving it creates a better employee experience and benefits organizations as employees become quicker at adopting change behaviors.”
• “To mitigate ambiguity, HR leaders should first identify information gaps early that impede employee understanding of the change.”
• “It’s also important to gauge employee readiness for change to determine the timing of change and how to optimize change efforts.”
• “Finally, empower teams to contextualize the change to their roles so that they can create clarity around what the change looks like for them.”

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Emma Keen at emma.keen@gartner.com.

Presented by Keyia Burton, Senior Principal, Advisory, Gartner

As employee expectations have shifted over the past few years, many organizations have been activating their employee value propositions (EVPs) to attract and retain talent. In this session, Keyia Burton, Senior Principal, Advisory at Gartner, explored how HR leaders can address stakeholder and process barriers to deliver on the promise of their EVP and drive key outcomes, such as engagement and intent to stay.

• “As HR leaders increase their investments in EVPs, employees aren’t seeing the upgrades – only 33% say their organization consistently delivers on promises made.” 
• “Poor communication is the main reason why enhancements aren’t improving how employees see EVPs, with 75% of HR leaders admitting they aren’t doing it well.” 
• "As a result, employees don’t understand their EVP, so it’s important to reinforce it across the employee lifecycle. HR should review current communications for opportunities to improve and equip managers to embed EVP into existing employee touchpoints.”
• “With employees feeling distant from EVPs, HR can encourage managers to make explicit connections. To help them, embed cues into existing manager resources and touchpoints.”
• “Employees are also skeptical that their EVP will improve. HR can address this by demonstrating responsiveness to shortfalls, and committing to act and improve.”

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Emma Keen at emma.keen@gartner.com.

Presented by Jonathan Tabah, Director, Advisory, Gartner

Organizations are built on core performers – and the majority of the workforce falls into this category. However, performance management processes are often designed in a way that disengages and undervalues core performers. In this session, Jonathan Tabah, Director, Advisory at Gartner, discussed how organizations can ensure their performance management approach engages this critical employee group.

• “Core performers are often overlooked, receiving less attention, recognition and development, which can be incredibly frustrating for them. It’s important to find a way to give them what they need.” 
• “Traditional talent management approaches disengage core performers. The good news is that it doesn’t require a complete overhaul of talent processes to fix this – solutions are much simpler.”
• “To help employees understand the bar for high performance, provide them with personas to show what “exceeds expectations” looks like and prompt them to envision their impact beyond their job responsibilities. This can achieve 18% higher engagement.”
• “Recognize a broad range of behaviors and accomplishments for core performers and embed recognition in the workflows of leaders. Those who feel recognized show 22% higher engagement.”
• “Expand growth opportunities for core performers by focusing on what they value in career conversations and enable diverse in-role experiences. This can result in up to 25% higher engagement.”

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with the Gartner expert by contacting Emma Keen at emma.keen@gartner.com.