From small beginnings 10 years ago, the Ibec Knowledge Centre has grown to provide employers with comprehensive information, advice and guidance on all aspects of people management. “It started as a service for members who could telephone looking for information,” says Fiona Higgins, head of the Knowledge Centre.
“It’s part of employment relations services provided by Ibec,” she adds. “Our team has grown to 20 people, and we cover the full A to Z of the employment lifecycle from recruitment and induction through performance management, to the application of employment legislation, to offboarding which includes anything from retirement to termination, expiry of contract, however it occurs. We are supported in our work by Ibec’s team of legal directors who manage employment cases at the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court.”
It is more than just an information service, however. “When required we will carry out research on the latest trends in human resources and people management and produce reports on the results. We look at areas like hybrid and remote working and the impact of new legislation. We still handle calls from members, and this gives us a good sense of what is trending in the HR arena.”
The scope of the service has expanded as well. “We provide information and advice on areas such as occupational health and safety at work and overall HR strategy including future skills needs, the future of the workplace itself and the application of AI [artificial intelligence] and how it will affect it.”
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The events of the past 10 years have been a learning experience for the Knowledge Centre team, she notes. “It’s been a very interesting period. Prior to setting up the Knowledge Centre, we had never experienced enforced workplace shutdowns. We had two of them as test cases — Hurricane Ophelia in 2017 and Storm Emma in 2018. They taught us a lot about having contingency plans in place. We worked with other colleagues in Ibec on those things and helped them deal with the adverse impact of extreme weather events. We learned how to support people who can’t come into the workplace. We were able to adapt those learnings to guide our members during the pandemic. We were also able to leverage technology to put a lot of Ibec collaterals up on the website.”
That digital transition has continued. “We will use any way we can to make it easier for members to learn about and absorb best practices. We have various employer guide leaflets online now and we also have our KC Connect 15 series of short sharp 15-minute webinars as well. They cover topics like family leave and have proven quite popular with members. People can absorb them on the go, in their lunch hour or during other breaks. Our legal team helps us to do podcasts and other online content where we review different cases and practices.”
Members can go to the website to use the Ibec HR Management Guide to keep updated on the latest employment and HR news, case law and human capital management trends. “We also carry regular updates on new developments in employment practice and policy on our news page. We keep members up to date with relevant information. That includes keeping them informed well in advance of upcoming EU directives and other legislation. As they come close to implementation we advise them of their practical implications. Our in-house experts provide guidance on compliance and their implementation in the workplace. We are constantly trying to make it easier for employers to get access to the information they need.”
Those online resources continue to be augmented in the new year with the addition of resources like employer handbooks and model contracts. “Rather than people labour on things like contracts to draw them up from scratch, we will make it easy by giving them templates to guide them.”
The continuing evolution of the employment law landscape makes the service provided by the Ibec Knowledge Centre more important and relevant than ever, she believes. “When we look back to 2014 and the body of employment legislation that has been put in place since then, we can see just how important the service we provide is. And when we look ahead to new pieces of legislation like the Pay Transparency and Platform Workers directives and their practical implications for Irish employers, the service will only grow in importance. Labour law is complex, the pace of change is accelerating and the window which employers have to adapt is getting smaller all the time. Our role is to help them do that.”
While digital solutions play a critical role, personal service remains at the heart of the Knowledge Centre. “We engage with people directly and we don’t work from scripts. We listen to our members and work with them to find the information and solutions they are looking for. We are very good at that.”
