HEALTHCARE ESTATES 2024 KEYNOTES
At the end of the three presentations, the panel took audience questions.
Growing digitisation in healthcare would, she believed, require significant reskilling and upskilling of the workforce, but this must not mean solely relying on the ‘more digitally savvy’ younger generation. Regardless of employees’ age, it was important that all felt comfortable utilising new digital tools – meaning ‘quite a disruption’ to how we work today. She said: “When you digitise, you change how you work; some of your existing tasks disappear, but you also take on new ones. Everybody’s work will change, and we need to ensure we accompany colleagues on this journey.” Within Siemens, there was currently considerable
thought on how such a ‘disruptive’ change could be best be managed and implemented, which has seen the business develop ‘four strategic pillars’ to help achieve this. Tina Johne elaborated: “For one – as a technology company, we want to really drive value for our customers. To do this we must understand what skills we will need in the future, given that the environment our customers and markets operate in are changing so fundamentally. Innovation is dear to our heart – so we are also looking to the new generation for their ideas, and to integrate them into our innovation processes. We need to give young potential employees some insight into how a technology company operates, and what types of career it offers. This needs to start early.” The speaker explained that Siemens already regularly engages with schools to foster interest in STEM careers. She said: “Much of attracting and retaining the best people will be about empowering staff, which means determining what kind of leadership we need. For a technology company to succeed, continuous innovation is key. We believe though, that this will increasingly require giving employees the freedom to be creative and develop their own ideas, which relies on a very trusting working environment – precisely the type of leadership cultivated within Siemens.”
A ’growth mindset’ Touching next on what she dubbed ‘a growth mindset’, Tina Johne said: “I think that we all agree that adapting to digitalisation will require continuous learning. Irrespective of your age, it’s a lifelong effort. The question is how you facilitate this in a global company? So, I brought some concrete examples – one bring the ‘Future of work’ framework developed within our own organisation by our HR community. A sub-segment of this is our NextWork approach – looking at the current market trends, where the technology is going, where businesses are going, and anticipating what type of future job profiles we’ll need. Our goal is to go out there, try to build those profiles over time, and attract the talent that brings the profiles and skills into the organisation.” Tina Johne said the business was also looking to
‘engage with talent’ by offering purposeful jobs. She said: 34 Health Estate Journal January 2025
“Many young people – and it doesn’t just apply to the young – want to have a clear purpose in what they do. We spend so many hours at work – and if we can see a positive purpose, we are that much more motivated.” In 2023 Siemens launched a major campaign around its ‘mission’ as a technology company to help customers with their sustainability goals. It was now pushing this goal into the talent pipelines ‘at every age level’. The speaker said: “This work has afforded us some clear recognition on LinkedIn, and, globally, has helped us recruit around 40,000 new staff last year, plus some 6000 new apprentices.” In the UK there was a ‘specific consortium’ that a number of UK Siemens staff had joined – the North West Tech Talent consortium, where a number of companies had come together to attract, retain, and build young talent from professionals in this region, help them feel comfortable in their work environment, and build a more diverse workforce.
More ‘mobile’ and flexible working Tina Johne continued: “We are all aware of the growth in more ‘mobile’ and flexible working – which, again, requires trustful leadership. You have to trust people to find their best way of working. So within Siemens globally, we’re allowing 2-3 ‘mobile’ working days per week – depending on the role.” Focusing on ‘reskilling and upskilling’, the Siemens
speaker said there was ‘quite a broad array of activities and platforms’ via which the business’s staff can can engage and foster their lifelong learning. She explained: “My Learning World (described as a ‘cloud-first and mobile-first solution that enables organisations to focus on training their talent of today, to be ready for tomorrow’) is a very individualised learning space every employee has access to – through which they can identify their specific and personalised learning patterns.” In the UK, the business has set a goal of 50 learning hours per year for full-time employees, of which 25 should ideally be digital – during which the goal is to for them to identify and engage with particular topics they are interested in. Tina Johne said: “This digital learning is currently strongly focused on Generative AI, sustainability, and cybersecurity.” She continued: “As I’ve said, we’re all on this transition to digitalisation together, and all need to build the associated expertise in our workforce, and align our staff’s skills and capabilities with the available technology. You can see an example here,” she said – pointing to a slide showing Siemens’ own Building (digital) Lifecycle Twin, which had been developed to help support sustainability initiatives in the building space. Nearing the end of the presentation, Tina Johne
asked rhetorically: “So, what are the key learnings for your organisation from all of this? Key is to ‘anticipate and lead’. Don’t be hesitant about considering the key skillsets your team will need to address some of the future challenges – and think about how you can build the required expertise. Equally, re-define expertise. ‘Digital’ and ‘green’ will be key for us all, so put a strong emphasis on them. I’d also recommend empowering staff for impact in a trustful environment. We heard earlier from Katherine how important it is that employees feel both motivated and comfortable within their working environment – which is also key to retaining talent. Equally, ensure you invest in continuous learning. ‘Never stop learning’ is the mantra I think we all need to embrace.” This concluded the Siemens’ speaker’s presentation, and an interesting session on key workforce challenges.
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