The first Abrivia Salary Survey Breakfast Briefing took place in the lavish surrounds of the Dining Hall in Trinity College on Thursday, January 19th. Over 120 clients attended the Breakfast Briefing and received fascinating insights from our three keynote speakers. Dean of Trinity Business School, Dr Andrew Burke, opened proceedings and was quickly followed by Dr Charles Larkin. Dr Larkin spoke of how “England’s disadvantage is Ireland’s opportunity”, especially in the financial services space, regarding Brexit. However, we need to be careful as one-fifth of employees are spending more than they can afford on rent. In regards the marginal rate of tax, our taxes are “more punitive than the French”. He stressed that we shouldn’t “give into fear” and that “we are not living in an era of change, we are living in a change of era”.
Dr Na Fu was next up and spoke of specific HR challenges, including managing millennials, diversity management, psychological contracts, line managers implementing HR policies and reasons people leave organisations.
In regards millennials, the majority of employers found millennials the most difficult to manage. On the other side of the coin, millennials perceive that their workload as highest but also perceive their job impact as lowest when compared to Baby Boomers and members of Generation X. Perhaps this is an opportunity to provide more clarity to millennial workers on their actual positive impact on the organisations they belong to.
Dr Na Fu also stressed that “real HR is HR implemented by line managers” and found that the survey produced an interesting finding that “line managers are highly motivated but lack the ability to enact HR”. Therefore empowering line managers to enact HR policies is an important strategy for organisations to consider.
Dr Brian Lucey concluded proceedings by taking a macro look at the Irish economy. He stressed that Ireland is very much an open economy and that “chips manufactured in Leixlip are used in computers in Lesotho” and that “Ireland is already the Singapore of the North Sea”. Dr Lucey emphasised that Ireland is a trade nation and only becoming more so with time. In regards Brexit, he reminded us that Ireland trades more with Belgium than the UK and that we need to be exploring the possibility of trading partners beyond Britain. The global economy grew by 3.4% in 2016 and is expected to grow by 3.6% in 2017. Dr Lucey stressed that this growth is regional with “incredible growth projections in parts of Africa”, similarly in India. Despite the fact that Brexit is “incredibly destabilising”, opportunities are plentiful. Even if growth projections are sluggish among our immediate neighbours, prospects for Eastern European countries are much stronger. Undoubtedly, the outlook is positive for the Irish economy in a global context.
Donal O’Brien, MD of Abrivia wrapped up what was a very enjoyable and informative morning for all who attended. A huge thank you to our speakers for their engaging insights and our clients for their attention at the 2017 Abrivia Salary Survey Breakfast Briefing.
