Making the Most of Our Human Resources
The misco survey on HR Developments in Malta published last week shows that in 2025 Maltese HR leaders continue to prioritise retention with 78% of respondents mentioning it as the main strategic objective of the HR function. In response to another question, 45% of organisations stated they struggle with recruitment because of an insufficient pipeline of applications. Among the list of recruitment obstacles topping the list is the lack of experienced candidates.
This Friday we celebrate world mental health day, and we need to place the challenges which employers have in recruitment within this context. The question which I ask is whether we are making the most of our human resources. If we were to make the most of our human resources, would we still be facing these challenges in recruitment? Would our pipeline of applications increase? Would staff retention remain the main strategic objective of HR or would it be replaced by staff engagement?
I am purposely linking the challenge of making the most of our human resources with issues of mental health. My point is that we still do not know enough about mental health, and especially mental health at work, and this is not allowing us to make the most of our human resources. Our thinking is still clouded by traditional thinking when it comes to recruitment and the behaviours we expect from our employees.
If we were think differently, we would hire differently. However this may require a change in attitudes, a change in culture. To what extent are we still anchored to strict behavioural rules at work? To what extent are we still anchored to specific processes when it comes to recruitment of staff?
We speak of inclusion, equity and diversity at work when it comes to persons of different genders, different colour of skin, different ethnic origin, different religion, different political or religious beliefs. We still find it very hard to apply the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion to persons who are neurodiverse. We ignore the fact that employing neurodiverse persons for specific position profiles is actually a good business decision. It all depends on the system you actually place them into.
Even in this regard we are still anchored to traditional thinking. Our systems at work are still too tied to the past. We are ignoring the fact that technological developments, changing social attitudes, the need for authenticity, medical advancements, and other such developments are changing the landscape at the workplace. As such our stereotypical thinking will drown us and not help us ride the wave.
Some of the ups of neurodiverse persons include a strong sense of pattern recognition that spots anomalies which ithers miss, a sustained focus on tasks which most of us abandon at the second attempt, an openness that challenges groupthink. Such persons have deep strengths, but they have limits a swell, such as a need for clarity about their role, the need for flexible work arrangements, the need for quieter work spaces, a different management style. These all cost money.
We are spending huge amounts of money as a country to support foreign labour, and very often of the cheap kind. A full evaluation of the social, economic and financial costs and benefits of foreign labour still needs to be done. We should seriously think of allocating resources, starting with the forthcoming Budget, to help employers understand the benefits of employing neurodiverse persons and to support them in doing so.
The idea is not to put a label on a person and then hire that person out of a sense a charity. The idea should be that one truly understands the requirements of a position and the strengths of the person, and then create the match. We would then be truly making the best of our human resources.
Lawrence Zammit, Director
