3. 3The Role of HR
Contents
Introduction............................................4
The value of HR......................................6
Talent management...............................8
Employee engagement...........................11
HR technology........................................13
Legal responsibilities.............................15
Conclusion: HR in the next decade........16
4. 4 The Role of HR
Introduction
Thirty-five years ago, when the business specialism we now know as
HR was usually referred to as “personnel”, professionals working in
that area had a relatively narrow set of duties. In the main, they were
responsible for ensuring that the paperwork involved in recruiting and
employing staff was completed correctly and proper procedures were
observed.
Some “personnel officers” may have had a role in training and staff
appraisal systems but terms such as “employee engagement” and
“talent management” were not used. HR specialists were primarily
administrators.
In the past few decades, a massive change has taken place both
in terms of the skills that today’s HR professionals need, and the
expectations placed on them by their organisations. Some may still
carry out many of the old personnel functions though, increasingly,
administrative tasks are completed electronically and online. The HR
professional’s role at the beginning of the 21st century now extends to
supporting the organisation in so many more ways.
This fourth and final white paper focuses on how other business
functions view the work that HR professionals do. It examines not only
what employees, line managers and senior managers from specialisms
such as finance, information technology, marketing and manufacturing
think about the value that HR generates for the business, but also the
people management challenges they expect to face over the next few
years. What pressures do they believe will develop by 2022, and what
demands do they expect to place on their HR colleagues?
“Looking back over
my time in business,
there has been quite a
significant shift in what
HR people do compared
with the old personnel
people. I think, though,
that some of the
training has become
a bit of an academic
pursuit, which gives
them a good knowledge
the law and framework,
but you can’t replace
experience.”
Peter Whittall, Group Chief
Scientific Officer at Rentokil
Initial, delivering essential
services in areas such as
hygiene, workwear, pest control,
plants, food and facilities,
employing 60,000+ people in
some 60 countries
6. 6 The Role of HR
The value of HR
While the HR function has taken on a much larger portfolio of critical
business support duties in recent years, a gap also seems to have
emerged between how HR professionals see their work and how it is
perceived by colleagues outside the department.
In 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit conducted research on behalf
of KPMG1
to canvass the opinions of 418 executives, a third of whom
described themselves as C-suite. Most of the executives were in no doubt
about the importance of people management within their organisations
– 81 per cent said an effective talent management strategy was key to
competitive success, and 59 per cent believed that talent management
would become more strategically important in the future. Indeed, talent
management often tops the shopping list of tasks that senior executives
expect to be carried out by HR departments (see below).
However, just 17 per cent of respondents in the KPMG survey thought HR
did a good job at demonstrating its value to business. And only one in four
said the HR function at their company excelled at core issues such as
sourcing and retaining key talent globally, supporting a virtual and flexible
workforce and supporting the greater globalisation of the business.
Robert Bolton, co-head of KPMG’s HR Transformation Global Centre
of Excellence, says: “What our survey shows is that there is a big gap
between what C-suite executives want from HR and the value that they
see it providing to the business.”
An earlier report by the Institute for Employment Studies2
(IES) raised
similar concerns. Only 31 per cent of managers and 24 per cent of non-
managers said they were satisfied or very satisfied with HR services. The
study, which was conducted in 2008 and sought the opinions of about 900
people including senior managers, line managers and employees without
management responsibilities, found that 34 per cent of managers felt HR
was improving, but a similar proportion (36 per cent) felt it had worsened
in their organisation over the past couple of years.
One issue over which the HR and non-HR worlds most frequently collide
is the use of shared services.
81% said an
effective talent
management
strategy
was key to
competitive
success.
81%
7. 7The Role of HR
Dr. Wendy Hirsh, an independent consultant on employment issues,
principal associate at the IES and co-author of the IES report, says:
“Some shared services are really good, but some are almost impossible
to get through to, and I have even come across organisations that forbid
their employees from contacting HR, so that the service is for managers
and not for staff.
“That approach is deeply at odds with the view of the employees and line
managers in our study, especially senior managers. They felt that HR did
have a role to support all employees as well as managers, whereas
some HR people really seemed to think that they were a service to
managers only.”
Both the IES and KPMG studies were comprehensive research efforts,
collating the opinions of large numbers of staff at all levels and across
many and varied organisations. The clear message from both is that while
HR is valuable, it still has some way to go to ensure that it meets the
needs of the organisation as a whole.
“I think HR has got itself stuck in a rut for about the last 15 years,” says
Robert Bolton at KPMG. “The sad thing when you survey HR functions
across many organisations is that they look more similar to each other
than they are different. That is the terrible Achilles heel that HR has; it
doesn’t know how to prove its value so it goes on this fruitless search
for generic best practice instead of really getting under the skin of the
strategy and the value of the organisation that it is there to help.”
What, then, do managers and staff outside HR believe are the main people
priorities for the future, and what problems will they be looking to HR
to solve?
“The people agenda in most organisations contains some truly business-
critical issues and the need for HR to rise to these challenges has never
been more acute,” the KPMG report says, identifying some of the key
challenges as the recruitment and retention of top talent, which includes
developing career paths and ensuring “people profiles match the value
drivers of the business”.
Business leaders also cite employee engagement as an important job for
the future, especially in the context of how rapidly the workforce (see ADP
white paper, Managing the Workforce in 2022) harness technology to
support the business and managing employment legislation.
“Our HR manager is
essential and we would
struggle without her.
One of our HR
challenges is the
devolved nature of line
management. We
employ about 160
people but only 50 at
head office, so it is
much harder to get to
see people face to face.
We also have quite a lot
of churn at lower levels,
which is a natural part
of the business. Our HR
manager is important
for keeping on top of
that, and making sure
we recruit the right
people with the right
skills and manage them
properly.”
Alan Pepper, Chief Executive of
Avanta, a business centre group
with about 160 staff
8. 8 The Role of HR
Talent management
According to surveys conducted in the UK and the rest of the world
during the past few years, talent management tends to be the first task
that senior managers cite when asked what they need from HR. There
is little doubt that many businesses see talent management as the
mission-critical function for HR in the coming years.
Ipsos MORI’s Captains of Industry Survey3
, for example, highlighted
attracting and retaining staff as one of the main issues facing
companies. Over the next decade, senior managers will continue to
look to HR specialists to show leadership in this area, helping to ensure
that the right people are recruited, that their careers are developed
effectively and that important positions are quickly filled with proper
regard for succession planning.
In fact, talent management has been a key priority for executives
for several years. Respondents who took part in a survey by Boston
Consulting Group and the European Association for People Management
in 20074
placed talent management first on their list of the top five
challenges facing HR professionals until 2015. The BCG/EAPM report,
which spoke to more than 1,300 executives in 27 European countries,
warned: “Talent shortages loom, both in Europe and new markets
abroad, and companies must take steps now if they hope to address
these shortages – and avert disaster.”
It is a concern reflected in North America, too. In 2010, Canada’s Human
Resources Professionals Association and Knightsbridge Human Capital
Solutions, a consultancy, conducted one-to-one interviews with chief
executives about what they expected from HR in the future5
.
“CEOs spoke passionately about the need for HR to play a leadership
role in identifying and developing talent,” the HRPA and Knightsbridge
said in their report on the research. “CEOs are looking to HR to help
the organisation identify the behaviours and skills that will drive
the organisation’s productivity and success. They want customised
approaches to individual leader development to accelerate personal
effectiveness, and several said that individual coaching will become
more important than large-scale leadership development efforts.”
“Smaller companies
often don’t place quite
the same value on HR
as larger companies,
especially in a recession.
HR is seen as a nice
to have but, often,
individual managers
have to take on job of
talent management.
Saddington Baynes
is very committed
to ensuring staff are
motivated and feel they
have a nice place to
work. But we have now
come to the realisation
that we need an HR
person.”
Joanna Pocock, Head of
Marketing at Saddington Baynes,
a London-based creative agency
with about 50 staff
9. 9The Role of HR
Meanwhile, a survey of senior company executives, published jointly by
the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Chartered
Institute of Management Accountants6
, found that businesses were
“missing out on performance targets and growth opportunities because
of inadequate human capital management”.
The report, which was carried out in 2012 by the Economist Intelligence
Unit and involved more than 300 chief executives, chief financial officers
and HR directors from all over the world, concluded: “A significant
number of respondents cite missing financial targets and failing to
innovate due to ineffective human capital management, which suggests
that many firms worldwide are not fulfilling their growth potential
because they are failing to effectively manage and harness the skills and
experience of their workforce.
“This is mainly due to the lack of information to support decision-
making, strategy development and investment evaluation. Our survey
shows that while most companies understand the importance of human
capital, they do not appear to have the right systems, processes and
information in place to manage talent effectively. Only 41 per cent of
firms are confident that their human capital strategy is truly embedded
in their organisation’s strategy. A particularly worrying finding from the
study reveals that the most senior business leaders – C-level executives
– do not just disagree with each other on critical aspects of talent
management, but they also are unclear who should bear responsibility
for these issues in their organisations.”
As part of the talent management challenge, the AICPA/CIMA
highlighted succession planning as particular issue of concern. “The
majority of companies do not seem to be paying adequate attention to
succession planning,” the report said.
More than a third of respondents agreed that the ability to effectively
attract, retain and deploy the right talent was the main competitive
advantage for their organisation. A similar proportion of respondents
thought talent management was truly embedded in their company’s
business strategy.
But it added: “For those firms that fail to adapt and update, the impact
of poor human capital management goes right up the organisational
ladder. Over half (51 per cent) of executives said their firms do not have
a formal succession planning process for C-level roles such as CEO,
Over 51% of
executives said
their firms do not
have a formal
succession
planning process
for C-level roles
such as CEO,
CFO and COO.
51%
10. 10 The Role of HR
CFO and COO. This potentially leaves the 49 per cent without one open
to market and stakeholder confidence issues.”
And again, the difference of opinion between HR professionals and those
outside the speciality was apparent.
“HR directors are most confident about the strength of the talent
pipeline at their firms, while senior executives from other functions
are somewhat more concerned,” the AICPA/CIMA study said. “Three in
four HR directors think their firms have a formal succession planning
process in place, compared to only 57 per cent of CEOs and 12 per cent
of CFOs.
“Worryingly, 38 per cent of respondents believe it is likely they will need
to go externally to recruit for C-level posts in the next 12 months. . .
While nearly 36 per cent of HR directors are confident that their firm will
not need to go externally to recruit for senior roles, less than 10 per cent
of CEOs and CFOs agree.”
The fear is that unless organisations take steps to address senior
executives’ concerns over the next few years, talent management and
succession planning could create significant pressure points.
A recent report from the UK’s Corporate Research Forum7
, highlighted
the importance of succession planning to business success.
“Organisations agree on two purposes for succession planning. First,
it mitigates the short-term business risks of not being able to fill
key job roles when they fall vacant. Second, it drives the longer-term
development of pipelines of people to meet future business needs.”
Wendy Hirsh who, as well as co-writing the IES report also wrote the
CRF report, says: “In good succession processes, HR is right in there,
facilitating them, discussing with the line and helping the line do
something about the people they have identified.”
She adds: “Since we completed our [IES] research on the HR function in
2008, I think talent management has risen even further up the agenda.
Again, it is an area where senior managers and HR do not always seem
to agree,” says Hirsh. “HRs often see talent management as a strategic
issue, and our research agreed with that. But what senior managers
also want is for that strategic approach to be supported by HR in a
practical and hands-on way, not just to sit in a back room designing
procedures.”
Worryingly, 38%
of respondents
believe it is likely
they will need to
go externally to
recruit for C-level
posts in the next
12 months.
38%
11. 11The Role of HR
Employee
engagement
Another high priority cited by managers and senior executives is
employee engagement. Always a difficult area for organisations to get
right, it is becoming even more complex as employees’ expectations and
attitudes change, redrawing the lines of their relationship with
employers. The traditional “job-for-life” attitude is fast giving way to the
portfolio career, and increasing numbers of staff are demanding the
option to work remotely and flexibly, as well as more freedom for family
commitments and to pursue other interests.
According to a survey carried out on last year on behalf of ADP, 37 per
cent of employees see the move towards remote and home working as
positive, while almost a quarter of 25-34 year olds expect that in the next
decade they will be able to work wherever they want, embracing true
remote working practices (see ADP white paper, The Workforce View
in 2012).
No wonder that 60 per cent of UK companies cite securing high levels of
employee engagement as a leading people priority, the Confederation of
British Industry said in its latest Employment Trends Survey8
, carried out
with recruitment consultancy Harvey Nash. The survey spoke to 319
respondents from all sizes and sectors of UK business, employing 1.9
million people between them.
Matthew Percival, senior policy adviser in the CBI’s employment team,
says: “Employee engagement is always a top priority among firms. In a
situation where there is a unionised workforce, there is a central point
for employee engagement. But as trade union membership declines,
there is more need for firms to find ways to engage the workforce. So
they are asking, how do we make employees engaged as individuals?”
The executives who took part in the BCG/EAPM survey also highlighted
engagement issues related to managing employees’ work-life balance.
“A key issue in our
history is that we have
found that we get
far better business
unit managers if we
promote internally, so
succession planning,
training and employee
motivation are critical
to our long-term
success. Part of our
HR strategy has been
to spot people who
will do well and see
whether we can find
a way to keep them.
This programme
needs to be managed
carefully to ensure
that we are offering
the right opportunities
and getting the best
out of people.”
Alan Pepper, Chief Executive of
Avanta, a business centre group
with about 160 staff
12. 12 The Role of HR
“As boundaries between private and work life blur, employees are
increasingly selecting – or rejecting – jobs based on how well they can
help the individuals achieve work-life balance or advance personal goals
and values,” the survey said. “In order to attract and retain highly talented
individuals, companies will therefore need to offer flexible working
arrangements. They will also need to appeal to employees’ growing desire
to derive a sense of greater purpose from their work.”
Trevor Townsend, Product Director at ADP, agrees. “Our recent research
into the motivations of the workforce shows that more people want
flexible working than actually get it, which suggests that businesses may
need to develop programs that enhance their attractiveness to external
candidates, continue to improve the retention of existing talent and
support general employee engagement.”
Percival adds that HR professionals have a critical role to play more
broadly. “HRs put the structures in place to support employee engagement
and create the opportunity for senior managers to engage the rest of the
workforce,” he says, adding: “Employee engagement is also important for
taking employees through periods of change. In a recession, for example,
employees need to be kept informed about how the business is doing.”
“One reason we are
able to get by on
1½ people looking
after HR is our self-
service system. It
enables us to have
fewer HR people but
it also gives local
managers ownership
of things like holiday
and absence records,
which I think is
important for line
managers.”
Alan Pepper, Chief Executive of
Avanta, a business centre group
with about 160 staff
An important issue allied to talent management in
the web age is the use of social networking for
recruitment. With Facebook signing up its billionth
user in 2012, no one can deny the impact that social
networks are having on almost every aspect of life in
the early 21st century.
It is a truly disruptive technology and, given the
break-neck pace of change that web technology has
wrought in the past few years, the landscape in 10
years’ time is likely to be substantially different.
In the US, 67 per cent of adult internet users say they
now use a social networking site like Facebook or
LinkedIn, according to Pew Research Center, the US
study group. Among 18-29 year-olds, the figure is 83
per cent, and 77 per cent for 30-49 year olds. Even
among the 50-64 age group, more than half (52 per
cent) use social media.
Growing numbers of companies are turning to social
networks to recruit the people they need. LinkedIn
claims it can help companies “source anyone”, and
products such as its Recruiter service allow
companies to target individuals for specific roles.
In fact, 92 per cent of US companies use or plan to
use social networking for recruitment, according to
Jobvite*, a social media-based recruitment
company, while seven out of 10 companies have
successfully hired a candidate through social media.
*Social Recruiting Survey, Jobvite (2012) www.jobvite.com
Recruitment in the web age
13. 13The Role of HR
HR technology
There can be no doubt that many organisations have embraced HR
technology as a crucial part of the way they operate. Of the companies
that took part in KPMG’s 2012 survey, 69 per cent said it was more
common for the HR function to provide web-based and/or mobile HR
platforms, such as benefits and payroll systems, than it was three years
earlier. Only 3 per cent of respondents had cut back on such technologies.
Some organisations believe self-service systems are more efficient,
some may have introduced them primarily as a way of cutting costs.
But in an increasingly decentralised working environment, where many
more people are working flexibly, remotely and on-the-move, being able
to complete tasks online has become essential for many businesses.
The KPMG report points out that the technology enables HR to do
its basic administrative work faster and more efficiently, and gives
employees more flexible and tailored training opportunities while
creating a positive culture of communication.
Nevertheless, KPMG’s Robert Bolton, says that for many companies,
“the jury is still out on self-service systems”. “Companies have sunk
millions into ERP [enterprise resource planning] systems, and many are
still horribly clunky and not at all user friendly,” he says. “I know one
company that switched on employee self-services and switched it off
again six months later to set up a call centre that actually cost less.”
“In many cases,” he says, “employees do not want to use self-service,
but better designed systems could bring about wider acceptance”. “We
are now seeing with some of the cloud-based solutions something that
is approaching an Amazon and an iTunes experience,” Bolton says. “If
that happens, I think we will have an increasing take-up of HR activities
online, and that can present some opportunities.”
Data analytics technology is also beginning to provide some important
tools for HR specialists.
“What is now popularly
called engagement
is such an important
thing, and how to
motivate people is
key. . . If you are in a
service business [like
Rentokil), how to bring
in people and develop
their careers, how
to retain them once
you’ve spent a lot of
time training them –
these are key issues.
One of HR’s roles is to
get the competence
of the workforce to a
higher level and, once
you’ve got them there,
keep them motivated
and engaged. This is
not a soft approach,
it’s about creating
structures and
policies to ensure
that your business
continues to thrive.”
Peter Whittall, Group Chief
Scientific Officer at Rentokil
Initial, delivering essential
services in areas such as
hygiene, workwear, pest control,
plants, food and facilities,
employing 60,000+ people in
some 60 countries
14. 14 The Role of HR
“[Data analytics] will lead to the next technological quantum leap for
HR,” KPMG said in its report. “Interviewees explain that the application
of analytics, if done properly, will enable a more robust understanding of
employee-related needs and opportunities. For example, already 57 per
cent of respondents say that data analytics is helping to identify future
talent gaps.”
A point reflected in another recent report on the future of technology in
business from the Economist Intelligence Unit9
talks about big data.
For those who can master it, big data will become a business of its own,
the EIU said. “Firms already collect vastly more data than they did a
decade ago, and new sources – from smart meters to smartphones – will
add much more data to this flow. New or more advanced business models
based on specialist analytics services are likely to emerge as a result.”
Clearly, there is enormous potential for all this data to provide important
new insights for HR professionals and their organisations.
For example, technology could reform the organisation chart of old,
with one victim being the middle manager role, the EIU predicted.
“Technology itself has become the great general manager, not least by
enabling teams to become increasingly self-managed. This will be part
of a general flattening of hierarchies within business. Individuals will be
increasingly empowered to make decisions thanks to mobile technology
and advanced analytics, within a framework set by upper management.”
ADP’s Trevor Townsend observes that: “We are seeing a number of
key technologies converging: cloud computing, big data, mobile and
social. Individually and collectively they will have a big impact on the
services that can be offered to an organisation, and how the organisation
interacts with and enables its talent. The cloud has the potential [using
data analytics tools] to provide HR professionals with more insight into
how their operations are performing and the ability of benchmarking
performance against their peers. Mobile will see capability being put
into the hands of employees, line managers and HR professionals
wherever they are and whenever they want it. Social is changing the
way we are marketing the company to candidates and accessing talent
pools directly; we are also witnessing social concepts emerging in the
areas of performance management and learning and development. The
key will be to harness these technologies in a way that supports the
organisation’s talent management strategies.
“We are seeing a
number of key
technologies
converging: cloud
computing, big data,
mobile and social.
Individually and
collectively they will
have a big impact
on the services that
can be offered to an
organisation, and
how the organisation
interacts with and
enables its talent.”
Trevor Townsend, Product
Director at ADP
15. 15The Role of HR
Legal
responsibilities
“There has been an increase in the volume and complexity of
employment legislation in the last two decades, and this is something
that firms continually mention as a burden on business,” says Matthew
Percival of the CBI.
It is a familiar complaint from the UK’s business community and one
that is unlikely to go away any time soon. Many businesses highlight
European Union legislation as a problem, and smaller companies in
particular often bemoan the business impact of workplace equality
legislation aimed at guaranteeing better conditions for parents and
equality for older workers.
In the CBI/Harvey Nash Employment Trends Survey, 67 per cent of
businesses cited the burden of employment regulation as a threat to UK
labour market competitiveness, though they were hopeful this could be
reduced over the next five years. Companies are also facing increasing
numbers of weak and vexatious claims, the survey revealed, with 34 per
cent of claims withdrawn by applicants.
The message is clear – there is a vital role for HR to advise and
protect companies.
“Employment legislation is another area for which companies rely
heavily on HR professionals for advice,” says Percival. “If you look at the
firms that have the most difficulty with employment legislation, they
tend to be the smaller firms who are unable to dedicate a person full
time to the HR function. Larger firms that have an HR function find it a
lot easier to keep on top of it.”
He adds: “Whether it will get worse is difficult to say. Steps have been
taken by this government to reduce the burden of employment law, but
there is only so much that can be done as the government does not have
complete control over areas such as EU legislation. But we don’t see
the burden getting any lighter in the future, so HRs will continue to be
important in this area.”
“The most important
jobs of the HR
function creating the
right culture, making
people feel rewarded,
and setting of values
and guiding principles
for individual team
members. Also
training development
programmes that
enable managers
to assess people’s
strengths and
weaknesses. These
are all important
functions that need
to be carried out.
Recruitment is an
important part of
talent management,
and managing people
properly so that we
can retain talent.”
Joanna Pocock, Head of
Marketing at Saddington Baynes,
a London-based creative agency
with about 50 staff
16. 16 The Role of HR
Conclusion: HR in
the next decade
The role of the HR professional is likely to remain essential within
most organisations. The priorities of senior executives and the needs
of managers and employees mean that HR professionals will have
plenty to occupy them over the next decade and beyond. Where HR
professionals seem to be at odds with their colleagues is over how best
to get the job done.
Talk to an HR professional and the chances are they will use the term
“strategy” (see ADP white paper, What’s next for HRD’s?). However,
those outside the HR team talk less about HR’s strategic role and more
about the need to complete specific tasks.
Yet Dr Wendy Hirsh says it would be wrong to assume that HR
specialists are more interested in strategic visions while their
colleagues want them to concentrate on “pay and rations”.
“There is a distinction between solving problems that are strategically
important and producing separate HR strategies,” she says. “In the
IES study, managers both at senior and line level did want HR to help
them think about the strategic implications and the future of what was
happening. But they wanted that done in a partnership and problem-
solving sort of way.
“It’s not true to say that line managers are not interested in strategy,
although they tend not to use that word. Some senior managers said
quite explicitly that they felt that, left to their own devices, line managers
often did seem to get very short-term. And it is one of the jobs of HR to
make them think longer-term, but not in an abstract way.”
Hirsh adds: “If there is a problem, it is that too often senior people in HR
may see being strategic as sitting in their offices writing strategy papers
or designing processes, not being out there with the business helping
them grapple with their issues.”
A point echoed by Robert Bolton at KPMG.
“I have a great HR
director who has a
lot of experience.
He understands
motivation and is
extremely good on
stuff like non-verbal
communication. . . I
think that is where a
good HR guy can add
loads of value.”
Peter Whittall, Group Chief
Scientific Officer at Rentokil
Initial, delivering essential
services in areas such as
hygiene, workwear, pest control,
plants, food and facilities,
employing 60,000+ people in
some 60 countries
17. 17The Role of HR
“Differentiation is the key,” he says. “Really getting to the source of
competitive advantage for your business and looking at ways of driving
that. If a business competes through innovation, what the HR function
needs to do is think about how it can drive innovation. Whereas a
business that competes through customer service has different sources
of value creation for the HR function. Or, if it’s operational excellence
and lean manufacturing, then HR should drive that capability.
“What HRs must do is prove their value to their organisation, which they
can do by differentiating themselves rather than aiming for some sort of
best practice. Don’t try and copy the latest fad.”
The HR function is essentially two different roles, believes Matthew
Percvial at the CBI. “One is to make sure that the right people are in
place at the right time, and help firms retain employees by ensuring that
they feel they are valued. The other is compliance – helping to manage
employment law so that the business does not end up on the wrong side
of the law.
“But the rise of jobs with titles such as “talent manager” or “director
of engagement” show that the most important part of the HRs job is
increasingly about engagement rather than ticking boxes.”
The message for HR professionals, says Hirsh, is that the future holds
massive opportunities to further develop their roles and enhance their
value to their organisations. “What people want is a combination of three
things: they want HR to be responsive, proactive and professional.”
But she adds: “Most importantly, HR people need to listen to their
customers – the line managers, senior managers and employees. When
we did the [IES] research, we found that people valued HR a lot more
than the HR people thought they would. . . but they also wanted to say
things about what they needed from HR, and HR wasn’t asking them.
“HR is a support function and I think some HR directors forget that. But
it is a very important support function – along with finance, probably one
of the most important.”
The HR function’s role in motivation can only become more important.
ADP’s survey of employees last year found that a quarter of employees
do not feel they can be motivated by anything, rising to 29 per cent of
45-54 year-olds and 43 per cent of unskilled, manual workers (see ADP
white paper, The Workforce View in 2012).
“If there is a problem,
it is that too often
senior people in
HR may see being
strategic as sitting in
their offices writing
strategy papers or
designing processes,
not being out there
with the business
helping them grapple
with their issues.”
Dr. Wendy Hirsh
18. 18 The Role of HR
If organisations are to address such challenges, a strong, innovative HR
team will be crucial.
Hazel Privett, ADP HR Director, concludes: “In the last decade HR
has firmly established its strategic importance to the rest of the
organisation, but all too often the crucial day to day tasks it performs
can obscure its true value. HR must show that it can respond to an
organisation’s needs and help all areas of the business face the future
with confidence – by offering the best advice, the right technology,
useful data and clear strategic thinking. Many HR teams will relish this
challenge but it won’t be easy, as tides change and expectations increase.”
“HR must show that
it can respond to
an organisation’s
needs and help all
areas of the business
face the future with
confidence.”
Hazel Privett, HR Director
at ADP
19. 19The Role of HR
References
1 Rethinking Human Resources in a Changing World, KPMG (2012)
www.kpmg.com
2 What Customers Want from HR, Institute for Employment Studies,
report no. 453 (2008) www.employment-studies.co.uk
3 Captains of Industry Survey, Ipsos MORI (2012) www.ipsos-mori.com
4 The Future of HR in Europe: Key Challenges through 2015, Boston
Consulting Group/European Association for People Management
(2007) www.bcg.com
5 The Role and Future of HR: the CEO’s Perspective, Human Resources
Professionals Association and Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions
(2010) www.hrpa.ca
6 Talent Pipeline Draining Growth: Connecting Human Capital to the
Growth Agenda, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants/
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (2012) www.cgma.org
7 Planning for Succession in Changing Times, Corporate Research
Forum (2012) www.crforum.co.uk
8 Facing the Future: Employment Trends Survey 2012, Confederation of
British Industry/Harvey Nash www.cbi.org.uk
9 Agent of Change: The future of technology disruption in business,
Economist Intelligence Unit, 2012 www.eiu.com
