People Profession 2023: International survey report

• Hybrid and flexible working was identified as a top trend driving change for businesses in both the UK and Ireland, with Ireland seeing the biggest growth in hybrid working in the EU. However, people professionals were significantly more likely to say that hybrid working has made several people management areas more challenging, compared to professionals in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East and North Africa regions. Forty-one per cent of UK practitioners said supporting employees’ mental health and wellbeing has become more difficult, whilst building organisational culture was also flagged as a current challenge (40%). Irish respondents have also seen challenges, with 41% saying that attracting, recruiting and retaining talent has become more difficult in a hybrid context.
• Managing performance and delivering productivity is the top people priority in Ireland, likely influenced by economic uncertainty, which is a key disruptor for Irish businesses. Upskilling and developing current talent, and engaging with and retaining workers are also key priority areas. Unlike the majority of other markets surveyed, health and safety was flagged as a focus area, suggesting new models of working have surfaced health and safety challenges or areas of concern.
• People teams in both the UK and Ireland see their function becoming a critical partner in shaping business strategy, although some feel their impact is not fully recognised. Just under two thirds (64%) agree that their people function adds strategic value, but less than half (47%) agree their people teams are acknowledged for their impact on the business.
• Moving out of the post-pandemic era, the proportion of respondents who say their work positively impacts their mental and physical health has increased in both the UK and Ireland. There has been a particularly positive improvement in the impact of work on mental health in Ireland (44% in 2023, compared with 22% in 2022). We also found that wellbeing is linked to career perceptions. Professionals who are positive about their career progression are more likely to report that work positively affects their mental health. Conversely, respondents who have negative views of their progression are more likely to feel that their mental health is negatively affected by work and are significantly more likely to leave their current organisation within the next year.   

Recommendations

• Hybrid working models require a shift in mindset and a cultural reset to tackle operational and people management challenges that have surfaced due to different ways of working. Part of this is about updating policies and engaging with the workforce to understand the impact and benefits for workers and the organisation. Leaders will need to think creatively and leverage technology solutions to best support flexible working arrangements.
• Building workforce skills and measuring performance are critical priorities that people professionals will need to deliver on to support business objectives.
• To continue raising the profile of the profession and grow influence at board level, people professionals will need to have a good understanding and awareness of business operations and specialist skills, such as analytical skills, to respond to the needs of the organisation and internal stakeholders.
• To maintain the positive impact of work on health, people professionals should ensure colleagues are taking care of their wellbeing and that work and workloads do not have a negative impact upon health.  

• Australian practitioners were generally most likely to say that hybrid working had impacted people management positively, making people objectives easier to deliver. In comparison, Singapore respondents more commonly said that hybrid working has made people management more difficult. Particular challenges included supporting employees’ mental health and wellbeing, and attracting, recruiting and retaining talent. In general, younger and early career people professionals were more likely to believe hybrid working makes people management easier.
• Across all APAC countries, engaging with the workforce is a critical priority area. This suggests that, for many of our APAC respondents, a reset is needed to focus on employee experience, engagement and building culture in a post-pandemic workplace.
• Respondents from Australia, Malaysia and Singapore are focusing on developing and building skills as a top priority area, significantly more than the international sample.

Recommendations

• Hybrid, flexible and new ways of working are here to stay and will have implications for people and business strategies. Therefore, understanding how it impacts people management will be critical for people teams and people managers. Ensure you are data-driven to inform how hybrid working is impacting different markets, employee groups, and internal and external stakeholders, and ensure leaders are aligned and consistent in their thinking about hybrid working across markets and business functions.
• Organisations need to find creative solutions to strengthen the employee experience, which could include career and skills development through job rotations and secondments, or by supporting professional qualifications and certification.

• Workforce planning is a top priority in Egypt and upskilling, reskilling and building capability is the key focus in UAE and KSA. This may be in part due to nationalisation policies and targets in these countries, which aim to attract more Saudis and Emiratis into work. To facilitate this, identifying skills gaps and developing skills is crucial.
• Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is a key strategic area for businesses in KSA. A key enabler to making workplaces more inclusive is developing flexible working practices, which will help employees balance work and home life commitments.
• In comparison to the international sample, MENA respondents, particularly in KSA and UAE, were significantly more likely to say that people management has become easier in a hybrid context. In fact, managing performance, attracting and retaining talent and ensuring good job quality were perceived particularly positively. However, there were mixed views on the impact on productivity, and some raised concerns over equality and fairness in implementing flexible working options.

Recommendations

• Undertaking a workforce planning exercise will help people professionals better understand the organisation’s current skills against its future needs and what development is necessary for the current workforce to bridge any skills gaps. Be prepared to invest in developing potential new local talent to ensure they have the skills needed to join your organisation.
• To support EDI, employers in this region should consider offering flexible working arrangements to attract a more diverse pool of talent, and ensure recruitment processes are inclusive to avoid missing out on good candidates. They should also try to learn from each other, sharing inclusive work practices with people professionals in the region and celebrating progress.
• Offering hybrid arrangements is an attractive benefit that will make your business stand out as an employer of choice. Explore how flexible arrangements could be offered to roles that are traditionally viewed as less flexible.

Our Canadian report summarises research carried out in 2022 by the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources Canada (CPHR Canada) and is not part of the CIPD People Profession 2023 survey. However, it provides a useful comparison of the main trends impacting people professionals in Canada.

• Six out of ten Canadian people professionals considered recruitment a very or extremely difficult issue in the last year, with the main challenges being a lack of applicants and candidates not having the hard skills or experience required for positions. In the same vein, 33% said they found retention very or extremely difficult.
• Over half of respondents (55%) said their organisation has a formal EDI strategy in place, with popular initiatives including EDI training, inclusive job postings, unconscious bias training and establishing an EDI committee. However, only 22% said their employer measures EDI in their organisation.
• Ninety-five per cent of respondents said they are proud of the work that they do as HR professionals and 80% feel that the profession fulfils a strategic role in their organisation.

Recommendations

• It’s important for organisations to take a holistic approach to their retention strategy and adapt their offer to changing employee preferences. Diverse working environments are increasingly important for staff retention, particularly for younger employees, and prioritising EDI in the workplace is key to ensuring employees feel a sense of belonging.
• Organisations need to prioritise and measure EDI initiatives to ensure accountability to commitments, assess the effectiveness of existing policies and practices, and to make informed decisions about how to design and target activity.

We surveyed 2,957 in-house and independent people professionals, across a range of people specialisms, within nine countries: the UK, Ireland, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The data was collected by YouGov between 18 April and 27 May 2023, via an online survey. Further details on the sample and methodology can be found in each report.

The Canadian data was collected by the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources Canada (CPHR Canada). This was based on an online survey of 1,954 respondents, conducted between 31 October and 22 November 2022.