Cost management, talent management and productivity remain top current priorities for HR and non-HR business leaders in 2015, unchanged from 2013. But for the first time, innovation is now a leading business priority for a third of both HR (35%) and other business leaders (32%), according to the latest CIPD/Workday HR Outlook leaders’ survey.
The findings highlight that new ways of working and operating is an increasing reality for organisations. However, while there is general agreement about overall strategic priorities, it seems to be less clear to the wider business how HR will contribute to achieving them. Despite nearly three-quarters (72%) of HR leaders saying that their current people strategy will help the organisation achieve its future priorities, just a quarter (26%) of other business leaders agree. Also, although 31% of non-HR business leaders think HR should be focusing on diversity to help achieve innovation in the workplace, just 19% of HR leaders said they were. To address this, the CIPD recommends that HR needs to look at ways in which it can innovate itself in order to stay relevant and more visibly demonstrate its enabling role as the workplace evolves.
Dr Jill Miller, Research Adviser at the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, comments:
The report also found differing views on the use of HR analytics, particularly due to a lack of awareness of the current and potential value outside of the HR function. For example, when non-HR leaders were asked to describe the analytic capability in their HR department, almost 3 in 10 (28%) said they didn’t know. Moreover, 28% said their HR department doesn’t share their analytics with key stakeholders, compared to 12% of HR leaders who thought this. This might explain why just 14% of non-HR leaders are satisfied with the HR analytics provided to them and also why, despite over three-quarters (78%) of HR leaders saying analytics are important to HR’s ability to deliver strategic value to their organisation, less than half (49%) of non-HR business leaders agree.
Miller continues:
The research also asked leaders about technology-related concerns, and found that outdated/inflexible HR systems was the top issue for HR leaders, which over two-fifths (41%) flagged as a problem they were currently focusing on. However, it was not on the list of top five issues for non-HR leaders, replaced instead by concerns about cyber security and reputation.
Karen Minicozzi, VP HCM Product Strategy at Workday EMEA, comments:
Top five current priorities for HR leaders:
- Cost Management (63%)
- Talent Management (50%)
- Increasing agility/flexibility of organisations (49%)
- Innovation (35%)
- Productivity (33%)
Top five current priorities for business leaders:
- Cost Management (61%)
- Increasing customer focus (39%)
- Productivity (32%)
- Innovation (32%)
- Talent Management (28%)
Top five future priorities for HR leaders:
- Cost Management (54%)
- Talent Management (48%)
- Innovation (38%)
- Productivity (36%)
- Increasing agility/flexibility of the organisation (36%)
Top five future priorities for business leaders:
- Cost management (55%)
- Productivity (34%)
- Innovation (32%)
- Increasing agility/flexibility of the organisation (27%)
- Talent Management (26%)
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