HR Trends Survey Results in–How Do You Compare?

Over 300 HR practitioners participated in the survey. Other findings include:

• More than  two-thirds use social media for recruiting at least some of the time (Respondents offered 25 other ways their HR departments are using social media.).
• 41 percent say the top HR person is a full member of the executive (C-suite) team.
• 54 percent say retention and engagement are major or significant concerns.
• Education and training, recognition awards, and flexible scheduling are the most common actions taken to boost retention and engagement.
• 83 percent measure turnover and 57 percent measure time to fill.

Here are the detailed results:

Social Media and HR

The first questions concern how HR uses social media in its operations.

To what extent do you use social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn®, company page, etc.) in the following activities:
Answer Options	Don’t use at all	Use some	Use a lot
Recruiting	96	145	64
Onboarding	222	60	16
Training	196	80	21
Routine communications with employees	178	91	34
Teambuilding	224	58	17
Communication after termination	259	41	1

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Are there other ways you use social media in HR activities?

Respondents offered a surprisingly long and interesting list of additional ways in which they use social media:

Recognition

• Best performer
• Giving praise or recognition of achievement

Branding

• Employer branding
• Brand reinforcement, looking for products and services
• Branding for EPS engagement
• Invites public to visit Facebook pages
• Mostly communication to a broad audience
• Sharing information with the general public

Research

• For knowledge, recent market situations
• Viewing trends, getting new ideas
• Knowledge management

Background checks

• Find that what a person does or does not do in social media can impact the overall impression of a possible new hire.  We include a check of what is “out there” as well as normal background checks.
• Researching other information that may not be readily found on a résumé.

Communication

• Sharing ideas within HR and within the company.
• Q/A and data sharing between members of the training community.
• Company activities showcased (helping United Way, etc.).
• We extensively use text to inform our employees of training and promotional events.
• We use yammer.com.
• Only as a fun activity, not in official company communication. (Used in Marketing a lot).

Benefits communication

• Benefit information updates, on a generic and more directed level, like advising about updates on formularies, etc.
• Compensation
• Wellness

Recruitment

• Job advertisement.
• None outside of required postings of jobs through a centralized organizationwide system.
• Linkedin Marketing.
• We utilize craigslist to recruit.

Arranging events

• We link social media with the Jobvite® system. You can log in using your medial Facebook or LinkedIn.
• Fundraising events.
• Show pictures of activities and events we have held on campus for staff.

Employee actions

• Employees can check schedules and request time off online.
• Development of a portal for onboarding and for benefits access is planned for the future.
• Work delegation.

Emergency notification

• I’ve set up a Twitter account for my employer so that we can send messages to employees in the event of an emergency (example:  Hurricane Sandy).

Weekly HR Blog

• Started a blog for our weekly HR Tip (Help for Managers on various topics) and to keep managers engaged and constantly learning.

How do you expect that your social media usage will change over the next year?
Answer Options	Response Percent
Our use will diminish.	0.3%
Our use will stay the same.	35.1%
Our use will increase.	60.3%
Other (please specify)	4.3%

Do You Have a ‘Seat at the Table’?

What is the status of your HR department with respect to the C-Suite and a “seat at the table”?
Answer Options	Response Percent
The top HR person is a full member of the executive (C-suite) team.	41.1%
HR is part of the decision-making team.	24.1%
HR is consulted before major decisions.	16.1%
HR finds out about major decisions after the fact.	15.7%
Other (please specify)	3.0%

Retention and Engagement

The next several questions deal with what companies are doing to boost retention and engagement.

How big a concern is retention and engagement for your organization in 2013?
Answer Options	Response Percent
Major concern	17.4%
Significant concern	37.0%
A concern	28.9%
Not much of a concern	12.1%
Not a concern	4.3%
Other (please specify)	0.3%

Do you offer any of the following retention/engagement programs to employees? (Check as many as apply.)
Answer Options	Response Percent
Education and training	79.3%
Career development	47.5%
Mentoring	35.5%
Flexible scheduling	51.2%
Work at home	25.4%
Recognition (e.g., 10-year award, employee of the month)	71.2%
Work/life balance	31.8%
Job Design/Enrichment	11.4%
Child care	4.0%
Elder Care	2.7%
Wellness	47.2%
Other programs specifically targeted to retention and engagement? (Please describe.)	10.4%

Do you plan to add any of the following retention/engagement programs during the next year? (Check as many as apply.)
Answer Options	Response Percent
Education and training	29.9%
Career development	33.9%
Mentoring	27.7%
Flexible scheduling	18.1%
Work at home	10.2%
Recognition (e.g., 10-year award, employee of the month)	31.1%
Work/life balance	18.6%
Job Design/Enrichment	29.9%
Child care	4.5%
Elder care	1.1%
Wellness	35.6%
Other programs specifically targeted to retention and engagement (Please describe.)	9.6%

In addition to pension plan and insurance programs, and going beyond the activities mentioned above, respondents are offering a wide variety of programs to enhance retention and engagement.

• Profit sharing bonuses.
• Potential twice-a-year bonus for all employees, if profits are good.
• Retention bonus.
• Generous 401(k) plan, 100s of area discounts to our employees regardless of their status, yearly parties, banquets and picnics for all employees.
• Fitness expense reimbursement account in addition to wellness.
• Employee Opinion surveys and “Stay” Interviews.
• Monthly professional development.
• Tuition reimbursement, quarterly bonus.
• Quarterly performance bonuses based on achieving departmental goals.
• Open forums; E-letter; quarterly staff gatherings.
• Peer review, grassroots safety culture, company outing planned by team members.
• Exchange programs sending our employees to another sister company in a different country.
• Teambuilding activities.
• Contests, Employee of the Month/Year, celebrate birthdays, "town hall” meetings with entire staff, Kits for Kidz, Turkey Drop, holiday party for employees and family.
• Excellent benefits
• Compressed work schedule offered to central support employees during the summer.
• We provide at least 30-plus hours of training a year typically from outside professionals. We offer a length-of-service award ranging from $250 to $1,000 after 7 years.
• We have a “gone fishing” day at a lake for all employees and their families, with potluck. They get paid for it. We bring fishing rod blanks and components. The employees put together fishing rods, learn about fishing, and have a hands-on experience.
• Socials.
• Loads of social events: Friday family lunch every week, without fail, and good food. Happy hours, summer and winter parties for the families.
• Company picnics and company-sponsored work/vacations.
• Company picnics, Christmas party.
• And, finally, one negative entry: Being in federal civil service, minimal consideration of retention/engagement programs is demonstrated by management in my government agency unit.

Formal Programs for Tracking and Development

Do you maintain formal programs for any of the following? (Check all that apply.)
Answer Options	Response Percent
Applicant tracking	59.9%
Learning management	44.1%
Mentoring	12.8%
Employee development	43.2%
Succession planning and management	31.7%
High Potential tracking	14.5%
Other program? (Please specify.)	4.4%

Metrics Maintained by Survey Respondents

The next four questions concern metrics maintained by responding companies.

Which of the following recruiting metrics do you maintain? (Check all that apply.)
Answer Options	Response Percent
Number of days positions are vacant (time to fill)	56.7%
Cost per hire	37.1%
Ratios of diversity hires	25.0%
Managerial satisfaction with new hires	26.8%
Percent of employment offers accepted	25.0%
Percent of openings filled with current employees	29.9%
Retention rate for new hires	48.7%
Retention rate by source	13.4%
Other recruiting metric you maintain? (Please describe.)	6.7%

Which of the following retention/engagement metrics do you maintain? (Check all that apply.)
Answer Options	Response Percent
Turnover	83.3%
Undesirable turnover (loss of best employees)	25.7%
Retention of diversity employees	11.7%
Employee engagement	26.8%
Employee satisfaction with management	39.3%
Employee satisfaction with compensation	35.8%
Employee satisfaction with benefits	38.5%
Employee satisfaction with development opportunities	25.3%
Employee satisfaction with benefits	24.9%
Other retention/engagement metric you maintain (Please describe.)	0.4%
Other retention/engagement metric you maintain (Please describe.)	3.1%

Which of the following compensation metrics do you maintain? (Check all that apply.)
Answer Options	Response Percent
Compensation costs per dollar of profit	20.1%
Compensation costs per dollar of revenue	30.2%
Compensation related to outside markets	45.3%
Compensation mix (fixed salaries versus performance-driven compensation)	44.7%
Other compensation metrics you maintain? (Please describe.)	6.7%

Which of the following metrics relating to overall HR/employee costs do you maintain? (Check all that apply.)
Answer Options	Response Percent
HR department cost per employee	54.3%
Revenue per employee	55.7%
Other overall HR cost/productivity metrics you maintain? (Please describe.)	5.7%

Respondents identified the following metrics as worthwhile for them:

• Track affiliate and subcontract information
• Training cost per hire
• Job performance and accuracy
• Injuries, employee complaints
• Workers’ compensation costs
• Investment in training/employee
• Headcount analysis
• Total rewards
• Number of employees in training programs
• Surveys of employees; turnaround time
• Cost of benefits as a percentage of overall salary expense

How effective are your metrics?

Demographic Data

Here is the demographic data about the survey respondents.

Thanks to all who participated and special thanks to survey sponsor, SuccessFactors.

Please indicate your organization size.
Answer Options	Response Percent
Up to 250 employees	59.6%
251 to 1,000 employees	20.5%
1,001 to 10,000 employees	14.2%
More than 10,000 employees	5.6%

Please indicate your industry.
Answer Options	Response Percent
Manufacturing	19.7%
Health care and social assistance	15.1%
Finance and insurance	12.1%
Professional, technical, and scientific services	14.4%
Educational services	5.9%
Retail trade	5.2%
Other (Please specify.)	31.8%

Please indicate your position.
Answer Options	Response Percent
HR Coordinator	5.3%
HR Generalist	9.5%
HR Specialist	5.3%
HR Manager	32.2%
HR Director	21.7%
HR VP or above	11.5%
Other (Please specify.)	14.5%

Again, thanks to all who participated and special thanks to survey sponsor, SuccessFactors.