Recent surveys of the profession show few surprises in what concerns HR. The surprises are in what doesn’t concern you as much.
As fall is traditionally the time of year when businesses assess their positions and plan for their futures, we thought it might be a good time for a “state of HR” assessment. What are HR professionals most concerned about these days?
The answer lay in a number of surveys done among members of the profession. First and foremost (in our minds, anyway) was our own Daily Advisor survey, sent to a representative sample of 6,000 of our readers a few weeks ago, and asking them what topics most interested them. This was backed up by another BLR survey done earlier this year, through our subscription website, HR.BLR.com, and through one of our online ezines. These results were supplemented by reader interest lists done by one of our favorite HR columnists, Susan Heathfield, of About.com, and by private industry surveys done by firms that included Express Personnel Services and Hewitt Associates.
Not surprising, the surveys backed each other up in defining what concerned and interested you most. Here are some of the findings.
–Compliance, Compliance, Compliance! No shock here. You think and worry about how to meet the many requirements and restrictions of laws like the Federal Labor Standards Act, Family Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, and the many laws that constitute America’s equal employment opportunity goals. State law, some of which conflicts with the federal, complicates matters further.
–Retention and Recruitment. Economists estimate that business will be short more than 10 million skilled workers in the near future, as baby boomers retire and not enough trained younger workers are available to fill their slots. Local conditions come into play here. You’ve told us that it’s harder to find and retain talent in economically depressed or geographically remote areas.
–Performance Management. Though they’ve been trying since they were “personnel managers,” HR professionals have yet to find a surefire way to get the most out of the workforce. One way to do it, the traditional performance appraisal, is particularly criticized. “Performance appraisals, as they’ve traditionally been approached in organizations, are fundamentally flawed,” writes Heathfield.
–Rising Healthcare Costs. You can probably lecture us on this one. In some companies, with the huge legacy cost of providing health care for retirees, this factor threatens to actually sink the business. Higher co-pays, reductions in benefits, and technology improvements help, but they’re not stemming the tide.
–Workplace Atmospherics. In-house negativity, “bad” supervisors, office politics, and gossip occupy many of your concerns. Our recent article on negativity was one of our most-read, and commented-on features. “I previously worked for a company where this problem spread like wildfire,” wrote one reader who asked us to identify him only as “Concerned.”
–Developing Leadership and Teamwork. Companies talk the talk on these issues, but many never walk the walk. It bothers you, since that’s what HR is there to do.
Some issues we would have bet would concern you greatly don’t seem to. In that category is disaster planning (maybe “the hurricane season that wasn’t” has something to do with it) and, surprising to us, outsourcing.
Perhaps that’s because no other country would want to tackle a list like this!
Do the survey respondents’ concerns match your own? Use the Share Your Comments button and let us know.