HR Management & Compliance

HR Department Survey Results—How Does Your Department Compare?

HR responsibilities, HR staffing ratios, HR’s strategic role, HR outsourcing, HR reporting relationships and more, it’s all here in the results of our “Your HR Department” survey. How do you match up? See detailed findings below.

What Is HR Responsible For?

HR covers a lot of territory as the chart shows. No surprise that benefits and compliance are near universal, but it is interesting that 43% are responsible for safety/security, 10% have operational responsibilities, and 15% wear a facilities management hat.

Type of Responsibility

Percent of respondents indicating they have that responsibility

Employee benefits

93%

Employment law compliance

90%

Recruiting and staffing

89%

Compensation

87%

Unemployment benefits

85%

Workers’ comp

79%

Retirement plans

72%

Training/development

68%

Recognition/incentives

68%

Business ethics/ compliance

59%

Talent management

57%

Payroll

58%

Company events

53%

Safety/security/loss prevention

43%

Corporate/internal communications

42%

Relocation

34%

Charitable giving & volunteer programs

29%

Social media/social networking

16%

Facilities management

15%

Operations

10%

Green workplace, energy efficiency

6%

Other

7%

None of the above

0.5%

 


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Who Is Outsourcing What?

Of those that outsource any function, the most frequently outsourced function is background/ reference checks at 60%, followed by payroll for 38%. (See chart for details.)

Function

Percent of respondents who outsource that function

Background/reference checks

60%

Payroll

38%

Unemployment claims processing

28%

Workers’ comp

27%

Benefits administration

23%

Training

5%

Recruiting/staffing

3%

 

What Functions Are Offered Self-Service?

The HR function most frequently provided to employees as a self-service feature is the employee handbook, with 65% of our survey respondents offering that as a self-service. Name/address change is self-service for 48% and time/attendance is online for 62%; vacation/PTO requests are available online for 45%.

It is particularly interesting that 27% are doing performance evaluation as a self-service. (See chart for details.)

Feature

Percent of respondents who provide the feature self-service

Handbook

65%

Time/Attendance

62%

Benefits

49%

Name/Address Change

48%

Vacation/PTO

45%

Performance Evaluation

27%

Other

6%

What’s the HR Staff to Employee Ratio?

When asked about their HR staff to employee ratio, the most common answer was 1 HR staffer to 50 employees. (See chart for details.)

1 HR professional per:

Percent of respondents

50 or fewer employees

33%

51- 75 employees

17%

76 to 10 employees

14%

101-150,

15%

151-200,

8%

201 or more employees.

13%

How Have Departments Changed?

No significant changes have been experienced in the last year by 50% of participants in our survey, though 16% of the HR departments have been reduced in size and departmental budgets have been reduced for 15%. ( See chart for full details.)

Type of Change

Percent of respondents

No Change

50

More automated

23

Size reduced

16

Budget reduced

15

More Outsourced

5

Now shared services

3

Is HR a Strategic Partner?

Over three quarters of our survey participants report playing a role in strategic business planning at their organizations with 37% holding a position of influence within the inner circle. HR plays a major role, though outside the inner circle, for 24% and at least 25% of HR departments play a minor role. HR has no role in strategic business planning for 14% of survey respondents.

How Is HR Viewed?

HR is viewed as a strategic partner by management teams for 29% of survey participants and as a credible business asset for 25%. It’s still viewed as an administrative function, though, for 41%.

HR is viewed as …

Percent of respondents

Administrative function

41%

Strategic partner

29%

Credible business asset

25%

Window dressing

2%

Other

3%

To Whom Does HR Report?

Our survey reveals that HR reports to a variety of executives with 40% reporting to the CEO or owner of the business. Another 22% report to the President or Executive Director and 15% report to the Chief Financial Officer, while 9% report to the head of operations, 7% to the head of administration, and 2% to in-house legal department.

How Many Hours Do HR Managers Work?

Number of Hours per Week

Percent of respondents

20 hours or less

1%

21 – 30 hours

2%

31 – 39 hours

5%

40 hours per week

21%

41 – 50 hours

53%

51 – 60 hours

16%

61 – 70 hours

3%

70+ hours

1%

What Big Challenges Lie Ahead?

Myriad challenges face our survey respondents. Recruiting leads the pack at 21% with health care second at 16%. Rounding out the top three is employee motivation and retention.

About the Respondents:

Participants—HR managers and directors account for 52% of the survey participants who self-identified, other HR professionals make up 28%, and 20% are in other areas with HR responsibilities. Eighty-five percent of respondents are in exempt positions and 73% have 10 or more years of HR experience.

Number of employees—The majority of our survey respondents provide guidance to small or medium size employers with 59% providing HR services to a workforce of 1-250 employees and another 16% providing guidance to 251-500 employees at their organizations.

Industries—Almost half (48%) of the participants are in service industries; 18% are in agriculture, forestry, construction, manufacturing, or mining; 10% are in wholesale, retail, transportation, or warehousing; and 24% are in real estate, utilities, or “other.”

Organizations—A total of 713 organizations participated in this survey, conducted in August 2012. Of those who identified themselves, 58% are privately owned, 6% are public entities, and 33% are government or nonprofits. Sixty-one percent are located in labor markets with a population that exceeds 500,000.

Exempt vs. Nonexempt—Among our survey respondents, 65% have less than 5% salaried nonexempt employees, 66% have a workforce of at least 50% hourly nonoffice workers and 31% have a workforce that is at least 50% salaried exempt employees.

Looking at this from another angle, the average percentage of salaried exempt employees for those responding to our survey is 37% and 11% is the average for salaried nonexempt. The average percentage of hourly office employees is 20% and 32% is the average for hourly nonoffice workers.

Labor relations—Of the survey participants, 18% have employees that belong to a union with 2% having a 90-100% unionized workforce and 1% having a workforce that is 5% or less unionized.

Department Size

The majority of HR departments represented in our survey are small with 36.3% being an HR department of one and departments with 2-3 HR professionals accounting for 32.2% of survey participants. Departments with 4-6 comprise another 13.2%, and 4.7% have departments with 7-10 on their staff.
 

Number in HR Department

Percent of respondents

1

36.3%

2 to 3

32.2%

4 to 6

13.2%

7 to 10

4.7%

11 to 20

6.4%

21 to 25

2.7%

26 to 30

0.6%

More than 30

2.7%

0

1.2%

Upcoming survey topics include Employee Leave, Holidays, and Benefits.
Thanks to all who participated in the survey!

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