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HR Dealing with a challenging economy
Survey respondents were generally confident that they’re well positioned to tackle today’s challenging economy, in everything from their change management expertise to their HR systems. There were, however, some notable concerns.

Three quarters of respondents (75%) were confident or extremely confident that they have sufficient change management expertise within their HR team to manage any necessary workforce restructuring. However, 19% were neutral (neither confident nor unconfident), including one in four interviewees from small companies, and 6% of respondents were unconfident that they had the necessary expertise.

A similar number of respondents (72%) were confident or extremely confident that if they needed to restructure their workforce, their organisation has the information it needs to make informed decisions about the value of individual employees, with 19% neutral. Looked at from the opposite perspective, this implies that almost one in ten unconfident respondents (9%) could make workforce reduction decisions based on incomplete information.

At a strategic level, respondents were generally confident that they would play a key role in shaping the workforce during the downturn. Asked whether their company’s workforce strategy will be guided by advice from senior HR management, as opposed to HR simply being asked to execute the board’s decisions, almost three quarters of respondents (73%) said they were confident or extremely confident it would, one in five (20%) was neutral and 7% were unconfident. At the same time, however, 64% of respondents agreed that HR is primarily seen as an administrative function in their organisation, not the owner of people-based information and strategy.

From a core infrastructure perspective, almost three quarters of respondents (73%) were confident that their HR systems and processes were sufficiently flexible to manage change, whether downsizing or growth – although one in ten were not, the majority of them from smaller companies with 1-500 employees. Asked whether they have the right systems or outsourced services in place to tackle a range of specific HR disciplines, respondents were also mostly positive, although it’s surprising that as many as three in ten respondents were neutral (neither confident nor unconfident) about activities such as managing HR administration or training. In summary:
 

• Almost four out of five (78%) of respondents were confident (including ‘extremely confident’) and 22% neutral about their ability to process payroll
• 77% were confident, 18% neutral and 5% unconfident about their ability to identify and quickly hire suitable candidates to fill existing vacancies or new roles
• 76% were confident, 21% neutral and 3% unconfident about their ability to manage absence
• 67% were confident, 31% neutral and 2% unconfident about their ability to manage training
• 65% were confident, 29% neutral, and 6% unconfident that they could manage HR administration
• 64% were confident, 26% average and 10% unconfident about their ability to manage individual employee performance, with most of the unconfident respondents coming from companies with 1-500 employees

Computers In Personnel Ltd
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Marlow, SL7 1DD
0870 366 2345