INCREASING employee turnover is shining a spotlight on the need for human resources to step up its game and integrate its operations with the strategic goals of the business, but research shows this is not yet being put into practice.
In 1996 management guru David Ulrich coined the term "HR business partner", saying that HR must assume more strategic roles within organisations so it can implement programmes that support the goals of the business. Since then, there has been an increasing awareness that HR departments need to realign their goals to remain relevant.
But in Mercer's latest HR Transformation Survey, only 15% of activities carried out by HR departments across Europe, Middle East and Africa are related to pure strategic interventions, according to 500 Human Resource Directors surveyed across these regions.
The report also said, despite this, 65% of HR departments perceive themselves as a strategic partner to their business. While respondents sought to increase their future strategic input to more than 25%, the difference between perception and reality highlighted that HR departments still have a long way in transforming themselves into more accountable and measurable strategic business partners.
Closing this gap is considered critical because there is a direct link between strategic alignment and retention of top talent, which in turn affects the companies's overall performance. According to Samantha Crous, country manager of the CRF Institute, which identifies choice employers via international HR policy and practice research "The Latest Best Employers Research'' shows that more and more companies are turning their attention to engaging employees and have grasped the fact that engagement is about more than simply sticking a few posters on the wall in order to draw attention to certain aspects of an employee proposition. It's about getting people to believe in the vision of the company and how it makes a difference in South Africa and the world," said Crous.
Erna Oldenboom, Programme Director of HR as a Strategic Business Partner at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB), says that turnover among top talent is expected to increase in 2012 and that this demands a response from HR.
"Globalisation is requiring stronger HR capabilities; and demographic shifts across the world are dramatically affecting the availability of qualified personnel. This means that HR needs to step up its game. Oldenboom is Programme Director of the course: HR as a Strategic Business Partner, which runs at the UCT GSB from 26 - 28 September (module one) and 30 - 31 October (module two) 2012. For further information, please contact Iona Gutuza at 021-406-1368
HR needs to step up its game and keep talent
INCREASING employee turnover is shining a spotlight on the need for human resources to step up its game and integrate its operations with the strategic goals of the business, but research shows this is not yet being put into practice.
In 1996 management guru David Ulrich coined the term "HR business partner", saying that HR must assume more strategic roles within organisations so it can implement programmes that support the goals of the business. Since then, there has been an increasing awareness that HR departments need to realign their goals to remain relevant.
But in Mercer's latest HR Transformation Survey, only 15% of activities carried out by HR departments across Europe, Middle East and Africa are related to pure strategic interventions, according to 500 Human Resource Directors surveyed across these regions.
The report also said, despite this, 65% of HR departments perceive themselves as a strategic partner to their business. While respondents sought to increase their future strategic input to more than 25%, the difference between perception and reality highlighted that HR departments still have a long way in transforming themselves into more accountable and measurable strategic business partners.
Closing this gap is considered critical because there is a direct link between strategic alignment and retention of top talent, which in turn affects the companies's overall performance. According to Samantha Crous, country manager of the CRF Institute, which identifies choice employers via international HR policy and practice research "The Latest Best Employers Research'' shows that more and more companies are turning their attention to engaging employees and have grasped the fact that engagement is about more than simply sticking a few posters on the wall in order to draw attention to certain aspects of an employee proposition. It's about getting people to believe in the vision of the company and how it makes a difference in South Africa and the world," said Crous.
Erna Oldenboom, Programme Director of HR as a Strategic Business Partner at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB), says that turnover among top talent is expected to increase in 2012 and that this demands a response from HR.
"Globalisation is requiring stronger HR capabilities; and demographic shifts across the world are dramatically affecting the availability of qualified personnel. This means that HR needs to step up its game. Oldenboom is Programme Director of the course: HR as a Strategic Business Partner, which runs at the UCT GSB from 26 - 28 September (module one) and 30 - 31 October (module two) 2012. For further information, please contact Iona Gutuza at 021-406-1368
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