Despite the importance of HR departments, it seems HR professionals are being left out of strategic Boardroom meetings.
This news comes after research released by HR recruitment specialist Reed HR, discovered that one in four HR professionals are not involved in key strategic business decisions.
This has proven to be a concern as respondents revealed that the HR sector is also going through major changes; four in five agreed that changing demands for employee benefits has impacted the responsibilities of the HR professional.
“I think it’s crucial how the Board of a company see HR. The fact one in four still don’t feel included in key decisions is definitely too high a number."
"Some leaders see HR as a transactional support function and this is when the divide happens – but HR is going through a transitional period,” said Chris Adcock, Director of Reed HR.
“With any change you get early adopters, followers, and then those that fight the change. Typically, we see that clients who involve their HR teams strategically tend to have better retention and attract better staff. A happy workplace is a productive workplace – we all know that. The insight that technology is far down the pecking order in terms of impact on HR is valuable to boardrooms – it allows them to concentrate their efforts in order to keep employees happy.”
Ten per cent of the 200 respondents claimed that technology was having the biggest impact on the industry despite fears about Artificial Intelligence (AI) replacing jobs.
Meanwhile, the vast majority (72%) said that Brexit was making an impact on the sector with a quarter (24%) believing it to have the most influence.
While Britain’s departure from the EU was considered as one of the biggest factors impacting HR, it was closely followed by culture (22%), candidate shortages (20%), skills gaps (15%) and employee benefits (11%).
“There is a big focus within the industry at the moment on workplace culture and employee benefits – these could make or break whether an employee decides to work for you or look elsewhere. And getting these two right helps to solve other major concerns of HR professionals – candidate shortages and skills gaps,” added Adcock.
“The biggest issue is still Brexit, and we see that it isn't necessarily leaving Europe that’s creating the problem, but the uncertainty of not knowing what is going to happen and when. We've actually seen job roles being created or removed depending on different Brexit outcomes.
“HR is at a really exciting point, a mixture of technology and a focus on people is making the roles of HR professionals more important than ever. People are the largest cost of almost all companies, and as such, business leaders need to make sure they are attracting the best talent, keeping them, and getting the most out of them to allow the business and its people to thrive and tackle concerns head on,” he concluded.
