Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/295251
[ 52 ] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | APRIL 2014 on an absolute basis, many HR functions will be able to apply the per full-time employee spending difference toward enhanced technology. This may help offset loss of headcount, and increase the pay for the retained, higher- skilled HR staff. There is some variation in outlook for different companies, with 48 percent of HR organizations forecasting a budget increase for 2014, and only 26 percent projecting an increase in staff. This will be a year of altering the way that money and staff will be aligned to enable HR to deliver higher-value services while keeping costs relatively flat. Top Priorities for HR HR's strategic agenda for the coming year includes business partnership, talent management, and continuing to upgrade the use of technology and information (see Figure 1 on page 49). All of these elements work toward a reinvention of HR and are consistent with the key issues that Hackett sees across the business services landscape: 1. Developing and strengthening business partnerships. Much of HR's effort in 2014 will be devoted to the difficult task of enhancing the HR/business partnership. This can only happen when HR leaders and staff begin to think and speak in terms that the business cares about and understands. At that point, HR will have the political and intellectual capital to become a full member of the strategy-setting team, applying its knowledge of human capital to the business strategy. 2. Raising the level of talent-management expertise. HR professionals have long prided themselves on being able to enhance the value of the human capital within the company where they work, adding to productivity through training, performance management, and good employee relations. Now, the call is to do more and prove the value of talent management empirically. Most aspects of talent management will undergo significant changes over the next year or so. Across the entire company, plans are in place to make important alterations to performance management and strategic workforce planning in particular (see Figure 2). Hackett research has found that companies are not getting a return commensurate with the effort being put into performance management. Therefore, HR is looking for ways to change this process and add value for both individuals and the business as a whole. Market Insight Figure 2 Changes anticipated in talent management Source: Hackett Group's 2014 Key Issues Study