Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/295251
[ 54 ] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | APRIL 2014 Nathalie Bression is practice leader of human resources executive advisory program; Harry Osle is principal in charge of global human resources transformation and advisory services; and Lynne Schneider is senior research director for The Hackett Group. Market Insight becomes available, the HR team must have the expertise to do something with it. In our recent research on strategic workforce planning, 46 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that at present, the HR group is largely lacking in these skills. Recognizing this weakness, more than half of HR functions are planning initiatives in 2014 to improve their data analysis capabilities (see Figure 4). HR is also changing the way it captures data about its own performance and shares it with other parts of the enterprise. While overall costs and turnover rates have been used extensively in the past, HR functions are looking increasingly toward return-on-investment (ROI)-based metrics to gauge and communicate their success. For many years, the business has needed better data about the return on its investments in areas such as training and development. Now, HR is close to cracking to code on how to quantify these returns. Also on the horizon is an increased focus on productivity measurement across disparate functions and industries. This will lead to HR being able to realign resources to the activities and services that provide the best return on budget dollars and staff time invested. All of these data and technology-related initiatives will bring HR into closer partnership with the business, highlighting HR's value contribution. When ROI can be clearly illustrated, better strategic discussions will follow about where to make investments in HR programs. Strategic Implications HR needs to continue developing a business-focused orientation, realigning resources as needed to support the achievement of business goals. There is no room in budgets or staffing plans to add this functionality, so it must be achieved by changing the way that services are delivered. For business executives to think of HR as a value-adding business partner, HR must demonstrate integrated talent management practices. These need to take into consideration both the employee life cycle and the changing talent needs of the businesses in which this talent is currently deployed. Better data is a required foundation for achieving a more thorough understanding of the talent in place today and what is needed to deliver on future strategies. And, the integration of business planning data along with employment market data will help HR identify and act on early warnings about risks. Figure 4 HR data and analysis improvements planned for 2014 Source: Hackett Group's 2014 Key Issues Study