Research: Trends and Challenges in the HR Space

The Chief Human Resources Officer is an increasingly strategic position within an organization. FrogDog’s latest research explored the role’s changing responsibilities and the challenges CHROs face.

To develop and implement effective business strategies and plans for its clients, FrogDog continually reviews industry trends. In our research articles, we share recent insights that affect key industry sectors.

Though traditionally considered an administrative function, the human resources department can make a profound difference to a company’s success.

Led by the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), the human-resources team is well positioned to contribute to corporate strategy and to support corporate objectives through recruiting, developing, and organizing talent in the near- and long-term.

Recent FrogDog research explored key areas of focus and concern for CHROs to help companies and vendors achieve their strategic goals and accomplish key tasks.

Improving the Perception of Human Resources

Although well-positioned to support corporate strategy development, chief human resources officers do not feel included within the C-suite when setting corporate objectives. Many CHROs want inclusion within this group.

One way to earn a seat at the table would be for CHROs to prove the value of human resources and their initiatives. However, CHROs often find it difficult to measure the effects of their programs. How to quantify the ROI on employee training? How to measure the improvements on productivity, job satisfaction, health costs, and recruitment from wellness programming? New data analytics technologies are beginning to solve this problem, but progress is slower than most CHROs would like.

Measuring results from HR efforts and gaining a seat at the C-suite table will help CHROs address another key issue: limited resources. The CHROs FrogDog surveyed felt a strong need for additional budgets to fund training, additional personnel, and cultural initiatives.

Another challenge for human resources professionals when it comes to advancing the profession is that human-resources professionals with different career paths—even if they have the same titles—have highly disparate skill sets. If a CHRO developed within an organization that valued HR as a strategic function, he will come to the table with different abilities than someone who has advanced through roles limited to administrative functions.

Fostering Company Culture

Corporate culture is increasing in importance, and for good reason: A strong company culture can promote innovation and a willingness to embrace change among employees—two things that help companies challenge the status quo and remain competitive. As the leader of the human resources team, the CHRO is responsible for creating and developing corporate culture to meet the needs of the organization.

Further, company culture has become an increasingly important factor in attracting top talent. Today, candidates have access to a wealth of knowledge across the Web about what it’s like to work at different organizations. Further, easy access to on-line job postings through sites such as LinkedIn has made candidates more selective.

The shift in power from companies to job seekers has led human resources executives to approach recruiting as a form of marketing. CHROs must define their “employer brand” based on company culture and promote the brand to prospective employees. Simultaneously, senior HR staff must select candidates who fit the culture they’ve created.

Focus on Talent Management and Development

The chief human resources officer must be able to speak to the capabilities of a company’s team overall and determine whether the company’s strategic goals are achievable with the company’s current talent, what additional talent is needed, and provide a reasonable time frame for goal achievement

This requires the chief human resources officer and her team to identify the potential of various employees, reallocate talent within the company as necessary to align talent with strategic objectives, and foster employees’ development to maximize their value to the organization and its objectives.

This can be a challenge for HR leaders, who may find it difficult to get an accurate assessment of internal talent. For example, poorly performing employees may fit better in a different organizational branch—or their poor performance could be related to attitude and ability. It’s hard for HR executives to know.

Further, HR departments must provide opportunities for leadership development—something important for companies and their growth and an increasing demand from employees tied to their job satisfaction and corporate-culture requirements. However, many CHROs do not feel well equipped to meet the leadership demand, even from current leaders.

Companies that support their human resources department in improving the perception of HR, creating and building company culture, and managing talent and developing leaders will reap the largest benefits. Further, vendors that can help CHROs and their teams with these three focus areas will prove extremely valuable to this group.

For further information about FrogDog’s recent research into the human resources department, reach out to us directly.

For examples of how FrogDog has taken research like this and put it to work for our clients, review some of our case studies.

FrogDog continually researches and monitors industry trends for its clients. Does your business know what is happening in your industry and have strategies to complement it? If not, contact us.

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