Employees round the world are demanding healthier eating facilities, time to undertake community work and greener corporate behaviours such as recycling paper, say senior HR managers attending the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ international conference for professional people managers in Rome.
At the same time, they cite the biggest barrier to the introduction of sustainable or corporate responsibility HR polices as lack of leadership commitment (22%) followed by lack of corporate knowledge (16%).
The survey shows how nine out of ten HR managers believe talent management will be a big challenge over the next five years while 65% believe this will be the biggest management challenge for organisations, followed by the challenge to usefully measure HR effectiveness and the cross-border deployment of skills.
Three quarters of the respondents to a survey identified an increased demand for the ability to telecommute and work from home. Some 17% said that their organisation’s corporate responsibility agenda was being primarily been driven by the HR function but over a third said they are involved only to a limited degree or not at all.
Speaking about the survey, Mark Carter, HR Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers Ireland said:
“The sustainability agenda is beginning to look like essential business behaviour rather than an optional extra. Employees are demanding more and more from their employers in terms of work place wellness and flexibility.
“Some companies may feel assailed by this but many are realising that it is important to address these issues. Progress here helps foster an engaged workforce which can make a crucial difference to a company’s performance.”
For the HR profession itself, 80% of the international HR managers believe that improving the profession’s reputation is the key to attracting new talent, though many also highlighted the need for better training and qualifications and the need to look externally for experience.
Like CEOs (1150 of which were recently polled by PricewaterhouseCoopers in an annual survey) senior HR managers believe that combined technical and business experience is the hardest thing to recruit (25% reporting this as the most difficult) followed by the ability to lead others (15%) and finding those with adequate global experience (14%).
The Rome conference will see extensive debate on the future of work and people management, both of which are experiencing a period of rapid change.
Mark Carter continued:
“The world is changing fast. Established routes for capital flows are being diverted, or even reversed. Our projections show China taking over from the US as the world’s biggest economy by 2025. All this has massive implications for the way we work; from where an organisation finds its people, to the terms on which they are engaged.”
For the future, the poll shows nearly half of HR managers believe most organisations will have a Chief of Human Resources or similar position within their senior management team by 2015. However, nearly a fifth of HR directors believe the HR function will be defunct by that date.
Some 65% agree that reward packages will measure managers’ performance relating to talent retention and less than 10% believe that corporate responsibility and sustainability will have slipped down the corporate agenda.
The survey information is based on 81 participants. The poll was conducted ahead of the PricewaterhouseCoopers international HR conference in Rome 26th - 28th March 2008.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Ireland is proud to have achieved first place in ‘the Best 50 Company to Work for’ in Ireland 2008’.
About PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com/ie) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 146,000 people in 150 countries across our network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.
“PricewaterhouseCoopers” refers to the network of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity.
Human Resource Services
PricewaterhouseCoopers Human Resources Services (www.pwc.com/ie/hrs) practice draws on the knowledge and skills of more than 6,000 people around the world to assist organisations to align their HR strategy with their overall business performance by managing the financial, tax, regulatory, operational, risk management, and compliance challenges associated with human resources. Our strategy is built on our belief in developing our own people to be creative and effective team players committed to outstanding quality services. One of the main challenges faced by organisations today is to create environments in which their people can work most effectively. We bring the ability to take fresh perspectives, to think differently, to develop and implement new and value adding solutions.
By bringing together a broad range of professionals working in the HR advisory and support arena – employment tax, reward, actuarial, benefits, employment law, recruitment, international mobility, communications, performance management, HR strategy, HR metrics, benchmarking and process management – we give our clients access to an unmatched breadth and depth of expertise to help them make their people a sustainable source of competitive advantage.
