Managing people in a changing world considers the impacts people are having on organisations. We explore employers’ response to the global downturn, the progress of globalisation, how organisations are leading, developing and engaging their people and we discuss the influence the public is having on the people agenda. We also make some suggestions to help proactive organisations stay ahead.
We present below just some of the findings of our biennial human resource management study. For full analysis and recommendations, please download the report here
Managing people in a changing world – 2010 (PDF File 1512 KB)
Summary of recommendations (PDF File 259 KB)
People are delivering variable return on investment
Evidence suggests that Western Europe and the UK need to look more closely at how human resources are managed. The differences are not due to revenue growth divergences but different economies’ to flex the level of employment costs to market conditions. In Western Europe and the UK, despite high growth in revenues during the uninterrupted growth years of 2002 to 2006, the rise in human capital return on investment (HC ROI) was a mere 8.3% and 4.6% respectively. Over the same period US HC ROI increased by 19.8%. In 2007, we saw the first signs of decline in some economies and in 2008, with markets suffering; the index fell in both Western Europe (1.7%) and in the UK (2.8%) but was held steady in the US. Click to discover how organisations can stay ahead
From 2002 to 2009 the BRIC economies grew by 83%, CEE Europe by 46.9%, Asia by 62.4% and US, Western Europe and the UK by 12.3%, 9% and 9.5% respectively. At the existing rate of growth, it is widely forecast that within 20 years the world's mature economies will be overtaken by resource-rich regions like the Middle East, Brazil, Canada, Australia and Russia, and people-rich regions such as China and India. It appears that the US, Western Europe and Japan, among others, face major challenges.
Globalisation will undoubtedly reduce the clarity of who owns what and where, but will accentuate the importance of the employment centre location. Work is likely to move increasingly to where the skills are available, employment costs represent best value and the social environment is conducive to workforce agility.
Click to discover how organisations can stay ahead
CEOs have claimed skills shortages are a significant growth inhibitor. Given 61% of CEOs had this concern in 2008 (dropping to 46% following the global downturn), it would seem logical that organisations would invest in training. Yet there is no indication that this is happening. Human resource directors need to ask their stakeholders, do we really have a skill shortage? And how are we best placed to resolve these? In recent history, recruitment may have been the easy answer. However, in a resource constrained recovery, it is perhaps time to make the best of our existing people and invest in them through, among other things, training and development. Click to discover how organisations can stay ahead
In 2007 approximately 10% of employees were defined as highly disengaged, by 2008, this figure had grown to 20% and by the start of 2009, figures had reached an alarming 33%. Over the same period, retention remained at the same levels and employees reported no greater inclination to leave their employer. Instead, as the disengaged have ‘dug in' the reported level of discretionary effort has dropped by 53% since its peak in 2005. More alarming still, one in four high potential employees state that they intend to leave their employer during 2010. Click to discover how organisations can stay ahead
