European HR departments – and that includes those in the UK – are facing renewed criticism for their alleged failure to take as active a role in workforce management issues as their counterparts in Asia and the Americas.
According to computer giant IBM, the HR function in Europe takes an advisory role in business transformation efforts rather than working as a proactive contributor of time and resources. It says HR on this side of the Atlantic remains a supporter rather than a driver of change, with decisions often based on relationships rather than hard facts.
Most damningly, according to a human capital study published by the firm's global business services division:
"One of the challenges that European firms face is an apparent lack of interest and capability in the area of human capital analytics. Respondents indicate their HR personnel are less likely to use data in their decision-making process… European firms indicate there is a lack of organisational support for using human capital data."
The report, titled Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce (registration required), is an interesting if hardly exceptional canter across the international HR landscape based on a survey of some 400 HR executives in 40 countries.
The main focuses of the report are on:
There is lots of useful material here if you want an overview of worldwide HR challenges, but surprisingly little of the detail that might make the report a useful tool. Most notably, while there are numerous charts and graphs, none has any numbers attached.
So, to take the example below, while it looks as though one in three firms has poorly defined metrics, we have no idea whether all 400 respondents replied, or whether by that stage of the survey responses had dropped off to 200 or 100 or even fewer. Are we talking about 100 companies here, or just 10? It makes a difference.
Still, the report is free of charge (you just have to register to be able to download a copy), so it would probably be churlish to complain too much.
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