HR professionals are shown to be completely out of synch with the thoughts and feelings of their employees, according to a study by HR specialists Kenexa.
Kenexa argues: "This disconnect between HR professionals and employees is not a sign that HR doesn’t fully grasp the effects of its decisions, but rather that HR has become distanced from employees—leading to misunderstanding of where the employee mindset truly is."
Some top line conclusions:
- 69 percent of employers believe employees are engaged, while only 34 percent of employees claim to be
- 81 percent of HR professionals think employees would recommend the organization to a friend. Only 38 percent actually would
- 71 percent of HR professionals think the organization has fair benefits while only 48 percent of employees agree with this statement
- 53 percent of HR professionals think they provide fair compensation compared to only 30 percent of employees
- 83 percent of HR professionals think their employees plan to stay for the next year. 41 percent of employees agree with this statement
Just so we all get the message, here’s the infographic to remind us:
2 Responses
Not surprised – but where’s the action?
Given the volume of surveys from every credible data house and consultancy (and a host of Heath Robinson attempts to boot), the message behind this potent infographic shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
It does illustrate the importance of the relationship between HR and communication as well as the pivotal role of HR as the engagement crux. It isn’t all doom and gloom out there as I personally know HRDs who are fully aware of the situation and who, despite savage cuts to discretionary budgets etc have become more creative in their accounting and have formed alliances with marketing, for example, to source funding for engagement initiatives under different budget headings like employer branding, marketing support or r&d. But they’re very much in the minority right now.
The fact remains, however, that line managers are and will always be the most important communicators within a business. They are the core reason why people leave, stay or find their work fulfilling. The role of HR is to collaborate on creating engagement strategies that liberate line managers, empower and upskill them to become more effective communicators and leaders. However, there is a growing sense that FDs are hunkering down in their beseiged bunkers behind a shield of austerity, hoping to weather the economic storm and this is causing their colleagues to freeze. The irony is that most engagement activity can be cost neutral at least, is down to attitude, behaviour and culture rather than expensive initiatives and when it works well can ignite the sort of innovation and initiative needed to jump-start performance. Very, very frustrating……
HR problems
It seems the problen alot of HR departments are having, is a lack of fluid communication. Traditional top to bottom business hierarchies often find it difficult to filter down ideas and messages and lower level employees and vice versa. The infographic is an amusing and accurate way of highlighting the problems that many Human Resources departments around the country are having with effectively gauging the engagement and opinions of employees.
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