While recruitment, retention and employee absence continue to be the most widely cited priorities of the past year, organisational restructuring has emerged for the first time as the most challenging task facing HR practitioners – with many citing the successful conclusion of large-scale restructuring programmes as their proudest achievement.
The IRS HR Prospects Survey of 519 HR departments found that HR priorities across all sectors are strongly influenced by organisational funding and business needs but, in the public sector, government funding and new employment legislation are also considered very significant influences.
It also found that HR practitioners in private sector service companies tend to have more leeway to set their own priorities, but those in manufacturing have the best relationship with senior and line managers, while those in the public sector appear most alienated.
HR priorities for the next 12 months
% (ranked) with gain/loss in importance (percentage points)
HR specialists seem more optimistic about absence management, with many HR managers believing that as they have given priority to absence management, the results are about to be seen. However, they are less optimistic about stress-related absences.
2 Responses
Leadership and public sector
Mainly for Jeremy but there exists in Scotland at least recognition about the issue of leadership in the public sector, and some action. As Peter Drucker says, ‘leadership is a foul-weather job’ and fractors like the regulatory framework public sector organisations must obey, growing workload plus parsimony about staff resource, can be challenging. The Scottish Leadership Foundation is an independent not-for-profit organisation focused on Scotland’s public services and with a clear remit to:
– Develop new leaders
– Sustain existing leaders
– Support the public services so that they can grow and sustain their own leaders for the future
More details at http://www.slf-scotland.co.uk/home.asp?id=ac32; become a member and keep up with developments!
Kind regards
Nick McBain Chartered FCIPD
Public Sector HR alientation
I was particularly interested in the comments that “HR practitioners … in the public sector appear most alienated”.
I am keen to research further the Leadership Qualities required in the public sector, which appear to be rather different at least in degree from those qualities required in the private sector. I suspect these differences may well have some correspondence with the alienation reported above.
Are there any public sector practitioners out there who would like to follow up this train of thought with me in confidence, off line?
Jeremy