A UK/Norway comparative study shows that HR professionals in Britain are most troubled with office politics while colleagues in Scandinavia feel that empathy and listening skills are far more important.

Influencing and political skills were chosen by 61% of UK HR professionals as the most important competency, compared to just 25% in Norway.

HR leaders in Norway felt the need for empathy, communication and listening skills far more keenly than their UK counterparts (42% in Norway, compared to 24% in the UK).

Contributing to business strategy was a shared goal on both sides of the water and cited as the ‘most important’ in terms of contribution to the organisation.

The red-tape burden and legal compliance featured as a top priority for 31% of UK HR workers who rated it as among their top five priorities. The legislative burden was less acute for HR in Poland and Norway with only 18% ranking it in their top concerns list.

The UK was also more likely to view creating a more diverse workforce as an issue – with 29% of respondents highlighting this compared to 13% in Norway and 9% in Poland.

Perceptions of the role in hand, however, differed with 33% of UK HR professionals describing their role as ‘strategic business partners’ while in Norway and Poland 37% labelled themselves as ‘administrative experts’.

The survey also found Norwegian HR professionals led the way in terms of their confidence in managers in their organisation. Significantly more HR professionals in Norway agreed that line managers have accepted full responsibility for making decisions and taking actions with regard to their subordinates.

Rebecca Clake CIPD Adviser Organisation and Resourcing commented:

“People are the true differentiators between business success and business failure in today’s globalised world. In this new global economy, people management professionals can learn much from each other.

“This survey shows that we have much in common, but also that there are differences in the contexts in which we work. CIPD is committed to working with partners around the world to research common issues and to promote the crucial role people management has to play in delivering economic growth and improved performance.”