The Future of HR & Organizational Behavior in the Post-Recession Era
Posted by Alexandra Earnley on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 @ 01:52 PM
The end of the recession may not be the ideal resolution to the struggles of the past few years. Compensating for losses has had a significant impact on organizational behavior. Recently, Aon Corporation released the 2011 Talent Survey, which revealed some rather unsettling results for the future of human resources management due in large part to the economic crisis.
Based upon the Talent Survey’s results, there seems to be a problem in the highly important area of engagement, as a mere 14 percent of the 1,328 employers polled nationwide believe that their leaders are actually effective at meeting profitability targets, 17 percent believe they are adequate in delivering service, and 7 percent believe their leaders are skilled in retaining talent. There is simply not much to be confident about.
So how can HR remedy these problems? Aon Hewitt of the Aon Corporation advises leaders to be more creative in the post-recession world. Some of the keys will also include focusing on the most valuable talent by paying for performance, demonstrate speed and agility to retain that talent, develop middle management to execute business strategy and engage the workforce to boost productivity, and develop leadership resiliency to increase employee confidence.
Why are these proposed solutions? Because as a result of the challenges of the recession, employee engagement is at an all-time low, yet people are staying in these unsatisfactory positions due to the high unemployment rate. Retention is at an all-time high on the other hand, because of the fear and reluctance of employees to search for a new position. The “grin and bear it” attitude towards work does not lend itself to overall company profit or shareholder wealth.
The best way to recover from this recession is to focus on growth, which seems rather obvious, however this should be done by actively engaging top employees. With an increased demand for human capital, there is a call for major change in the workplace. HR managers must ensure that they are getting the most out of their budgets while also getting top talent. The majority of employers feel that some sort of statement which provides an overall look at compensation and benefits in a user-friendly manner demonstrates great value to employees while also improving retention and engagement. NuView’s Compensation Management is an advanced salary planning tool that enables managers and HR departments to streamline the focal review process and budget talent accordingly.
In the next year, many HR managers have predicted that they will be looking for more productive workers. This could be due to a myriad of factors, but a fundamental aspect of this concern is found in the deterioration of the employer-employee relationship. Over 50 percent of those surveyed said that they are passive or actively disengaged at work, 42 percent are not engaged, only 43 percent trust senior leadership, 40 percent feel burnt out due to stress, and 64 percent are physically exhausted when they get home at the end of the day.
How can employees increase their productivity when these unsettling workplace attitudes exist? The key here is to find talented, effective, and respected leaders to drive engagement, innovation, and profitability. It is paramount to start this change at the top and relay it through middle management to the employee level.
The results simply speak for themselves. Concerns about the future of acquiring and nurturing talent are prevalent. 61 percent of HR managers anticipate an increased focus on talent development, 40 percent forecast an increased focus on hiring, and one-third still predict an increase in turnover. The recession may be coming to an end, but the dog days may be here to stay unless these HR initiatives are implemented at the upper levels of organizations.