‘HR remains strong despite inadequate standardisation’

HUMAN Resources (HR) professionals in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia have identified lack of analytical skills as major challenges confronting some organisations.

In a report titled: “Evolution of HR analytics: Perspectives from Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia”, they explained that organisations using HR analytics usually report improvements in both culture and performance
The report contains survey of HR professionals and insights from PwC, Johnson & Johnson, Shell and Maybank.

According to Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), the increased awareness of the potential of HR analytics across Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia indicates that the regions are following a similar trend to the rest of the globe ‘when it comes to the adoption and evolution of HR analytics’.

The report also shows how organisations view HR analytics as hugely important and potentially transformative, adding that they are at the very early stages of capability and are being held back by a range of factors.

The CIPD’s report reveals that:
•Organisations in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia are growing at such a rapid pace that there is now a real need for people management practices that drive sustainable long-term performance;

•Organisations using HR analytics reported improvements in both culture and performance;

•HR functions that focus on small, discreet but high-value projects are the ones gaining the most traction with the wider business, with investment following the production of robust insights and evidence;

•Investment in HR analytics is expected to continue to increase over the next 12 months for over a third of organisations, with investment remaining steady for the rest – none predict a decrease in investment;

•HR analytics are helping HR professionals to include more long-term concepts in their strategy; for example, developing employee reward strategies, which are in support of longer-term business, needs rather than rewarding short-term outcomes;

•HR professionals across the region are developing balanced scorecards to clearly illustrate high-level insights and the strategic value of human capital and HR data with senior business leaders.

According to CIPD, the report also highlights a number of factors that are limiting the ability of organisations to fully realise the benefit of HR analytics:

• A lack of business investment and HR analytics expertise are two dominant challenges facing HR professionals in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Over half (57%) of HR professionals believe that there is a lack of analytical skills available;

•As with other global markets, the application of HR analytics is fragmented, not just within sectors but within organisations too;

•48.5% of organisations do not have sophisticated HR technology which meets their business needs and less than a quarter (23.4%) are using a fully integrated and combined HR analytics IT programme;

•Constraints such as investment, leadership understanding and overall HR maturity are holding back development at a strategic level while at an operational level; technology and the analytic skill set are inhibiting the development of the function;

•Standardisation is a significant challenge – HR professionals are unsure whether to develop context specific measures for their organisation or standard measures for benchmarking purposes, among others.

Research adviser for the CIPD, Edward Houghton, said: “Many organisations have begun their HR analytics journey but it’s still very early days. Those organisations that are able to use HR analytics to be more strategic are likely to make significant steps towards sustainable, competitive advantage.

“The pace of evolution may be fairly slow, but this study shows that there is real potential for HR analytics to add value across businesses and across the region.
“Small projects that show clear business insights through a balanced scorecard are an essential way to get wider buy-in from the business on the value of HR analytics, and can open the door for greater investment in technology and skills to support this critical activity.”

Meanwhile, a new report from the CIPD and the University of Bath highlights that, just as Chief Executive Officers and business leaders have demonstrated a greater understanding of what is necessary to implement deep and sustainable change in recent years, senior HR professionals have equally enhanced their knowledge and expertise in the design of change techniques.

They have also managed to deploy this knowledge more adeptly with senior managers, middle managers and the wider workforce, thus becoming an integral part of the team responsible for designing and implementing all techniques during periods of transformational change.

The report, ‘Landing transformational change: Closing the gap between theory and practice, from the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, features ‘four change management case studies from BBC Worldwide, HMRC, News UK and Zurich UK Life’.

It explained that all accounts showed HR professionals showcasing greater knowledge around employee engagement and the design of change than has been seen in previous CIPD studies (2005, 2010).

They also revealed that the HR function was most successful when it facilitated action, enabling managers to inject their own customisation to suit the needs of their divisions, rather than dictating centralised, universal approaches to implementing change.

According to the report, at BBC Worldwide, HR was described as ‘horizontal, running throughout’ and ‘part of the senior team’. Similarly, Zurich UK Life talked of HR as a facilitator of change across the organisation, encouraging middle managers to adapt the implementation of change to fit their role rather than behaving as a monitor for senior management.

Ruth Stuart, Lead Consultant – Strategic Projects at the CIPD, said: “In a volatile world of work, change has become one of the few constants. As organisations evolve and adapt in response to this, we’re seeing a new generation of business leaders emerge that are much better equipped with the knowledge and capability to land transformational change.