Human Resource Executive

Some things never seem to change. Each year, Human Resource Executive® asks readers to participate in our annual “What’s Keeping HR Up at Night?” survey, a poll designed to help us get a handle on the issues that are currently causing HR leaders the most stress.

This year, we find—as we have for the past three years—that keeping employees engaged and productive remains the No. 1 task that keeps HR professionals tossing and turning.

When asked to name the three biggest HR challenges facing their organization today, 34 percent of this year’s 305 respondents cited maintaining employee engagement and productivity, followed by attracting and retaining diverse talent ( 27 percent) and developing leaders ( 26 percent).

When a company can’t keep its employees happy, those employees start to leave in large numbers. Employers remain painfully aware of this reality. When asked to rate their concern over losing talent in the next 12 months, with 5 being “extremely” concerned, 63 percent classified their level of concern as a 5 or a 4.

“The annual employee survey is no longer enough” to help organizations understand what drives employee engagement, says Adam Zuckerman, a Chicago-based employee insights practice leader at Willis Towers Watson.

“Instead, most large companies
today are actively supplementing annual
‘deep-dive’ surveys with more ongoing,
continuous input from employees
through shorter, more focused pulse
surveys, as well as [conducting] regular
surveying of employees as they join and
leave the organization.”
Indeed, it’s not as if employers and
HR leaders are sitting on their hands
while talented workers walk out on
them, as evidenced by the 38 percent
of respondents counting “employee
relations” as one of the three areas
in which they’re currently spending
the majority of their time. Twenty-
eight percent said the same about
talent management and leadership
development, respectively, with
another 23 percent putting employee
engagement in their top three.

Succession planning, on the other hand, seems to be something HR leaders aren’t devoting as much energy to. For example, 63 percent of respondents told HRE their organizations have no succession plan in place for the CHRO position.

While HR leaders could play a role in lowering that number, there are, as always, factors beyond CHROs’ control that are also contributing to their stress levels.

Compliance with the
Affordable Care Act
remains an issue,
as it has since the
ACA’s enactment
in 2010.

With a new
president taking
office this past
January, we asked
readers what areas of legislative and
regulatory policy they would like to
see new administration prioritize.

Not surprisingly, 74 percent said “healthcare,” outpacing the next-most frequent answer, “wage and hour,” by nearly 40 percentage points.

Employers are primarily looking for the new administration to address Affordable Care Act reporting requirements and escalating health-insurance costs, says Jim O’Connor, CEO of CBIZ Employee Services Organization.

“There’s a huge administrative
burden that comes along with ACA
compliance, and employers would like
to see the administration eliminate the
reporting requirements altogether.”
Additionally, “employers are hoping
the new administration will solve the
dilemma of continually increasing
healthcare costs in our country,” he
says. “Healthcare remains too expensive
and something needs to be done to
combat this trend.”