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.”
—Mark McGraw
Engagement is
Still the Issue
0% 20% 40%
5
4
3
2
1
How concerned are you about losing talent over the next 12 months?
( 5 =;extremely concerned and 1 =;not concerned at all)
25%
38%
26%
6%
5%
What areas of national legislative and regulatory policy would you like to
see the incoming Trump administration put at the top of its priority list?
Healthcare 74%
Wage and hour (including overtime rules) 37%
Immigration (including H1-B) 22%
Retirement policy (including fiduciary rules) 17%
Minimum wage 11%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
What do you consider to be the three biggest HR challenges
being faced by your organization today?
Ensuring employees remain engaged and productive 34%
Attracting and retaining diverse talent 27%
Strengthening the employer brand and attracting
the right talent to the organization 24%
Retaining key talent in today's recovered economy 21%
Aligning people strategies to business objectives 20%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
In which of the following areas are you currently spending the majority
of your time?
Recruiting 39%
Talent management 28%
Leadership development 28%
Workforce planning 11%
Reputation/employer brand 4.0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Is there a succession
plan in place for the
HR leadership role in
your organization?
January, we asked
Not sure
No
63%
Yes
31%
7%
The top five most common responses are shown below:
Research