28/06/2006

Report identifies wasted potential in the workplace

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Business Insights survey 2006 – featuring responses from over 500 CEOs and FDs from companies with turnover up to £500m - reveals that many business leaders appear to place limited importance on the role of HR: 52% of CEOs interviewed spend less than 10% of their time with the most senior person responsible for people-related issues, while 51% of companies described the primary role of their HR function as that of, ‘an administration centre.’ PricewaterhouseCoopers concludes in the report that, “in an ever tougher competitive environment with an ageing workforce and increasing war for talent, companies must focus on how to get the most out of their people. Employees should know where the business is going, what’s expected of them, how success will be measured and what their reward will be in terms of pay and career progression. The issues raised by the research are not all about soft HR issues. If companies get people policies right, the impact on the bottom line is positive and there will be less fighting in the market place for increasingly scarce talent. The sooner the rhetoric turns into hard focused activity, the sooner the bottom line impact will come through.” Relocation and mobility are clearly issues to which the philosophy could apply.

To see a copy of the report in full, click onto www.pwc.co.uk.

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