Business and Human Capital Challenges Today and in the Future

A Promising Future for the HR Profession

In 2014 and 2014, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conducted global surveys that generated responses from 439 HR professionals and leaders and 485 non-HR senior executives. Two-thirds of senior executives who don’t work in HR state that they believe in HR’s strategic role; more than 70% of non-HR executives anticipate a broader role for HR in the future. This is especially true in organizations of 25,000 employees or more. Two-thirds of HR respondents from such companies say that HR transformation – the change from being transactional to being strategic – is a primary challenge.

The majority of senior executives plan to make the HR function more strategic and measurement-driven. This gives HR leaders powerful allies in their transformation efforts. Non-HR executives feel less concerned about their organizations’ talent challenges than HR respondents do, but both groups identify the same primary HR challenges: the need for HR to operate more effectively with fewer resources and to make the transition successfully from focusing on administration to focusing on strategy.

The Imperative...