(PR in) HR Pulse | HR News Round-up: 14th October
Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash
On the blog: Why Building Trust is The Most Important Thing You Can Do For Your Brand
It’s fundamental to gain trust, and to keep it.
A whopping 70% of respondents to our research said that it was important to use HR products or services from brands with a strong reputation in their field.
It cannot be underestimated how important it is for brands to build their reputations and gain visibility and trust through media by continually collaborating with publications and journalists.
Our latest article looks at how HR communities thrive on trust, and what HR suppliers can do to build and maintain their credibility.
In the news: Sapient’s HR Systems Survey – Top finds and the shifting strategic role for HR
For the first time in 15 years, it’s been reported that of 5,000 HR respondents, a decline has been reported for every measure on their ability to achieve their outcomes across talent, HR and overall business has been reported.
The annual HR Systems Survey has been released by Stacey Harris of Sapient Insights Group, from these results, Harris explains this doesn’t mean a downturn in the market, but more that HR needs to be in sync with business needs going forward.
Good news too, HR tech spending is steady, with forecasts seeing growth with organisational size. 2024 has seen significant diversity in spending plans among different-sized organisations. Harris said:
“Every business is realising that even though things may be slightly down right now, ‘I can’t afford to let my HR environment drop.”
Saying this, payroll and HRMS (Human Resource Management Systems) could well fluctuate – as survey respondents noted that they will most likely be changing systems. User experience and vendor satisfaction in these areas are down significantly. Why?
“One respondent’s comment tells the story,” Harris said, “When asked their views on a vendor’s customer service, the individual responded: “What service?”.”
It seems frustration with vendor service was a theme throughout the survey. “64% of respondents told Sapient the reason they gave a poor vendor satisfaction rating was primarily because of customer service issues.”
Harris went on to advise HR tech buyers to consider add-on services.
“While simply buying the tech itself may save the organisation money, it’s a mistake not to “buy up” and purchase add-on services.”
Over the last few years, the Sapient team has been watching an interesting metric: the percentage of respondents who say their HR function is viewed as contributing strategic value – an annually rising figure, increasing from 50% in 2023 to 52% this year.
HR is becoming more strategic, and the use of tech is shifting to achieve business outcomes and goals. The survey also found a 3% rise in the past year in HR tech being used to make business decisions, a key win for vendors.
In the news: ‘Fauxductivity’: is it a problem for employers?
With the latest news of Amazon forcing employees back into the office and PwC tracking its employees’ working locations, employers appear to be increasingly watching their staff’s productivity. And with HR’s latest buzzword ‘fauxductivity’, can they be blamed?
What is ‘fauxductivity’ I hear you say? The newly coined term refers to employees keeping up appearances of looking busy, without actually achieving anything meaningful. Or creating an illusion by ‘mouse jiggling’ if working from home.
However, there is doubt over this theory as recent research by Workhuman found that while 48% of 2,000 US, UK and Irish managers felt faking work a common issue, 67% denied they took part in this behaviour. So is it a genuine problem? Or a growing suspicion of employees, indicating deeper workplace issues?
Karl Bennett, wellbeing director of Perkbox Vivup and chair of EAPA, tells People Management:
“Individuals’ work activity has often become binary – working or not working, at computer, not at computer, machine on, machine off,”
Explaining that this culture is where the problem lies, rather than employees’ behaviour in itself.
Daniel Wheatley, reader in business and labour economics at the University of Birmingham Business School, agrees:
“a tendency to treat anecdotal or individual cases of ‘fauxductivity’ as evidence of more widespread behaviours is an approach that is likely to lead to misdirected interventions by managers and potentially negative outcomes for all parties.”
Read the full article in People Management, and learn more about the ‘Always On’ work status from Perkbox Vivup.