Top HR problems identified

Social Experiment Study Reveals Top HR Problems Are “Weighing Down” Practitioners

SAINT LOUIS: July 23, 2012:
IMPACT Group, a global human resources services organization, announced today the results of a three-month social media experiment – Pop Your Problems.

During national trade show events in April, May and June, human resources leaders across the country were asked to share their most critical pain points, which were displayed live on giant 6′ balloons at the events. The exciting social experiment revealed the top problems weighing down HR practitioners today.

Among the 102 responses collected, four main categories emerged:
Development & Performance,
Talent Acquisition & Retention,
Employee Engagement
and Other.

The findings ranked Development & Performance (42%) as the most critical concern among HR practitioners, closely followed by Talent Acquisition & Retention (30%) issues. Overall, selection, recognizing critical skills for leadership development and improving retention of high performers were the most noted challenges for today’s HR leaders.

“Once a business function of personnel and payroll, today’s modern HR department is truly an integration of talent strategies,” responds Lauren Herring, CEO of IMPACT Group. “With ever-increasing pressures on enhancing engagement, retention, productivity and much more, HR executives have a lot weighing on their minds. This experiment allowed us to expose the most common challenges in HR today and empower practitioners with the knowledge that they are not alone.”

The social experiment also uncovered several trends within the industry. Employee and leadership development, building global leaders and uncovering or developing skills ranked most common for practitioners focusing on Development & Performance.

Within Talent Acquisition & Retention, the need to identify succession strategies for future leadership, retaining top talent and matching the right person and role were the top three issues highlighted.

Keeping top talent engaged, empowering individuals, employee morale echoed among those struggling in Employee Engagement.

Other top trends for HR practitioners included diversity, wellness and health initiatives, as well as the emergence of a new trend in the 2012 social experiment – complications in implementing social media policies and programs.

“We wanted to create an untraditional survey in the form of a social experiment,” noted Lauren Fee, Marketing Manager at IMPACT Group. “Our method was to engage individuals in a new and nonthreatening way, which we found truly welcomed open, honest feedback from participants. The balloon concept was met with both natural curiosity and positive dialogue and was well-received by the tradeshow audience. We are excited about the findings and plan to implement other unique ways to educate and work with our clients and the market.”

The study compiled “HR issues” that were identified during three conferences in Q1 & Q2 2012: SHRM Talent Management Conference in Washington, DC, HRPS Global Conference in New York City and the 2012 SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta. All events targeted leaders and decision makers in the Human Resources arena.

To learn more about IMPACT Group’s unique social experiment, follow our #PopYourProblems hashtag on Twitter.

About IMPACT Group
IMPACT Group is a WBE-global human resources service provider supporting clients with high-touch solutions in people development, corporate relocation and outplacement that improve individual and organizational performance. Companies rely on IMPACT Group’s comprehensive programs to attract, retain and mobilize top talent worldwide, build strong talent pipelines, as well as provide results-driven support to employees exiting an organization. Visit us online at: www.ighr.com.