UpFront HR Insights | Back to UpFront Contents

Assessing the trends and perspectives on the HR function in multinational organizations was the focus of the first Pan-European Barometer on Human Resources. Forty-five companies participated in the study, which was conducted by Hewitt Associates and sponsored by the European Club for Human Resources. Most of the respondents were executive board members with exclusive responsibility for HR or HR vice presidents.

"The survey reflects the growing importance of people management policies as a key factor of business success, while its results show an HR function under deep transformation," explains Leonardo Sforza, a consultant in Hewitt's Brussels office. The respondents cited change management as the primary goal of the HR function, although there was some feeling that the ability to anticipate change could be improved.

The respondents said that the area where HR has the most impact is talent management—mainly in business performance, market reputation, and employee engagement. They considered the next area of greatest influence to be succession planning, followed by learning and development, evaluation of individual performance, and compensation and benefits. Although the respondents thought that HR has a high business consciousness and customer orientation, they felt that more business acumen is needed in the HR function. When asked about the effect of European integration on HR policies, one-third of respondents considered it a positive impact, while 14% experienced a negative impact, and 50% considered it neutral. A high percentage of respondents indicated that they would like to see more from the European Union (EU) on issues such as simplification of workplace legislation, cross-border employee mobility, social security, company pension plans, and work permit procedures for non-EU nationals.

"Given the importance of the companies in the survey, the diversity of their sectors, and international focus, the findings offer new food for thought on the subject of Pan-European HR experiences and directions," adds Sforza.

 Back to Top