| This is
part-3 of our four-part report on the results of "The Discovery Group's Survey
OF HR Professionals FOR HR Professionals." In this part of the report, we
discuss the challenges HR professionals face. More specifically, the survey
addressed the following questions:
- Have the economic recession or the events of September 11 had an impact on
your job;
- How stressful do you find your work; and
- What are the most challenging parts of your job?
Executive
Summary HR professionals
feel that the recession and the events of September 11th had a definite impact
on their jobs. Many feel emotionally drained from their work. The major
challenges they currently face are related to managing change in today's
turbulent business environment.
The tables below present views of HR
professionals toward selected aspects of their jobs. Our interpretations of
these results follow each Table. |
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The Impact of 2002 Events
on HR Professionals - HR professionals do indeed feel that the recession
and the events of September 11th have had a definite impact on their job
responsibilities. 50 percent feel that the recession has had an impact and 28
percent feel that the events of September 11th have had an impact. |
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The Emotional State of HR
Professionals - HR professionals find their work to be emotionally
draining. Not surprisingly, 2002 had been a more difficult time emotionally for
HR professionals than 1995. As shown above, compared to 1995, HR professionals
are more tired when they wake up to face another day on the job, feel more
burned out and stressed by their work, and are more frustrated by their job.
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Challenges for HR
Professionals - In order to become more of a true business partner, HR
professionals have taken on more difficult roles of facilitating rapid
organizational change. It is therefore not surprising that the major challenges
for HR professionals today are the macro organizational issues of managing
change, organizational development, and employee development. These were the
same three issues viewed as most challenging in 1995. The traditional
day-to-day HR functions such as labor relations, HRIS, employment law, and
benefits are viewed as far less challenging. |
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