- 22% of large enterprises admit to having no ER case management tools. Almost half (47%) still rely on spreadsheets�
- 40% say lack of investment in ER and outdated processes contribute to poor performance on some key ER objectives
- Conversely, just over half of organisations rank ER as a priority over other HR areas
- HR and the C-Suite said their employee relations function was ‘fairly bad� or ‘very bad� at improving retention, creating a positive and productive working environment, and ensuring compliance with policy and legislation
- The survey considered responses from organisations with 1,000+ employees.
More than a fifth of large UK organisations are failing to meet key Employee Relations (ER) objectives, according to a survey of C-Suite and HR professionals, impacting their retention, productivity and compliance processes.
HR professionals and the C-Suite of large organisations said their employee relations function was ‘fairly bad� or ‘very bad� at improving retention, creating a positive and productive working environment, and ensuring compliance with policy and legislation, according to AdviserPlus� latest research, �Employee Relations 2.0: Overcoming the investment gap to drive an ROI revolution�,
Despite more than half of organisations (53%) ranking ER as a higher or much higher priority than other HR responsibilities, investment in technology and transformation budget is lacking, with over 40% of respondents identifying these as limiting factors.
Michael Campbell, Commercial Director at AdviserPlus, says there are other issues: �ER functions lack visibility of vital employee relations data that can enable data-driven insights.�
Despite the recognition of the importance of ER, 22% of large enterprises admit to having no ER case management tools. Almost half (47%) still rely on spreadsheets to support their ER case management, an inadequate tool for managing such complexity. While only 39% possess tools specifically designed for the complexity of ER data.
With this in mind, it is concerning to find that less than 40% of respondents of 1000+ employer organisations cite having full availability of ER metrics providing insights on trends, root causes and cross-company caseload insights.
Larger organisations, with a headcount of more than 5k employees, find it even more challenging to access this vital information, and across the board the research indicated that more than 1 in 4 either don’t have the data available at all or don�t know what they have available to them.
�Effective employee relations management is critical to business success, with objectives ranging from employee engagement to the mitigation of risk against legal ramifications. ER functions are not an HR initiative, they are a strategically imperative part of people management. It�s not something organisations should be putting on the back burner. With the right ER transformation investment, managers are able to self-serve more people matters, which will contribute to better employee engagement and issues being de-escalated, which can further improve key business success factors, like lower sickness absence rates, lower churn and better retention,� concluded Campbell.
Read the full research findings here to discover more about the barriers to effective employee relations transformation.
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Based on 200 responses from organisations with 1,000+ employees. 100 HR and 100 C-suite respondents.
About AdviserPlus
AdviserPlus optimises the management of employee relations processes for HR, line managers and employees by combining cloud technology, data insight and expert guidance.
Through AdviserPlus� case management technology and people support, the business helps line managers to feel confident and capable when dealing with employee relations issues without introducing risk to the business. It empowers leaders, engages people and drives efficiency.
Employee relations transformation helps HR to be viewed as a strategic partner, bringing labour savings through digitalisation of processes or reduction in absenteeism costs with MI and analytics, impacting the bottom line and delivering people performance improvements.
AdviserPlus is part of the Empowering People Group.
