HR

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HR
HIGHLY RESPECTED OR HOPELESSLY REACTIVE?
Summary of the Middle Easts first interactive
HR SNAPSHOT
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If People are a companys most valuable asset
(and most CEOs say they are) then the HR function
should be seen as pivotal to the success of any
company. Unfortunately, in many cases HR is
rather seen as a soft function, populated by
under-achievers and lacking any true appreciation
of the real business issues
The statement above was the overriding theme of
the recent HR Forum that we ran in Dubai where we
posed the question
HR
HIGHLY RESPECTED OR HOPELESSLY REACTIVE?
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What follows is a snapshot of local opinion
based on inputs from 58 HR professionals and
service providers from the region who attended
the first interactive HR Forum in Dubai on 12
June 2007
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HR

• Highly Regarded
• Hopelessly Reactive

Question HOW DOES THE REST
OFBUSINESS SOCIETY VIEWTHE HUMAN RESOURCES
FUNCTION? The result could not have
been more indecisive!!
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ATTITUDES TO THE HR FUNCTION
A key premise which we wished to test out with
the group was that onereason for the ambivalent
attitude of other functions towards their HR
colleagues is that HR is more concerned and
focused on the soft elementsof business as
opposed to the focus on top and bottom line
performancewhich tends to drive the management
team and Commercial functions In apparent
support of this theory, only 11 of delegates
believe that theactions of the HR function in
their company are based on the agreedstrategy
whilst 42 believe that they speak a different
language to the CEO The largest element (47)
believe that HR does broadly follow the
strategybut adds an HR slant to balance the
financial focus of the CEO Linked to the above
point, less than a quarter of respondents think
that theirfunction is the most important in the
company with almost 60 saying that whilst
People are the critical asset HR has not made
itself the critical function.This appears to
lead one to conclude that the HR function needs
to identifyways of being (or being seen to be)
more proactive in its contributions andless of a
reactive drain on a companys resources.
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As HR professionals do you believe that you
speak the same language as your CEO?

• Yes all of our actions are based on company
  strategy
• Yes but we usually put an HR angle to
  counterbalancethe focus on purely financial KPIs
• No but we manage to stay in line on most things
• No and the CEO and other functions have a low
  opinionof HR seeing us as being ineffective
  and/or irrelevant

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Which of the following statements do you most
agree with?

• HR is or is becoming the most important function
  in all companies because it is responsible for
  human capital
• A companys human resource is its most important
  asset yet the HR function is not seen as the
  critical function
• HR is and will always be no more than a support
  function
• Traditional HRMs are failing the companys human
  resourceand may soon cede responsibility for
  managing humancapital to a more business-minded
  type of manager

8
How does your organisation view the role of HR?

• Reactive
• Cost centre
• Proactive/ useful and resourceful

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What is the main responsibility of HR in the
organisation?

• To act as an internal consultant to the other
  divisions
• To recruit, train, assess and reward staff
• To maximize staff performance
• All the above answers are correct

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KEY CHALLENGES IN HR
Having established that the current status of the
HR function in generalis not as
influential/proactive/respected as it could and
arguably shouldbe, we moved on to look at what
HR professionals in the region believe to be
their greatest challenges at the present time We
asked two separate questions and got the same
answer both times50 of the group believe that
motivating and retaining staff is the
biggestchallenge they face and, if we add the
recruitment of talent to this figure,73 believe
that recruitment/retention is the key
battleground. In the second question, where
there was a slightly broader base of topics, 56
said the same thing. Interestingly, 16 believe
credibility on the managementteam is an issue
which backs up some of the findings from the
earlierattitude survey Given the predominance
of Dubai-based respondents and the current
growthof the UAE, the talent market is dominated
by the sellers so it is notsurprising that HR
managers are struggling to build competent teams
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What is the main challenge you face in HR?

• Recruiting talent
• Motivating and retaining staff
• Remuneration
• Performance issues
• Career planning
• Developing staff
• Intercultural challenges -dealing with the locals

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What is the biggest issues and challenges facing
HR Directors?

• Recruitment Retention of Talent
• Developing Talent
• Knowledge Management
• Credibility on Senior Executive Team

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RECRUITMENT
With the overwhelming view that recruiting and
retaining talent is the mostchallenging aspect
of the HR role at present we asked a number
ofquestions relating to recruitment methodology
and practices 82 of respondents not
surprisingly agree that they localise their
recruitment policies and half of companies do
this primarily by usinglocal recruitment
agencies and consultants. The traditional
selectionmethodology using a recruitment agency
with a database is used by 82of companies
whilst only 33 currently employ the services of
retainedsearch consultants. Now a major source
of identifying talent, the web is seemingly
gaining in popularity in this region as a
recruitment tool with45 claiming to make use of
it. However, when questioned on the
mosteffective method of sourcing particular
types of personnel, less than 10see the web as
the best method with people still favouring
recruitmentcompanies and newspaper advertising
for most appointments. Interestingly,referrals
are seen to play an important role when hiring
certain job typeswhich perhaps reflects the
relative scarcity of good talent on the market.
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RECRUITMENT
Adding credence to the belief that Dubai is
currently a sellers marketwhere candidates
find it relatively easy to job hop almost at
will, mostpeople (57) say that the average
tenure in a role is currently less than2 years
which compares starkly with the typical average
of 5-6 years inmore established economies. This
is clearly a further indication thatrecruitment
and retention stand head and shoulders above all
otherissues currently facing the HR
fraternity Finally, we asked some more personal
questions relating to whether the group would
freely circulate their CV to various recruitment
mediums.Only 34 would feel comfortable posting
their details online whereas 67would happily
register on the database of a recruitment
selection firm.The most trusted ally would be
the retained search consultant who wouldfind 88
of respondents willing to part with their CVs and
biography. Thereis probably a clear link between
this and the relative seniority of the
groupmembers who might be more discreet in
searching publicly than theirmore junior
colleagues.
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Do you localize your recruitment policies?

• Yes
• No

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If yes, How do you do this?

• Getting support from local consultants/
  recruiting agencies
• Based on the information searched from the
  internet
• Studying the result of benchmark studies
• Asking local staff to assist
• Others!

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Do you use Recruitment Agencies (Selection
Methodology)?

• Yes
• No

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Do you use Retained Search for recruitment of all
Middle to Senior Management positions?

• Yes
• No

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Do you Use Web Recruitment as a major recruitment
tool?

• Yes
• No

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Is the Search Business Going Out of Fashion??

• Yes
• No

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Which Methodology is more effective in Sourcing
Managers in ME?

• Advertising
• Web Recruitment
• Executive Search
• Recruitment Agencies
• Employee Referrals

22
Which Methodology is more effective for sourcing
Technical Positions in ME?

• Advertising
• Web Recruitment
• Executive Search
• Recruitment Agencies
• Fresh Graduates (Job Fairs)

23
Which Methodology is more effective for sourcing
Sales Personnel in ME?

• Advertising
• Web Recruitment
• Executive Search
• Recruitment Agencies
• Referrals

24
Which Methodology is more effective for sourcing
Office Plant personnel in ME?

• Advertising
• Web Recruitment
• Executive Search
• Recruitment Agencies
• Referrals

25
What is the average length of time someonestays
in a job in the Region?

• 0-2 years
• 3-5 years
• 5-8 years
• 8 years

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Would you as a Manager post your CV Online with
various Jobsites?

• Yes
• No

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Would you as a Manager register your CVon
databases of various Recruitment Agencies?

• Yes
• No

28
Would you trust a professional Executive Search
Consultant Is now a good time to Speak? with
your CV?

• Yes
• No

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TRAINING DEVELOPMENT
Globally the subject of training and development
always engenders fiercedebate in companies for a
number of reasons how can it be afforded?How
can it not be afforded? How can we measure its
impact? And so on. We asked what is the most
challenging aspect of employee developmentin
participating companies and the two clear areas
of concern are linkingtraining to business
performance and measuring its impact on results.
Wethen asked each delegate to consider what of
training courses they haveattended fit the
description boring and/or ineffective. 65 said
that atleast half of all courses could not be
described like this which, on the onehand is
surprising but on the other is perhaps not given
that HR as a function is the principal driver of
training in a company. If the same questionwere
asked of Sales people the dissatisfaction figure
would almost certainlybe higher!! The question
as to what is the main objective of training
attracted a varietyof responses with enhancing
employee motivation/commitment as thesingle
most popular reason given.
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TRAINING DEVELOPMENT
Three quarters of the regions companies localise
their training materialsusing a mix of in-house
personnel and consultants to do this.
Interestingly,33 of the localisation is done
by the company HQ We next asked about HR
involvement in determining training needs
andhalf of all respondents say that HR and the
individual functions take equalresponsibility
for this which is probably how it should be.
Training needsare, in most cases, established
based on the annual appraisal or
personaldevelopment plans and only 5 of
companies have no formalised trainingschedule
On whether the amount of training carried out
is appropriate, 90 of thegroup (split equally)
believe that their company does the right amount
ortoo little training. Again this may well be
somewhat skewed by the natureof the delegates
functional roles. Most of this training comprises
eitherin-house delivery of off-the-shelf
programmes or material specificallycustomised to
the companys individual requirements.
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What is the most challenging aspect of staff
development in your company?

• Identifying training needs
• Allocating required financial sources
• Linking training to business strategy
• Monitoring the result of training (learning)
• Localizing training documents
• Identifying effective local training providers

32
What of training programmes you have attended
fit this description?
Most training initiatives are boring, ineffective
or both

• 80 or more
• 50-80
• 20-50
• Less than 20

33
What is the principal objective of training in
any company?

• Improve knowledge
• Maintain/enhance employee motivation and
  commitment
• Achieve an HR KPI (bums on seats)
• A mix of the above
• Some other reason

34
Do you usually localize your training materials?

• Yes
• No

35
If yes, Who is responsible for localizing tasks?

• Your local staff
• Your local consultant/ agency
• The headquarter

36
What involvement do you/the HR function have in
determining the training needs of employees in
your company?

• No involvement
• HR is consulted but does not make the decision
• Decision taken in full consultation with relevant
  functional head
• Training proposals driven by HR with some
  functional input

37
What is the main method your company uses to
define and plan the annual training and
development needs of the work force?

• Annual appraisal/personal development review
  meeting
• Recommendation by functional line managers
• HR/Training Manager decides and simply informs
• The company does not have a formalised training
  schedule

38
How would you describe the amount of formalised
training which your company undertakes

• Too much
• About right
• Not enough
• We do not do any!

39
What is the main type of training method employed
by your company?

• We mainly send people on public courses
• We mainly use in-house delivery of off-the-shelf
  programmes
• We mainly work with training providers to develop
  customised programmes
• We do an equal mix of A, B and C

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THE IMPORTANCE OF PEOPLE
One of the initial hypotheses we looked at was
that human capital is themost valuable resource
any company has but that the HR function
iscurrently failing to assert its role fully as
the champion of this capital To dig deeper
into this, we asked two subtlely related
questions firstlywhether the delegates company
says that people are its most importantasset and
then whether it behaves as if this is indeed the
case. The resultsseem to confirm the suspicion
78 of companies say people are key but less
than 60 of these same companies demonstrate this
publicly. This hasan interesting link to the
issues of employee retention since people
whobelieve that their employer does not much
care about them are far morelikely to seek new
opportunities than a satisfied employee would. In
a marketwhere skills and good people are already
in short supply, companies mightwell reflect on
their behaviour towards their people as a key
retention tool Linked to the issue of people
importance is the result of our third
question,where only 50 of respondents say that
their company puts considerableeffort behind
succession planning and bench development
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Which of these statements do you agree with? My
company says that People are its most important
asset

• Agree
• Disagree

42
Which of these statements do you agree with? My
company behaves as if People are its most
important asset

• Agree
• Disagree

43
Which of these statements do you agree with? My
company puts considerable effort behind
successionplanning and bench development

• Agree
• Disagree

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ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
Our final two questions relate to the environment
in which companies dobusiness in this region.
Several Middle East countries, and in
particular the UAE, have a culturally diverse
workforce which can pose enormous challenges to
managers who must get the best performance from
people with significantly different attitudes
and beliefs. The single biggest challenge in this
area is seen ascoping with the different
communication styles although 44 of
delegatessee the challenge as a mix of several
factors. The communication issuewill likely
relate to the way different cultures have
different ways to putover a point (ie direct
in your face vs subtle and indirect) Finally,
on the biggest limitation to successful business
growth in the region,44 cite retaining talent
as the main factor (73 if we add attracting
talentto this) which backs up many of the
earlier findings. Even the 20 who believe the
rising cost of doing business is key would
probably be thinkingas much in terms of the cost
of paying, housing and schooling employeesand
their families as the direct business costs such
as office rental costs.
45
What is your GREATEST intercultural challenge?

• Language barriers
• Time dimension
• Different communication styles
• Understanding relationship building
• Dealing with face and honor
• Accountability and ownership
• All of the above
• Others

46
What is the biggest limitation on successful
business growth in the ME?

• Attracting Talent
• Retaining Talent
• Rising Cost of Business
• Agency/Sponsorship Laws