NEW REPORT

Why HR holds the key to corporate futures

This set of case studies, researched and compiled by Business Intelligence, shows how HR can be transformed to play a key role in adding value to the business and helping it to deliver its strategic goals. The 23 cases that make up this collection contain a mine of practical lessons, insights and smart practices. All are based on first-hand interviews with HR directors and programme managers responsible for designing and implementing initiatives grouped in six main themes.

Aligning HR with corporate strategy
Measuring HR’s contribution to the Business Intelligence
Developing corporate talent
Linking HR to performance and corporate goals
Supporting corporate change initiatives
Delivering cost-effective HR services

Above all, they show what HR can achieve when it takes up the challenge in carving out a more active role in the organisation. The time has never been more opportune for HR to up its game.

"What could be more important than who gets hired, developed, promoted or moved out of the door?" asked former GE CEO Jack Welch in a recent article in the Director, adding that "… people are the whole game".

It is a commonly shared view at the top. As the PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey of CEOs shows, chief executives from the USA to Europe and the Far East are preoccupied with talent and people issues. They know that the organisation’s future depends more than ever on getting these aspects of the business right. HR should be pushing at an open door.

These case studies provide hard evidence of what can be achieved and, most importantly, how leading companies have gone about the successful transformation of HR from passive service provider to active business partner. The agenda is simple enough: to help the business maximise its potential with the best people in jobs that make the most of their talents in an environment that encourages them to go that extra mile. Ensuring HR is in shape to meet this challenge involves change and fresh thinking.