For many people in HR, the recent months have been among their busiest.
A poll by People Management finds that most HR functions consist of 10 people or fewer and look to remain that way - or to grow - as the profession plays a vital role amid the coronavirus crisis.
The survey polled 735 employers and found that 70 per cent had reported an HR team size of 10 people or fewer, whilst 18 per cent said their HR team was between 11 and 50-strong. A team of 51 to 100 was reported by 6 per cent; 3 per cent 101 to 250 and 2 per cent more than 1,000.
The crisis has undoubtedly increased the standing of HR in many quarters and respect for the expertise found within. The survey found that the majority of HR functions had not furloughed those within their ranks. The reasons given for that were that staff wellbeing issues are high on the agenda - and many firms are in the middle of difficult restructuring and redundancy decisions, which call for HR support and insight.
When asked whether respondents anticipated downsizing their HR teams in view of the coronavirus pandemic, 49 per cent said that their team would probably stay the same over the next few years; 28 per cent said it would grow slightly and 4 per cent anticipated a significant increase – despite the anticipation of making redundancies in other parts of the workforce.
In terms of whether Learning & Development and Organisational Development were counted as part of the overall figure, 83 per cent of respondents said that Learning & Development was and 79 per cent said the same for Organisational Development.
The most common average ratio of HR team members to number in the workforce was 10 or fewer for an employee base of 50 to 249 – which 34 per cent of respondents fell into. An HR team of 10 or fewer for a workforce of 250 to 999 staff members was reported by 22 per cent and 10 per cent stated a team of 10 or fewer for a workforce of 49 or fewer employees.
The sectors with the largest HR teams were found to be financial, legal and business services - 3 per cent and 1 per cent respectively reported HR teams of more than 1,000 and 1 per cent and 2 per cent respectively reported a team of 501 to 1,000 in size.
Anna Penfold - Head of the HR practice at executive search firm Russell Reynolds - told People Management that ….HR team sizes staying buoyant was likely a sign of the many vital issues – both immediate and long term – people professionals were helping their organisations contend with in the wake of the pandemic. These included initial redundancies, but also significant changes in estate size and office mix, what that does to culture and engagement and the tax ramifications of a new way of working.
She added:
“This has also meant that talent and learning and development is being invested in over and above many other parts of the HR mix as we seek to retain the best and develop increasing skills in our people in order to innovate and deal with ambiguity and also in anticipation of further Covid-19 waves and market disruption.”
Rebekah Wallis - Director of People and CR at Ricoh UK - agreed that HR had played, and would continue to play, a vital role tackling many of the organisational issues thrown up by the crisis.
She said:
“HR has supported businesses in pivoting their strategy and supporting employees through the difficult times, all with a smile on their faces.”
She added:
“Many strategic activities have been postponed and replaced by day-to-day, operational support.”
