An HR survey conducted by Personio and Censuswide

What’s next for HR?

2020 has been a year like no other. Covid-19 has challenged every company and the HR function along with it. Throughout the pandemic, HR has proved itself the backbone of the business, showing strength as a strategic partner and agile supporter. To explore the impact of Covid-19 on businesses and their people strategies, we surveyed 500 HR managers.

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#1: HR will help businesses recover

Most companies have struggled during the pandemic, and the HR function has provided crucial support. HR has acted to benefit the business during the crisis by, for example, supporting remote working, and increasing internal communication. As organisations begin to recover, they expect HR to continue to play a pivotal role in three important areas:

Mental health / wellbeing initiatives (45%)
Implementing new work initiatives (37%)
Long-term planning (33%)

#2: HR’s strategic role will stay strong

HR has become more strategic during the crisis. Since the pandemic, 35% HR professionals say that HR focuses on strategic tasks, whereas only 25% said the same before the Covid-19. And most HR professionals (80%) want this strategic role to continue.

#3: HR function will face recovery challenges

Despite the important part HR has played this year, many HR professionals (85%) see challenges to their ability to support the business post-pandemic:

Constrained budgets (37%)
Not enough time or HR resources for strategic work (27%)
Too much admin work (25%)

#4: HR tools will be essential to success

80 % say, HR must maintain the strategic role it has played during the outbreak. But how?
The study shows fully digitised HR functions outperformed their less digitised counterparts in crisis response and recovery planning. More than ever, having access to the right tools will enable HR teams to deliver the level of support they want to.