The report’s authors found that HR and non-HR professionals were not too confident about their HR expertise. The report surveyed 970 managers and non-managers in Singapore, 608 in Hong Kong, 492 in mainland China and 732 in Australia across various industries.“Confidence in HR to deliver for the business across all capabilities was quite low, specifically in relation to their use of AI, analytics and their approach to succession planning,” the report’s authors found.
Finding talent that's able to thrive in a firm’s culture, creating a more inclusive workplace that welcomes both younger and older employees, boosting their soft-skills capabilities, and dealing with mental health issues are among the others challenges facing HR leadership. Mental health and well-being issues tied to work are becoming more prevalent, with increasing stress a big problem for most workplaces.
“Organisational politics and a lack of strategic direction are consistently felt to be the biggest contributors,” according to the report. “Coupled with this is a certain amount of cultural discomfort in engaging with the subject, meaning that conversations about mental health at work for most people are few and far between. Creating healthy workplaces means paying attention to employees’ physical, social, emotional and mental health and this requires a mind-set shift for many organisations.”