Overcoming the economic turbulences with HR competencies

The study was carried out in 2005, but unfortunately it suddenly became highly topical again.
Two closely linked questions were picked out as a central theme. On the one hand "What does the crisis mean for the internal personnel management?" and on the other hand "What does the internal personnel management accomplish in order to overcome the crisis?".

These questions were answered on the basis of an outline including seven questions with free response options and seven defined indicators, which had been sent to the top personnel management of N=233 companies (response rate: 20.6%).

Some key results of the study can be summarised as follows.

The self-perception of the HR employees in times of crisis

• The vast majority of the HR employees give notice of "increased priorities" (46%) or "unchanged priorities" (40%) for personnel projects on the board or management level; little more than 14% give notice of "decreasing priorities".
• The initiatives for new personnel projects mostly come from both the personnel department and the management (48%) or from the personnel department alone (37%). The rest of the HR employees document a trend towards one-sided personnel initiatives by the top decision-making body.
• The chances for personnel initiated projects to meet with the management's approval are topic- and form-related.
• As the budgets for personnel work decrease, proper justification and proof of the expected benefit increase become more important in order to obtain the approval for submitted personnel projects.
• There is a risk of returning to the role of the subordinate/doer and caretaker. This role, however, is unacceptable for 50% of the HR employees; for 42% at least temporarily acceptable, because it is considered more or less uncontrollable and inevitable. Only few try to justify the return with reference to the crisis that has arrived.
• According to their own perception, the strategic capacities of the HR employees had been maintained (54%) or even expanded (42%). Only few HR employees complain about a reduction of their strategic capacity.

Recommendations for action from ISPA consult

• ISPA consult considers themselves as a professional task force for HR employees, who search for highly intelligent solutions for expected problems taking into account the difficult circumstances and the internal needs and requirements of the employees. Besides the design of prevention strategies, this includes the implementation of early warning systems (weak signals) and also crisis management strategies for HR employees.
• ISPA consult offers backing and extension for the companies' expert teams. Furthermore, ISPA consult can contribute to completing special tasks regarding concept development and implementation projects on time.