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HR in turbulent times: How are HR priorities and mastery levels adjusting to new realities in Belgium?

Quataert, Sarah
Buyens, Dirk
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2023
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In unpredictable times, many face the challenge of setting the right priorities. This is certainly true for Human Resource (HR) professionals sailing through turbulent waters, characterised by economic uncertainty and extremely tight labour markets. But what is the impact of this turbulence on the functioning of HR? The HR Barometer study elaborates on the trends and challenges in Human Resource Management in the largest for-profit organisations in Belgium (Bel 20, + 200 largest for-profit organisations in terms of number of employees). As annual initiative launched each year in January, the HR Barometer survey comprises two parts. The first part focuses on the strategic importance of different HR practices and policies, so that changes in these priorities can be investigated from a longitudinal perspective. One metric used here is ‘priority’ of HR services, not only indicating the importance of a certain HR domain, but also its urgency. Another metric is ‘mastery’, explaining how well HR professionals have certain services under control. The second part of the study is a variable set of items, investigating a particular HR domain which gained importance over the past year. The next wave of the HR Barometer study will be launched in January 2023, shedding light on priorities that prevailed in 2022 and examining how those changed in comparison to previous year(s), affected by the many challenges we encountered this year. For our data collection, which will run from January until March 2023, we will target HR Directors and Managers from a broad spectrum of industries in Belgium. Based on previous waves of our longitudinal survey, we expect to collect between 100 and 125 responses. In the first part of our survey (focussing on the strategic importance of different HR practices and policies), respondents will indicate the priority of HR practices and the mastery of these practices on a scale from 0% (no priority/low mastery) to 100% (top priority/role model). We will combine the insights from the metrics 'priority' and ‘mastery’, and hence divide all responses into four quadrants: 1) high-priority domains that HR departments master well are what we call in this analysis 'strengths', 2) domains with high priority, but low mastery are 'improvements’, 3) mastering a domain which is not considered a priority is 'under control', and 4) everything else is labelled 'low priority'. Findings that result from this will be compared to last year’s results and strategic shifts will be revealed. The second part of the survey will have a closer look on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) and will investigate how HR professionals are approaching the ‘DE&I challenge’. Looking at our HR Barometer results from the last few years, diversity is traditionally one of the HR domains situated in the ‘low priority’ quadrant. Nevertheless, the topic was indicated in our most recent survey (launched in January 2022) as an important factor that will drive organisations’ HR strategy in the coming years. To better understand this paradox, we will deep dive into prevailing ideas, attitudes and expectations related to the topic of DE&I. Also, we will investigate how HR is trying to diversify their talent pools and which concrete actions they are taking to build more inclusive workplaces. We will elaborate on the challenges HR professionals face, and the opportunities they see to overcome those. Data analysis will take place from March until April 2023, and in our insights will be gathered in a research report. During the EAWOP conference, we will present our insights to inspire both academics and practitioners in the audience. On the one hand, we invite (human resource management) practitioners to inform them on recent trends and challenges in HRM in leading organisations operating in Belgium. On the other hand, we would like to invite academics to pursue similar research designs, which could be a first step towards international collaboration that allows for cross-country comparison of our Belgian data. With our research, we hope to contribute to both the ‘Decent work and economic growth’ (first part of our HR Barometer study) and the ‘Reduced inequalities’ (second part of our HR Barometer study) Sustainable Development Goal, as described by the United Nations.
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HR Strategic Priorities, Longitudinal Research, DE&I
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