The Hackett Group, Inc. : The Hackett Group: Growing Talent Crisis in Finance, IT, Other Areas As HR and Business Services Leaders Fail to Collaborate

Business Services Leaders Say HR Offers Inadequate Support For Key Talent Needs, Including Succession Planning, Learning & Development, and Recruiting

Finance, IT, Procurement, and other business services areas are in the midst of a growing talent crisis, and the failure of HR and business services leaders to effectively collaborate is in large part to blame, according to new research from The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT).

According to The Hackett Group's latest HR Book of Numbers^? research volume "Cracks in the Foundation: Closing the Critical Skills Gap Undermining Business Capabilities," business services organizations -- including finance, IT, procurement, and even HR itself -- are seeing dangerous deficits in talent and skills, and are highly dissatisfied with the level of support they receive from HR on talent issues.

In large part, this dissatisfaction is being driven by the extremely low levels of service that HR is providing, and lack of effective communication and collaboration between business services leaders and HR. The research found that business services organizations say they're getting talent management support from HR less than 35 percent of the time on average. In addition, the percentage of companies saying HR is providing a full range of services is 13 percent or less. The study looked at six key areas of talent management: workforce planning and succession; collaboration/knowledge sharing; retention; managing performance; learning and development; and recruiting and staffing.

The Hackett Group study outlines how both sides can work together to improve the situation, and address growing talent management issues being driven by increased business volatility, globalization, and insufficient investment in talent.

"At most companies, business services functions were badly weakened by across-the-board cuts during the recent recession," said The Hackett Group Global HR Practice Leader Harry Osle. "Underinvestment in talent has created deficits in important skills such as business acumen, strategic thinking and analysis, change management, and process improvement capabilities. Yet companies seem to be almost completely ineffective at addressing this talent challenge, in large part because HR and business services leaders are not collaborating. This is a dangerous situation with the potential to cripple companies that don't address it quickly. While these business services functions are often considered cost-centers, they provide key services that enable companies to manage and optimize assets ranging from cash, capital and talent to technology and product/service inputs."

Almost across the board, the study found that business services organizations are highly dissatisfied with the level of support they receive from HR on talent management issues. Companies in The Hackett Group's study said they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with HR support for business services nearly 70 percent of the time on average. Companies were most unhappy with HR support for collaboration and knowledge sharing (79 percent dissatisfied/very dissatisfied) and retention (70 percent dissatisfied/very dissatisfied).

In large part this dissatisfaction is being driven by the low levels of service HR is providing to business services. The research found that business services organizations say they're getting talent management support from HR in these areas less than 35 percent of the time on average. The percentage of companies saying HR is providing a full range of services is 13 percent or less.

In some of the worst areas, such as retention and collaboration/knowledge-sharing, 18 percent or fewer of companies in the study said their HR organizations are providing adequate levels of services or expertise. In other areas, including workforce planning, performance management, and learning and development, only 33 to 47 percent of all companies said adequate levels of services are provided.

The study found that even in the top-performing area, recruiting and staffing, over 40 percent of all companies say only limited services and expertise are being provided by HR. And in all areas, the number of companies that say HR provides a full range of services and expertise in these areas ranges from only 13 percent, for recruiting and staffing, to 7 percent for performance management, to 5 percent or less for all other areas.

The Hackett Group study said that one key explanation for HR's inability to effectively support talent management needs of business services is that HR has had a hard time adapting to its changing mission of enabling business performance. At many companies, HR budget and staff cuts made during the recent recession remain in effect, impacting on talent management programs, along with training, career development, and retention programs. Finally, few HR organizations have a dedicated business partner role responsible for communicating and understanding the talent management needs of business services functions like finance, IT and others.

According to The Hackett Group Chief Research Officer Michel Janssen, "Today's changing business environment requires that business services organizations retool and radically change their mix of staff to improve their ability to directly impact on business performance. Talent management is key, and business services can't accomplish this without strong and effective support from HR. Both parties must redouble their efforts to improve their working relationship. Business services managers must take the lead in specifying their needs, and taking accountability for results for talent management. HR must provide comprehensive process and administrative support, methods and tools, training and guidance to function leaders."

The Hackett Group's research offered guidance for HR and business services in each of six key talent management areas. For example, while recruiting is generally an area where HR provides the strongest support to business services, it is also the least effective talent management category employed by business services. According to the study, business services must do a better job of defining and prioritizing the skills and characteristics that are truly essential for job candidates to have. HR can also rely less heavily on external labor markets, and develop staff, as well as examine alternative approaches to recruiting, such as hiring less-experienced staff with development potential and permission-based recruiting. Candidate relationship management is also a powerful emerging strategy for handling company interactions with applicants, candidates and current employees.

About The Hackett Group

The Hackett Group (NASDAQ: HCKT), a global strategic business advisory and operations improvement consulting firm, is a leader in best practice advisory, business benchmarking, and transformation consulting services including strategy and operations, working capital management, and globalization advice.

Utilizing best practices and implementation insights from more than 7,500 benchmarking studies, executives use The Hackett Group's empirically-based approach to quickly define and implement initiatives that enable world-class performance. Through its REL group, The Hackett Group offers working capital solutions focused on delivering significant cash flow improvements. Through its Archstone Consulting group, The Hackett Group offers Strategy & Operations consulting services in the Consumer and Industrial Products, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, and Financial Services industry sectors. Through its Hackett Technology Solutions group, The Hackett Group offers business application consulting services that help maximize returns on IT investments. The Hackett Group has completed benchmark studies with over 2,800 major corporations and government agencies, including 97% of the Dow Jones Industrials, 86% of the Fortune 100, 90% of the DAX 30 and 48% of the FTSE 100.

More information on The Hackett Group is available: by phone at (770) 225-7300; by e-mail at info@thehackettgroup.com.

Book of Numbers is a trademark of The Hackett Group.

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The Hackett Group, Inc.
Gary Baker, 917-796-2391
Global Communications Director
gbaker@thehackettgroup.com

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