Human Resource Professionals. Human Resource Professionals. Executive Summary Report Spring, A Survey of. for. Gatti & Associates.

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1 A Survey of Human Resource Professionals for Human Resource Professionals Executive Summary Report Spring, 2006 Prepared by: DISCOVERY Surveys, INc. Bruce L. Katcher, Ph.D. Specializing in Employee Opinion and Customer Satisfaction Surveys Sharon, MA and Gatti & Associates Bob Gatti Specializing in the Search and Placement of Human Resource Professionals Medfield, MA

2 A s About This Report a service to the HR community, every two years Discovery Surveys, Inc. conducts a survey of human resource professionals designed to help HR professionals learn how their views of their own jobs compare to those of others in the human resource field. This year, Gatti & Associates has assisted with the study. This report presents the results. The data was gathered from 545 HR professionals during March and April of invitations were sent to approximately 6,000 HR professionals along with a link to the electronic survey. The majority of the respondents are senior HR professionals from the Northeast with more than 10 years experience in the field. (See Part 5 for more details about the respondents.) This report compares the results to the views of the more than 50,000 employees included in the Discovery Surveys, Inc. Normative Database of employee attitudes. The report is organized into the following five parts: Part 1 How HR Professionals Feel About their Jobs Part 2 How HR Professionals Feel About their Role in their Organization Part 3 What HR Professionals Feel are the Most Challenging Aspects of their Work; Part 4 The Career Plans of HR Professionals; and Part 5 About the Sample The tables below present the views of HR professionals toward selected aspects of their jobs. Our interpretations of these results follow each table. We hope you find this report to be of value. Sincerely, Bruce L. Katcher, Ph.D. President, Discovery Surveys, Inc. Bob Gatti President, Gatti & Associates, Inc. P.S. The last page of this report contains information about our professional services. 2 Discovery Surveys, Inc. / Gatti & Associates

3 Part 1 - How HR Professionals Feel About Their Jobs SUMMARY HR professionals are generally satisfied with their pay and benefits but dissatisfied with their performance reviews. Their work provides them with a sense of accomplishment but they are dissatisfied with their work life balance. They believe they are developing professionally but have mixed views about how well they are being supervised. INTERNAL PAY EQUITY 69 percent are satisfied with how their pay compares to other managers at the same level within their organization. This is a strong result and indicates that HR professionals are gaining a better foothold as valuable business partners within their organizations. Our past studies showed that HR professionals felt they were paid significantly less than other managers at their level. BENEFITS HR professionals are satisfied with the benefits they receive from their organizations. A strong 75 percent of HR professionals feel the benefits they receive are adequate for their needs and the needs of their family. Also, 76 percent feel their benefits are good compared to those offered by other similar organizations. Health benefits are viewed more positively than retirement benefits. Although 77 percent are satisfied with the health care benefits they receive, only 62 percent are satisfied with their own retirement benefits. Table 2: The Views of HR Professionals About Their Benefits Table 1: The Views of HR Professionals About Their Pay and Performance Reviews SENSE OF PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT HR professionals feel fulfilled by their work. A very strong 78 percent say their job provides them with a sense of personal accomplishment. EXTERNAL PAY EQUITY 63 percent feel they are paid fairly compared with HR professionals in other similar organizations. This is also a strong result. It is more than 20 percent higher than the Discovery Surveys norm indicating that HR professionals feel better about their pay than do employees within their organizations. PAY-PERFORMANCE LINK HR professionals feel the link between their pay and their job performance is good, but not excellent. Only 56 percent say there is a clear link. This is higher than the Discovery Surveys norm but indicates that organizations are not doing a particularly good job of linking the pay of HR professionals to their job performance. PERFORMANCE REVIEWS Many HR professionals feel the performance reviews they personally receive from their own supervisors are not useful. Although 63 percent feel their reviews are conducted on a timely basis, only 42 percent feel they are useful to them. This low result is similar to what we have found in past studies and is disturbing since it is HR professionals who typically oversee the performance review process in their organizations. REASONABLENESS OF WORKLOAD HR professionals feel relatively good about their workload. 62 percent feel their workload is reasonable. This is similar to the results we have found in the past. Self-service, increased HRIS automation, and outsourcing of many HR functions were supposed to ease the workload of HR professionals and focus them on more strategic issues. It is unclear as to whether that has really happened. Table 3: The Views of HR Professionals Toward Selected Aspects of Their Jobs TRAINING 69 percent feel they have received the training they need to do their job well. This is a good result. It is more than 20 percentage points higher than the Discovery Survey norms indicating that HR professionals feel better about the training they receive than do their employees. (Part 1 continued on next page) 3 Discovery Surveys, Inc. / Gatti & Associates

4 Part 1- continued from previous page WORK LIFE BALANCE Only 54 percent are able to balance their work life and their personal life to their satisfaction. This is lower than we find for employees in general. This lack of balance may be due, in part, to the fact that HR professionals find their jobs emotionally draining and frustrating. (See Table 9) Table 4: The Views of HR Professionals Toward Their Immediate Supervisors Supports my professional development Involves me in decisions that affect my job Provides me with recognition Solves job-related problems Clearly communicates goals & assignments Solves people-related problems PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT HR Professionals feel their supervisor supports their professional development and involves them in decisions. These results are higher than the Discovery Surveys national norms. TASK ORIENTATION OF SUPERVISORS HR Professionals do not feel their supervisors are doing a particularly good job of solving problems or communicating tasks. Only 65 percent believe their boss solves job-related problems well and only 57 percent say their supervisors clearly communicate what is expected of them. PEOPLE ORIENTATION OF SUPERVISORS HR Professionals are mixed about the people-related skills of their supervisors. A strong 67 percent say they receive recognition from their supervisor for work well done, but only 55 percent feel their supervisors do a good job of solving people-related problems. Part 2 - How HR Professionals Feel About Their Role In Their Organization SUMMARY HR professionals feel empowered to do their work but don t feel respected or adequately supported for the work they do. Although they believe their work contributes to the mission of their organizations, many do not feel they are viewed as strategic business partners. Table 6: How HR Professionals Feel They Contribute to Mission and Strategic Plans Table 5: Views of HR Professionals Regarding the Respect They Receive RESPECT However, HR professionals do not feel they are adequately supported by the organization. They do not feel they receive a high level of respect from senior management or employees. Also, fewer than half feel their budget is adequate. CONTRIBUTION TO THE MISSION A very strong 89 percent of HR professionals feel their work contributes to the overall mission of their organization. AUTHORITY AND BUDGET HR professionals believe they are empowered to do their work. More than two-thirds feel they have the decision-making authority they need to do their job well. Also, a strong 77 percent say cooperation is good between HR and other departments. DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN However, HR professionals do not feel they are viewed as strategic business partners. Only 63 percent feel the perspective of the human resource function played a major role in the development of the strategic plans of their organization. Also, only 62 percent believe HR is viewed as a business partner in their organization. (Part 2 continued on next page) 4 Discovery Surveys, Inc. / Gatti & Associates

5 Part 2 - continued from previous page Table 7: How HR Professionals Feel About the Importance of the HR Function IMPORTANCE OF HR HR professionals believe HR is playing, and will continue to play, an important role in their organizations. 74 percent say the importance of HR increased in the past few years and 73 percent predict it will increase in the next few years. Part 3 - What HR Professionals Feel are the Most Challenging Aspects of Their Work SUMMARY HR professionals were asked to indicate the 3 most challenging parts of their job. As we have found in the past, issues involving organizational change (i.e., managing change, organizational development, and strategic planning) pose the greatest challenges to them. They find day-to-day activities such as outsourcing, labor relations, cost reduction, and benefits less challenging. GREATEST CHALLENGES OF HUMAN RESOURCE PROFES- SIONALS Managing change and organizational development are the two of the three most difficult challenges of HR professionals. Challenges of the past (i.e., outsourcing, labor relations, downsizing, and cost reduction) are no longer viewed as major challenges. Traditional day-to-day HR activities (e.g., benefits and compensation) are also not viewed as major challenges. 1 out of 5 said recruiting was one of their major challenges and 1 out of 4 said employee development is currently a major challenge. Table 8: HR s Greatest Challenges Table 9: The Emotional Experience of HR Professionals THE EMOTIONAL STATE OF HR PROFESSIONALS HR professionals find their work to be emotionally draining and frustrating. 75 percent say their work is emotionally draining sometimes, often or very often and 72 percent feel frustrated by their job sometimes, often or very often. Many also feel tired, burned out and stressed by their work. 5 Discovery Surveys, Inc. / Gatti & Associates

6 Part 4 The Career Plans of HR Professionals SUMMARY HR professionals do not believe they will remain with their current organizations for very long. Those who are serious about making a change are interested in pursuing HR positions in other organizations or beginning a career in consulting. Many question their own choice of human resources as a career. Table 12: Career Plans of HR Professionals Table 10: HR Professionals Views of Their Future in Their Organization IMMEDIATE CAREER PLANS Many HR professionals are seriously pursuing other opportunities. 37 percent are looking for HR positions in different organizations and 23 percent are interested in HR consulting. STAYING OR LEAVING THE HR FIELD Most of those who are interested in making a change intend to stay within the HR field. Only 16 percent are interested in non-hr positions in another organization and only 11 percent are interested in pursuing non-hr positions within their current organization. PERCEPTION OF FUTURE IN CURRENT ORGANIZATION HR professionals have confidence in their career potential within their current organization. Two-thirds feel they have a good future in their current organization. This result is higher than the Discovery Surveys norm. Table 13: HR Professionals Views of Their Career Choice Table 11: Turnover Intensions of HR Professionals SATISFACTION WITH CAREER CHOICE HR professionals have mixed views of the soundness of choosing HR for their career. Only 59 percent said that if they were beginning their career again, they would choose the field of human resources. TURNOVER INTENTIONS HR professionals do not believe they will remain long term with their current organization. As shown in Table 11, although 63 percent believe they will still be with their current organization one year from now, only 40 percent intend to remain for three more years, and only 25 percent plan to stay for the remainder of their career. 6 Discovery Surveys, Inc. / Gatti & Associates

7 Part 5 About The Sample SUMMARY The respondents were primarily senior-level HR professionals from New England with more than 10 years experience in the field and experience in several organizations. 89 percent are VPs, SVPs, Managers, Directors or Generalists. 74 percent work in the Northeast. 86 percent have more than 10 years of experience in the HR field. 53 percent have been with their current organization for less than five years. 86 percent have experience in more than one organization. The specific characteristics of the sample are shown in the 6 charts below. Chart 1: Position of Respondents Chart 4: Years as HR Professional Chart 2: Industry Sector of Respondents Chart 5: Tenure in Current Organization Chart 3: Location of Respondents Chart 6: In Past 10 Years, I Have Held Positions In: 7 Discovery Surveys, Inc. / Gatti & Associates

8 About Discovery Surveys DISCOVERY Surveys, INc. Discovery Surveys, Inc. provides strategic consulting based on high quality, customized research using web, paper, telephone, and focus group methods. We have conducted surveys for more than 100 organizations including: Alcoa, BBN Technologies, Delta Dental Plan, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, Invensys, Johnson & Johnson, the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Mayo Clinic, Revlon, Sodexho, Textron Systems, Timberland, and W.R. Grace. Employee Surveys Understanding the views of employees is critically important. We conduct customized employee survey programs using web, paper, and telephone methods that provide an objective understanding of the views of employees about communication, management, supervision, pay, benefits, career development, training, and quality. Our normative database of employee attitudes helps our clients gain a better understanding of the views of their employees. Customer Satisfaction Surveys Satisfied customers are the most important assets of any organization. Our customized customer satisfaction survey programs help our clients improve customer satisfaction, retain valuable customers, improve the quality of their products and services, identify what is most important to their customers, assess how well their staff is serving customers, and understand the differences between the views of their A, B, and C customers. Gatti & Associates About Gatti & Associates Founded in 1985, Gatti & Associates is an executive search firm specializing exclusively in the search and placement of Human Resources professionals, nationwide. Our mission is to help organizations meet key business challenges through the recruitment of exceptional HR talent. Over the past 21 years we have filled over four thousand positions in industries such as financial services, technology, retail, biotechnology, consumer products, manufacturing, health care, education, and consulting services. Our deep knowledge of both the HR discipline and the HR community, coupled with our understanding of the requirements of corporate environments, results in successful searches that are executed in a timely and cost-efficient manner. The Gatti & Associates staff averages more than 10 years of service with the firm. Bob Gatti, President BGatti@GattiHR.com To discuss how we can help you better understand and improve the views of your employees and customers, contact: Bruce L. Katcher, Ph.D., President BKatcher@DiscoverySurveys.com Copyright 2006 Discovery Surveys, Inc. / Gatti & Associates Version Discovery Surveys, Inc. / Gatti & Associates