how does hr feel about its profession? the frazer jones workstyle report

WelcomeWelcome to the 2013/2014 Frazer Jones

Workstyle Report. Frazer Jones is a global HR recruitment consultancy who have specialised in placing human resources professionals since 1996. Our dedicated

recruitment teams are based in London, Düsseldorf, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney, while we also recruit in America and throughout other key hubs around the world. Using our strategic office locations, we have been able to use Frazer Jones’ position as a global leader to drive survey respondent numbers. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the HR community for the enormous response we received to our survey and we hope you find the results as interesting as we did. If you have any questions regarding the report, or would like to get in touch for a confidential discussion then please use the relevant contact details at the back of this guide.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome ........................................................ 2Introduction .................................................... 3Global snapshot .............................................. 4Likes & dislikes ................................................ 6How you’re feeling ......................................... 8UK Snapshot .................................................. 10Europe Snapshot ........................................... 11Middle East Snapshot .................................... 12Asia Snapshot ................................................ 13Australia Snapshot ......................................... 14Contact Us ..................................................... 15

3

frazerjones.com Frazer Jones | GLOBAL WORKSTYLE SURVEY

Whether it is job satisfaction, ambition, money, interaction with others or a combination of all of

these, we all have different reasons for working. This report provides an insight into how HR professionals really feel about their work, their environment and their profession, with comparisons drawn across key locations around the world. Alongside driving the business forward, the other chief responsibility of any HR professional’s job is to look after the welfare of the employees of a business, be it through recruiting them effectively, remunerating them competitively, developing their skills or creating an environment for them to be able to add maximum value to a business. The following graphs and commentary provide a detailed overview of key drivers, and data is compared for the UK, continental Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

Introduction

The percentage of respondents by location illustrates the true global nature of the survey and makes for a great comparator throughout the report. The team were extremely keen to benchmark responses from across the globe, taking advantage of our international network.

Our diligent research methodologies ensured that respondents to the workstyle survey came from a broad range of HR disciplines. The highest number of respondents to the survey were HR Generalists with 52%.

28% Australia24% UK21% Asia14% Continental Europe13% Middle East

Respondentsby location

28% Australia

24% UK

52% HR Generalist9% Training & Development9% Other8% Organisational Development6% Reward6% Recruitment/Talent Mgt4% Health & Safety4% Change Mgt2% Employee Relations

Which best describes your

role in HR?

52% HR Generalist

4

Frazer Jones | GLOBAL HR RECRUITMENT @frazerjoneshr

If you were starting your career again, would you choose to move into HR?

Respondents working in Organisational Development, Employee Relations and Health & Safety were the highest areas of specialisation to answer no - all with over 30%. 86% of those in Change Management would still start their careers again in HR. 66% of those working in Employee Relations do not think their pay is adequate, followed by Training & Development (54%) and HR Generalists (51%). Those working in the specialisation of Recruitment were the most content with 65% feeling that they are adequately paid. 53% of women felt that they were not paid enough, compared to 50% of male respondents.

Do you think you are currently being paid enough?

Global snapshot

36% Extremely happy56% Happy5% Unhappy3% Extremely unhappy

Are you currentlyhappy to be

working in HR?

56% Happy

36% Extremely happyHR professionals would appear, in the main, to be a satisfied

industry. Organisational Development, Recruitment and Reward were the most

content areas of specialisation - over 90% classed themselves as happy or extremely happy.

The only specialisation to express any dissatisfaction

was Employee Relations with 16% of respondents declaring

themselves extremely unhappy.

72% YES

48% YES

Europe and the UK were the most satisfied respondents by location with 93% each

declaring themselves happy to be working in HR. 10% of Asia

representatives stated that they were dissatisfied to be

working in the industry.33% of HR professionals

working in Asia would choose to pursue another career, while

Middle East respondents had the highest ‘yes’ percentage

with 78%.

61% of Middle East HR professionals feel that

they justify a pay increase - the highest in the survey.

Coversely, 63% of Europeans stated that they are happy with

their pay.

5


When on holiday do you feel completely away from the office?

The specialisms with the highest ‘no’ percentages are HR Generalists (61%), Recruitment/Talent Management (61%) and Reward (60%). Conversely, 72% of Training & Development professionals do feel like they are on holiday when away from the office.

Do you feel that you have all the necessary resources to do your job properly?

HR Generalists were the only specialism to state otherwise with 53% of respondents answering ‘no’. 76% of those in Organisational Development answered ‘yes’.

1% <206% 21 - 37 hours18% 38 - 40 hours46% 41 - 50 hours24% 51 - 60 hours5% 61+ hours

How many hourswould you typically

work in a week?

41-50 hours

51-60 hoursAs expected, the majority of HR professionals work between 41 and 50 hours per week. 10% of people working in Organisational Development work over 61 hours per week, while 12% of Reward professionals work under 37 hours per week.

What percentageincrease do you

think you justify?

35% 20% Increase

4% 5% Increase19% 10% Increase17% 15% Increase35% 20% Increase17% 30% Increase8% 50%+ Increase

56% NO

56% YES

Half of Health & Safety HR professionals feel that they deserve an increase in pay of 50%+, with 20% of those in Change Management feeling the same. 75% of Employee Relations respondents feel that they justify an increase of 20%+.

55% of HR professionals in Asia stated that they do not have the necessary resources to do their jobs properly, in stark contrast to 64% of Europeans who said that they do.

A massive 78% of Middle East HR professionals answered ‘no’ followed by Asia (68%) and European (66%) respondents.

6


Likes & dislikesFinancial Services and Retail/FMCG

were the two most sought after sectors

by region, with the only exception

being Europe where Manufacturing

received the highest number of votes with

23%.

41% of Change Management professionals

selected Retail/FMCG. 22% and

18% of respondents from the Middle East and Europe selected

Music/Media as their least desired sector.

All chose their own specialisms

as number one except for Employee

Relations who selected Change

Management as their most desired sector

(78%).

Which area of HR would you most want to work in as a HR professional?

The only specialisms not to select Health

& Safety as their least desired discipline was Health & Safety itself

(42% selected reward) and Employee

Relations (36% also selected Reward).

18%..............Financial Services 8% .................. Manufacturing17%..............Retail/FMCG 8% .................. Music/Media14%..............Other 7% .................. Mining/Resources13%..............Professional Services 5% .................. Public Sector/Not-For-Profit8%.................. IT/Telco 2% .................. Property

Top 5 Bottom 5

22%..............Public Sector/Not-For-Profit 8% .................. Mining/Resources15%..............Financial Services 7% .................. Professional Services14%..............Manufacturing 5% .................. Retail/FMCG10%..............Property 5% .................. IT/Telco10%..............Music/Media 4% .................. Other

Top 5 Bottom 5

43%..............HR Generalist 5% .................. Training & Development19%..............Organisational Development 4% .................. Other12%..............Change Management 3% .................. Health & Safety7%..................Reward 2% .................. Employee Relations5%..................Recruitment/Talent Mgt

Top 5 Bottom 4

51%..............Health & Safety 4% .................. HR Generalist13%..............Reward 3% .................. Other11%..............Employee Relations 2% .................. Change Management8%..................Training & Development 1% .................. Organisational Development7%..................Recruitment/Talent Mgt

Top 5 Bottom 4

Which area of HR would you least want to work in as a HR professional?

Which business sector would you most want to work in as a HR professional?

Which business sector would you least want to work in as a HR professional?

7


The location of the office was deemed the least valued among respondents with 21% selecting this. Status of the organisation and career prospects were next with 16% and 14% respectively.

40% of those in Employee Relations and 27% in Training & Development chose status of organisation as their least valued option.

Those based in the UK (18%) and Australia (21%) also selected status of the organisation as their least valued option.

Intellectual challenge was valued highest among HR professionals (25%), followed by variety of work (20%).

Region comparisons reflected the overall responses, aside from the UK where variety of work was the most valued being chosen by 24%.

Males and females both selected intellectual challenge as number one with 34% and 24% respectively. Double the number of females (14%) chose flexibility of work/life balance in comparison to males (7%).

Which of the below options do you value most about your job?

Which of the below options do you value least about your job?

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

Intellectual challenge

Variety of work

Flexibility of work/life balance

Career prospects

Colleagues

Working for the business itself

Clients/candidates/staff involvement

Money/Benefits

Location of office

Status of organisation

Training provision

5%*

Location of office


Career prospects

Training provision

Working for the business itself

Flexibility of work/life balance


Money/Benefits

Clients/candidates/staff involvement

Variety of work

Colleagues

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

* Extremely surprising is that only 5% of respondents valued money/benefits the most

Despite working in HR, and being ambassadors for employee development, career prospects and training provision were valued third and fourth last by respondents.

8


Do you think HR is as valued as other business service functions such as finance, marketing, legal etc?

Reward and Training & Development were the strongest to back this view with 64% and 66% answering ‘no’ respectively. 62% of Health & Safety and Change Management professionals believe HR to be as valued as other business service functions.

There was an even split of opinion by region with Australia based HR professionals being the largest to voice their concern with 54% answering ‘no’.

W ith 77% of respondents agreeing that they are satisfied with their work/life balance, the UK gave the most positive response. The UK is, however, the least content with their work with 13% declaring their job satisfaction to be poor or very poor, the highest of the regions. Overall 9% of respondents feel that HR is not valued at all by their employers. 16% of those in Employee Relations and 15% of Training & Development professionals fall into this category. 21% of Change Management respondents feel that HR is exceptionally valued.

How you’re feeling

7% Exceptionally valued37% Highly valued47% Reasonably valued9% Not valued at all

How do youfeel HR is valued

by your employer?

47% Reasonably valued

13% of UK respondents, 11%

from Asia, 9% of Australians and 4% of

those in continental Europe feel that

HR is not valued by their employers.

Not one respondent from the Middle East

stated that HR was not valued by their

employer.

51% NO

9


13% Excellent54% Good24% Average7% Poor2% Very poor

How would yourate your overalljob satisfaction?

54% Good

24% Average

67% of HR professionals declare their job satisfaction to be excellent or good, with a small 9% stating poor or very poor.

18% of Recruitment/Talent Management and 17% of Employee Relations workers stated their job satisfaction to be poor or very poor. Training & Development professionals are the most content with 74% saying that their satisfaction is either excellent or very good, followed by Change Management (72%) and Reward professionals (71%).

13% of those in the UK and Asia stated their job satisfaction to be poor or very poor. Conversely, European and Middle Eastern respondents were the most content with 74% and 75% of workers declaring their job satisfaction to be excellent or good.

Are you happy with your current work/life balance?

A healthy 70% of HR workers stated that they are satisfied with their work/life balance. The only specialisms to disagree are Employee Relations and Recruitment/Talent Management with 66% and 53% respectively answering ‘no’. UK respondents were most content with their

work/life balance with 77% answering ‘yes’, while conversely just 61% of Middle East HR professionals stated that they were happy with their work/life balance.

70% YES

10


UK Snapshot

The UK boasts the best work/life balance when compared globally, with 77% agreeing that they are happy with their work/life balance. In addition, 93% of respondents are satisfied to be working in HR, while 72% would select

HR as their chosen career if they started theirs again. The UK, is however, the least content with their work. 13%

declared their job satisfaction to be poor or very poor which was the highest of the regions surveyed. UK respondents also stated that HR is not as valued as it could be within their firms. Just 44% believe the function to be exceptionally or highly valued, while 13% believe it is not valued at all. 24% of respondents to the survey were HR professionals based in the UK and below are the key insights taken from results.

Key Insights:

• 53% of UK HR professionals believe that they are underpaid, with 29% of those believing that they deserve an increase of over 50%

• 59% of UK HR professionals work between 38 - 50 hours per week, while 26% of respondents work 51 - 60 hours. Just 5% work 61+ hours - the second least number of hours out of all regions surveyed

• HR Generalist was selected as the number one area of HR that respondents would like to work in polling 43%, while conversely Health & Safety received the highest number of votes for area least in demand with 61%

• 44% of UK HR professionals believe HR to be either exceptionally or highly valued by their employers - the second lowest after European respondents (32%). 13% also feel that HR is not valued at all by their firms

• 52% feel that HR is not as valued as other business services functions within their company - only Australia has a higher percentage (54%)

• 57% of those surveyed feel that they do have the available resources to do their job

• 77% of respondents stated that they have a good work/life balance - the highest out of any region. Despite this figure, only 46% feel that they are truly on holiday when away from the office

• 66% of UK HR professionals declared their job satisfaction to be excellent or good, with 13% stating theirs to be poor or very poor - the highest out of any region

Variety of work


Colleagues


0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

What you value

Retail/FMCGmost in demand

sector

Public Sector least in demand

sector

11


Europe Snapshot

European HR professionals are joint happiest alongside the UK to be working within HR, with 93% of those surveyed stating that they are satisfied to be working in the sector. 14% of respondents to the survey were HR professionals based within

Continental Europe and the results showed that together with the Middle East, HR professionals in Europe are the most

content with their jobs with 74% describing their satisfaction to be excellent or good. It is interesting to note that despite Financial Services being the most in demand sector to work in from a global response level; this was the least desired sector in Europe. This is no doubt due to the recent European financial crisis.

Key Insights:

• 72% would still choose to move into HR if they started their career again

• 67% of Europeans believe that they are paid enough - the highest response total out of the regions, while 71% of those that believe they should have a pay rise state that it should be 20%

• Over half of Europeans work between 38 - 50 hours per week, while 35% work 51+ hours

• Manufacturing is the most in demand sector with 23% selecting it

• 55% of Europeans selected HR Generalist as their most desired area of specialisation, while 50% stated Health & Safety as their least preferred

• 54% of European HR professionals believe HR to be either exceptionally or highly valued by their firms - the

highest out of any region. Only 4% of those surveyed stated that HR is not valued by their employers

• 48% however do believe that HR is not as valued as other business functions

• 63% stated that they do have the necessary resources to carry out their role - again the highest out of all regions surveyed

• 62% of respondents feel that they have a good work/life balance - the second least behind the Middle East, while 66% do not feel truly on holiday while they are away from the office

• 74% of European HR professionals - the joint highest, again alongside the Middle East - class their job satisfaction as excellent or good. Only 6% deemed theirs to be poor or very poor

63%Intellectual challenge

most highly valued

Location of office

leastvalued

12


Middle East Snapshot

HR

professionals working in the Middle East not only work the longest hours (41% work 51+ hours per week) but they also have the lowest percentage of people that are satisfied with their

work/life balance (61%). Furthermore 78% of Middle East

respondents do not feel on holiday when they are away from the office. On a more positive note, 91% of Middle East HR professionals declared themselves happy or extremely happy to work in HR and 78% said that they would still work in HR if they started their careers again - the highest response total.

Key Insights:

• 61% believe that they are not paid enough, with the majority stating their increase should be between 15 - 20%

• 22% of Middle East respondents valued an intellectual challenge the most, followed by career prospects at 14%. Location of the office was again valued least at 26%

• HR Generalist is the most desired area of specialisation (30%), followed by Organisational Development (26%). Health & Safety was the least desired - selected by 60% of respondents

• 47% of Middle East HR professionals feel that HR is either exceptionally or highly valued by their firms. There were no respondents who believed HR to be not valued at all by their employer, which is extremely encouraging

• 57% believe HR to be as valued as other business functions

• 53% stated that they do have the available resources to do their jobs properly

• A massive 78% do not feel as though they are on holiday when away from the office. This could be because team sizes are smaller and therefore there are fewer HR team members who can cover any necessary work

• Despite this, 74% of Middle East HR professionals - the joint highest - describe their job satisfaction to be either excellent or very good. Not one respondent stated that their satisfaction was very poor or poor

74%Financial Servicesmost in demand

sector

Music/Media least in demand

sector

13


ASIA Snapshot

Athird of Asia’s HR professionals said that they would not move into HR if they were to start their careers again. In addition, Asia has the lowest percentage of satisfied workers although this still stands at 90%. Over half of Asia’s respondents also

feel that they do not have the necessary resources to do their jobs properly, which when compared globally is the highest

of any region (55%). 13% of those surveyed also stated their overall job satisfaction to be poor or very poor, which again, was the highest globally. 59% believe HR is as valued as other business support functions - the highest region.

Key Insights:

• 53% of respondents feel that they are paid adequately • 22% of Asia’s HR workforce values an intellectual

challenge the most, with 31% listing the location of their office as the least valued

• 89% of Asia’s respondents work 41+ hours per week• Financial Services is the most in demand sector for

the Asia HR community, polling 26%. Retail/FMCG was second with 21%, while 21% chose Manufacturing as their least in demand sector

• HR Generalist is the most in demand area of specialisation with 45% of respondents selecting it, while 53% of people chose Health & Safety as the specialism that they would least like to work in

• Just 32% - the lowest - believe HR to be either exceptionally or highly valued by their employer. 11% stated that HR is not valued at all

• However 59% do believe that HR is as valued as other business functions

• 64% of Asia’s HR professionals are happy with their work/life balance

• 68% - the second highest - feel that they are not on holiday when they are away from the office

• 51% - the lowest - declared their job satisfaction to be either excellent or good. The joint highest (13%) stated theirs to be either very poor or poor

59% believe HRis as valued asother business

support functions - the highest region

14


Australia Snapshot

A ustralian based HR professionals seem relatively content with both their industries and jobs. 68% describe their satisfaction as being excellent or good, while 92% are happy to be working in HR and the majority (73%) would choose to work in

HR if they started their careers again. They are also content with their work/life balance (72%), while a healthy 56% do feel as though they are on holiday when away from the office.

Key Insights:

• 58% of respondents are happy with their current pay• 33% of the people who are not believe that the increase

should be 20%• An intellectual challenge is valued the most by the HR

community (23%), closely followed by variety of work. Status of their organisation was valued least important by 23% of all respondents

• Just 68% of Australian HR professionals work over 41 hours - the least on average out of any region

• HR Generalist was the most in demand area of specialisation, polling 38%. 46% selected Health & Safety as their least desired specialism

• 47% believe HR to be either exceptionally or highly valued

by their firms, with 9% disagreeing by stating not at all. 54% - the highest - do not feel that HR is as valued as other business functions

• 59% believe that they do have the available resources to do their job properly

• 79% (the second highest) are happy with their work/life balance

• The highest percentage from any of the regions (56%) do feel truly on holiday when away from the office

• 68% state their general job satisfaction to be either excellent or good, while only 10% describe theirs as being very poor or poor

79%Intellectual challenge

most highly valued

Location of office

leastvalued


Established in 1996, Frazer Jones is a specialist recruitment business working exclusively within the Human Resources market, where we are firmly established as a market leader.

Globally, we supply HR talent to a complete cross-section of clients, from the world’s largest companies to small owner-managed businesses, across all HR specialisms and at all levels from our offices in London, Düsseldorf, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney.

Frazer Jones is a member of The SR Group. The SR Group is a specialist recruitment consultancy dedicated to raising standards in the business environments that we serve. The sectors we cover include tax & treasury, legal & compliance, human resources, marketing and executive search, dealing with a substantial number of the world’s leading professional partnerships, multi-national corporations and international banking groups as well as small to medium sized developing organisations.

Contact Us

London 95 Queen Victoria StreetLondon EC4V 4HN T: +44 (0)20 7415 2815

DüsseldorfGraf - Adolf - Platz 15Düsseldorf, 40213T: +49 (0)211 2479 1130

Dubai Suite 614, Liberty House DIFC PO Box 506739 T: +9714 448 7775

Hong Kong 1918 Hutchinson House 10 Harcourt Road , Central, Hong Kong T: +852 2973 6737

Melbourne Level 4,520 Collins StreetMelbourne, VIC 3000T: +61 (0)3 8610 8450

Sydney Level 12, 25 Bligh Street SydneyNSW 2000T: +61 (0)2 9236 9090

Singapore 30 Cecil Street #21-03/04 Prudential TowerSingapore 049712T: +65 6420 0515

UKDarren Wentworth [email protected]

EuropeMichael Illert [email protected]

DubaiSimon Stephens Head of Frazer Jones Middle [email protected]

AsiaFiona Nesbitt [email protected]

SydneyCiaran Foley Joint Head of Frazer Jones [email protected]

MelbournePeter Barber Joint Head of Frazer Jones [email protected]

@frazerjoneshr /company/frazer-jones

how does hr feel about its profession? the frazer jones workstyle report

Recruiting & HR