Based on the time the survey was taken (May 2020), HR managers predicted that it could take their organisations on average 13.4 months to recover, taking them into July 2021.
For HR managers who rated their company’s response to the pandemic as neutral or not good, recovery time increased to up to 18 months.
Eighty-five per cent of those surveyed for software firm Personio said that they expect there to be challenges ahead.
For 37%, the challenge was perceived as constrained budgets, 27% not enough time or resources for strategic work and for 25% an overload of admin work.
Martina Ruiss, head of HR at Personio, told HR magazine: “The HR function has played a pivotal role in businesses during the coronavirus crisis, and has demonstrated its strength in helping businesses make strategic decisions when it comes to their greatest asset: people.”
However, due to reduced budgets, Ruiss expressed concern that the function will be unable to capitalise on its newfound position of influence within a business.
“For HR teams looking to make a case for their budget, they may need more than political capital,” she said.
She added that data could be a critical aspect of HR’s ability to make its case, although 71% of those asked said they had struggled with poor access to people data in this time.
“Great data is the foundation of strategic HR and, with metrics on performance or productivity to hand, HR teams can keep on providing sound advice on the people strategy that will help the business in the long term,” said Ruiss.
The majority (80%) of respondents said that it’s important HR maintains the strategic role it has played within the pandemic.
Sixty-eight per cent said they believe the function will have more visibility after the pandemic subsides, and 63% said that their response had improved HR’s internal reputation.
Personio’s whitepaper, The impact of COVID-19: What’s next for HR? is based on a Censuswide survey of 500 HR managers in the UK and was conducted in May 2020.
