What is the right level of HR investment?
How do you work out the right level of HR investment for your organisation?
Benchmarking is a useful measure, although it’s difficult to find out whether you’re comparing apples with apples.
This data from Gartner’s 2023 Budgeting and Benchmarking survey is a useful place to start.
There’s no size fits all, however. The most important measure is whether your senior leaders feel HR are doing the right job, in the right way, and getting the right impact. We’ve got a survey for that, by the way.
There are many different ways to structure an HR function, and I’m speaking with several HR leaders about this at the moment. Dave Ulrich‘s 3-legged model still makes complete sense, with some adaptation to create a hybrid that responds to the organisation’s needs.
The critical factor is relationships. As Marc Effron says ‘It’s the mortar not the bricks’. HR has to respond to business needs, quickly and effectively, so the model is only part of the answer.
Relationships are built on conversations, and conversations depend on skilled behaviours. Business partnering is at the core of this, at every level.
