Leaders in IT firms say HR not aligned with business

Today, it is imperative for an organisation’s success to have a close alignment between HR and business, as it is the people who define an organisation, HR being the talent custodian.

A recent survey on HR transformation in the IT sector, conducted by Randstad Technologies, a brand that focuses on the IT staffing business within the organisation, unveils interesting findings regarding ‘business aligned HR’.

According to the survey results, 56% of the HR leaders from the IT sector in India mentioned that HR was fully aligned with their organisation’s vision and strategy. However, only 29% thought they owned a place at the table and were accorded the status of ‘strategic partners’. Despite IT being a mature, people-driven industry, the survey findings also indicate that 46% of the HR leaders from this sector described their current role as just ‘business enablers’.

Top reasons for non-alignment with business, 36% of the HR leaders felt, were excessive focus on transactional activities and limited bandwidth. This was followed by legacy issues where people and processes were unwilling to change (26% of the respondents mentioned this) and capability issues with existing teams, according to 20% of the survey respondents.

Presenting the survey insights, Dr Moorthy K Uppaluri, MD and CEO, Randstad India, said, “The IT sector, one of the largest employers of the country, is a significant contributor to the GDP. It continues to be a critical driver for the knowledge-driven Indian economy, where the dependence and cost of the ‘people‘ component has significantly increased”.

In this scenario, HR being the custodian of talent, plays an allencompassing and elevated strategic role in terms of building the employer brand and the employee value proposition, thereby attracting top talent and also ensuring productivity, engagement and a great career throughout the employee life cycle.

In this business and organizational context, an HR leader’s role today includes donning IT as well as marketing hats to leverage technology and digital platforms for talent acquisition, employee engagement and learning and development. Getting the right talent is at the top of a CEO’s agenda and owing to the criticality of this, HR has clearly earned a place in the boardroom today. The role of HR is more important than ever, he says.