IES Perspectives on HR series

IES' annual series of reflections on contemporary employment concepts and challenges continues, with essays from our team of researchers and consultants.

In acknowledgement of current turbulent times, the Institute has published a collection of articles addressing today’s pressing issues for organisations. Pulling together existing research and their own insights and experiences from working with organisations, the team of researchers and consultants have offered their reflections on how leaders and HR practitioners can successfully navigate the imminent challenges.

This compilation of bite-sized essays by leading thinkers confronts and expands on existing thinking, plans, and practices in HR and employment. It will help HR leaders think about, plan for, and deal with these ‘known and unknown unknowns’, challenging modern fads, reinforcing some long-standing truths and offering original and practical insights.

IES presents its annual Perspectives on HR publication, in which IES researchers and consultants offer their insights into the challenges of today's turbulent world for the HR function.

Topics covered in IES Perspectives on HR 2014, include: big data and HR analytics; outsourcing decision making: Can we make it more considered?; crowdsourced leadership; zero-hour contracts: the continued debate in 2014; understanding resilience; diversity at senior team and board level; talent for what? Reconnecting talent management with business needs; top employers for flexible working; and establishing a culture of openness.

Taking change as its overarching theme, this collection of essays looks at the year ahead, exploring issues in HR and OD, including: building OD capability; employee engagement: what next?; influencing people to behave in different ways; the talent management journey: a four stage approach; innovating work; delivering strategy through flexible working; getting the HR/line balance in people management right; and cost control versus pay progression.

This report looks at opportunities for change, whilst ensuring your workforce and managers are in a strong position to embark on them.

Two perspectives are addressed in this review of where HR is going in 2011 by thirteen of IES's HR researchers. In the first, we consider the recent experiences and research on restructuring organisations and the critical role of leadership in doing this successfully. In the second, we consider more specific ways in which organisations are rebuilding morale and performance in their workforce as they emerge from recession and cost cutting.

The HR team at IES reflected on some of the priorities for organisations as they started to emerge from recession and looked to the future. In these short articles topic leaders provided insights that had emerged from recent consultancy and research practice across the public and private sector.