Companies around the world continue to change their HR processes into shared services and invest in new HR technologies, including mobile applications. This is according to this year's 16th regular survey by Towers Watson entitled HR Service Delivery and Technology Survey 2013. More than a thousand companies in 32 countries participated in the survey. Two thirds of the respondents represented large companies with more than 5,000 employees.
Thirty-six percent of the companies surveyed expect changes in their HR structure by the end of this year - 74% of them in order to enhance operational efficiency and 53% in order to improve quality. Regardless of the specific reason, however, 49% of the companies have chosen to follow the path of shared services via HR centers of excellence and HR business partners. Only 12% of companies support the creation of a single HR function for the entire company.
Mobile applications still in their infancy
It has turned out that despite considerable savings in other areas of HR, the investments in HR technology remained stable. Fifty-one percent of companies are investing the same amount of money in HR technologies as they did last year and 27% of companies will even increase these investments this year.
Regarding the use of mobile technologies, 60% of companies are now providing their employees access via smartphones and 24% offer tablets. HR applications for these devices are, however, still in their infancy. Mobile apps for HR are being used by only 10% of companies. However, another 25% are planning to implement these applications in the next 12-18 months.
The whole survey can be downloaded at this site: HR Service Delivery and Technology Survey 2013
-kk-