Lack of employee engagement is the top human resources (HR) issue among global organisations, according to the 'Global human capital trends 2015: leading in the new world of work' report by international consultancy Deloitte, released in March 2015. More than 3000 HR and business leaders in 106 countries participated in this survey, focused on trends that modify the nature of work and the ways in which organisations approach talent management.

“As demand for talent picks up, the balance of power in business is rapidly shifting from the employer to the employee,” said Josh Bersin, principal and founder of Bersin by Deloitte at Deloitte Consulting LLP.

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The survey also found that a large number of organisations do not take steps to improve their culture, putting their potential growth at risk. “Moreover, workers are becoming more mobile, contingent and autonomous, and as a result, harder to manage and engage. In this new world of work, organisations need to re-imagine the way they manage people and come up with new, out-of-the-box ideas to make themselves relevant,” said Mr Bersin.

Leadership was another top issue for respondents to the survey, many of which also agreed that learning and development is a crucial topic as well.

“In addition to workers’ changing expectations from employers, skills needed on the job are changing faster than ever. Organisations are quickly falling behind on developing the right skills across all levels,” said Brett Walsh, global human capital practice leader at Deloitte. He added that “there’s an urgent need for organisations to re-evaluate their learning programs and treat leadership development as a long-term investment, rather than a discretionary training spend item when times are favourable.”

The report reveals that companies face difficulties in reducing workplace stress, in making the business processes simpler and in diminishing complexity. It also indicates that the rising cognitive influence of computers and software is making organisations reconsider the design of work as well as the capabilities that employers have to achieve.

Analytics is another area where organisations struggle to take advantage of growth opportunities and face an essential capability gap. “HR and people analytics has the potential to transform the way we hire, develop and manage our people,” said Jason Geller, principal at Deloitte Consulting LLP and national managing director of the company's US-based Human Capital consulting practice.

The survey concludes that businesses will need a number of years to establish and incorporate talent analytics technology.

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