Benefits January 14, 2002

HR Pros Shines at Start-Ups

January 15, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Human resources professionals at smaller start-up companies are more valued than their counterparts at larger more established organizations, a new study finds.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

The survey, by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, found that executives at start-ups are most likely to have opened routes of employee communications.

For example, while 73% of those at start-ups report that superiors regularly talk to their workers, only 50% of those at older companies made that claim.

Workers at start-ups also have more to say in how their firm is run. While 85% of those in start-ups say employees can regularly voice their opinions about operations, only 65% in larger firms say that.

When it comes to more general human resources issues or problems, hiring employees is most important to start-ups while training and development issues crop up more frequently at larger companies.

One-quarter of all organizations say they consider the human resources department as a full partner in corporate operations.

More than 570 human resources professionals responded to the SHRM/Fisher College HRStrategies, Stages of Development and Organization Size Survey. The size of firms responding to the survey range from fewer than 100 employees to those with more than 2,500 employees.