Poll: Do-it-Yourself HR Functions Expanding

A Towers Perrin news release said that 33% reported plans to offer employees the ability to plan their careers and needed competencies by the close of the year while about the same percentage will allow workers to update their performance goals online. More than half (52%) of respondents already let workers enroll in training courses online, with an additional one in five planning to offer this capability during the upcoming year.

“Not only is self-service available to greater numbers of employees than ever before, it is increasingly becoming their only option as companies seek to accelerate the return on their investment in self-service technology by weaning employees away from more expensive, labor-intensive alternatives,” Towers Perrin wrote in the survey report.

For managers, HR is planning to expand self-service in planning annual merit/base salary and reviewing/updating employee performance online. Nearly half of respondents offer managers the chance to do salary planning and employee evaluations online while another third plan to add those functionalities by year end.

“HR professionals recognize the strategic value of having a workforce that is prepared for the organization’s business needs of tomorrow,” said Tom Keebler, principal and senior consultant in the firm’s HR Services business and coauthor of the study, in the news release. “By giving managers and employees the online tools they need to perform their jobs well, HR is contributing to the organization’s success both in the short term and the long term — rewarding high performers today and training staff for the future.”

More than 250 companies participated in the survey. A copy of the executive summary is here .