Should the Head of Human Resources Report to the CEO?
With many human resource departments still grappling with how to become more strategic, a recent study by i4cp revealed several opportunities based on how HR is typically organized.
In the study, respondents were asked to specify how their HR organization was structured on a regional, functional and team level. Results varied by company size, understandably, but several gaps were identified between higher market performing organizations - those companies that have shown considerable revenue growth and increased market share over the last five years - and low-performing organizations. Some of these gaps are listed below (for organizations of 10,000 employees and more):
- High market performers are more likely to have HR structured with a combination of centers of excellence, shared services and HR generalists (65% versus only 44% for low performers).
- Global high performers tend to decentralize by country, whereas a vast majority of lower market performers decentralize by region/continent.
- More than 78% of higher market performers have the head of HR reporting directly to the CEO, versus 67% of low performers.
- Higher market performers rely much more heavily on multifunctional temporary team-based structures (43.5%) than low performers (28%).
- HR sets up more cross-functional teamsin higher-performing organizations (47.7%) than in low-performing ones (only 35 %).
As vice president of marketing at i4cp, Erik is currently responsible for all marketing efforts for the company and works alongside several departments to execute organizational initiatives. He also oversees web development projects. Located in Seattle, WA, he brings over 15 years of Internet marketing experience, most of which are in the research industry.
Prior to i4cp, Erik worked as Internet Marketing Director at market research panel company GMI, where he was responsible for global online marketing and panel growth in several countries. He also managed the graphic design team and worked extensively with other departments on process improvements and plan development. GMI experienced exceptional revenue growth - several hundred percent - during his tenure. Prior to GMI, Erik founded FilmJabber.com, a movie review and information website that continues to grow in popularity and traffic.
Erik received a B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Western Washington University.