Fosway Group, Europe’s #1 independent HR analyst, and HRN, the world’s largest Corporate HR network focused on the Future of Work and Technology, today release new joint research revealing the critical realities of HR in the enterprise across Europe in 2015.

With input from hundreds of enterprise organisations across Europe, the research demonstrates HR’s priority to become a strategic business partner and the key stepping stones to achieve it. Technology is now at the heart of HR success, with high quality data and analytics, and quality HR systems seen as the two most important factors in any HR solution. 78% of organisations are using – or plan to move to – Cloud HR, and user experience is now clearly critical driver in system selection.
Employee engagement remains the top measure of success for European HR strategy. But as the pressure to keep staff and stakeholders engaged increases, at least 35% of organisations expect a reduction in HR headcount to achieve these goals.

‘HR is in a period of real transformation’ explains Fosway Group CEO David Wilson. ‘The shift to Cloud HR is becoming mainstream and most of the solution providers have upped their game in providing more user-centric platforms that support real employee engagement. But the pressure is on. Decreasing headcounts, challenges around business data integration and a lack of skills surrounding business agility and analytics, mean that HR professionals are having to upskill quickly and respond flexibly to achieve the desired position as a strategic business partner.’

Peter Russell of HRN comments, ‘Supporting HR professionals across the globe is what we do. So it’s vital that they have access to the latest research. Through our partnership with Fosway Group, our audience can actively contribute and share their own experiences and insights so others can learn from them. This year’s results highlight some of the challenges that lie ahead but also demonstrate hugely positive shifts in technology adoption and engagement which is exciting for the HR industry as a whole.’

The research will be presented for the first time in a session at HR Tech World Congress in Paris.

An overview of the high level results will be made available to download here after the conference. A series of related white papers will also follow from next month.