HR Priorities for the New Year in 2013

What are the most important goals for your oranization in the coming year? The folks over at Ceridian have an interesting infographic giving some answers to this question. The following is a summary of what they found:

2013 Priorities

Here's what the numbers say...

32% say customer focused initiatives
28% say employee engagement
16% say containing health care costs
13% say managing workforce productivty
10% say regulatory compliance

Top 5 Challenges

Do you agree with this list?

1. Attracting technical talent
2. Controlling the company brand
3. Communication with applicants
4. Keeping employees engaged
5. Obtaining job candidate referrals

Top 5 Business Risks

1. Loss of customers
2. Talent/Skills shortages
3. Reputational risk
4. Currencey fluctuations
5. Changing legislation

It's no suprise that employee engagagement and the risk of talent shortages are high on all these lists. 52% of U.S. employers are having difficulty filling positions in spite of an unemployment rate of close to 8%. Since talented, engaged employees are vital to the success of any customer focused business it's easy to understand where these numbers are coming from. Among other suggestions for achieving 2013 goals, Ceridian recommends outsourcing non-core activities and using workforce analytics ans part of a multi-year consumer-directed strategy.

An annual employee enagement survey and well-desiged action plan should be part of that process. Many employers think an employee engagement strategy is about doing what's needed for employees, but it's really about doing the things needed to build strong, long-lasting customer relationships. Because without loyal customers you won't have employees. That should be your main resolution for 2013.