Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Latest NewsHR practiceHR strategy

Good human resources will boost your company profits, research proves

by Louisa Peacock 25 Feb 2008
by Louisa Peacock 25 Feb 2008

A definitive link between effective human resources and its impact on boosting business profits has been proven following a major research project into the subject.

Twenty years on from the first issue of Personnel Today, which carried research showing an overwhelming majority of bosses believed the calibre of HR directly affected the bottom line, an independent study has conclusively settled the debate.

People and the Bottom Line, an in-depth two-year study by the Work Foundation and the Institute for Employment Studies, tested a range of people management practices with almost 3,000 employers to assess their impact on organisational performance.

It found that businesses with good HR practices – from resourcing to employee engagement and skills development, enjoyed higher profit margins and productivity than those without. The study concluded that if an organisation increased its investment in HR by just 10% it would boost gross profits by £1,500 per employee per year.

Penny Tamkin, associate director of the Work Foundation and lead researcher on the project, told Personnel Today: “The report found that it was the intensity of the HR practice that makes a difference – for example, not just whether companies do employee engagement, but how much and how often.”

Tamkin stressed there was no one-size-fits-all approach to investment in people management. However, she said the key to success was HR departments working closely with managers to achieve results.

“There is a growing partnership between HR and managers. It’s not just about writing policies, but working to embed them,” she said. “HR also needs to play a more active role in making sure an individual’s job allows them the correct amount of autonomy.”

Simon Jones, acting chief executive at Investors in People, which supported the research, said: “People management must be woven into the DNA of any organisation that wants to maximise its performance.”

Profit-boosting HR

  • Succession planning
  • Personal and career development planning
  • Employees qualified to degree level
  • Profit-related pay
  • Regular appraisals
  • Frequency of one-to-one meetings
  • Who decides pace of work (managers or workers)
  • Task allocation (managers or workers)
  • Testing applicants before appointment
  • Person specification for new appointees
  • Management turnover

Source: People and the Bottom Line

Avatar
Louisa Peacock

previous post
KnowledgePool offers independent assessment and benchmarking in Strategic Learning Diagnostic service
next post
Equal pay shake-up leads to 80 job losses in Birmingham

You may also like

Maternity protection bill steps closer to becoming law

6 Feb 2023

Prosecuting barristers’ pay increases 15%

6 Feb 2023

Burnout and stress cost NHS more working days...

6 Feb 2023

National Apprenticeship Week 2023: Who’s hiring?

6 Feb 2023

Ex-soldier awarded £350k compensation for hearing loss

6 Feb 2023

Three-quarters of ethnic minorities don’t have a workplace...

6 Feb 2023

Hybrid working and tax: what employers need to...

3 Feb 2023

Carer’s Leave Bill passed by MPs

3 Feb 2023

Workplace couture prompts awkward questions

3 Feb 2023

M&S: The risk of overlooking disability in redundancy

3 Feb 2023

  • The Workplace Today Guide: Why it pays to support your staff’s financial health PROMOTED | The cost of living crisis has hit...Read more
  • abrdn pensions master trust: an enhanced member experience PROMOTED | For most people, their pension will be the largest source of income in retirement...Read more
  • How can HR equip leaders to support a wounded workforce? PROMOTED | The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released new guidelines for employers...Read more
  • How HR manages absence and hybrid working (survey) WEBINAR | HR professionals are slowly realising...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+