HR viewed as the least productive department by employees

Newly released survey research by HR and payroll software provider Ciphr suggests that UK employees perceive HR teams as being less productive, compared to other colleagues and departments in their organisations.

Ciphr’s findings reveal that many employees self-rate their own productivity far higher than they rate other people’s productivity levels at work – with HR, marketing, and senior management faring the worst in people’s estimations.

Of the 1,000 people polled, the vast majority (92%) viewed themselves as being productive or very productive. Just two-thirds (67%), however, said the same about their organisation’s leadership team, and even fewer workers (62%) were positive about the productivity of their own HR departments.

Indeed, HR was thought to be the least productive department (of all those rated in the survey), with one in seven (14%) surveyed employees labelling their firm’s HR team as unproductive or very unproductive. That figure increased to 19% among middle and lower-level managers.

These are alarming stats for anyone working in HR, as it would appear to show a notable lack of understanding by many employees about the important role and responsibilities of the HR function in UK businesses.

What the results also highlight, more generally, is that people’s perceptions of productivity are clearly influenced, to varying degrees, by proximity bias. Put simply, it means that employees – at all levels – may be more inclined to favour…