Key trends in human capital - A global perspective 2005

January 2005

With the increased importance of effective corporate governance and the introduction of Operating and Financial Reviews (OFRs) in the UK, it is easy to see a future where human capital reporting to shareholders and other stakeholders will become the norm.

Saratoga is in the business of human capital benchmarking and measurement. Saratoga Institute, recognised as the world's leading authority on human capital metrics, was acquired by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2003, along with EP-First, a human metrics consultancy, later the same year.

This briefing represents our combined thought and perspective on key human capital management trends and HR strategy, which is based on data collected from over 10,000 organisations across Europe and the US. Both the executive summary and the full briefing are available to download below.

Key trends

• Financial performance: Downsizing and restructuring has been replaced by more stability, but US companies are recovering both revenue generation and bottom-line profit faster than those in Europe.
  
  
• Added-value performance: There is an indication that employers are rewarding employees more highly than revenue growth justifies.
  
  
• Outsourcing and offshoring: Offshoring has more than tripled in some sectors in the last 12 months.
  
  
• Leadership training and development: Little evidence of value generated from considerable investment.
  
  

Executive summary

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Full briefing

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