Employee engagement is the biggest challenge facing HR professionals in 2019, a poll suggests.
The survey by Cascade found 40% of the 423 respondents cited employee engagement as their biggest challenge.
Recruitment and retention were a close second and third (37% and 36% respectively), followed by absence management (29%) and wellbeing (22%).
When asked to reflect on their toughest encounters from the last year, HR directors, managers and executives ranked recruitment as the front runner (45%), followed by absence management (36%), and retention and GDPR compliance (both 35%).
Although retention was a challenge, 35% of HR teams believe they excelled in that area, with successes also experienced in wellbeing (32%), learning and development (32%) and diversity (30%).
Cascade chief executive Oliver Shaw said this year the HR landscape has seen employees push back on the traditional nine-to-five more than ever before.
“Flexible working has really stepped up a notch, and organisations that bury their head in the sand when it comes to what colleagues want from employment, will be those that struggle the most with recruitment and retention in 2019,” he stated.