A lack of senior leadership buy-in is a roadblock in the prioritisation of people risks within New Zealand organisations, according to the inaugural People Risk Survey report.
“This result is obviously quite disappointing,” Mercer Marsh Benefits leader for New Zealand Alison Bamford said. “As a senior leader myself, I know how important it is for executives to champion initiatives that help support and mitigate people risks.
“Many organisations talk about how they put their people first, but the question based on these results is, are they really?”
The report suggests a lack of data and analytics available to HR leaders to support investment in people risks – with 19% of those surveyed saying this is an issue.
It outlined the top five people risks currently being faced by organisations, which include talent attraction, key person risk, talent scarcity, talent retention and succession planning. Despite this, 56% of those surveyed did not have a plan to deal with key person risk while 50% did not have plans in place to deal with succession planning.
The study also points to a poor focus on employee benefits with only 54% reviewing their employee benefits programme each year, while a further 27% didn’t even know when it was reviewed. It also found that some of NZ’s benefits fall quite short – especially when compared to other countries. For example, 46% of those surveyed offered life and total & permanent disablement style benefits – compared to Australian organisations at 81% and the UK at 92%.
The inaugural People Risk Survey was completed by 229 members of HRINZ across New Zealand.
