New research says that HR leaders value professional development and pinpoints the areas they need the most. 

By Gillian Manning 

HR leaders love professional development and are hungry for more. While 95% of HR executives participated in some form of training last year, according to a survey from HRCI, 81% also say their organizations don’t spend enough on different options for HR. 

But as much as they utilize development opportunities and want more, HRCI’s findings suggest that HR professionals’ resources may not be optimally focused. Just more than half of surveyed HR professionals (52%) said that the implementation of HR technology is the area they feel least equipped to handle. Following that was the development of effective compensation and benefits strategies (39%) and management of employee performance and skills (32%).  

Most professionals (57%) also agree that “new technology sometimes scares me.” Training could help, but HRCI says that most companies have not initiated AI training for their HR employees yet. The theorized reasons vary, with 44% of professionals saying it’s because HR is not a priority during training rollout, 28% saying it’s because of limited budgets, and 19% say it’s because technology rollouts take time.  

“HR professionals love to learn, and organizations should capitalize on that,” says Amy Dufrane, CEO of HRCI. “This means more than just increasing spend or adding opportunities. It means aligning training and development with strategic needs in the organization so that we are acquiring the skills needed to adapt. Organizations that do this correctly will have a real edge moving forward.” 

HRCI also found that: 

• the average professional development expenditure is $1,526; 

• 38% of that is self-funded, the other 62% is company-funded; and 

• 21% of professionals say the development they receive is “fair,” “poor,” or “very poor,” compared to 24% who would describe it as “excellent.” 

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