How to turn HR into a value lever in Italian companies

Human resources are firmly entering the perimeter of the strategic levers for business competitiveness. Or at least they are trying to. Globally, in fact, almost two out of three executives (65% to be precise) now consider the HR function to be a key factor for business success, as confirmed by the report "Creating People Advantage 2026", conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in collaboration with the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA), on a sample of over 7,000 business leaders. Formal recognition of the role, however, is not yet translating into full business impact, and confirming this assumption is the percentage of organisations (51% of the total) that indicate the weight of administrative activities as the main brake on the strategic transformation of the function.

What emerges, in general, is a clear gap between ambition and ability to execute, which is reflected in the difficulty of companies to transform HR policies into measurable value. Very indicative, in this sense, is the observation of Matteo Radice, Managing Director and Partner of BCG, according to which the HR function is today called to a qualitative leap, going beyond the responsibility of supporting the business and contributing directly to the creation of value. In Italia,' the manager goes on to emphasise, 'this shift is particularly evident and can be seen from the fact that, while 88% of organisations expect a strategic contribution, only 47% involve HR from the very beginning.

The real divide between companies that succeed in enhancing human capital and those that lag behind is the ability to execute. The study makes it clear that only a limited number of organisations today are able to translate HR strategies into objective and tangible results and that, in this case, the most advanced companies (a minority) are experiencing benefits that are reflected in reduced recruitment times of up to 17-18 days compared to competitors, as well as significantly lower turnover levels, demonstrating greater effectiveness in talent management and development. At a global level, a recurring pattern emerges whereby companies are stronger in basic activities related to compliance and administrative management (industrial relations, safety, policy) while they are weaker in the areas with the greatest impact on value, such as performance management, engagement and evolved organisational models. And it is on this level that the real competitiveness game is played. The gap to be cleared is not only organisational, but also cultural, linked (in many realities) to a vision of the HR function as an operational support rather than as a transformation lever. Yet, and the BCG study confirms this explicitly, where HR is integrated into strategic decisions and equipped with analytical tools and impact metrics, the contribution it can make to corporate performance becomes tangible and measurable.

The Italia context shows a particular specificity. Our companies show attention and sensitivity higher than the global average on issues such as employee engagement, wellbeing, sustainability and labour flexibility, which are at the top of their priorities. On the contrary, structural dimensions such as strategic workforce planning, performance management and human resources governance, which instead represent fundamental pillars for driving transformation, are less developed. A net asymmetry of substance that helps to explain the delay in the maturation of the HR function as a strategic partner: only 47% of Italian companies, not surprisingly, include this function from the initial stages of decision-making processes, a sign of a model that is still strongly anchored to operational and administrative logics.

A further element of discontinuity for the HR function (and the world of work as a whole) today is represented by artificial intelligence. The widespread adoption of Gen AI solutions is evidenced by the fact that around 70 per cent of the companies sampled say they use these tools and in particular resort to them in areas such as recruiting, training, reporting and data analysis, but there is also a downside. Which is? Only 38 per cent of business leaders recognise a significant impact of AI on their organisation, while about half expect more significant benefits in the coming years. There is therefore a structural criticality in translating the potential of innovative solutions into concrete results, and the barriers that managers have to deal with are well known, pointing to privacy and compliance concerns (51 per cent of surveyed companies report them) and the difficulty of integrating technology, skills and organisational models.