Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1140 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here.
Continued from Part 1…
Preamble
McKinsey report HR Monitor 2025 highlights the following trends that HR managers/leaders should recognize, understand, and work on. We took the first two in the last blog post; the others we shall take up in this and following post(s) and then conclude the topic.
Five Trends That HR Leaders Must Recognize
- Workforce planning is not approached strategically enough
- Talent acquisition is becoming more complex
- Employee development continues to be highly fragmented
- Employee experience is essential
- Gen AI and shared-services centers should boost efficiency and effectiveness
HR function can evolve as a strategic partner for the organization if they address these five areas in an integrated fashion.
- Employee development continues to be highly fragmented
Employee development is a cornerstone of organizational success. Organizations that excel in both people and performance can achieve up to 30 percent higher revenue growth compared to those focusing on only one aspect. This is largely because they foster environments that encourage innovation from the ground up and boost productivity.
To fully unlock workforce potential, HR leaders should address employee development from three perspectives:
- Performance Management: Regular feedback and effective consequence management help leaders recognize strengths, identify areas for improvement, and address ongoing performance issues.
- Learning and Development: Targeted training initiatives are used to close individual skills gaps and address specific developmental needs.
- Talent Development: Strategic talent initiatives, such as succession planning, further cultivate the abilities of high-performing employees identified through performance reviews.
Integrating these three elements not only remedies current shortcomings but also equips the workforce to face future challenges, ensuring long-term success. To achieve the greatest impact, organizations should move away from piecemeal efforts and instead adopt a unified employee development strategy that aligns performance management, learning programs, and talent development, including succession planning.
Frequent, Multilayered Feedback
To ensure sustained employee growth, HR professionals should prioritize frequent and layered feedback. However, there is a notable gap in perception: our research shows that while 26 percent of employees in Europe report receiving no formal feedback in the past year, HR professionals estimate this figure to be just 6 percent. Furthermore, 56 percent of European employees say they receive feedback only once or twice a year, a frequency HR experts agree is insufficient for continuous improvement.
This discrepancy can arise for two main reasons. First, meetings intended for feedback may be postponed or repurposed for other business topics, making it unclear to HR whether performance feedback actually occurred. Second, managers might not clearly communicate that a meeting’s purpose is official feedback, leading employees to view it as a general conversation about their work. This often happens when managers feel uneasy about giving constructive criticism and soften their message, so the core feedback is lost. When HR is not present, it becomes even harder to track these discussions and the takeaways for employees.
Regarding the sources of feedback, 90 percent of employees in Europe say they receive input from managers, but only 21 percent get feedback from team members and just 18 percent from peers.
To enhance employee development, HR should strengthen performance management by ensuring regular, structured feedback and by clarifying role expectations for every employee.
Prioritize and Connect Learning and Development Programs
Employee training is a key aspect of development and performance management, yet there is often a mismatch between HR’s perceptions and employees’ experiences. While HR professionals in Europe believe employees receive about 22 days of training annually, employees report only 12 days on average, and nearly a third said they had no training at all in 2024. Factors contributing to low participation include lack of time, irrelevant training content, and passive engagement with online sessions.
Mandatory training in some countries can be undermined by absenteeism or last-minute cancellations, making it difficult for HR to track true participation. Increasing interactivity and accountability, for example, by alerting managers to no-shows can help improve outcomes.
Moreover, only 21 percent of European employees have received training in generative AI, compared with 45 percent in the US, and just 36 percent of European organizations regularly use AI, far lower than the 76 percent reported in the US. To close these training gaps, HR should tailor learning programs to address specific skill needs and prepare employees for future roles.
Target and Integrate Talent Deployment, Talent Development, and Succession Planning
Many European organizations struggle to match employees with roles that fit their skills; 28% feel underchallenged, while 25% feel overwhelmed. Only a third of employees participate in talent development programs, with France and Germany focusing on a smaller group of top performers, and the UK and US adopting a broader approach.
Succession planning is limited; about one-third of critical roles are covered, mostly at the middle-management level, while only 32% of CEO direct reports and 34% of the next level have plans in place. For key roles below that, coverage drops to 28%.
Furthermore, just 20% of organizations effectively link performance management results with talent and development programs, restricting advancement for high-potential employees.
To address these gaps, HR should:
- Align roles with individual skills and aspirations.
- Offer dual career tracks and lateral moves to balance workloads.
- Define critical roles and create targeted talent strategies.
- Invest in high-potential employees with tailored programs and succession plans, including job rotations, mentoring, and coaching.
These steps help ensure that talent is developed, deployed, and prepared for future leadership needs.
Special Note for HR Professionals in Pakistan
McKinsey gathered data from 1,925 companies and feedback from more than 4,000 employees across Europe to compile this report. It spanned mutliple sectors and was further enriched by interviews with more than 50 HR professionals and experts.
Unfortunately, we are far behind in HR function in Pakistan, and are not even progressing forward. I do undertand the limitations imposed by the top and senior management over HR and keeping them engaged in paper work only, but even then, as true professionals, they must keep striving to add value.
Part 2 Concluded.
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For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and recognized duly.
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