More than half (53%) of organisations have restructured their HR function in the past year, with the aim of becoming more strategic being the most common reason for the move.
In total more than 80% of organisations have restructured their HR function in the last five years, according to The Changing HR Function research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Institute for Employment Studies.
The report, based on a survey of nearly 800 senior HR professionals, found that 42% of respondents said the most common difficulty encountered in restructuring the HR function was in defining roles. However other difficulties arose from insufficient resources (40%), dealing with skills gaps (38%) and ineffective technology (35%).
Vanessa Robinson, CIPD organisation and resourcing adviser, said: "Structural change has been driven largely by a desire to make HR a more strategic contributor to business success."
She continued: "One major obstacle preventing progress rests with the balance between what are and should be HR and line manager responsibilities for people management and development."