More than 60% of HR directors believe there will be a chief of human resources on the board of most organisations by 2015, according to a survey gathered at a PricewaterhouseCoopers conference in Barcelona.

The survey found that 85% of HR directors believe attracting and retaining talent will be the biggest challenge over the next five years followed by providing clear metrics for HR performance (65%), a strong relationship with the chief executive (48%) and the growing complexity of reward programmes (36%).

Opening the conference, Michael Rendell, partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: “All the evidence points towards organisations becoming more people focussed in their outlook. As talent shortages loom for many industries across the globe, there will be more and more opportunities for human resource professionals to influence strategic decisions at a high level.  

“At the same time, the global HR community has a lot of work to do if it is going to step up to the plate. Being a board member is about being a leader across the whole business, not just a senior specialist. The ability to produce human capital metrics is a start, but boards need interpretation and direction, not just numbers.”