The majority of HR practitioners in Ireland believe the country’s economic difficulties will both increase the stature and influence of the HR function, according to research.

More than half the 400 HR practitioners surveyed by University College, Dublin and Queen’s University, Belfast - in conjunction with the CIPD in Ireland – said they thought the ongoing crisis would deepen the appeal and prevalence of HR practices that promote high staff commitment.

The research also found that most HR managers felt that concession bargaining is likely to be more successful if based on openness and transparency, equality of sacrifice and trade gain - where companies agree to some trade union demands in return for accepting significant concessions.

Over 50 per cent of HR managers said they had involved staff in cutback plans, while there was also considerable evidence that managers sought to cut hours of work rather than pay.

Over 70 per cent of HR managers surveyed said they had frozen wages in response to the recession while around half had cut pay and half had cut bonuses.

On employment, half froze recruitment, one third went for voluntary redundancies and one third opted for redeployment.

But the research, while showing that the recession had put HR centre stage, also found that on the whole there was a relative absence of innovative HR approaches such as greater training and up-skilling as an alternative to redundancies or short term working.

The research, which was also backed by the employers’ organisation Ibec and trade union group Ictu, was presented at a symposium last week organised by the Labour Relations Commission.