Author and eRecruiting commentator Peter Weddle added his response to the Deloitte, EIU study results. His take:

Now, I admit I have an old world view of leadership, but I believe that the CEO is responsible for everything that happens on his or her watch. To be sure, they reap the accolades when times are good, so they should be held accountable when things go wrong. And, I would say that a 96% failure rate for their HR function would rise to the definition of something going wrong, seriously wrong on their watch. To put it another way, I’d like to see a survey of those business CEOs and other executives who are willing to put their money where their opinions are. Instead of griping about HR and then investing a measly 0.9% of total operating costs-the U.S. norm for the last ten years-I’d like to see how many would sign up to invest 5%, 6% or more of their operating costs to fix their gripe. Frankly, I’m tired of CEOs’ vapor capital approach to HR; all they invest is hot air. If they want a world class HR function, they’re going to have to pay for it.

We all know that workforce cost is the largest category of spend for most organizations. We also know that the people who represent this line item are an organizations primary asset. In fact, many company websites feature variations on the statement: People Are Our Most Important Asset. So it only makes sense that improving the quality of the workforce through HR would rank high on the list of business investments.

Talent is what ultimately drives business success and creates value. Organizations that align talent with business objectives significantly reduce process costs, improve quality of hire, reduce risk, and achieve higher levels of performance.

So why the C-level disconnect? Why the reluctance to invest a corresponding percentage in the HR function to drive business performance? Its time to put the budget where the ROI is. Because its a proven fact that automation and analysis of recruiting and hiring processes delivers returns and improves the bottom line.