#EBHR

At the CIPD, we firmly believe that HR should be principles led, evidence based and outcomes driven. We have set up this forum as a place to support this vision, focusing on strengthening the links between evidence and practice. As with any online forum, it will doubtless evolve in its own way, but there are three broad questions we hope the forum will address:

• How can people management be more evidence based and what will it gain? It’s worth examining what we mean by evidence-based practice (EBP), the risks of taking a relaxed approach to evidence and conversely, the gains of a more systematic approach. We also need to consider the practical steps that can be taken towards EBHR and the challenges we face in doing so.
• How can research be more outcomes driven? Evidence-based practice contains a challenge for researchers and academics as well as practitioners. For practitioners to engage with the best quality evidence, research needs to be relevant, accessible, practically usable. What are the good examples of this and how can we build on them?
• What is the best available evidence on X? As well as discussing EBHR as an approach, we hope this forum will also help people put it to work, through discussions of specific topics in HR and related fields. Where is the best quality evidence on what works? What are the important factors of influence? And how should we interpret and apply this evidence?

Interest in evidence-based practice is growing apace in the domain of people management. Its value for HR is ever more widely appreciated and there appears to be a growing understanding of what constitutes good quality evidence and how to draw on it. Therein lies a fantastic opportunity to firmly embed the principles in how we work. Excellent work has already been done to promote EBHR. Of particular note is the Center for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa), which the CIPD has been partnering with. But others, including HR Magazine, the CIPD’s Work. and the website Science for Work are all playing important parts.

So I hope you’ll find – and help make – this forum a stimulating, grounded, encouraging and above all useful place for you to discuss EBHR. We hope it will be a big tent, bringing together researchers and practitioners to think through the implications of being evidence based.

Ultimately it’s all about the outcomes; about using evidence to make better decisions. I hope you agree it’s a hugely worthwhile aim.

Welcome!