Managing the high cost of health coverage continues to be a challenge; the war for talent is still raging; and developing effective leaders remains a top priority, according to Perspectives' readers. At least one-third of the 150 respondents to the Reader Opinion Survey conducted earlier this year rated each of the following issues as extremely important (i.e., among the highest priority issues for their organizations), making them the top five high-priority issues:

• Managing the rising cost of medical and prescription drug coverage, which was rated extremely important by almost half (49 percent) of respondents, the highest extremely important ranking for any of the issues in the survey,
  
  
• Attracting and retaining employees in the face of competition for talent, which 37 percent of respondents indicated was extremely important,
  
  
• Developing leadership talent, selected as extremely important by 36 percent of respondents,
  
  
• Making sure leadership is effective at all levels of the business, which was rated extremely important by 34 percent of respondents, and
  
  
• Connecting pay to performance, which 32 percent of respondents indicated was extremely important.

These five issues were selected by at least two-thirds of survey respondents as being either extremely important or very important, indicating that they are either currently among the highest priority issues for their organizations or that their organizations are devoting considerable time and resources to addressing them.

To see graphs showing the percentage of respondents who selected each rating for the issues in the survey, click on the categories below:

• HR's Strategic Role  Every issue in this category was selected as being either extremely important or very important by at least half of the survey respondents.
  
  
• Recruitment, Talent Development and Workforce Performance  At least half of the survey respondents rated almost all of the issues in this category as either extremely important or very important to their organizations.
  
  
• Employee Compensation  Most (five out of seven) issues in this category were rated extremely important or very important by at least half of the survey respondents.
  
  
• Executive Compensation and Leadership Effectiveness  Although three of the five issues in this category were rated extremely important or very important by at least half of the survey respondents, interestingly, the other two — determining the role executive stock ownership should play in driving business and executive compensation objectives, and responding to shareholder demands that executives be rewarded on measurable performance outcomes — were rated unimportant by 36 percent and 31 percent, respectively, of respondents.
  
  
• Health Benefits  In addition to managing the rising cost of medical and prescription drug coverage (an issue which 76 percent of respondents indicated as being extremely important or very important) more than half of respondents selected health metrics (analyzing health data to determine where to target cost management initiatives) as being extremely important or very important. The importance ratings for cost management strategies, such as wellness and disease management programs and offering CDHPs, were not as high.
  
  
• Retirement Benefits  The only pension issue to be deemed extremely important or very important by at least half of respondents was coping with increased pension costs, volatile investment markets and regulatory complexity for retirement plans.
  
  
• Administration and Technology Issues  The only issue in this category to be deemed extremely important or very important by at least half of respondents was improving HR technology to allow more employee self-service.
  
  
• Investment Issues  Larger percentages of respondents rated each of the investment issues as either unimportant or not very important than rated them extremely important or very important.

Sibson Consulting thanks those who participated in the survey for sharing their perspectives on current hot topics. The survey results will guide us as we plan future issues of Perspectives. Our goal is to bring to your attention approaches and solutions that can help you claim some crucial victories in the war for talent, as well as in those battles against shrinking merit budgets and rising health care costs.