Image: PixabayAs the business world changes(post Covid), so does the role of HR professionals. Increasingly human resources is a business-driven function and it depends on understanding the strategic corporate direction to influence key policies and decisions. This is where human resource management challenges are defined and must be taken care of.HR challenges are real. They can have a significant impact on your business, including the way you evaluate and hire employees, the way you deal with employee complaints, and the level of support you offer your employees.
Image: PixabayHR challenges can come from a variety of places. Some are easily identifiable trends in today’s workforce—a higher number of Generation Xers and Generation Yers are entering the workforce at the same time.Others are more subtle—employee confusion about vacation policies or inconsistent application of personal leave rules can create uncertainty for staff members and employees alike. Regardless of their source, HR challenges often involve one thing in common: HR is facing a lot of pressure to ensure that employee experiences align with business goals. That’s because businesses increasingly recognize that having great staff is a key differentiator for success.What can HR do to address HR challenges?HR challenges can be a sign that your HR department isn’t up to speed on modern HR best practices. If you’re experiencing problems with highly specific issues, it’s probably worth going back to the drawing board and trying out new ways of doing business.You may discover that an entirely new approach is required to meet your particular company’s specific needs. But if not, most of the time, the solution is pretty simple. The first step toward addressing HR challenges is determining what they are. Then, you can work to solve them. What are HR challenges? HR challenges are issues that require a team effort to overcome.They might be caused by changes in the workplace such as a growth in Generation Xers, post covid, digital transformation and young professionals, a rise in employee turnover, or a greater number of employees choosing to take personal leave.How to spot a HR challenge in the first placeYou might notice some patterns among your employees when they first start working for you. For example, some might experience a culture shock when they first come to your company. Others might struggle to get along with coworkers of different generations. These issues can be clues that something is wrong. If you notice that your company is experiencing challenges at the same time, it might be a good sign to take a closer look at your employee experience. First, find out what your employees are experiencing.Then, try to identify the root causes of those challenges and implement solutions to mitigate the effects of those challenges in the workplace.
Image: PixabayToday’s Top 10 Human Resource Management ChallengesPost Covid with fluctuating economy there are many changes in HR occurring rapidly. In one of PwC Survey of Global HR Challenges: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, on behalf of the World Federation of Personnel Management Associations (WFPMA), several challenges for human resource management were revealed. The survey result, despite its national & regional difference concludes the common global HR challenges. The survey disclosed the following top 10 human resource management challenges:Challenges% of Companies1. Change management48%2. Leadership development35%3. HR effectiveness measurement27%4. Organizational effectiveness25%5. Compensation24%6. Staffing: Recruitment and availability of skilled local labor24%7. Succession planning20%8. Learning and development19%9. Staffing: Retention16%10. Benefits costs: Health & welfare13%Lets discuss some of the challenges.
Image: Pixabay1. Change ManagementChange management is the process of planning and leading a change from its conception through its implementation. It is concerned with both the task and personnel aspects of implementing a change, as well as ensuring that the changes are effective and acceptable to stakeholders.In other words, it is a process of planning, designing and controlling your change initiatives. It helps you prepare for change by identifying current challenges, creating a strategy for implementing change, implementing the changes and monitoring their impact on the organization’s processes or procedures.Since this is generally not a focal point for HR professional training and development, change management represents a particular challenge for personnel management.The WFPMA finds that “This is primary issue to move business forward. An intensified focus on training may be needed to develop added competencies to deal with change management.”
Various Challenges of Change Management:-● Ineffective communication is one of the main challenges of change management. When people are confused about their roles and responsibilities or don’t understand what their new jobs entail, they spend more time and resources clarifying those issues than they would if they knew how to get along well from the start.● The biggest change management challenge is to convince employees to accept the change and put them on the same track as senior management.● The failure of a change management project can be attributed to poor planning and conflicts among staff members.● People resist change because they are used to their respective circumstances, which makes them feel secure. When people become too comfortable in the presen, there is no room for future growth.● Change management involves risk. It is the biggest disadvantage of this process because it is not certain that a change will have a positive impact. The main issue occurs when a change has a negative impact on your business, causing you to lose investment or share value in the market, or even causing your business to fail altogether.● Even though a change may have been desirable, you might experience some losses as a result of the change. This can be the loss of experienced employees who do not want to make the change or the loss of customers who have been with your business for years.Change management is a vital part of any organization’s success. At the same time, it’s an area that is often over looked and underdeveloped. You need to understand how change management impacts your employees, customers and organizations.2. Leadership Development
As the second of the biggest challenges for human resource management, leadership development needs to be a critical strategic initiative. HR professionals are expected to provide the essential processes, tools, and necessary communication to make the best selection and develop the future leaders of the organization.Leadership development is the process of improving skills and competencies that undergird, or contribute to the effective performance of an organizational unit. It is a set of activities to raise awareness and enhance the capabilities of individuals so they have an impact on their work and organizations as a whole.In other words, it is a professional process that helps people get to a higher level of performance and allows them to be more effective in their careers. There are many challenges faced in leadership development which are discussed below.The WFPMA reports that “Across the globe, leadership development has been identified as a critical strategic initiative in ensuring that the right employees are retained, that the culture of the organization supports performance from within to gain market position, and that managers are equipped to take on leadership roles of the future so that the organization is viable in the long term.” Challenges Of Leadership Development:-● A common reason for a talent development plan to fail is that it lacks the support of managers and senior leaders. In order for any strategic plan to succeed, all parties need to be held answerable.
Even if your senior leaders are not involved in the day-to-day execution of your talent development plan, they should be interested in its success and invested in its success● Many leaders recognize the importance of identifying high potentials, but they often struggle to find these top performers.● The demands on organizations are becoming greater, and many struggles lie ahead for leadership teams as they attempt to determine the needs of their future workforce. These challenges are amplified when leaders do not take time for strategic planning and talent development. Determining future workforce needs starts by finding out what strengths, needs, and goals exist among your own people.● Many people who attend leadership development programs are drawn to high-status and high-paying leadership positions, but they have little talent for leading a team.● The major problem faced in leadership development is insufficient time. It is difficult to find enough time for every individual. The time required to develop a leader varies tremendously and depends on the developmental characteristics of the individual concerned, the degree of readiness and competence, as well as his progress toward reaching the set goals.Leadership development is a long term commitment and not a one day training. Employee engagement is usually expensive, complex and time consuming. However employee engagement programs are, but seem to fall short or be poorly designed or executed.3. HR Effectiveness Measurement
How can improvement happen without the right tools to measure HR effectiveness or People analytics? As with many other areas of business, this profession also needs to be able to measure results in terms of transaction management, as well as in terms of the positive influence on business. “Utilizing metrics to determine effectiveness is the beginning of a shift from perceiving HR’s role as purely an administrative function to viewing the HR team as a true strategic partner within the organization,” the WFPMA says. “In fact, the next section reports that survey participants believe a critical future issue for HR will be organizational effectiveness – again supporting HR’s critical role as a strategic partner to management.”The shift is significant as it represents movement from simply counting the numbers hired to determining the ROI of collective and individual hires on a long-term basis. Going beyond measuring turnover, this new approach considers ‘bad’ turnover and ‘good’ turnover along with the overall cost of replacement hires.”HR effectiveness is an element of HR management that seeks to identify specific performance measurement methodologies for business areas. It’s increased focus on the development of asystematic way to measure employee feedback, job satisfaction and other key indicators for HR management.
HR effectiveness measurement is a crucial part of business success. Companies that invest in employee engagement and ongoing learning, have found that it delivers remarkable results. It’s all about creating an environment where employees can grow, learn and thrive but various stumbling blocks comes in the path of HR effectiveness measurement, some of them are-● From the viewpoint of process or service, the HR Department can perform a set of functions. Such as recruiting, training and development, motivation evaluation, staff selection and development, compensation planning, career management etc. which are closely related to this field. The HR manager also has to implement the organizational policy of company management in daily work activities. Therefore, the effectiveness measure is indispensable for the HR manager to evaluate their performance.● There are various problems related to HR effectiveness measurement. First of all, there is a big question about the nature of this problem. Whether it’s a weak link in the chain or something even bigger than that, we are just not sure. But several studies have shown that one of the major problems HR professionals face on a daily basis is how they lead up to the results they expect from business leaders.● Most of the companies are facing HR’s effectiveness measurement problems. It is found that the HR departments
○ Fails to identify and measure the employees’ feedback on their performance.
○ They fail to provide incentives for their employees to perform in a better way and improve their level of performance.
○ They also fail to let them know about the opportunities for development in their organization’s policies, culture and work environment.
○ They don’t develop good communication between supervisors and their subordinates which leads to lack of trust on both sides.● Not all companies have the same measure system. Just because a functionality works well in one organization, it doesn’t mean that it will work well in another organization.There are numerous problems related to in effectiveness of measure for HR effectiveness. It is necessary that we need to fix these measures if we are going to make any impact on our company’s progress.Challenges Faced in Staffing
Staffing is the act of recruiting, hiring and retaining personnel by a company or organization. The word ‘staffing’ is used in a variety of ways to describe the process of bringing in new workers to fill open positions or replace departing staff members.This process can take on several different forms depending on the type of business you are running and according to your business’s specific needs.The world has changed, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the challenge human resource professionals face in recruiting the right employees in a competitive market.Challenges of staffing:-
- When recruiting employees it can be challenging because no two jobs are ever exactly the same.
- The challenges faced in staffing are mainly due to the fact that companies are facing skills shortages, as well as mergers and acquisitions. The scarcity of skilled workers has led to workers being replaced by less qualified employees and companies out-sourcing their labor.This has led to businesses becoming more reliant on IT to create the information that is required for business functions. In addition, the industry has been affected by technological changes which has created new job roles across a number of industries.
- It’s not easy finding good quality professionals, especially the ones that can deliver on time. It’s even worse when you have a tight deadline set and have to settle for less than you want. For example, having a poor database of skills can cause major difficulties in hiring.Having great people isn’t just about being able to find them; it’s about determining which ones are the best fit for your business, as well as having the skills required for the job.
- Staffing is a major problem for most businesses. The problem is that the right person can cost you a lot of money, but equally important is the wrong person can cause you to fold faster than you plan.
- When it comes to staffing, the challenges faced can be more than just trying to find a great candidate. It also includes actually figuring out how you want to run your recruiting strategy as well as what your needs are within regards to hiring personnel.
Many factors affect staffing decisions, and answers can vary depending on the organization. However, one common thought is that quality of hires is more important than quantity of hires. Also, the quality of there cruiting process often affects subsequent hiring quality.Challenges Related To Organisational effectiveness
Organisational effectiveness is the way that an organisation is perceived and evaluated by its external stakeholders. Organisational effectiveness means being able to perform and manage your business effectively so that it can be successful in terms of profit and growth.This means that the goal, to which all efforts are directed, is to make an organisation more effective and efficient. It is closely linked with organisational behaviour. The organisation should thus have a clear plan of action designed to achieve its vision and mission, else it would be labelled as inefficient or ineffective.Various Challenges related to organisational effectiveness:-“Abad system will beat a good person every time.”–
W.EDeming● High turnover is an organizational issue where employees leave their companies frequently and at high volumes. To compensate, the organization has to regularly hire new people to fill those roles. This can cause delays in company workflows, as well as resources being taken up by training new hires.● Even when a team is composed of executives, project leaders, or production workers, it can be difficult to blend the personalities of diverse individuals into a cohesive unit. This can be an enormous challenge.● Failed to develop key competencies and behaviours. Organizations often have hardworking people with good intentions, but despite their experience in the industry and subject-matter expertise, creating a high-performance organization is often still out of their reach.● Without a keen awareness of the culture and environment that exists in a business, building a solid organization can be difficult. Managers are often overworked and distracted by the demand on their time. Market conditions change quickly, and new challenges arise every day.● Poor communication and feedback are two of the most common pitfalls one encounters. Lack of honesty, constructive dialogue about performance, and coaching create a culture of secrecy, which is damaging to the growth and even the effectiveness of the organization.“A bad leader can take a good staff and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose motivation.”
Challenges Faced In Employee RetentionEmployee retention is the key to growing and scaling up your business successfully. Many people fail to understand how important employee retention truly is and what it takes to maintain high employee retention levels.If employees quit, then you’re losing customers and revenue within a short period impacting your business growth strategy. There are several challenges faced in employee retention that you as an employer need to understand to avoid losing a gem from your company.Challenges- employee retention:-● One of the major challenges faced in employee retention is the lack of awareness among employees regarding their strengths and weaknesses. This often results in an unproductive work culture. Many times, employees fail to see their skill sets being utilized in the organization which contributes to a loss of focus and productivity● The most important factor due to which the employees might be leaving their job is the company’s working environment because it has a direct impact on productivity and employee happiness.● Many employees have high salary expectations, which can lead to retention problems. An employee may quote for an exceptionally high salary, which is beyond the budget of the organization. Salary budgets can be raised to some extent but not beyond a certain limit.● There is cut-throat competition to attract the best talent in the market. Companies go a long way to attract top talent from their competitors. The availability of such lucrative offers makes it difficult to retain good resources for long.● Boredom may be debilitating to any employee. If an employee continues in the same position for many years, he or she may become bored. The management must go for job rotation and provide such employees with the opportunity to do something new. If there isn’t job rotation, then employees might look for other better avenues.● Recruitment is an important part of any organization’s future; a good hiring decision will yield opportunities for growth and success, while a bad one can set back a company’s progress. Candidates often lie during interviews to get a job. Once they’re hired and begin working, people discover that they were not compatible with the position or with their new boss. Problems arise when candidates are placed in roles for which they are not suited and thus look for a change.● An organization can’t meet the expectations of all its employees. This is because some employees are too demanding, and they expect so much that it is difficult to fulfil all their requests. If the unrealistic expectations of one or two employees cannot be met by an organization, then these people look for a job change.● Employee retention is a major problem in today’s business world. While small businesses may experience turnover at a higher rate because of their size, it is still an issue in larger companies with more employees. One of the main reasons that employees move on to different jobs is out of concern for how they are treated by their employers and co-workers. One of the biggest problems with employee retention is that you tend to only think about it once it becomes a problem. It is much easier to realise you have an issue when you’re already well into the scenario.
Image: PixabayChallenge Faced In Employee CompensationEmployee compensation is a monetary payment made to employees by their employers. It is the amount that an employee earns when hired, and awarded as a part of his or her basic salary.The employer may receive additional payments which are known as non-monetary awards like bonuses or gift vouchers to motivate its employees. These incentives may be given at regular intervals or when some specific event takes place. It is a vital part of a company’s success.The primary objective of this program is to increase the productivity of your employees by providing them with the right tools and resources they need to perform their job efficiently.Numerous factors contribute to the challenge of employee compensation management. To build a solid foundation for your business, you should understand what these challenges are:-● Start-up companies often include non-cash compensation in their employee pay packages. The valuation of non-cash compensation is often knotty for employees to cherish.● Compensation packages are formulated and applied differently in different organizations. However, almost all companies follow the rule of confidentiality when it comes to salary distributions. Confidentiality of payments increases management’s complexity by requiring that employees be provided with details regarding salaries.● While the average employee compensation package has been growing in recent years, it was not always so. While starting salaries have gone up, benefits and perks have also gone up. This popularity of benefits has led to some confusion about what is included in an employee’s total compensation package.● Small businesses are always under pressure to do more with less. They can’t afford extra benefits for employees, like pension plans and healthcare, because these benefits typically have higher administrative costs than the small business can manage.● Employers are struggling to get ahead of the rising cost of healthcare and employee compensation. With health insurance costs increasing at an alarming rate, employers can face serious financial hardships if they aren’t careful.● Many employers today are faced with the challenge of increasing their compensation packages without impacting their bottom line. While this seems like an insurmountable task. As you can see, employee compensation is not a simple process. While many companies attempt to keep salary information in a locked box and away from prying eyes, it is important to be aware of these challenges that must be overcome when developing employee compensation plansProblems Related To Learning And Development
Learning and development is a process of getting better at something over time. It is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. Learning is the process of acquiring new knowledge or skills through experience or education that contributes to your career development and improves your performance at work. Development means increasing the capacity or capability of something or someone by gradually building up, increasing, or strengthening its potential. Learning and developmental problems are a cause of concern for most managers and executives. There are various issues related to this area that need immediate attention and control. This article highlights such problems.Challenges – Learning And Development:-● Learning is an act that happens over some time and this process should not be done by individuals in isolation. This can often prove to be a problem for people who are trying to learn about the topic and gain knowledge about it.● Change is a challenge for any organization, and organizational change presents both opportunities and problems for learning and development professionals. As companies undergo mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring, organizational change often results in a need for employees to assume new roles. Planning a development program can be difficult when an organization is in such flux.● Learning and development professionals are also challenged by the impact of technological change. The rate of technical advancement necessitates training employees on new software and digital technologies. Mostly the technical training employees received as a part of their education gets outworn a few years after they’ve graduated.● How can one get people to engage and learn from training? This is a challenge all learning and development professionals face when trying to reach their audience. They must find the right delivery method, offer better incentives, and tailor their message to their target audience. If anything goes wrong all hard work will go in vain.We can see that there are many problems related to learning and development professionals. We have talked about some of the most important problems here. In order to avoid such serious problems you need to understand their root cause and emphasize on the awareness, knowledge, skills and ability of your employees at all the levels and departments. Remember a successful learning and development program requires a way to track employee performance after training.
Image: PixabayWhat survey numbers speakThe challenges discussed percolate to numbers realizing the significant impact of trends and challenges in human resource management. There are many variables that influence human resource management. HR Leadership Council has released the following statistics of some of upcoming changes- Every fourth has high potential to leave their organization in the next year- When managers become good coaches by effectively developing employees, they improve performance by up to 25%Three out of five organizations have either restructured or plan to restructure within the next six months- Lesser employee engagement further reduction in overall productivity by 3 to 5%- Leaders with strong people development skills are 50% more likely to outperform revenue expectations- Delivering on critical onboarding activities boosts new hire performance by 11.3%- 77% of midsized companies use (or plan to use) wellness to reduce costs46% of midsized-company CFOs anticipate a merger or acquisition in less than six months.ConclusionMaking changes to fit the landscape of today’s workplace is rarely a good idea. Change can be difficult, but it’s necessary. If you want to keep your business competitive, you need to proactively address these challenges in your HR department.If you’re experiencing challenges with hiring, retaining, or onboarding new staff members, for example, you can try to address those challenges during the hiring process. Or, you can create an onboarding process that’s both flexible and easy to use.To make the most of your HR solution, it’s important to understand how your employees experience their jobs. This means paying close attention to the ways that employees communicate with one another and how their experiences change over time.
Image: PixabayRegardless of their source, HR challenges often involve one thing in common: HR is facing a lot of pressure to ensure that employee experiences align with business goals. That’s because businesses increasingly recognize that having great staff is a key differentiator for success.https://20.219.154.25/greatest-challenges-faced-by-hr-survey-discussion-and-reasons/