What Are The Major Challenges Facing HR Managers and How to Overcome Them
By Space Coast Daily // October 28, 2021
Lately, human resources managers have had to go through various tumultuous phases. It has always been challenging to manage people, but the technological advancements — ushering into the digital age— have only added to the complexity of their job. Any company relies on HRs to take care of its employees — right from hiring to retirement.
To further aggravate things, the pandemic has complicated the situation even more to the detriment of human resources professionals — the increased transparency because of social media, the remoteness of teams, and the perpetual software updates.
Human resource management calls for identifying and overcoming problems that employees face in a company, apart from training, onboarding and monitoring their performance. A good HR management team can take any organization to the top tier, and add value to the lives of its employees while doing so. This highlights the important place that HR managers occupy in the hierarchy of the functioning of any organization.
In the wake of everything that we have discussed so far, it’s only logical that we talk about the challenges faced by HR managers in their daily work and suggest ways in which they can overcome them. Some pressing challenges faced by HR professionals along with their solutions are going to be discussed as follows:
1. Attracting and Retaining Top Talent
The new developments in the world in the last two years have made attracting high-quality talent even tougher. Retaining such talent is even more difficult today because it requires more deliberation, time, and effort than ever before.
The basic requirement for performing these tasks is: having a clear understanding of the job requirements and the goals of the company.
The solution lies in advertising on the mediums and platforms where the possibility of finding the target audience is higher, which requires carefully studying the trends.
The next step after generating a pool of prospects should be screening — based on questions related to their willingness to learn, appetite for facing challenges, and adapting to the evolving nature of work itself.
2. Developing Leaders
Keeping the management team of a company engaged and motivated is not an easy task as it is. Add to that the pressure of developing leadership — it becomes a critical challenge faced by HRs. Developing leaders is essential for keeping the company on the path of continuous improvement and growth. The remoteness of jobs has only exacerbated the challenge of mentoring managers into becoming leaders.
The solution lies in creating ample opportunities daily in the form of specific micro tasks — to foster a culture of competition within the organization. Creating such opportunities every day keeps them on their feet and never lets them lose sight of the end goal: becoming a leader.
3. Training the workforce
Workforce development is one of the most crucial tasks performed by HRs. Training the employees and fostering a learning culture in the workplace leads to their development and growth in the longer run. The challenge is to make this training accessible and relevant to the ever-changing trends in the industry.
The solution lies in investing in certified tools and software to keep track of employee training at every step. These resources implement training programs effectively, but the conceptualization of these programs still requires research and diligent studying of the newest trends. Combining the two can solve this problem effectively.
4. Employee Compensation
Tracking employee compensation requires finesse and detailed log-keeping because adequate remuneration is vital for employee retention. Taking care of the payroll has always been a daunting task for HRs, given that everything boils down to this from an employee’s perspective.
The solution lies in availing the help of professional payroll services such as Paylocity, which provide cloud-based payroll solutions and human capital management. Employing such state of the art software tools guarantees the resolution of this problem.
5. Adapting to Innovation
With ever-evolving technology and newer innovations, businesses need to be quick to adapt and overcome. In the event of failing to do so, they face the risk of falling behind their competitors. Embracing these innovations and getting up to speed with them is not an easy task and keeps the HRs on their feet.
The solution lies in communication. It is mandatory to ensure that you communicate the when, how, and why to the employees in your company. Setting clear goals eases the process of adapting to newer technologies and initiatives aimed at their adoption.
In addition to communication, as mentioned above, training plays a crucial role in overcoming this challenge— by educating and preparing employees to tackle these changes.
Conclusion:
HR managers have a tough job, ripe with challenges. The way to go is identifying the root cause of these challenges and keeping a cool head while tackling them. A systematic approach can make the process of overcoming these challenges an interesting one.