CHALLENGES IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management is becoming increasingly complex these days. The heritage and growth of the Human Resource Management profession is closely linked to people's attitudes about work, the evolution of employment-related laws and sociological trends.
Different responsibilities that HR managers are performing include recruiting, hiring, organizational development, communication, performance management, coaching, policy recommendation, salary/benefits, team building, employee relations and leadership.
some major hr challenges in the field of human resource management are high attrition rates, compliance issues, managing people, talent shortage, professionals hopping jobs, motivating the workforce, competency development, retention and recruitment, training, trust factor and other minor but persistent issues.
High attrition rates
A gradual reduction in work force without firing of personnel, as when workers resign or retire and are not replaced is called attrition. The challenge facing the industry is how to keep this as low as possible.
Compliance with the law
Human Resource Management thinks and worries about how to meet the many requirements and restrictions of labor laws, state laws that may differ significantly from place to place and industry to industry.
Managing people
Managing people in the industry is critical, as Human Resource Management is the soul of the organisation. Since there is a high demand for the competent workers, often talented professionals enjoy high bargaining power due to the knowledge and skills in hand. Managing the talent pool of people is essential for the growth of the industry at large.
Talent shortage
Evidences for talent shortage are many. Delays in projects caused by movement of personnel, delays in filling open positions with qualified personnel, wage increases, companies having more difficulty finding key talent, project failures and systems malfunctions caused by gradual loss of qualified people in the industry. This is not a labor shortage, rather its a talent shortage.
Job hopping
Employees today like to climb the corporate ladder as fast as they can. To prevent employees from job hopping, companies should provide scope for personal and professional growth. If people can accomplish their growth objectives with one employer over a long period of time, they will usually continue in the same place.
Motivating the employees
As the competition is growing rapidly in the industry, technological edge as well as talented manpower has become a crucial factor for survival. HR managers are now performing the role of motivators for their employees to adopt new changes so that they can survive.
Competency development
If HR managers are not competent enough, this will have a direct impact on the organization. There is now a need to develop competent Human Resource Management professionals who are sound in Human Resource Management practices with strong business knowledge.
Employee Retention
What can the business do if it is not able to retain the qualified employees? In some instances, re-examine qualifications, invest in training, partner with educational institutions and agencies that try to train and place the unemployed. Surely there are many more answers including financial and monetary benefits for the employees.
Recruitment
What can the business do to fill the needed positions with readily available, but under qualified labor? Apart from being an important subsystem in Human Resource Management, recruitment is one of the major issues these days. HR managers play a vital role in creating assets for the organization in the form of quality manpower.
Training
Another challenge for HR managers is to put systems in place to make the people a perfect fit for the job. To overcome this problem, organizations give utmost priority to training and skill enhancement programmes on a continuous basis. Employees find this regular training quite useful, apart from the feeling of security it provides.
Trust and loyalty issues
This is an important area of concern for the industry these days. The IT industry and the BPO industry are facing more and more challenges in this area. Everyone is aware of the reports about an employee of a call centre who allegedly sold bank account details. Every organization needs to have a fool-proof security system apart from building loyalty and commitment among employees as part of HR strategies, which are common for any type of organization.
Other miscellaneous issues
Most HR professionals deal with many minor but persistent aggravations with their workers every day. Everything from chronic tardiness in the mornings, lunch hours that stretch too long, frequent absenteeism, employee dishonesty, and workers who simply cannot get along. Unfortunately, dealing with these minor HR complaints can sap the energy of HR managers and tie them in knots worse than any full-blown crisis.
Human Resource Management should move from being reactive, transactional and administration based to being more and more practical oriented. The larger picture should be taken into account in order to be better informed, closer to the business and more practical in approach. The objective should be to make business strategies happen through people.
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