HR has always been a function of tackling issues related to employees. HR as a domain has always taken a backseat in businesses where the limelight more often than is taken by Finance or Operations or Marketing. But the fact of the matter is that HR is an equally important pillar every organization must focus upon.
Human resources are not only responsible for recruiting the right talent in the company but are also responsible for their training, development, growth, career management, etc. HR is the invisible force that keeps the employees motivated and aligned with the company vision and goals. But HR comes with its own set of challenges, especially in today’s scenario.
Challenges faced by marketing are mostly driven by external factors, where the brand and marketing team have to work on the product, positioning, etc to ensure higher sales than competitors. Finance and regulatory have to focus on aspects like cost-cutting, taxations, revenue calculations, etc. But HR has a much more formidable role. They have to constantly monitor and take care of employees who are doing the above activities for the company. Not only do these employees have confidential data with them but they also need to motivated to contribute with their best efforts.
Read More:
HRCI Professional in Human Resources (PHR)
HR has evolved into a much more dynamic domain that required constant improvement in processes and needs improvisations to ensure positivity stays amongst the employees. Some of the most critical challenges that HR is facing these days are as below.
1. Ensuring Good Employee Retention
Companies spend a lot of time and energy in recruiting the right candidate for the right job. Once onboard, rigorous training, skill development, etc of employees are carried out regularly. All these activities are aligned with the vision of the company and ensure quality deliverables from employees. However, with competition companies prowling to grab top-performers, poaching of good employees becomes inevitable. This creates a serious pressure on HR to try and retain good employees. Attrition happens as employees look for easy pay rises which they get when they join competitor companies. Thus, HR has to constantly provide incentives and motivation to employees to reduce attrition and ensure that the right talent is retained in the long run for the benefit of the company. Some activities for employee retention are role diversification, recognition & rewards, enhanced salaries, etc.
2. Retaining Human Talent despite Automation
Artificial Intelligence and automation are some of the key areas where HR is moving in the future. From managing employee attendance to monitoring employee performances to solving basic queries, a lot of HR duties are now assigned and resolved by machines. This is being done with the objective of removing any redundancy and saving the quality time of the HR. But in many cases, HR is losing the human touch. Too much automation is creating a void in terms of communication between HR and employees. Employees end up getting many resolutions through automated systems that they tend to forget the important roles that HR is playing. To tackle such scenarios, it is critical for HRs to engage with employees regularly. Also, personal issues of employees must be resolved at a personal level with human emotions. This would help HR in building a stronger trust with the employees.
3. Evolving with Changing Market & Business
It appears that only marketing and product strategy and financial planning have to be changed with changing business and market scenarios. Whereas the fact of the matter is that HR has a deep role to play in the evolution of a company. Whether it is hiring the right candidate for future roles or to prepare for a JV & merger or ensure timely up-gradation of employee skills, all these are managed by
HR. All the other business departments put forth their business requirements, but ultimately it is the HR who brings the most capable person to best-fit the position.
HR is constantly under the stress to perform and especially in the current scenario. From fighting artificial intelligence to retaining the right talent to evolving with changing times, HR employees have to be constantly on their toes. And to overcome all these obstacles and challenges, HR always has to be one step ahead of the game.
