Business Challenges Faced by HR Today
HR has always been a function tackling issues related to employees. HR as a domain has always taken a backseat in businesses where the lime light 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 the recruiting the right talent in the company but is also responsible for their training, development, growth, career management etc. HR is the invisible force which 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.
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Challenges faced by marketing is mostly driven by external factors, where the brand and marketing team have to work on 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.
HR has evolved into a much more dynamic domain which 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 onboarded, 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 like role diversification, recognition & rewards, enhanced salaries etc.
2. Retaining Human Talent despite Automation
Artificial Intelligence and automation are one of key areas where HR is moving in the future. From managing employee attendances 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 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 resolution through automated systems that they tend to forget the important roles that HR are 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 the 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. Where as 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 the future roles or to prepare for a JV & merger or ensure timely upgradation 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.
