Top 4 Human Resource Management Challenges & Solutions

As much as this is an interesting read, you are probably here with the hope to find answers and solutions to some of your sticky human resource management challenges that refuse to go away despite your best efforts.

The easiest way to overcome such challenges is by implementing Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), wherein the company outsourced all its hiring and staffing needs to a trustworthy recruitment agency.

There are, however, some challenges that can be dealt with by an RPO as well as an internal human resources team. So, without much ado, let us look up the top four HR challenges and their most effective solutions.

1. Challenge: Retaining existing talent

Retaining existing employees is a common human resource management challenge, simply because employers fail to recognise and appreciate the effort and hard work of their existing employees. On the contrary, It is easier to retain your existing employees than to hire new employees. They have invested their time and energy for the growth of your company so you must reward them with better compensation and promotions.

Solution: By focusing on employee retention, you strengthen the loyalty of your staff. As a result, the workforce will stay employed with the company for a longer period, reducing your attrition rate as well as your recruiting, operating, training and orientation expenses. The human resource department should develop various strategies for employee retention, such as:

• • Transparent communication between management and employees
  • An appealing and inviting work culture
  • Encourage more employee engagement
  • Providing better learning and development opportunities
  • Showing respect to the employees across all levels
  • Recognizing the hard work of employees by offering appreciation along with incentives

For instance, at a restaurant, the highest honour and appreciation is reserved for the best chef or the best waiter. But, restaurants cannot operate smoothly without the effort and hard work of the back-end workers such as pot scrubbers and dishwashers.

It is important to treat each employee equally irrespective of their role and contribution to the growth of your business. Provide equal recognition to every deserving employee, not just the top management.

2. Challenge: Attracting new talent

The young digital and mobile generation fails to demonstrate the levels of loyalty that can be associated with earlier generations. Too much intrusion of technology and information can be blamed for this problem. This makes attracting new talent the most critical human resource management challenge. Millennials are more susceptible to frequent job changes for far more than monetary compensation. Sometimes the reasons can be as simple as company reputation and work culture.

Solution: Employers can use appropriate human resource management and technology to create an attractive and engaging online presence. You can use networking and social media platforms to showcase your work culture, core values, accomplishments and other positive aspects of your company to attract the best talent. The human resources department can help formulate innovative recruitment plans by incorporating business goals and taking into account the recruitment efforts of your competitors.

As per staffing agencies, enhancing your employee engagement is the best way to attract new talent to your company. Enhance your company culture and advertise it, and make sure it reaches your prospective candidates. One of the best HR solutions is to attract and hire top talent through proactive advertising.

Rather than wait for your ideal candidate to find you, you find them. Analyze their activities on social media and find where they network online. Once you’ve found them, pursue them with the best offer. And remember, money is not always the primary reason for a job change. Highlight the positives of your organization, such as:

• • Learning and development opportunities
  • Transparency
  • Diversity
  • Leadership development opportunities
  • Peer to peer training
  • Support for social causes
  • Events sponsored by the company

These factors are a great way to build your brand image and lure good prospect traffic towards your recruitment efforts.

3. Challenge: Creating leaders within

It is easy to create leaders from within the firm, however, things can get difficult because employee retention and engagement are a human resources challenge. Creating good leaders who play an instrumental role in taking the business forward should be the most significant strategic initiatives of the company. And, HR managers along with senior executives play an important role in instilling leadership characteristics within your existing employees.

Solution: An employee becomes a leader when they are provided with better opportunities. And, creating teams allows your employees to share their ideas and enhance their leadership skills, bringing about organizational effectiveness.

As managers play a key role in instilling good leadership values and qualities in their team members, it is essential for staffing and HR managers to demonstrate leadership values and skills while interacting with the employees on the office floor.

Senior executives or senior management can also play a crucial role in leadership development by funding and encouraging administrative support services and leadership training services.

The human resources department can play the role of the torchbearer by conceptualising and implementing various initiatives, such as certification programs, educational opportunities, cross-training, leadership development programs and, finally, a chance to handle special projects as the team leader.

If there is a need to introduce change management to reveal leaders among existing employees, this must be headed by someone in staffing or HR solutions. An HR manager or recruitment agency could help out with this as well.

4. Challenge: Creating a robust company culture driven by values

It has become more essential than ever to create a healthy company culture that is driven by the core values of the company, as it has gained increasing significance in each aspect of the business. The focus is so profound that all the recruiting efforts today emphasize more on workplace culture rather than simply throwing the light on salary and compensation benefits. That’s because the millennial workforce considers work culture as the prime influencing factor for a job change.

One powerful example is that of Google: the company promotes a unique work culture and organizational effectiveness where employees enjoy various benefits like on-site gym, dog-friendly spaces, free meals and employee parties and trips. Having a great work culture is like winning half the battle against HR challenges.

Solution: The grand freebies promoted by Google may not be a feasible option for a medium-sized company with limited profit margins. But that should not stop you from getting creative and initiating the process. You can begin by encouraging transparent communication between the employees and the management and by developing innovative ways to enhance employee engagement. Such activities mainly depend on your industry but you can start by promoting diversity at work and supporting charity based activities.

If you really want to promote a team-based work culture and organizational effectiveness, then empower your managers to encourage their team to perform better and recognise and appreciate the best performing team.

Simply expecting things to change will not solve any of these HR challenges. However, by taking employee-centric initiatives and utilizing the right tools, you can solve most of the prevailing problems. Include your managers, employees and other stakeholders in the decision making process. It will ensure effective implementation and efficient results.