THERE NEVER SEEMS TO BE A SHORTAGE OF HR CHALLENGES
The challenge or trouble with HR is that theory and reality are two vastly different things. This can be said for many careers, but since we’re on the subject of HR, let’s focus on a few challenges that human resources is up against in 2023. Leadership (or perhaps lack thereof), Change management, Employee experience, Recruitment, Workforce planning and Strategic organizational design.
Leadership
Whether or not leaders are born and not made is debatable, but if one looks at the failures of managers in large and small organizations, maybe there isn’t much of a debate. Why else would employees call for empathy and a more “human” approach to leadership or management? AI is not going to resolve the problem.
Society is always evolving and work expectations are always changing and perhaps leaders need to be aware that their roles are becoming remarkably more complex. What we would suggest to leaders, is an objective approach, training for line managers and supervisors, consistent employee experience surveys to monitor situations, gaining foresight, analyzing data and resolving the core of the problems.
Change Management and strategic organizational design
No two employees are exactly the same. Some are open to change and some are reluctant to change. In the era of technology and AI, human resource executives need to be aware, not only of how digital transformation is going to impact revenue but also how employees are going to respond. There needs to be a strategic way in which change is implemented and managed from the perspective of the employee. And it is a process that takes time and should not just be thrust upon employees.
Employee Experience
There are many instances where staff reported a great first day at the office, but then six months later they quit. Why is that? Because the employee experience should go beyond a great onboarding system. There has to be periodic feedback on how that employee is doing and there are various strategic ways that companies can keep track of their experience. Today’s employee is rather career oriented and leaders need to find ways to develop their careers, by promotion, skills development or building new responsibilities within their current roles.
Recruitment
AI and recruitment. Once companies stop relying on technology to do their recruitment for them, they would have access to better talent and skills. AI can only do so much. Bring the human factor back into recruitment and you’ll find the people you overlooked because of AI, may have been a much better candidate. Another recruitment challenge are the ridiculous “business lingo” – change your wording to that which everyone understands and you may find more people with the right skills apply.
Work and its future
A thorough assessment of your organization and where it is heading should give HR managers a clearer direction on the type of planning they need to do in terms of remote or hybrid work, recruitment, future talent needs. There should be a way that managers can foresee in light of political, environmental, economic change, what it would mean for their organization and their employees. If they anticipate a high staff turnover then they had better have contingency plans in
place.