As our workforce continues to change and evolve, so do the challenges facing your HR department. Some of the current concerns in our workforce include competition for talent, retention, multi-generational employees, company culture, diversity, wellness and training, just to name a few!
Competition for Talent
A continuous requirement for HR is finding and onboarding new employees. Employees lost through attrition, layoffs or disciplinary action have to be replaced to sustain or increase production. Selecting and interviewing candidates with the right set of skills, personality and dependability is an involved process. This is true both of positions requiring specific education and skills or general labor where you can receive dozens, if not hundreds of applicants.
HR managers must have systematic procedures and hiring partners in place for rapidly narrowing down the field of candidates, scheduling, conducting a series of interviews and checking references. Developing more efficient recruitment procedures is a constant demand on HR and one Essential Personnel can help with.
Retention
Employees are the lifeblood of every company, providing the skills and experience required to keep productivity levels up. Your business invests significant time and money into ensuring maximum productivity wherever possible.
Employee retention is a fine balancing act between company culture, work-life balance, development opportunities, pay and incentives. The HR department needs to provide each employee with the right combination to satisfy the employee without compromising company interests in the process. They also need to keep accurate records of these combinations to ensure that the agreed packages are being delivered to employees.
Multi-Generational Employees
When a new generation enters the workforce, there’s an understandable learning curve that takes place. The way work has always been done inevitably changes to encompass the different workstyles and cultural outlooks of younger employees. However, these new mindsets and approaches are often in direct competition with the ones that were there before.
Handling different mindsets and cultural preferences can be tricky. It is important to allow varying work styles to coexists and thrive. One way to do this is to establish a culture of understanding among the workforce—acknowledging that there are differing work views and that the company can accommodate all of them.
Company Culture
Company culture can be an afterthought, because many leaders believe that the company’s values and beliefs are already known to all. But can you be sure of that? Unclear values can lead to drift and eventually to counterproductive behavior.
Think about creating a company culture statement to clearly communicate your company’s values and ensure all team members know and understand.
Diversity
Globalization is affecting every business, in every part of the world. This means more sales, and a diversity of employee experiences, ideas, and perspectives.
Cultural awareness programs can help employees recognize the benefits of diversity, like better ideas and innovations, and a wider customer reach. Team building activities are also an effective approach for integrating employees of different cultures and uniting them towards a common business objective.
Wellness
A healthy company culture is built intentionally. It is about creating a way of life in the workplace that integrates a total health model into every aspect of business practice, from company policies to everyday work activities. Total health is a culture that’s supportive of career, emotional, financial, physical and social well-being. Examples include offering flexible work schedules, giving workers latitude in decision-making, setting reasonable health goals, providing social support, enforcing health-promoting policies and establishing a healthy physical work environment.
Training
Once you’ve hired your new employees, your HR job placement agency partner can become invaluable in helping with their training so that problems and injuries don’t occur. Without proper training by a professional person or team, your new business runs the risk of employees not being able to do their work, leaving, or even suing the business.
If you find yourself having a difficult time with any of these HR issues, contact one of our experienced consultants today to discuss how we can help.
Sources: RecruiterBox: 5 Issues HR Deals with in Every Company; Tulane University Law School: 3 Common HR Issues in the Workplace; Anchor Advisors: 6 Most Common Small Business HR Issues to Avoid; HR Zone: Top 10 Issues for HR Teams & How to Fix The; efront: The Top 7 HR Challenges and How to Face Them; Harvard Business Review: How to Desing a Corporate Wellness Plan that Actually Works
