HR management is changing. The focus of companies is now on a strategic outlook where HR professionals look at improving the work environment and plan out human resource needs. Here are the major HR challenges faced today in Indian companies.
Managing Knowledge Workers
Knowledge workers in today’s workforce are individuals who are valued for their ability to act and communicate with knowledge within a specific subject area. They are different from the traditional group of employees in terms of higher educational qualifications, taking up responsibilities at a lesser age and experience, high bargaining power due to high level of knowledge and skills, and techno suaveness. Managing this set of people is essential for any industry and a major HR challenge.
Managing Technological Challenges
Continuous implementation of new technologies, integration with existing systems, and ensuring cost-effectiveness, places a never-ending stream of challenges. Workers, who are usually comfortable in the way they work, can anticipate change as something that creates a zone of discomfort and many will not feel at ease with the desired change. Therefore, preparing the work force to accept the technological changes and learn to work with it is a major challenge for HR.
Cost Management
In the current scenario, costs have come under the microscope and companies are looking at getting more out of less. Here, HR’s major challenge is to cut back on recruitment expenditure, employee-related costs such as perks and benefits, business travel and entertainment expenses.
Managing Change
Bringing change in organizational processes and procedures, implementing and managing it is one of the biggest concerns of HR managers. For example, upgrading the technology or the business processes and imparting training to the employees is the real challenge of the HR department.
Demographics and diversity
The challenge related to demographics and diversity of employees is especially true for multinational companies (MNCs) who have operations on a global scale and employ people of different countries, ethical and cultural backgrounds. The challenge and problems faced due to workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents.
Organization restructuring
In order to become competitive, many organizations have restructured in the past few years. Mergers and acquisitions also have been part of the restructuring process, which ensures global competitiveness. As a result, jobs are redesigned and the employees get affected. The major challenge which HR faces is dealing with the human consequences of change. It’s important for the HR manager to effectively lead the employees through the challenging and turbulent times.
Talent Retention
Organizations find it difficult to keep pace with the growing aspirations of its top talent and this is when the point at which the HR department needs to rethink the ways they plan to engage employees. There are many reasons for a employee to move out of the organization—uncertain career paths, less leadership development, low salary package, new opportunities in the market or inadequate training programs. Therefore, the HR should consider all these factors before finalizing a Talent Management Program.
Employee engagement
Trust and loyalty are at an all-time low in companies around the world thanks to the recessionary climate. The HR challenges lie in reconnecting with the mood of the workforce, rebuilding trust and collaboration, and driving continuous and transparent communication.
Conflict management
All the organizations suffer from employee-employee, employer-employee or company-third party conflicts. The conflicts can arise due to difference in the interests between two parties, behavioral preferences, or because of interdependent activities. It is HR’s responsibility to ensure that productivity, efficiency, security, fairness and smooth practices are executed both inside as well as outside the organization.
Testing leadership
Another HR challenge is to coach leaders to manage productivity, performance and growth, effectively as the need of the hour for companies is to adjust rapidly to the changed market dynamics.
Editor's note: Most articles submitted to Chillibreeze go through a selection process. Only 30 percent of submitted articles are accepted for publication on the Chillibreeze.com featured article list. All accepted articles are edited and proofread for glaring errors of punctuation and grammar. Sentence structure is changed in certain cases and sometimes, entire sections are rewritten. If you notice any errors that have slipped through the cracks, do let us know! (Email us at info at chillibreeze dot com).
Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in November, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.
Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...
—About our writer:
Ritika is an MBA in Human Resource Management, but as the destiny decided, she changed her field and is now working as a sub-editor for a magazine publication (travel and lifestyle magazine, and travel newspaper). Her passion lies in reading, especially fiction novels, dancing, pencil shading and of course, writing.
>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:
Chillibreeze offers Indian writers the opportunity to work on customer projects. We are also India’s biggest writer network and a one-stop shop for Indian writers and editors. The writers’ section on Chillibreeze offers freelance writers and editors a variety of tools to advance their careers. Resources for writers include:
