Top Ten HR Challenges in
India Today

chillibreeze writer — Sumana Dutta Sarkar

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HRM is a dynamic field that is constantly evolving, challenging the ability of even the most seasoned professionals to keep abreast of policies, procedures, compliance requirements and best practices. In the context of Indian companies, the topmost challenges which are faced by the HR can be enumerated as:

1. Recruitment: In today’s economy, talent acquisition is the foremost business challenge that the HR function faces. The lack of investment in education has led to an acute shortage of talented professionals, who can take the onus for change in a developing economy like India. HR needs to have close tie-ups with professional institutes and colleges to bridge the gap between education and industrial requirements.

2. Training: The recruits’ level of competencies and their job expectations can only be fully understood once they have entered the initial training program (orientation). This program should be followed with interpersonal and intercultural training at a later stage. Once people move up the ladder there is little time for training. There is a lack of leadership training on the operational level which is reflected on the work floor and consequently on the job satisfaction of the employee.

3. Managing and Leading Change: Business environment in India is volatile. There is boom in terms of opportunities brought forward by globalization. However, this is also leading to many interventions in terms of restructuring, turn-around, mergers, downsizing, etc. Research has clearly shown that the success of these interventions is heavily dependent on managing the people-issues in the process. The rapid pace of change, coupled with information overload, makes thinking about the future a daunting task. How an average HR professional gets information on the forces of change (demographic, social, political, legal, economic, technological trends) and then finds the time to analyze the possible impacts that they will have on the organization, is an area that requires lot of deliberation.

4. Managing Technological Challenges: In every arena organizations are getting more and more technologically oriented. Preparing the work force to accept technological changes is a major challenge.

5. Developing Leadership: It is quite interesting to note that there is less importance given to developing leadership at the organizational level. Though leadership is discussed on the basis of traits and certain qualities, at an organizational level it is more based on knowledge. The challenge is to develop individuals who have performance potential on basis of past record and knowledge based expertise by imparting them with the necessary "soft skills".

6. Attrition: This remains an enormous challenge. The effects of attrition are loss of productivity, temporary replacement, loss of knowledge and new recruitment and training. To deal with this, the HRM should ensure that the job profile looked for not only matches the skills and competencies but also the job expectations of the candidate. An open discussion with the candidate during recruitment can give an insight into the expected period of his stay with the company. Competitive salaries, perks, bonuses, incentives, on-the-job training and a good working environment may be used to increase the satisfaction levels of employees.

7. Ability to Forecast: The industry expects a qualified HR professional to bring on board the knowledge by virtue of which they can make visible the unseen. For instance, in a renowned FMCG company, it is imperative for HR professionals to come with an experience of a stint outside the realm of HR (say the sales or plant), which is crucial for better understanding of the business. This helps them earn the credibility of line managers and also facilitates creation of a synergy within the organization.

8. Promotion of Self Learning Culture: All employees, including HR should be encouraged to offer ideas and challenge the current approaches to doing business. This allows optimum engagement of employees resulting in a greater opportunity for growth and a deeper connection to the organization. A big component of developing a learning culture is allowing employees the freedom to make mistakes, to take chances, and try new roles. HR can support this culture with formal collaboration and idea programs, as well as implementing incentives that encourage this behavior.

9. Getting beyond the Multi Generational Hurdle: As people don’t fit neatly into a stereotypical generational cohort, a successful HR function will have to try to develop procedures and practices to accommodate four or five different generations. The key to retaining and engaging the best and the brightest today is to treat each individual as an individual and build trusting relationships between supervisors and employees.

10. Building Character of Employees and Thus That of the Organization: As is evident from rampant cases of corruption and wrong-doings in the corporate sector in the recent times, it turns out that intelligence and competence of employees is not the only requirements of an effective organization. HR needs to develop the character of employees in such a way that the emphasis is on the way to do right things beyond doing things right. Upholding of good morals and a strict value system can go a long way in creating and maintaining the organizational ethos and reputation.

In the present times, the traditional HR functions of staffing, recruiting, compensation, and benefits are losing ground to a new generation of value added core HR functions that include career planning, executive development, training, succession planning and organizational development. The ability to juggle these dual responsibilities of talent management and organizational development with equal ease is the need of the hour or all HRM professionals.

 

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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.

 

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—About our writer: Sumana Dutta Sarkar is a post graduate in Zoology and is a graduate in Education. She has been a teacher of Biology in senior classes for the last 14 years. She is adept at article writing, report writing and web content writing. Writing on biological, zoological, environmental and medical issues is her forte. She is currently based at Ajmer, Rajasthan.

 

 

 

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