Over the past few years, human resources (HR) has changed so much in companies that acquired skills are no longer sufficient to overcome all challenges. And, with few exceptions, blogs rarely discuss the personal challenges that HR employees face in keeping their heads above water. Although organisations are starting to give HR departments a higher profile, the actions are very weak and new budgets are almost non-existent or given in dribs and drabs. As HR strives to move to a more strategic rather than reactive role, real reflection needs to take place with all senior management players. In short, it's quite a puzzle that Specialized Jobs tries to demystify with you.
Recruitment, retention and engagement of employees
First, according to a Glassdoor survey, 76% of hiring managers say that attracting quality candidates has become their biggest challenge. Yet, recruitment, retention and engagement are so critical that HR struggles to address other equally critical organizational issues. As a result, few companies can boast of effective employee engagement programs to avoid having their resources stolen by the competition. There is always the perception that "the grass is greener across the street" that persists among most employees. In short, almost non-existent programs that really should be in place to ensure the sustainability of your business.
Redefine your origins and ideals
All great projects start with deep reflection. To do this, it is often useful to review all the milestones you have reached over the past 5, 10, 15 or 25 years of your career. Then it is possible to reach a consensus (forget the compromises) on what to do next and look ahead. In this case, it would probably be useful to call on real thinkers such as philosophers or other competent professionals.
Furthermore, although most professionals have the competence to make decisions, they are often confronted with a lack of concrete data about their organisation. For example, glaring issues such as why employees are leaving or why people seem disconnected from their work have become a full-time role. In short, an HR professional should be dedicated to investigate this properly. Finally, prepare an open-ended work plan on the biggest issues concerning the renewal of the HR department. Here are some examples:
Glaring problems
What are you doing to improve retention, motivation and recruitment? Are your methods innovative or do you follow others? Do you manage to stand out from the competition? Do you know your worst habits? Knowing and understanding the issues is key to solving any problem.
New realities
The new generation of employees is looking for jobs that offer a balance between work and family. Do you have an offer that stands out from the rest? Do you cater for national or international teleworking and new work realities? Do you offer merit-based salaries or salary conditions that allow your employees to stand out? Do your employees have 2 jobs to make ends meet? Questions that rarely make the headlines, but are still a sad reality.
Aging of the workforce
With a rapidly ageing workforce, many HR teams need to put formal succession plans in place. Do you have such plans for developing your future leaders?
Robotisation and digitalisation of companies
For several years, the digitalisation of companies has been a major development axis. Despite this, few companies have concrete transition plans to cope with this change. Worse still, at the dawn of cobotics (cobotics is a concept that consists of building a collaborative relationship between an intelligent robot and a human), few companies are taking into account the technologies and the new jobs that will result from it.
Organisational culture
Although prized by large HR professional firms, organizational culture is still far from being a priority for most companies. Yet there is a close relationship between culture, hiring, search, selection and retention.
To remember...
Finally, transforming for the sake of transforming also means creating a new position within your HR team. With all the fires your HR manager has to put out, it's high time to hire one or more dedicated resources to deal with these issues outside of the daily grind. Resources that should be working full-time on the profound transformation that your company will undergo over the next decade.
