Contemporary Issues Faced by Human Resource Managers Today


The human resources department of today operates very differently from the human resources department of only a decade ago. The changing job market, regulatory demands and compliance issues have forced human resource managers to become nimble partners in the strategic development of businesses. Business owners need to understand the contemporary issues that human resources managers face, so that they may understand how to utilise this valuable resource to the best advantage.

Many talented people have decided to leave the traditional workforce in exchange for freelance work in their area of expertise. This gives them desired flexibility in their lifestyle, and is a great selling point for potential clients, because overhead is less when you are a contract employee. Although this is great system for the talent, working with a different system is a challenge for human resources managers. If the best talent is no longer available for an in-house position, human resource managers must find ways to either create long-term contracts or to develop other suitable talents.

Innovation and Automation

Human resources departments are often tasked with training and developing employees. This means that when a new company roll out includes technological advances, the human resources department needs to prepare itself to train people. In some instances, this means coordinating with technology developers to create programming that is easily rolled out to employees. In other cases, the human resources department must help roll out the program and help run the training programs internally.

Changing Regulatory Issues

Compliance with regulatory issues is a primary duty of human resources managers. While this job duty hasn't changed over the years, what it covers evolves constantly. This means that human resource managers need to be on top of all changes. An example of changes is new laws regarding healthcare benefits. Privacy laws are constantly requiring updated disclosures and employee training and acknowledgements . If the human resources manager is not current on new regulations and laws, the company is exposed to lawsuits, penalties and potential public scrutiny.

Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent

Finding and keeping great talent is difficult, especially for small businesses that don't have the resources to offer huge compensation and benefits packages. This means that human resources managers are always looking to find talented, loyal prospects for the company. It is important for human resources managers to look for talent internally and externally, as it is not enough to just go to job fairs or to reach out to people on LinkedIn. HR managers must not only cultivate these relationships, they must also cultivate internal employees that are suitable for development and promotion.

Diversity Issues

Business owners know that a diverse workforce that's working together in harmony will build stronger teams, yield better ideas and offer broader customer satisfaction. However, without the harmony, that diverse workforce has low morale, and therefore, low productivity. This isn't solely a company culture and productivity issue, either. Diversity is a serious legal liability if employees or customers are feeling harassed in some way. Human resource managers must understand diversity laws, and must ensure that the company has the protocol to deal appropriately with complaints, and also to focus on harmonizing the diversity. This is done with training and workshops that build cohesiveness and embrace the differences in each other.
References

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290376851_Contemporary_Issues_and_Challenges_in_Human_Resource_Management

Comments

  1. Janaka Munaweera28 December 2018 at 22:54

    Dear Ayesha, You have chosen a good topic to make a discussion.Human resource management is the main concern in organization process as planning and by controlling human only we can control secondary things such as machinery and equipment. Managing human resource is not easy. It is not that much smooth as in good old days. People are more aggressive and standby to protest for their salary and wages, health benefits, terminal benefits work place relation employment terms, technological revolutions etc. Further human resource issues are not coming one by one. Issues develop from several sectors parallely. As you discussed in your article innovation and automation, recruiting and retaining top talent, diversity issues should be carefully addressed to overcome the contemporary issues in Human resources Management.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dilmi Pemachandre24 March 2019 at 10:25

    Dear Ayesha,
    An interesting article on challenges of human resources .Today, it would be difficult for any organization to achieve and sustain effectiveness without having an efficient Human Resource Management programs and activities.
    Further we can categorized Human Resource Management Challenges (HR Challenges) as follows.
    1. Environmental Challenges
    Rapid Change
    Work Force Diversity
    Globalization
    Legislation
    Technology
    Job & Family Roles
    Lack of Skills

    2. Organizational Challenges
    Controlling Costs
    Improving Quality
    Developing Distinctive Capabilities
    Restructuring

    3. Individual Challenges
    Productivity
    Empowerment
    Brain drain
    Ethics & social responsibility
    Job insecurity
    Matching people & organization


    ReplyDelete
  3. sathya13 May 2024 at 02:55

    The blog post on contemporary issues faced by HR professionals offers valuable insights into the challenges of managing human resources. One significant solution to streamline HR operations is through HRMS software features. Integrating robust Hrms Software Features can revolutionize HR management by automating tasks, enhancing data accuracy, and improving employee engagement. With features like attendance tracking, payroll management, and performance evaluation, HRMS software simplifies complex processes, allowing HR teams to focus on strategic initiatives. As businesses navigate through the evolving landscape of workforce management, adopting advanced HRMS software features becomes imperative for optimizing efficiency and driving organizational success.

    ReplyDelete

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