The role of human resources (HR) in an organisation is extremely important. It is responsible for managing the experience of the employees within the company, while also safeguarding the employer’s best interests. They are almost like a referee or umpire of a match, ensuring everyone is fairly treated.
The HR undertakes various responsibilities from hiring, recruiting, training and even off-boarding employees. Human resources will set long-term goals and objectives as well as manage day-to-day operations, compensation and benefits.
However, an HR’s job is not as easy as it sounds, it is riddled with challenges and problems. What makes a human resource manager the superhero of the company is how they find the right solutions for those issues.
If you are currently working in the HR department or plan to join one, remember that you must constantly keep yourself up to date with the latest policies and regulations. You can always opt for a course on HR training Birmingham if you are based there or other location or region-specific courses to implement in your organisation. There are scores of digital products and training now available to help manage your workforce better.
Today, we’ll be looking at some industry-specific HR challenges and their solutions.
HR Challenge in the Education Sector
One of the biggest challenges faced by the HR department in the education sector is staff retention and recruitment. Next on the list of challenges are budget constraints followed by training and development. Most schools struggle with finding the right staff and budget to keep schools running with exceptional facilities for children.
An important HR advice for schools is to be flexible when hiring. Schools, whether they are part of MATs or under the local council, must understand that a one-size-fits-all approach shouldn’t be followed.
When hiring a coach, the criteria must be different to when hiring a science teacher or an administrative head. Schools in the UK receive funding from government grants and can use different strategies to optimise the funds, such as forecasting expenses and creating policies based on past spending patterns.
HR Challenges in the Automobile Sector
The automobile industry is highly competitive and although it is a machine-dependent industry, it is entirely human-driven. Thus, HR plays an important role in this industry.
Employees in the automotive industry are constantly driven by sales targets and this can lead to undue stress and high turnover rates. Moreover, automobile jobs such as those in the garages can be very long and tedious.
As an HR you can introduce regular training for the salespeople and offer therapeutic interventions to deal with mental stress and anxiety. To reduce long working hours, automation can come to your rescue. A garage management system can help to reduce repetitive tasks while also enhancing performance.
HR Challenges in the Financial Sector
When it comes to the financial sector, HR systems are often plagued with several operational challenges. This includes a lack of skill shortage and talent gaps, adapting to new technologies and laws while adhering to national and international monetary regulations.
To attract new talent you should provide clear career progression strategies and offer comprehensive training programs, and employee value propositions. HRs can adopt technology and automation to automate mundane tasks so that they can concentrate on improving the overall employee experience and satisfaction.
Planned downtime and team outings can also help take the edge off.
HR Challenges in the IT Industry
The IT industry faces some of the toughest HR-related challenges due to its extensive nature and the large workforce that it employs in the UK and across the globe.
Here are some common challenges that HRs face in the tech industry and their related solutions:
Find the right talent:
There is stiff competition in the IT industry, with multiple companies vying for top talent. HRs must develop unique strategies and competitive compensation packages to attract the right people.
Burnout:
IT employees often have to work on tight schedules and work at odd hours to collaborate with colleagues and clients who might be located anywhere in the world. Thus, burnout can be extremely common and HRs must be vigilant about the signs of burnout and stress in the employees.
Managing remote workforce:
Since the pandemic, the popularity of remote and hybrid workforce has become extremely popular and more employees are choosing to work from home rather than visit an office. However, managing a remote workforce is just the tip of the iceberg. From tracking time to ensuring complete safety and security of the company’s digital environment, it is extremely difficult. HRs can use different AI-enabled tools to help mitigate this concern.
Continuous training:
The IT field is the most rapidly advancing and changing industry. What is relevant today can become obsolete in a year thus, it becomes extremely important to stay updated with the latest tools and technologies. HRs must schedule ongoing training for the employees. The training can be conducted online or offline depending on the flexibility and availability of employees.
5. HR Challenges in the Healthcare Sector
From doctors and nurses to patients and medical technicians, the healthcare sector is completely human-centric. Here human resources play a critical role in the medical industry. From ensuring patient safety to record compliance, scheduling and management there are a lot of processes and procedures not to mention paperwork that go into keeping all the records up to date.
The healthcare industry’s HR challenges have a far-reaching impact on patient impact. For instance, wrong scheduling can lead to a nurse becoming over-exhausted which can affect the quality of patient care. Thus, administrators must be extremely careful or it can cost someone their life.
HRs in the medical industry must constantly seek feedback from all the stakeholders, medico, non-medicos and patients and their caregivers. They can use tools for scheduling, payroll processing and maintaining patient records.
The human resource staff can also undertake regular training on ensuring patient safety, and data security amongst other things for their staff. By offering competitive packages, hospitals can retain the best staff, thereby improving their employer brand and becoming a leading medical care facility.
Wrapping Up
This was our guide on the industry-specific HR challenges and solutions. Every industry and company is different and HR policies must be compatible and compliant with the specific needs of a particular business. What works for an IT company cannot apply to the banking sector, therefore HRs need to be extremely agile and be able to adapt to changing conditions and regulations.
If you are an HR, remember to keep upskilling yourself to stay updated on the latest trends and technologies. You must also possess exceptional communication skills, leadership qualities and emotional intelligence to be able to ace your role.
Remember as an HR you are not just representing the company and its management but you are also representing the employees and their demands. It is an extremely thin line and only the best can walk it with finesse.
