Top 10 Human Resource Management Challenges (And How to Solve Them)

Running a human resource department is full of ups and downs. There are dozens of responsibilities to manage, from employee relationships and recruitment. 

The good news is that each of these challenges you face in your HR career can be mitigated! No matter the issue, you start by getting to the root of what’s driving them. From there, you can implement strategies that empower your team members to overcome these blockers. 

Here’s how you can alleviate 10 of the most HR challenges, enhancing your work environment. 

Challenge 1: Engaging the Workforce

It’s hard to understate the benefits of an engaged team. Engagement is linked with higher workplace safety and a lower incidence of accidents. It also helps keep employees at your company. Plus an on-task workforce reduces absenteeism. However, only 34% of U.S. employees are actively engaged at work, according to a study by Gallup. That hurts productivity —  costing the world nearly eight trillion dollars. 

Solutions

So the challenge for HR management is keeping team members engaged. Here are a few ideas to kickstart your efforts: 

• Focus on trust. Employees in high-confidence environments are 76% more engaged than those in low-trust workplaces. You might ask for feedback on company culture and act on it. Or you might ramp up your recognition programs. 
• Ask managers to focus on employee strengths. Constructive feedback can be beneficial to growth. However, keeping the spotlight on your workers’ aptitudes can keep engagement high. Consider encouraging managers to praise their team members rather than point out flaws. 
• Request managers hold regular 1:1 meetings. Leaders who have regular conversations with their coworkers can improve productivity. Those meetings could include regularly checking in on projects that keep forward momentum. They might also be a chance to discuss how someone is feeling at work — and make the needed improvements. 

Challenge 2: Attracting Talent

The most important part of your company is who works for you. To move forward, your organization needs great people at the helm. That being said, it can be difficult to  attract talent. 

First, you have the issue of a high demand for high-quality talent. Everybody wants the best right now. Then there’s the challenge of a candidate-driven market. Right now, 96% of US adults are employed. Even though just over three million people are quitting their jobs each month, they’re leaving for something better. 

The current market means that people aren’t desperate to work just anywhere. The top talent wants to know what your organization can do for them. 

Solutions

With these obstacles, how can you find great people? These are some ways to start: 

• Offer competitive compensation. Individuals named salary and benefits as the two most important considerations with a position, according to a Wellhub survey.  
• Improve your onboardingprocess. How someone starts at your company influences whether or not they’ll stay. Consider creating an effective program to help everyone integrate smoothly. 
• Offer flexibility. Nearly half of employees work remotely or in a hybrid model. Providing options with location and scheduling can make your organization more appealing. In addition, it helps your team want to stay — an impressive nine out of 10 of people working in their preferred environment are happy at their current company, according to 2024 Wellhub research. 

Challenge 3: Change Management 

You never know what challenge is around the corner, and the changes to HR have been fast and furious in recent years.   Being adaptable can help you surf the waves as they come, but doing so successfully isn’t a given — about half of organizational change initiatives fail. 

Solutions

To effectively manage change, do your best to: 

• Prioritize transparency. Let your workers know about important upcoming adjustments far in advance. You might even consider including your team members in decision-making processes.
• Provide the necessary training. You might offer workshops on upcoming pivots and how to adjust. Or your team could create stress management programs that help team members learn to be flexible.

Challenge 4: Managing Relationships

Positive workplace relationships can help improve collaboration and morale. On top of that, they are the foundation of company culture. One way to support strong and happy relationships is by creating an environment where everyone feels included — and doing so can improve revenue by as much as 400%! 

Solutions

If your HR team is looking for new ways to help foster sociability, here are a few ideas: 

• Team building activities. These can help people get to know each other. This can be done fully in-person or even remotely to include everyone. Taking the time to let people bond can boost retention.  
• Keep communication open. An open line of communication is a way for your team to have continual conversations with individuals at your company. These discussions can help you build real relationships with them 
• Appreciate employees. About 46% of Americans have left their jobs because they felt unappreciated. To counteract that, consider finding ways to recognize accomplishments and growth. You might acknowledge when someone has improved and when an individual hits a milestone. 

Challenge 5: Leadership Development

Cultivating future managers from your employees can be powerful. In fact, leaders who are promoted internally perform significantly better than external hires. And many workers prefer to be supervised by someone who climbed the ladder rather than a new face. 

Solutions

HR professionals, however, can find it challenging to pinpoint who could be a future leader and how to help them reach their potential. These are some ideas to help you train leadership: 

• Find leadership everywhere. Development isn’t just for management. Anybody can progress, no matter their current position. To scope out your future executives, consider structured training. Tiered levels of growth can help create a funnel from entry-level to leadership. 
• Focus on diversity. Companies with diverse leadership are more profitable. To cultivate your future management team, consider how you can provide opportunities to your diverse workers. For example, you could ensure there are many moments for women to speak during meetings and to be seen. Doing so can strengthen the chance to progress. That can help your company because female leadership can boost revenue by 10%.

Challenge 6: Performance Management

Individual work matters, and it can affect the company. Still, the fast-paced environment of many companies can make it difficult to measure performance and provide training. 

Solutions

This challenge could be resolved by: 

• Having an established framework. Each employee’s position is different, so each evaluation should be different. Setting up scaffolding for your reviews can help you evaluate effectively. That framework can save you time and establish benchmarks to effectively determine performance.  
• Tracking performance. To determine where someone is at, you will likely need a way to measure it. One way to do this is to track particular performance milestones regularly. This data can then help you know how day-to-day work is going and where someone can grow.  
• Gathering holistic feedback. Your team members could benefit from managerial feedback, as well as input from their peers. Consider implementing regular discussions on giving and receiving feedback. Then send out reviews to a variety of sources to help workers get a fuller picture of their performance. 

Challenge 7: Training and Upskilling

Similarly, setting up excellent training initiatives in general can be difficult. However, creating these is essential to the long-term benefit of your business. Equally important is upskilling, or the process of teaching current workers new skills. This gives employees the chance to move up in their careers. That’s crucial because 89% of workers say professional development keeps them engaged at work. 

Solutions

So how can you provide the right training and upskilling strategies for your employees? Here are a few ideas: 

• Use your performance management data. The best way to know where employees need training and development is by having a thorough knowledge of where they currently are. Gathering information can help you solidly understand where skill gaps are and how to fill them. In addition, you can use that data to help you map out where you can upskill workers.
• Make training a long-term strategy. Consistent education can help your teammates grow regularly. Instead of treating it as a one-time moment, try to hold regular workshops. 

Challenge 8: Talent Retention

Once you’ve solved the obstacle of hiring, next up is keeping talent at your company.Retention is a big problem right now: Just over three million people quit their jobs each month in 2024 so far.

Solutions

 Don’t despair! You aren’t doomed to constant turnover. There are steps you can take to reduce your attrition, including:

• Figure out why employees are leaving. You can’t solve a problem you don’t understand. Consider offering exit surveys that help you learn why you may have a retention issue. 
• Start at the beginning. One way to actively combat this challenge is to consider how you hire. For example, you might use employee referrals to recruit. This can increase the odds they’ll stay since new hires will already have connections within the company.
• Prioritize wellbeing. Eighty-seven percent of polled employees said they’d consider leaving a job that didn’t focus on their wellbeing, according to a recent Wellhub survey, which is even more than last year. A great way to do this is a good benefits plan that includes  wellness programs, making it clear that your company is invested in workforce wellness.

Challenge 9: Workplace Diversity

Diversity is vital at every level of an organization, from interns to c-suite. It can also help solve other HR challenges, like improving engagement and retention, while boosting company revenue. Talk about a win-win!

Solutions

Luckily, your team can increase diversity in many different ways. Here are a few: 

• Start with recruitment. One reason you could experience this obstacle is because you’re not attracting the right people. Consider your advertising. The words you put in job postings can play a key role in who applies. You might partner with experts to craft appealing listings. 
• Use mentorship programs. Once you hire someone, help them feel welcome with strong relationships. One way to do that is with a mentorship system. This can help employees feel seen and like they belong at your company. 

Challenge 10: Employee Health and Wellbeing

Ninety-three percent of some recently polled employees consider their wellbeing just as important as their salary. Yet 36% of respondents felt like their employer wasn’t doing enough to help their wellbeing. 

Solutions

Here are a few ideas to boost employee health and wellbeing within your organization: 

• Benefits. Employees consider benefits one of the most important factors when evaluating a job. Consider how you can create a robust compensation package to care for your team. It might include insurance coverage and access to mental health resources. 
• Encourage exercise. Another important facet of your offerings is an emphasis on physical wellness. For that, you may offer your people access to fitness facilities, like with Wellhub wellness plan. 
• Create wellness programs. A steps program or flexible working hours are both initiatives you could implement. 

Employee Wellbeing Tackles HR Challenges

Mitigating these ten obstacles can help you create an environment that encourages success and growth. 

Starting with wellbeing is a great way to tackle many of these issues at once. Employee wellness programs have been shown to improve recruiting, retention, engagement, productivity, relationships — pretty much every HR KPI you can think of is easier to hit when your workforce is thriving. 

Ready to get started? Talk to a Wellbeing Specialist today! 

References

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