It is no secret that today's HR departments are being pushed to focus on employee development and performance management. But it is not always as easy as it sounds. From smaller budgets to old technology, these are the challenges HR departments are facing - and how to rethink them.
Challenge 1: HR system budgets are under pressure
If you are running an HR department today, you are likely going to have to find creative ways of doing a lot more with a lot less. On the whole, a company's HR department is still viewed as a looming overhead by executives - and it is often the first place they look to trim from when it is time to cut costs.
Why? Because of the historical lack of perceived value coming from HR's systems. A lot of human resource management software is not delivering on the promises that were made during the sales process. The result is that management is more sceptical of investing time, money, and effort into HR software and technology.
Rethink
Instead of pushing for large technology solutions off the bat, do small-scale prototyping in the business that allows the users of that technology to become advocates and promoters. That way, it will get pulled into the business by users, instead of pushed by HR.
Challenge 2: Managers lack data to connect people to relevant development
Companies rely on data to help them tweak and adjust business strategies, and the same rule should apply to HR. You need data to figure out why people join, what makes them stay, who is likely to be successful in certain roles, and how you can develop talent.
The truth is that managers lack the correct, data-driven information about their employees to direct them to relevant development and training. The technology they are using to gather the data is often poorly designed and stays around much longer than it should, which leads to less interaction from employees and managers, and more problems around collecting the data.
Rethink
The best solution is to constantly seek feedback from the users of your technology during the pilot or decision phase, so you can work out if it will answer your questions before you buy the product. It is now far easier to integrate different technologies than to repurpose or redesign existing technology.
Challenge 3: Managers do not know how to have development conversations
According to research from ManpowerGroup, four out of five millennials say the possibility of learning new skills is a major factor when considering a new job. The workforce has changed. Gone are the days when employees were happy to be given a set of systems to follow and a job description they could repeat day in and day out for years with no potential for growth.
Today, employees expect high-quality, relevant development conversations with personalised action items. On the flipside, managers are so busy trying to achieve business objectives that they simply do not prioritise speaking to their talent specifically about their careers and skills. And when they do have the time, they lack the vocabulary to have effective development conversations.
Rethink
HR departments need to adopt an employee-centric approach to development. Invest time and money helping managers learn how to have successful development conversations with their team. The concern for business heads is: 'What if I spend money training all my people and they leave?' Well, what if you do not - and they stay?
Challenge 4: A broadening skills gap
Today, technical skills are simply no longer enough to succeed. The business environment requires proficiencies only dreamed about a decade ago. And as it becomes more complex, people are required to build more relationships with more people in order to understand and be effective in that environment. This leads to a broadening skills gap.
Rethink
Talent managers who succeed in bridging this gap will be those who help managers and employees develop their skills by offering access to training and helpful guides - and, more importantly, the personalised opportunity to apply what they have learned.
TMaaS - Solve All Four Challenges with One Integrated Solution
Peopletree Group's TMaaS solution addresses all four performance management challenges simultaneously - combining the right technology, analytics, development conversation tools, and expert team to deliver results from day one.