With the drastic changes over the recent years, it is undoubtedly true that we cannot simply take a look and approach HR as we did at, for example, 2015. While in the previous article we mentioned a bit of welfare management through solutions, this article will aim to address more overall toughest HR challenges in 2019. Among others, matters such as the big shift to caring for employee mental health, compliance, and workforce planning will be addressed.
Matters of Compliance
Since HR first became a department, the compliance and retention of employees had always been a struggle that must be kept in mind. And 2019 is no different. Albeit throughout the years, more and more common solutions and initiatives are provided such as flexible working and unlimited holiday, it still would not be enough. This is especially so, considering the rise of the millennial workforce and after the events of the #MeToo movement. While companies in the United States must now dance around laws regarding marijuana use, below are two more universal challenges.
Development of Employee Handbooks
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It shouldn’t be a surprise that in a matter of compliance, a handbook is essential to help your employees understand what is right and wrong. However, in this shifting disruptive era, it is becoming a challenge for companies to provide said information through a handbook. While that in itself is a momentous task, to create a handbook that is efficient and easy to digest, it is still an essential task nonetheless. And the vital things to update within your handbook frequently would include:
- Equal Employee Opportunity
- Fair Accommodations
- Leaves and Absences
- Equal Pay and regarding Pay Discrimination
- Weapons Within the Office
- Smoking and Health Regulations
Employee Leave Management
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Leave laws that frequently change have always made it hard for employers to determine a comfortable protocol to determine the paid leaves of the employees. Dealing with this, employers and managers alike should study and determine which laws and regulations their company falls under and how to properly document leaves. 2018 made great strides for paid leaves with family-friendly leaves such as the ever-rising in popularity, paternity leaves.
Matters of Retention
Problems mainly caused by the disruptive era and an increasingly competitive labor market, retention problems are always a titan to handle within HR and will continue to be so in 2019.
Benefits and Wellness Management
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Offering the right benefits are a puzzle and there can never be a true silver bullet of benefits as, while some benefits work for a certain company, it is not ensured that it works for another. And that dilemma is why it is vital to periodically check on the beneficial use by the employees. Consider redesigning or changing the least popular benefits until you make sure your investments within them are worth it. Below is the list of benefits rising in popularity besides the obvious (such as annual paid leave and health care insurance):
- Paternity leaves
- Paid leave to volunteer in charities
- Exercise incentives (such as gym memberships or paid leave to enjoy outdoor activities)
- Student loan/debt reimbursement
- Telecommuting
- Remote work
- Stress management programs
- Casual dress code
Dealing with Impostor Syndrome
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Impostor Syndrome is something that you get when you combine the workplace with anxiety, to have high anxiousness and feeling of failure despite evident success. With nearly 40% of the cause being self-doubt, this is a seemingly trivial problem that might cause damages within the workforce. It is something that is thought by many such as Fast Company, TIME, and Forbes to be quite the big deal.
It is debatable whether this syndrome is beneficial or not to the office, but it is most definitely not beneficial to the employee. However, if some way, the office is able to help deal with this mental affliction, to help encourage and reward the good work of good employees, it might just lead to a happier worker. And with the employee being happier in general, it will lead to better loyalty and higher retention. Especially with the younger generations that are more prone to mental health disorders.