REPORT: TOP CHALLENGES FACING HR TODAY

The following is a summary of a survey distributed to more than 150 senior HR professionals and business leaders

By Rob Abbanat
August 2019

WHAT’S KEEPING YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT?

Digitization. Millenials. Flex work plans. The world is changing fast, and business leaders are now more than ever challenged to keep pace. It’s no wonder that many HR find it challenging to get a good night’s sleep!

GloCoach invited our community of HR Professionals and business leaders to share their thoughts and experiences on this issue. In particular, we sought to understand what are the most challenging issues facing HR today, and what—if any— effective solutinos they have found to deal with them.

The following is a summary of the results garnered from a survey that was distributed to 150+ leading HR professionals and business leaders from the GloCoach community.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

Top challenges according to HR and Business Professionals

37%
MAKING MY TEAM MORE AGILE
33%
ATTRACTING TOP TALENT
30%
REDUCING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER
26%
IMPROVING INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
26%
INTEGRATING NEW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
26%
GROWING CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS
22%
BUILDING ANALYTICAL SKILLS
19%
CONNECTING EMPLOYEES WITH COMPANY’S MISSION
19%
DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE TRAINING STRATEGIES
15%
DEVELOPING SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
15%
DELIVERING RESULTS FOR INTERNAL CUSTOMER
11%
MANAGING NON-TRADITIONAL WORK ARRANGEMENTS
11%
BALANCING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY
7%
DEVELOPING SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
4%
HELPING AN UNDERPERFORMER

01 MAKING MY TEAM MORE AGILE

37% of our HR and business leaders responded that this is a key issue that keeps them awake at night. Here’s what they had to say:

"To successfully transform to a more agile enterprise, companies must make conscious choices about where and how to become agile. They have to decide where to adopt agile principles and mindsets, where to use agile problem-solving methodologies to dynamically address strategic and organizational challenges, and where to more formally deploy the full agile model, including self-managed teams."

Andrew Noble Partner Bain & Co

"Imagine a spectrum: on one end, fast, nimble, agile; on the other end, stable, slow, efficient, more centralized. Many large companies try to find where they want to be on the spectrum. And that’s the wrong way to think about it. You need to be both. You need stability and this dynamic capability"

Aaron DeSmet Principal McKinsey & Co.

"Has been a challenge for decades and will remain so, as the education and development system in China is mis-aligned with globalized business practice. Fostering team members's development is a daily imperative for any leader here."

John Van Fleet, Ph.D. Director, Corporate Globalization Shanghai Jiaotong University

02 ATTRACTING TOP TALENT

33% of our respondants indicated that an extremely competitive hiring environment makes attracting top talent their top concern.

"In today’s global arena, to be truly insightful, connected and responsive, and to serve our multisector and geographically dispersed client-base, we need to bring the best talent to the table."

Alice Wong HR Director EY

"Set an incredibly high bar for talent and quality, and never EVER compromise. It's also important to be objective and make an unbiased hiring decision. I urge you, set a high standard and hold your clients to it. It's better to grow slowly and have higher quality people."

Laszlo Bock Senior Vice President Google

"Nowadays the Internet and technology is creating an enormous shift in the way we live and how businesses operate, so HR also needs to be prepared and digitalized with big data: online recruiting, employees requests mobile App, online learning courses etc..."

Lilian Liu, GE

"Pick up the phone and talk to that candidate.Give them verbal handshake and build that relationship so they will trust you. That what it is all about."

Derek Bambrick International Talent Acquisition Partner, Hertz International

03 REDUCING EMPLOYEE TURNOVER

After attracting top talent, keeping them from straying to greener pastures is the top concern for 30% of our HR and business leaders

"Hiring replacements and training new employees is a significant drain on limited resources. Reducing turnover is paramount."

Mark Ray Managing Director Sovereign (China) Limited

"Today, when companies invest in their people, it is visible internally and externally to potential future employees, partners, vendors and customers. It's accomplished through developing your people, helping them strengthen their creativity and leadership skill set and increasing talent engagement and performance. It is imperative for employers to engage their current talent in activities that will boost productivity, collaboration and overall work satisfaction. This is just the beginning of the talent retention game and its process. It is a real test to see if employers are indeed creating, analyzing and identifying a unified view of their most important asset: their people. "

Izabela Lundberg Leadership & Transformation Advisor Forbes Coaches Council