The Challenges I Faced in HR and How I Overcome Them

The Challenges I Faced in HR and How I Overcome Them

Dr Gyanandra Singh, mumbai

This blog post is to share my experience of reinventing HR in the companies we served. I will discuss the challenges I faced, the strategies I used, the changes we made and the results achieved.





Introduction:

Today, we are at the verge of completing our career. More than 30 years have gone since we are in this profession. Our journey was not a bed of roses, as we have seen firsthand the challenges that HR professionals face. In this blog, we will share our experiences showing how I faced the challenges, used the strategies and achieved the results.


How was HR when joined?

We completed our education by 1985 followed by a failed effort of jobs in Universities leading towards Industry. We were in multiple verticals in our tenure as HR. When we were in the company, I was faced with a number of challenges. Some were below:

  1. First, there was a lack of HR systems and processes. This made it difficult to track employee performance, manage the work culture, and develop talent.

  2. Second, there was no system for hiring, managing talents, or training. This meant that the company was not able to attract and retain the best talent, and employees were not provided training for the development which they needed to be successful.

  3. Third, there were no rules, regulations, procedures, and practices in place. This led to a lack of consistency and fairness in the way employees were treated.


What were then, my Major Challenges

We were in total 5 Companies in India and abroad. Starting from the day, II joined the company to set up a training system, the Company till date is faced with a number of challenges. First, there was a lack of understanding of HR among the management team. They did not see HR as a strategic partner and did not value its contributions. For, they needed Training system as it was needed for ISO then.

Second, there was a lack of HR systems and processes in place. This made it difficult to track employee performance, manage compensation, or recruit and develop talent.

Third and most important, there was a culture of resistance to change. Employees were used to doing things the way they had always been done and were not open to new ideas.


What Strategies we adopted,

Whenever we join a Company, we are habitually in practice of taking our Induction seriously. This gives us a chance to learn about the status quo of HR and to prepare ourselves for HR jobs in the Company. Keeping these learning we formulate our challenges. Normally we adopt following strategies:

  • Conducted an HR study to identify the gaps. Conduct of such study gave me a clear understanding of the problems that needed to be addressed.

  • Developed a comprehensive HR plan that addressed the gaps. Once the study is over, we are rich with What are HR gaps in the Company. This HR data allows us to design our plan for HR in the Company. It may include new HR policies, procedures etc.

  • This lead is mostly followed by communicating the HR plan to the management team and employees. This is merely to help to build their support for the changes.

  • We always implement the HR plan in phases as by doing so we provide us time to manage the change process and ensure that it is executed .



What are HRs we mainly targeted?

These were many but space isn't allowed. Broadly there were two areas of HR which always failed to satisfy us leading to our being pressed to intervene in their functioning. These were below:


  1. Streamlining HR Department

We were aware of the value of the department for the functioning of the Company. This made us thoroughly review and execute and/ revise the tools and tackles of the HR department. As per need we create all the missing HR documents and systems. This included a company policy manual, an induction booklet, an employee guide, and formats for various personal functions. I also developed all the needed rules & regulations, practices, procedures, and SOPs for various functions.


  1. Streamlining HR functions

Similar was our learning for HR systems of the company. We call them HR functions. Thanks to earlier quoted HR study, it helped us identify the HR functions needed for streamlining the Companies. Depending on need, we executed most of the HR functions in one company or another. Some of these HR systems were related to employee-hiring, contract workers, administration of personnel, salary, training & development, performance management, succession, reward & recognition, and annual bonus.

Today if you ask, I feel proud of the work I did to streamline the HR department and implement HR systems. These challenges have helped us immensely, as a person and professional both.


What is Your Takeaway

I believe that HR professionals can play a critical role in the success of any Company. By overcoming the challenges that we face, we are in position to help a Company to create a more productive, engaged, and profitable workforce and as a professional, may provide some tip for successful HR life:

Some of my learning and so, cautions for you-

  1. Don't underestimate the importance of HR.

  2. Don't neglect HR systems and processes. 

  3. Don't be afraid of change. Change is inevitable. 

  4. Don't communicate poorly. 

  5. Don't give up.


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