5 Human Resource Management Challenges

The former First Lady of the United States Elanor Roosevelt once observed, “Human resources are the most valuable assets the world has. They are all needed desperately.” 

Indeed. Human resources are indispensable assets for all businesses small and big. However, the responsibilities of human resource management often fall on the shoulders of small business owners, since they seldom have the capacity for a dedicated HR department or full-time HR personnel. Handling HR functions in-house for such businesses is very challenging.

Let’s discuss five common human resource management problems faced by small businesses and how to solve them.

•  Hiring process

Bringing new employees on-board is a major time and cost-intensive commitment for small businesses. Mismanaged recruitment processes cause time wastage, and often lead to wrong hires.

Way out: The best way to go about your recruitment process is to plan it in advance. Glassdoor suggests that it takes an average of 23 days for hiring the right candidate, that’s about 3 weeks. So, if you plan it right, you can conduct comprehensive interviews and identify suitable candidates to join your business, and make sure that other tasks such as operations, sales, or marketing do not take the backseat.

•  Payroll and Taxes

Payroll management and tax filing is time-consuming and challenging for small businesses. However, these are unavoidable and play an integral role in keeping compliance issues at bay.

Way out: If you want to avoid last-minute salary disbursement hassles, it is better to stay prepared for them. For instance, you can set up a reminder a week before the payday to get things moving along in the payroll department. Similarly, daily book-keeping goes a long way in saving you precious tax filing hours.

•  Employee Training

HR resources facilitate employee training to prevent expensive errors and injuries from occurring. However, working on a tight budget means there is no expert to impart this training – and as we all know, improper training affects workplace safety.

Way out: Take some time out to train your employees formally and familiarise them with your workplace. The right training can prevent workplace mishaps and leave little or no room for errors.

•  Performance 

You might wonder, what next after I hire a new employee? Who will they report to? How will their day-to-day management and supervision happen? How will I evaluate and appraise their performance?

Managing a single employee is feasible. But what happens when a business grows and more people join? Again, human resources is an important connecting link between employees and management. They oversee the growth and development of employees and administer performance.

Way out: Don’t wait for the annual performance review to evaluate your employees. The more you get involved with your team, the better you will be able to know their strengths and weaknesses. This will help you assign the right task to the right person, leading to better performance as well as the growth of your employees and also your business.

From recruiting employees to managing and retaining them, small businesses face several challenges of human resource management. Tips discussed above can make your life easier.