Aging workforce, lack of required skills among HR challenges: Survey

Extra responsibilities include restructuring, metrics, technology

An aging workforce and new recruits lacking required skills are among the employer/employee challenges most HR practitioners are expecting to face more and more in 2014, according to a BC Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA) survey of more than 900 HR professionals across British Columbia and the Yukon.

Increasingly, many of the respondents reported senior management is handing over extra responsibilities to them, to be dealt with in addition to their existing HR duties:
•organizational restructuring (34 per cent)
•strategic workforce planning responsibilities (31 per cent)
•measurement and metrics (23 per cent)
•use of technology (23 per cent)
•employer branding (21 per cent)
•social networking and web duties (20 per cent).

The survey also asked which trends HR practitioners are struggling with most:
•the gap between positions with required skills and a lack of existing skilled labour (53 per cent)
•replacing an aging workforce (43 per cent)
•changes in federal and provincial legislation that affects human resources issues (29 per cent)
•the increased use of technology in the workplace (25 per cent).

“Employers, private and otherwise, need to realize it’s going to take skilled HR professionals to help ensure these kinds of workforce matters are dealt with now and in years to come. Providing the right resources for them to do that is important,” said Christian Codrington, senior manager of professional practice for BC HRMA.

“Our membership continues to manage human capital issues in an economy that is growing and facing more intense competitive pressures. Companies and organizations which ignore these issues may experience a significant loss in competitive edge when it comes to attracting, and keeping, bright new talent, which is in short supply in many industries.”

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