The following comments were culled from responses to Canadian HR Reporter’s 2001 Strategic HR survey question, “What is the single, largest HR challenge being faced by your organization today?”
Recruiting appropriately qualified professionals in an extremely tight labour market while maintaining a controlled salary base.
n Attracting and retaining personnel after they have been trained (machine operators).
Improving the quality of work life for our employees — that means different things to different people, but in general employees want to know that the organization is treating them with respect.
Probably the greatest challenge to HR in health care is the changing requirements to accommodate disabled workers in their employ while meeting client needs and managing a budget for staffing.
Recruiting talent, such as chemists/IT/engineers in a small Canadian talent pool while competing with the U.S. brain drain — standardizing academic achievements.
Demographics. The baby boom echo — retirement. Workforce aging quickly without any apparent sources for replacement.
I was recently hired as the sole human resources person for this plant. Before I arrived, morale was low and I am trying to build morale and earn the employees’ trust.
To retain the qualified employees already here while in a severe downturn in our business cycle, which has necessitated layoffs and a salary freeze.
Improving performance in a very hostile labour relations environment.
Compliance with pay equity laws.
Lack of financial resources to have an HR specialist full time to keep systems in place and up-to-date. Also lack of respect for the HR function as an important component of the management team. Therefore line managers tend to do “their own thing.”
How to deal fairly and legally with subcontractors.
High turnover with no specific reason why that we can identify. Too much time spent recruiting, training and bringing new employees up to speed.
We lack electronic HR resources. I would love an HRIS system that would track all my required information for compensation, turnover, internal moves, succession planning, training, etc.
Developing HR policies and procedures and getting line managers to follow expectations agreed to and set forth.
Largest challenge is being well informed in so many areas of the HR field. HR generalists are simply spread too thin to give 100 per cent to all areas.
As the company is presently being taken over by a larger technology firm, the biggest HR challenge is the workforce planning, retention and general uncertainty/insecurity amongst the staff.
Coaching/mentoring young inexperienced new managers in the art of managing people.
In a static mature business and organization, the issue is moving young capable staff into developing roles when there is no turnover at middle, senior management.
Unionization. We currently have a non-union work environment at all seven locations. However, we are experiencing an organizing drive.
Finding the will and time to train managers and bargaining unit employees.
Because we are in a cost reduction mode, HR can not spend any money on programs for employees. If cuts have to be enforced, HR is usually the first place it happens, since we are viewed as a “cost” of doing business.
Managing and utilizing the technology available for recruitment, selection and training needs. HR and office personnel are not necessarily advanced computer literate and technologies appear to be so necessary in today’s society and workplace.
Being recognized as a support structure for all employees (not just office staff and not just production staff). While at the same time, co-ordinating benefits, compensation, bonuses, discipline and appraisals. We get caught between being unappreciated and being the listeners to everyone’s problems.
Compensation issues. We pay at market level (50th percentile), but this is not enough. Employees feel we should be paying above market.
More front-line HR challenges
“What other comments or issues do you have regarding the HR function at your organization?”
As a health organization, our collective bargaining and general salary analysis is done by our provincial agency with some involvement from district representatives. We are trying to centralize the human resources function for consistency, but presently a lot of HR functions done by manager for their areas.
Although our organization does not have a documented strategic plan, HR is consulted on an ongoing basis on strategic decisions and participates at the Sr. administration level.
I am the only HR person in my organization. I have a health and safety advisor (recently hired) who works part time. There is no doubt HR could use more help! The positive aspect of this structure is that it keeps a lot of HR in the hands of line managers.
HR is probably the fastest changing and increasing importance area of any department within the organization. The staff all need to be dynamic and quick learners to keep up!
We are a small but effective organization that “does a lot with a little” all the time. We need to do better in the whole HR arena (i.e. keeping better informed), but most of what we learn in this area comes from interaction with others in the charitable field.
Because of our limited admin. funding, the HR function is absorbed by the CAO, admin. assistant (part-time) and financial assistant.
Two persons for 1,250 employees is a lot of coverage.
HR is an integral part of strategic planning and leadership at my organization with a great deal of emphasis on employee relations and employee value.
We are a small organization — yet HR is strategically involved with organization issues.
HR is a new concept at this organization. I am finding it difficult to convince upper management to buy into the theory of doing things for employees because we want to. Very little support given to the function. Regarded as necessary but of little importance.
Has evolved and taken a very strategic direction!
The HR function is in transition. Previously, HR was primarily dedicated to recruitment but is now expanding the function to include all aspects of HR.
We need to get larger to become more proactive and strategic. Having said that, I don’t see us moving to a fully automated HR self-serve model with transactional items eliminated. Most managers don’t want their staff on Internet sites figuring out how to make an address change when it could simply be accomplished by communicating with an HR expert. Yes, I see automation playing a bigger role but organizations will need expert HR professionals to make employees’ lives easier.
We currently do not have enough depth of HR experience to meet the challenges of the human resource needs of the organization.
Corporate HR too controlling over daily HR operations at local business units. Corporate HR not well versed in Canadian business practices or Canadian legislation and employment laws.
Role should be more strategic but is bogged down by administration. Too much “one-size-fits-all” mentality. Policy-makers need more exposure to working in line business units ... they are too “text book” in their approach.
HR has been successful in demonstrating its value to the organization in the past five years. We have had a 25 per cent increase in staff levels in HR and are being consulted on an increasing basis on a wide range of issues
Inadequate staffing levels in HR limit ability to be proactive and strategic.
Recruiting appropriately qualified professionals in an extremely tight labour market while maintaining a controlled salary base.
n Attracting and retaining personnel after they have been trained (machine operators).
Improving the quality of work life for our employees — that means different things to different people, but in general employees want to know that the organization is treating them with respect.
Probably the greatest challenge to HR in health care is the changing requirements to accommodate disabled workers in their employ while meeting client needs and managing a budget for staffing.
Recruiting talent, such as chemists/IT/engineers in a small Canadian talent pool while competing with the U.S. brain drain — standardizing academic achievements.
Demographics. The baby boom echo — retirement. Workforce aging quickly without any apparent sources for replacement.
I was recently hired as the sole human resources person for this plant. Before I arrived, morale was low and I am trying to build morale and earn the employees’ trust.
To retain the qualified employees already here while in a severe downturn in our business cycle, which has necessitated layoffs and a salary freeze.
Improving performance in a very hostile labour relations environment.
Compliance with pay equity laws.
Lack of financial resources to have an HR specialist full time to keep systems in place and up-to-date. Also lack of respect for the HR function as an important component of the management team. Therefore line managers tend to do “their own thing.”
How to deal fairly and legally with subcontractors.
High turnover with no specific reason why that we can identify. Too much time spent recruiting, training and bringing new employees up to speed.
We lack electronic HR resources. I would love an HRIS system that would track all my required information for compensation, turnover, internal moves, succession planning, training, etc.
Developing HR policies and procedures and getting line managers to follow expectations agreed to and set forth.
Largest challenge is being well informed in so many areas of the HR field. HR generalists are simply spread too thin to give 100 per cent to all areas.
As the company is presently being taken over by a larger technology firm, the biggest HR challenge is the workforce planning, retention and general uncertainty/insecurity amongst the staff.
Coaching/mentoring young inexperienced new managers in the art of managing people.
In a static mature business and organization, the issue is moving young capable staff into developing roles when there is no turnover at middle, senior management.
Unionization. We currently have a non-union work environment at all seven locations. However, we are experiencing an organizing drive.
Finding the will and time to train managers and bargaining unit employees.
Because we are in a cost reduction mode, HR can not spend any money on programs for employees. If cuts have to be enforced, HR is usually the first place it happens, since we are viewed as a “cost” of doing business.
Managing and utilizing the technology available for recruitment, selection and training needs. HR and office personnel are not necessarily advanced computer literate and technologies appear to be so necessary in today’s society and workplace.
Being recognized as a support structure for all employees (not just office staff and not just production staff). While at the same time, co-ordinating benefits, compensation, bonuses, discipline and appraisals. We get caught between being unappreciated and being the listeners to everyone’s problems.
Compensation issues. We pay at market level (50th percentile), but this is not enough. Employees feel we should be paying above market.
More front-line HR challenges
“What other comments or issues do you have regarding the HR function at your organization?”
As a health organization, our collective bargaining and general salary analysis is done by our provincial agency with some involvement from district representatives. We are trying to centralize the human resources function for consistency, but presently a lot of HR functions done by manager for their areas.
Although our organization does not have a documented strategic plan, HR is consulted on an ongoing basis on strategic decisions and participates at the Sr. administration level.
I am the only HR person in my organization. I have a health and safety advisor (recently hired) who works part time. There is no doubt HR could use more help! The positive aspect of this structure is that it keeps a lot of HR in the hands of line managers.
HR is probably the fastest changing and increasing importance area of any department within the organization. The staff all need to be dynamic and quick learners to keep up!
We are a small but effective organization that “does a lot with a little” all the time. We need to do better in the whole HR arena (i.e. keeping better informed), but most of what we learn in this area comes from interaction with others in the charitable field.
Because of our limited admin. funding, the HR function is absorbed by the CAO, admin. assistant (part-time) and financial assistant.
Two persons for 1,250 employees is a lot of coverage.
HR is an integral part of strategic planning and leadership at my organization with a great deal of emphasis on employee relations and employee value.
We are a small organization — yet HR is strategically involved with organization issues.
HR is a new concept at this organization. I am finding it difficult to convince upper management to buy into the theory of doing things for employees because we want to. Very little support given to the function. Regarded as necessary but of little importance.
Has evolved and taken a very strategic direction!
The HR function is in transition. Previously, HR was primarily dedicated to recruitment but is now expanding the function to include all aspects of HR.
We need to get larger to become more proactive and strategic. Having said that, I don’t see us moving to a fully automated HR self-serve model with transactional items eliminated. Most managers don’t want their staff on Internet sites figuring out how to make an address change when it could simply be accomplished by communicating with an HR expert. Yes, I see automation playing a bigger role but organizations will need expert HR professionals to make employees’ lives easier.
We currently do not have enough depth of HR experience to meet the challenges of the human resource needs of the organization.
Corporate HR too controlling over daily HR operations at local business units. Corporate HR not well versed in Canadian business practices or Canadian legislation and employment laws.
Role should be more strategic but is bogged down by administration. Too much “one-size-fits-all” mentality. Policy-makers need more exposure to working in line business units ... they are too “text book” in their approach.
HR has been successful in demonstrating its value to the organization in the past five years. We have had a 25 per cent increase in staff levels in HR and are being consulted on an increasing basis on a wide range of issues
Inadequate staffing levels in HR limit ability to be proactive and strategic.
