Top 5 Human Resource Challenges

Today, business changes are happening ten times faster than just a few years ago. The old management methods do not work, and classical HR must quickly adapt to the needs of businesses and employees, and challenges for recruiters.

Many modern human resource challenges are the inevitable result of the sweeping changes that organizational systems have had to go through.

What interesting happened in HR in 2022? Find out here!

Top Happenings in the HR Management of 2022

2022 was a challenging year for many industries and required much resilience and effort from the HR managers all over the organizations to stay afloat and retain employees. Do you remember the news of recent years regarding equal employment programs or global shifts toward remote work? They have totally changed the agenda in the HR world.

Here you can find news of 2022 that changed the established way of hiring and may impact future HR trends!

What Changes Did We Observe in HR in 2022?

1. Half-day Fridays

Vista Group International switched from strict work days to a flexible and pleasant HR policy. The company, having 800+ employees on staff, has announced "half-day Fridays.” This means the employees don’t have to work the whole Friday and can “log out” earlier to devote their free time to personal issues, family time, etc.

The company’s management reported that such a policy didn’t affect employee performance negatively. On the contrary, the annual reviews have shown improvements in the working environment.

Takeaway: This case shows that some actions that seem ineffective can bring fruitful results to corporate KPIs. You can think of launching such half-day Fridays as an experiment to gain more employee trust. Or think about challenges in HR management in advance and consider other material or non-material employee benefits that you have previously rejected as pointless. Flexibility is the primary skill all HR managers need to use.

2. Unionization efforts in Apple

The international standards and corporate governance are accompanied by standardizing business processes, strengthening production discipline, and improving working conditions and labor protection.

Unions are what the majority of workers all over the world tend to. In December 2022, London-based Apple Store defended its rights to unionization and became the latest in this Apple unionization race.

Referring to the media extracts, Apple’s staff needed to make an impact while the company focused on hitting algorithm-calculated targets instead of satisfying customer needs.

Other drivers for employees to enter the unions were to secure themselves from the recession impact and to protect their mental health due to much stress and burnout.

Takeaway: This example of human resource challenges is interesting since it highlights that people worry more about their mental health than ever before. Even money doesn’t serve as a primary goal for employee efficiency. Employees want to feel secure and be mentally and physically healthy in their workplace. Consider these points when working on your company’s competitive advantage to attract future employees.

3. Changes in HR definition: no “resources”

Have you ever thought that “human resources” sounds slightly offensive? Gartner company offered to apply a more human-centric approach and eliminate such a cynical term from the corporate culture. According to the Gartner statistics, employees treated as people and not resources are 380% more productive.

If you think about replacing this outdated term, think about “People operations” (popular among tech giants such as Google and Uber), “Employee experience” (Airbnb), “Employee success” (Salesforce), “Talent management,” etc.

Takeaway: The core of this case is much deeper than a simple name. Employers should not only change the department/team name but treat their staff differently. Employees are the leading representatives of the corporate culture. The benefits of an excellent corporate culture include active employee engagement, job satisfaction, and a deep sense of belonging and solidarity.

Organizations with an excellent corporate culture attract employees who work with pleasure and feel connected with the company. This is how they become ambassadors of their company, increasing its reputation and attracting highly qualified personnel.

4. (Non) discrimination case in Shell

In 2022, Shell became a famous figure in the HR field due to the discrimination case (in fact, no discrimination was proven). The company preferred a White, British candidate over a non-White applicant of Egyptian and Sudanese descent for the high-level position in top management.

In the course of proceedings initiated by an unselected candidate, it was found that the choice after the interviews was not dictated by discrimination but by objective reasons for qualification. However, this case created human resource problems and cost the company money, time, and a share of its reputation.

Takeaway: Hiring often provokes discrimination lawsuits, and Shell’s case highlights how standard hiring processes can secure companies from meritless claims.

5. Remote scandal in Twitter

The transition to a fully remote work format began to gain momentum during the 2020 pandemic. However, in 2022, many companies, such as Vanguard Group, Paycom Software, and others,  push their employees to return to the office and be more productive. This created really huge human resource problems.

Twitter, led by Elon Musk, stood out in this area. Musk violated the law, particularly the Americans With Disabilities Act, with his sudden and sweeping announcement to immediately return Twitter employees to the office. Many disabled staffers could perform their work adequately from their home accommodation, but Musk’s statement has actually put them out of work.

Takeaway: The world won’t return to the pre-pandemic normal. Remote work has become one of the main and must-have benefits for attracting candidates. Always think about employees as a driver for your business, not resources you use. Also, we recommend focusing on the KPIs to understand whether your staff performs well and make data-driven decisions.

What Conclusions Are To Be Made in 2025?

Despite the market turbulence that we have today, the crisis, which brings inevitable changes and human resource challenges, will be followed by a qualitatively and significantly new stage of development and growth. New solutions will appear, and business processes and technologies will be transformed. We hope that our list of human resource management problems and solutions will help you to form the vision of your 2025 strategy!

Think in advance about the tech solutions that will strengthen your business processes and prevent challenges of human resource management. For example, Axterior recruitment platform helps to attract the best talents to your company with minimum effort. You’ll be able to hire employees 23% faster and use the saved time to improve the onboarding process, enhance the working environment, develop corporate culture, etc. Hire best-fit talents for free!