Creating the Light at the End of Your HR Tunnel

The biggest challenge that human resources professionals and their organizations will face in the next few years is the chronic shortage of talent in a recessive context. This is because of the ageing of the Baby Boomers, who in their majority, will reach the retirement age in the next few years without enough replacements. In a highly competitive context, where uncertainty and higher rates of change will justify as a key factor of success, organizations to remain competitive should pursue policies of employee engagement with a deepness and discipline never known before.

Such a scenario will have the following implications:

1. The efficiency of human resources organizations in attracting, engaging and retaining professional talent will be determinant in defining the competitiveness of organizations immersed in a highly volatile context of business, where collaborative practices, flexible working schedules, corporate social networks and knowledge sharing will be commonplace.

2. Human resources should be instrumental in building a positive reputation of a company as an excellent employer, by developing practices of employer branding to compete fiercely for attracting the best talent available in the job market.

3. Human resources will deal with the coexistence of different generations of talented, seniors and younger employees because that part of the employee shortage will be covered by elder workers who will enjoy from better expectations of living. Human resources must provide a means of achieving a healthy balance between life and work to minimize stressful incidents that could affect the organizational climate and consequently preserve overall productivity.

4. In a context where collaborative work, effective team working and knowledge sharing will be fundamental as a key factor of competitiveness, human resources should promote a culture of coaching and mentoring where senior professionals should share their knowledge and experiences with younger and inexpert workers.

5. A human resources director should actively support the leadership vision and its related strategies, as well as the current and future issues and trends in matters of human talent, impacting or potentially impacting a company’s operations, financial performance, market positioning and employee satisfaction. Human resources should have a permanent seat at the corporate table.

6. Also important will be the competency of a human resources director to provide guidance on structure, staffing, mentoring and management; assisting to the leadership with the effective utilization of staffing resources to ensure operational excellence with proper strategic alignment and nurturing a great workplace environment where an excellent package of compensation and benefits, programs that encourage a right balance between life and work, and an exciting career development and succession plans will be systematically designed and developed to provide employee satisfaction.

7. A competent human resources director is accountable for coordinating and implementing the human talent practices, its vision and strategy to support implicitly the current and long-term organizational goals. Additionally he/she should be a pivotal element in the Board of Directors and Advisory Board where he/she would be responsible to suggest, justify and approve human resources policies and make the related decisions with transformational impact that are required to face troublesome business scenarios like mergers, massive layoffs and bankruptcy.