Phenomena like the Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting, Quiet Firing and the constant fear of recession have brought the spotlight back on Human Resource Management (HRM). These events have underscored the importance of efficient HRM for the workforce to be satisfied and motivated. The renewed attention on HRM has also led to scrutiny and re-evaluation of the skills and competencies that HR professionals need to possess to keep the workforce performing at their best.
The approach to HR management is shifting from the traditional view of merely managing people to being a vital, strategic function that significantly impacts business success. HR professionals today require a more complex and broader set of skills and competencies to be effective.
In addition to the traditional functions of recruitment, employee development, performance assessment and compensation, HRM involves bridging the gap between employees and the management, working on employee relations and aligning employees’ aspirations and expectations and the organisation’s vision.
Being on top of these diverse responsibilities, critical to business success, requires specialised training.
Key HR Skills and Competencies
Here’s a list of key HR skills and competencies you must have to enable your contribution to your organisation’s success:
1. People Development
The importance of the HRM professional’s work lies in how they help their organisations derive real value from their employees by assisting them in performing to their full potential. This is achieved through people development.
It involves efficient human capital management by ensuring the employees’ professional development and simultaneously enabling the attainment of the organisation’s business goals. HR professionals are required to harness the inherent skills of employees and help them develop new skills through a planned strategy for workforce development.
Employee development activities help people grow as professionals, and individuals contribute to the business’ success. It also helps the organisation improve employee engagement, enhance retention, and build a pool of motivated and competent in-house talent to meet its present and future staffing needs.
2. Strategic Planning
HR professionals should practice strategic thinking and build planning skills for the business’s long-term success. It helps the company avoid expensive mistakes and disruptive surprises that prevent it from reaching its goals. It also helps address crucial issues on time to prevent crises. Strategic thinking requires people to look at the big picture while keeping sight of the operational details.
3. Building Workplace Culture
The ability of HR professionals to influence and lead the development of a positive and enabling work culture is key to business success. They need to define the vision for the organisation in collaboration with the leadership team and then create the right environment at work to enable employees to realise that vision.
They must ensure compliance with diversity laws and employee rights and help foster a safe and inclusive culture where everyone accepts mutual differences. The differences are harnessed to the organisation’s benefit.
For instance, the Godrej Group includes a D&I session in its induction and conducts diversity sensitisation workshops with their employees across all locations. In addition, their health insurance benefit allows employees to add “partner” as a beneficiary instead of just “spouse.”
4. Managerial Skills
Workplaces across industries are now staffed with people from diverse nationalities, races and sexual preferences. Strong managerial skills are essential to managing issues that may arise out of such diversity efficiently.
- Mckinsey & Company found that 43% of companies with diverse management have higher profits.
- Credit Suisse conducted a worldwide analysis of 2,400 companies and found that large-cap organisations with at least one woman on the board outperformed organisations with no women by 26%.
5. Communication Skills
Managing people is the most fundamental skill expected among HR professionals. They need to communicate well in a clear, engaging and persuasive manner. They are also expected to be able to resolve conflicts, communicate the organisation’s vision across the hierarchy and counsel and coach individuals. Additionally, they need to possess the skills to share sensitive information in a manner that does not agitate the workforce and is respectful of people’s sensibilities.
To Sum Up
To acquire the necessary HR management skills, formal training with a course in Human Resources Management from a reputed and accredited institution is ideal. Consider pursuing an MBA in Human Resources Management from NMIMS Global to help fill the skills gap.
