Human resources departments face several challenges in the 21st century. They must serve a multigenerational workforce with different expectations and loyalties. Employees are also changing jobs more frequently, staying for only 3-5 years. HR must adapt to this changing environment by focusing on employee skills, abilities, and knowledge rather than traditional administrative tasks. They must also recruit a diverse workforce using online tools and partnerships while helping employees maintain a work-life balance, especially as jobs demand increased flexibility and autonomy.

1. Rachna sharma
BBALLB (H)
4th Sem
HR CHALLENGES IN 21st
CENTURY

2.  One major challenge human resources departments
face is serving multiple generations within a single
workforce.
 For the incoming workforce, the "hired for life"
mentality of the past will be obsolete as workers
increasingly change employers after 3 to 5 years of
work.
 Placing more emphasis on proper work-life balance,
they will be motivated by learning opportunities and
positive feedback.
 To retain these employees, human resources departments must
be ready to respond to these needs.

3.  Human resources departments must adapt to their changing
role within an organization. Moving from a traditional to a
strategic approach.
 The basic personal functions that characterized traditional
human resource management, such as maintenance of
personal files and records and the processing of documents,
will be replaced by a focus on promoting the abilities, skills,
and knowledge of employees
 HR departments can best prepare for their changing role by
adopting a "human investment perspective" that is more
active than reactive and that no longer relies on the
hierarchical organizational structures of the past.

4.  Recruiting a workforce that reflects today's
reality is another challenge for human
resources departments.
 HR professionals can tap into the popularity of
the Internet. With online job postings and
company websites, human resources
departments are now able to conduct around-
the-clock recruiting.
 Recruitment strategies can include the use of
minority recruiters, targeting universities with
high minority enrollment, and forging
relationships with minority organizations .

5.  Technology, as well as the change in the
traditional workweek and how jobs are defined,
will combine to give us more autonomy over
when we work," he says, and more and more that
means working on weekends.
 "We are paying more for productivity and
performance and output - when you can do it or
when it needs to be done. Time is going to be
more flexible in the coming years."

6.  HR's job will be to put together programs that
help employees find the right balance
between home and work, according to
Challenger. That will be especially important
for baby boomers, who are turning their
attention away from their children toward their
elderly parents, who are living longer and need
care.
 Increased use of telecommuting can help
maintain a proper balance, he says, allowing
employees to work at home and avoid lengthy
commutes.