XpertHR’s latest survey has revealed that managing diversity is one of the ‘most difficult’ strategic challenges facing employers in 2020, along with recruitment and healthcare benefits.
Its fourth annual survey, of over 700 HR professionals, highlights that 37.8% of HR professionals find managing diversity to be extremely challenging.
Diversity today goes beyond race, sex, ethnicity, age, national origin and religion, and it includes differing work experiences, sexual orientation, educational status, marital status, socioeconomic status, physical characteristics, life experiences, background and upbringing, says the online HR resource. So it is ‘incumbent upon HR to lead the way and incorporate diversity into their organisation with the goal of creating an inclusive and tolerant workplace’.
Diversity efforts must start at the top with the buy-in of key stakeholders and upper management who can see the value diversity can bring, and also be tied to business goals and aligned with corporate strategies, adds XpertHR.
RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES
Around 30% of HR professionals cited recruiting and hiring as their top challenge across all areas. Of those who are recruiting and hiring, 50.9% said they are extremely challenged when it comes to finding high quality candidates. The number of professionals grappling with this challenge has in fact doubled since 2017 (22.7%), according to the survey.
“Finding skilled, qualified applicants is a struggle for many,” comments Beth Zoller, JD, Legal Editor, XpertHR. “Building a place where employees want to work, seeking out untapped job markets such as older employees, veterans and those with a criminal past, and taking advantage of non-traditional candidates such as gig workers, remote workers and jobs shares are all tactics that employers can implement in order to meet their talent acquisition needs.”
RISING BENEFIT COSTS
Healthcare benefit concerns also emerged as a serious challenge with 50% of HR professionals feeling extremely challenged by employee benefits and healthcare costs.
“In addition to the rising cost of benefits, employers must address the needs of different generations and provide benefits that each group finds useful,” adds Zoller. “For example, older workers may be more interested in long term disability and younger workers may want benefits, such as day care and gym memberships. Today’s employers need to strike a balance and determine which benefits are most valuable and attractive to its workforce.”
Other strategic concerns that survey respondents characterised as ‘extremely challenging’ include employee engagement, morale and satisfaction (34%), employee retention (31.2%) and managing work/life balance (20%).
XpertHR’s survey not only identifies pain points for the coming year for HR/D&I professionals, but also provides guidance as to how employers should handle them. Click here for a free copy of the report.
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