What are the Top Career Challenges for HR Professionals Today?

Human Resources (HR) is a core part of almost every organisation. It's the responsibility of HR to manage talent, shape workplace culture, and drive wider organisational success through strategic workforce planning, employee engagement, and retention.

It's because of how wide swept HR is that I consider it to be one of the most diverse and versatile functions in any business. It encompasses professionals within talent acquisition, HR business partnering, L&D, compensation & benefits, and HRIS just to name a few.

As the HR sector continues to grow in major economies like the US and the UK, it's clear that the challenges faced by modern HR professionals are also becoming increasingly varied and complex. This article is intended to highlight some of the biggest challenges HR professionals face today according to research from the last few years.

#1 Unique Job Search Challenges

Job searching can be a long, arduous process for anyone (even during the best of times), but for HR professionals today, job searching has its own set of challenges. Take a look at some of the numbers below:

The issues outlined by the research are undoubtedly complex, and perhaps require deeper analysis to really understand where these pain points are coming from, but it's clear to me that HR professionals need to adopt more targeted job search strategies to improve their chances of success. What that strategy looks like is of course contingent on the individual and what their career goals are.

#2 Limited Mobility and Career Progression

From my experience, HR teams typically function in silos, where recruitment focus only on hiring talent, HR business partners focus only on aligning HR strategies with wider business goals, L&D focus only on forming training and development initiatives... you see where I'm going with this?

Each HR team has a specific purpose with workers who have specific skills to service that purpose; there may be some overlap, but for the most part the skills remain specific and highly specialised. This makes it challenging to pivot within the function itself, and even more difficult when attempting to transition out of HR altogether.

In regards to career progression, the challenges are multi-layered. There's a lingering perception that HR is primarily a support or administrative function instead of a strategic business partner. This often leads to a common interview question I get asked when speaking to candidates: ''Does HR have a seat at the table?''

Fortunately HR does have a voice in many organisations, but there are still several issues that research has identified. For instance, there may be a limited number of actual leadership positions available, a lack of structured leadership programs, and a lack of proper mentorship to develop strategic decision-making skills. See the data below:

#3 Burnout and Declining Mental Health

A decline in mental health and well-being is another growing concern for HR professionals in particular. Heavy workloads, long work hours, urgent deliverables, and the pressures of managing senior-level stakeholders, coupled with a lack of team support, understanding, and empathy are commonly cited as the main issues negatively impacting mental health.

And it's no doubt that workers who experience constant high levels of stress typically reach breaking point much quicker, which is — generally speaking — likely to result in lower levels of enthusiasm and productivity day-to-day.

Although the pressures on CHROs differ from those in more junior, mid-level, and senior positions, stress and burnout remain persistent and hold noticeable knock-on effects. While this hopefully isn't the new normal, HR professionals should stay adaptable and proactive when it comes to developing the right skills to meet workplace challenges (e.g., time management, prioritisation, EQ, etc).

When job searching, HR professionals should also properly vet their potential employers over interview to ensure the culture of the business and work environment itself aligns with their values and expectations.

The Solutions?

There are no straightforward ones. These challenges can't be resolved or addressed overnight. What's clear though is that in today's increasingly globalised economy, job competition has intensified, and organisations have began to adopt leaner business models and manage their workforces more stringently; HR leaders are being selected more carefully and the playbook is steadily expanding, with continuous efforts and investment being poured into tech enablement, bettering ways of working, and fostering DE&I.

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