Planning the holiday calendars, getting festive decorations done, and ordering cakes were the major HR tasks a decade back in the human resource industry. Currently, the leading HR leaders are talking about hiring top talent, managing the attrition rate, upskilling, and reskilling of the employees. But, going forward, will these problems be considered a challenge? Or will HR move beyond all this and have a larger role to play the organization's growth. 

In the last many years, human resource professionals have evolved immensely and played a significant role in making the organizations successful. With the latest technologies coming into the industry, the HR wave has covered all the possible aspects of growth across domains. We are in the year 2020, and, industry leaders are expecting a significant change in this function with challenges that are currently a red flag likely to disappear in the future. 

Workplace diversity 

We have come a very long way when it comes to diversity and inclusion. The corporate world was always upbeat about having a diverse workforce. Still, it took very long to accept women in leadership roles, openness about the LGBT community are some of the examples. At this time, we have women in the c-suite roles, companies are not gender bias, and the LGBTQ community are also being welcomed in the organizations. If the pace continues, there are high chances that HR will not have to work in the direction of cultural differences. In the future, people will be more aware and accepted towards the fact that gender preferences, colors are standard. Reporting to a female boss will be fine. The discussion around breaking the glass ceiling will have vanished, and HR professionals won't have to handle the added pressure of proving something to someone. 

Compensation 

Many companies are struggling with how best to structure employee compensation. Small businesses have to compete not only with businesses of a similar size but also with corporations with big payroll budgets. In the current scenario, HR managers are going the extra mile to ensure everything around compensation goes well. The company works around creating a system to reward employees for excellent performance. Going forward, the conversation around compensation will change and not be a big deal for the companies in the future. Besides, consider offering incentive programs such as profit sharing or bonuses, which can be a win-win for the employee and the company. Such incentive programs also encourage the employee to give his/her best.

Health and safety 

It is the employer's mandate to provide a safe working environment, and no employee or his/her family should be made to suffer under any circumstances. Workplace safety cannot exist on best practice guidelines and policies alone. Going forward, it won't be one of the significant challenges for HR heads. Security at the workplace will remain within the company's operation manual. Health and safety standards are substantial human resource challenges. Health in the workplace doesn't restrict itself to hygiene and safety. Still, the psychological well-being of employees can deteriorate due to the overload of work, performance pressure, and general employee burnout. HR professionals need to continue to keep a watch on escalating workloads and stress levels. An open-door policy to discuss anxiety, working hours, and unfair expectations is critical. There is a high chance that it will not remain a challenge in the future. 

Solving all these problems doesn't mean that managing the workforce will be challenges free. Still, there will be new challenges to face, and people managers need to solve the current problems and prepare themselves for the problems of tomorrow. The second approach should be treating AI as a helping hand and not as a threat; it will give them ideas to prepare solutions for the coming crisis.