HRGuru

My company, i4cp, just did a survey about the top issues facing HR in 2008. What do you think the most pressing issues are (i.e. recruitment, benefits, etc.)?

Outsourcing, and all the issues surrounding it, has been getting more critical every year.

From a corporate standpoint, the other big one is the skyrocketing costs of healthcare and insurance. Every year we're getting squeezed just a bit more in our attempt to offer quality coverage at a price the business can stomach.

Cayman is not that different, our issues at the moment:

1. Immigration - roll over policy

2. work/life balance

3. high cost of living

4. attrition rate

i think work - life balance and recruitment both are issue that hr is facing 

I think the most pressing issue is how the social web is transforming the workplace especially with regards to HR.  With all of these online profiles out there, employers have a miuch better idea of who the candidate is in addition to the resume and cover letter.  In one way this makes recruiting easier, more targeted n a sense, and on the other hand this hurts a qualified candidate who portrays himself as a goofball in these social media outlets.

Very interesting conundrum if you ask me...any thoughts....

The new topic here this year has been online issues, but from a more personal standpoint.  People have actually been being warned that prospective employers might find them on myspace, youtube or other social network sites, and could hire them or reject them because of something that is seen there.  The public outcry has been that this is an invasion of privacy, but the overall answer to that one is that they weren't too worried about privacy when they posted things.  To me, this is a two-edged sword.  The employers using this method of screening say that they're keeping an eye out for how people would fit into the overall environment in the workplace.  But the other side of that coin is how much of a prospective hire's private life HR management has a right to know.  What do you all think of that issue?  Has it come up over there?

Thanks Cocaboo, very nice references.

Seems like this forum is morphing into concerns over the various social networking sites and how that relates to HR.

Personally, (so you all know, I'm an older dude [not ancient, mind you]) but I think the social networking sites will make recruiting easier.  I believe the information they contain is relevant to evaluating a person, especially when it comes to fit and some of the KSAAs needed for the types of jobs we're attempting to fill.

It's also clearly obvious to me that a good HR person will put they type of information and the type of site into perspective.   If I'm looking at a candidate's profile on Link'dIn and on MySpace, I'm certainly going to use a different "filter" to interpret the information presented.  I would expect more of fun, even goofier stuff on MySpace, than I would in the more professionally oriented networking site.  

The real risk of these types of sites is that we HR people can expose ourselves to personal information that we might legally not be entitled too until an offer of employment is given, like age for example.   I'd be very careful in visiting such personal sites from company equipment in the event of an EEOC complaint.  

There can be a good argument that these sites should not be viewed prior to any actual hire or maybe even after that too.   But we have to be realistic.  The information is there.  It is available and most people I know are going to use it.  We should be proactive and establish protocols for how and when this information is accessed and interpreted.   

In addition:

- leadership training

- recruiting talents

- competitiveness of benefits including salary

- performance management

A pressing issue that will face HR from now and for the next few years will be:

Knowledge Gaps

USDOL predicts by 2014 64 million Americans will be eligible for retirement, of which 44 million are expected to do so. What does this mean to organizations? Years of experience leaving the company. Companies are going to have to find ways of retaining the knowledge from experience that these workers will be taking with them when they leave, and finding ways of transferring that knowledge to those left in the organizations.