HRS CHALLENGES IN THE NEW MILLENIUM Over the years the HR function has undergone rapid changes.

The liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG era) movesespecially from early 1990severy firm is made to understand the importance of keeping costs low and delivering unmatched value to customers. Rapid technological changes have compelled firms to be give importance to research & development and innovation efforts. Survival of the fittest, in a way, has become the rule and not an exception in the economic jungle of 21st century. Companies, as a result , are forced to show excellent performance and deliver outstanding value to customers in order to survive. This has forced everyone to realise the importance of having talented and competent employees in order to compete effectively. For many companies, lack of talented employees may become a kind of make or break HR issue in the days ahead. The time has come for HR to deliver results and offer significant contributions to the bottom line through effective people management strategies. Nowadays HR professionals are not hired to screen employee information, sort rsums or process payroll on time. They are not hired to put out fires. They are also not hired to design imaginative compensation schemes to match employee expectations. They are hired principally to attract and retain talent, to project the organisation as a first-tier employer that can certainly meet the multifarious requirements of high potential/performance employees. They are hired to transform people departments into talent departments. Additionally, HR is expected to deliver value in areas such as organisational effectiveness, talent management, change management, leadership development, succession planning, merger integration and strategic compensation. To cut costs, HR professionals have to embrace outsourcing. The principal benefit of outsourcing is that it will help the leaders to tackle these issues more efficiently and effectively and offer better service to customers. If HR does not accept the challenge and prefers to take the backseat, other functional specialists will certainly take charge and steal the show. HRs Challenges The workplace of 21st century has undergone tremendous changes in recent times. Market forces have started dictating terms to the firms. Every firm is expected to deliver excellent results in terms of cost, service, technology, speed, etc. Customers, on their part, have become very intelligent in switching sides in order to pocket resultant gains. They have become notoriously fickle-minded and mistakes howsoever insignificant they might be are not going to be tolerated. The trends in the marketplace are quite disturbing, to say the least, and require close attention.

Globalisation: Like water finding its way, firms will rush to places where they are able to find comfort. This would mean pushing down manufacturing, ownership, sales, and design to every corner of the globe, literally based on how economical such a step would be. This would mean Google going to China, Tata Motors stepping into Africa, IBM getting out of China, or Infosys stepping into rural areas for hiring talent. In the face of globalisation, companies are compelled to work harder and smarter than they did without globalisation. Technological Changes: Increased automation, modernization and computerization have changed the way the traditional jobs are handled. In such a scenario unless employees update their knowledge and skills constantly, they cannot survive and grow. This will necessitate training, retraining and mid-career training of operatives and executives at various levels. Where such initiatives are missing, it becomes very difficult for employees to face the forces of technology with confidence and get ahead in their careers steadily. Talent Management: The war for talent will continue. It is not easy to find people with requisite skills, knowledge and experience in the marketplace readily. To compound the problem further, you need to find people with the right kind of mental attitude. As long as there is a cultural mismatch, employee attrition rates will keep rising in the years ahead. Managing layoffs would be a matter of great concern as this will cause serious heartburn among employees leaving the firm. The survivors would look at every move of management with great suspicion. HR managers need to perform the balancing act, bringing everything to the table. Performance, Performance and Performance: Companies will be ready to do anything possible to get the best results out of people because they have a compelling reason to remain at the top in this era of global competition. They have to deal with competitive attacks from any corner, from anywhere, from any player small or big is not going to make much of a difference, as long as they leave a gap to be exploited by others to take advantage. This is where HR managers could play a major role that of aligning business strategy with operational dynamics. While converting the rhetoric into concrete reality, HR could play a bigger role whether in the form of participation in the formation of goals and in their implementation. Workforce Diversity: Competition in every conceivable area or sector is hotting up everywhere. So there is no use talking about local talent and local management. You have to think global and deliver results matching the performance of global majors in terms of cost, quality, design and service. You get bulldozed when you begin to take rest on past laurels. You have to be on your toes constantly and run like a race horse if you want to be in the reckoning. This is where companies have to hire people with relevant skills, experience and knowledge. Workforce is also turning young and, more importantly, mobile. They

are willing to switch gears and change hats if the inducements are exciting enough. So, not surprisingly, most companies are bombarded with numbers from almost every corner of the globe. Workforce diversity, as a result, has become a real challenge staring at the face of most HR managers in recent times. You have to align your systems, practices with the multifarious expectations of a diverse work group in terms of race, religion, caste, region, age, education and what not. Employee emotions and work place tensions: HR managers are compelled to look into the emotional side of the coin as well. They have to take care of employee emotions and perceptions. Work place tensions arising out of managerial actions need to be resolved quickly. Unions may often try to fish in troubled waters for their own survival. HR people need to put out fires in such cases explaining everything in clear and transparent way. In their own self interest, HR people need to move closer to the hearts of employees and take up all contentious issues on a priority basis and put them to rest. Even minor issues, if not resolved properly could escalate into major fires. Organisational Dynamics: Organisations need to be more agile and flexible in the years to come. They have to turn leaner and leaner as years roll by. Every attempt must be made to cut the extra fat wherever it is found. Flatter organisations, cross functional teams, decentralised structures will bring in the requisite flexibility needed to survive the ups and downs in a business cycle. HR managers will have to give their best while trying to strike the rapport between technology, resources, people and ideas. Investment in human capital (which refers to the knowledge, education, training, skills and expertise of a firms employees) would prove to be very rewarding. Without significant investments in human capital, organisations will not survive and flourish in a competitive world.