Most businesses are realizing the fact that HR managers are burdened with responsibilities of managing workforce for smooth functioning. They are dealing with piles of issues every single day but those seem to never end. Perfect smooth workplace condition is an almost rare phenomenon in today’s businesses.

An old-school perspective that considers HRs preliminary role to be dealing with papers and administrative tasks is a thing of the past. Many employers now realize that HR managers role is  beyond those tiny things: ensuring to maintain employee’s performance is on track with company goals.

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There are many other tasks that demand HR professionals’ capability, expertise knowledge and performance, as mistakes could lead to losses in company profits. Leaders and HR managers are required to be aware of some pitfalls and work hand-in-hand to avoid commonly-made mistakes. These could be:

Hasty hiring strategy

A hasty hiring is most often a wrong hiring strategy to practice. When there is an urgent need for someone to take up the job role, HR managers tend to hasten the process leading to bad hires.

Even if there is an impressive candidate list with outstanding skills and educational records, he may not be the right one for the job role. HR managers and top management need to be more aware of the hiring process, as this could help company save on costs as a consequence of bad hire.

Some effective ways could be applied to hire the right candidates such as patience and solid job description. Investing few more weeks into the hiring process to find the perfect candidate with prerequisite skill sets to meet job requirements is worth the wait. Also, HR managers are in a better position to review and comprehend the job description first, before hiring the most suitable candidate that meets the requirements.

Skipping the training stage

Rapid workflows and highly demanding performance often led new hires to directly plunge into the real working lives, instead of undergoing preliminary training. Some HR managers and employers think that the highly capable and skilled candidates do not need any training at all. This is not true.

Unfortunately, such mistakes lower the new hire’s engagement levels and performance at work, since they do not know how to best benefit the organization. A good onboarding strategy with sufficient training would make the new hires feel more valuable, respected and trust their competencies at work to create a strong workplace culture.

Neglected and outdated employee’s handbook

Regular duties and daily issues often make HR professionals to overlook updating an employee’s handbook.The do’s and dont’s handbook contains company’s vital policies and rules, including the salary, allowance, retirement, and off days guidelines customised to adhere to governmental norms and policies.

Considering the importance of this book, it is crucial for the employers and the HR managers to regularly update content on the handbook and ensure that employees comprehend, acknowledge and apply them in the real working lives.

Terrible termination

Hire well, fire well! This term is better applied if a company doesn’t want to end up in a lawsuit process due to terrible termination. When a HR professional detects an intolerable violation done by an employee, don’t make a decision based on hunches and urges to suddenly terminate. Instead of lawsuit process, this urge to fire could impact company’s reputation and reduce workers engagement and loyalty towards the company.

The strategy to be executed before termination could involve – bringing in more witnesses to see the action, give regular feedback and warnings, avoiding overly kind comments and to not discuss such issues with other colleagues.

Incomplete employee files

HR professionals mostly have complete employee files right from onboarding stages, but perhaps only some of them well-manage employee documents. Such information might rarely be cross-checked or reviewed by the top management. It is in HR manager’s interest to keep all records safe in the most tidy fashion, to help HR professionals easily find them.

Employees are the company’s main capital assets which need to be maintained well in terms of performance and files. Employee identity, work eligibility, health records and welfare-related benefits are some files that should be stored neatly in every HR’s personal desk for the sake of compliance. These data are required during unpredictable occasions such as visit by government or survey requirements.  

The above are five most common mistakes by HR managers and it requires strategic efforts to avoid them.

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