Biggest Mistakes, which New HR Professionals Make

HR specialists are responsible for connecting employees of all departments of the company with the tools and training necessary for its proper operation, and thus have a direct impact on all areas of the company. In this article, we present the 12 most common mistakes made in building relationships between employees from the perspective of the HR department.

Due to the key activities of the HR department, any mistakes made by its employees are costly for the entire organization. Potentially, they can even adversely affect the overall activities of the company. For this reason, it is worth knowing what mistakes are most often committed and how to avoid them.

1. Ignoring problems reported by employees.

Employees come to the HR department with all sorts of problems, and it is absolutely unacceptable to ignore these problems. This can lead to even more of them, hostility between employees and confusion among organizational departments. One of the key things that the HR department can do in such a situation is to show that employees' problems are really important to them. You should not only sympathize with the employee, but also clearly explain the individual steps and actions that will be taken to remove the problem reported by him.

2. Relying solely on a job interview when hiring new employees.

HR departments often practice the method of hiring new employees based solely on an interview. Meanwhile, it may be an insufficient action, leading to the employment of an unsuitable candidate. It is good to extend the recruitment process, e.g. with additional tasks to be performed by the candidate (e.g. skills and competence tests). Not always, the candidate who will make a good impression on the interview may be the person we are looking for.

3. Unstructured plan for a performance

To avoid problems resulting from the lack of a clear system of awarding wage increases, it is good to develop and implement such a plan in detail. It should clearly define not only the qualitative and quantitative factors taken into account when increasing the salary, but also the salary range for each job position in the organization. Each person in the organization should be aware of the rules of remuneration and bonuses in the organization.

4. Penalties and rewards

Organizations often base their employee disciplinary action systems on penalties, which most often causes a strong stress and fear reaction in employees. Intimidated employees can counteract such a system by resisting and escalating the situation, for example, leading to lawsuits. Human resource management specialists, in order to counteract such a scenario, should base their actions disciplining employees on talking, asking questions and referring to the answers obtained, and suggesting actions that will be helpful in solving a given problem. It has long been believed that the stick-and-carrot method (in this case, the stick) simply does not work.

5. Errors in the recruitment process

Hiring the wrong candidate is very costly for any organization, and requires the recruitment process to be repeated and another candidate to be trained. In order to avoid this, human resources specialists, already at the recruitment stage, should focus on selecting a candidate that will be properly integrated into the policy, culture and strategy of a given organization, who will be flexible enough to quickly and efficiently acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for performance of work in a given position.

6. Promotion and Career

A clear and understandable system of promotions in a given company makes its employees more motivated and more willing to engage in their duties, knowing what career path is open to them. The staff is open to training and acquiring new skills, thus increasing the competitive advantage of a given company.

7. Inefficient data management system and poorly structured processes in the organization.

The basic principle of the work of each department for human resources management should be care for the systematic completion of personnel documentation. With a large number of employees, it is easy to neglect this obligation, and the mess in the documentation becomes problematic when it is not possible to find the necessary data on an ongoing basis, respond to possible complaints or court disputes, or answer management inquiries. To prevent this, it is necessary not only to define the process of collecting and storing data, but also to implement it systematically. You should take care of order in storing the employee's vacation applications, possible sick leaves, certificates of completed courses or trainings. Orderly HR documentation allows you to effectively manage human resources in a given organization.

8. Human resources outside

Effective human resources specialists spend their time learning not only about the structure of the organization in which they work and its employees, but also about the organization's business partners, its customers and stakeholders. Thanks to this, they understand the wider context of the environment in which their organization operates and are able to propose solutions more suited to the specificity of a given situation. From the perspective of the entire organization, outsourcing the HR department outside may not always be a good decision.

9. Work regulations

It is in the interest of every organization, regardless of its size, to have a written work regulations, i.e. a set of rules for its employees. Even a few pages clearly describe the acceptable and expected employee behavior, in accordance with the applicable legal status. Due to the rapidly changing legal regulations, it is worth updating the work regulations every two years, and employees should certify that they have read its current content with their own signature.

10. Work efficiency

Written rules and operating procedures define the areas and rules for the performance of work in a given position at which a given employee is employed. In the event of a breach of these rules and procedures, it must be reliably and accurately documented. In the future, it may be used, for example, as evidence justifying the termination of an employment contract with a given employee due to unsatisfactory work. When an organization has a consistent policy of documenting performance and quality issues, it is better able to deal with potential legal issues, such as lawsuits from employees (or former employees).

11. Training

Taking the time to train employees is a valuable investment in the future of any company. Including training in the process of introducing new employees, the organization leads to their greater involvement and helps them understand how they can fully use their skills and potential for the benefit of the company they work for.

In addition, employers who invest in training their employees receive the added benefit of training: employees who feel they are valuable and worth investing in are able to do more for their organization.

12. Law regulations

It is not appropriate to employ a person who is not up-to-date with the applicable labor, health and safety laws and regulations applicable in the industry in which the organization operates as a human resource management specialist. The HR manager should also constantly update his knowledge along with the changing legal regulations, and take care of access to up-to-date databases and sources of knowledge in this area.