Key Takeaways
- HR teams are facing growing complexity as regulatory changes, hybrid/remote work policies, talent management, compliance, culture, and compensation demands continue to evolve.
- Regulatory compliance remains a major HR pain point, especially when businesses must navigate federal, state, and location-specific requirements such as wage regulations, labor law changes, posting requirements, and OSHA standards.
- Training and development are ongoing challenges, particularly as companies need LMS tools, onboarding resources, virtual or onsite training, and support keeping workforce skills current.
- Compensation and payroll can quickly become complicated, especially when organizations are balancing competitive pay and benefits with manual payroll processes and changing wage, hour, and tax regulations.
The way companies do business is ever evolving, creating and amplifying challenges for HR teams. From ongoing regulatory changes to shifts in hybrid and remote work policies, managing a talent pool and remaining compliant is becoming increasingly complex. And amidst all of this, HR also shoulders the burden of maintaining a rich culture and compensation that attracts and retains the best employees. These are just a few of the HR pain points that we see out there.
Ten key HR challenges keep cropping up in our client conversations, regardless of industry. Today’s HR professionals have the skills to address them, but with the right support and technology, these challenges can be simplified, managed, and resolved more effectively.
Do any (or all) of these HR pain points seem familiar?
1. Regulatory Compliance
Key issues:
- Knowing federal and state-specific compliance requirements
- Navigating regulatory and labor law changes
No list of HR pain points would be complete without mentioning regulatory compliance. Staying compliant with state and federal employment laws, like wage regulations, posting requirements, and OSHA standards, is essential to your business. But rules can vary by location or change quickly, including evolving labor laws, new wage and hour mandates, and multi-state compliance audits. Compliance requirements rarely remain static, so clients turn to us for ongoing assistance.
2. Policies & Procedures
Key issues:
- Needing customized handbooks for your company
- Keeping your PTO rules and policies updated
Creating or updating policies like PTO rules or customizing handbooks can be more complex than you might expect. Many of our clients can’t anticipate how complicated this exercise can become, especially when requirements vary by state or locality, prompting them to come to us for help.
3. Training & Development
Key issues:
- Requiring development tools, including Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
- Providing training programs, including virtual and onsite
Needing access to training programs and development tools—such as LMSs or onboarding resources—is a perennial HR pain point. However, many of our clients often underestimate the challenges of driving adoption across teams or don’t anticipate how quickly workforce skills can become outdated, necessitating new training. Rapid changes in overall technology and remote workforce dynamics compound the challenges. That’s why our clients call on us to provide the latest training and development, both virtual and onsite, to support their teams.
4. Compensation
Key issues:
- Balancing compensation pressures
- Ensuring your benefits packages remain competitive
To attract and retain the best talent, most companies need support with benchmarking and building competitive compensation packages. But it’s difficult for our clients to anticipate how quickly market demands can shift or how hard it is to balance cost pressures with employee expectations. This is where the full value of our partnership can be realized.
5. Payroll
Key issues:
- Managing time-consuming, often manual processes
- Keeping up with changes to wage and hour/tax regulations
Payroll takes time, especially when manual work is involved or your systems aren’t integrated. Ever-changing wage and tax regulations present their own set of challenges. Many clients can’t foresee how complex their payroll can become, particularly when managing a multi-state or remote workforce, so they turn to us.
6. Employee Benefits
Key issues:
- Balancing cost–effective and robust benefits offerings
- Maintaining the administrative and compliance components
Designing your employee benefits to be cost-effective, yet still robust and competitive, is a difficult task. Additionally, maintaining the administrative and compliance-related pieces, such as enrollments, terminations, and ACA (if applicable), adds to the complexity. And there’s still the matter of educating employees and answering all their plan questions. Most of our clients lack the bandwidth for such a heavy lift and turn to us for assistance.
7. Talent Management & Workforce Planning
Key issues:
- Driving talent
- acquisition and employee retention
- Navigating talent management, terminations, and succession planning
Most companies seek support for the basics of hiring, writing job descriptions, and managing performance. However, many of our clients don’t anticipate the ongoing challenges of retaining talent, navigating terminations legally, or building a scalable workforce strategy. We help with all of this, including risk management with terminations, guiding clients through the right questions to proceed prudently and in alignment with their risk tolerance.
8. HR Strategy & Expert Guidance
Key issues:
- Wanting HR insight from outside experts
- Lacking a strategic HR vision and goals
At times, you may need a sounding board or another set of eyes on HR decisions, such as employee policies or organizational changes. Many of our clients appreciate the value of having a true strategic advisor who knows their business well and can offer assessments, build a roadmap, and help align HR practices with business goals. That’s where we excel.
9. Employee Experience & Culture
Key issues:
- Navigating employee engagement, workplace culture, remote work, and generational differences
- Providing employee wellness, assistance (EAP), and financial program resources
You know how critical it is to keep your employees engaged and healthy (physically, mentally, financially) and how complex that can be. Additionally, especially in hybrid or remote situations, many of our clients struggle with how cultural disconnects, generational differences, or inconsistent communication are impacting morale and retention, so they turn to us for help.
10. HR Technology & Tools
Key issues:
- Integrating HR Technology and AI
- Providing self-service capabilities that match the needs of your younger workforce
While most HR teams recognize the need for tools that streamline tasks such as onboarding or benefits enrollment, many of our clients don’t anticipate the complexity of choosing the right technology, integrating AI, or meeting the digital expectations of a younger workforce. That’s when they reach out to us for help.
Simplifying and solving HR pain points starts with the right partner
Your HR department is the heart and soul of your business. However, in all likelihood, it’s also struggling with issues that are becoming increasingly complex. With three tailored delivery models to suit your needs, our human capital management services and technologies can help you optimize your HR operations, including talent acquisition and retention, compliance and risk management, employee benefits, and payroll administration, all backed by integrated human resource analytics and personalized live support.
This is how we’ve built lasting partnerships and a 95% client retention rate. Our purpose-designed human capital management solutions are built to align with your goals, your technology, and, most importantly, your people.
Ready to get started? Contact us today.
FAQ
1. What are some of the most common HR pain points businesses face?
Common HR pain points include regulatory compliance, policies and procedures, training and development, compensation, payroll, talent management, and maintaining a strong workplace culture.
2. Why is HR compliance so challenging?
HR compliance is challenging because employment laws and regulations can vary by federal, state, and local requirements, and change often.
3. How can businesses simplify HR challenges?
Businesses can simplify HR challenges by using the right HR support, technology, training resources, and compliance guidance to better manage complex processes and reduce administrative burden.