One of the biggest issues HR is facing is not just the ability to stay on top of ever-changing employment legislation, but to ensure compliance and risk management for the organisation as a whole.
Increasingly complicated IR issues and employment laws are amongst the primary challenges of HR directors today, with 30% of HR professionals reporting that they are ‘strongly involved’ in identifying risks and ensuring compliance.
In HRD’s Global HR survey, which attracted responses from more than 4,400 industry professionals around the world, this issue was revealed as being particularly important to those in the more litigious US and Canadian markets, although Australia and New Zealand also placed this amongst their top priorities.
With the CHROs and HRDs largely shouldering the burden of managing compliance issues, professionals in these senior roles are routinely tasked with defining and executing HR policies that comply with local, state, national and international laws.
However, as respondents emphasised, this can be easier said than done.
“Legal compliance is the biggest challenge because it's getting worse and more complex,” confided one HR director/VP.
Another US-based HR consultant cited “getting managers to allow people time for training in compliance issues such as safety and harassment”, while an Australian respondent noted that “overregulation by government, meeting all compliance reporting, and having enough time to understand and address changes is a constant struggle.”
Would you agree that compliance is one of the biggest issues your HR department grapples with?
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