Texas’s booming economy means more jobs, more opportunity—and a lot more competition for top talent. So how can HR professionals help their organizations stand out while navigating challenges like high turnover, evolving workforce needs, and complex labor laws? Keep reading to discover how training from The University of Texas at Austin Center for Performance Excellence equips HR leaders with the tools to recruit smarter, retain better, and stay compliant in a fast-moving market.
“Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”
Richard Branson, English business magnate
Texas has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country and the world. Its expansion across various sectors and major metropolitan areas turbocharges labor market growth. While this is excellent news for people living and working in Texas, it increases the pressure on companies to find and retain top talent to remain competitive.
Human resource professionals play a critical role in helping organizations meet these challenges by deploying updated recruitment and retention strategies, offering employee training and development opportunities and staying current on all state and federal labor laws.
Let’s examine the top issues facing HR departments today and how training from The University of Texas at Austin Center for Performance Excellence can help HR professionals implement specific strategies to overcome them.
Extremely Competitive Talent Market
Companies constantly seek highly skilled individuals to create high-performing teams to stay competitive. Because the best candidates have no shortage of employment options, talent acquisition is one of the biggest hurdles faced by HR professionals. The demand for high-performing talent with compatible skills and experience is steep, so recruitment strategies are a priority for every HR department. Let’s look at a few of the most important strategies:
- Employer brand enhancement: HR can enhance an employer’s brand by improving its reputation as a great workplace through targeted market campaigns that highlight company values, policies, ethical standards and culture while showcasing employee benefits and rewards and sharing their success stories.
- Talent pipeline expansion: HR professionals can proactively foster connections with prospective candidates through talent pipelines, networking events and partnerships with educational institutions, offering a constant flow of qualified candidates. To expand the talent pool, HR can host virtual hiring events, recruit via social media and conduct interviews and onboarding remotely.
- Professional development initiatives: HR can invest in training programs for existing employees and attract top talent by committing to professional growth and development for a better workplace.
- Competitive compensation packages: To sweeten the deal, HR can offer generous salary and benefits packages and non-monetary incentives, like opportunities for career growth and flexible work arrangements.
This is why the UT CPE Human Resource Management Certificate Program provides insights into creative, innovative and legally compliant recruitment and onboarding strategies.
“Participants explore best practices across the entire hiring cycle, ensuring a seamless and effective integration of new employees into the organization,” explains Bryan Gardner, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, who is not only a program instructor but also the Regional Director of People & Culture for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in Austin.
High Employee Turnover
Employee retention is also high on the priority list for HR departments, and with good reason. Employee turnover frequently leads to decreased institutional knowledge and can adversely affect a company’s culture and bottom line: Experts estimate that replacing someone can cost three to four times a departing employee’s salary.
Employee retention reflects the contemporary workplace’s inherent complexity and the current workforce’s evolving expectations. HR professionals must fully comprehend this complexity and deploy comprehensive, customized strategies to meet the organization’s and employees’ needs. These strategies may include:
- Maintaining employee engagement: HR professionals can bolster employee engagement and morale to prevent decreased productivity and “quiet quitting.” Effective communication tactics, such as routine check-ins, surveys and forums for employee feedback, allow organizations to pinpoint and address concerns before they lead to turnover.
- Offering flexible work arrangements: HR can help managers and leaders develop flexible work arrangements, such as remote or hybrid work, to accommodate different employee life stages and personal commitments to encourage work-life balance.
- Promoting positive organizational culture: HR can promote a positive culture that values mutual respect, open communication and employee feedback by developing policies and implementing programs to help employees feel valued, engaged and motivated.
- Supporting health and well-being: HR can mitigate stress and burnout by providing mental and physical wellness initiatives, such as employee assistance programs, yoga and meditation classes, fitness training or nutrition counseling.
- Providing necessary tools and technology: HR can ensure employees can access the right tools and technology to do their jobs, such as digital collaboration platforms, project management software and the latest hardware (smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops).
- Managing employee recognition programs: HR can implement recognition programs that acknowledge and commemorate employees’ achievements and contributions to elevate morale, motivation and engagement.
This is why students enrolled in UT CPE Human Resources programs learn to ask the right questions to uncover the root causes of employee turnover.
“The program addresses key challenges, such as ineffective hiring decisions, inadequate training and insufficient onboarding processes,” Gardner says. “Additionally, participants explore strategies to foster employee engagement before disengagement becomes critical, leveraging insights from exit interviews to drive meaningful improvements.”
Keeping Pace With Training & Development
Training and career development are other crucial areas of responsibility for HR departments. They’re vital at every stage of the employee journey, from onboarding and initial training to reskilling and upskilling to management and leadership development. Offering ongoing training and development opportunities bolsters employee retention because it allows employees to grow within the company, reducing the possibility of seeking advancement elsewhere. Leadership development programs that cultivate practical leadership skills, such as effective communication,emotional intelligence and coaching, can empower leaders to inspire and engage their teams.
For instance, students taking the UT CPE Human Resource Management Certificate Program are introduced to the fundamental principles of instructional design, equipping them with the skills to develop training programs that address organizational gaps and pain points. The program also emphasizes the importance of taking ownership of one’s professional development, empowering participants to navigate their career growth proactively.
Labor Management
The top issue for HR involves enforcing regulatory requirements. Failure to ensure compliance with regulatory practices can lead to a breach of labor laws, potentially leading to fines, lawsuits and harm to the organization’s reputation.
For HR managers, most compliance challenges revolve around maintaining employee confidentiality. With possibly hundreds or thousands of employment records on file, HR professionals must ensure that sensitive information is stored securely to minimize the risks of data breaches and unauthorized access. Best practices for handling confidential data include adopting data management solutions with robust security features like firewalls, data encryption and two-factor authentication. Discretion is also critical during conflict resolution; employees must be confident that HR will handle their issues without fear of reprisal.
In addition to utilizing SHRM learning materials, UT CPE HR instructors remain well-versed in the ever-changing regulatory landscape. They provide students with up-to-date insights on emerging trends and legal developments, ensuring they are prepared to navigate the complexities of HR compliance effectively.
A capable and efficient HR department is essential to any successful organization. HR professionals who excel at enacting strategies and policies that build a positive company culture while following labor laws and regulatory compliance are in high demand.
Anne Evenson is a native Austinite and a proud Veteran’s spouse with over 20 years of marketing, communications and program coordination experience in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. She is also a sculptor, jeweler and all-around dabbler in the arts and loves to help military-connected individuals discover their inner creativity.
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