A new blog post from global employee assessment firm Select International, based in Pittsburgh, highlights five ways organizations can fail at human capital management.
Amber Thomas, consultant with Select International, dentified the following five mistakes organizations make with their employees.
1. Individuals with paltry leadership skills are hired and/or promoted. An organization may not put much time or effort into leadership selection, which will come back to hurt the organization. Exemplary leaders demonstrate a commitment to human capital and will invest time and energy into mentoring, coaching and training each group member, according to the blog post.
2. Management doesn't emphasize talent selection or development. Is there a lack of succession planning? Is the organization struggling to compete for top talent? Is employee retention a growing problem? If the answer to these questions is "yes" and management is not actively addressing them, the organization has likely lost sight of how much employee development affects success.
3. Data is contained in silo-like vacuums. "If you're well known for quickly filing away performance review data, employee satisfaction survey results, turnover statistics and similar information, then you may be missing out on some interesting analytics," wrote Ms. Thomas. Instead, leaders should integrate and use organizational data to drive human capital management decisions as much as possible.
4. Management doesn't meet the human need for recognition. Employee recognition programs may sometimes be thought of as superficial, but if they are properly structured and implemented, they can help employee retention, performance and morale. If employees don't feel adequately recognized, they may have little motivation to increase productivity.
5. The organization doesn't think of employees' lives outside of the workplace. Employee assistance programs are a great way to reinforce morale, engagement, health and wellbeing. "If you want to send a strong message to your employees, choose not to offer employee assistance programs — the message being: 'Who cares? Not us," wrote Ms. Thomas.
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