It often happens that the human resource part of an organization gets easily ignored as everything is going on just fine and the company’s employees look happy in the working environment, but this is not the case all the time. HR mistakes often cause big problems due to the ignorance of HR’s, sometimes these human resource problems even cause issues that are out of handling.
There are HR mistakes that are common among organizations due to the strategies followed by organizations for the working and the responsibilities, Human resources deal with. In this article, we are going to discuss the Costly HR Mistakes Companies make. Read this article to know these mistakes because there is no better time to learn other than the present.
Worst HR Mistakes or Human Resource Problems in Companies:
Normally things look great from the top of the ladder or the bottom level. If we want to know the top HR mistakes companies make, then we need to dig a little deeper. There are small loopholes in the HR that are big enough to cause serious trouble. Even in some cases, these mistakes become the reason for the downfall of the organization. We are going to discuss these top HR mistakes.
1. Outdated handbook for the employee:
Sticking to the formula of ‘old is gold’ is good enough only when it is used properly but not updating the company’s handbook for the sake of old rules is one of the mistakes made by HR of the organization. An outdated handbook for the employees is a sure way to invite problems no matter the size of the organization as the handbook doesn’t contain what it should.
There are the do’s and the don’ts which needed to be updated regularly to maintain the right working environment and to lay all the much-needed information for the employees. Proper outlined rules and regulation which are revised once in a year according to market change is important for the successful business.
2. Hasty hiring and promotions:
A successful organization needs the right candidates to work so that it can succeed in the marketplace. HR has the responsibility of hiring new candidates and promoting the one, who is working hard enough to deserve a promotion.
Hiring and promotion need to do very carefully so that candidates can handle the burden which came with the job and the promotion. All this hierarchy of working keeps an organization running successfully among the market competition.
Hasty hiring and promotions are some of the top HR mistakes, which can cause problems and disturb the working hierarchy. Hasty hiring and promotion is the loophole which put a damp on the success of the company as well as cost very high in the long run. No organization can afford to hire the wrong candidate and promotion of the employees who are not even suitable for the big responsibility.
3. Slow termination:
As much as we can blame, hasty hiring and promotions are one of the top mistakes of HR, slow termination is never too far on the list of top HR mistakes. Hasty hiring and promotion create a mess and that mess can be sorted out by terminating that candidate which is not suitable for the job but slow termination not only affects quality but also very expensive to the company.
There can be many reasons for terminating the services of an employee but if the reasons are good enough to terminate the employee then it should be done within the time limit. Slow termination makes the process much harder even in some cases create a legal mesh for the organization to deal with.
4. Not updating to the latest market trends:
There is so much competition in the market that one needs to use different techniques and accept changes with the grace to stay in the game and play well.
The latest trends introduce in the market to make the working of the companies more productive and easy, these trends introduce by experts after so many types of research and analysis.
These changes are vital for a company’s success but the HR of the companies usually avoids these changes due to the everlasting heavy loads of paperwork.
Not updating to the latest market trends count as one of the top HR mistakes due to the setbacks and losses it put on the company’s head.
5. Ignorance towards law:
There are certain rules, regulations, and laws made for the organizations to ensure that they work according to the standard norms. These laws work to ensure that employees as well as organizations don’t exploit each other and do work in legal manners.
There are different laws for different organizations according to their business nature and each organization’s HR needs to know these rules to ensure smooth workflow without any interruption but, ignoring these laws is one of the top HR mistakes companies make.
These laws usually got ignored due to lack of knowledge which put the company at the risk of danger as ignorance invites chances of mistake.
A small mistake like asking wrong questions in an interview can create the legal mesh and the interviewee can take legal action against the company for exploiting laws for own benefits. So, ignorance of laws is one of the top HR mistakes companies make.
6. No constructive feedback and praise:
When we talk about top HR mistakes companies make, there is one thing that needs to include in that mistakes list, which is no constructive feedback and praise. It is a human tendency that we do our best when our superior appreciate our efforts and reward our hard work with praise.
Not maintaining a working record of employees and lacking in feedback and praise gives the feeling of ignorance and employees may think that the company doesn’t appreciate their hard work as well as it decreases the satisfaction level of employees.
In many cases, employees choose other companies to work when their current company doesn’t provide feedback and have no appreciation for the hard work they do which could destroy the public image of the organization.
It is important to give feedback and praise to the employees as it raises their self-esteem as well as motivates them to work hard and give their best.
7. Incomplete job description:
The incomplete job description is one of the top HR mistakes most companies make even without knowing that they had done something wrong due to their ignorance and lack of attentiveness which cost the company in more way they can think of.
The complete job description helps in recruiting the right candidate for the job as well as it makes the picture clear about the need of the company. By not providing a complete job description they just confuse the interviewee as well as an interviewer which results in hiring the wrong candidate.
Hiring the wrong candidate creates the disturbance and the whole cycle in which not only time but also money waste, and most importantly the work which needs to do on time becomes a burden on already working for staff. An incomplete job description only creates problems due to which it considered as one of the top HR mistakes companies make.
8. Not knowing the limits of interview questions:
Not knowing the limits of interview questions can lead the HR of the companies into the legal mesh as well as can put a strain on the company’s name in the marketplace. The interview is the process where lots of questions are asked to choose the right candidate for the job.
Many questions considered off-limit due to the chances of a lawsuit they usually bring with them but the problem is most HR of the companies don’t have full knowledge regarding the questions asked in an interview.
Sometimes even the most experienced interviewer doesn’t have any knowledge of these questions. Questions about caste, religion, marital status, genders, etc are off limit and not knowing the limit of interview questions is one of the top HR mistakes companies make.
9. Playing favoritism:
HR mistakes are those mistakes that affect the company in the long run as well as influence the company’s status in the marketplace. Playing favoritism is one of the grave HR mistakes companies makes and it leaves a negative impact on the employee’s performance. There can be many reasons for favoring one person like excellent work, perfect behavior, work within a time limit, etc but it doesn’t allow the HR department to play favoritism.
Giving feedback and praise is necessary to motivate employees but when it turns into favoritism, it becomes ugly and one of the top HR mistakes companies make. Favoritism creates space for talk and talks create dissatisfaction among employees as well as a lack of trust which eventfully results in poor performance. Treat everyone with the same behavior and avoid playing favoritism to stay out of conflict.
10. Micromanaging:
Managing staff is an important task for the HR of a company. Proper management helps in setting guidelines as well as maintaining a good working environment where employees work to meet goals and to achieve great success.
The problem arises when HR of companies start the micro-managing of the employees. Micromanaging means controlling the activities of employees to monitor work and progress but it doesn’t help as it creates a suffocating environment.
Micromanaging only increases work pressure which eventually leads to stress and anxiety among workers. There are so many drawbacks of micro-managing that it is one of the top HR mistakes companies make and affect the whole group of workers from different level, sometimes critical situation arose out of it.
11. No social media:
Yes, most HR of companies don’t use social networking to stay connected with employees, even hardly any HR of companies use social media activity or have an account on social media.
Social media has become an integral part of our life and we all are connected through it in one way or another. Social media help in tracking the history of employees and in understanding the social behavior of potential employee before hiring.
Not using social media in current time is one of the top HR mistakes companies make because social media provides a great way to connect with employees as well as develop great communication skill between company and employees which help in so many ways and the company can easily use social media as a promoting platform.
12. Lapses in performance management:
A standard way to measure the performance of the employees is to maintain a performance record. Performance record also helps in performance management by keeping track of the performance of the individual employee.
Good management is what makes any small organization successful and large organizations are successful because of their good management skills. Lapses in performance management are one of the top HR mistakes companies make which cost the company in more than one way.
Performance management helps in tracking actual work progress and how productive employees are. So, we can say that lapses in performance management are one of the HR mistakes companies make.
13. Over-socializing with the employee:
The company’s HR needs to socialize with employees so that they can know about people who work for them but, over-socializing is one of the HR mistake companies do in terms of socializing.
Over socializing decreases, the public image of the company’s HR in front of employees as well as in the business world and employees don’t take orders very seriously. Over socializing also disturbs the order of decisions and fear of termination as well as decrease the productivity of the employees as they take work leniently because of over social behavior and is considered as one of the HR mistakes companies make.
Conclusion:
In this article, we had discussed the top HR mistakes companies make. They can ignore because they do not possess any immediate threat to the company but ignoring them continuously may set you for the downfall. We hope that this article can help managers, supervisors and higher authorities in avoiding the mistake which looks silly but has the power to cause big problems.
