The main management challenges in 2023

How to support staff during financial uncertainty

From staff grievances to remote working, bigger organisations face their own set of challenges. In our HR 101 series, we’ve been exploring the role of HR and the positive impact it can have on charities. This article will look at how HR can help charities to manage and alleviate some of the issues they face. 

Whether your charity has a HR team, a whole department working on HR, or just one HR staff member, there are some challenges that affect every organisation, no matter their capacity.

Below, we explore some of the core HR and management challenges that charities face and how they can handle them, from recruitment to data security. 

Dealing with staff grievances 

There are potentially more issues that could come up in the workplace as there will likely be more people with different personalities and styles of working.  

For example, there could be disputes between managers and team members or falls outs between peers. HR teams will be able to investigate these issues, using their knowledge of employment law and legislation to help resolve them. Find out more about compliance in our HR 101 series. 

As well as helping defuse these difficult situations, however, HR software providers Cezanne HR also suggest that HR departments are well-placed to promote a kinder workplace in the first place. This could include simple acts of kindness, such as making sure you regularly check in with remote workers, or more in-depth initiatives, like a peer-to-peer recognition scheme.   

Acknowledging the successes within your team can help employees feel happier in the workplace, more motivated, and have increased job satisfaction – thus leading to fewer grievances.  

Connecting remote workers 

Since the pandemic, most organisations have continued to work remotely, or introduced a hybrid working model. 

Managing data security 
 

Regulatory compliance – which is described as “the process of meeting regulatory requirements” – is particularly important when working with a remote workforce. 

For example, it’s important that organisations are maintaining data security. HR teams need to work with internal IT and security teams, or external experts, to make sure company data is private and secure when accessed remotely. 

Developing a big workforce 
 

It’s important to provide training and development to staff as it can help to motivate people and keep them interested in what they do. In turn, this will reduce staff turnover (and prevent the need to recruit as often). But, developing and managing a staff training and development programme is a big job when you have a large staff team. 

HR teams can help charities to run training and development programmes for staff. They’ll work with senior management to identify skills gaps and support staff to develop skills that are needed, both now and in the future. 

Indeed recommends surveying staff to find out what they want to learn about and what skills they feel they need to strengthen. The jobsite also says it’s important to know what you want to get out of a training and development programme and that you can do this by setting goals. Training and development should encourage critical thinking and problem solving. 

Recruiting staff 
 

Big charities are likely to have to fill roles more frequently because of the size of their staff teams. This could be an issue as it’s tough to recruit at the moment and many charities are struggling to fill roles. CharityJob says that applications for charity jobs fell by three quarters during 2021. 

The cost-of-living crisis has added additional complexity to the situation, with limited resource and rising demand meaning that charities have to be more efficient, both in terms of recruitment and supporting their current teams.  

HR staff can help charities to recruit new colleagues in better ways. It’s important to clearly state salaries on job adverts and talk about an organisation’s mission, so people understand its purpose and what it does. 

Alongside recruitment, it’s important to retain existing staff. Charities can do this by planning and running internal communications activity that shows employees “what role they play” in achieving the charity’s vision and mission. HR teams can work with senior leaders and internal communications colleagues to deliver this work.