"There are a lot of people who have a mechanical and electrical aptitude, but just haven't been developed. "We are investing in developing our maintenance technicians internally," he said. To identify strong candidates for his positions, Hefti is looking first at his current talent pool. "Maintenance technicians comprise nearly 80 percent of our total employee population, and they are getting harder to find every year." "The issues keeping me up at night these days are the same issues that have caused many sleepless nights for the past several years: the shortage of skilled workers," Hefti said. With 3,100 employees, his company specializes in outsourced industrial maintenance services. "Hiring new candidates during these times has made us realize we need to hire people who are good at working remotely, so we check for a certain skill set that is most beneficial in remote work."įernandes said she has targeted candidates with a track record of solid communication, good time management and strong listening skills, a combination that has worked well so far.įinding qualified talent has also been a challenge for Jim Hefti, HR vice president at Advanced Technology Services in Peoria, Ill. To ensure solid hiring matches in the current environment, Fernandes said she looks for employees who have proved they can telecommute effectively. Choose the wrong candidate, and you'll end up facing numerous issues." "For an HR manager, hiring is a task that comes with great responsibility. "Sourcing the right and well-deserved candidate for the company is crucial," said Veronica Fernandes, HR manager at Creative Media Technology, a digital marketing agency with 30 employees in Jamaica, N.Y. Pandemic or not, one of the toughest calls for an HR professional is recruiting and hiring the best job applicants. "We don't want to tell them what they should be doing, but would rather leave it up to them to decide" what will benefit them the most, she said. "Whether it's spending time with family or volunteering, we've committed an hour per week of paid time to employees to do what they want," Beaumont said . In response, Beaumont and her company have developed a plan: They're giving every employee an hour of paid time off each week to focus on mental health activities that are important to them. Now, I cannot begin to imagine what they are going through or how they must feel." "There are some who have gone through very mentally taxing experiences over the past year, including several who have lost family members to COVID-19."īefore the pandemic, she said, "we had a very strong, supportive family culture at the company, then everyone was forced to work from home. "The biggest issue I'm struggling with is trying to foster and nurture mental health among our employees," she said. She says what's keeping her up at night is her employees' mental health. Sabrina Beaumont is the HR director at Passion Plans in Raleigh, N.C., a 30-person company that helps people build their own homes. Here are some of those top concerns, according to HR professionals from across the country, as well as how they plan to take them on. ![]() From switching to remote work and having to lay off or furlough employees, to figuring out how to engage and care for overworked staff, to safely navigating in-person operations and a return to the workplace, HR has had its hands full.Īnd while vaccinations offer hope for a return to pre-pandemic activities, HR continues to face a range of issues related and unrelated to COVID-19. ![]() Since the start of the pandemic, working in HR has been a wild ride for many professionals.
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