Human Capital Management - Global Challenges

With the growth of technology solution tools and the resulting access to workers from around the globe, leaders in virtually all industries have been changing the way they recruit and train their employees. Human resources, often referred to as "human capital," have expanded in terms of where employees are physically located, as well as the type of training that is required to adequately prepare them for their roles. In this sense, the HR responsibilities have been challenged and are in a constant state of change in order to meet the new standards and demands of global asset management, which includes a global workforce.

Today, human capital management is often much more about nurturing the workforce and empowering them with the technology tools of the trade, as opposed to simply sending them off to work in setting such as cubicles, factory lines or agricultural fields. With the ever-changing technology that more and more workers rely on, there is a much greater demand to be sure that they have the ongoing training needed, as well as support from a technology advisor, to continue to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively.

In addition to the challenges related to simply trying to keep employees trained and up to speed on the most current and important technology, another aspect that can make HR management taxing and stressful is the global factor. There are now many human resource managers who have employees located in all corners of the world. This brings up issues of language, cultural differences, both in communication and also in terms of expectations, and coordination of "virtual meetings," given the fact that members of a work team can be located in many different time zones.

Another factor is simply hands-on management. When employees are located in a workgroup in a common facility, it is quite simple to know and be aware of how productive employees are. However, when people are spread across the globe in settings which are often independent to each and every worker, it can be more difficult to quickly asses who is pulling their weight and where there are problems. As a result, managing employees often includes relying on "electronic metrics" which can report precise activities of each employee.

With the right software to oversee a workforce that is working "virtually" via internet connections from their homes or remote offices, those responsible for HR management actually have access to detailed reports that provide information about remote employee activity. Such software gives human resources personnel the management knowledge of productivity, as well as allowing them to see how well individuals are performing and where attention needs to be given for additional training or correction.

There are clearly many benefits to having a workforce located in other countries, with the primary benefit being the ability to pay lower wages. However, in general, some of that savings is offset by having higher costs to provide proper human capital management and overcome the challenges of having the workforce spread out and not locally available.