Companies and their respective HR departments are facing a myriad of challenges in this era of continuous and radical change. Their workforce is increasingly becoming a very diverse set of global profiles and digital-focused competencies. Their needs and expectations have also evolved towards the use of new technologies, tools, and business models. Allen Woo, a specialist with years of experience in personnel management analyzes the most salient challenges facing organizations and offers some recommendations to ensure efficient operational performance, hand in hand with a highly motivated workforce.

Companies need guidance and support to understand how to bridge the gap between their employees’ needs and the demands of the business environment. These guidelines are provided by an expert to help you rewrite the rules for success in business. They emphasize the importance of motivation and adapting to changing times.

Break down hierarchy. The way organizations conduct their business processes is different than it was ten years ago. Hierarchies were necessary to keep control of the process under the belief that “someone must take the decisions”. The belief was that if everyone did the same thing, the company would lose its direction.

Companies today want flexibility and agility. This has required the deconstruction of hierarchical structures to create models that are more focused on teamwork.

Woo suggests that you offer learning and training opportunities. Woo says that many companies find that employees are happier when they have access to learning and development opportunities within their company.

Employers benefit from a better-prepared workforce for technological and business model change. All of this helps to improve the company’s culture. Employees are very motivated by training opportunities.

Online training is a flexible alternative that prevents workers from leaving the office and adapts to their schedules, especially with the ease of use of mobile devices. In addition, companies can receive economic bonuses as part of the incentive of the Law for corporate training programs.

Try to avoid bad hiring practices at all costs. There are a number of vices or bad practices in companies when it comes to hiring personnel. Bureaucracy, nepotism and clientelism or leverage are some of them.

Companies that are burdened by bureaucracy have a negative effect on their processes and slow down their operations. It also impacts the hiring of employees, as approvals have to be passed through multiple hands. Continuous improvements can be implemented through both internal and external audits to identify pitfalls and develop a new work method.

As for nepotism, some companies hire relatives or close associates to perform some positions for which they are not properly trained. With this bad practice, a small company risks depending on limited resources.

It can be difficult to manage this, especially in a family-owned business. However, there are ways to set rules that do not affect productivity or competitiveness. It is important to distinguish between friendship and work. However, it is equally important to be objective in hiring professionals who are truly needed by the organization.

“Look to adopt new methodologies for work monitoring and evaluation,” says Woo. “The new trend in business is to change the way we track and evaluate the work performed by employees.”

Many companies follow new team-centric methodologies, which are based on teamwork and collaboration, rather than on individual achievements. It is qualitative information that makes it possible to identify the most productive employees.

In other words, they give more importance to how goals are achieved than to the goals themselves, which are usually quantitative. Valuing creativity, innovation and giving employees the freedom to find their own way of organizing themselves contributes, together with the factors described above, to motivating personnel, especially the younger ones.

It may happen that one of the workers is not measuring up, or worse, is generating real problems for the company. If possible, organizations should avoid creating a heavy work environment and resolve the issues of each employee with dialogue and conciliation and, if necessary, with a good settlement.