HR Challenges in the aerospace and defense industry

Human resource management is a challenging field where managing and retaining people is getting increasingly difficult due to the changes in the ecosystem. Trends like quiet quitting, moonlighting, and great resignation are making the work of HR managers more difficult.

Organizations that can manage HR well are the ones that end up increasing their chances for success in the marketplace. When it comes to specialized industries like aerospace and defense, handling the HR department's day-to-day operations is essential to ensure the organization's long-term success.

With constant technological evolution, defense and aerospace industries play an increasingly important role in the success of an economy. These are the two most critical industries that need consistent growth over the long term to have a clear roadmap for other sectors. It is essential to have the correct representation from HR in the top management to ensure smooth operations and long-term success.

This article discusses the key HR challenges in both these industries that need to be handled effectively.

HR Challenges in The Aerospace Industry

The biggest challenge in the aerospace industry is to retain talent that can stay on top of the changes taking place in the ecosystem. Here are the other important HR challenges in the aerospace industry:

Handling diversity

Talent in the aerospace industry is diverse and usually comes from different cultures, nationalities, and work profiles. As a result, it makes it very important for HR leaders to understand the background of the workforce and clearly understand how to handle workplace issues with diversity in mind.

For instance, Airbus has employees from 140 nationalities that speak over 20 languages in the same organization. The company also has a clear realization that aerospace has been a male-dominated industry. As a result, the organization has increased the representation of women and other traditionally underrepresented groups.

Specialization

The talent in the aerospace industry needs to have the right specialization required for the job. As the job requires employees to work on highly specialized requirements that can have far-reaching implications, HR professionals in the aerospace industry need the required skill to ensure that the right person is working on the right job. Any slip-ups here can do long-term damage to the organization.

As a result, HR managers must handle the specialized talent requirement with complex and demanding recruitment processes. The organization needs to have the right systems in place to ensure that the requirement of specialized talent can be met seamlessly.

For instance, in the Washington DC area, headquarters of several aerospace firms, the demand for tech talent stands at a ratio of 2:1 as compared to the supply. As a result, the firms go the extra mile to ensure that they can attract the right talent to meet organizational requirements. 

Increasing digitalization

The increasing digitalization across business functions has spotlighted automation and data use for effective work processes.

On top of the diverse talent base, acquiring talent in areas like business analytics and other evolving technologies is a real-world requirement for the aerospace industry. However, due to the small pool of talent available, the aerospace industry HR leaders need to go the extra mile to get the right talent for the increasing digital footprint of the organization.

According to McKinsey research, a tech firm would have over 62% of employees working with digital and analytics skills, while this number falls to 30-43% for aerospace and defense firms.

Digital Leaders

The increasing importance of digitalization has already been highlighted in the previous point. As an organization needs to increase its digital presence and role in operations, it needs to develop digital and conventional leaders.

The development of digital leaders in the organization can help the business achieve its daily operational targets and help them achieve the set targets. It is easier said than done. HR managers need to put in the extra effort to ensure they can put across their viewpoint and make a case for the employer in front of the employee.

HR Challenges in The Defense Industry

The HR challenges in the defense industry are unique mainly because of the complexity and importance of the work involved. Here are the key HR challenges in the defense industry:

Human Capital

The defense industry is riddled with several challenges related to managing human capital, be it the shortage of specialized talent (with skills like analytics, machine learning, programmers, and analysts), the shortage of junior officers, and the military's failure to meet its recruitment targets.

The reduction of civilian personnel in the military after the end of the Cold War has also led to a change in the structure, background, experience, and eligibility of the various military teams. It is a real challenge, hurting the defense industry's acquisition and logistical capabilities.

Recruitment plan

The recruitment plan has an integral role in the defense company's success. The defense industry needs to have a continuously evolving recruitment plan as it is expected to grow consistently. A successful recruitment plan has two components: strategic and retention plans.

The major defense companies operating across the world carry a recruitment plan built into account the requirements of the next three to five years. At the same time, it can provide insights into past, present, and future issues along with, trends, and data. However, maintaining such a recruitment plan is challenging for an organization.

HR Operations Dynamics

The dynamics of HR operations in the defense industry require a modern approach to ensure that the organization can achieve and sustain positive governance.

HR plays an active role in this requirement as it works to build a stable and positive workforce with the help of setting up and deploying measures that help in the development and retention of top talent.

Impact learning and knowledge management programs are expected to be used effectively in this equation for better optimization of the intellectual capital of the organization and the developing talent of the empowered employees.

Planning of recruitment process

Any recruitment process aims to attract the best talent available in the market. At the same time, it is equally essential to ensure that the process is designed to increase the number of underrepresented groups in the workforce.

The HR department needs to work in a way that helps them achieve a position where the recruitment process can secure the required skills, behavior, and competencies in the workforce. Therefore, it is critical to establish a recruitment process that helps an organization achieve these targets.

For instance, McKinsey research earlier confirmed that only 44% of the hired talent is used for strategic roles, while only 6% of companies can reallocate talent quickly. Therefore, the recruitment process's robustness acts as the organization's backbone. 

Way forward

Companies must provide the proper training opportunities to potential talent to create new growth opportunities for the organization. Apart from the individual challenges highlighted above, the organization needs to develop a coaching and mentoring framework. At the same time, it is equally important to have the top management support the coaching and mentoring requirements of the organization.

The HR departments in both the aerospace and defense industry should use data and analytics to improve performance and provide a better platform to achieve the set objective. There is a need to bring transformative changes in how the aerospace and defense industries handle HR issues and bring in specialized talent to handle the various changing requirements

The sectors are at an inflection point where appropriate changes can bring revolutionary changes in the workplace. At the same time, the organizations need to make relevant changes to organize themselves, motivate workers and appeal to digital candidates.

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