Business

Exploring 7 key functions of human resources

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If you thought human resources (HR) was mostly about interviewing candidates and hosting diversity trainings, think again. This discipline has grown and evolved significantly over the years, and there are many subfields within it.

The overarching goal of HR is to help employers build and maintain positive relationships with their employers, and vice versa. These days, HR professionals can choose to be either generalists or specialists. Generalists possess a wide range of skills and can handle multiple aspects of the HR needs at a company. On the other end of the spectrum are the specialists, who have deep expertise in one area of HR, like recruitment or benefits administration.

The overarching goal of HR is to help employers build and maintain positive relationships with their employers, and vice versa. These days, HR professionals can choose to be either generalists or specialists. Generalists possess a wide range of skills and can handle multiple aspects of the HR needs at a company. On the other end of the spectrum are the specialists, who have deep expertise in one area of HR, like recruitment or benefits administration.

Curious about what goes on in a modern HR department? Keep reading to explore seven of the many ways HR contributes to employee &#; and company &#; success.

Curious about what goes on in a modern HR department? Keep reading to explore seven of the many ways HR contributes to employee &#; and company &#; success.

What does HR do? 7 important functions of human resources

Depending on the size of the company, an HR professional might perform one or several of the key functions of human resources outlined in the list below:

1. Recruiting, hiring and retaining talent

Talent acquisition is one of the more well-known functions of any HR department. Making sure the workforce capabilities and performance match organizational goals is crucial for the health of the company. HR managers have to keep their finger on the pulse of the company to ensure personnel levels can meet demand. They must also be strategic when hiring for new roles or restructuring teams and make hard decisions about staffing.

Recruiting candidates: Finding the right person starts with accurate and detailed job descriptions. HR must analyze the market and set a competitive salary range before promoting available positions on any number of platforms. Typically, HR professionals will screen applications and resumes before deciding which candidates should move forward in the hiring process. From there, HR sets up one (or several) interview(s) with employees, managers, senior leadership and other key players.

Hiring employees: HR managers are usually in charge of performing background checks, onboarding new employees and explaining payroll, benefits and company policies. There is a considerable amount of important legal paperwork, recordkeeping and administrative responsibility involved in the hiring process. Making sure all the information is present, correct and properly protected is critical to the security of the employees and company.

Retaining talent: HR is also partially responsible for employee retention, which is often overlooked in the discussion around talent acquisition. According to research from the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), employees identified the following five factors as the leading contributors to their job satisfaction:

• Respectful treatment of all employees at all levels
• Trust between employees and senior management
• Opportunities to use their skills and abilities at work
• Compensation/pay Job security

2. Employee engagement

The importance of setting up two-way dialogue and engagement between employees and HR or senior leadership cannot be overstated. It is the only way to build and maintain a vibrant company culture, one where everyone is united around shared goals, mission and values. Encouraging employees to discuss concerns or report a situation ensures that problems can be worked through as soon as possible, instead of snowballing into a potentially damaging situation.

Here are some HR activities that can build rapport and trust among leadership, management and employees:

• Recognizing individual and group achievements
• Sharing successes and failures
• Asking for feedback and listening to concerns
• Organizing company-wide gatherings
• Communicating new policies, decisions and strategic goals in a timely manner
• Mediating conflicts or tensions between employees

3. Performance management

Performance management is the process of maintaining or improving job performance. Typically, this is done through the use of assessment tools, coaching and counseling, and providing continuous feedback.

How a company chooses to evaluate, coach and reward their employees varies depending on the unique characteristics of their workforce distribution, size and other factors. For example, a corporation with 40,000 employees across multiple states might use specialized software for remote team management. Whereas a small organization with 20 employees who all work in-person at a central location would have no need for such a tool.

4. Compensation and benefits

Calculating fair compensation rates and putting together a comprehensive list of benefits is another big part of an HR manager&#;s job. After all, this is what employees are getting in exchange for their hard work. The goal is to create a competitive and attractive offer that aligns with the candidate&#;s experience and expectations. Many universities, including UMass Global, work with employers to embed education into their benefits packages.

Compensation refers to an employee&#;s yearly salary or hourly wage, while benefits vary widely and can include things like:

• Health insurance (e.g., medical, dental, vision)
• 401k opportunities
• Education benefits
• Parental leave
• Paid holidays Paid time off
• Sign-on bonuses
• Referral bonuses
• Relocation assistance
• Stock options

5. Development and training

Offering ample opportunities for individuals to learn new skills and further improve their existing talents is advantageous to the company and employees alike. Robust professional development programs can have positive effects on employee productivity, enhance performance, increase opportunities to promote from within, and reduce turnover rates. When employees feel like their organization is investing in their growth, they are more likely to engage with and shape the company culture for the better.

HR is also responsible for providing training sessions that align with the organization&#;s strategic goals and legal responsibilities. For example, HR departments often coordinate company-wide informational sessions or seminars around important topics like:

• Diversity, inclusion and equity in the workplace
• Recognizing and reporting sexual harassment
• Mandated reporting
• Emerging technology
• Industry and marketing trends

6. Risk management

Another key function of human resources is identifying, assessing and resolving short- and long-term risks before they become a real threat. This serves to protect both the employees and the company. While risk management isn&#;t typically the sole responsibility of HR professionals, they play an important role in the process.

Some examples of how an HR department mitigates organizational risk include:

• Properly training managers and collecting anonymous feedback from their direct reports
• Implementing measures to maintain or increase diversity
• Working with IT to ensure data and sensitive records are secure and private
• Accurately tracking, updating and protecting employee records
• Investigating complaints and allegations of harassment, racism, sexism, favoritism, etc.

7. Audits and legal compliance

The laws on matters such as labor, benefits, fair compensation, hiring and firing are complex. They also vary by state and are subject to change periodically. Knowing and following state, federal and local regulations is necessary for the success of any organization.

According to the SHRM, most lawsuits can be traced to issues related to hiring, performance management, employee discipline or termination. Other high-risk areas include:

• Outdated labor and employment law posters
• Poorly maintained or inadequately protected personnel fields
• Insufficient record retention
• Inaccurate wage/hour/time records

A savvy HR department avoids any notion of wrongdoing by conducting regular compliance audits to evaluate internal policies and procedures and ensure best practices are being followed.

Find your place in the HR world

You may be surprised to learn about the many different functions of human resources. Professionals in this sector are integral to the success of organizations and their employees. If you could see yourself thriving in one or many of these areas, perhaps you have a future as an HR professional.

Are you interested in learning more about TJCY Human Resource Department? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

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Check out &#;How to become an HR manager&#; for a detailed guide on the education, skills and experience you need to pursue a rewarding career in this field.

 

The different areas of HR have a lot of crossover between different HR duties and other departments.

An effective human resources (HR) department is a key part of business success. This team is responsible for your most valuable asset: your people. A lot of HR&#;s responsibilities are invisible &#; especially if done well. And in smaller companies, one person might take on several HR roles. In this article, we&#;ll explore the top five duties of this department, and what an HR team needs to be successful.

1. Talent Management

The talent management team is directly responsible for employees. These HR specialists recruit, hire, develop, engage, and retain your company&#;s employees. To do that, they need hard skills like data management, soft skills, and a formidable attention to detail.

Recruiters build your company&#;s workforce. They run the hiring process from start to finish. Some of their top responsibilities are:

• Working with internal hiring managers to identify gaps, create hiring timelines, and set a budget for compensation packages
• Writing job descriptions that match the company&#;s needs and appeal to potential hires
• Posting on job boards and monitoring responses
• Sourcing potential candidates through job fairs and social media
• Running background checks
• Conducting initial interviews
• Scheduling follow-up interviews
• Collecting feedback from hiring managers and other stakeholders
• Creating offer letters
• In some cases, negotiating salary and benefits with potential new hires
• Communicating with newly hired employees so they know what to expect from onboarding

It&#;s a complex job, to say the least. Recruiters have to know their own company well enough to communicate its needs &#; but they also need to stay connected with the job market, so they can build a pipeline of qualified candidates for future job openings. You can measure a recruiter&#;s success by a few key metrics: the number of positions they fill each year, where candidates are coming from (e.g., job postings, social media, career fairs, etc.), and the time it takes to fill positions. If these numbers start falling behind, it&#;s time to reevaluate your recruiting strategy.

Once a new hire starts work, they&#;ll work with your employee relations team. This part of HR deals with aspects of the employer-employee relationship, like employee satisfaction, corporate culture, and conflict resolution. You might say that all these issues fall under one umbrella: employee engagement. Highly engaged employees are absolutely essential for the success of your business. Globally, disengaged workers cost $8.8 trillion in productivity last year &#; or 9% of the world&#;s GDP (Gallup).

If your employees are in a union, this team will also work on labor relations. They might negotiate collective bargaining agreements, craft managerial responses to union organizing campaigns, and interpret labor union contract questions.

Talent management also refers to workforce planning and management. In other words, these managers need to be ready to step in when an employee leaves the company. Whether they resign, retire, get laid off or fired, take medical leave, or something else, succession planning falls to HR.

2. Compensation and Benefits

In smaller companies, your HR team may be able to combine compensation and benefits administration. The larger your organization, the more people you&#;ll need to do these jobs. It&#;s pretty common for big companies to split up compensation and benefits between two separate HR teams.

On the compensation side, HR evaluates the pay practices of competitors and sets up a formal compensation structure. These teams also work with hiring managers and recruiters to create job descriptions, and work with talent management on succession planning.

Think of benefits administration as an employee retention strategy. Great benefits entice candidates to join your team and encourage current employees to stay. These HR roles handle all the details of these perks. For example, they might negotiate group health coverage rates with an insurance company or coordinate with the company&#;s 401(k) administrator.

Payroll administration technically falls under the same umbrella as compensation and benefits. However, most companies choose to outsource this complex process, or use sophisticated HR tools to automate it. If you do have an HR leader running payroll, that could be their only responsibility.

3. Training and Development

Every leader wants to see their employees thrive. That means providing them with all the tools they need to succeed. Some employees need literal tools, like laptops, job-related software, or the tools of a particular trade. But all employees need tools like new employee orientation, leadership training programs, and other development opportunities. 

Training and development (sometimes called learning and development) is integral to any HR strategy. Depending on your company and your workforce, that could mean one of several things. You might offer on-the-job training to so employees can stay up to date on new industry standards. Alternatively, you could send teams to conferences so they can learn more about the industry. You could also work with benefits administrators to offer funds for ongoing education outside of work. Some types of HR software offer a learning portal, where employees can follow personalized learning paths to develop their careers.

4. HR Compliance

Legal and regulatory compliance is a critical component of any HR department. Employment and labor laws are extremely complex, and they&#;re always changing. Without a dedicated compliance team, your company can face hefty fees or even legal consequences.

To keep a company compliant, HR needs to stay apprised of federal and state laws, upcoming regulatory changes, and relevant reporting deadlines. You&#;ll also need a way to evaluate your labor practices. The compliance team should fully understand employment laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of , the National Labor Relations Act of , and dozens of other rules and regulations.

With these parameters in mind, the HR compliance team plays a major role in crafting and updating the employee handbook. To do this, they&#;ll probably work with other HR managers, the C-Suite, and other stakeholders from across the company.

5. Workplace Safety

Providing a safe place to work is important for a long list of reasons &#; not only because you care about your team&#;s well-being. It&#;s also a compliance issue. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of (OSHA) requires employers to maintain a safe working environment.

Because these regulations affect workers, HR teams need to be involved. First of all, your company&#;s HR department should facilitate employee safety training. They&#;ll also log workplace incidents and report them to relevant government offices. This department works closely with benefits specialists to manage workers&#; compensation insurance.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

There&#;s a lot of cross-over between the five main HR functions. Even for a skilled team, it can be hard to manage all these moving pieces. But the success of your business depends on their work. Leaders can streamline every aspect of HR by giving these teams the tools they need to succeed.

Paycor&#;s suite of HR software is purpose-built for leaders. Our tools empower you to support every stage of the employee life cycle, from hire to retire. Take a tour of our products today and learn what Paycor can do for your company.

How to Build the Ideal HR Team (with Limited Time, Budget & Resources)

Leaders building an HR team need a good framework in place. Download our guide to learn how to build a great team.

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