An effective human resources team is more than just a cog in the wheel, it IS the whole wheel. A robust HR department is integral to the efficient and coordinated success of your business and enterprise – the scale of the company has no consequence on the importance of an HR team. The bigger ones cannot live without them and the smaller ones cannot grow without them.
Over the years the term HR has began to engulf more than just handling the staff and their grievances, spanning across technical fields such as accounting, finance and employment law.
There are some negative connotations involved with the term “HR” – they are looked upon as the ‘policing’ department of a company, those that bully you into following the rules so that the higher ups don’t have to. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and while HR departments do have their flaws, who hasn’t? Every person and entity suffers from imperfection – the human component of every organization has flaws, but this is not the defining feature of the organization is it?
The following are some of the most crucial responsibilities of the HR department which can hopefully dissolve away the negative stigma associated with the HR team. They’re not corporate bullies that are entitled to harass you in the name of following the rules!
1) Workforce selection
They are tasked with the rather difficult job of recruiting talent for the company, and only the very best at that. They collaborate with executives and managers to determine when a position needs to be filled – or vacated. Part of their job responsibility is dealing with the difficult psychological aspect of letting an employee go. This can take an emotional toll on them as well.
2) Providing new employees with on-boarding and training
They’re the ones responsible for making ‘first contact’ with the employee. Holding their hands through the basic functions of the organization and providing relevant on-boarding exercises to familiarize them with their job responsibilities. As such, they’re the very first faces an employee gets to see when they first join the company.
3) Spearhead various benefit programs for employees
When an employee performs well for the company, the onus of suitably compensating them for their services usually falls on the HR team. They design and implement a suitable benefits program for talented employees to retain them. This could be a higher salary, increased PTO, health insurance and retirement benefits.
4) Dealing with the payroll
Apart from monitoring an employee’s attendance records, time-in and time-out statistics and project deadlines, the HR team is responsible for the efficient calculation of salaries and wage cuts wherever possible. Wage cuts are obviously something that hits every employee hard in the guts, so the HR team should always provide them with relevant information when asked.
5) Legal knowledge
Making sure that the employment policies of your company are in line with the laws of your state is also the HR team’s job. Drafting new policies and writing terms of a contract that are not in agreement with the prevalent laws could have the entire firm facing costly class-action law suits.
