HR is actually one of the most confusing departments in any organization. Yes, everyone understands they are important but most people don’t know what they do.
What Does HR Do?
Note that, there is a huge difference between a healthy HR departmentgreatofmining enriching the growth of the organization and a distant HR that works out of the basement and pops out once a year for the holiday party. Well, here is a summary of what any HR department does or what they should be doing to meet the needs of every employee.
What Is An HR Department?
HR is an abbreviation for Human Resources Department. It comprises individuals who are responsible for managing the life cycle of employees such as hiring, recruiting, training, onboarding and firing employees as well as administering employee benefits.
What Does HR Do?
If you ask any employee in a typical organization what is the responsibility of the HR department, they will mention that they handle violations, firing and layoffs. However, HR department is there to provide support to employees. Simply put, HR is a resource for humans in the organization. Here are some of the tasks the HR department handles every day.
1. Recruiting Candidates
HR must understand the organization’s needs and make sure they are met when recruiting new positions. It’s not as simple as posting an ad. They need to analyse the market, consult affiliated stakeholders and manage budgets. Once the role is advertised, they need to do more research to make sure only the right candidates have been presented and attracted. Recruiting is massive and costly. Note that, the right candidate can transform the entire organization but the wrong candidate will disrupt everything. If you are looking to get into the field of HR then I recommended seeing HR Talent.
2. Hiring The Right Employees
HR is in charge of planning interviews, coordinating recruiting efforts and onboarding newly hired employees. They are in charge of making sure that all paperwork required for hiring someone is properly filled out. Additionally, they navigate everything from the first day onward to make sure it’s going as expected.
3. Processing Payroll
Payroll is a massive beast that falls under HR. Every payroll account should be properly managed by deducting taxes and other items as required as well as monitoring the total hours collected. If you have trouble doing your own taxes once every year, imagine what goes on in HR to make sure that every employee is accounted for and deductibles are handled alinaimagine accordingly.
4. Conduct Disciplinary Actions
It’s one of the core tasks of the HR department that gives it a bad rap. If not handled properly, disciplinary actions may lead to the loss of a very valuable employee and may lead to litigation and a poor reputation. However, when handled properly, disciplinary actions result in the overall success of employees in the organization.
For instance, if the company notices that a specific employee is always late repeatedly even after being given several warnings, HR can step in and investigate the reason behind their tardiness. It’s the right time to extend benefits such as counselling to the individual or additional resources to help them keep time. It’s a better alternative compared to the cost of firing and recruiting a new person to replace that employee. It may end up being a great learning opportunity to improve that employee’s career.
In some cases, disciplinary action may not be the best course to take and the employee will be let go. The best HR departments know when an employee isn’t a good fit for the company and will be happier elsewhere. HR needs to come up with a strong enough relationship with management and employees in the organization to improve the cohesiveness and overall health of the team.
