The role of a HR professional is
critical to a company’s wellbeing, but what does this role entail? This is the
question I wish to explore on the Frank Kelly blog this week.
At its core, a human resources
(HR) department exists to manage an organisation’s staff. A broad job
description to be sure, it encompasses several different roles that each in
their own right are critical to employee well-being.
Recruitment
Often it falls to the HR Professional
to recruit an organisation’s staff, an essential job, as if an organisation is
staffed with inadequate employees, productivity suffers. Specifically, a HR
professional will be involved in advertising vacancies, sourcing and screening
applicants, conducting first stage interviews and advising managers on the
suitability of candidates for the position in question.
Training
Once you as a HR professional
have recruited a staff member, you will then be involved in training them. This
will usually include conducting extensive orientation programmes for new
employees, as well as implementing and maintaining training programmes for
established employees, to give them the information they need to progress, as
well as maximise productivity and increase the corporate bottom line.
Employee Relations
Once that employee is released
into the wider workforce, your role as a HR professional involves ensuring they
integrate effectively into the company, as well as maintaining employee
relations at all times, to ensure a positive work environment, where employees
can excel. Specifically, this often includes ascertaining employee satisfaction
and engagement, as well as acting as a mediator in cases of workplace conflict.
Maintaining Safety
It often falls to the HR department
to ensure that the company is in compliance of health and safety legislation,
and that individual departments are meeting in house health and safety
standards. This means that the HR professional is usually involved in
supporting workplace safety training and managing official workplace safety and
accidents records, as well as handling potential compensation issues.
Other roles often attached to the
position of HR professional include: ensuring an organisation complies with
legal guidelines, handling employee administration (wage, holiday days etc.),
mediating between management and staff etc.
Honestly it’s hard to define
everything the HR role entails. Ultimately, it’s about making sure employees
are a benefit to the company which you work. That is why the position of HR
professional is so critical.
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