There’s no doubt that one of the most critical departments in any organization is its Human Resources Department. Without it, it would be excruciating to recruit and keep good employees, it would be impossible to improve the organization effectively, and it would be very hard to establish a productive and cooperative work environment.
For these reasons, the HR department has often been referred to as the heart and soul of a company. Here are some factors which point up the extreme importance of any company’s Human Resources department, and why it’s so critical to business operations.
Which Are the Functions of an HR Department?
The human resources department has many functions which contribute to the overall success of an organization. It’s responsible for recruitment and training, maintaining a good work-life balance, and handling all the payroll responsibilities for a company. These functions should point to the tremendous value that Human Resource personnel has.
Human Resource Management serves to maintain employee satisfaction and job training and to ensure that company personnel works well within guidelines and regulations. It will also help to resolve any issues that may come up during the course of doing business.
Several of the most important Human Resources functions include recruitment, training, job reviews and appraisals, career development, employee safety, employee benefits, and even employee motivation.
- Establishing company culture
The starting point for any company’s culture is its HR department. This is where rules and policies such as attendance, proper compensation, and advancement get enforced. HR professionals will always be working to resolve conflicts and evaluate employee issues.
The personnel working on Human Resource Management have the ability to influence how the entire company responds to circumstances, and how valued all employees feel. This is fundamental, especially since more companies are focusing on establishing inclusivity, diversity, and collaboration initiatives.
- Resolving conflicts
Conflicts are inevitable in any workplace, and when they happen it’s the responsibility of Human Resources to help resolve these issues and ensure that fairness is actually applied to all employees.
This might involve a disagreement between two employees, or it might involve a situation with alleged discrimination or harassment. The responsibility of the HR department is to investigate and offer possible solutions while remaining within the legal guidelines and company policies.
Depending on the seriousness of the issue, it might be necessary to bring in an outside investigator or expert to help resolve the issue.
- Ensuring compliance
For the most part, it’s the responsibility of the Human Resources department to ensure that the company complies with all state and federal laws.
This could include maintaining documentation to verify employee records, organizing necessary training for employees and management, or staying abreast of employment laws that will help ensure compliance. If your company is government-regulated, it might be necessary for HR to work with management in order to keep the necessary paperwork on file, to track the information needed by said government.
- Writing the employee handbook
One of the most valuable tools for communicating rules, guidelines, and benefits to employees is the employee handbook.
These documents are easily accessible and can create uniform expectations across the entire organization. Because all the information necessary for job duties is in these handbooks, it’s generally necessary for HR professionals to get wholly involved with its creation and constant revision.
Whenever updates are necessary, and whenever management needs advice on how the handbook should be written, it would be the responsibility of the HR department to carry out this function.
- Organizing employee events
There are many online and offline employee events that might get organized by the HR department, either as necessary company functions or as team-building and employee reward events. Examples might include parties, happy hours, motivational speakers, anniversary celebrations, reward ceremonies, or team-building programs.
Some organizations have a specific employee group that coordinates events such as these, but in other companies, it falls to the HR department to carry out this kind of planning. Such events are an important part of any company’s culture. That’s why HR professionals generally become involved to create a positive impact on employees’ perception of the company.
These events can be very meaningful and can either serve to reinforce the company’s culture or also create some fun time and downtime for employees to show them the proper appreciation.
The Objectives of Human Resource Management
The objectives of the Human Resources department are critical to a company’s success, and they can improve or degrade their level of success.
One of the biggest objectives of Human Resources is to promote productivity in the workplace by guaranteeing that the right employees fill empty positions and that they’re trained to function well in their assigned roles. Human Resources Management also needs to coordinate departments in the organization, so that employees can work effectively together.
Any organization lacking a solid HR department will have difficulty managing work across departments, and that will likely cause the business to suffer. Other important objectives of the HR department are to ensure that employees are satisfied, maintain a vibrant and healthy work culture, and ensure that all employees can reach a positive work-life balance.
In Conclusion
As society evolves, the role of human resource managers and personnel evolves right along with it. There are plenty of specialties unique to Human Resource Management such as compensation and benefits management, as well as training and development opportunities. All these specialties must be included and taken advantage of by an organization if it wants to be successful in a competitive business environment.
As can be seen from the above, there are a great many attributes that are specific to the Human Resources department, all of them are critical for success. Any organization that lacks a strong Human Resources department should take steps immediately to get professional help in this regard or build up its HR department so that it can properly support business objectives and employees.