What does HR do? | Top 9 key Responsibilities of HR in 2024
Answering the question, ‘What does HR do?’ The answer comes around within seconds: painting rangoli. No, it is wrong. HRs generally arrange the entire employee life cycle, from hiring skilled candidates to coordinating with them until the exit interview. But what else do they do? HR is the key department of the overall employee journey. It involves employer branding, selection, onboarding, performance management, learning and development, attendance management, compensation, appraisal and benefits, workplace safety, security, etc.
Regardless of company size, HR is responsible for maintaining a balanced employer-employee relationship and enhancing employee engagement and overall satisfaction. If you’re curious about what HR does or what its key responsibilities within an organization are, let’s explore them in detail.
What is a Human Resources (HR) department?
Human resources is a crucial department of any organization, responsible for managing the employee cycle within the company. The preliminary function of the HR department is to handle everything related to the employees, from recruitment to their departure. Besides handling the entire cycle, HR is solely responsible for employee performance management, attendance management, leave management training, payroll, benefits administration, etc. Besides, they maintain and update labour laws and regulations and work on finance-related matters in the absence of finance specialists.
The HR department generally works to optimize the workforce, ensuring the organization has the right people with the right skills in the right roles, fostering a positive work environment, and ensuring legal and ethical compliance.
What does Human Resources do?
The Human Resource is a team which is responsible for managing the complete employee life cycle to achieve organizational success. The primary responsibilities of HR include recruitment, hiring, onboarding, training, development, attendance and performance monitoring, offboarding, developing the company’s laws and policies, and managing employee well-being within the workplace.
Some HR members focus on crucial areas like payroll, finance, and data security, while others perform other generalized tasks.
The HR departments support building business organizational structure, enhancing company productivity and advocating for the employees. Although HR responsibilities are pretty vast, they are shared and diversified among HR directors, managers, and analysts.
What does an HR Director do?
The HR director’s role is mainly to transform the organizational strategy into an HR strategy. They focus on where the company’s business has the most significant impact.
Here are the following points that the HR directors to be responsible for:
- Strategies for the HRIS to oversee the HR system correctly for efficient HR service delivery.
- Designing training programs for employers and employees as required.
- Ready an alignment between the organization and legal professionals.
- Introduce the compensation and benefits plan within the workforce.
- Manage and collaborate with the stakeholders within and outside of the organizations.
What does an HR Manager do?
Unlike HR directors, HR managers manage many tasks and responsibilities, that includes:
- Co-ordinate with the internal HR team.
- Manage Internal Stakeholders.
- Updates Internal Policies.
- Ensure Secure Regulatory Compliance.
- Oversee Employee Relations.
- Conduct Training and Development.
What does an HR Analyst do?
HR analysts are responsible for basic HR-related tasks and responsibilities. They mainly focus on:
- Hiring suitable candidates per the requirements.
- Strategizing a smooth onboarding process.
- Performing data analysis and maintenance.
- Maintaining a balanced relationship among the office workers.
- Enhancing employee engagement and company productivity.
Top 9 Key Responsibilities of HR
The HR department has numerous roles and responsibilities in the employee life cycle. It has a positive impact on organizational success. Let’s unpack the key responsibilities that every HR professional should know during their career.
1. Employee Hiring
One key responsibility of the Human Resource Specialist is recruiting and hiring the right employees for the required position. HR generally ensures that the candidates’ abilities and performance suit the organization’s well-being. Depending on the organizational requirement, HRs focus on mass candidate hiring or often search for a genuine candidate for a particular profile. There is a slight difference in recruiting and hiring candidates. These are as follows:
➔ Recruiting Candidate
Searching for the right person for a particular profile is known as candidate recruitment. It is slightly different from candidate hiring. The main objective of candidate recruitment is to hire the candidate you desire to meet organizational demand.
➔ Hiring Employees
In such a scenario, HRs focus on mass hiring rather than genuine candidate selection. Before candidate onboarding, HR performs the legal paperwork, recordkeeping, and administrative responsibilities in the hiring process.
➔ Performance Analysis
Besides hiring, HR is responsible for managing and analyzing employees’ performance. This process is done through the employees’ training and development program, arranging a KPI report sheet to track the performance graph on a regular basis, maintaining continuous feedback, etc.
HR uses the HRMS platform and related performance management system to perform such tasks.
2. Leave Management
HR professionals are responsible for facilitating employee leave management. Employees receive at least 10 to 14 days of paid leave and other national holidays every year. The leave amount may vary each year based on HR’s decision. HRs are also responsible for analyzing employees’ total leave count, including paid and lost paid leaves. Integrating leave management system and deploying it into the workforce can be a fair option for HR professionals to achieve their ultimate business goal.
Moreover, HRs are responsible for developing and communicating clear policies and procedures regarding employee leave.
3. Record Management
One crucial task for HR is to provide robust security for saving employees’ personal details, compensation, benefits, performance reviews, disciplinary issues, and other professional data. Using different high-end database management systems, HR captures, stores, and organizes employee information and correctly maintains records for future needs.
Moreover, by analyzing employee data, HR can understand the employees’ needs for training, recruitment, and other talent management initiatives.
4. Training and Development
One of HR’s key responsibilities is analyzing employees’ performance. If there are any snags, HR must arrange relevant training for the employees. A robust professional development program can affect employee productivity and enhance performance. As employees get a chance for self-improvement, they are more likely to engage with and shape the company culture more proficiently.
Besides investing in employees’ self-improvement, they are responsible for aligning with the organization’s strategic goals and legal responsibilities. They tie up worldwide companies related to the informational sessions based on topics like:
- POSH act,
- Updating Technology
- Industry and Marketing Trends
- Inclusion of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
5. Legal Compliance
According to the nation’s labour laws and compliances, companies must follow yearly law updates. It can be challenging to comply with laws and regulations that vary by state and central. HRs are responsible for staying acquainted with and implementing the updated laws within the workplace.
Moreover, HRs collaborate with legal counsel to solve complex legal issues and guide employees through legal and compliance problems.
Overall, HR creates a bridge between employees and the organization, ensuring smooth compliance with laws and regulations while promoting a fair and inclusive workplace culture.
6. Attendance Management
The HR team is solely responsible for managing employee attendance within the workplace. Using different attendance management system, such as a workforce management system, time and attendance system, HRIS, and different check-in/out features like selfie attendance, biometric or retina scanning, HR collects accurate employee attendance data, generates reports, analyzes trends, identifies issues, and takes action.
Besides, by integrating and updating different attendance-related laws and policies, HR takes action against excessive absenteeism, buddy punching, tardiness, no-shows, and other misconducts.
7. Risk Management
One key role of HR is managing potential risks and implementing strategies to mitigate them. Workplace risks include workplace politics, micromanagement, employee/employer misbehaviour, sexual harassment, and mental harassment. HR develops policies and procedures to address, identify, understand, and curb risk using safety protocols, security measures, and related compliance training.
With a detailed process of managing risk, HR creates a safe and secure work environment for the employees while maintaining the organization’s reputation and resources.
Some examples of how an HR department mitigates organizational risk include:
- Implement numerous harassment-related laws and compliance like the POSH Act and other acts.
- Working with IT for robust data protection and enhanced encryption
- Tracking and analyzing Employee overall performance and behaviour
- Investigating complaints and other allegations like racism, micromanagement, sexism, etc.
8. Employee Wellbeing
Maintaining employees’ well-being is key to enhancing employee retention and company productivity. HR specialists care for employees’ mental health by maintaining a positive work atmosphere and preserving a work-life balance.
By promoting a workplace wellness culture, HR offers various resources, such as numerous employee assistance programs and mental health-related campaigns. By conducting regular health surveys and assessments, HRs create a supportive work environment to improve employee morale, productivity, and retention while reducing absenteeism and healthcare costs.
9. Processing Employee Exit
Departing employees are displaced, yet it can be disruptive if HR doesn’t handle the exit process properly. When top-performing, experienced employees exit a company, their feedback can be valuable for future hiring. A satisfying offboarding process encourages them to recommend the company to talented candidates, clients, and customers after leaving.
Human resource specialists manage the exit process by safeguarding company assets and maintaining positive employee relationships. They initiate the exit interview to gather employees’ feedback and insights, along with guiding those employees in necessary paperwork like exit documentation, benefits administration, etc.
Additionally, before departing with the resigned employees, HR communicates with IT to revoke access to company systems and accounts by ensuring data security.
End Note
Thats it! The responsibilities of the HR department are vast and crucial for the success of any organization. From recruiting and hiring top talent to managing employee relations, compensation, and compliance with labour laws, HR is pivotal in creating a positive work environment where employees can thrive. By ensuring fair treatment, fostering professional development, and supporting organizational goals, HR contributes to the overall success and sustainability of the business.
As workplaces evolve, HR will remain instrumental in navigating challenges and driving strategic initiatives that promote employee satisfaction, productivity, and organizational growth.
