Simply described, human resources (HR) is the department in charge of worker or employee welfare within an organization. It is in charge of creating a productive work environment where all employees feel motivated and are up to the task. Below are 13 crucial tasks that are performed by the Human Resources department in an organization:

1. Candidates Recruitment:

HR is in charge of scouting for talent and recruiting and training candidates to ensure that they are the right fit for the available job role. The department advertises for the role and conducts a background check on all potential candidates to ensure the organization only hires the best ones. HR also coordinates hiring efforts by organizing for candidates to be interviewed.

Human Resources ensure that the candidates perform all the necessary paperwork and see the recruitment process through up to the end.

2. Employee On-boarding Process:

Human resources are responsible for ensuring that the new member of staff is well integrated into the organization through performing orientation and getting an overview of the organization’s history and culture.

3. Payroll Management:

HR develops a compensation package that is realistic and competitive depending on the employees’ qualifications and experience. Processing the payroll duties has the HR personnel calculating taxes, reimbursing expenses, adding raises and bonuses and calculating deductions as part of their chores.

4. Employee Safety and Risk Management:

The Human resource department ensures that an organization is operating in a safe environment and that workers are insured appropriately. HR also maintains work logs and accurate records to mitigate workplace injury occurrences.

5. Tackling Liabilities:

Human resources handle allegations of discrimination and harassment among other unfair treatment issues within an organization. This reduces the organization’s risk of exposure to liabilities as a result.

6. Hiring Processes:

HR provides insights and guidance in regard to the job descriptions for potential new roles in an organization. HR manager recruitment agencies will help you with your next ideal role and then will go out to the market to search for that ideal role for you. They can usually get a foot in the door for you on hiring.

7. Employee motivation:

HR analyses benefits that are likely to keep employees motivated and productive. They are in charge of negotiating benefits packages for the workers in accordance with an organization’s budget. This creates a work environment where employees feel valued.

8. Corporate Decision Making:

HR is a key department when it comes to the strategic management of an organization. This is because of the department’s work in analysing staffing needs and their work in projecting the needs of the company in terms of the future workforce.

9. Maintaining an Organization’s Compliance:

HR ensures that the organization remains compliant with laws and best work practices. HR professionals understand the law and ensure the organization is compliant to prevent eventualities no fines and penalties are charged due to non-compliance.

10. Personal and Professional Development:

HR is always on the front line of identifying opportunities that employees can take part in as a form of career and professional development process.

11. Conducting Disciplinary Actions:

HR is responsible for taking disciplinary actions against employees within an organization, which may explain why it’s not everyone’s favourite department. Inappropriate disciplinary actions can lead to the loss of good employees for an organization. It is therefore important for HR to trend carefully and make investigations first as to why the disciplinary action is really necessary for a given employee.

12. Performing Company Policy Updates:

Organizations keep evolving as years go by. It is the duty of the HR department to examine and suggest changes to policies that require updating. Some occurrences also prompt a requirement for policies to be updated. For example, when the Covid-19 pandemic began, most organizations changed their work structures. Some companies introduced the work-from-home arrangement which may not have been included in previous company policy documents.

13. Employee Records Custodian:

HR department maintains records on all employees including their bio-data, skills and emergency contacts. This helps the department to identify skills gaps and build a profile of the organization’s demographic data.