The Importance of Human Resources

Successful businesses need the support of a strong administrative staff. Chief among them are the people of human resources. Consider some of the ways human resources staff help keep a business running smoothly.

What Is Human Resources?

The human resources department of a company may manage a variety of administrative functions:

• Hiring
• Firing
• Onboarding
• Payroll
• Benefits
• Sick leave and paid time off
• Retirement
• Conflict resolution
• Reports of inappropriate behavior
• Legal concerns

Within each of these categories, many tasks and responsibilities help individual workers thrive and encourage the company’s various departments to collaborate. A 2023 study identified additional names for HR professionals: 

• Chief Colleague Experience Officer
• Head of Human Capital Management
• VP of Talent
• Chief of Staff
• VP of Employee Success

These descriptors show the breadth of knowledge and experience that a human resources team can offer.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, most human resources managers have a Bachelor’s Degree or above, and it’s a field growing at a faster rate than other similar industries.

The Importance of Human Resources

Individuals in this department play a vital role in the following areas.

Building workplace culture

Company culture affects current employees and influences how potential hires see your company. “This aspect of growing your organization is truly the sweet spot of effective HR,” says Forbes’ Joey Price. “No one is thinking about the entire organization except the HR function.” By necessity, the company’s individual departments are designed to optimize their work tasks and contribute to the whole. Human resources professionals manage the whole organizational chart, and can observe where company culture could use improvement.

HR has a unique view into individual experiences at the company. They are part of the hiring process, assist with onboarding, and spend time one-on-one with current employees. Positive company culture includes trust, good management, and satisfaction with benefits and work-life balance. When the pendulum swings negative in any of these categories, HR will be among the first to know. They have a finger on the pulse of frustrations and concerns. Armed with this data, they can make recommendations to leadership to address culture issues.

Thinking strategically

Human resources is populated with skilled and engaged professionals who have a wide view of how the parts of the company run together. HR can be a valuable resource to set productivity benchmarks. “The HR function plays a crucial role in this process by identifying the skills and capabilities that the organization needs to achieve its goals and developing and implementing programs to acquire and develop those skills,” continues Forbes’ Joey Price.

This knowledge informs both how to motivate employees within the company to do their best work and also where to allocate crucial hiring dollars. In partnership with leadership, HR can help align ideas with reality.

Recruiting and hiring

From the study referenced above, someone in HR may be known as “VP of Talent.” To be sure, HR professionals are often involved in every step of the hiring process:

• Identifying positions that need to be filled
• Writing job descriptions
• Posting on job boards
• Working with recruiters
• Communicating with prospective candidates
• Scheduling and holding interviews, often in multiple rounds
• Background and reference checks
• Making offers
• Onboarding
• Managing applicant tracking software

They represent the company at key parts of the hiring process and are responsible for conveying the company culture and mission while determining which candidate will be the best fit. They are the face of vital information like benefits packages and company policies for new hires. They provide a calm and competent presence in the face of sometimes overwhelming logistics and information when starting a new job.  

Assisting with employee relationships

HR is integral in establishing company policies that foster good employee relationships. Employee Relations is a discipline of HR that “is responsible for creating positive relationships and cultivating a constructive work environment that builds and ensures employee engagement, productivity, and trust,” writes Deb Muller. “Employee relations focuses on creating strong, positive interpersonal relationships between employees, and between employees and management.”

Creating your company’s culture of employee relationship management includes setting policy, supervision, behavior management, conflict resolution, conducting investigations, and administering discipline. But HR can be used for more than just by-the-book discipline, continues Deb Muller: “Good employee relations goes beyond this to create a company culture that improves the overall employee experience which leads to higher employee satisfaction, resulting in increased employee retention.”

HR teams may observe early signs of conflict and invite involved co-workers in for conflict resolution before feelings are heightened. They may conduct employee interviews about work-life balance and be able to provide reasonable accommodations to aid in difficult life situations. They may be trained on effective interventions for employee-manager friction. 

Supporting legal compliance

Human resources managers are tasked with ensuring your company’s policies and practices comply with all federal, state, and local regulations for your industry. There are three main categories of compliance:

• Statutory covers wage and labor law, such as minimum wage, overtime, employment taxes, and equal opportunity statutes, both at the federal and state levels.
• Regulatory covers rules from federal or state regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Trade Commission or the USDA.
• Contractual covers legally-binding contracts between your business and another entity, such as employment agreements, contracts with independent contractors, service or materials providers, or labor union agreements.

Human resources professionals are expected to be well-versed in all areas of compliance, and may find it helpful to join a group such as the Society for Human Resources Management to keep current on changing regulations.

Supporting Human Resources

With their company-wide perspective and unique interpersonal skills, human resources managers are a vital part of a successful company. They also need the right tools to do their jobs effectively. WorkforceHub, a trusted time and labor platform, offers features that streamline everyday HR tasks and allow these professionals to focus on other areas of the business. Explore how WorkforceHub can help HR reach the next level and feel supported.