What are the 7 Functions of HR?

What are the 7 Functions of HR?

In this blog post, we will uncover these functions providing you with a deeper understanding of the role of Human Resource Management.

What's the importance of Human Resource Management?

The role of Human Resources (HR) is to provide for the well-being of employees. As well as providing the framework for successful recruitment.

HR tends to be one of the most under-appreciated departments in a business. HR professionals are typically seen as administrative personnel with little value to the bottom line. However, HR ensures companies can employ new staff, enhance company culture and help them achieve their goals through employee engagement and more.

The importance of human resources should not be underestimated. The HR department provides frameworks that allow businesses to recruit employees, train them properly and plan their careers effectively.

What are Human Resources?

You might find it strange to refer to people as "human resources" but we’ve moved away from thinking of employees as numbers. Human Resources is simply all the people contributing in some way to a company.

Human resource is a profession that allows an organisation to hire qualified people, provide employees with guidance and support, and handle the administrative tasks involved in employment.

These tasks can be nicely organised into 7 different functions:

1. Recruitment and Selection

2. Performance Management

3. Training & Development

4. Benefits Administration

5. Employee Records Management

6. Compensation & Benefits Planning

7. Employee Relations

What are the 7 functions of HR?

The HR function handles the recruitment, selection, and supervision of employees. Above all, they are also responsible for all the benefits that an employee receives.

HR departments are usually one of the first ones to implement new systems and use technology to improve productivity and efficiency. With that being said, below we take a look at what are the 7 functions of HR?

1.  Recruitment and Selection

The organization's success very much depends on the people who work there. Finding the right people to fill positions is imperative.

The recruitment and selection function of HR is responsible for finding, attracting, hiring, and retaining employees. The goal of this function is to get the right person into the company that will be a good fit for the company's culture and will help create a productive workforce.

In a competitive market, hiring the wrong employees can be fatal for a company. The right people are the key to having a successful business. The right employees propel an organisation forward.

Hiring is always a difficult process. There's a lot of time and money invested in finding the right candidate. And it's hard to know if he or she will be what you're looking for in the long run.

Especially in today’s competitive job market, it’s important to be picky about who you hire. Not only do they have to do their jobs well, but they also need to fit into your company culture.

2.  Training and Development

Training and Development is a function of HR that provides training and learning programs to employees.

The purpose of Training and Development is to support the business goals. By providing training, development, coaching, guidance, mentoring, and other services to help employees develop skills they need for success.

3.  Employee Relations

Employee relations refers to the relations between employees and their employers. This is an organisation’s effort to create & maintain positive relationships between them.

ER is important for organisational success & it contributes towards staff trust, satisfaction & engagement. It helps managers of all different levels of seniority too, whether they supervise a small team or more.

It also refers to contractual and practical relationships, as well as the personal and emotional sides they entail.

Employee relations focuses on ensuring that staff are treated fairly by the employer. This includes benefits offered to employees such as:

• health insurance
• retirement plans
• workers' compensation insurance
• paid vacations, sick days and paid personal days off from work if they need to take care of their children or other family members who are sick.

4.  Performance Management

Performance management is the process by which an employer monitors and evaluates an employee's progress towards meeting goals and objectives.

The primary goal of performance management is to help improve the performance of employees as well as to protect the company from legal liability, minimise economic losses, and maximise organisational productivity.

Performance management should be a two-way process, meaning that both the employee and the supervisor should take responsibility for its success. The supervisor's role is to provide guidance and feedback on how each task can be improved and needs to give timely feedback on the work that was done. On their end, employees should be aware of their responsibilities and strive to meet them.

5.  Compensation and Benefits

Human Resources are the people who are responsible for hiring, payroll, employee benefits, and management of other employees.

The function of compensation and benefits is to provide an incentive for employees to work well or have high morale.

A lack of benefits and compensation will lead to unproductive employees and result in a decrease in the quality of work.

A company’s compensation and benefits package is essential for retaining its employees. Not only does it affect employee morale, but it also impacts the quality of work that they produce. A lack of benefits or compensation will lead to unproductive employees and result in a decrease in the quality of work done by them.

6.  Employment Law and Compliance

Employment law and compliance is a broad area that deals with the rights and obligations of employees and employers. The functions of Employment Law and Compliance are to provide advice on how to comply with legislation, look at existing contracts for breaches, write employment contracts and administrative duties.

Employment laws were implemented to protect employees from unfair treatment in the workplace. Laws such as the Equal Pay Act 1970 require employers to pay men and women equal wages for equal work so that women are not unfairly disadvantaged in employment because they’re paid less than men doing similar work.

Employers also need to know what they can legally ask their employees during an interview process before hiring them which is known as "pre-employment checks."

Pre-employment checks are becoming increasingly common to screen potential employees. Employees need to know what they can legally ask their employees during an interview process before hiring them. This includes asking about driving records, past employment history, criminal records, and more.

An important aspect that companies need to consider before hiring a new hire is verifying the credentials of the person. A company needs to verify the authenticity of its resume and also reference checks. They should also find out the candidate skills and tie this into their.

A company can conduct quick background checks on people by looking at them on LinkedIn or by contacting their previous employers. The employer should make sure that any new hire is not in violation of any laws, such as immigration law.

7.  Administration, Payroll & HR Systems

Human resources are the core of any organization. They manage the personnel, compensation, recruitment and training of employees. The HR department has to deal with a lot of tasks that are time-consuming and repetitive. By utilising HR Systems tools, tasks are automated saving considerable time and money.

Administration, payroll and HR systems are essential for the smooth functioning of any organisation. Automation speeds up the completion of tasks even at a lower cost to both the company and its employees. It's a win-win!

The most common HR Systems tool is Payroll & HR Systems software which allows organizations to automate their payroll processes by converting them into an electronic format. These systems also track data at different levels like organisational hierarchy, departments, job titles, etc. This helps organisations to manage their human capital more efficiently.

Conclusion

HR is one of the most important departments in any company. If HR does not do their job well, it could lead to billions of pounds wasted on bad hires, high turnover rates, and much more.

This is why HR needs to be up-to-date with all new technologies. Technological tools allow companies to find the best candidates for the job, with proper training before they enter their new position.

Take these 7 fundamentals as building blocks. Good management of each one contributes to the strength of the tasks that come later. Collectively, they let a workforce perform better and reach its full potential.

We hope you enjoyed our blog post on, What are the 7 Functions of HR? If you found this content useful, you'll certainly want to check out our post on, Top 8 Ideas for Reducing Recruitment Costs!

Thanks for reading, we'll see you next time!