Amazing 12 Key Functions of Human Resources. HR serves a variety of vital roles in the organisation. Recruitment, performance management, learning and development, and many others are among them. In this article, we’ll go over the 12 most important HRM functions. Amazing 12 Key Functions of Human Resources
But first, let’s define what we’re talking about. To comprehend the duties of Human Resources, we must first comprehend Human Resource Management (HRM). Amazing 12 Key Functions of Human Resources
HRM is a separate approach to employment management, according to Storey (1995), that tries to gain a competitive advantage by the strategic deployment of a highly devoted and capable staff, utilising an integrated array of cultural, structural, and people strategies.
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We’ll go over the 12 human resources functions in this article and discuss how they help the company move forward. These are the functions:
1. Human Resources Planning
2. Hiring and Recruiting
3. Performance Management
4. Ongoing Training and Growth
5. Planning a Professional Plan
6. Assessment of the function
7. Rewards
8. Relations Between Labour and Management
9. Employee Participation and Communication
10. Health and Safety
11. Individual Well- being
12. Administrative Responsibilities
1. Human Resources Planning
The key responsibility of HR is to comprehend the organisation’s future needs. What types of employees does the company need, and how many do they need? This knowledge will shape recruitment, selection, performance management, learning and development, and all other human resource functions.
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Human resource planning is similar to workforce planning. Both are concerned with where the company is currently and what it will need to succeed in the future.
2. Hiring and Recruiting
The second HR duty is to attract people to work for the organisation and select the best candidates.
When it comes to acquiring fresh talent, employee branding is typically the first step. Being an attractive employer comes with a host of perks, just as being a desirable employee does. Because of its tainted reputation, the cigarette industry, for example, is having difficulty attracting talent.
If you have a fantastic employer brand and the right sourcing strategies in place, you’re already halfway there. When applicants apply, the selection process is an HR tool for identifying the most qualified and highest-potential candidates. Because of the rapid improvements in recruiting technology, there are a variety of recruitment tools for each stage of your hiring process.
3. Performance Management
Employee productivity and engagement are dependent on effective performance management. Effective performance management necessitates strong leadership, clear goal-setting, and open communication.
One of the performance management tools is the (bi)annual performance review, in which the employee is evaluated by his or her manager. It also includes 360-degree feedback systems, in which coworkers, managers, subordinates, and occasionally even customers review an employee’s performance. When it comes to providing feedback, these types of tools can be really useful.
4. Ongoing Training and Growth
Employees must be able to develop the abilities they will need in the future, according to HR. This ties in with the first HR function we discussed, which is HR’s responsibility in bridging the gap between today’s workforce and the workforce that will be required in the near future.
In the past, organisations had a set budget for learning and development. Following that, the budget is shared among the company’s personnel. In a number of countries, this charge is necessary. In the United Kingdom, for example, companies with an annual pay bill of more than £3 million must pay a minimum rate of 0.5 percent for their employees’ professional education.
In some countries, such as Belgium and the Netherlands, it is the company’s responsibility to look after its employees through L&D. In the third category of countries, such as the United States, this region is almost unregulated.
Regardless of legislative differences, almost all businesses understand the value of investing in their employees’ (future) capacities. The HR department is in charge of ensuring that these efforts are directed in the right direction.
5. Planning a Professional Plan
The fifth function of Human Resource Management is career planning, counselling, and development for employees, often known as career pathing.
Demonstrating how employees’ objectives might be linked with the company’s future can help with employee engagement and retention. The organisation will benefit from better succession planning, increased productivity, and a stronger employer brand.
6. Assessment of the function
A well-functioning HR department must grow as a firm and society do. Function evaluation is the technical aspect of HR. By reviewing the HR function, the HR department assures the company’s strategic performance as well as service delivery and support. While operating strategically, the organisation must deliver the proper level of service.
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In practice, evaluating functions requires contrasting several facets of the overall HR operation. This can include things like worker quality and availability, job location, working hours, the economy, job responsibilities, and the value a job adds to your business. Function evaluation is based on the idea that jobs that are similar should be paid equally.
Functions can be ranked in a variety of ways on the inside.
Using the ranking approach, subject matter experts rate functions in terms of how much they contribute to the organization as a whole. To determine which function is more valuable, raters must select between two options. This is done for all functions, and the results are used to establish a rating.
Methods of categorization: classification methods can also be used to divide occupations into distinct groups. In this scenario, jobs are classified and then ranked within those categories to arrive at a ranking. Categorizations include things like education, experience, the degree of specific talents required to do the job, the demand for those skills, and so on.
Points are assigned to positions based on the factors that the organisation thinks to be the most crucial to its success. After that, points are allocated to each category for each job. These areas include problem-solving, technical knowledge, communication and persuasion skills, innovative capability, business acumen, and other important capabilities. Depending on the organisation, these talents will differ.
Personal technique: this method evaluates the person performing the job rather than the job itself. Employees are compensated for their skills and abilities.
7. Rewards
The importance of thanking employees for their contributions cannot be overstated. Compensation and benefits are important in attracting the best candidates for the job and the company. Depending on the field, country, and culture, these will vary. In some countries, such as the United States, health insurance is usually included in job offers. This is not the case in countries like the United Kingdom, where the government provides the majority of healthcare. On the other hand, the total rewards framework indicates that incentives are more than just money. Psychological or relational effects are also possible.
One of the most important criteria is salary, but progress and career opportunities, as well as status, recognition, a healthy organisational culture, and a satisfactory work-life balance, are also important. Great colleagues and meaningful work, for example, are rewarded to employees. The job’s monetary remuneration is made up of monetary awards and additional (secondary) benefits.
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The Employee Value Proposition encapsulates all of these criteria (EVP). The EVP of your organisation is distinct from its public image and brand. It is the image that a company projects to its employees. As a result, the benefits go far beyond monetary compensation. The following is a list of total awards that is not exhaustive:
Base salary
Performance-based-pay
Bonuses
The social environment
Job security
Status
Having to work in shifts
Autonomy
Expansion possibilities
Feedback
Formal and informal learning opportunities
The talent management process, which strives to attract, develop, motivate, and retain (high-performing) individuals, includes functions 1 through 7.
8. Relations Between Labour and Management
Another responsibility of HR is to maintain and nurture relationships with labour unions and other collectives, as well as their members.
In Europe, unionisation is still common, though it is on the decline. In 2018, 92 percent of Icelandic employees and 67 percent of Danish employees were members of a union. In the United Kingdom and Estonia, however, only 23% and 4% of employees were, respectively. In the United States, barely 10% of employees were members of a trade union in 2018. Maintaining strong relationships with labour unions will aid in quickly recognising and resolving potential concerns, as well as in more difficult economic times when layoffs or other measures may be required.
9. Employee Participation and Communication
According to Dave Ulrich, one of HR’s key responsibilities is to act as a credible employee lobbyist. Employees must be kept educated and heard on a wide range of topics that affect them. The sharing of information that is relevant to employees is referred to as communication.
Being a People’s Advocate is one of the five pillars of the T-shaped HR professional, a new competency framework we built for the future of the HR sector. People advocacy can take several forms, including culture development, people practises, workplace champion, and communication specialist.
10. Health and Safety
In the creation and execution of health and safety regulations, human resources are critical. Making these rules part of the company culture is one of HR’s main tasks.
For example, at Shell, it is unlawful to walk down the stairs without grasping the handrail; this restriction also extends to the company’s headquarters. This includes Shell’s ‘Goal Zero,’ which stands for zero accidents. Although gripping the railing on an oil platform is far more important, safety is such an important part of the company culture that safety roles are used everywhere.
11. Individual Well- being
HR has a role to play in assisting and caring for employees who have personal concerns. Personal well-being is about aiding employees when things don’t go as expected. Problems both inside and outside the workplace can impair employee performance, engagement, and productivity. As a result, the bottom line of a company suffers.
Your HR department’s personal well-being programmes should emphasise one-on-one communication with employees as well as cross-team and corporate collaboration. For example, a company may establish an employee support programme that provides counselling to anyone suffering from mental health issues. On a corporate level, the company may hold a mental health awareness day.
12. Administrative Responsibilities
HR’s final function is administrative responsibility. Human resource information systems and personnel processes are instances of this.
Personnel procedures address promotions, relocations, discipline, performance improvement, illness, rules, cultural and racial diversity, unwanted intimacies, bullying, and other issues.
Policies and procedures must be developed and implemented in each of these situations in order to appropriately comply with the requests or solve the problems.
Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) are used to store employee data (HRIS). These systems must be purchased, deployed, and maintained in order for the data to be used to make more informed decisions.
It’s Now Your Turn
HR is a multifaceted role that assists companies in getting the most out of their employees. As an HR professional, you’ll need a varied skill set to work across these essential HR activities. The pursuit of a core HR qualification cannot be your last goal. Workplaces and societies are both constantly changing and evolving. To successfully lead your team through change, you, too, must continue to evolve.
