You might know the term “HR department,” and maybe you understand how one works to some extent. However, you may not know all of an HR department’s duties. Those can vary depending on what a company does, but any HR department has some general tasks they must accomplish.
We’ll talk about an HR department’s duties right now. When we finish, you’ll know a little bit about why your HR company exists and what it does for you.
An HR Department Usually Conducts Employee Screening
Nearly all companies do employment background screening before they hire someone. They might have a company on retainer that does background checks. The HR department will give this company someone’s name and other vital information, and the company will get back to them with a detailed report.
That report might include any social media activity if this person has public social media profiles. Most people keep their accounts private, but some don’t bother to do that.
The report will include any arrests or convictions. A company will certainly want to know whether someone has prior criminal convictions before they give them a prominent position there.
The report will look into any companies where this individual worked in the past. If they tried to falsify their work history, this background check would show that.
Because it can dig up information like this, an HR department can mean the difference between a company hiring you or not.
It Can Help You if Someone Does Something Out of Line
This department does more than conduct background checks. HR stands for human relations, and that includes employee interactions. Maybe a coworker says something inappropriate. That could be anything. Perhaps it’s something racial, sexual, or otherwise out of line.
If you don’t like what someone said, you can talk to the HR department about it. The department can determine whether you have just cause to complain about what happened. If it agrees the person with whom you interacted said or did something out of line, it can call in that individual and get their side of things.
It can then take any action it deems appropriate. If it feel like someone did something wrong, it can send the report up the chain of command. The company higher-ups will probably figure out at that point whether to do sensitivity training, fire the person who did something inappropriate, or what other action makes the most sense.
You Can Talk to Them About Other Issues You’re Having
You can also speak to the HR department about other issues you’re having. For instance, if you’re going to go on maternity or paternity leave, but you want the business to keep you in the loop about ongoing projects, the HR department can help make sure that happens.
You can talk to the HR department about any paycheck issues. Maybe you need to set up direct deposit, or you set it up already, but it’s not working the way that it should.
You can definitely talk to your HR department about additional training you need. Maybe your company can pay for that, which will allow you to stay current with new technology that’s coming out within your niche.
It Can Talk with Company Heads About Strategic Planning
Your HR department should be in close contact with your company’s leaders. It can act as an intermediary between anyone lower down on the totem pole and those at the top.
It can relate to the rank and file what the higher-ups want them to do. It can update policies as needed, and it can make sure that the workers know about those policies. The HR department should also talk to company heads about whether they need to change any policies that no longer benefit the company.
It Processes Payroll
Many times, your HR department has to process payroll. If there is any reason why payroll can’t function properly, the HR department can look into that and make any necessary changes.
Every payday, the HR department makes sure it knows how many hours each employee worked. It needs to keep track of each employee’s salary. It needs to look after tax responsibilities having to do with payroll as well.
It reimburses any expenses. It adds any bonuses or raises that the higher-ups okayed for the workers. Someone needs to keep track of any company expenditures, and more times than not, that’s one of the HR department’s jobs.
It Sometimes Recruits Candidates
Not every HR department handles worker recruiting, but many of them do. HR needs to know what the organization needs at any given time. It might come up with job postings and make sure that candidates can find them on sites like Indeed or apps like LinkedIn.
They will need to analyze the market before they submit a job posting because they need to know how much to pay a candidate for a particular position. They must understand what skills that candidate needs if they’re going to be a suitable fit for the company.
It will need to talk to company stakeholders and assess payroll. That will help it determine how much to offer a candidate. It might send individuals to job fairs and colleges to try and find suitable recruits as well.
It Conducts Regular Benefit Analyses
The HR department needs to offer candidates attractive benefits packages if it doesn’t want to lose them to another company. That means it needs to know what other companies offer.
The HR department might determine whether they should offer a candidate a 401K program, a gym membership, stock options, etc. It needs to figure out if it’s doing what’s necessary to attract the best recruits so the company can compete within its niche.
The HR department has many jobs rolled into one, which is why hardly any company can function without one. HR does background checks, but so much more than that. It can get a bad reputation because it dispenses discipline, but it handles many other tasks.
