What Does The HR Department Do?

As your business grows, you’ll probably feel the need to open up new specific departments. This might start with IT, for example, and progress to marketing and customer service. There are many different departments that businesses can benefit from, but one of the most important of all is the HR (human resources) department. If you’re not sure why having such a department is a good idea or whether it’s required in your specific business, read on; here are some of the crucial roles the HR department plays. 

1. Payroll

Paying your employees is one of the most fundamental tasks you’ll need to get right as a business. As soon as you don’t pay, or payment is late or not the right amount, problems are going to occur. You’ll have dissatisfied staff who are no longer motivated to work hard for you. The longer the problem goes on, the more likely it is they will leave. Therefore, payroll is crucial. 

Payroll is something a good HR department can manage for you. This will free up a lot of your time, and it will ensure that professionals are dealing with the payment processes. If there are any errors, in most cases, you won’t even have to hear about them – they will be solved quickly by a good HR team. 

2. Recruitment 

If your business is growing large enough to have an HR department, it’s clearly recruiting more people. Recruitment takes time – or it can do if you want to ensure you are hiring the right people – and if you can entrust it to someone else, you’ll have more time to work on other aspects of your business. 

Recruitment is one of the key tasks of the HR department. They will know how to write a job description, where to post it, how to shortlist candidates, how to utilize ATS recruiting software and other tools, and how to interview, should that be required. Once candidates have been chosen, they will then deal with setting them up on the system and ensuring they are on the payroll, as mentioned above. 

The HR department will also deal with all end-of-employment details. When someone chooses to leave (or is asked to leave, depending on the situation), there will be paperwork to complete and a specific process to follow. When this is left to the HR department, there will be a continuity of action, from hiring to the end of the worker’s employment, helping everything to run more smoothly. 

3. Disciplinary Actions 

In an ideal world, you would have great employees and they would do an ideal job, but sometimes problems occur. When they do, action will need to be taken, and in some cases, that means disciplinary action. This is another task that falls to the HR department. 

When people think of HR, it is this side that most often comes to mind, which is unfortunate, as most of what this department does is positive. However, because poor behavior or lack of productivity can’t be left unchecked, disciplinary action is actually a crucial element in business. Not only does it show the employee in question that they need to do more in terms of their work or how they interact with others, but it also shows other employees that this negativity won’t be ignored, boosting morale overall.