Human Resources – it isn’t the Personnel Department anymore!

Human Resources – it isn’t the Personnel Department anymore!

For young folks (anyone under 70!) you may not remember when the Human Resources Department was called the Personnel Department.  It was a small office, usually right near the employee entrance and the main focus was to write job postings, job descriptions, pass through applicants to the department managers and post all the legal notices and make sure the company stayed compliant.  Some personnel managers were also responsible for firing employees, processing claims, and handling low-level insurance requirements.

Today is a very different story.  HR has (or should have) moved to the C-Suite in organizations of all sizes.  Why did this happen? (and if you have not embraced the concept of HR being an executive partner in your business, you may want to rethink that idea).  Human Resource Professionals have a wealth of knowledge about the, well, HUMAN RESOURCES in your organization.  They should be involved in all hiring decisions, jointly with the hiring managers.  They should have a strategic position at the executive level to help determine what types of individuals the organization should employ.  They need to have a deep understanding of the business and its vision, not just from an HR perspective.

There are so many facets of the business that HR must engage with that they need a voice at the top of the organization.  What type of culture is (should be) developed to attract the best candidates available?  Is compensation a tool that helps your organization be competitive in the marketplace?  Are the current employees engaged and passionate about what the company creates in the marketplace?  Is employee and organizational development at a level that supports the growth of the organization?  These and many other questions are critical and HR is a significant player in the proper development and use of the human potential of the organization.

We have written much about Human Resources over the past few months, and hope that you have found it helpful.  If you are an organization with greater than 100 full-time employees you already know that the ever-changing employment landscape demands more and more from your HR professionals.  If you are a smaller organization who does not have full-time HR in the organization, the needs don’t change.  You must develop the function through operations or other leaders until you have reached about 100 employees which typically supports a full-time HR professional. Until then, outsource the key functions to consulting firms with strong HR services, like HPISolutions.  We invite you to connect to our HR Expert, Ginny McMinn if you have any questions or concerns regarding the issues I have identified above.  Ginny has over 35 years of HR expertise and is ready to assist you in any of your Human Development needs.

Be sure to check out our upcoming events page for the HR Series being facilitated by Ginny early 2021!