Human resource are generally responsible for activities like recruiting and staffing, training and learning, compensation and benefits, organization development, and labor and employee relations. Most of the human resource professionals have knowledge of one or more of these specific areas.
They are interested in assisting employees in an organization, in order to increase the performance level as well as the productivity of the employees.
Recruiting and staffing:
Once an employee departs and a new job position is available, the human resource professional comes into picture. Recruiting and staffing is the most important aspect of human resources. Process of recruitment include various activities such as preparing a job description by working with a particular department, exploring the skills and knowledge that a new employee requires, finding responsible candidates, conducting interviews and preparing job offers.
Recruiters are responsible for searching talented people, scheduling interviews and negotiating offers. They strategize with different departments to anticipate the hiring needs, and help determine the best position for a new employee in an organization.
Compensation and benefits:
Along with hiring talent, it is also important to look at the aspect of payment. Compensation and benefits professionals are responsible for providing appropriate salary to new employees. Compensation professionals concentrate on the money. Responsibilities include processing regular payroll, and payroll changes which include raises and tax changes. Compensation professional also assist finance department in order to keep salaries in each department's budget.
Training and learning:
Responsibilities of human resource profession in training and learning department include assisting employees to adjust with their new job or the company. This department is also called training or learning and development. They assist new as well as experienced employees to develop and grow as professionals both on and off the job by conducting programs which are developed to teach and develop employees. Programs can be classified as ethics training, online training courses, in-class instruction or on-the-job training.
Labor and employee relations:
Labor and employee relations are common in organizations having unions for employees. Labor relations professionals are responsible for dealing with unions, understanding present union contracts, negotiating contracts. They also assess and supervise activities of the union, and work with them when they recruit new members.
Organization development:
Along with employees development, it is also important to develop an organization. This is fairly new field in which professionals evaluate the company's structure, monitor employees' teamwork, and decide whether there is scope for improvement. Organization development experts are proficient in understanding behavior and psychology. They frequently work as internal consultants to assist their associate employees in order to understand the effectiveness of the program. They also perform with training professionals to deal with development needs for the organization.
Health and safety:
Factory machines, construction sites and hazardous chemicals are generally unsafe working conditions for employees. In this situation, health and safety professionals come into picture. Health and safety professionals ensure safe working conditions for all workers. It is also important for them to be proactive, assessing working conditions which are dangerous.