Key HR Responsibilities in Modern Businesses

Human resource management (HRM) is the practice of overseeing and managing an organization’s employees.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), strategic human resource management connects people management and development with a company’s long-term goals. The human resources department supports those goals in areas such as hiring, employee development, and workforce planning.

“Human resources management” is also commonly used to refer to the same function, although this article uses “human resource management” for consistency.

As Paycor reports, members of the HR department fulfill five key roles:

1. Talent management: “HR leaders manage the entire employee lifecycle,” Freeborough explains. “Everything from the initial contact and narrowing down the pool of candidates to onboarding and employee development.” This includes handling terminations, retirements, resignations, employee performance reviews, and more.
2. Compensation and benefits: Human resource management also involves administrative duties, such as payroll and benefits administration. These tasks aren’t just about ensuring workers are properly compensated; they also involve evaluating pay practices to promote an equitable structure. HR professionals use employee benefits, such as health care and retirement plans, to support the company’s employee retention strategy.
3. Training and development: Freeborough says training and employee development are important human resources responsibilities. The HR department provides new and existing employees with the tools they need to succeed in their roles and “move up the ranks.” According to Paycor, this can involve on-the-job training or sending employees to workshops and conferences to stay current on industry standards.
4. HR compliance: Organizations must comply with state and federal laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Violating these regulations can result in monetary penalties and legal consequences. Freeborough says HR professionals may work alongside attorneys to ensure their company's policies align with employment law.
5. Workplace safety: The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 requires employers to maintain a safe working environment. HR operations must facilitate safety training, log workplace incidents, and report them to relevant government offices.

In addition to these five HR duties, Freeborough says the department also manages employee relations and workplace conflicts.

“They foster healthy relationships between managers and employees,” Freeborough says. “Sometimes employees can get upset with managers, and managers get upset with employees. HR can be a healing salve to that, or they can be more like sandpaper.”

Freeborough adds that although these HR functions remain the same, they look different in a larger organization than in a small business.

“In a larger organization, you could spend all your time on benefits administration or succession planning. You get highly specialized and focused on one particular aspect,” Freeborough says. “But in a small business, you’re often the only person. You need knowledge of all aspects because typically you’re the only one who understands them.”

Learn more about the different degrees that prepare you for an HR career.

According to Harvard Business Review (HBR), the HR department’s organizational impact has increased significantly over the past few decades. Between World War II and 1980, human resource management was primarily about labor relations — advocating for workers to keep unions out of companies.

As HBR reports, today’s HR departments are more focused on maximizing employee engagement, reducing dissatisfaction, and preventing burnout. Freeborough calls this a shift “from paperwork to people.”

“HR is now a part of the strategic arm of an organization’s leadership,” Freeborough says. “In fact, sometimes they sit in the executive suite. They have a seat at the table where they participate in making key decisions about the company. Years ago, HR was more of a secretarial position, but that couldn’t be further from the truth today.”

Freeborough says many companies have learned that employee engagement and productivity go hand in hand. He says that engaged employees aren’t just more productive; they also stay longer because they’re more satisfied, thus reducing turnover. Gallup’s research confirms these impacts and finds that businesses with high engagement outperform their competitors.

“HR is in a unique position to maximize the company’s greatest resource, which is its people,” Freeborough says. “It ensures that employees truly are engaged in their work, enjoy the culture, and are good fits for their roles. HR gives its full-time attention to these topics, so I think they have a great opportunity to make a real difference in the company’s direction and the well-being of its employees.”

HR duties can vary depending on the job description. Below is a list of potential HR roles and their most relevant responsibilities:

Compensation and Benefits Manager

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a compensation and benefits manager plans, develops, and oversees programs for employee compensation and benefits. Some managers handle both compensation and benefits programs, but others — especially in large organizations — oversee just one or the other.

In this role, typical HR duties include:

• Coordinating work activities for staff
• Setting the organization’s pay and benefits structure
• Monitoring wage rates to keep compensation plans competitive
• Choosing and managing partners, such as benefits vendors or insurance brokers
• Overseeing the distribution of pay and benefits information to employees
• Ensuring compensation complies with federal and state regulations

Purdue Global's postbaccalaureate certificate in HR and graduate certificate in HR can help prepare you for a compensation and benefits manager role.

Human Resources Manager

The BLS states that a human resources manager plans, coordinates, and directs an organization’s administrative functions. They oversee recruiting, interviewing, and hiring talent; consult with executives on strategic planning; and serve as an intermediary between managers and employees.

This HR role involves the following responsibilities:

• Planning the workforce to make the best use of employees’ talents
• Creating a link between management and staff members
• Coordinating and overseeing employee benefits
• Consulting managers on HR issues, such as sexual harassment
• Recruiting, interviewing, selecting, and hiring candidates
• Overseeing employee relations, mediating disputes, and deciding disciplinary action

Purdue Global's online bachelor’s degree in human resource management, postbaccalaureate certificate in HR, master's degree in management and leadership, online MBA, and graduate certificate in HR can help prepare you for a human resources manager role.

Training and Development Manager

Training and development managers plan, coordinate, and direct skills- and knowledge-enhancement programs for a company’s workforce. They oversee new-hire training and employee development initiatives and often choose course content and materials.

Some of their key HR responsibilities include:

• Managing training and development staff
• Evaluating employees’ training needs
• Aligning development with organizational goals
• Creating and managing training budgets and materials
• Updating programs to ensure relevance
• Assessing the effectiveness of programs and instructors

Purdue Global's postbaccalaureate HR certificate, online graduate certificate in human resources, and master's in management and leadership can help prepare you for a training and development manager role.

Programs in fields beyond business can also help prepare you for this role, including a bachelor’s in psychology in industrial/organizational psychology and a master’s in instructional design and technology.

Human Resources Specialist

According to the BLS, human resources specialists recruit, screen, and interview applicants and place newly hired workers in open roles. They may also manage compensation, benefits, training, and employee relations.

Their key HR duties include:

• Identifying their company’s hiring needs
• Interviewing candidates
• Checking applicants’ references and backgrounds
• Informing applicants about job details, benefits, and working conditions
• Hiring qualified candidates
• Assisting with employee orientation
• Keeping employee records and processing paperwork

Unlike an HR manager, human resources specialists are typically focused on duties related to the hiring process.

Purdue Global's online BS in Human Resource Management, online bachelor's degree in business administration, HR postbaccalaureate certificate, and HR graduate certificate can also prepare you for a human resources specialist position.

A bachelor’s degree in I/O psychology is another program that can help prepare you for this role.

Labor Relations Specialist

A labor relations specialist resolves workplace conflicts and negotiates labor contracts. They’re also called employee relations specialists, as they coordinate procedures regarding worker complaints and disputes.

Some of their key responsibilities include:

• Supporting negotiations between management and employee representatives, such as labor unions
• Developing and implementing policies, handbooks, and codes of conduct
• Ensuring compliance with collective bargaining agreements
• Investigating worker misconduct and advising management on disciplinary action
• Managing employee grievances and workplace disputes
• Guiding workers on the terms of their employment

An HR postbaccalaureate certificate or graduate certificate in human resources can help prepare you for a labor relations specialist role.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), effective HR practice requires a range of behavioral competencies, including leadership and navigation, ethical practice, communication, relationship management, and business acumen.

Leadership and Navigation

As SHRM defines it, leadership is the “knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) needed to create a compelling vision and mission for HR” that aligns with the organization’s strategic culture and direction.

These KSAOs must also accomplish organizational goals, promote change, navigate the business, and manage the execution of HR initiatives. SHRM says HR professionals should be familiar with leadership theories, such as servant leadership.

“I think servant leaders are probably the most effective in many organizations,” Freeborough adds. “Servant leaders are characterized by those who are good listeners, compassionate, committed to growth and development, and see the needs of others as more important than their own.”

Learn about the power of servant leadership.

Ethical Practice

SHRM describes ethical practice as the KSAOs required to “maintain high levels of personal and professional integrity.” Moreover, it means acting as an “ethical agent” who promotes core values, integrity, and accountability across the organization.

Some examples of ethical business principles and practices include transparency, authenticity, and acknowledging conflicts of interest. According to SHRM, HR professionals can become proficient in ethics if they:

• Maintain privacy as appropriate and according to laws and regulations
• Use discretion when communicating sensitive information
• Stay updated on ethics laws, standards, and emerging trends
• Don’t take action based on personal biases
• Provide open, honest, and constructive feedback when questions of ethics arise

Learn more about the ins and outs of ethics in business.

Inclusive Mindset

According to SHRM, an inclusive mindset helps HR professionals create a workplace where individuals are treated fairly and respectfully, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and feel a sense of belonging. The competency also emphasizes collaboration and understanding across diverse backgrounds and cultures to support organizational success.

SHRM says professionals can strengthen an inclusive workplace by understanding and applying approaches such as:

• Gaining executive sponsorship and leadership buy-in
• Addressing conscious and unconscious bias
• Measuring diversity metrics (gender diversity, race diversity, retention rates, etc.)
• Working with employee resource groups

Relationship Management

SHRM identifies several interpersonal skills essential to human resource management — the first being the ability to manage workplace relationships. It defines relationship management as the KSAOs needed to create and maintain a network of professional contacts and relationships inside and outside the organization. It also includes working effectively as a team member and managing workplace conflicts.

As Freeborough explains, internal disputes happen all the time. In turn, effective HR professionals must have strong conflict-resolution skills to identify the root causes of issues and how to solve them.

“Conflict resolution requires listening effectively and putting together solutions that bring people together as opposed to making it worse,” Freeborough says. “I’ve seen poor leaders pour gas on the fire, but I’ve also seen great leaders who can take a very volatile situation and bring peace to both parties.

“I think that takes a lot of art and skill. It also takes great knowledge and understanding of leadership,” he adds. “There’s also a counseling component. The best leaders at least have a decent understanding of how to bring about good resolutions to difficult conflicts and challenges.”

Communication

SHRM defines communication as the ability to “effectively craft and deliver concise and informative communications, to listen to and address the concerns of others, and to transfer and translate information from one level or unit of the organization to another.”

SHRM breaks down this definition into three sub-competencies HR professionals should understand:

1. Delivering messages: HR communicates with a variety of audiences inside and outside the business. Therefore, they must develop and deliver messages that are clear, persuasive, and appropriate for the topic or situation.
2. Exchanging organizational information: HR must also effectively translate messages to these various audiences. For example, they may help non-HR managers communicate HR issues. They might also prepare and deliver messages on important matters to senior- and board-level stakeholders.
3. Listening: Lastly, HR professionals need to be good at understanding information and seeking feedback. They must be active and empathetic listeners to others’ views and concerns and welcome the opportunity to hear competing perspectives.

“You have to spend time with people and communicate effectively so that you’re clear, direct, and concise — but also relational,” Freeborough says. “You can’t come across as if you’re reading a book. You have to speak in a way that fosters good relationships within the company and supports employee well-being.”

Business Acumen

This competency is the ability to understand the organization’s operations, functions, and external environment, and to apply tools and analyses that inform HR initiatives consistent with the company’s overall strategic direction. As Freeborough says, it’s about comprehending the business inside and out.

“The better you understand the industry, the better you’re going to be at hiring the best, talented, and most experienced people for the right roles,” Freeborough explains. “All that you do as an HR professional — whether it's hiring, onboarding, training, or succession planning — will be that much more effective if you know the business and understand the industry.”

Moreover, he says this can help HR leaders positively represent the organization.

“We need to be the ambassadors for the company,” Freeborough states. “When people think of what an ideal employee is, they should think of the HR leader. This is the person who exhibits the values, culture, norms, and enthusiasm of the company.”

If so, now is the time to deepen your knowledge. At Purdue Global, you can earn a degree and study HR in several online business programs:

• Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management
• Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in HR
• Human Resources Postbaccalaureate Certificate
• Master of Business Administration with a concentration in HR
• Master's in management and leadership with a concentration in HR
• Graduate Certificate in Human Resources

Request more information today to get started.