It may be time to split up your HR department. The fact is many demands are placed on HR that require different skills, education or mindsets. Call it organizational development versus workforce administration. On one hand, HR is responsible for the paperwork that comes with hiring, firing and providing benefits. On the other hand, HR is also responsible for recruiting and retaining workers who have the right aptitude, skills and behaviors for the right price and at the right location.
Many HR functions are administrative, including entering data, processing forms and reviewing compliance requirements. This work requires someone who is detailed oriented rather than someone with strong people skills. It requires a professional who understands numbers, how to correctly process forms and who can communicate with vendors, government agencies and financial institutions.
In many organizations, this administrative function is combined with workforce development, organizational development and employee engagement. The question is, should it?
Take for example how two different HR professionals might approach an employee with performance issues. When an administrative-focused HR professional is examining performance, he or she will often focus on policies and job responsibilities and maybe send the person off to training, or be fed up and point to all the rules the employee is breaking.
Performance-focused HR professionals will try to understand the person first. They ask such questions as whether this person loves their job? Are there any reasons outside of work that might lead to underperformance? Do employees know what their job is? Do they know how their role impacts the organization? The performance-focused professional knows the person is not in the right role and seeks to fix it.
The performance approach brings to light that the person’s position needs to be changed, and there can be an open discussion with the employee about that. Employees want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Designing the HR Department
When designing your HR function, ask yourself, “What does the company most value?” Is it the financial/administrative side of human resources, or is it the fact that HR is involved in figuring out how to deliver the best talent at the right time and at the right place to the organization?
If it’s the latter, the focus of HR should be on developing programs that impact the bottom line of the company by increasing employee engagement and productivity and using data to measure engagement. At the same time, move the administrative functions of HR to the finance department, which has that expertise built into its skillset.
Your new organization will have the following responsibilities:
Human Resources (Organizational Development)
• Branding and marketing the company as an employer of choice,
• Organizational design,
• Employee development,
• Organizational development,
• Succession planning,
• Talent acquisition,
• Internal communication,
• Reduction of absenteeism, and
• Employee engagement.
Finance Department (Workforce Administration)
• Processing onboarding documents including offer letters,
• Benefits administration, including vendor management,
• Time and attendance records,
• Payroll,
• Compliance,
• Producing analytical reports,
• Producing and monitoring costs, and
• Vendor negotiations.
When growing an organization and expanding its capabilities, you will get the most out of HR when you build goals and objectives that are focused on organizational development. The HR department should maintain strong ties to all the supporting departments, including marketing, facility management, IT and finance. When you give the administrational function of HR to finance, HR has the time and manpower to do what it should: Deliver the best-equipped workforce at the right time.
Mirjam IJtsma is the president of Cultural Chemistry, an HR consulting firm in Manchester and Portsmouth. She can be contacted at 603-623-3633.
Current Issue - April 2024