HR is key to any organization’s success. Human Resources is responsible for payroll, hiring, termination, designing policies on the code of conduct et cetera. But is it also relevant in playing a role for organizational development? In this article, we aim to answer these questions.

Human resources department is often criticized for devising ways in order to leverage employee skills to the maximum but not compensating him enough for his contributions. Love it or hate it but HR saves the company a lot of money in making the right calls/ recruitment decisions.

They are called the exploiters in the society which is saturated and where jobs are scarce but if you were running an organization, you would want someone like that. They are the guardian angels for an organization. They know which individuals to invest in. They keep track of the progress and decide whether or not an individual requires training.

Let’s see if HR is in actual key to development

Recruitment
The success of any large organization is gauged by the number of positions and how frequently positions gets filled. HR business partners or those recruiters who work from home are responsible for arranging human capital for certain firms those who have outsourced their HR. these guys scan and filter the suited candidates who are in line with the company’s guidelines.

Similarly, companies which have in-house HR are the drivers of the company as they advertise vacant positions within the organization. The HR then screen individuals who area best fit for the company as well as conduct initial interviews before scheduling a final interview with HOD/CEO. Subsequently, the individual is hired.A lot of careful evaluation and liaison with department heads and management goes into this.

Safety
Workplace safety is crucial and under the OSHA (Organisational Safety and Health Act), 1970 the company is liable to ensure working conditions which free from harm for the hired individuals. An effective HR in this regard will make sure that proper policies are in place.

The HR tend to support the workplace safety programs in place because it is one of the key functions of human resource department. The maintain logs for workplace injury and that of any casualty reporting. There are sub domains within HR such as HR safety and risk experts and HR benefits specialists. These two often work together to look after employee compensation issues.

Employee Relations
Employee relations is integral to any organisation. Employee and labour relations department is responsible for solidifying the employer-employee relationship. It is a platform where any concern an employee may have with respect to his employer is deeply assessed and addressed.

The relations are assessed on the basis of job satisfaction, how engaged is an employee with his work, and disputes (if any) have been resolved with the manager or management as a whole. Labour are also employee but their dynamics are different. Their assessment criteria largely revolve around organising campaigns, negotiating agreements, and resolving labour union contract issues.

Compensation and Benefits
Compensation and benefits department is also crucial to an organization’s development. And yes, we are going to talk about salary. The compensation side of the equation is all about setting salary slabs and evaluation mechanisms that human resources department plan (in consultation with the management) and as per market norms. There are also responsible for its implementation.

The benefits side of the equation deals with providing employees with group health coverage, retirement savings plan, and any fringe benefits/perks come under this heading. There is, however, a school of thought that says payroll should be a part of compensation and benefits department (and many organizations have this policy in practice) but others are of the opinion that payroll is more of an administrative thingy and/ or should outsourced.

Compliance
Compliance as the name implies, abiding by the laws governing the land, company laws and legal bits of it. HR is directly responsible if any activity on the company premises is of unethical or unfair nature and it is the right of the employee(s) to seek the legal recourse. HR should be mindful of this fact and should oversee that practices are compliant.

Human resources department should be an autonomous entity in the organisation and must be without any influence of the management. It is the bridge between employees and management so if it plays into the hands of the latter that organisation is unjust to its employees. Resulting dissatisfaction will lead to hampered productivity, reduced employee morale,and profitability.

It is imperative that the HR is aware of Civil Rights Act, the Fair Labour Standards Act, the National Labour Relations Act, in addition to many other laws so that it can develop its employees and steer the company towards the realisation of its goals.

Training and Development
Provision of tools for employees so that they can work with ease and less hassle is the domain of HR too. Orientation is considered as something secondary and many organisations seems to take a pass on them. What they fail to realize is that if they do not give a new joiner proper orientation of the company, how he’s to know who what work? And where a said department is located?

It is also kind of an ice-breaking exercise for the new employee so that he can get to know people and spend his first few days with them without feeling jittery. In other words, orientation helps him settle to the new organizational culture.

Leadership training is another important aspect which is overlooked. New joiners may require some form of formal training before they can commence working for the organisation. It is also required for newly promoted individuals in the organisation so that they can learn to supervise juniors in their teams and such.

Other ventures could be employees seeking to complete their college degrees so flexibility should be offered to them in their pursuit of professional development. Policies to reimburse some or part of the tuition payments greatly increase employee confidence in the company.

In conclusion
The above aspects detail that indeed with all the disciplines falling under its purview, HR is fundamental to the development of the organisation and its employees.