Can you imagine what would happen to a company that does not have an HR department? As an HR outsourcing agency, it would be disastrous to comprehend a world without human resources. But to answer this question, we must first understand what the roles and responsibilities of the human resource department are. 

We all know that HR is the department that handles the recruitment and any problems that we might face within the company, and most important of all, the timely distribution of our salaries. But is that all that the HR department does? 

History of Human Resource Management

Human resource was previously referred to as personnel administration and is heavily focused on the technical aspects of recruitment, evaluation, training, and compensation of the employees. Employees were treated as though they were simply tools of the transition was a turning point in history as there was a shift to focus more on increasing productivity with a lesser number of people. 

With the transition to Human Resource Management, employees are now treated as an asset to the company and are valued and treasured, as it allows the bridging of the gaps between the employees’ performances and the organisation’s objectives.

Top 5 Main Roles and Responsibilities of the Human Resources Department

Human Resources has 5 main roles and responsibilities that are constant and a staple in many companies. These roles are crucial to find out how the company treats their employees fairly and equally.

Below are the 5 main roles and responsibilities of the HR department uphold in your company every day.

1. They’re the Recruiters

HR must make sure that the candidates that they hire are a good fit for the company. These decisions will decide if the company will grow with the new additions or stay stagnant. 

There are certain criteria that the HR department takes note of when they are hiring such as:

• Does the candidate’s values align with that of the company’s? 
• Does this candidate possess the skills necessary to do the job?
• Is the candidate capable of building the skills needed for them to perform?
• Does this candidate have prior experience in this field of work?
• Does this candidate demonstrate potential to stay in your company for long?

In addition, these regulations must be following the labour laws and regulations set by the government. These regulations serve as a second layer of protection for the employees. 

2. They’re the Accountants  

The HR department is also in charge of processing the payrolls from the calculation of days worked, the taxes to be deducted, the expenses to be reimbursed and the bonuses to be added in. 

Without a functioning HR department, many paychecks will not be on time. Employees will not get fair compensation for their work, dissatisfaction between employees will arise, causing the morale and motivation to plummet.

3. They’re the Disciplinary Master 

The HR department is the one who manages the company’s disciplines as they would issue warning letters or verbal warnings to any employees should they perform any misconduct. 

Should it be a serious mistake, they would not hesitate to take corrective measures, such as the dismissal of the employee. This responsibility is extremely crucial. And when dealt with properly, the company can benefit from it. On the reverse end of the spectrum, the company might suffer from the lack of proper actions to handle the situation and gain a bad reputation. 

With that being said, they have the ability to hire you as well as dismiss you. This brings us to our next point. 

4. They’re the “Ministers”

Policies are essential to the company because they provide guidance, consistency, and clarity on how the company works. The HR department oversees the production and updates of the company policies to protect the integrity of the organisation. This includes protecting employees from cyberbullying in the workplace environment, and in recent times, minimising employees’ contact with COVID with the compliance of safe distancing measurements. 

There are times that the policies are produced in response to incidents that happened in recent times, to prevent history from repeating itself. Companies would have to learn from past experiences or current situations to come up with better policies to protect their employees against any mistreatments. For example, in the case of the recent COVID-19 situation, companies have written up policies to better protect their employees from the fast-spreading disease. 

5. They’re the Career Developers

HR does not stop at just providing you a career in their companies, they also provide you opportunities to improve yourself, personally, and at ways to help employees sieve out the areas that they need improvement on and develop specific action plans which employees can follow to improve themselves. This also allows the company to have the upper hand in filling up future roles and meeting future market demands. 

Wrapping up

Back to the question, what will happen if HR doesn’t exist? The answer is simple. Companies would find it hard to manage their employees and to find ways to improve the current systems. As CEO of Talent Culture recruitment agency, Meghan Biro, says, “employees engage with employers and brands when they’re treated as humans.” Without HR, employees will feel unsupported, that the company does not care for them, and the general morale of the company would dwindle. Unmotivated employees would result in the company’s failure.

What do you think will happen if HR doesn’t exist? Leave us a message here and share with us what you think. Looking for more HR services for your office? Check out the BGC website for more information.