The role of HR has expanded from mere hiring, firing, and compliance. In the modern workplace, HR professionals are tasked with managing an increasingly complex range of responsibilities, many of which go undervalued.
Some typical examples include inspiring communication, maintaining a positive workplace culture, selecting the right employee benefits packages, and managing sensitive employee documents. In other words, HR the nature of HR transcends recruitment and payroll alone.
Managing Workplace Culture
One of the most overlooked aspects of HR departments is their responsibility to manage workplace culture. Contrary to popular belief, culture – in this context – isn’t just about holding team-building exercises. Rather, it evolves around creating an environment where employees feel engaged, valued, and aligned with organizational goals. A misaligned or, worse still, toxic culture inevitably results in higher turnover rates and disengagement.
Says CEO of Fishbowl David K. Williams, “Employee engagement isn’t just a buzzword — it’s the backbone of any thriving organization. A strong, positive culture makes employees feel invested, and this leads to higher productivity and lower turnover.”
Maintaining a healthy culture requires HR professionals to be active listeners, mediators, and strategists all at once. They need to facilitate open communication, ensure managers are equipped to lead effectively, and address conflicts in a timely and fair manner. Finally, these professionals need to identify potential issues before they escalate.
Managing Employee Benefits
Another critical responsibility of HR is managing employee benefits. While many people associate employee benefits with health insurance, the reality is that managing benefits has become much more complex.
That’s why choosing the best open enrollment software has become a critical part of streamlining this complex process. Presently, there are several benefits circulating — dental and vision care, retirement plans, wellness programs, and employee assistance programs – and the trend is likely to multiply in years to come, thanks to the evolving nature of the modern workplace.
Among other tasks, HR professionals need to ensure that employees understand and select the options best suited to their needs.
Says Catherine Miller, Chief People Officer at GreenSky, “Benefits are no longer a one-size-fits-all offering. As the workforce becomes more diverse, employees expect benefits tailored to their specific needs. HR must stay on top of these expectations and manage a wide range of options efficiently.”
HR teams need to understand the nuances of the benefits they offer so they can communicate them effectively. Without the right tools and expertise, employees may overlook or misunderstand the offerings. That’s why choosing the best open enrollment software becomes so crucial in ensuring that employees can make informed decisions without facing unnecessary complications.
HR also needs to stay up-to-date with changing laws and regulations regarding benefits. E.g., recent changes to healthcare regulations in the U.S. have added complexity to benefits management. As a result, HR professionals need to be both well-versed in these changes and able to communicate them clearly to employees.
Maintaining Secure Communications
With the rise of remote and hybrid work models, secure communication has become a critical concern for HR teams. Maintaining privacy while sharing sensitive information has never been more important. The growing frequency of data breaches and cyber-attacks means that HR teams need to be proactive about understanding application security and implementing systems that protect employee and company data.
“I often tell my team that securing sensitive information is a matter of trust. If employees don’t feel their data is safe, they’re less likely to share important information that helps us support them,” says Olivia Reyes, HR Director at global logistics company Sphere.
HR professionals need to balance accessibility with security, a complex task indeed. From protecting employee benefits information to ensuring safe communication, HR teams need to work closely with IT departments.
Handling Sensitive Employee Documents
Another key responsibility of HR is the management of sensitive employee documents. These documents include everything from contracts and performance reviews to tax information and medical records. Safeguarding these records requires HR professionals to take meticulous care in managing both physical and digital documentation. Failure to do so could lead to legal issues, breaches of confidentiality, or a loss of employee trust.
“There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with handling sensitive documents,” says Marcus Green, Director of HR at Creative Solutions. “We need to ensure that the information stays secure, complies with regulations like HIPAA or GDPR, and is easily accessible when needed.”
The legal obligations around data retention and privacy make this task even more challenging. E.g., under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), organizations are required to store personal data securely and delete it when no longer needed. This means that HR teams must be well-versed in legal requirements and able to make the right decisions about how long certain documents should be kept and how they should be disposed of when they are no longer necessary.
Bridging Knowledge Gaps
Last but not least, HR teams are also responsible for ensuring that employees are properly trained for their roles. This transcends the onboarding process (which has, in itself, become increasingly complicated) to include the task of fostering an environment where continuous learning is the new normal.
While the latter has become evident literally to everyone everywhere, the task of managing training doesn’t always come easy. Namely, HR teams need to coordinate a variety of training programs, select proper platforms, create training content, ensure that training aligns with the company’s objectives, and make sure that employees are getting the necessary support.
To top it off, there’s the matter of collaboration with department leaders to identify skill gaps and address them proactively. Since technology is changing rapidly, it is critical that employees stay ahead – keeping up is no longer an option.
The Expanding Role of HR
Everything considered, it’s safe to say that the role of HR has expanded dramatically. Hiring and firing are no longer the only tasks these professionals need to handle; they are responsible for creating a secure, supportive, and engaging environment for employees. The process involves a variety of responsibilities, including but not limited to managing workplace culture, ensuring proper employee training, and safeguarding sensitive documents.
The true challenge for HR professionals lies in balancing these different responsibilities while staying ahead of technological, legal, and cultural changes. The demand for HR professionals who can think beyond traditional responsibilities and handle new challenges is growing.