What Does the Human Resources Department Do?

The human resources staff handles many of the matters pertaining to the employees of a company, such as recruiting and benefits management, they also work with management to help develop long-term strategies for the growth and development of a company. RHR departments often act as a middleman between employees and management .

The RHR department often helps coordinate training and mentoring programs to further develop employee skills. Training programs may be developed in-house, depending on the resources within the company, or might be outsourced. 

RHR staff may play a role in employee performance reviews, handle employee complaints, help resolve disputes and monitor employee remediation programs. 

For companies with union employees, RHR often oversees union contracts and assists management with union negotiations. Many companies offer employee assistance programs that provide counseling and help for a variety of personal issues.

Human resource management is therefore focused on a number of major areas, including:

• Recruiting and staffing
• Compensation and benefits
• Training and learning
• Labor and employee relations
• Organization development

Today’s human resource management team is responsible for much more than traditional personnel or administrative tasks.

Instead, members of a human resource management team are more focused on adding value to the strategic utilization of employees and ensuring that employee programs are impacting the business in positive and measurable ways.