5 Things You’ll Need to Work in HR

By Guest Author | HR | February 25, 2020

The work carried out by the Human Resources department is valuable to all businesses. These teams help to organize employee records, resolve conflicts, manage employee benefits and contribute to the overall protection of the company and its staff. It can be a challenging job at times; therefore, if you’re interested in a role within an HR department, be aware of these 5 things that you will need.

Knowledge of Employability Laws

An understanding of employability laws will help you navigate your way through an HR job. Although the company will have access to a team of lawyers for in-depth legal advice, it is useful if HR employees are aware of the basics. This will enable them to make informed, sensible decisions on how to move forward if any grievances are bought to their attention, or they’re faced with the possibility of having to let an employee go. Knowing what both the company and employee’s rights are is important.

Ability to Train

Part of your job in HR might include you having to provide training for new staff. To do this effectively, you must have good communication skills and the patience to teach someone. You must also be able to recognize what type of training works best for an individual. This will ensure that each new starter is given fair and equal opportunities to others who may be learning the same role.

Software to Keep you Organized

Your time management and organizational skills are highly valued in a role like this. As you will be keeping track of absences, holidays and other general information, this must be done efficiently. Most HR departments will have some form of software to help you manage this. This type of program is referred to as HCM software; some examples are listed by People Managing People here. If you don’t think your software is very efficient, make a recommendation to change it.

Creating Good Morale

Part of your job in the HR department will be creating a positive, safe working environment. This includes keeping morale high; appropriate and useful employee benefits are one way to achieve this. Whether that is providing them with some free healthcare checks like eye-tests, for example, or organizing fun days out to a theme park for the staff and their families. All of these little perks will go a long way, and you might have to get creative when putting these benefits together.

Strong Communication Skills

A role in HR is all about communication. Essentially, you are the ‘middle-man’ between employees and the company. This will require you to have the ability to listen carefully to both sides and respond professionally to any grievances you have to deal with. You must be able to come up with practical solutions to problems, providing clear correspondence to everyone you work with to avoid any further issues.

A role in the HR department might be hard at times, but with so much to do, it can also be an interesting and varied role.