Why are the HR staff the unsung heroes of the corporate world?

When picturing “success” in the corporate world, you often picture a CEO or a head executive who steered their organization into new heights. Often, many businesses success stories are attributed to someone who had a heavy hand in management and overseeing company growth by way of product/service development, a brilliant marketing campaign, or expansion.

Many businesses success stories, however, wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of the HR staff behind the scenes.

In the article below, we’ll go over why the HR staff are the unsung heroes of the corporate world.

HR is the business’ ear to the ground

One of the most important things to remember is that HR is the bridge between management and the people on the ground. It’s the job of HR to figure out whether employees are happy, why they feel the way they do, and how to make sure employees are happy. In a world where employee turnover is expected to rise by 30%, HR is an indispensable function.

HR builds an organization’s backbone

Great employees will put together a great business, while terrible ones will result in a crash and burn. Who’s in charge of recruiting the best possible talent? HR.

HR is responsible for figuring out where to source the best possible applicants for a role. Once that’s done, it’s up to them to scrutinize the qualifications of each applicant before moving onto the interview stage. A lot of the time, once HR is given the green light from management to hire an applicant, it’ll also be HR walking new employees through the onboarding process. In short, what HR has to do for recruitment is no easy feat (especially considering that they’ll have to continue helping out current employees in the midst of everything).

Using the best methods of recruitment, such as referrals, HR has the power to hire crucial employees who’ll contribute to a business for years on end. That alone renders HR an incredibly powerful department.

HR is in charge of legal and regulatory compliance

HR professionals must have fully understood employment law and the regulatory requirements that apply to a business. This enormous area shouldn’t be underestimated; a case like an unfair dismissal claim could be an expensive mistake.

The costs of non-compliance only get bigger the bigger a business is. Business disruption, productivity loss, and reputation damage all eat away revenue. Depending on the incident, noncompliance can also cost millions directly coming from legal fees, fines, and penalties. Thus, it’s a crucial to invest in a robust and efficient HR department that can keep businesses compliant.

Don’t underestimate HR

IT, marketing, customer service…. these are all important departments in any business, but it’s important that HR is the backbone helping them all run.

If some functions are too heavy for HR, of course, it’s always a good idea to ask for extra help. Numerous HR partners like Q2 HR Solutions are happy to provide services for struggling microbusinesses. Q2’s People4People, for example, can help supervise people management for operations. With their team of experts, Q2 can also provide invaluable insights on recruitment, onboarding, and overseeing day-to-day performance.

Success can mean a lot of things. But the number one thing to never forget is how important was in getting there!