Organizational Wellness

6 Key Areas of Human Resources

Last Updated Dec 9, 2024

Time to read: 5 minutes

What would you do if you discovered that employee turnover has increased by 20% over the last quarter?

Likely the first step is to dig deeper into the issue and identify any patterns. You might discover a lack of career development opportunities are pushing employees out the door, or widespread frustration with management styles. Whatever the case, established HR practices can make or break how your organization responds.

HR teams have a hand in nearly everything that goes on within a company — from the way an organization functions to meet the needs of its employees to how it serves customers. From recruitment and training to benefits and compliance, there is a lot to manage.

Ultimately, HR leaders play a key role in keeping operations running smoothly. In order to maximize productivity, you must first understand the main responsibilities to focus on.

What Is Human Resources (HR)?

Human Resources (HR) is the division of a company focused on managing and supporting the workforce. After all, an organization is only as strong as its workforce, and human resources departments spearhead strategies for keeping employees engaged and satisfied. That often means creating an environment that encourages personal and professional growth.

HR teams wear many different hats as they handle things like talent management, health insurance, payroll, conflict management, employee training, and regulatory compliance. By providing the necessary support and tools, HR can increase overall productivity and improve organizational culture.

Main Areas of Human Resources

HR plays a crucial role in building a productive workplace by managing talent acquisition, ensuring compliance, and enhancing organizational culture and performance.

Recruitment and Onboarding

HR is responsible for finding, attracting, and hiring top talent. They write job descriptions and post the positions on different job boards. After that, they sort through the applications to find the best candidates and set up interviews. From there, they make sure that the hiring process is both fair and equitable in compliance with all applicable employment laws.

Once a candidate has been chosen, HR will determine the starting date and take care of new hire paperwork. They often handle new hire orientations as well. To make the transition as smooth as possible, many HR teams develop programs beyond orientation that help new employees acclimate to their positions at the company.

Employee Benefits and Compensation

One of the most commonly recognized roles of HR is employee compensation. Human Resources determines how much employees should be paid by researching the current competitive wage for specific positions and establishing a compensation structure for the organization. If the company cannot afford the same amount as other competitors and must offer lower pay, HR can create a benefits package that still makes a job offer competitive.

Crafting a benefits package that meets the needs of the employees is another important duty. HR handles everything from health insurance, vacation time, and sick leave to retirement accounts and health savings accounts. A good benefits package can make a world of difference in attracting and retaining employees, which is why HR teams invest a lot of time in the programs they can offer.

Employee Training and Development

Providing employees with the tools they need to succeed in their positions is an incredibly valuable contribution HR departments maket o an organization. They can do this by creating a proper structure for employee orientation, as well as skill-based professional development programs.

Offering development opportunities — both personal and professional — can transform the way employees work together. Skill-based development in particular can boost individual capabilities while also strengthening team collaboration. Investing in these opportunities allows HR to foster a culture of continuous improvement.

HR Compliance

Employment and labor laws are always changing. They cover everything from anti-discrimination and harassment to equal-opportunity hiring. An HR department is responsible for staying up to date on the latest regulations to ensure compliance, which helps prevent potential lawsuits against the company.

HR also creates company policies for the employee handbook based on the laws. These policies cover regulated aspects of employment, including:

How many hours employees can work
How much unpaid they can take for things like family leave
How employees can be terminated
Safety standards

This approach to compliance helps protect an organization while fostering a fair working environment for all employees.

Organizational Structure

HR teams are at the heart of shaping the organizational structure. It has to align with the mission and values of the company, so human resources should first develop clear business goals and a mission statement. This helps drive the company in the right direction. Then they work with senior management to implement policies and procedures that can support those goals.

Human Resources Information and Payroll

Payroll is a distinct part of compensation that requires specific attention. This responsibility is all about completing payroll processes and maintaining proper records to ensure that employees receive their wages.

HR works to maintain the company’s reputation by staying up to date with the latest payroll processing solutions and taking inventory of what kind of upgrades are needed. This means gathering feedback from employees and making changes to foster a culture of inclusion and wellbeing.

Transform Your Benefits with Wellhub

At the end of the day, the different human resources areas of focus can be summed up as one thing: managing the company’s most valuable resource — its employees.

Of course, one of the best ways to do this is by putting together a benefits package that keeps employees engaged.

A key component of a competitive benefits package is a wellness program. These programs support employee health and show commitment to your workforce, increasing your company’s competitiveness. Wellhub supports physical health and reduces healthcare costs, with 91% of companies reporting savings, as revealed in our Return on Wellbeing 2024 report.

Speak with a Wellbeing Specialist adding a wellness program to your competitive benefits package!

Company healthcare costs drop by up to 35% with Wellhub*

See how we can help you reduce your healthcare spending.

Talk to a Wellbeing Specialist

[*] Based on proprietary research comparing healthcare costs of active Wellhub users to non-users.