Corporate HR Function – Responsibilities and Limitations I – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1013

Corporate HR Function – Responsibilities and Limitations I – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1013

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1013 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: Lubomir Satko

Credit: Mikhail Nilov

Credit: Ron Lach

HR – Human Resources Department – as it is mostly referred to, is among key functions in any corporate. Owing to its importance, the entrepreneurs prefer to keep it directly under them for as long as they can. It is the entrepreneurs’ wish to control the staff tightly, hence the love for HR function. HR is one of the two functions that are very close to the top boss/owner; finance and HR. Finance is about money matters, and HR is about people matters; both are vital areas.

In this 2-part blog post, I wish to address the following points:

• What are key functions of HR – in a simplified way

• Is HR performing its functions the way it is required to do? If not, what are the limitations?

• What should be done to make HR effective and leading.

Key HR Functions

Usually grouped under 5 cardinal functions but given here in some more detail for greater clarity.

Recruitment and Staffing

Identifying, attracting, and hiring the right talent for the organization. Running the interview process, onboarding, orientation etc.

Compensation and Benefits Management

Designing and managing employee pay structures, bonuses, incentives, and benefits such as health insurance, provident fund, gratuity, and leave policies. They also run salary surveys periodically to see their own market competitiveness. 

Performance Management

Evaluating employee performance, providing feedback, and ensuring alignment with organizational goals. Implementing and running whichever performance appraisal system the organization chooses, such as MBO or KPIs or else.

Training and Development

Providing employees with opportunities to improve their skills, knowledge, and competencies through training, workshops, and continuous learning programs. Many organizations send their staff to external organizations within the country and abroad for specialized trainings.

Employee Relations

Managing relationships between the organization and its employees, addressing workplace grievances, and ensuring a positive work environment. HR departments run climate surveys to take pulse of the organizational environment. HR also uses organizational grapevine to float ideas and feelers to get informal feedback.

Employee Engagement and Retention

Building a workplace culture that keeps employees motivated, engaged, and committed to the organization, reducing turnover rates. Employee engagement is a focused topic now and multiple actions are taken/ needed to be taken to enhance engagement. 

Compliance with Labor Laws and Regulations

Ensuring that the organization complies with local, national, and international labor laws, including employee rights, safety regulations, and workplace policies. Pakistani corporates do not have a shining record of compliance with labor laws, rather, it is among the weakest areas, but HR must work on it, nonetheless.

Workforce Planning

Anticipating and preparing for the future workforce needs of the organization, ensuring there is a balance between workforce supply and demand. This also includes making manpower budget which will project the addition of new positions and their financial impact.

Succession Planning

Developing a strategy to ensure that the organization has a pool of capable employees ready to step into critical leadership roles when needed. Succession planning is a hot topic and one which is often discussed in corporates. Senior managers do not wish to develop their successors due to insecurity and the organization keeps suffering. 

HR Information Systems (HRIS) Management

Utilizing technology and systems to store employee data, manage payroll, and streamline HR functions. Technology is almost there in majority of corporates. Electronic attendance systems have been installed in most places and attendance is directly linked to payroll.

Health and Safety

Ensuring the workplace is safe and secure, implementing health and safety programs, and promoting wellness initiatives. Employee wellbeing includes physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Harassment of any kind is to be controlled, and physical wellbeing is to be promoted by HR.

Are HR Departments Performing All These Functions Properly?

In many organizations, HR departments perform most of these functions but not always to the level of required effectiveness. Several challenges prevent HR from fulfilling its potential across all functions.

Reasons HR is Not as Effective as it Should Be

Lack of Resources

Resources include all those tools that will help HR in performing its functions. These may include material resources like finances, equipment, space, office, structure etc. These may be human resource, not having enough staff, or not having enough experience, or not producing quality work. HR professionals now claim specialization; HR generalists do most basic functions, for other tasks, specially trained people are needed. 

Overwhelming Administrative Work

Most HR departments in Pakistan are also assigned to do administrative tasks. In fact, the department is titled HR & Admin department. HR managers gradually tilt towards administrative work because it gives more power. The HR work suffers.

In many ways, administrative work comes in contradiction with HR work. Administration is mostly about control while HR is about giving people space and freedom to express themselves. This inherent contradiction is hurting HR function. 

As mentioned earlier, HR is usually quite close to the top management/ owners, whose desire is to keep the staff under control. They push the HR & Admin to focus more on admin; HR work is compromised.

HR professionals are often bogged down by other administrative tasks such as payroll processing, data entry, and compliance paperwork, leaving little time for strategic functions like workforce planning and employee development.

Lack of Strategic Alignment

In many organizations, HR is not seen as a strategic partner but rather as an administrative function, which limits its involvement in shaping business strategy. HR is designed to play a key role in business planning and execution through talent acquisition, talent retention, performance management, employee engagement and development. However, if you ask one hundred HR managers about their role is business strategy and planning, most would give you a blank look, because they do not consider themselves part of the business effort.

Poor Employee Engagement and Communication

HR departments may struggle to engage with employees effectively, leading to low morale, poor communication, and high turnover rates. This is in part due to their tilt towards administrative tasks, and partly due to their own inability to understand the spirit of HR function. Communication is a universal deficiency, and HR staff is no exception.

Inadequate Training and Development Programs

Many organizations underinvest in employee development, which leads to a lack of skills, low employee satisfaction, and reduced competitiveness. HR departments, in their zeal to save on cost, either try to develop and deliver their own programs, or hire low-cost trainers. In both cases, the programs are poorly designed and poorly conducted. The employees feel frustrated rather than feeling fulfilled.

To be Concluded…

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, however, it happens unintentionally, I offer my sincere regrets.