HR Support is often seen as drafting employee handbooks and offer letters. Although the HR department certainly is responsible for policies and paperwork, its role extends far beyond just managing rules. In truth, HR professionals are dedicated to supporting employees throughout the life-cycle of their employment. Having skilled HR support on your team is critical to providing your employees with what they need to perform at their best.
What is Human Resources?
The role of the Human Resources department is to support all things people-related. This includes everything in the employee life-cycle, ranging from recruitment and onboarding to employee development and growth programs to offboarding them when an employee’s with the organization is ending. Additionally, HR assists with the opportunities and challenges that will always come up along the way in the day-to-day operation of your business
The Importance of Having HR Support
Strong HR support is essential for building a healthy work environment in which employees can perform at their best while also providing top-quality work for your organization. At Red Clover we provide customized HR support based on the needs of our clients, whether you are a start-up requiring HR support for a few hours a week or you need full HR interim management with a team of skilled consultants managing your HR function in its entirety.
5 Ways Human Resources Helps Employees
1. Provide Career Growth
Most employees want a long future with their company. However, if they begin to feel they are stagnant or do not have room for internal growth, they will likely look elsewhere. To retain and develop the talent you have, it is essential to provide a clear career path and development opportunities for your employees. This starts during the onboarding process when employees learn the scope of the job and receive any training necessary to get off to a successful start. Then you continue to offer ongoing training and development opportunities.
Despite your best efforts, if an employee leaves the company, it is important to the overall career growth health of the company to ensure a smooth offboarding, including an exit interview. The exit interview allows HR the opportunity to learn what drew an employee away from the company so that they can better grow and retain talent in the future.
When employees have the opportunity to learn, grow their skillset and potentially move up within the organization, they are motivated and driven to perform. Human Resources professionals can provide employees with learning and development opportunities and career laddering that will help them in their personal and professional growth.
2. Support and Train Managers
It’s a common adage that employees don’t leave their jobs, they leave their manager. HR professionals offer training and development programs to support and grow strong managers, developing their communication and interpersonal skills. At Red Clover, we offer our clients a DISC assessment. This assessment is based on observable behaviors. A team that knows and understands their DISC types can better communicate with each other and perform at their best as a team. Using DISC as a tool for management development helps managers leverage their own work style as well as those in their teams and prepares them to get the most out of their people.
3. Create a Positive Work Environment
Listen to employees and actively work to correct the issues and suggest ideas to improve the workplace and the employee experience. This can be formalized through annual employee surveys and exit interviews, while also gaining information through informal day-to-day conversations. It is key to listen to information employees share with an unbiased, open mind and actively work to correct any issues in the work environment. Sure, a disgruntled employee might share information that is skewed or not completely true, however, when there is a pattern of information it’s time to act.
HR Managers should collect employee feedback and synthesize the data in a way that does not identify specific employees and creates actionable items to improve the employee experience.
4. Support Health and Wellness
It’s important to remember that employees are human and that they perform at their best when their basic health and wellness needs are well supported. HR managers assist employees with understanding benefits including health insurance and other health and wellness-related benefits. This support ensures that employees both understand the benefits that they are receiving and are prepared to get the most out of them.
Beyond benefits, human resources also manage time away from the office- which is essential for employees to maintain their health and wellness. If your employees need help understanding your company leave policies, including vacation time, sick time, or other PTO, connect them with the manager!
5. Create Employee Policies
When Human Resources creates employee policies, it may not at first glance seem like the focus is on supporting employees. However, policies included in an HR handbook create a system where everyone is on equal footing and is treated fairly. Human Resources managers are responsible for making sure employees are aware of and have access to organizational policies. The HR department makes sure that these policies are in alignment with federal and state employment laws. Finally, Human Resources is responsible for addressing employee questions or concerns when they believe a policy isn’t being followed. If necessary HR works with managers to implement appropriate disciplinary actions.
Get the HR Support Your Employees Need
Human Resources is directly responsible for providing support for employees! Having strong HR support built into your team is essential to ensuring the success of your team and organization. Are you looking for help getting HR Support for your employees? At Red Clover, our Consultants are HR leaders who are ready to get you on track, whether your needs are big or small. Our process begins with an assessment of our clients and their employees’ needs. Contact us to begin the discussion!
