In human resources, even the shadows have jobs. Ninjas I tell you.
I think human resources it’s kind of a nebulous idea when it comes to working in a business. Whether this is a small business or a gigantic corporation, human resources just seem to be this secret group of ninjas in the dark corner of the building. People that only pop up when something is going wrong. Or you only saw them one time when you were being hired or when you were leaving that company.
But what do they do really? I think, to up your awareness and the efficiency on things that get done in your business, you really need to understand how to champion human resources within your business and what that means for your daily duties. Here are a couple of ideas.
Number One: Hiring The Right Folks
This is one of HR’s main functions. And that is to put extra effort, research and backup into every person that gets hired for the position that they serve. So much money goes into getting people up to speed and trained an ready to do work in a business, that it really does cost a lot of resources to bring in new people, especially if they turn out to not to be the right choice. This is a very important factor when it comes to a return on the initial investment made in employees.
Number Two: Resolving Internal Business Conflicts
Let’s face it. Nobody likes conflicts and nobody likes conversations that are heated. HR is great for being a party that isn’t interested in an outcome either way, as long as it is in line with the company goals. When emotions are involved and it doesn’t seem like anything is going the right way, it’s time to go to the next level.
Hopefully, this means you management first, and you work thing through the appropriate chain; however, sometimes that is the part of the chain that you have the problem with. In these cases, it probable makes the most sense to go to human resources and they will help you with what your next step is and if you are really concerned they can help you anonymously. Consider that for you next conflict resolution efforts.
Number Three: Providing Guidance For Growth
Grow young one, grow. But stay under my position, please.
Depending on how involved your human resources team is in your company, you can actually work with them to figure out what it is you can do to get to the next level in your company. This is especially useful your management isn’t in the same group or career path that you are interested in.
You’re able to talk to a human resources representative about any path that’s available because they’ve hired people that are in those career paths and they have a generally good idea of what’s needed from high level to go down to the path that you’re interested in.
Human Resource or Bust!
To really understand how human resources fits within a business you need to know that their involvement hiring the right folks, resolving internal business conflicts and providing guidance for growth.
So don’t worry, they are not a whole bunch ninjas waiting to pounce on the next person that does something funky, they really are there to help you. If you’d like to bag deeper into this topic here is a great book on human resources that I highly recommend to you.