What is Your Role within HR? (IT job, employee, analysis, reputation)

[cayennev8]

A lot of misinformation about what HR does and does not do by people who have never worked in HR. And let's not forget that HR, like any other business line, spreads out like a tree into several different arenas, there is no scientific equation. A company might have 1 HR person or it may have thousands and everyone wears a different hat.
I am curious what you do in your organization and how large it is?
I know what I do and don't do and can tell you I don't, hire, fire, process payroll, benefits, discipline employees or make salary decisions although I consult on all of these, which takes about 3% of my day. The other 97% consists of addressing lawsuits, workplace grievances, data analysis, risk reviews, compensation reviews, executive evaluations, employee engagement planning and measurement, create and manager better internal development opportunities for employees, committees, incentive oversight and renewal, annual merit and performance consultation, constructively provide feedback for better leadership practices, ensure consistent interpretation of programs and policies etc... etc...

When I see job posting for "HR Managers" or "HR Directors" and read the job posting that requires "the processing a new hire paperwork", "facilitating New Employee Orientation", and "submitting bi-weekly payroll", it sends chills down my spine that this just continues to maintain the perception that entry level "HR" individuals are considered real HR Professionals when they are really Administrative Assistant with HR titles.

So I'm interested, what do you do and how do you influence your organization for the greater good?

We may even find some folks that decide they want to be in HR, but from my mentoring experience, it usually turns people off because it's more about business acumen than "being a people person".

[joe from dayton]

You've done gone and done it now; this board is full of HR haters.

[complady]

I work in HR in Compensation. My role involves setting pay ranges for our jobs that are competitive with the local market, writing/revising job descriptions, designing/administering our bonus programs, counseling managers and HR business partners on compensation matters. I supply our recruiters with pay ranges for open positions as well and manage the performance review process. Just a few of the things I do in my current position.

I think the type of HR people tend to dislike are the ones dealing with employee relations issues - which I am not involved with at all or very little. I agree that HR is on the side of management, but they have to appear to care and listen to the employee and their grievances. There are always 2 sides to a story but a lot of HR just automatically side with management - whether they are right or wrong. Also, many companies have a role called HR business partner which are supposed to represent a certain area of the business, usually by functional areas. In some cases I feel like the business partners interfere (advising on pay concerns that I should be involved with) and they hardly ever make it a point to copy me on emails or bring me into the conversation as the subject matter expert. This is annoying! Especially because I am told I need to bring the business partner into any requests I get.

I understand why people might dislike HR but I don't think it is fair to lump us all into the same bucket. The "specialists" (Compensation, Benefits, HRIS, etc.) are actually pretty knowledgeable and work quite differently from the generalists/business partners.

[Jebs87]

Don't work in HR per se, however I am a CPA working as an executive compensation and benefits consultant that often interacts with HR. I can attest that HR is a very broad field.

[cayennev8]

Complady - This is really fascinating, we also have compensation but as opposed to you, they do not EVER interface with the end user and instead use HRBP's as the go between. In their defense, they create robust compensation analysis, salary ranges and pay bands and then turn it over to the HRBP to guide the business unit. They on occasion audit job codes and any exempt position low on the salary grid, but it is the HRBP who constantly audits compensation and performance to ensure staff are being competitively compensated. This just goes to show that it all depends on your organization.

As for HR being on the side management, in my world I would have to disagree. I also disagree that there are 2 sides to every story. I have learned in dealing with very simple to extremely complex employee relations issues there are 8 sides to every story (employee, manager, customer, employee peer, manager peer, business unit peer, HR and company philosophy/policy). HR is not around to support the manager or the employee, we are around to support, interpret and help navigate the goals of the organization. If the organization has a "burn em and churn em" philosophy then HR has their hands tied but if the organization is concerned about their reputation and has an employee centric notion that employees are assets, then the focus is heavily weighed on making good, solid sound decisions based on facts that are thoroughly vetted.

I'd still ove to hear more.