Description
Human Resources professionals work with or within the human resources department. They make sure employees are working in a safe and pleasant work environment, assisting them with any job-related inquiries: recruitment, training, benefits and payroll, labour relations, and grievances management. They are also in charge of recruiting and hiring, as well as ensuring smooth transitions within the organization’s workforce.
HR professionals work as a bridge between employees and executives, as well as employees and benefit vendors. They are culture and brand ambassadors, meaning their main responsibility is to communicate the organization’s mission and values to external and internal audiences in a clear manner. They also report and analyze employee performance and feedback, in order to suggest ways to improve the organization’s culture.
Tasks Overview
HR professionals are usually responsible for the following:
- Handling and carrying out recruitment activities and new hire process.
- Training new employees and planning and carrying out development activities.
- Handling employee benefits, as well as managing and keeping track of the payroll.
- Maintaining and keeping track of employees’ records.
- Tracking employees’ performance.
- Managing labour relations.
- Managing and keeping track of grievances.
- Organizing and coordinating events.
- Carrying out data entry and maintenance.
- Administrating and tracking the assigned budget.
All professionals working in the Human Resources field usually share the same characteristics, which include, but are not limited to:
- Having a genuine love of people and desire to see them succeed.
- Having strong interpersonal and communication skills, including negotiation, conflict resolution, and relationship building skills.
- Being great at problem-solving, decision-making, and strategical/analytical thinking. Having great intuition and mature judgment.
- Being organized and detail-oriented.
- Being great at multitasking and prioritizing. Easily and efficiently managing a high volume, diverse workload.
- Being known as “yes people” with a “can-do attitude” and being great at motivating themselves and others.
- Being discreet and being trustworthy enough to handle sensitive and confidential information.
- Having a strong sense of initiative, flexibility, perseverance, and commitment.
- Being able to work independently, yet being great at team working and networking.
- Having strong computer skills and a thorough knowledge and understanding of current HR management, practices, employment standards, and federal and provincial legislation.
In Canada, an additional certification is available for HR professionals and is often required when applying for certain HR positions. The Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) designation ensures that HR professionals across the country all meet the same national standards of excellence in terms of HR management policies and practices.