12 Insightful Leaders Tell You Why an HR Team is Important
Your organization has its share of operations and processes, each one contributing to the productivity of your company and proving its relevance to your brand’s success, each day, every day. Their contribution to every inch of growth is right there on paper in the form of numbers, and there’s no denying that each one of these departments are crucial to the stability of your company.
Using the same parameters, however, it would be difficult to put down on paper the contributions of your HR team, especially in terms of numbers. Yes, you have your recruiting numbers. Yes, you have your engagement targets. And how can we even forget the all-important retention figures to round up an HR team’s efforts. But do these numbers truly tell us of the many roles an HR team plays in your organization? Do they even come close to the overall efforts that an HR team puts into the daily workings of your company?
They really don’t.
To let you in on why an HR team is important to every organization big and small, even if it’s a one-person team, we bring to you 12 insights from leaders who know just why an HR engine is a crucial addition to your company’s operations. Some of these insights are detailed, some succinct, but each of them drive home the point we all know only too well — an HR team is indeed the glue that holds it all together.
Concertmaster to the Organizational Symphony
We can think of a small or mid-sized business as a beautifully conducted symphony of well-trained musicians. A successful small business with well-oiled operations and processes can produce great customer results, just like a symphony of 20-30 musicians can create beautiful music for its listeners.
While there are many parts, instruments, and musicians in the symphony, there is only one conductor and only one concertmaster. It’s easy to see the conductor as the CEO, leading the entire orchestra (organization) through the symphony. But who is the concertmaster, and what role does she play?
The concertmaster is the “first chair” in the violin section and is the chief intermediary between the conductor and the musicians. Not only does she need to be an expert in the symphony itself, but she must also be an expert in the skills and capabilities of her musicians. Without the CEO, there is no vision, and without people, there is no one to execute that mission.
A successful small business with well-oiled operations and processes can produce great customer results, just like a symphony of 20-30 musicians can create beautiful music for its listeners.
Greg Sloan
Chief Purpose Officer & Co-Founder, GoBeyond
Without an HR leader, no one is serving the CEO to get the right people in the right seats playing their roles at the right time. Smart CEOs know this and often see their HR partner as their right-hand person, particularly when they are a one-person HR team.
Greg Sloan – Chief Purpose Officer & Co-Founder, Go Beyond
Change Management Gurus
Workplaces are in a constant state of change. HR functions are the backdrop to maintain calm in chaos as everyone adjusts to new regulations and schedules. They can be the source of reason and support through change management.
Steve Saville – President, SkillGigs, Inc
People Strategy
The HR team is super important as it’s the team that provides the People Strategy – not just defining the strategy but implementing it as well. Without attracting and recruiting the appropriate talent and motivating and developing them, a business could never reach its business goals.
Companies are made of People, and if companies don’t have the right people performing at their best, they will fail. The HR team is responsible for ensuring the strategies and tools are in place to allow people to perform at their best. This is why HR is fundamental to any business.
Lorena Perez – Chief People Officer, Novakid
Compliance, Recruitment and Retention, Handling Communication and Conflict, Policymaking
An HR team ensures that your company complies with all employment laws. Having a dedicated HR team ensures that your company is up-to-date on all employment laws and regulations. This includes things like equal employment opportunity, wage and hour laws, and health and safety regulations.
An HR team can help you attract and retain the best employees. A good HR team will work to recruit the best talent for your company. They will also work to create a positive work environment that employees want to be a part of. This can help you reduce turnover and save money in the long.
An HR team can help you develop policies and procedures that encourage open communication between employees and management. They can also help you resolve conflict before it escalates and becomes a bigger problem.
Michelle Hague
HR Manager, Solar Panels Network USA
An HR team can help you improve communication and resolve conflict. Good communication is essential for any business. An HR team can help you develop policies and procedures that encourage open communication between employees and management. They can also help you resolve conflict before it escalates and becomes a bigger problem.
They also help to create and enforce policies that keep your employees safe and productive. This includes things like developing anti-harassment policies, creating drug-free workplace policies, and setting up safety procedures.
Michelle Hague – HR Manager, Solar Panels Network USA
Crucial Component of a Growing Workplace
Human Resources is often considered one of the essential components of an organization, and for a good reason. This definitely applies to us at Cullen Jewellery. In the day-to-day operations of our business, people are the single most important asset.
It is the responsibility of Human Resources to ensure that employees are hired and managed in a way that maximizes their potential and contributes to the overall success of the organization. From developing and implementing policies and procedures to managing payroll and benefits, Human Resources plays a vital role in keeping an organization running smoothly, especially when the organization is growing fast as we are.
In addition, Human Resources is often the first point of contact for employees with questions or concerns, making it an essential part of maintaining a positive workplace culture.
Jordan Cullen – Founder & Director, Cullen Jewellery
The Heart of an Organization
If you were to personify a company, HR is the heart. The human resources department is connected, or should be connected, to every other part of the organization. HR is also the lifeblood, creating and supporting healthy company culture. In practical terms, HR supports all of the people that make an organization possible. Payroll? Check. Benefits? Check. Employee happiness? Check. If you don’t have a strong HR department, you may just be in trouble!
Michael Alexis – CEO, TeamBuilding
The Two-pronged Approach – HR and Recruitment
Working as a team and working alone are two topics that have long been debated. When it comes to HR, I believe that teamwork is important here. This includes support, brainstorming, and joint meetings.
In our company, we have two Human Resources departments – recruitment and HR itself. Recruitment is a hiring specialty that involves finding “future” employees with the help of job platforms, initial meetings, and guiding the candidate through the process of getting to the top, inside the companyMic
Working as a team and working alone are two topics that have long been debated. When it comes to HR, I believe that teamwork is important here. This includes support, brainstorming, and joint meetings.
Julia Voloshchenko
PR Manager, Usetech
HR, on the other hand, solves the internal human resources issue. As a rule, the tasks of such a specialist are focused on issues of employee retention in the company and specialist development.
If all functions are concentrated in one person, efficiency will suffer. Therefore, it will be better to work together as a team. It is also handy when someone goes on holiday, and you can hand over tasks to a colleague.
Julia Voloshchenko – PR Manager, Usetech
Process, Interface, and Psychological Safety
Human resources (HR) is an important department in any organization. Even if it’s just one person doing the job, there are at least three reasons why an HR team is key:
First, it deals with processes. At its core functional level, human resources departments often deal with policies and procedures that help the organization run smoothly. For example, they may oversee the hiring process so that applicants are screened properly and then hired by the right people for the right positions.
Second, it serves as the interface between management’s requests and the team’s needs. Human resources is also a communication hub between management and staff. It handles requests from management and relays them to staff members who need to act on them. These requests may be about scheduling or pay issues or anything else related to their jobs.
Third and most important, an HR team is a source of psychological safety because it’s responsible for protecting employees’ rights and interests and helping them address workplace issues that they might feel uncomfortable bringing up with their direct supervisors or anyone else. This not only creates an environment where employees feel safe speaking up about their needs and concerns but also fosters trust between management and employees — which is crucial for creating a work environment where people feel comfortable taking risks, experimenting with new ideas, and stepping outside of their comfort zones.
Edoardo Binda Zane – Founder, Emotional Intelligence Test
Workforce Engagement and More
A competent, adequately staffed, and properly funded HR department reflects that a company values its team. At the most basic level, an HR department is charged with maintaining compliance with legislation that protects employees and ensuring consistent application of company policy. These two functions make up the basic foundation of fairness within an organization.
It is well-documented that an engaged workforce delivers the best results, and the best way for a company to ensure the engagement of its workforce is to support its HR team so that they can lead the way!
Maureen Cawley
SVP, People, Saatva
With that sound foundation in place, companies can depend on their HR departments to drive continuous improvements in the employer value proposition. These improvements may include enhancing employee benefits to be more competitive in the market, providing training and development opportunities, or building a best-in-class talent acquisition function.
While all of these HR functions directly benefit employee experience, they also benefit the organization as a whole. It is well-documented that an engaged workforce delivers the best results, and the best way for a company to ensure the engagement of its workforce is to support its HR team so that they can lead the way!
Maureen Cawley – SVP, People, Saatva
Investing in Employee Well-being
An effective HR strategy is the only proven way to keep employees included, engaged, and fulfilled within their workplace. With efficient HR tools to effectively report misconduct, harassment, and discrimination, employees will never have to question their safety again. As a result, employee loyalty to their company increases, productivity increases, and both the employee and the employer are satisfied.
More than benefits and payroll, even if an HR department is a one-person team, it is an essential element to all company operations and processes. By investing in your employee’s well-being, you can build a great company, not just a good company.
Jared Pope – Founder & CEO, Work Shield
Competitive Advantage
A professional HR team creates a competitive advantage for any labor-intensive organization when well-led, constituted, and well-supported. That’s right, competitive advantage.
First things first, HR must be an amalgam of people who have a deep understanding of and commitment to the organization’s purpose or business. People who “do HR” but don’t understand the business are of little to no use to an organization.
Shortly after graduating from the University of Miami’s school of business, I found myself employed as the HR Manager of Genuine Parts Company’s Miami distribution center. Within a few weeks of starting, I had the occasion to meet briefly with one of the company’s EVPs who had flown in from HQ.
After listening to a summary of my initial priorities, he interrupted me with words to the effect that: You seem like a smart, nice fellow who will likely do well here, but I’m bothered that “you don’t know jacks*&t about this business.” Thud.
He asked for my business cards, and I quickly retrieved one from my shirt pocket. He asked me to produce the full box of cards which I did. He explained that he was taking them from me until such time as I had spent at least a month working the counter in some of our parts stores and done an equal amount of time in the cavernous warehouse, not ten yards from where we were sitting. “Then, and only then, do you get to be known as an HR professional.” That man did me a huge favor at a critical moment in my career, and I’ve never forgotten it.
HR “pros,” a word not taken lightly, helps secure, deploy, and sustain talent, the right talent, when and where needed. They see that the organization’s systems, methods, policies, and procedures support (and incentivize) people doing their best work every day. Frequently calling balls and strikes on people matters, HR pros are neither employee advocates nor manager adversaries or the other way around. They exist to provide tangible value to the business via its human assets because, in today’s economy, competitive advantage means that my people can out-hustle and out-execute yours.
Bill Catlette – Partner, Contented Cow Partners
Protect, Serve, and Support
An HR partner is critical to successfully leading and growing an organization. The role and responsibility of an HR business partner is much more complex than hiring and firing.
Robert H. Johnson Jr.
Founder, Principal, RHJ Consulting Group
In fact, a great HRBP helps business leaders make important people and organizational decisions. They are key to creating and sustaining a strong psychological and physically safe culture. HR Partners are what Robin is to Batman. They protect, serve, support, and are quite often the unsung heroes within an organization.
Robert H. Johnson Jr. – Founder, Principal, RHJ Consulting Group
HR – The Engine that Drives Organizations
Each of these insights from industry leaders tells us the one thing that anyone who has ever worked in an organization knows only too well — no matter what its size, the HR department is indeed the engine that drives an organization.
Do you have a take on why an HR team is important, even if it’s a one-person team? Or is there another insight you’d like to share with readers across the globe?
Write to us at contribute@HRSpotlight.com, and our team will help you share your insights.