Adelina Karpenkova
What Is HR Operations? (+Responsibilities, Roles, Goals)
- Published: June 6, 2023
- Updated: February 12, 2024
In the ever-evolving world of human resources, the role of HR operations has become increasingly vital for organizations striving to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, and strategic alignment. HR operations encompass the processes, systems, and initiatives that support the management of an organization’s workforce, from recruitment and onboarding to employee engagement and performance management.
As businesses face mounting complexities in talent acquisition, workforce planning, and regulatory compliance, the need for streamlined and innovative HR operations has never been more crucial. This article explores the significance of HR operations in today’s dynamic business landscape, delving into its key functions, goals, and challenges.
What Is HR Operations?
HR operations refer to the range of activities and processes that support the day-to-day functioning of the human resources department. It encompasses the administrative and operational tasks involved in managing employees throughout their employment lifecycle.
HR operations typically include employee data management, payroll administration, benefits administration, HR policy development, compliance with employment laws, employee onboarding, employee relations, and HR system management. These activities ensure the smooth operation of HR functions, support organizational policies and procedures and contribute to the overall management of the workforce.
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Key Responsibilities of HR Operations
Here are the key responsibilities of HR operations.
1. Payroll and benefits administration
Both payroll and benefits administration are critical functions that directly impact employees’ financial well-being and job satisfaction. By focusing on system integration, compliance, data accuracy, employee self-service, and continuous improvement, HR operations ensure the effective administration of payroll and benefits.
2. Compliance
HR operations play a critical role in ensuring compliance by actively monitoring and implementing policies, procedures, and practices that align with legal and regulatory requirements. They stay up to date with evolving labor laws, employment regulations, and industry-specific guidelines to ensure that the organization adheres to all applicable regulations.
HR operations also conduct regular audits and assessments to identify areas of non-compliance, mitigate risks, and implement corrective actions. By providing training, disseminating relevant information, and maintaining accurate records, HR operations ensure that employees and managers are aware of their responsibilities and follow compliant practices, thus safeguarding the organization from legal and financial risks.
3. Workforce planning and recruitment
Strategic workforce planning is the act of analyzing internal talent gaps and planning recruitment initiatives to help the organization meet its short- and long-term goals.
Alongside identifying staffing needs, HR Ops also handle the entire recruitment process, including sourcing candidates, screening resumes, conducting interviews, and facilitating the hiring process.
4. Onboarding
Employee onboarding is the process of introducing a new hire to the organization and their role there.
Creating a standard onboarding process is critical to the HR Ops’ to-do list. This area often lacks consistency and therefore requires special attention from operations managers.
Here’s how Mike Zlatov, Technical Support Supervisor at Serpstat, explains the company’s onboarding process:
“We strive to integrate new employees into the company fully during onboarding. Therefore, we acquire employees with general rules and values, provide product training programs, and dive into job responsibilities. During the adaptation period, employees are assigned two mentors: a product and a functional specialist, who help with all the challenging moments. Product training consists of theoretical materials and live meetings with a mentor to discuss the Serpstat and related topics. The final knowledge assessment may include a meeting with the team leader, CEO, or founder.”
With so many tasks on the HR rep’s plate, developing a consistent onboarding process is challenging. HR Ops enable onboarding by creating a centralized system for employee documentation, mapping out training plans for each role, and automating the process wherever possible.
5. Employee retention
Sixty-one percent of employees are considering switching jobs at the moment. HR operations work toward reducing this number by establishing a solid employee retention strategy.
They outline company policies and programs that help foster employee engagement and reduce employee turnover. These may include a fair compensation strategy, employee recognition programs, flexible work arrangements, etc.
6. HR tech support
HR operations are responsible for implementing and maintaining HR software systems that streamline HR processes, such as HRIS (Human Resources Information System), applicant tracking systems, performance management platforms, and employee self-service portals.
7. Workplace safety
HR operations play a vital role in ensuring workplace safety and maintaining a healthy and secure work environment. They develop workplace safety policies and procedures, conduct safety training, establish procedures for reporting workplace incidents, and take any other necessary steps to support employee well-being.
8. Employee development
Supporting employee learning and development also falls under the responsibilities of HR operations. They’re involved in the processes of designing and maintaining employee training programs, implementing learning management systems (LMS), establishing a performance management process, and creating career development opportunities for each employee.
9. Offboarding
Seventy-six percent of IT leaders agree offboarding is a significant security threat to organizations. If done wrong, it leads to both accidental and malicious data breaches.
Providing a smooth and consistent offboarding experience is no less important than streamlining the onboarding process. HR ops handle administrative tasks like notifying IT, arranging final payments, recovering company assets, preparing necessary offboarding paperwork, and succession planning.
On top of that, it’s a way to maintain positive relationships with ex-employees and strengthen brand reputation. To achieve these objectives, HR Ops hold exit interviews and share feedback, sticking to an established framework.
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Goals of HR Operations Teams
Here are a few significant goals HR operations help you achieve.
1. Build a sustainable organization
The primary objective of HR operations is to create sustainable HR processes. By implementing effective workforce planning and talent management strategies, HR Ops contribute to the long-term success and stability of the organization.
HR operations implement the latest HR best practices to enhance the efficiency of HR processes. For instance, by replacing manual tasks with automation technology, HR operations reduce the HR team’s workload and establish sustainable, replicable workflows that deliver consistent outcomes.
2. Improve employee relations
Establishing fair and consistent HR policies and procedures — which is one of the main tasks of HR operations — helps build strong relationships between employees and the organization.
For instance, by designing a framework for collecting employee feedback and acting on it, HR operations foster a culture of appreciation, motivation, and positive employee relations.
3. Shapes company culture
HR operations work closely with leadership to align HR processes with the organization’s core values.
It all starts with recruiting and onboarding. HR Ops develop a consistent hiring strategy that aims at selecting candidates who fit the desired culture. The onboarding process then introduces new employees to the company’s culture, values, and expectations.
All the subsequent initiatives, including employee development, performance management, and payroll management, are also designed in a way to reinforce company culture.
4. Boost employee productivity
HR operations strive to drive continuous employee development, thus empowering the workforce to perform better in their roles and reach their goals faster.
Furthermore, HR operations are unspoken guardians of employee well-being. By promoting wellness programs, flexible work arrangements, and access to health benefits, they contribute to a physically and mentally healthy work environment, leading to increased productivity and better job performance.
5. Drive employee advancement
HR operations drive employee advancement by implementing and managing various talent development and performance management programs. They work closely with managers and employees to identify skill gaps and development needs and design training initiatives, mentorship programs, and career development pathways.
HR operations also oversee performance management processes, including goal setting, performance evaluations, and feedback mechanisms, which provide employees with clear expectations and opportunities for growth. By promoting a culture of continuous learning and development, HR operations empower employees to enhance their skills, advance in their careers, and reach their full potential within the organization.
6. Increase employee retention
HR operations play a crucial role in improving employee retention by implementing effective strategies and initiatives. They work to create a positive work environment by fostering a culture of open communication, recognizing and rewarding employee contributions, and promoting work-life balance.
HR operations also conduct regular employee engagement surveys to assess satisfaction levels and identify areas for improvement. They collaborate with managers to provide ongoing support and career development opportunities, ensuring employees feel valued and have opportunities for growth within the organization. Additionally, HR operations analyze retention data, such as turnover rates and exit interviews, to identify trends and address underlying issues that may impact employee retention. By prioritizing employee well-being, professional growth, and engagement, HR operations contribute to a higher level of job satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately enhancing employee retention.
7. Improve cost management
HR operations are responsible for optimizing the recruitment and selection processes. By shortening lengthy hiring cycles, they help to reduce recruitment costs.
Furthermore, HR operations actively participate in cost analysis and budget planning. They collaborate with finance teams to monitor HR-related expenses, analyze cost drivers, and identify areas where they can implement cost-saving measures.
8. Foster change
Fifty-three percent of HR leaders are prioritizing change management this year.
HR operations enable change management by facilitating effective communication, coordination, and implementation of organizational changes. They play a central role in developing change management strategies, creating communication plans, and identifying stakeholders impacted by the change.
HR operations collaborate with leaders and managers to provide training and support to employees, ensuring they have the necessary skills and knowledge to adapt to new processes or systems. They also help manage resistance to change by addressing concerns, providing transparency, and facilitating open dialogue. By overseeing the change process, HR operations help mitigate disruption, minimize employee anxiety, and create a smoother transition, enabling the organization to embrace and navigate change successfully.
Key Responsibilities of HR Operations
From managing complex HR processes and staying on top of ever-changing legal regulations to handling data privacy and security, HR operations teams got their hands full.
Here are some of the most pressing challenges HR Ops deal with in their daily work.
1. HR technology adoption
Since the primary goal of HR Ops is improving process efficiency, they can’t do without technology. They need to implement HR systems to automate repetitive processes, centralize HR data, and make HR processes more transparent for everyone in the organization.
Simply investing in a sophisticated toolkit isn’t enough. People will stick to outdated processes unless you help them adopt the new ones. And here comes the first challenge — HR Ops need to drive HR technology adoption while trying to minimize disruption to HR processes and maintain a positive employee experience.
Aleksi Heinonen, Head of Finance and Operations at Swarmia, says their team has implemented a range of tools to manage HR operations successfully:
“We use BambooHR for everything from new-hire onboarding to managing timesheets, vacation days, and compensation. In addition to Bamboo, we use Notion for hosting our employee handbook and wiki, CultureAmp for running bi-annual employee satisfaction surveys, and Greenhouse for recruitment and application management.”
That being said, implementing new HR systems, such as applicant tracking software or performance management tools, requires time, resources, and training — all of which HR teams often lack.
Implementing digital adoption platforms help HR operations navigate HR technology and get up to speed quickly. Whatfix simplifies software adoption by embedding interactive step-by-step guides and tooltips right into your HR system. You can connect it to any tool in your tech stack and create custom training workflows and contextual self-help modules for any process; no coding skills required.
Unlock the full potential of your workforce with better training and support content, embedded directly in your enterprise apps.
2. Balancing strategic and administrative responsibilities
HR operations teams often have to balance strategic responsibilities, such as talent management and organizational development, with administrative tasks like data entry, record-keeping, and compliance reporting. Maintaining a balance between these responsibilities imposes a big challenge for HR Ops.
The problem can be addressed with the right technology and a proper prioritization strategy:
- Automate whatever you can. HR Ops should hand over repetitive administrative tasks, like record-keeping or data analytics, to HR technology.
- Use the data to improve HR processes. The more data you have, the easier it is to identify areas HR Ops should focus on.
- Collaborate and delegate. HR Ops have a lot of shared responsibilities with finance Ops, the IT department, and the leadership team. Sometimes the best way to free up time and focus on what matters most is by delegating some administrative processes to those teams.
3. Change management
While change management is a top priority for most HR teams, the same report shows that 45% of HR leaders believe their employees are fatigued from all the change.
HR Ops should not only facilitate organizational restructuring or technological advancements but also find a way to address resistance to change. They need to develop a structured approach to change management, which typically looks like this:
- Assess the organization’s readiness to change. Before adopting new processes or tools, HR Ops need to fully describe the change, evaluate existing procedures, and collect initial feedback from employees through surveys and interviews.
- Identify resistance drivers. Employees exhibit resistance to change in response to various factors, such as fear of the unknown, perceived loss of control, lack of understanding, or skepticism about the benefits of the proposed changes. By identifying the particular factor behind employees’ unwillingness to embrace change, HR Ops can develop a relevant communication strategy.
- Assign change champions. Making a credible person responsible for driving change in every team or department will help to make the change management strategy more relatable for people in different roles.
- Provide training. Oftentimes, it’s the lack of knowledge and confidence that causes resistance to change. To help employees navigate transformation, HR Ops must develop a training program that provides guidance through the new way of working.
4. Hybrid work
The rise of hybrid workplace, where employees split their time between remote work and the office, brings a new set of challenges for HR operations.
Balancing the needs of remote and on-site employees, fostering collaboration and communication across different locations, and ensuring fair policies for all is quite a task. HR operations teams must navigate the complexities of hybrid work to maintain engagement and a sense of belonging among employees.
“One of the challenges we have encountered when adopting a hybrid model is keeping remote and hybrid workers engaged outside of an office environment. Building connections within the company has become increasingly important to meet our engagement goals. We do this through different initiatives, starting from pre-onboarding, where a new starter gets assigned a buddy who can help them navigate the new environment and make introductions.” shared Justine Van den Mooter, Talent & Experience Partner at Qwilr.
They continued, “For our longer-term folks, we notice that different people are attracted to different forms of building connections, and we try to cater to most of that. We provide remote travel budgets to meet up regionally or visit the HQ in Sydney, as well as virtual coffee connections, trivia games, and online games, and we have a shoutout channel on Slack to recognize our peers for a job well done! All these efforts have led to a 14% increase in employee satisfaction when it comes to remote/hybrid work, as per our most recent employee engagement survey.”
Adopt New HR processes and Technology With Whatfix’s In-App Training
Enable your HR Ops to make the most of your HR systems with in-app training powered by digital adoption platforms. DAPs empower HR operations by streamlining training, improving user adoption, providing real-time support, offering analytics, and aiding in change management. By leveraging these platforms, HR operations can enhance the digital experience for employees, optimize HR processes, and maximize the effectiveness of HR technology within the organization.
To learn more about Whatfix, schedule a free demo with us today!
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