A day in the life of a human resources manager

In today’s work settings, employees value feeling connected to their employer’s top management. Work can be more rewarding if employees know that their efforts directly serve a purpose and help accomplish the company’s goals.

Human resources managers are the hard-working individuals who forge relationships between staff members at all levels in large and small companies, alike. Depending on a particular corporation’s business goals, and the size of the organization, human resources professionals have a wide range of responsibilities. These job duties can be organized into a few categories:

1. Employment and placement:
• Recruiting, screening, interviewing and hiring new staff
• Maintaining contacts within the community and traveling to find job applicants
• Checking references and extending job offers
• Explaining the company’s wages, working conditions, benefits and opportunities for promotion to candidates
• Understanding Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action guidelines and laws

2. Compensation, benefits and job analysis:
• Conducting compensation programs for employers
• Collecting information about specific job duties to prepare job descriptions explaining what each position requires (for example, educational requirements or personal skills)
• Deciding fair compensation based on these job descriptions
• Managing a company’s benefits plan, especially health insurance, pension plans, 401(k) and stock ownership plans

3. Training and development:
• Conducting classes or training sessions on-site or off-site for company employees
• Preparing the discussion topics and involving employees in the lessons
• Conducting training programs for technological changes that will take place within the company

4. Employee relations:
• Forming a company’s labor policies
• Handling employee complaints
• Negotiating with unionized employees
• Finding resolutions to conflicts while avoiding litigation or strikes