Human Resource Management: How it Works, Main Objectives, and HR Technology

Human Resources is a broad term applied to the department within an organization that is responsible for the management of employees as assets of the business—sometimes referred to as human capital. Just like any other business asset, the goal is to maximize the effectiveness of employees, while  reducing risk and maximizing return on investment (ROI).

What is Human Resource Management?

Human Resource Management (HRM)—also known as Human capital Management (HCM)—includes the hiring, development, and administration of employees. HRM is responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing various policies governing workers and the relationship of the organization with its employees.

Your employees are one of your company’s biggest resources, but they also require more types of ongoing support than material assets. Interpersonal conflicts, employee engagement and satisfaction, retention, and turnover are all commonly addressed by HR professionals. 

In a successful business strategy, HRM helps all employees reach their potential and work well together. A sports team is only as good as its players, and a business relies on its employees in much the same way. Sometimes, you might be able to recruit a few experienced all-stars, but your company needs the right training and management to develop the whole team. 

How does human resource management work?

At the smallest companies, HR duties might be handled by the business owner or manager. With more than a few employees, it takes progressively more time and expertise to handle things like onboarding, benefits, compliance, and other issues. Medium sized and larger companies will hire additional HR personnel if not an entire department. 

Most tasks can be outsourced or automated with HR technology like HR software from Netchex. No matter the size of your company or HR department, the right software can make tedious tasks more efficient.

What’s the importance of human resource management?

You can’t have a winning team without taking care of your players, and the same principle applies to businesses. On a practical level, you’ll also need to comply with labor laws and protect your company from discrimination lawsuits. When you provide benefits for your workforce, they’ll need help understanding and accessing those services.

Human Resources Management can improve the overall health of the business in numerous ways throughout the employee lifecycle:

• Accurately handle payroll, including payroll taxes
• Manage all employee benefits, including enrollment and administration
• Recruit the most qualified applicants and onboard them effectively
• Provide training to close skill gaps and cross-train employees
• Improve your performance reviews and cultivate a performance-based work culture
• Improve the company culture and employee engagement 

What are the main objectives of human resource management?

Clearly, Human Resource Management includes a lot of multifaceted and overlapping components. One way to better understand HRM is to break down the categories of different types of objectives:

Organizational Objectives

Businesses must be efficient. HRM streamlines the hiring, onboarding, training, evaluation, and other employee processes. If HRM can reduce turnover and improve retention, then your company can reduce hiring expenses and training replacements. 

Functional Objectives

How well are internal resources allocated across the company? HRM priorities should be regularly re-evaluated with input from employee surveys, reviews, and exit interviews.

Just because you see an exciting new idea on the world’s best HR blog, that doesn’t mean it should be your company’s top priority right now.

Personal Objectives

One of the best ways to improve retention is to empower individual employees. Is your team looking for more opportunities to advance in their career?

Not everyone can move up the ladder to upper management positions, but everyone can continue to acquire new skills. A Learning Management System is a great outlet for employees to continue their professional growth without disrupting the current workflow.

Societal Objectives

Workplace discrimination is bad–and not just because it’s illegal. Injustice and unequal treatment creates a toxic work environment, undermining the hard work of employees. HR can promote diversity and inclusion, bringing a wider range of perspectives to the table.

How does HR technology make HR management easier?

Human Resources Management involves a lot of moving parts, and many of those moving parts are repetitive cycles. The right software makes a big difference.

In smaller companies, the same HR staff might have to wear several “hats.” Software makes it possible to automate some of the most tedious and time-consuming tasks. To save HR time, effort, and money, it is worth checking for more efficient HR technology solutions.

Payroll and Tax

HR technology enables you to pay employees faster, file taxes automatically, and ensure everything is accurate and on time. With flexible pay options, such as direct deposit and pay cards, you can help make payday even better for your employees.

Benefits Administration

Connect employees with the resources they need to access their benefits. Give your team self-service tools to manage their own options. Take care of COBRA Administration and ACA compliance without extra complications.

Time and Attendance

Track time and attendance with the same electronic system (or hardware clocks) that manages payroll, and you can avoid the human errors. 

Recruiting and Onboarding

With HR software, you can recruit more qualified candidates and minimize the repetitive paperwork that comes with onboarding. 

Performance Management

Makes assigning tasks and conducting performance reviews easier for employees and managers. Take actionable data to analyze results and implement change.

Learning Management

A Learning Management System can improve the company culture for on-site as well as remote employees. Training videos and resources are accessible 24/7 to new hires and long-term employees.

Reporting and Analytics

Automate reporting and employee evaluations to keep a more balanced and detailed record of all things HR needs to improve processes and run the company.

Check out the range of solutions available with Netchex to learn more about our advanced HR technology.

For more information on HR topics, read our HR blog and follow Netchex on social media—Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.