At its core, human resources is all about people. It’s the department within a company that’s responsible for attracting, hiring, and developing talent. Human resources is also responsible for managing payroll and employee benefits, as well as enforcing company policies. Despite its crucial role within an organization, there are still a lot of misconceptions about what human resources actually does. In this blog post, we’ll dispel eight of the most common myths about human resources.
Myth #1: Human Resources Is Only There to Hire People
One of the most common misconceptions about human resources is that its only function is to hire people. While recruiting falls under the human resources purview, that’s not all that the department does. As we mentioned before, human resources is also responsible for managing payroll and employee benefits, as well as enforcing company policies. In other words, human resources play a crucial role in both attracting and retaining top talent.
Myth #2: Anyone Can Do HR
Just because human resources is charged with managing people doesn’t mean that just anyone can do it. In fact, human resources is a highly specialized field that requires both formal education and on-the-job experience. The best human resources professionals have a deep understanding of psychology, labor laws, payroll management and computation, as well as conflict resolution—all of which are necessary to be successful in the role.
Myth #3: HR Is Always on the Business Owner’s Side
Another common myth about human resources is that the department always takes the side of the business owner—even if that means siding against employees. This simply isn’t true. Yes, it’s important for human resources to maintain a good working relationship with the business owner or CEO. However, it’s just as important for human resources to be an advocate for employees. After all, happy employees are more productive employees.
Myth #4: All HR Decisions Are Made at Head Office
With the rise of remote work, more and more businesses are decentralized—which means that decisions can’t just be made at head office anymore. These days, it’s essential for human resources to have a presence in every office or location where employees work. This way, they can build relationships with employees and get a better sense of what’s happening on the ground.
Myth #5: Employees Hate HR
Another myth we’ll dispel is that employees hate human resources. While it’s true that some employees may view human resources as the “fun police,” this isn’t always the case. In fact, many employees see their HR team as a valuable resource—someone they can go to with questions about their benefits or their career development. When managed correctly, your HR team should be one of your biggest assets when it comes to attracting and retaining top talent.
Myth #6 All you need to do to get a job in HR is have people skills.
If you’re thinking of pursuing a career in HR, you may have heard that all you need are strong people skills and a friendly personality. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t true. While people skills are certainly important for anyone working in HR, candidates for open positions also need to possess other qualities, such as analytical skills, experience working with Excel and other data-analysis software, and experience handling sensitive information confidentially.
Myth #7 The only time you need to worry about HR is when something goes wrong.
Many people believe that they only need to interact with their company’s HR department when something goes wrong at work, such as getting into a dispute with a coworker or manager or experiencing some type of harassment or discrimination. However, HR should be viewed as a resource that employees can turn to any time they have questions or concerns about their job or their workplace environment.
Myth #8 Outsourcing your HR function can be very expensive and not worth the cost.
Some small businesses choose not to outsource their HR function because they believe it’s too expensive and not worth the cost. However, what these businesses fail to realize is that not having an expert HR consultant on their team, can actually end up costing them more money in the long run. This is because without an HR team in place to manage things like payroll and benefits administration, businesses are more likely to make mistakes that could result in costly penalties from government agencies. Additionally, businesses that don’t outsource HR to expert consultancies are more likely to experience high turnover rates due to a lack of policies and procedures being in place to address common workplace issues such as conflict resolution.
Human resources play crucial a role in any organization from attracting and retaining top talent to overseeing payroll and employee benefits. Yet despite this, there are still a lot of misconceptions about what HR actually does. This has led to many myths about human resources being created out there, hopefully, this blog post has helped dispel some of the most common ones! Remember, if you ever have any questions or concerns about your job or your workplace environment, don’t hesitate to reach out to your company’s HR department for assistance.
