What Is the Role of the Personnel Department?
An organization’s personnel department handles a variety of critical functions that help meet the needs of business owners, managers and staff. Personnel departments hire and train employees, implement company policies and procedures, handle specific performance issues, determine employee salaries, ensure that fair labor laws are followed, terminate employees and much more.
Three of the primary functions of a personnel department are to recruit, hire and train new employees. The staff members in personnel departments must advertise new positions as they become available, interview qualified candidates and hire the best people for the job. Once hired, new employees must fill out payroll forms, healthcare packages, benefit packages and other paperwork, and this information is often kept on file in the personnel department.
Personnel departments also handle employee-relations issues. When there are misunderstandings or disputes between management and employees, staff members in the personnel department are often required to mediate the situation. They accept written complaints filed against employees, review them and determine the appropriate action to take.
Company training opportunities, tuition assistance, Workers’ Compensation, maternity leave requests and employee resignations are also handled through the personnel department. All of the duties handled by personnel staff are designed to ensure the business functions as successfully as possible.
