Role of HR | Changing perceptions of the role of HR

There is a perception in some organisations that employees are not entirely certain of what HR do day-to-day.

Some employees may even regard HR as a department you only report to if something bad has happened, and if HR are spending too much time behind the scenes and lacking in workplace-wide communication, it can be difficult to shift this perception.

There are three key approaches you can adopt to help change how the role of HR is viewed within your organisation.

1. Improving productivity

2. Improving company culture

3. Creating happiness at work

1. How to improve productivity in the workplace

The more productive your employees, the better your business outputs and bottom line. When productivity is low it can lead to demotivated staff, poor time management, and little morale which ultimately may contribute further to the negative perception of HR in an organisation.

To turn this perception around, and start improving productivity in your workplace, start by having more open communication between employees and their departments. By doing this, you’ll learn their motivations and challenges within their day to day roles, allowing you to better support them. For example, provide them with tools to better manage their time, role, and personal development through an integrated self-serve HR system. This not only gives employees the capacity to plan and control their day, but also allows HR teams to focus more on strategy and critical matters.

2. How to improve company culture

If your company culture facilitates employee engagement and retention, this can help change the way they view HR. It is also something that can help raise your profile among your industry’s competitive space and promote positive brand awareness, making your organisation a more desirable place to work; ensuring you attract the right talent for your roles. You can improve company culture by enabling remote working, this is an ideal way to make your employees feel trusted and empowered. Alternatively, organise social or team building events where employees can relax and have a good time together. Providing company benefits that align with your values will make employees feel part of a connected organisation. For example, offer a weekly fruit basket to promote health and wellbeing, or childcare vouchers for those juggling parenthood with their careers.

3. How to create happiness at work

Capturing valuable insights into how employees are feeling will enable your HR team to develop proactive strategies for creating happiness at work. By gathering people data through analytics and reports, you’ll be able to gauge how employees feel about certain aspects of the business. This will allow you to make more informed decisions that support employee retention and wellbeing.
Developing a positive and proactive company culture can help improve the levels of employee happiness within the workplace. When employees recognise that this has resulted from the efforts of the HR department, either through regular internal communications or one-to-one conversations, their perception will change, and they’ll start to feel happier and more engaged in the workplace.

All of this is enabled by the power of your people data

A HR software system can equip you with the valuable insights to understand your people data better. With dynamic self-service functionalities, your employees can feel empowered to learn and develop their skills and boost their confidence as a valuable member of the team. Data gathered from this will allow your HR team to harness this in the right way, building on one-to-one interactions with employees and ultimately helping them change their view of the HR department.

How do you choose the right HR software system? Read our latest guide to help you choose the right software with the tools and functionalities to help you to gather powerful data; and work towards changing the perception of HR and much more.