What Are HR Processes?

The human resources (HR) department is essential to any successful company’s operations. Much of its personnel’s job is to work with employees to ensure they reach their potential while guaranteeing the company has the right staff for its business goals. 

Human resources utilizes many processes that help HR leaders and employees achieve these goals. These processes create a structured system that allows employees’ needs to be met while increasing productivity. HR must implement these processes and balance thriving employees and a flourishing business. 

When HR processes are incorporated effectively, the company will run more smoothly and efficiently.

What Are Human Resource Processes?

Human resource processes are practices and methods that support employees throughout an organization. HR processes can improve employee well-being and productivity. These processes range from day-to-day tasks to long-term direction. 

While every employee requires a different approach, these processes create guidelines to manage people from when they apply for a company to when they move on (or move up). While HR processes are employee-oriented, they guarantee the company’s objectives are met.

How Do HR Processes Work?

HR processes require planning and refinement. Human resources must work with leadership to understand each department’s goals and create a framework for achieving these goals. While each process is an independent activity, they rely on each other, and sometimes, one process must come before another.

For example, it’s difficult to properly assess an employee’s performance when the training process wasn’t effectively delivered. As a company grows, these processes become more complex and reliant on each other but also more streamlined and efficient. Routinely revisiting processes and receiving employee feedback can improve their effectiveness in meeting a company’s goals.

Why Should HR Leaders Care About HR Processes?

HR processes keep a company up-to-date on the best practices to utilize. The workplace culture is constantly changing, so the way HR processes work isn’t always set in stone. Human resources works to find new ways for a company to thrive as the workforce shifts. HR processes give a company an idea of how much staff they need, how to keep employees satisfied, what type of training to implement, and how to manage payroll. 

Understanding these processes yields many benefits, including improved work environments, accuracy, productivity, engagement, and employee retention. These benefits lead to company growth, efficient operations, and a reputable identity.

What Are the Core HR Processes?

Human resources serve many functions in a business, with some being more crucial than others. Core HR processes are integral to an employee and company’s success. These processes include:

Recruitment

When a company wants to add new talent, human resources find qualified personnel to fill open positions, otherwise known as recruitment. HR handles recruitment by creating job posts, conducting interviews, and running background checks. They review each application thoroughly and assess their options to find the right person for the job.

Onboarding

New hires need to adapt to their new work environment. The onboarding process gives new hires an understanding of their role, expectations, and the workplace, and may include introductions to coworkers or a tour of the office. Human resources must ensure employees feel welcome and excited to join the company by providing them with the resources and tools needed to succeed.

Training

The training process provides employees with the knowledge needed to complete their tasks and fulfill their roles at a company. This process can include computer-based or on-the-job training. Training doesn’t only occur at the beginning of an employee’s life cycle but throughout their entire career. 

Employees will need to learn new skills to make their work more efficient, or they may be required to retake basic training as a refresher. Employees who know what they are doing boost their confidence and increase productivity.

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation and benefits are crucial factors in employee satisfaction and retention. This process involves salary calculations, health insurance, and retirement planning. Employees need to feel supported by the company, and ensuring that their health and well-being are secure is crucial to increasing employees’ desire to work there. 

Human resources also revisit this process after performance reviews or increased salary requests. They must work with the employee to find compensation that both the company and the employee are content with.

Performance Management

Employees are expected to understand their expectations for their work and behavior, and it’s the human resource department’s job to clarify these expectations. Performance management can include goal setting to give employees a benchmark for which to aim. These goals can vary with each employee and can change throughout their career. 

Evaluations are another aspect of performance management. HR personnel and the employee in question review and discuss employees’ performances, giving employees feedback on what they are doing well and what areas need improvement.

Employee Relations

Employee relations refers to the relationship between employees and the company. Throughout this process, human resources will answer questions, address complaints, and resolve conflicts to create a positive work environment. 

However, employee relations aren’t exclusive to negative topics; they involve offering flexible scheduling, rewarding high performance, and fostering social environments. Employee relations are essential to satisfying employees’ needs and valuing their voice.

Offboarding

Unlike onboarding, offboarding is the process of an employee leaving a company. Human resources will process final payments and may conduct exit interviews or seek feedback on what the company could improve upon. Ensuring a smooth transition for those leaving will maintain a positive work environment and a good relationship with former employees. 

A positive offboarding process with minimal disruption protects the company’s reputation as a good workplace.

What’s the Difference Between HR Processes & HR Systems?

HR systems are made up of interconnected HR processes. For example, end-to-end processes rely on each other to uphold an effective HR system. End-to-end HR processes occur as part of an employee’s professional life cycle. These processes guide employees throughout onboarding, performance management, and advancement or offboarding. 

When these processes are efficient and work well, a system is created that helps keep employees happy, determine how they can improve, or decide if they’re a good fit for the company.

What Are the Benefits of Automating HR Processes?

Human resources face many challenges in fulfilling their roles. While HR processes are crucial to managing these challenges, they can sometimes prove ineffective. Automation can greatly improve the effectiveness of HR processes with the following benefits:

• Increased productivity: Automation removes many menial tasks like data entry or scheduling. When less time is spent on tedious tasks, more time is available for the work, which makes a difference. Human resources can tend to employees and explore ways to increase productivity instead of handling paperwork.
• Enhanced organization: Organization is crucial in human resources. Tracking time-off requests, onboarding and offboarding, and employee relations are essential to meeting deadlines and planning projects. Automation dramatically increases the level of organization in HR processes. Human resources can see everyone’s schedules and information instead of rifling through files to plan a workweek.
• Employee-focused: Automation significantly decreases the amount of paperwork needed to fill out. When less time is spent on filling out forms, more time is available to take care of people. HR automation software can also be used to seek employee feedback and find ways to improve operations. It can gather data on where employees are happiest and where they could use support.
• Recruitment: Human resources look through hundreds of job applications to find the right person to fill a position. This type of reviewing and analyzing takes a lot of time and mental effort. Automating the recruitment process allows human resources to keep track of applicant information and top candidates. Automation software highlights helpful information and allows easy scheduling with potential hires.
• Employee retention: Automation removes repetitive and mindless tasks and allows more time to address employees’ well-being and concerns. When employees feel more fulfilled and looked after by their leaders, they are more keen to stay with the company. Automation also allows employees to access HR services without contacting HR directly. Easier access to human resources means quicker response times and resolutions.
• Compliance: HR compliance means adhering to local, state, and federal laws and regulations. Human resources must ensure that labor mandates are followed to avoid legal repercussions and promote a fair and respectful work environment. Automation allows HR to stay up-to-date with labor laws and remain compliant by completing the necessary paperwork and developing compliant contracts.
• Efficient planning: Human resources use workplace planning to ensure the business has the right people for the job and the correct number of people. Automation helps HR evaluate their needs and provides insights on how to grow. Automation softer gathers data that can be used to assess weaknesses and promote effective practices.
• Increased accuracy: Automation implementation can vastly reduce human error. Filling out mounds of paperwork by hand invites all kinds of mistakes, especially with the added fatigue of repetitive motions. Automation improves the accuracy of data entry and logs data more efficiently. This simplification of data entry reduces future complications from inputting incorrect numbers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can HR Processes Improve Employee Retention?

Yes, HR processes greatly influence employees’ career decisions and affect employee retention. Processes like onboarding, benefits, and employee relations improve employees’ well-being and desire to work at a company. Understanding employees’ workplace goals and working with them to fulfill them increases employee satisfaction and makes them more likely to stay.

Can HR Processes Improve Productivity?

Yes, when HR processes are streamlined and operating efficiently, there is a better understanding of roles and more time efficiently dedicated to vital tasks. Additionally, HR processes ensure that employees’ needs are met and relations between team members are strong. Productivity increases when employees are satisfied and comprehend their roles.

Final Thoughts

HR processes are the driving force of a company. They determine the best employees for the company, how they adjust to the workplace, and how productive they are. HR processes are continuously tweaked and updated to implement the most effective practices. By receiving feedback and suggestions from the subjects of HR processes, HR gains a better understanding of what works and what needs to be changed. 

HR processes improve accuracy, reduce workload, increase productivity, and strengthen employee relations, but human resources can always be improved through automation and innovation. Consider ScoutLogic to simplify your company’s recruitment process. Our quick and comprehensive background check services produce efficient screenings so new hires can acclimate to your business without a hitch.

David Garcia

David Garcia, co-founder and CEO of Scout Logic, is an industry leader in the bulk background check world. With his strategic acumen and expertise in the HR sphere, specifically in hiring, recruiting, legal compliance, background checks, and resume screening, he’s an invaluable asset and consultant.

David's counsel extends across the boards of ScoutLogic, YipitData, and Supplier.io, drawing from his impactful stints on the boards of Infutor and Avetta. With an extensive 25-year journey, he champions unparalleled B2B commercial leadership within data & analytics, significantly shaping the HR landscape.