HR roles have evolved far beyond hiring tasks. Today, HR teams play a pivotal role in building competitive advantages by fostering engaged, high-performing workforces. To do this effectively, HR professionals rely on a wide range of interdependent functions, each designed to align people strategies with organizational goals.
An HR functions list outlines the full spectrum of HR activities, helping teams understand their responsibilities and prioritize their efforts. With a clear and structured list, HR can ensure their goals align with company objectives while creating a supportive and uplifting work environment.
Research from McKinsey reveals that organizations prioritizing positive team member experiences are 1.3 times more likely to outperform their peers. A comprehensive HR functions list empowers teams to manage and enhance every aspect of your people’s journeys from recruitment to retention.
This article explores the core elements of an HR functions list and how leveraging HR tech can help teams streamline operations and scale their impact.
What is an HR functions list?
An HR functions list is a guide that defines the core responsibilities of HR professionals, summarizes their priorities, and clarifies their mission. It helps:
- Specify the HR department’s role in the workplace
- Promote positive collaboration between HR professionals
- Align HR’s objectives with the company’s mission
The importance of having an HR functions list
HR staff fills a variety of dynamic roles that demand different skills. Consolidating the many HR functions into a list can encourage HR professionals to focus on their collective workplace purpose, especially amidst the continuous tech innovations challenging the status quo.
An HR functions list can help:
- Boost productivity and performance
- Promote internal HR teamwork
- Guide HR professionals toward achieving company goals
How can an HR functions list improve company culture?
The core functions of HR are interdependent. Assembling these functions into a list helps HR personnel focus on these essential, correlated goals. The HR functions list provides teams with a holistic perspective of HR disciplines, helping HR professionals progress on their career paths, fulfill their responsibilities, and support people to build a robust company culture.
Key HR functions
HR takes responsibility for structuring a competent workforce and nurturing a healthy company culture to gain a competitive edge. The following core HR functions contribute towards an engaged workforce and a well-operating company:
Recruitment and selection
A subcategory of talent acquisition, recruitment includes sourcing, interviewing, and hiring candidates. HR professionals use workforce planning so they can prepare to match suitable candidates to relevant open positions.
Training and development
People are a business’s most valuable asset. HR can invest in learning and development to help high-potential team members advance their careers even further, adding value to the company. Facilitating job-specific training and instruction on effective work habits encourages professional growth. Offering development programs can also reveal budding leaders and uncover people’s strengths and weaknesses.
Human resource planning
HR teams use resource planning to ensure their organization has the right people with the right skills at the right time. It’s an ongoing, data-driven process that helps organizations avoid shortages or surpluses. Resource planning involves identifying current and future hiring or training needs, addressing skill gaps, and implementing strategies for talent acquisition.
With proper resource planning, HR teams can streamline recruitment, performance management, training and development, succession planning, and workforce forecasting.
Career planning
Career planning (or career pathing) involves working with team members to set career goals, outlining actionable steps to achieve them, and identifying opportunities for development within the organization. It drives engagement and retention and enables HR managers to fill leadership positions with people who already understand the company culture, mission, and vision.
Career planning also offers many benefits to team members. It gives them a sense of purpose, direction, and a clear path to success if they stay with the company. People also gain opportunities to pivot to new roles and learn new skills, making them more agile and better prepared for future opportunities.
<<Use this free career path template to map your people’s careers.>>
HR management
Human resource management is the strategic method of promoting employee engagement and productivity to support an organization’s success. Through offering training, coaching, practical tools, and legal and administrative services, the HR department helps people effectively contribute to the company.
Risk management
Risk management involves protecting team members and the company by identifying, assessing, and sorting out short and long-term risks before they become a problem. HR teams manage common issues in areas like:
- Ethics and behavior
- Compliance and regulation
- Critical skills shortage
- Data security and insurance
- Intellectual property loss or violation
- Mergers and acquisition risks
To manage some of these risks, HR teams design and enforce policies that guide behavior, continuously work with IT to maintain data privacy and security, and organize regular cybersecurity training.
Audits and legal compliance
Understanding and following federal, state, and local employment laws protects team members, prevents penalties, and supports customer success. The Society for Human Resources (SHRM) reveals that many of the lawsuits organizations face stem from issues regarding hiring, discipline, or termination.
Common errors include:
- Inaccurate wage, hour, or time records
- Inadequate record retention
- Misclassification of exempt and nonexempt jobs
- Poorly maintained employee records
HR teams avoid these risks by maintaining compliant practices in compensation, benefits, employment transitions, and workplace policies. They also conduct regular audits and update organizational policies to reflect new regulations.
<<Keep your people and your organization safe with this HR compliance checklist.>>
Talent and performance management
HR professionals can help raise the bar on company-wide performance by engaging and involving their people in the performance review process. HR departments that nurture a positive company culture implement a continuous performance review system and encourage multi-directional feedback to help boost engagement and performance.
<<Download these free performance management templates.>>
Compensation and benefits
HR compensation managers can collaborate with finance leaders to develop competitive and budget-friendly compensation packages. Providing people with a handsome paycheck and competitive benefits is a fundamental component of revving up employee motivation. It can also help attract more top talent to the company.
Industrial relations
HR teams have the responsibility to cultivate and continue good working relationships with labor unions and other collectives. Maintaining an open dialogue with unions can help expedite conflict resolution. Should the economic climate deteriorate, positive relations with labor unions will make any discussions about adjusting compensation—or even layoffs—easier.
Health and safety
About 43 percent of employers say people ask about health and safety protocols during interviews. HR plays a vital role in creating and enforcing health and safety regulations around the office. From healthcare packages to fire drills and first aid, HR teams manage it all.
Policy development
HR managers establish and enforce clear guidelines for team member management. These policies create standards for:
- Attendance and leaves of absence
- Performance management
- Codes of conduct
- Anti-discrimination and harassment
Policy development is an ongoing process. HR teams frequently analyze existing policies, organizational challenges, and legal changes to determine areas where the organization needs updated or new policies.
Company culture
Company culture encompasses the shared values, norms, and attitudes that define an organization. HR teams actively shape and sustain this culture, ensuring core values are reflected throughout the team member’s journey—from onboarding to career development.
A strong culture enhances retention, boosts engagement, and fosters collaboration. Regularly assessing its impact and aligning it with business goals creates an environment where people thrive and innovation flourishes.
Team member wellbeing
The mindset and mental health of your people directly influence the productivity and overall performance of your organization. As such, HR departments are responsible for implementing programs that prioritize their team’s physical health and mental wellbeing. Employee wellbeing initiatives commonly involve one-on-one communications, employee assistance programs, and mental health awareness campaigns.
Team member rewards
Rewards tailored to people’s needs and preferences have the power to improve their performance. According to Gartner, HR teams can drive an 11.1 percent increase in performance by designing reward and recognition programs.
According to Gallup, team members find these recognition and reward methods highly impactful:
- Receiving an extremely positive evaluation regarding accomplishments
- Publicly acknowledging people through praise, an award, or a certificate
- Private acknowledgment from a boss, coworker, or customer
- Receiving a monetary award or compensation
- Earning a promotion, greater autonomy, or increased work responsibilities
Recognizing your people’s accomplishments is a simple, natural, and cost-effective way to enrich the work experience. Thanking them for their work nurtures employee-manager and peer relationships—building a unified, supportive work community.
Team member advocacy
HR teams serve as employee advocates and are responsible for ensuring everyone at the company treats each other with respect. Productivity and engagement depend upon people having access to information relevant to their roles and the ability to weigh in on policies and actions that affect them.
Administrative responsibility
Of course, HR teams are still responsible for the administrative duties traditionally handled by HR. Equipped with personnel procedures and HR platforms to automate HR processes and store people data, HR professionals oversee:
- Promotions
- Complaints
- Disciplinary actions
- Performance improvements
- Sick leave
- Regulations
- DEI&B initiatives
- Harassment training
- Bullying and more
- HR function evaluation
The relationship between HR department structure and functions
If an HR functions list serves as a guide to the core responsibilities of HR professionals, an HR department structure defines the infrastructural framework of an HR department. The department structure establishes whether or not to centralize or decentralize decision-making and helps leadership identify gaps in their operations.
HR department structures may follow various models:
- Hierarchical structure. A vertical structure based on seniority. In this model, communication moves from top to bottom.
- Goal-oriented structure. In this model, HR teams assign goals to individual departments from leadership. Each team can self-regulate, deciding their own strategies and measures.
- Shamrock model. HR teams delegate tasks to the most qualified, knowledgeable team members. This model can be ideal for smaller organizations.
- Networking and outsourcing model. HR departments often seek support from external sources like consultants, a model commonly used by organizations with a limited in-house HR team.
The latest developments and trends in HR functions
The last few years have burdened businesses with unprecedented challenges, from the COVID pandemic to global inflation and a skills shortage. To overcome these challenges, the workplace ventured into uncharted territories, redefining the human resource management industry in the process. One of the most critical additions to the list of HR functions involves the need to manage the adoption of remote and hybrid working models.
Other recent developments and trends in HR functions include:
- Change management. If our society has learned anything, it’s the importance of change management. This concept has rapidly gained momentum in business discourse. Change management refers to a preemptive, systematic process deployed to ease any change in an organization’s goals, processes, or technologies.
- Human leadership. Many HR leaders have labeled the evolution of HR functions post-pandemic as the “era of human leadership.” Data-driven HR analytics discovered a stark decline in engagement and a rise in burnout and turnover. In response, HR professionals are emphasizing the importance of empathetic, transparent, and adaptive leadership that prioritizes teamwork and collaboration.
- Metaverse. The metaverse workplace promises organizations a virtual reality environment—customizable and fully immersive—for people to convene and collaborate while working from anywhere in the world. With this technology, team members will be able to interact as digital avatars, which could combat the isolation felt by a workforce increasingly engaged in remote work.
- AI and machine learning (ML) integration: HR leaders leverage AI and ML-powered solutions to streamline operations and automate repetitive tasks like attendance tracking, record management, application screening, and onboarding. Tools like applicant tracking software (ATS) help craft job postings and accelerate candidate selection, while payroll automation simplifies payments. These efficiencies free HR professionals to focus on strategic initiatives that drive business growth.
- New recruitment strategies: HR leaders are adopting creative approaches to hiring, moving beyond traditional online job applications to actively engage candidates on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. Personalizing outreach messages and engaging with candidates through thoughtful content or conversations builds stronger connections, making it easier to attract high-quality professionals who align with the company’s culture and goals.
- People-focused strategies: Retaining and engaging team members remains a top priority for HR, especially with only one-third of people engaged at work and 51 percent actively job searching, according to Gallup. HR teams address this by prioritizing wellbeing alongside company goals. Regular surveys gather feedback to identify challenges, leading to initiatives like flexible work schedules, wellness programs, and continuous learning opportunities. These strategies foster a motivated and loyal team.
How HR tech can support the growing needs of HR functions
HR constantly evolves and changes, with advanced technology driving recent transformations. HR tech alleviates pressure on HR professionals, empowering them to make data-driven decisions through real-time insights and people analytics.
HR tech saves valuable time, by automating processes such as:
- Recruitment
- Onboarding and offboarding
- Compensation management
- Performance management
- Time and attendance
- Reporting
Focus your team’s tasks and goals with an HR functions list
HR teams are essential to building a productive, engaged, and high-performing workforce. Clear HR functions provide the direction needed to create initiatives that align organizational goals with team member objectives.
A well-crafted HR functions list offers a clear sense of purpose, enabling HR to drive meaningful impact. Outlining responsibilities and priorities allows HR to concentrate on fostering a positive work culture, enhancing their people’s experiences, and ensuring the organization’s long-term success.
HR function FAQs
What are the core functions of HR?
The specific functions of HR teams vary depending on the organization. Most HR teams have these core functions:
- Recruitment and selection
- Training and development
- Performance management
- Payroll and HR systems
- Retention and engagement
- Compensation and benefits
- Employee relations and wellbeing
- Employment law and compliance
- Company culture building
Why is compliance an important function of HR?
Labor laws protect both people and their employers by setting requirements for minimum wage, benefits, health and safety standards, and maternity leave.
Organizations may face external compliance audits to evaluate their adherence to these laws. Non-compliance can result in costly fines, legal disputes, or in extreme cases, criminal liability.
HR compliance ensures the organization meets all relevant labor laws, safeguarding it from penalties and reputational damage. HR teams use compliance checklists to maintain statutory, regulatory, and contractual obligations and regularly update company policies to reflect new legal developments.
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What role does HR play in recruitment and staffing?
HR plays a major role in recruitment and staffing by managing the hiring process from start to finish. They identify hiring needs, create job postings, screen applications, perform background checks, conduct interviews, help choose the best person for the role, and onboard new team members.
Throughout this process, HR teams ensure compliance with employment laws related to hiring practices like anti-discrimination policies, equal opportunity employment, gender inclusion, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
How does HR handle performance management?
HR handles performance management by first developing a structured performance management framework that’s personalized to the organization and its team members. The framework clearly defines performance metrics, goals, and evaluation methods.
Then, HR teams work with managers and team members to set SMART goals. They help people achieve their goals with regular feedback sessions, performance reviews, training and development, and performance improvement plans (PIPs).
They continuously monitor their people’s performance and progress toward goals, providing support at every stage of the process. At regular intervals (monthly, quarterly, or yearly) HR teams conduct performance data analysis, which involves tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify areas for improvement.
