These roles are tactical in nature and include recruiting, training and developing employees; coordinating HR activities with the actions of managers and supervisors throughout the organisation and resolving differences between employees.
i. Recruiter: “Winning the war for talent” has become an important job of HR managers in recent times in view of the growing competition for people possessing requisite knowledge, skills and experience. HR managers have to use their experience to good effect while laying down lucrative career paths to new recruits without, increasing the financial burden to the company.
ii. Trainer developer, motivator: Apart from talent acquisition, talent retention is also important. To this end, HR managers have to find skill deficiencies from time to time, offer meaningful training opportunities, and bring out the latent potential of people through intrinsic and extrinsic rewards which are valued by employees.
iii. Coordinator/linking pin: The HR manager is often deputed to act as a linking pin between various divisions/departments of an organisation. The whole exercise is meant to develop rapport with divisional heads, using PR and communication skills of HR executives to the maximum possible extent.
iv. Mediator: The personnel manager acts as a mediator in case of friction between two employees, groups of employees, superiors and subordinates and employees and management with the sole objective of maintaining industrial harmony.
v. Employee champion: HR managers have traditionally been viewed as ‘company morale officers’ or employee advocates. Liberalisation, privatisation and globalization pressures have changed the situation dramatically HR professionals have had to move closer to the hearts of employees in their own self interest. To deliver results they are now seriously preoccupied with:
l Placing people on the right job.
l Charting a suitable career path for each employee.
l Rewarding creditable performance.
l Resolving differences between employees and groups smoothly.
l Adopting family-friendly policies.
l Ensuring fair and equitable treatment to all people regardless of their background.
l Striking a happy balance between the employee's personal/professional as also the larger organisational needs.
l Representing workers’ issues, problems and concerns to the management in order to deliver effective results HR managers have to treat their employees as valuable assets. Such an approach helps to ensure that HR practices and principles are in sync with the organisation’s overall strategy. It forces the organisation to invest in its best employees and ensure that performance standards are not compromised.
