Human resource departments handle a variety of personnel and administrative functions within an organization or business, including benefits and compensation, employee training, recruitment and disciplinary procedures. Specific responsibilities of an HR professional depend on the type of company she works for and her specific job within the HR department.

New Hires

On-boarding or orienting new hires is a responsibility of human resource departments. HR professionals in this role ensure that all paperwork, background checks, testing and required orientation classes are completed. HR personnel may also be required to make initial offers of employment, or rescind those offers if qualifications or other requirements are not met.

Policies and Recruitment

Human resource managers oversee day-to-day operations of other HR professionals and overall adherence to company policies. They must ensure that policies and procedures are being followed, and must keep current with workplace laws. Human resource specialists also make certain that employee wages and benefit options are competitive with those of competitors within an industry. HR recruiters are responsible for seeking out and securing employee talent that will help achieve the company’s strategic goals, vision, mission and overall success.

Employee Relations

Human resource professionals often must resolve employee relations and conflict issues. These professionals normally work in the HR human relations section. Human resource professionals who assume the role of advocates in an organization must follow strict legal guidelines and regulations when dealing with matters such as sexual harassment on the job and worker compensation cases.

Training

Training is another responsibility of a human resource department. Employees undergo certain types of voluntary and mandatory training on initial hire and throughout their tenure with a company. An example of mandatory training would be a CPR class for employees of a hospital, while training to be a better speaker might be a class offered voluntarily to a company's employees who primarily work in sales.