HR Courses

It’s easy to think of the tasks that HR performs for the organisation, but what’s the big picture? what does HR do? Understanding the part HR plays in the big picture of the organisational machine helps us understand why we what we do, so that we can see why it’s important to do, and how we could do it better.

A fundamental of HR is recruitment; bringing new people onboard. It’s easy to learn, but hard to master. This lesson helps you understand some of the key underlying concepts of why we do what we do, and how we can make sure we are running a ‘fit-for-purpose’ recruitment process.

Everybody remembers their first day, and it has a significant effect on their ongoing relationship with the organisation if it was a good experience or a bad experience. Good onboarding is critical to keeping good people.

When an employee becomes unhappy with their employer, it’s only a question of time before they leave, and the time in-between is unlikely to be harmonious and productive. There are a lot of ways that HR can stop this unhappiness, and often it’s the little things.

Employees not fulfilling the requirements of their job can be some of the most frequent, damaging and difficult to manage situations. HR Advisors need to know the basics about how to help managers getting their people on track and delivering.

Workplace problems happen, and sometimes and employee’s behaviour is unacceptable. Employers can issue warnings, and dismiss, but it’s big call that most governments don’t let employers do lightly. Knowing how to both comply with the law, and manage the situation so that people accept the outcome, is a complex skill.

Life happens, and sometimes this gets in the way of employee’s doing their job on time, in full. But there’s a limit to an organisation’s capacity, and willingness, to be flexible. Managers look to HR for solutions, and a good Advisor will have some answers.

The only constant in life is change; what worked for an organisation one year, may not work next year. This can mean that organisations need to change how many people they need, and what those people do. HR plays a key part of this process, and Advisors need to how do to their part (and why it needs to happen).

At a superficial level, recruitment can be nothing more than posting ads and scheduling interviews. But not only is there more nuance to it, but also there are many other tools to select candidates with; some shiny, some dull. Running a smarter process involves knowing what your trying to do, what options you have, so the company can make smarter choices.

People are a (if not the) key asset your organisation needs for success. The better your team, the more likely you’ll succeed. Knowing how to build your team, your people resources, and your internal capability is a key way that Advisors can do a great job.

Most employees don’t come to work just for the money, but it very important to everyone. Not paying correctly, or fairly, is a key reason people leave. To attract, and keep, important people you need your remuneration working for you, not against you.

People are key. And key people are critical. Some turnover is good, but ideally you only want to lose the people you want to lose, not the people you don’t. Understanding why people leave, and plug the leaks you don’t want, will help you add real value.

Partnering is all about working along side your internal customers. You need to make their problems your problems, their success your success. Even if you’re telling them what they don’t want to hear, it’s because they need to hear it.

Some problems or allegations are complex. Often an employee’s behaviour is subjective (e.g. bullying, offensive, disrespectful etc) but it’s up to HR to find out what happened, and guide the manager to make a call.

Change projects, whether mass redundancies, reorganisations, closures, or mergers (and so forth) are emotive affairs. The organisation turns to HR for both technical guidance on doing it fairly and correctly, but also for leadership during emotional times. Leading change with a firm but compassionate hand is quite the art.

Sometimes employees have beef; sometimes it’s fair, sometimes it’s not, sometimes it’s with their employer, sometimes it’s with a colleague. Sometimes it’s worth trying to get them back on side, sometimes it’s not. Settling disputes pragmatically to get to the best outcome is an important skill in your skillset.

Every decision outcome carries risk. No matter what you do (including doing nothing) carries risk of an adverse outcome. Understanding what risk is, understanding how people perceive risk, and take risks, prepares us to make calculated risks, not accidental risks.

Most managers want to act strategically, and may think they are, but strategic is more that just thinking beyond the here and now. To really be strategic, you need to know some fundamentals of strategy, the plan of your company, and what you can do to help.

If everything is important, then nothing is important. You need to make a call, or else you’ll end up achieving nothing in the year. Come learn how to prioritise the little time and effort you and your team have.

Plans are great, but no plan survives contact with the enemy. Knowing what’s on the horizon that could disrupt your plans helps you avoid, mitigate or minimise this external forces that bring change for the worse.

Unions are there to challenge, and they can be challenging, both emotionally and strategically. Understanding them and finding pathways to work together as best you can, can be a critical management skill.

Bringing talent through the company can make the difference between future success and failure. You want this to happen by plan coming together, not just by luck. Planning the career pathways for your talented people starts with you.

Everyone wants more money, but you never have enough to make everyone happy. Doing the best with your budget is critical to keeping things going.