flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

A Look at the HR Responsibilities of Medium-Sized Businesses

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, HR Strategy: Job Leveling (26-slide PowerPoint presentation). Job Leveling is a disciplined approach to gauge the value of work for individual positions across the organization. It entails ascertaining the nature of work done by each position, authority levels, and the effect of each job on business results. Jobs that are configured inadequately bread [read more]

Also, if you are interested in becoming an expert on Human Resource Management (HRM), take a look at Flevy's Human Resource Management (HRM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

* * * *

As a medium-sized business owner, you are likely trying to compete with companies that are both bigger and smaller than yours. Your business sits in that middle lane which presents its own set of benefits and challenges that will need to be overcome. With that said, it’s quite normal that you can feel pulled in multiple directions at once. There is always something pressing that needs your attention, and you never want to overlook any key aspects of operating the business.

One area that is extremely important but not always discussed is the HR responsibilities of a business. What exactly are they? What do you need to ensure is happening regularly, and why? Let’s dive in and take a deeper look at what the HR responsibilities are of a medium-sized business.

Consider Taking Things Out-of-House

Before unrolling the many HR responsibilities of medium-sized businesses, it’s important to discuss who will be in this role. Do you want a dedicated full-time HR representative and potentially an HR department? In a large-sized company, this makes sense, as the demand is there and having in-house HR representatives is likely necessary. In a medium-sized business, however, it may be wise to look into outsourcing your HR needs.

What are the benefits of outsourcing HR? Here are just some of them:

  • Cost-effectiveness, since you’re not paying a full-time staff member to conduct the job
  • You can hire a company with the right level of experience and the right tools
  • You don’t have to invest in the necessary HR hardware
  • Your employees will have access to professional and high-level tools and information
  • You may be able to offer better benefits to your employees, which can help you to attract top talent
  • It allows you to focus on other, equally important aspects of the business

G&A Partners explains a bit more about outsourcing HR, and services like theirs make it possible for you to save the company money and time. Those two factors alone – money and time saving – are typically enough to get the attention of any medium-sized business owner.

Payroll Is Among the Most Important Responsibilities

In terms of the responsibilities of HR in a medium-sized business, payroll administration is probably among the most important. Employees need to know they are being paid on time, seamlessly and accurately each pay period. This process can get even more involved if you have multiple shifts, overtime workers at an overtime rate, and so forth.

Also included under the category of payroll administration is such responsibilities as payroll tax filing, printing and filing of W-4 and W-2 slips, keeping track of employee sick days and vacation time, payroll reporting, setting up the standard deductions on payroll and much more. As you can see, this one task of payroll administration can be quite time-consuming all on its own.

Making Sure the Company Stays Compliant

Here’s another very important responsibility that falls under the HR department. Making sure the company stays compliant in a few different areas is important and necessary under United States regulatory laws.

In terms of workplace health and safety, the HR department will need to focus on:

  • Workplace safety
  • Risk management in the workplace
  • Making sure company procedures and policies are in place and followed
  • Giving out safety training and handbooks
  • Ensuring safety inspections take place
  • Creating an accident prevention plan and putting it into action
  • Dealing with OSHA

Each of these contributes to creating a safe workplace for all employees, making sure any potential areas of risk are identified and reduced or eliminated, all while following labor laws.

Then there are the broader compliance laws at the local, state and federal level. These can be quite confusing to stay on top of, and they can change from time to time. It’s up to the HR department to always be on top of the employment labor laws and ensure the company is compliant at all times.

Recruiting and Hiring Top Talent

The list of responsibilities continues to grow as the HR department is also the one that is responsible for recruiting and hiring top talent. The employees you hire will play a pivotal role in how successful the business is, so this is a responsibility that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Recruiting alone can be a time-intensive process as it’s not always easy to find the ideal employee for the job. This will involve creating a job posting, knowing where to post the job, resume screening, connecting with head hunters, recruiting from within the company, conducting background checks and more.

Then there is the decision-making process, where you will be narrowing down the field to pick the perfect employee. There will then be an onboarding process wherein a new employee is hired and brought into the company. This will require paperwork and training, much of which HR will be responsible for – certainly where the paperwork is concerned and setting up the employee.

Handling the Company Benefits Program

If you are a company that offers a benefits program, someone needs to look after the administration aspect and, again, this falls on the shoulders of HR. Employees will need to be briefed on the benefits program, given literature or a handbook discussing the coverage, and then HR needs to be prepared to handle any questions and claims that come in.

The paperwork part of the benefits program can be very involved and confusing to those without experience, as you will be dealing with official documents that track everything to do with the benefits. This includes paid time-off tracking, 401 (k) administration, unemployment claims administration and plenty more.

A Very Involved and Important Job

The role and responsibilities of HR in a medium-sized business are typically a lot bigger than you may assume. The larger the company, the more employees they have, and the longer the list of responsibilities can get. This is exactly why so many companies end up creating an entire HR department or looking at outsourcing the duties as a way to streamline and save time.

44-slide PowerPoint presentation
The Fiaccabrino Selection Process is a powerful methodology for interviewing and screening the best people for your organization. The objective is to select those people who will be the highest performers with the lowest turnover. (Whereas the methodology was originally developed for a sales [read more]

Want to Achieve Excellence in Human Resource Management (HRM)?

Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Human Resource Management (HRM). Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.

The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.

This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization's Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.

This has never been more true than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.

Learn about our Human Resource Management (HRM) Best Practice Frameworks here.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


230-slide PowerPoint presentation
Curated by McKinsey-trained Executives Unlocking Business Excellence: The McKinsey Talent-to-Value Framework Toolkit In the dynamic world of modern business, staying ahead of the competition means maximizing the potential of your most critical asset – your people. The **McKinsey [read more]


 
33-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
27-slide PowerPoint presentation

About Shane Avron

Shane Avron is a freelance writer, specializing in business, general management, enterprise software, and digital technologies. In addition to Flevy, Shane's articles have appeared in Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, among other business journals.


Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  

The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.
  


OUR CORE OFFERINGS
Flevy Marketplace: Top 100
· Strategy & Transformation
· Digital Transformation
· Operational Excellence
· Organization & Change
· Financial Models
· Consulting Frameworks
· PowerPoint Templates
FlevyPro (Subscription Service)
KPI Library
Streams (Functional Bundles)
Flevy Executive Learning (FEL)
PowerPoint Services

FREE Resources

About Flevy
Management Topics
Marcus (AI-Powered Consultant)
Partner Program
LinkedIn Influencer Marketing
FAQ / Terms / Privacy / Blog
Contact Us: support@flevy.com



CONNECT WITH US!
       
TOP 100 TRENDING TOPICS
Acquisition Strategy
Agile
Analytics
Artificial Intelligence
Balanced Scorecard
Best Practices
Big Data
Breakout Strategy
Business Continuity Planning
Business Plan Financial Model
Business Transformation
CMMI
COBIT
Change Management
Cloud
Communications Strategy
Company Financial Model
Competitive Advantage
Competitive Analysis
Consulting Frameworks
Continuous Improvement
Core Competencies
Corporate Culture
Cost Reduction Assessment
Customer Experience

BROWSE BY FUNCTION
Strategy, Transformation, & Innovation
Digital Transformation
Operational Excellence and LSS
Organization, Change, & HR
Management Consulting

Customer Journey
Customer Service
Cyber Security
Data Privacy
Decision Making
Digital Marketing Strategy
Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation Strategy
Due Diligence
ESG
Employee Engagement
Employee Training
Enterprise Architecture
Growth Strategy
HR Strategy
Hiring
Hoshin Kanri
ISO 27001
ITIL
Information Technology
Innovation Management
Integrated Financial Model
Kaizen
Kanban
Key Performance Indicators

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Business Strategy Frameworks
Case Studies
Consulting Training Guides
COVID-19 Trend Data
Digital Transformation
Financial Advising Services (FAS)

Knowledge Management
Leadership
Lean
Lean Manufacturing
Logistics
M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions)
Manufacturing
Market Research
Marketing Plan Development
Maturity Model
McKinsey PowerPoint
McKinsey Templates
Operational Excellence
Organizational Change
Organizational Design
Performance Management
Post-merger Integration
Pricing Strategy
Process Improvement
Process Maps
Procurement Strategy
Product Launch Strategy
Product Strategy
Project Management
Quality Management


Free Resources
KPI Library
Lean Management
Lean Six Sigma Training Guides
Marcus Insights
Operational Excellence

Real Estate
Remote Work
Restructuring
Risk Management
Robotic Process Automation
SWOT
SaaS
Sales
Scrum
Service Design
Six Sigma Project
Social Media Strategy
Strategic Planning
Strategic Thinking
Strategy Development
Supply Chain Analysis
Sustainability
Target Operating Model
Team Management
Total Productive Maintenance
Value Chain Analysis
Value Creation
Value Stream Mapping
Visual Workplace
Workplace Safety


Product Strategy
Small Business Owner
Startup Resources
Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning Process
Value Innovation Strategy


© 2012-2024 Copyright. Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.