What is HR Operations?

Human Resources Operations, also known as HR Ops, is the department

that supports the entire employee lifecycle and assists your team in their

day-to-day tasks. The scope of HR Operations is multi-faceted. It plays a

crucial role in developing a company’s people strategy to reach its

business goals. HR Operations is a part of an effective HR service

delivery model.

A Microsoft study has found that 41% of the global workforce “is likely to

consider leaving their current employer within the next year”. With the

ever-changing economy and labor market we live in, HR Operations has

never been more necessary to the success of your organization.

What is the difference
between HR Management and
HR Operations?
HR Management and HR Operations serve distinct yet complementary

roles within an organization’s Human Resources framework.

HR Management is the strategic arm, focusing on aligning HR policies and

practices with the company’s overall objectives. This role involves

overseeing key areas such as performance management, learning and

development, succession planning, compensation and benefits, and

leveraging HR data and analytics to inform decisions. The aim here is to

develop and maintain a workforce capable of meeting current and future

organizational challenges, fostering a positive organizational culture, and

ensuring long-term growth and sustainability.

HR Operations primarily focuses on the practical, day-to-day activities that

support the HR department’s functioning and the organization’s

workforce. This includes managing payroll, ensuring compliance with labor

laws, maintaining the Human Resource Information System (HRIS), and

overseeing the onboarding and offboarding processes. While it might

seem heavily administrative, HR Operations also plays a crucial role in

executing strategic initiatives, such as improving employee engagement,

developing structured onboarding programs, and facilitating a positive

work environment.
It’s important to note that the roles of HR Management and HR Operations

differ depending on the organization’s size.

Key responsibilities of HR
Operations
Depending on the size of your organization, the HR Operations teams

could look very different. They can focus on specific regions/segments of

the business or have a generalist approach. In either case, they have the

following responsibilities:

 Administration: The HR Operations team is responsible for

many administrative tasks that keep the business running. These

tasks include payroll management, staff data entry, and

maintenance. They are also responsible for maintaining the

human resources information system – also known as HRIS. This

program is used to track and maintain all HR-related data, such

as employee contracts, non-disclosure agreements,

compensation, employees’ personal data, and more.

 Compliance: Compliance is one of the most important tasks your

HR Operations department is responsible for. They make sure

that, legally, your organization is aligned with country-specific

labor laws when tasked with things such as hiring, workplace

rules, and employee treatment. HR Operations outlines the HR

compliance policies that need to be followed internally.

 Recruitment: If your organization is large enough to have a

recruiting team, HR Operations will focus on headcount planning.

That is, making sure there are enough people in the organization

so that the business runs well, but not too many people that you

waste resources. If you have a smaller organization and no

dedicated recruitment team, HR operations will pick up

everything from advertising, interviewing, and making job offers

to candidates.

 Onboarding: OfficeVibe’s Employee Engagement report found

that 69% of employees are more likely to stay with their company

for at least three years if they experienced great onboarding. HR

Operations develops a structured onboarding program. They

support managers in delivering a positive onboarding experience

to their new team members.

 Employee relations: Employee relations (ER) refer to a

company’s efforts to manage relationships in an organization. HR

Ops focuses on preventing and resolving issues between

coworkers and management. They also concentrate on

understanding how your staff feels about their job, company

environment, and overall well-being.

 Offboarding: Offboarding happens when an employee has either

decided to leave the company or was fired. It involves

administrative tasks like ensuring the employee returns company

property, notifying IT and payroll about personnel changes, and

preparing any paperwork the employee might need to sign.

Offboarding also involves exit interviews, which are conversations

between the employee, manager/HR, and the leadership team.

During this chat, HR Operations is looking for feedback from the

leaving team member on how to create a better work

environment and employee experience for the current and future

employees.
The main goals of HR
Operations
The HR Operations department has several vital goals they’re trying to

meet in their organization. Here are the three most important ones.

1. Building a sustainable organization: Your company will only

thrive when you have a sustainable growth plan. HR Operations’

goal is to ensure that your organization has a headcount strategy,

succession plans for leadership roles, internal talent

development goals, and career management. Without these

strategies, your company cannot adapt quickly to external or

internal changes.

2. Working on improving employee relations: When employees

have strong, supportive relationships with their coworkers and

managers, the entire company benefits. Numerous studies show

that happy employees are more productive and will stay with

your organization longer. The goal of employee relations is just

that – to make sure your staff works in an environment where

they can thrive and will have support if any issues pop up

between coworkers. HR Ops goes about this by creating clarity for

employees with what is expected of them and how to work within

the company’s structure. They might also be present during

performance reviews and feedback sessions, among other things.

 3. Implementing and maintaining HR best practices: In short,

HR best practices are universal processes and techniques that

provide organizations with increased business performance

results, regardless of the company’s industry. HR Ops is

responsible for implementing and monitoring HR best practices in

different departments of your organization. That way, they’re

ensuring that the company is on track to achieve its goals.

Roles in HR Operations
HR Operations encompasses a variety of roles that ensure the smooth

execution of daily HR activities and support the broader strategic goals of

the HR department and organization. Here are some key jobs within HR

Operations:
 Overseeing the daily activities of the HR operations department

 Leading HR operations activity from onboarding through to

offboarding (including managing the communication of employee

benefits package, identifying opportunities for process

improvement, exit interviews, and analysis of data)

 Ensuring compliance with all pre-employment checks

 Ensuring employee records are maintained accurately in line with

data privacy regulations

 Implementing new company policies

 Organizing inclusive team and social events to build a strong

culture

 Developing an innovative and impactful operations function

 Designing, monitoring, and improving HR processes, policies, and

technologies

 Acting as a first point of contact for all employees in the business

 Supporting managers with light people challenges before they are

escalated to the HR manager

 Managing communications across the organization

 Reviewing and approving budgets

 Management of all internal HR systems (including HRIS)

 Acting as a role model for HR team members, coaching and

developing where appropriate

 Occasionally supporting the Senior Leadership Team with ad hoc

requests