How Many HR Professionals Does a Company Typically Have? Seeking Insights from the Community

Hi all, can anyone kindly tell me how many HRs a company will have? Is it only one HR who manages all human resources of a company, or are there many HRs with their assistants? Kindly reply.

Regards,
MAHESH

It depends on the size of the organization and varies from company to company. There can be one HR for a small establishment, and in some of the big establishments, there are four HR professionals in one team (L&D team, Recruitment, PMS, Payroll, OD). In HR itself, there are four or more teams.

Hierarchy in HR Departments

Mostly, the hierarchy is as follows:
VP-HR/Head HR/GM - HR
Senior Manager - HR
Assistant Manager - HR
Jr./Sr. Executive - HR
Management Trainee - HR

Regards,
Sucheta

I think a good ratio is one HR employee to every 100 employees. After 100, it starts to get a little more difficult to keep on top of things.

Understanding HR Ratios

The ratio depends on how much the company understands and appreciates what HR professionals do.

In medium-sized companies, it is difficult to convince management about the importance of HR team expansion, even when the workforce exceeds 500 employees. One solution to this problem is to propose a small ERP for HR, as such companies cannot afford SAP or any other costly ERPs.

It completely depends on the company type and work environment regarding the need for HR personnel. In my previous company, there were 350 employees, and my HR team consisted of one HR Manager, one Assistant Manager, and three HR Executives.

Regards,
Sudhir Kumar

I didn't find any reasonable reply. Please observe my submission. If there are any errors, you can advise me.

Evolution of the HR Department

In earlier days, before the multinational company culture entered, the department that took care of the employees was called the Personnel Department. Nowadays, with the rise of multinational companies, especially in software sectors, the term "HR department" has become popular. Even though there were HR branches in universities, in employment, the term "Personnel Department" was renowned.

This shift has resulted in every organization now using the terminology of HR without truly understanding what HR entails. Consequently, many private companies engage employees under the name of HR but fail to provide the necessary facilities required for the HR department. Employers often discuss HR values and activities, but most engage HR personnel in very small numbers, leading to tremendous pressure on them.

Challenges Faced by HR Departments

Most managements treat the HR department as a service-providing department rather than an organizational development department. In many companies, HR is treated as a lower category with little recognition for HR personnel, even after years of service. Management expects the following from the HR department:

- Service provision to all other departments.
- Service provision to all company management personnel.
- Service provision to all employees of the organization.
- All administrative activities.
- All statutory activities.
- All service activities.
- All liaisoning activities.
- All Industrial Relations activities.
- All relations maintenance activities.
- All medical facilities-related activities.
- All accidents-related activities.

However, these expectations are not met with sufficient manpower in the HR department. In my observation, even with 500 or more employees, a single HR person manages in most companies. Based on my experience, for the first 50 persons, one HR person is enough. After 50, one HR person is required for every one hundred employees to ensure 100% compliance in all aspects, using the HR terminology instead of the Personnel department.

Despite all these observations, people are replying at their own levels.

Regards

It's great that your previous company provided adequate strength to the HR team. However, I have observed that some group companies with multiple independent units (manufacturing) and over 500 employees are managing operations with an HR team consisting of only 2-3 members, even without an ERP system.

Regards,
BK Pillai