Feeling Stuck in My HR Role: How Can I Add Meaningful Responsibilities Without Leaving?

Dear HR Professionals,

I am an MBA in HR (and have also completed an M.A.). I have been working with an engineering company, which is a fast-growing organization. There are altogether 45 personnel in the company (including the Directors). I am the only one handling HR functions, and I have been designated as Manager - HR & Admin. So, I handle and manage all HR and Admin-related work.

I have been employed in this company for more than 2 years and have been doing almost the same work in the HR field, though I get to do different tasks in Admin. However, most of the time, I sit idle due to a lack of work. I took the initiative and did many things for bookkeeping and performance management. But now, I am desperately looking for tasks. Nobody supervises me, and I have all the liberty to do my job my way.

However, it is really painful to sit idle and surf the internet all the time. Our company is very good, with very decent employers and employees. The work environment is amazing, so I don't want to quit this job.

Please suggest to me what unique and useful responsibilities I can add to my job profile. Being the only HR personnel, I do not see any scope for promotion or hierarchical growth.

Regards,

Tremendous opportunity to learn and create a fantastic working environment!

1. Employee Handbook
- Have you completed your employee handbook? Do you believe that it needs something which might not have been included?

2. Performance Management System (PMS)
- Is your PMS good enough? Can you look for a better system?

3. Employee Engagement Survey
- Have you conducted an Employee Engagement Survey? What is it that keeps your people motivated, and what needs to be done?

4. Team Outing
- How about having a team outing if everything is looking so promising? Have some fun and build some team spirit.

5. Training Calendar
- Is your training calendar ready? Have you done a skill gap analysis?

6. Environmental Responsibilities
- Let us have a look at the environmental responsibilities that your firm needs to address. Do you have a ready reckoner for that?

The list is endless, Sarkar! It's up to you how far you want to go.

Regards

Thank you so much, Team - Group HR, for your guidance. Let me inform you that our working environment is extremely good. We have also prepared an Employee Handbook, and I keep updating it as needed. Twice or thrice a year, we organize some sports events, and all the employees and employers participate willingly. We have a lunch or dinner party post-event. I try to maintain a strong Performance Management System through timely performance reviews. We also interact with all individuals personally during performance reviews to express the manager's views and understand individuals' opinions and grievances (if any).

One thing that bothers me is that the company does not involve me in its training and development program. It is the responsibility of the Managers/Head of every Team/Department. So, I have no role in Training and Development, and I don't know how to involve myself in it as I am not aware of the technical (engineering) aspects that different departments in my company are involved in.

I would like to seek your guidance in performing the survey that you have mentioned in the 3rd point. Please reply soon, as within a few days, I will have to discuss all this with my Directors in our performance review.

To add to the excellent inputs given by Shantanu/GroupHR, I think you have a GREAT opportunity to LEARN. If you see many threads in CiteHR, many HR professionals face the opposite situations—where they aren't given any freedom to implement new ideas.

Getting Involved in the Training Function

Please note that any training in any company is handled by the technical/functional staff/team, since essentially it's THEY who know the subject. The role of the Training department (or the person from HR handling Training) is limited to focusing on the process—fine-tuning it and/or incorporating improvements. You haven't mentioned the number of departments the company has, but since it's a manufacturing company, Production, QA/QC, and Marketing would surely exist as the major ones where most of the employees would be on the rolls. You can devise ways to STANDARDIZE & ASSIMILATE the training sessions of the various departments—meaning the trainees for Production would be given exposure to the OTHER functions, so they would be able to better appreciate their work vis-a-vis the BROADER scope of the organization and its goals.

Contributing to Technological Trends

Another area where you CAN contribute would be to keep track of the general trends in the technology(ies) that your company uses in its daily operations. This is NOT VERY TOUGH even for a non-technical person, as it only requires some semblance of enthusiasm and flair for general knowledge. Arrange external lectures for the senior staff to enhance and broaden their vision of the industry they operate in. Quite often, the existing employees themselves can take it upon themselves to conduct such special sessions. There surely would be at least some who keep abreast of the latest technical developments—all he/she needs is the nature of 'sharing'.

Many times, such inputs help to bring about small (BUT crucial) enhancements and changes in the processes themselves, leading to better products/output from the production lines.

Hope this helps.

All the Best.

Regards,
TS

Well, it is all up to you how to utilize your time. Instead of sitting idle, it is better if you check the process, analyze it, and see if there is any scope for improvement. If yes, then prepare a document mentioning all the issues and how to fix or improve them. Work towards improving things after getting approval from management.

Dear Mr. Sateesh,

Thank you for your suggestions. Our company is not a manufacturing and production company. It is an IT-based engineering consultancy. Our work is mostly based on mechanical and software engineering, and all the engineers work on computers only. We don't have a QA/QC department. There are mainly three engineering departments (CFD, CAE, and Software) and three support departments (Admin/HR, Accounts/Purchases, Sales).

This clarification helps tailor the training approach to our specific industry needs.

Best regards

Since you mentioned yours is an Engineering Company, I had assumed you were into Manufacturing. However, the points I mentioned about the opportunities for enhancing the training potential for you to become 'inclusive' in such activities STILL REMAIN THE SAME—except that the focal areas and modalities change a bit, given that the general technology knowledge levels are higher.

For example, you mentioned that CFD is one department. You didn't mention which CFD tool you use. If you are using Ansys, you could suggest some exposure-level training in other tools like CFX or Fluent. It may not be useful immediately at the working level, but once the techies get a feel of other software tools, the general vision of working changes for the better. This could also be applied to the domains where one can use CFD—basically exposing them to different domains [instead of the other CFD tools]—even though your company may not be having projects in those domains currently.

The same goes for the CAE and software divisions.

However, please note one pitfall in exposing the techies to such training sessions in your sector [Engineering Consultancy/Services]—which is unlike a Manufacturing set-up. Such sessions are likely to enhance their job opportunities too. So, UNLESS such steps are matched with other good HR practices, you COULD invite trouble. But, if the general working culture and HR practices are good, such steps will surely enhance the overall and long-term performance capabilities of your technical employees.

All the best.

Regards,
TS

Dear Mr. Sateesh, Your assumption (as exhibited in the last paragraph) is absolutely correct. Our CFD Team uses tools like AutoCAD/Draftsight, Gambit, Fluent, Workbench, CFX, OpenFOAM, etc. We provide training on software tools on a need basis. However, the HR Department is not involved in this field—neither in identifying training needs nor in coordinating training. Our technical teams do this on their own without providing any information about the training program to the HR personnel.

I have corrected the spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in the text and ensured proper paragraph formatting. Let me know if you need any further assistance.

Employee Engagement and Training Strategies

TS has tremendous insight, and his advice is pretty good more often than not, so listen to him.

As far as "Employee Engagement" is concerned, in simple words, it means looking for factors that keep your employees motivated and productive. As you grow, you will start feeling the pinch of disconnect between employees and the company. An Employee Engagement survey gives you your win factors and also points towards your loose factors. You can take preemptive actions because if you are working in an area that requires a specific skill set, losing your employees can really set you back. I will add a generic format of the survey, although many are already available on citehr.

In the Training domain, you can again do a lot. You may not be the technical guy, but you can conduct "TNA (Training Need Analysis)." Forward that to the technical department, arrange for training, engage external vendors (as needed), and once the training is complete, you can gather feedback. After that, you can look for marked improvement in performance, if any. Then compare the effectiveness of the training with respect to training cost and performance improvement. Subsequently, you can prepare an MIS for the top management to determine if the training was worth it. In brief, you can streamline the whole training process.

PS: Sometimes technical guys do not want to engage with HR personnel because they are closely associated with external vendors. Find that out and convince your management that training is part of your Key Result Areas (KRAs). Your problem seems to be of transition. You are mostly involved in HR operations, and you need to move towards Human Resource Development (HRD), is that it?

I hope this helps.

Best regards

Addressing HR Involvement in Training Programs

Regarding your lines: "HR Dept. is not involved in this field (neither identifying training needs nor coordination for training). Our Technical Teams do this on their own without giving the HR Personnel any information about the training program"—most likely, the technical teams have been operating like this from the beginning. So, obviously, they find no incentive to change the style/modus operandi now.

Your line of action/plan of action should be to focus on the incentives they could accrue if HR were to begin handling the TNA, then coordination, and so on. No one (whether technical or otherwise) would hesitate to take support from others unless (1) politics/ethics—like Shantanu/GroupHR mentioned—or (2) ego hang-ups are involved. That's human nature.

I suggest you begin to talk and discuss with the technical guys involved in the training activity—more for your understanding to begin with. Once you have all the inputs, including the activity flow, you are sure to identify areas where you could contribute and, more importantly, where you could reduce the techies' load regarding training. You can then discuss with them that you will be glad to help in certain areas, so they can focus on what they are good at: the actual technical parts of the training sessions.

The same plan of action can be applied to virtually any field. First, get to know what it's all about and how you can contribute. Then, see where others can benefit by offloading some work to you/HR and express such points to the concerned individuals.

Hope you get the point. All the best.

Regards,
TS

My designation is Manager - HR & Admin. I am the only HR personnel in my organization. However, there are two admin executives who work under my supervision. My key responsibilities are as follows:

HR related responsibilities:

- Implementation and updating of HR policies and procedures.
- Workforce planning and handling the entire recruitment process.
- Managing joining formalities, induction, and orientation.
- Maintaining personnel records.
- Keeping track of attendance and the leave management system.
- Responsible for compensation and benefits.
- Overseeing employee performance reviews and appraisals.
- Addressing matters related to organizational culture and discipline, performance management, employee retention, and morale.
- Coordinating with accounts, marketing, and technical teams.
- Ensuring statutory compliances for employees like PF, ESI, etc.
- Grievance redressal.
- Conducting exit interviews and other relieving formalities.

Admin related responsibilities:

- Managing admin staff.
- Overseeing housekeeping and pantry.
- Responsibility for office aesthetics.
- Security management.
- Inventory management for stationery and admin-related items.
- Fire-fighting equipment management.
- Managing the travel desk, including booking flight tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, etc.
- Correspondence with various embassies, banks, and other government departments as needed.
- Coordinating for ISO 9001:2008 conformity and maintenance of records.

Regards.

Dear HR professional, I have been working with a consulting company, which is a fast-growing company. We are a team of 8 members, and I am the one responsible for handling HR functions. I need to manage big clients and acquire new ones. However, I lack experience in these areas. Can you please suggest how I can initiate conversations with potential clients?

Thanks and Regards,
Bhavya