New HR Manager at a PR Agency: Seeking Guidance on Navigating My Role and Responsibilities

Hi Seniors, I have just joined as an HR Manager with a public relations agency founded in 2001, with 130 employees and 9 offices across various cities in India. I'm the first person to join as an HR Manager here and have been given the following job description. Please guide me on how I should go about it:

HR Restructuring

- Maintain and update guidelines with respect to human resource policies and procedures.
- Maintain records of employee benefits and personnel transactions such as hires, transfers, performance reviews, and other statistics.
- Administer the leave process for all employees.
- Assist in the preparation of the human resources budget.

Performance Management

- Evolve and establish a strong performance management structure.

Recruitment Process

- Reach out and liaise with potential candidates.
- Evaluate and oversee the employee interview process.
- Maintain job requirements and job descriptions for all positions in the company.

Onboarding & Offboarding Process

- Maintain a proper onboarding and offboarding policy.
- Induct new employees into the agency.
- Conduct orientation programs.
- Oversee employees’ exit formalities, including exit interviews and feedback.

Appraisal & Bonus Structuring

- Oversee the timelines and processes for appraisals.
- Work with senior management in drafting the bonus policy.

Training & Personnel Development

- Maintain a training and personnel development calendar and ensure adherence to timelines.
- Liaise with senior management in coordinating training and mentoring workshops for employees.

Compensation & Payroll Management

- Analyze salary reports and data, manage salary benchmarking.
- Conduct job evaluations and prepare pay budgets.
- Recommend changes, plan, and implement pay structure revisions.

Talent Management

- Evolve innovative methods to keep staff engaged.
- Hear and resolve employee grievances, counsel employees and supervisors.
- Advise management in handling employee relations issues.

Rewards & Recognition Programme

- Prepare a robust rewards and recognition programme to boost employee morale and participation in initiatives.
- Aid in employee engagement initiatives.

Regards

Addressing HR Challenges in a Growing Company

If the company was founded in 2001 and you are the first HR professional, it indicates that many companies keep HR for token presence, but your company did not even do that for fifteen long years. This suggests potential people issues within the company. What is the level of your experience? Have you worked in an HR department before? If yes, have you worked under an HR Manager?

As of now, do not worry about the Job Description (JD). It is essentially a great copy-and-paste task. You may start with records. First, check whether records for various statutory activities, payroll, etc., are maintained well. Next, focus on employee records. Ensure each employee has been issued a proper appointment letter, etc.

Your next challenge is bringing uniformity in the functioning of the work. Make sure that all the branches have a uniform HR procedure. Then comes the challenge of attrition. Measure the employee attrition percentage and determine what can be done to control it. Try to bring uniformity in the recruitment procedure.

To accomplish all this, it will take about six months. Do this and then come back to seek further advice.

All the best!

Regards, Dinesh Divekar

As Mr. Dinesh said, do not bite off more than you can chew now. Prioritize your work according to its importance and urgency, and focus on clearing it.

Immediate Tasks to Address

First, find out if any employee is going to retire in the current month. If you do not send a retirement notice in advance, it may escape your attention, and the employee may continue beyond retirement. If there are pending compliances related to PF and ESI, attend to them immediately. If there is a vacancy to be filled urgently, address it now. If there is any grievance to be settled immediately, resolve it promptly. Free yourself first from nagging issues so that you can have time to plan for the rest of the functions.

Understanding Key Acts

However, develop a fair understanding of PF, ESI, Bonus, Shops Act or Factories Act, as the case may be, the Minimum Wages Act, the Industrial Disputes Act, and the Standing Orders Act to start with, as it helps you understand the compliances.

Regards, B. Saikumar

Hi both,

Thank you both for your inputs. I agree. Both of you have stressed the importance of compliance. However, the unfortunate part is that there is no PF, ESIC, etc. in the company I just joined yesterday.

What factors need to be borne in mind while checking employee records, payroll, etc.? If there is anything else that requires immediate attention, please let me know.

Thanks

Balancing Operational and Strategic HR Work

Wow, this is definitely a challenging role that you have. Compensation and benefits, performance management, succession planning, and employee engagement are areas where you may have to consider external professional support due to the nitty-gritty details involved in each one of them. If you are supported by a team of HR assistants, then your tasks become a lot easier.

In my opinion, typically your work will consist of operational HR work and strategic HR work. So, you ought to split your time effectively between the two. Start with the most pressing changes that need to be addressed in the organization. Conduct your analysis and start considering the different solutions you may have, then make your recommendations to the management. That way, you can get going.

Best wishes.

It is really surprising to see a company that has not even bothered to recruit an HR personnel for the last 15 years suddenly recruiting one person and becoming interested in core HR issues. Nevertheless, as Mr. Dinesh Divekar and Mr. B Saikumar have suggested, I will also concur with them. You have to prioritize your job as per the requirement of the moment.

Key HR Responsibilities

Maintain all employee records clearly. Maintain their leave records. Paperwork and maintaining documents are very important for the HR department. Keep the salary statement records updated, and maintain the record of the employees who have resigned. Most importantly, you have to comply with PF and ESI, and for that, you should immediately contact the departments of your locality. If required, take the help of a consultant initially.

Best wishes.