Understanding HR Roles: How Do HR Administrator, Coordinator, and Executive Differ?

Hi Gayathri,

Can anyone please explain the job profile differences between HR Administrator, HR Coordinator, and HR Executive? In which order do they get placed in the organizational chart?

Thanks,
Gayathri

Hi Gayathri,

This is really a very interesting question. Hope this could be of information.

Designations are most of the time superficial and depend on the company structure, type of company, headcount, private limited, public limited, and their inherited structure if an MNC (Please refer for MNC and its working structure).

It also depends on some variations like diversity, culture, richness, and maturity of the organization and, of course, the maturity of the HR department as such in the organization.

Assuming some cases:

Case 1 - A private limited company with 4 board of directors and 150 headcount and 1 setup or branch.

Probably - 1 for Talent Acquisition, 1 for ER, 1 for Comp & Ben, 1 for Payroll, and that is too much, what your bosses would say!! ha ha ha

Case 2 - 3 to 10 branches with 200 employees - Same as above - could be more if an MNC; however, multitasking would be deserved, would increase job role.

Case 3 - 1000+ employees across different regions (East/West/North/South) would require specialists.

To implement such a structure, we would need career path planning, growth, promotion, succession planning, etc.

Also, your work experience, degree/PG (MBA/NON-MBA)/MBA from rated business schools (e.g., Tier 1, 2 / 3 / 4, please read separately), total work experience, relevant work experience, and thus the designation is decided.

For example - refer to Case 1. Assuming a Manager/Senior Manager/AVP/Director with 6 to 10 years heads the HR department (What would be his/her next move)? Especially in case a person shifts to a larger setup.

Hope this adds some value. Revert for any queries.

Regards,

MBHR

Hi, good day to you.

For an HR administrative position in the UAE or GCC, it is a managerial role. An HR Coordinator or Executive is purely a non-managerial position. In the organizational chart, all the staff are included.

If you have any queries, feel free to discuss.

Raghav
Dubai

Hi MBHR,

Thank you so much. I agree that it depends on the organization's size and the number of employees. Like you mentioned, in multinational corporations, each HR-related issue is considered a different department or team such as Compensation & Benefits, Recruitment, Employee Relations, etc. I would like to know the order in which they can be placed in an organizational chart. Specifically, which position holds the highest grade among these three roles in a scenario where there is a standard HR department with a manager and 3 or 4 assistants?

I hope my question is clear.

Thanks,
Gayathri

Dear Gayatri,

I would like to get a clearer picture of your question. If you could please provide information about the type of company and the number of employees, I believe I would be in a better position to assist you.

Thank you.

Hi Neha,

Thank you for your interest. I was only generally asking, in any organization, of the 3 positions, which is graded the highest and which one is the lowest. For example, in an organization of around 150 people where there is an organized HR department with a manager as the head of the department and 4-5 assistants under him who take care of all the HR activities.

To provide more detail, in a company like the one mentioned above, the HR organization chart would typically be as follows:
HR Manager - Assistant HR Manager - and who would follow after the assistant manager from the 3 positions I have mentioned.

I hope it's clear.

Thanks,
Gayathri

Dear Gayatri,

Thank you for your information. As per your question, the HR administrator will be at the top, followed by the HR executive, and finally, the coordinator. Again, I would like to state that it depends on the companies and the designations they offer. However, this hierarchy is common in many organizations if they have all these three designations.

From another perspective, if the company has an HR manager, the hierarchy could be as follows: HR executive, HR administrator, and HR coordinator.

I hope I have clarified myself. If you have any doubts, please feel free to revert back.

Regards,

Neha Khale

Attached file will help you.

Mukesh Kumar

Good efforts to answer the question. The HR designations depend on the organization sizes as well.

Zafar

Can you please provide me with the designation structure of non-tech/support staff such as sales, systems, HR, recruitment, and admin in an IT company.

Dear Gayatri,

As the HR Administrator, he managed recruitment, staffing, payroll, compensation, strategic implementation, policy allocation, industrial relations, legal documentation, and led all departments in the HR & Admin hierarchy.

The HR Coordinator's role involved coordination with the Administrator and Executive, compiling all queries into solutions.

HR Executives or Associates typically focus on specific tasks such as recruitment, payroll, compensation, industrial relations, generalist duties, or others depending on the individual.

Please revert if you have any queries.

Regards,
Prashant