Dear Experts,
I am currently pursuing a Master's course in Psychology with a specialization in Human Resource Development Management. As part of the requirements, I was to intern in an HR department of an organization. My supervisor's role was primarily that of an HR Generalist.
From what I have observed and drawn out of my interactions with HR, I have understood that one of the key challenges faced in an HR Generalist role is that they have significant responsibility for delivering HR solutions to a business unit with little formal power or resources. Virtually all HR requests are directed to the generalist, but the generalist does not have the time, expertise, or budget to handle these requests. Support can generally be obtained from the HR specialists, but the generalist has limited control over how and when such support is provided. How can such an issue be tackled from the perspective of an HR Generalist?
From India, Bengaluru
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I am currently pursuing a Master's course in Psychology with a specialization in Human Resource Development Management. As part of the requirements, I was to intern in an HR department of an organization. My supervisor's role was primarily that of an HR Generalist.
From what I have observed and drawn out of my interactions with HR, I have understood that one of the key challenges faced in an HR Generalist role is that they have significant responsibility for delivering HR solutions to a business unit with little formal power or resources. Virtually all HR requests are directed to the generalist, but the generalist does not have the time, expertise, or budget to handle these requests. Support can generally be obtained from the HR specialists, but the generalist has limited control over how and when such support is provided. How can such an issue be tackled from the perspective of an HR Generalist?
From India, Bengaluru
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Greetings, Reshma,
From my observation, an HR generalist's primary area of focus is being a strategic business partner for the organization by helping all departments create a work environment that motivates and inspires people to contribute at a high level. They can specifically concentrate on addressing current and future hiring needs and staffing plans with the recruitment team, collaborate with line management on improving HR policies and procedures, etc.
From India, Bengaluru
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From my observation, an HR generalist's primary area of focus is being a strategic business partner for the organization by helping all departments create a work environment that motivates and inspires people to contribute at a high level. They can specifically concentrate on addressing current and future hiring needs and staffing plans with the recruitment team, collaborate with line management on improving HR policies and procedures, etc.
From India, Bengaluru
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Depends on the company you work for. In big organizations, the HR profile is highly specialized and can be broken up into many departments such as legal, training, recruitment, etc. Thus, if your company can afford it and the scale is big enough, maybe you should try this approach. Otherwise, for once in a while issues that come up, you could always hire a specialized consultant for a nominal fee.
From India, Bengaluru
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From India, Bengaluru
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As far as I have known a HR generalist is a person who manages the HR operations everyday in a company. It is his responsibility to motivate and also keep his employees engaged.He can work more on the employee orientation, training and development.He has a major role required to develop compensation and benefits systems that fit the company’s HR responsibilities.
From India, Bengaluru
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From India, Bengaluru
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Thank you, Mr. Amresh Subramaniam, for your viewpoint on the role of an HR generalist. I agree with the aspect that being a strategic business partner carries a lot of responsibility in terms of overseeing HR policies, procedures, analyzing current staffing trends through conducting exit interviews, and collaborating with the recruitment team.
From India, Bengaluru
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From India, Bengaluru
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Greetings Mr. Leo Thomas, I thank you for your valuable opinion on one of the primary areas of concern faced by an HR generalist in an organization. As you have stated, if the organization expands its operations and services on a large-scale basis, then it will be beneficial to move into an HR specialist role where HR executives/departments can come under the purview of training and development, talent acquisition, recruitment, etc.
In organizations where such provisions cannot be made under the present circumstances and also when the manpower/resources are not sufficient to complete the tasks efficiently, outsourcing certain procedures on a priority basis to consultants can help the HR generalist in managing the various functions better.
From India, Bengaluru
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In organizations where such provisions cannot be made under the present circumstances and also when the manpower/resources are not sufficient to complete the tasks efficiently, outsourcing certain procedures on a priority basis to consultants can help the HR generalist in managing the various functions better.
From India, Bengaluru
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Thank you for providing your valuable inputs on my post. I find your suggestion interesting regarding an HR Generalist working more on the areas of training and development and employee engagement practices in the organization to enhance productivity and manage human capital effectively. By providing a generalist with the creative freedom to develop modules on motivation strategies during employee orientation, it can significantly contribute to gathering further insights while conducting exit interviews, handling staffing requirements, etc. This might add to the significance associated with performing a variety of everyday operations in the organization.
Regards
From India, Bengaluru
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Regards
From India, Bengaluru
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Hello Ms. Reshma, I agree that it is very difficult for an HR Generalist to handle specific problems such as work-life balance, employee satisfaction, and recruitment processes that are generally carried out by an HR specialist. I personally know a colleague who faced the same problem and felt extremely guilty that he wasn't efficiently able to tackle the employee and organization-related problems as an expert would. His organization was really small, and they felt it unnecessary to recruit a specialist. I presume in bigger organizations, a sub-team can be affordable, and the HR Generalist could be more of a delegator and a supervisor. My colleague ultimately dealt with the problem by just learning through experience.
From India, Bengaluru
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From India, Bengaluru
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I thank you for giving your thoughts and viewpoint regarding the question raised in my post. The situation faced by your colleague is exactly the same as the difficulties expressed by the HR of the organization I interned with. Being an HR Generalist, she felt at times that she was unable to justify the various roles and responsibilities she was entrusted with, such as drafting policies and procedures, conducting exit interviews, revising and implementing performance appraisals, designing training modules, etc. It comes across as a situation where they are at times tasked with handling as well as learning a wide variety of functions with little time or guidance to fall back on. This can become repetitive in nature.
Regards
From India, Bengaluru
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Regards
From India, Bengaluru
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