Explain the Responsibility of the Human Resources Department :: Business and Management Studies

Explain the Responsibility of the Human Resources Department Within any business the Human Resources department is a vital functional area. The department’s main role is to ensure the welfare of employees and make sure any problems are resolved quickly and efficiently whether internal or external. Although this is the main function of the department there are also a number of other roles the Human Resource department handles within a business: Ø Development and monitoring employee appraisal system Ø Overseeing industrial relations Ø Dealing with disciplinary Ø Paying Salaries Ø Redundancy Ø Training and development Ø Recruitment and selection All the above are typical functions carried out by the human resources department, as they are clearly linked to employees and problems they may have. Although the above are typical functions carried out by the human resources department there are sometimes other functions that are specific to certain businesses that have to be dealt with when they arise. HSBC I will be studying a part of HSBC that was formally known as Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch was set up in 2001 and aimed to revolutionise the way in which investors banked. In July 2002 HSBC took over 100% of the ownership of Merrill Lynch and it was now part of the HSBC group. The telephone call centre that was opened near Leamington Spa’s ‘Spa Park’ created hundreds of jobs for people in the surrounding areas. Throughout this project I will be studying the functions of the human resources department at HSBC in Leamington Spa. HSBC have many internal departments, which mean that communication within the company is vital. Each of these departments depend heavily upon one anther in the day-to-day running of the business. When recruiting HSBC must ensure that they have a clear strategy that they follow throughout the recruitment and selection process. As they employ a large number of people it is important that they select the right people first time due to the costs associated with recruitment and selection. When HSBC needs to recruit a large number of people they use agencies to help reduce the administration work for the human resources department and generally get the job done more efficiently. Unemployment within Leamington Spa is at record lows, and for that reason HSBC need to make sure they offer appealing positions with attractive salaries to recruit successfully. This can be done through newspaper advertisements and HSBC need to ensure that in these advertisements they portray the company image in a positive light. As the human resources department covers a large amount of tasks and functions I have decided to cover the main activities that are most important to the organisation. Ø The Working Environment