HR Generalist

Qualifications & Competencies

Ability to handle and maintain confidential information.

Knowledge of local, state, federal and even multinational employment laws.

Fluency in social media, particularly for researching and recruiting candidates through channels such as LinkedIn.

Ability to interview job candidates.

Aptitude in overseeing employee benefits.

Ability to develop and carry out manager and employee training programs.

Capacity to analyse and work with important HR performance measures, such as employee headcount and retention rates.

End-user technology skills with HR software and platforms, such as HRIS and workforce management systems.

Ability to adapt to new technologies, such as virtual reality and blockchain HR technology.

Ability to build team morale and promote corporate culture.

Responsibilities

Administration - This is also known as core HR. It includes business administration duties such as maintaining employee records; administering payroll and benefit plans, such as health insurance; and overseeing employee self-service capabilities.

Compliance - These duties include tax reporting and other documentation required by government regulations, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It also typically involves making sure new hires get training on compliance regulations, such as antidiscrimination laws, and company policies and certifications required to do their jobs. HR generalists are also responsible for ensuring their organizations comply with federal and state regulations, such as the Fair Labour Standards Act and Family and Medical Leave Act labour laws.

Hiring - Managing the hiring process is a large part of the HR generalist's role. This includes recruiting new employees, writing job descriptions and conducting interviews.
Staff retention. These duties include managing performance reviews, retaining workers, and handling individual and organizational development as well as succession planning. Here, monitoring HR analytics, such as turnover and absenteeism rates, is crucial. These and other HR metrics help HR professionals with organizational development, talent management and other strategies related to staffing.

Employee engagement - HR professionals play an important role in ensuring employee engagement and helping employees feel connected to their company. They use employee engagement software to monitor those efforts. These duties include conflict resolution, performance management, disciplinary actions and initiatives that foster employee wellness. HR generalists also conduct exit interviews, which help HR evaluate their organization's workplace environment.

Training and development - In the modern office, HR generalists are responsible for managing and, in some cases, overseeing employee training and development. This includes working with managers to identify training needs, creating training programs and ensuring employees have access to relevant training.

Technological duties - An HR Generalist might be in charge of selecting and working with human resource information systems (HRIS) and any specialty HR technology a company needs, such as recruiting tools, workforce management software, and talent acquisition and management software. As some companies segue from yearly employee reviews to continuous performance management, generalists use these systems to help monitor staff performance. Recently, virtual reality tools have been introduced to HR.

Requirements

Most HR generalists are now required to be analytical and data-driven.

The competencies of an HR manager must include the ability to understand key HR metrics, such as recruitment, engagement and retention, and employee value and performance.

Having some knowledge of Excel is a great advantage.