1. RetentionMany people think that

1. Retention

Many people think that the main task of Human Resources is to source and employ new talent. However, the truth is that most HR activities revolve around retaining existing talent.

Employees are the lifeblood of every company, providing the skills and experience required to keep productivity levels up. Your business will also have invested significant time and money into ensuring maximum productivity wherever possible. And the key HR responsibility is to protect this valuable asset.

Employee retention is a fine balancing act between company culture, remuneration and incentives. The HR department needs to provide each employee with the right combination of all three to satisfy the employee without compromising company interests in the process. They also need to keep accurate records of these combinations to ensure that the agreed packages are being delivered to employees.
3. Productivity

With the workforce headcount issues sorted, the Human Resources team must next look at productivity levels to ensure that the business is operating efficiently. Where productivity is low, HR needs to know whether the problem is caused by poor working practices or lack of resources.

This determination is often made by carrying out a Time and Motion (T&M) study to define who does what and how. This study can then be used to identify potential efficiency gains and pave the way for future capital investment to improve productivity and conditions.

Using an integrated HR software platform, senior management and the HR team can store and analyse the T&M data collaboratively. The HR system can also retain this data to provide historical context for later studies to provide a benchmark and to accurately measure improvements made.
4. Training and Compliance

Training is an essential aspect of employee development, both for their own education but also to ensure you continue to get the best from your workforce. Certain roles demand official training and certification, such as CORGI registration for gas installers, many of which also have a lifespan for renewal.

Although the employee bears some responsibility for keeping a track of their own professional registrations, if your business relies on their certified skills, it makes sense to track this information for your own records. If your business has agreed to pay for exams or registration fees, you can keep track of when these payments are due. You can also alert the employee involved, schedule cover for absence during exams, and arrange payments to prevent lapses.

Even where training takes place in-house, recording course attendance in a central HR system allows for at-a-glance assessment of workforce skills and regulatory compliance. Has every member of staff received their full induction training? Has anyone missed the annual fire alarm training and needs a refresher? Have internal promotion candidates completed all the relevant courses for the new role? Keeping details of training can help answer all these questions and more.
5. Health and Safety

Your company is required to record details of health and safety information for legal reasons, similar to maintaining records about professional qualifications and membership of trade bodies. Health and safety records help keep your employees safe at work and ensure that the company is meeting its legal obligations towards both them and the public.

Whenever a health and safety issue arises, HR is called upon to demonstrate that the business has done all that is expected of it. Where proof cannot be shown, the business is at risk of legal ramifications and fines.

Once again, the way to mitigate such problems is through the use of accurate records of courses attended, documents issued, and anything else specific to health and safety legislation that your business does as a matter of course. If an employee attends any course aimed at increasing their personal safety and that of the people around them, the details need to be recorded in case of query or dispute in future.

Because course attendance and training is closely linked to general employee records, the HR department is the best equipped to record this information. And the HR software used throughout your business unifies health and safety data with employee records for quick and easy retrieval and analysis.