Being a HR manager goes beyond your flair for people, it may not even be necessary.
There are more crucial skills necessary for your job as an HR manager, and in this article, we will review 10 of such skills.
10 Skills You Should Work on to be a Successful HR Manager
Sympathy
As an HR manager, your people skills may not be strong however, you learn to show sympathy. Your employees are humans and humans sometimes encounter challenges that can affect them psychologically. As an HR manager, you should learn to be able to offer psychological help to your employee and show compassion. Sometimes, lacking sympathy as an HR manager can have severe consequences for the company.
Arithmetic
As an HR manager, you don’t get to do as much mathematics as an accountant however, it is still an important skill. You will need to be able to create statistical reports about your staff, you’ll have to metrically determine salaries based on performance, discuss numbers with people who are mathematically inclined. Metrically evaluating the feasibility of your practices as an HR manager have become more important in this age.
Versatility
You may have a specificity of duties in some larger firms. However, in most firms, the HR manager is responsible for multiple duties. You will need to be able to multitask and take on different roles. You may need to sort out the compensation packages of a staff who is due for it while dealing with adjusting the shift schedule for a department that has been altered.
Recruitment and Hiring
Carrying out recruitment exercises is beyond just hiring new staff. It also affects the public relations of the firm because every person who shows up for the interview leaves with an impression of the company. Hence, as an HR manager, it is important to know how recognize people with needed skills and how to recruit them.
If the person in charge of recruitment didn’t leave a good impression, then the company didn’t leave a good impression.
Compartmentalization
This is the ability to separate the different aspects of your life most especially your home life and your work. As an HR manager, you must learn to leave work at work and deal with your own personal issues in your own personal space.
HR issues are never ending, you cannot completely satisfy humans hence, it is important to make that distinction between your work life and your home life and deal with them separately.
Confidentiality
As an HR manager, you are continually exposed to confidential information. Even though there are no laws that mandate you to keep the information confidential, it is expected of you to be able to maintain confidentiality.
Very private information about fellow employees may get to you, it would be highly unprofessional of you for someone to eavesdrop you speaking casually about it in the company cafeteria.
People Management
Being an HR manager isn’t like being a regular manager where you have to deal with reports and documents. As an HR manager, you’re dealing with people not things including the whole package humans come along with.
You’ll help other managers manage their people even if you don’t write their appraisal report.
Legal Knowledge
You don’t need the full knowledge of the law to become an HR manager, however, you need knowledge of the basics of labour laws to help make decisions that have legal consequences as this is quite a common occurrence with HR managers.
When is it lawful to fire an inept staff? What is the legal consequences of making this decision or that decision? However, the time comes when its time to acquire the services of a lawyer.
Understanding Employee Insurances
Employee benefits in many establishments are diverse, ranging from health insurance to life insurances to vehicle insurance etc. A great HR manager should understand the various insurance packages available from the insurance company. You should be able to select the right package that is profitable to the employee.
Part of the duties of an HR manager is selecting which insurance package the company’s staff are going to go on, you need in-depth knowledge of how those packages work.
Sacking People
Firing people sometimes have legal implications. As much as it may seem very simple to say “You’re Fired” or “Today is your last day”, it goes beyond that.
The HR manager should know how to do this in a manner that is without legal implications for the company, in a way that shows compassion, when to do it, the right words to use, and how to offer support to such a staff.
Final Words
To be an expert in these skills goes beyond reading a book or attending some classes. These skills are honed through periods of practice. When you get into HR, you may not be good at these things, but working on these skills will make you a better HR manager.
