Let’s Chat: Organizations need people

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on January 22, 2025.

Have you ever wondered what exactly Human Resource departments do for organizations and why it is extremely important for those organizations to have an in-house HR department?

I would like to share with you the value this has for organizations and the opportunities they are missing by having their HR people live in different cities than the organization they represent or by outsourcing HR duties to outside companies that are located in other provinces.

According to Workable.com, “Human Resources focuses on managing an organization’s most valuable asset, its employees. HR professionals ensure employees have the necessary resources for their tasks and foster a positive work environment. They handle various responsibilities, from recruiting and compliance to benefits and training.”

For me, the buzzwords in that definition are valuable asset, employees, and foster a positive work environment.

How can you do this if you do not have HR people actually working within that organization.

I have found that some companies within Medicine Hat have chosen to have their HR people living in various cities within this country or have outsourced their HR needs to companies that are located in Toronto or Vancouver. How does that work?

What does someone in Calgary or Vancouver or even Toronto (remember my recent article and my t-shirts reference to the center of the universe) know about what it takes to make an organization in Medicine Hat run effectively.

I started researching into what the benefits or positives are for having an HR department located within an organization and this is what I found:

• You can cultivate company culture. Imagine that.

Someone actually cultivating what companies are striving for and that is a positive culture within the workplace.

Employee engagement will be higher if there are actual face to face conversations taking place. Also, conflicts can have the opportunity to be resolved quicker by having someone actually sitting within an organization.

• Intellectual property and organizational practices stay in-house. This helps in the securing of confidential documents. Also, reduction in unethical practices is possible by having an in-house HR department.

• Reliable on-site assistance makes solving internal issues an easier process than by not having on-site people.

• Policies and procedures that match an organization’s mission and vision statements must be created and implemented by people within an organization.

• Legal compliance will be followed. Labor and employment laws vary between provinces and when you outsource your HR department to companies outside of your region, you run the risk of negligence on their part.

• They know what type of employees to hire. Anyone who has worked in HR knows that recruiting and hiring of qualified people is very time-consuming and demanding. Failure to find the right people or to keep those people can cost an organization dollars I am sure they do not want to lose.

For the betterment of any organization, big or small, people need to be there to support people and those people need to be in-house.

Have a Meowtastic Day and Keep Reading!

Linda Tooth is a part-time communications instructor at Medicine Hat College

20
-19