Office Managers as HR

office manager, administrative, human resources admin

Can’t my Office Manger do HR? I hear this question often. The answer I give – “it depends”. I know that answer probably drives you crazy. I get it. My follow up question is “Do they have an experience or training in HR?”. The standard answer I get it one of two, either, “no” or “they went to a seminar on HR once.”

So, would you trust your finances to someone who went to a seminar once? Then why would you put the responsibility of HR on such a person.

I know – that’s dramatic, yes, and it’s true. However, not all is lost.

An Office Manager with training and guidance can handle the administrative aspects of HR. A properly trained Office Manager can handle new hires, gathering open enrollment applications, payroll (if not done by accounting), organizing interviews, placing ads, and direct people to the proper resource when they have a question.

Then you can leave the strategy, training, unusual situations and employee relations piece to an HR Consultant. How does that sound?

Since most Office Manager are organized, detailed orientated, and know your people – it’s a natural fit to have them take over the administrative responsibilities. Who knows, maybe they will like it and want to learn and do more.

The key for success in this situation is getting them the proper training and ensure they use their new found skills. As they say “use it or lose it”. It will be easy for them to forget what they learned if it is not used on a regular basis. The thing is not all of the administrative aspects of HR are handled on a daily basis. So how can they remember when they don’t use it often.  Make sure they take detailed notes or create a manual to follow when they do need to follow the training they received.

After this long explanation, yes – your Office Manager can handle the administrative aspects of HR.

We offer one on one training for Office Managers with an Operations HR Manual (the how-to for when they need it). Learn more here.