HR Development Definition | Functions of Human Resource Development

HR Development Definition:- HR Development or human resource development is a framework that helps employees of a company to develop their skills and knowledge according to the need and requirements of competitive environments they faced in their day to day business matters.  This help employee to play an important role in the development and consistent growth of a business. We may also say that HR development plays an important role in career building of an employee.  Below are the 3 main functions of HR development that must be in your mind as business student as well as human resource development manager.

1. Engine of Economic Growth
2. Ensure the safe future of a company
3. Career Development and Business Consultancy

3 – Major Functions of HR Development

1. Engine of Economic Growth

The human resources development function ensures the renewal of the workforce and skills within the company. The development of human resource function controls the evolution of different populations of the company through the management of employment and skills, careers, training, and management rules of remuneration and promotion.

In this context, the recruitment function plays a major role because it is at the heart of these problems. It is part of the HR development choices by supplying the company with employees, skills and “potential”. It is present in all sectors, mainly in industry and services, in business or a service provider (human resources consulting firm or search firm).

In large groups, it is organized into dedicated services (by population category, type of profile, etc.), with several recruitment officers. In smaller structures, the function can be occupied by one person, who can also manage the administration of human resources.

Human resources managers take responsibility for recruitment processes on behalf of operational staff in the context of job creation or replacement. In business, these executives are attached to the Director of Human Resources or one of his or her deputies. In the board, the supervisor is usually the head of the firm or one of its partners.

From an HR development perspective, the recruitment function is divided into two main activities:

• Ensure an operational mission of recruitingon behalf of an internal client (company) or external (consulting firm): structure the application management process (application management software), help with recruitment communication (school relations , Recruitment fairs, websites …), perform recruitment, accompany integration into the company …
• To take on a more transversal role in advising and assisting operational staffin terms of workforce development and skills research (human resources consultancy in relation to organizational changes, HR studies on jobs or compensation by example).

The recruitment function covers recruitment, recruitment, recruitment, school relations (within the company), and research and recruitment consultants (in the consulting sector).

General trades, like the head of HR development, and the more specialized trades constitute the business of HR development. Some of the most important are compensation (compensation & benefits, remuneration, remuneration), HR studies (human resources manager, HR consultant), and career management (responsible for mobility, training)…

In companies, in large structures, the training function is made up of dedicated departments, managers and internal training prescribers. In small enterprises, it is supported by a managerial staff management team.

The training officers are attached to the human resources director or the HR development director, and more rarely to the general management or management of an institution. They must therefore:

• Take charge of relations with the joint collecting bodies (FONGECIF, OPCA, FAFIEC, etc.),
• Define the training plan according to the training needs expressed (in the light of regulatory developments), evaluate the budget and choose providers,
• Monitor the implementation of the training plan, evaluate the providers and the training actions and manage the training processes.

2. Ensure the safe future of a Company

The executives of the human resources development function become actors in the corporate strategy.

In times of shortage of executives, the challenges of the HR development function have a strong impact on the development and success of the company:

• Recruiting means choosing, but also conquering

In the national or international competition, the difference is more than ever on “human capital”. The labor market is experiencing certain tensions: the shortage of computer scientists over a long period, the strain on many managerial positions linked to the departure of older workers, the difficulty in finding skilled workers in certain service sectors (hotels, restaurants, Building, etc.), the appearance of new professions (CRM-relational marketing, etc.), competition within the same sector of activity or between close sectors (banking, insurance, etc.) and lack of experts for certain functions.

In this context, the challenge for a recruiter, whether working in a company or in a consulting firm, is first of all to “find the rare pearl” and then to convince her to join the internal or external client. The evaluation function is therefore always present but is reinforced by a role of “conquest” of the adapted profiles. At the same time, the methods for the detection of candidatures are diversifying and becoming more complex, in particular with the rise of e-recruitment. The recruitment manager as well as the recruitment consultant must master computerized search tools (on the internet or via application management software) and also implement their candidate search strategy in an international environment. The evaluation mission requires certain relevance (psychological as well as economic and cultural dimensions of recruitment). In addition to this competence, executives in charge of recruitment must demonstrate strength of conviction to “sell well a collaborative project”.

• An extension of the function to an HR development mission

The recruitment function is increasingly extending to other areas related to human resource development. While the recruitment consultant evolves into a human resources consultant role, the recruitment manager in the company broadens his field of expertise: mobility, employee loyalty, internal communication, skills management, quality…

The latter are now involved in the implementation of cross-functional or organizational projects, dealing with the HR dimension (setting up a pool of “talents”, identifying present or future skills shortages, benchmarking Emerging topics such as social marketing, taking into account intergenerational, etc.).

• The training function is increasingly involved in the professional development of employees

Training managers are the main players in the internal mobility of employees. Less focused on the administrative management of training, the training managers actively participate in the strategy of development of human resources in the company:

• A position revalorized but a place to defend

Two elements help to reinforce the position of the training managers:

• The flexibility of the company’s vis-à-vis their clients and the orientation towards new markets imply an increased adaptation of the employees: the acquisition of new skills throughout the working life is unavoidable.
• Legal developments (DIF, implementation of apprenticeship, law on social cohesion) entail new responsibilities for companies in the field of training.

Continuing education is a key part of the recruitment strategy and the development of internal mobility. Training frameworks now operate at the enterprise level. They participate in the construction of the training plan in relation to all the managers to identify the needs. They must reinforce their management skills in order to defend the necessary investments with multiple actors (human resources management, business departments or even the general management) in the context of cross-functional organizational projects (HRIS, etc.), or when setting up Management of jobs and skills. This is why the dual competencies RH-purchase, HR-legal, HR-finance are increasingly appreciated because the function requires more versatility.

Training managers are involved in the evaluation of providers and the identification of opportunities offered by the regulatory framework (sectoral agreements, inter-professional agreements, etc.).

Information system, e-learning, multimedia … training managers are open to new information and communication technologies (ICTs). 
The contribution of ICTs to lifelong learning has been considerable and has had an impact on:

• The orientation of the training process; The HRIS enabled to connect human resources management (management of jobs and skills) and continuous training (knowledge management) to create individualized pathways for employees.
• Management processes for in-house training; the new technologies have made it possible to decom-partmentalize the training function. The training manager’s work closely with the company’s other businesses (management control, payroll, purchasing, marketing, logistics, etc.).
• Pedagogical orientation; E-learning has developed in corporate clients or providers. New content is available for distance learning (at work or at home), and the development of interactive and more cost-effective multimedia content.

The managers of continuing education have had to familiarize themselves with these new modes of communication. In the company, they must acquire basic information systems management and get closer to the services of assistance to contracting authority. More broadly, they must go beyond their expertise to learn the new niche of pedagogical engineering represented by multimedia (websites, web conferences, podcasts, forums, etc.).

• The development of quality

Henceforth, continuing education is subject to performance requirements in terms of both the process and the satisfaction of trainees / clients. As a result, executives of the continuous function they perform at the customer or service provider must now take into account in their activity standards and quality labels in order to have their processes certified (ISO 9001 v2000, NF Service Training – AFNOR …). These labels sanction the involvement of the different actors throughout the training action: from the expression of the demand to its implementation (informing employees, designing the training offer, skills of trainers, evaluating The satisfaction of trainees at the end of the training module, etc.). Training managers must work with and respect these requirements and acquire quality management skills. In addition, they have the possibility of being certified themselves for a period of five years (certificate issued by the AFAQ Competences, certification profession: tutor in company).

3. Career Development and Business Consultancy

The human resources development managers can consider several types of mobility: work in a company or in a practice, be versatile or specialize.

The firm or the company? Many recruitment consultants aspire to join the company, most often as a recruitment officer. Others prefer to stay in the board. Most juniors (researchers) are moving towards recruitment consultant positions. The most experienced will seek to become partners, to take the lead or to create a firm. Conversely, some executives in the recruitment function who work in a HRD are considering pursuing their career in the firm to take on recruitment missions, more varied “business” or “sector” problems.

Hyper specialization or versatility? Some executives choose to stay in recruitment, others prefer to be versatile. Recruitment consultants can become human resources consultants. Recruitment officers can orient themselves or specialize in another field: to become responsible for mobility, responsible for HR development, training manager, etc.). On the other hand, there are far fewer changes in the management of personnel.

Executives in the continuing education function can move into positions within the training (training engineering) or human resources management activities.

Their professional and pedagogical experience acquired within the continuing education function allows them to envisage several types of professional mobility:

• Evolving towards the management of human resources

In a company, a training manager can evolve into a position of human resources manager or HR development manager. In the medico-social sector, for example, a director of training may take up the same functions in a larger structure, or gain access to a position of institutional head (health, medical or social).

• Crossing the bridge between the provision of training in consulting and in-house training

Executives with good expertise in operational positions in the company can move to a position as a consultant trainer or training facilitator for providers (consulting firms, organizations, etc.). In addition, training managers, project managers or training managers can move from a training firm or organization to a company.