What to improve to work in HR

1. Legal knowledge

If you work in HR, you need to know labor laws or civil service statutes, depending on whether you work in the private or public sector. These skills are very important. They also need to be maintained, so it's important to keep up to date.

2. Budget management skills

Working in HR also involves managing payroll and the entire HR budget. It is important to have the skills to minimize costs and manage them as efficiently as possible. These skills are all the more in demand today, in times of crisis, when the resources of companies and even government departments are steadily shrinking.

3. Professional discretion

People working in HR departments have a huge amount of information that should not be disclosed: salary levels, marital status, illnesses, and so on. Divulging information can even be considered professional misconduct.

4. Multidisciplinary

Working in HR, you are constantly switching from one task to another. To handle tasks that aren't always interrelated, be versatile and nimble. After all, on the same day you may need to declare an industrial accident, conduct payroll and summarize the results of a training session.

5. Cross-functional project management

Human resources are diverse and are seen as a support department for others. Cross-functionality is necessary, for example, when working on occupational health or training issues. These issues affect all parts of the company or local authority. It is therefore important to have the ability to lead and manage projects.

6. Love of people

Human Resources confronts us with employees on a daily basis. Therefore, it is important to love people and enjoy helping them, otherwise it will be very difficult for you to fulfill your tasks. In particular, you need to have empathy and patience because not everyone you meet has the same expectations or the same level of understanding.

7. Knowledge of occupational health

Occupational hygiene is at the heart of working with staff. We are increasingly talking about physical risks and psycho-social risks. It is important to have basic knowledge, but above all to be able to find the right information when you need it. Occupational health advice is often important for employees who do not always have the right orientation.

8. Organizational skills

The field of human resources is very diverse and vast. As well as a lot of administrative work, there is also a lot of time-consuming work involving relationships between people.

You have to be very well organized to not only complete all tasks, but also to meet deadlines, such as payroll. This is all the more important because it is the HR department that people often turn to for advice on how to organize their work. This is why you need to create tools that can be used across multiple departments.

9. Office automation skills

As with all administrative jobs, you need to be proficient in various office software packages to work in HR. You must be able to write memos and letters, as well as create dashboards. For example, calculating payroll or absenteeism.

Finally, when conducting work meetings, it is very useful to be able to make presentations. It is also important to be able to use professional software such as payroll or managing vacations and various absences.

10. Modesty

HR professionals regularly teach us that the truth today won't necessarily be the truth tomorrow. That's why it's so important not to think you have a unique truth. When you work with people, it's clear that everyone has different values and experiences.

As a result, the reactions of different employees can be quite different. Moreover, this topic is so vast that you should never think you know everything.

11. A genuine desire to learn

Learning is important, not only because legislation changes regularly, but also because the demands and expectations of employees are constantly changing. It is crucial not to stop learning. In addition, there are regularly new constraints that you simply must learn to understand as best you can.

12. Accessibility

When a human problem arises, it is sometimes difficult to put it off until tomorrow. It's important to be accessible, both in terms of time and listening skills. Especially since employee problems won't necessarily stop once they leave the company. But while being available is important, you also need to be able to detach yourself from all the events you encounter.