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From the Experts: Building a Next-Generation Human Resources Team
In this week’s episode of America Back to Work, S2Verify co-founder and chief strategy officer, Arnette Heintze, sits down with Jessica Gomez, an HR consultant at leading insurance, financial services, and HR consulting advisory firm OneDigital, to discuss optimal ways for HR leaders to organize and build their departments.
Gomez has worked in the human resources field for more than ten years, with more than half of those years in consulting. She holds a master’s degree in Human Resources and Employment Relations from Penn State University and her Professional in Human Resources (PHR) Certification, a credential that demonstrates deep knowledge of the technical and operational aspects of HR management.
Gomez is a true HR generalist and enjoys working with clients to develop effective policies and procedures, handle employee relations, and provide coaching and performance management.
To start her conversation with Heintz, Gomez explained the difference between HR generalists and HR specialists—a topic we covered this week on the blog. She describes a generalist as an HR professional with experience in several HR disciplines, such as recruitment, employee relations, and payroll processing.
“These employees tend to be very versatile and able to assist the organization in a variety of ways,” says Gomez.
On the other hand, specialists tend to have expertise in one specific area of HR rather than multiple disciplines. She believes that HR specialists “tend to hone in on an area they enjoy and become a subject matter expert.
According to Gomez, the best way to build a next-generation human resources team is to balance headcount between generalists and specialists and assess your organization’s size and budget. Generalists tend to be better for smaller organizations that don’t yet have the resources to hire specialists for each category, while specialists tend to be better for larger, well-resourced companies.
For smaller companies, fractional support can help when it comes to filling in the gaps. If a smaller company needs to focus on a specific project, like market analysis to assess pay scales followed by the implementation of a salary structure, they can hire consultants and freelance HR professionals to step in for that time period. But, Gomez warns against using fully outsourced HR talent versus hiring someone internally.
“There does come a point where an organization needs a full-time internal resource to deal with various employee relations issues and day-to-day work that requires a consistent onsite presence,” she says.
Hear more of Gomez’s tips for building a modern human resources team—including what she thinks the ratio should be of HR employees to employees and what the top three most in-demand roles are right now—by clicking here.