Personnel management: basics, goals and central tasks

It was recognized that employees significantly influence company results through their skills and qualities. Indeed. The success of a company stands and falls with them, which is why HR management must always maintain a balance between the requirements of the company and the needs of the employees. Let’s take a look at the resources, methods and design options available to modern HR management.

Typical objectives of personnel management

The main objective of personnel management is to ensure that all areas of the company are staffed with qualified specialists at all times. This is particularly important due to demographic change and the general shortage of skilled workers.

Further objectives of personnel management

The objectives of HR management encompass both economic and social aspects. From a business perspective, it is about providing the company with qualified employees and deploying them efficiently in order to optimize personnel costs. At the same time, it is important to perceive employees as people and take their individual needs into account. Satisfied employees perform better, identify more strongly with the company and thus contribute to its success.  HR managers therefore have three further objectives:

• To harmonize employee needs and corporate goals
• To ensure and increase employee satisfaction
• Reduce personnel costs and maintain competitiveness

It seems like squaring the circle: for HR management to be meaningful and target-oriented, HR managers must harmonize corporate goals and employee needs, increase employee satisfaction and at the same time reduce personnel costs in order to ensure the company’s competitiveness.

Tasks of personnel management to achieve objectives

Essentially, modern HR management focuses on the workforce. The goals just outlined are to be achieved through typical tasks. First of all, HR managers differentiate between potential new employees and the current team. At this point, it is worth distinguishing between external and internal HR management. External HR management focuses on future team members and deals with personnel planning and recruitment. Internal HR management, on the other hand, deals with the administration and development of personnel, salary management, employee evaluation and personnel controlling.

Obviously, HR tasks can already be divided into more strategic personnel management and areas of activity with an administrative character. Salary management, recruiting and personnel development lie on the strategic axis, whereas classic personnel administration is responsible for the effective, smooth running of all HR processes. However, all of these HR tasks have the goal of sustainably advancing the company and strengthening its market position.

6 Tasks of personnel management summarized

• Strategic personnel planning: how many employees are needed in which areas of the company and with which qualifications? Requirements planning for employees and the necessary qualifications for short, medium and long periods of time is fundamental. For HR management, the aim is to always have the right specialists available to ensure the smooth running of the company.
• Recruiting: Recruiting aims to identify and ultimately attract new employees. As soon as a position is vacant or newly created. The most important aspects of recruitment include creating a requirements profile, publishing job advertisements, managing applications and finally selecting suitable staff in collaboration with the relevant specialist department. Recruitment is carried out both internally and externally.
• Personnel administration: As an important part of personnel management, it handles all administrative tasks in the HR area, from recruitment and onboarding to the departure of employees. Personnel administration is also responsible for drawing up contracts, managing remuneration, i.e. payroll accounting, etc., and communicating with the authorities. Handling these HR processes transparently and promptly promotes employee satisfaction.
• Talent management or personnel development: it organizes and manages all measures aimed at maintaining and expanding the skills of employees. This includes various measures such as training courses, coaching, training, job rotations, mentoring programs and retraining. Of course, HR management also takes the interests of employees into account. A well-thought-out HR strategy significantly increases employee satisfaction.
• HR controlling: HR controlling analyzes and prepares important personnel data and key figures. This information enables HR management and the company to make well-founded decisions and develop effective HR management strategies. As an integral part of corporate controlling, HR-relevant data and evaluations help to monitor all projects and HR processes and make adjustments where necessary.
• Employee evaluation: Feedback on employee performance is a key aspect of human resources management, both for HR management and for the employees themselves. To ensure smooth cooperation and high quality within the company, many employers regularly carry out employee evaluations. From a business perspective, these evaluations are an important part of the reward system, which is intended to motivate employees to actively participate in company activities and contribute their skills. Staff appraisals are used exclusively for internal purposes.

Who can benefit from HR management?

It is used by organizations, companies and individuals. The main strength of personnel management is to position the company as an attractive employer on the market – whether this market is national or global. In the current battle for the best talent, there is a great opportunity to attract these employees by differentiating yourself from the competition through clever HR management. It is suitable for:

• Companies: Both small and large companies use human resource management to recruit, develop and manage their employees.
• Non-profit organizations: These organizations use personnel management to coordinate and motivate volunteers and employees.
• Public administration: Government agencies and public institutions use personnel management to efficiently manage their workforce.
• Educational institutions: Schools and universities use human resource management to organize teachers and administrative staff.
• Self-employed and freelancers: Individuals can also use personnel management tools to manage their own projects and any employees they may have.

What characterizes modern personnel management?

Modern HR management is an integral part of corporate management that goes far beyond the mere administration of employees:

By using modern HR technologies and promoting a positive workplace culture, modern HR management contributes to employee motivation and satisfaction. Flexible working models and work-life balance measures are just as important as compliance with legal and ethical standards. Furthermore, human resources management plays a crucial role in implementing sustainable and socially responsible practices. Overall, personnel management strengthens a company’s competitiveness and creates a working environment in which employees can develop their full potential.

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