An HR Generalist is a go-to person for all tasks in the human resources department of a company. Their job covers a large specter of responsibilities focused on employees and their wellbeing. This includes recruiting, onboarding, managing employee relations, administering benefits and compensation, and the professional and organizational development of employees.
An HR Generalist makes sure all procedures that fall under the human resources department run smoothly and bring value to the company. As the company grows, their role can shift from performing the tasks to overseeing and organizing responsibilities between other HR experts.
Similar Job TItles:
HR Director, HR Assistant, HR Specialist, HR Coordinator
What Does an HR Generalist Usually Do?
HR Generalists run the human resources department of a company and use their extensive knowledge to perform or organize strategic, logistic, administrative, and compliance duties within the company.
HR Generalists mediate between the staff, managers, and executives to ensure coordination between employee satisfaction and achieving company goals.
Here’s a list of activities An HR Generalist typically performs:
- Handles employment
- Manages the onboarding and training process
- Controls employee relations
- Handles employee compensation and benefits
- Ensures compliance with labor laws
- Manages absence administration
Handles employment
HR Generalists are in charge of conducting the hiring process to make sure only the best talents and qualified professionals fill in the job vacancies of the company. That implies posting job adverts, sourcing talents, performing job interviews, evaluating and narrowing down candidates, and sending job offers.
This is one of the most important segments of the HR Generalist’s job, as the responsibility of hiring the right candidate and retaining them falls directly on him. This segment serves to assess the HR Generalist’s capabilities of performing other hr-related tasks.
Manages the onboarding and training process
It is useful for any company to facilitate the onboarding process of the new hire, as well as invest in employees’ professional development. HR Generalist uses analytics features and reports to assess the need of providing more information, support, or training programs to employees.
They make sure employees are equipped with knowledge and skills to perform their daily tasks for the benefit of the company.
Controls employee relations
Handling employee relations is one of the more obvious tasks that HR Generalists perform. This includes managing employees’ daily challenges, as well as relationships with other staff members.
Activities that fall under HR Generalist’s responsibilities are training managers, handling harassment and other complaints, investigating misconduct, making suggestions to improve employee performance, and firing. The goal is to create a healthy and productive environment that will guarantee the company’s progress.
Handles employee compensation and benefits
HR Generalists serve as a mediator between employees and benefits providers. They offer guidelines for employees’ healthcare-related questions and refer them to carriers for clarifications.
Other administration processes that HR Generalists handle are pension and retirement plans as well as employee perks. Those perks can include on-site daycares, company cars, employee lunches, gym memberships, or team buildings.
Ensures compliance with the labor laws
One of the most important aspects that the HR department has to deal with is making sure all employer-employee relationships are handled according to labor laws and regulations. It is the HR Generalist’s job to create policies and procedures in accordance with the laws, as well as introduce them to employees.
They achieve it by providing constant communication, employee education and training, creating and updating employee handbooks, and conducting regular HR compliance audits.
Handles absence administration
Absence administration is another thing that falls under the category of HR Generalist job description. That involves handling employee leave programs for medical or personal purposes, such as maternity/paternity leaves, vacations, or any health-related leave.
Administering this task implies handling a lot of paperwork or keeping a precise record to be able to maintain compliance with the law.
Roles a HR Generalist Typically Collaborates With
Depending on the structure of the company, a HR Generalist can work closely with a number of different roles. Here are the most common ones:
| Roles Social Media Strategists Collaborate With | ||
| Marketing Director | Account Director | SEO Specialist |
| Recruiter | Brand Manager | Human Resources Manager |
| Director of Business Development | Account Manager | Account Executive |
HR Generalist Salary
The average annual salary for a HR Generalist in the United States is around $55,000.
Depending on the experience, the skillset, and the company, an HR Generalist’s annual salary can range between $41,000 and $71,000.
What is the HR Generalist Pay Difference By Location?
Here is how an average annual Social Media Manager salary differs in major U.S. cities:
| City | Average Annual Salary |
| San Francisco, CA | $74,091 |
| Seattle, WA | $62,092 |
| Denver, CO | $55,546 |
| Austin, TX | $54,658 |
| Washington, DC | $61,808 |
| Milwaukee, WI | $50,404 |
| Boston, MA | $60,958 |
| New York, NY | $64,297 |
What is the Social Media Manager Pay Difference By Experience?
The level of experience also impacts a Social Media Manager’s salary. Here’s a table of average Social Media Manager salaries by experience level:
| Years of Experience | Average Annual Salary |
| < 1 | $52,000 |
| 1–4 | $62,000 |
| 5–9 | $67,000 |
| 10–19 | $68,000 |
| 20+ | $82,000 |
HR Generalist Job Description Template
[Company Name] is looking for an experienced and energetic individual to become a part of our team in the role of the HR Generalist.
As an HR Generalist at [Company], you will serve as a vital member of our management and will be in charge of all hr-related practices. You are expected to implement different HR strategies to ensure a positive, productive working atmosphere, as well as an alignment with the company’s objectives. The goal of the HR Generalist is to create a relationship between our management and employees and achieve employee satisfaction while promoting our business strategies.
An ideal candidate has to be a well-spoken, organized, patient, and team-oriented person, with outstanding interpersonal skills and a desire for constant improvement.
HR Generalist Responsibilities:
- Handling recruiting and staffing logistics
- Managing and promoting employees’ personal and professional development for the sake of the company’s progress
- Facilitating communication between managers and employees
- Communicating and interpreting company policies and procedures
- Analyzing data and making recommendations for improvements to upper management
- Organizing compliance and other types of employee training
- Handling administrative tasks, such as benefits, leave programs, and employee perks
- Producing reports and presenting results of HR metrics
HR Generalist Requirements:
- A bachelor’s/master’s degree in human resources or any other related field
- + years of experience in working as an HR Generalist or in a similar role
- Extensive knowledge of employee benefits, recruiting, payroll, and managing employee relations
- The ability to collaborate and make strong, trustworthy connections with other members of the team
- Great organizational skills
- Outstanding verbal and written communication
- Experience with payroll and employee data maintenance