Manage human resources activities
Little of this can be handed to software today.
The reporting and paperwork around management automate well. Directing, developing and evaluating people does not, and people do not accept it when it is attempted on them.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Managing, training and developing people |
| Jobs that do it | 15 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | Enterprise platforms |
| O*NET activity | Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates (4.A.4.b.4) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 15 occupations that perform it.
- Direct human resources activities, including the approval of human resource plans or activities, the selection of directors or other high-level staff, or establishment or organization of major departments.
- Plan and direct staffing, training, and performance evaluations to develop and control sales and service programs.
- Oversee payroll functions, such as maintaining timekeeping information and processing and submitting payroll.
- Develop, implement, manage, or evaluate policies and methods to protect personnel against harassment, threats, or violence.
- Direct preparation and distribution of written and verbal information to inform employees of benefits, compensation, and personnel policies.
- Oversee the evaluation, classification, and rating of occupations and job positions.
- Plan, develop, and provide training and staff development programs, using knowledge of the effectiveness of methods such as classroom training, demonstrations, on-the-job training, meetings, conferences, and workshops.
- Appoint individuals to faculty positions, and evaluate their performance.
- Direct recruitment, placement, and evaluation of architecture or engineering project staff.
- Organize and direct worker training programs, resolve personnel problems, hire new staff, and evaluate employee performance in dining and lodging facilities.
- Plan, implement, and administer programs and services in a health care or medical facility, including personnel administration, training, and coordination of medical, nursing and physical plant staff.
- Recruit personnel or oversee the development or maintenance of staff competence.
- Implement and evaluate staff, volunteer, or community training programs.
- Perform managerial duties, such as creating work schedules, creating or implementing staff training, matching staff expertise to situations, or analyzing performance of offices.
- Assign security personnel to posts or patrols.
- Plan, direct, supervise, and coordinate work activities of subordinates and staff relating to employment, compensation, labor relations, and employee relations.
- Develop or administer special projects in areas such as pay equity, savings bond programs, day care, and employee awards.
- Manage the design and development of tools to assist employees in benefits selection, and to guide managers through compensation decisions.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Buy nothing. The reporting and paperwork around management run on whatever you already use for documents, and the part that is actually managing people does not automate at any price.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
The rest of the category
Context, not alternatives to weigh up. We name the layer rather than promise a named product does your specific task.
Enterprise platforms
Matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Check any of them can reach the system your records actually live in — that connection, not the model, is where these projects stall.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
15 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Administrative Services Managers
- Architectural and Engineering Managers
- Atmospheric and Space Scientists
- Chief Executives
- Compensation and Benefits Managers
- Education Administrators, Postsecondary
- First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers
- Food Service Managers
- Human Resources Managers
- Medical and Health Services Managers
- Natural Sciences Managers
- Sales Managers
- Security Managers
- Social and Community Service Managers
- Training and Development Managers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Manage human resources activities”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Coordinate personnel recruitment activities | 5 |
| Direct employee training programs | 4 |
| Coordinate training activities | 2 |
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.