Before I answer your question, I must tell you a humorous story. For all the years that I worked in corporate HR, the only thing Mr. Bartender ever saw of me was what I did at night and on weekends. This was the fun stuff, like decorating employee parties or finding purple star cookies to open up benefits enrollment. Mr. B was offered a job at an HR marketing firm and was given weeks of training on HR topics. You know, stuff like FMLA and EEO. He comes home one night and tells his wife, “OMG! This is what I did all day!”
This is why the question is so important. It’s amazing to me how many people are aware of how HR spends their time.
Although I don’t like answering questions with “it depends”, it is true that it depends. Let’s look at some assumptions.
These generalists are what we’re referring to. If we were to refer to a training specialist, then they train all day. Generalists can handle a bit of everything.
This industry is not open 24 hours a day. It’s impossible to know what you might be doing every day if you work in a 24-hour business. Many times, I have left the office intending to finish a project that day. Someone does something dumb on the overnight shift. That’s my surprise new agenda item the next morning.
It doesn’t happen at a particular HR time of the year. Let’s face the facts – there is an open enrollment period, holiday party, summer picnic, and maybe even a evaluation or seasonal recruitment time. These are the times when everything else is put on hold and we can complete the major project.
I would get twenty different answers if I asked twenty HR professionals how they spend their time. Let’s help this reader.