Do practical tasks prevent you from running HR?

It can be hard to find time for HR when you also have to instruct the new cleaning contractor, order drinks for the fridge and call a technician to fix the coffee machine, right?

Have you ended up as the office octopus?

In both small and medium-sized companies, HR professionals are often tasked with more administrative duties. You may find yourself as the office octopus, suddenly responsible for the smallest things like calling in a plumber, ordering beer for the Friday bar or decorating the office, even though these are tasks that should really belong to a property manager or office manager. This is certainly a trend we have observed through our work running an Office Management platform and having daily contact with our customers.

What are the tasks of an HR employee?

If you're reading this article, you're probably aware of the typical duties of an HR employee. You may even be in an HR position yourself and recognize some of the above. But why is this the case? And why do the two positions overlap?

For the simple reason that it's your responsibility to ensure that each employee's needs are met. And that means the mundane things too. Just remember that it's not necessarily your responsibility to do the task, but it is your responsibility that it gets done. In other words, you can delegate your tasks to a bellhop, receptionist or office assistant.

How to delegate your tasks and make time for the important stuff

In our big report on"The recipe for the hybrid workplace", we had a chat with Obsidian Digital's Head of HR & Executive Assistant Diana Køhler, who explained how she manages an office in Copenhagen from her home office in Jutland. And Diana has made sure that she doesn't end up moving furniture around for the Friday bar or putting flowers on the birthday boy's desk. She does this, of course, because she's not in the office, but also because she has clearly divided the tasks that she is responsible for and the tasks that her two office assistants have to do.

Let's play with the idea that you, as an HR employee, are not physically at your workplace either. What tasks would you be able to perform? And what tasks would you have to delegate? If you figure this out, you'll not only find it easier to delegate, but also easier to plan which days you can work from home and which days you can stay in the home office. Which is unfortunately important in this day and age.

Diana and others in the same situation have had great success with the following simple exercise.

1. Spend 5 min. to list all the small tasks you've done that aren't HR and - with training - can be done by someone else.

2. Write next to each task how often it needs to be done and how long it takes.

3. Delegate to a colleague, for example. like Diana or find a service provider who can take responsibility for the task.

If you need inspiration for which areas or tasks can be delegated, write to our customer success team in the chat. They can help, and it doesn't cost anything.