Schools are responsible for educating the next generation. It’s therefore essential that schools are run as smoothly as possible so that teachers and staff can focus their attention where it matters most: on the students. Human resources is a vital part of the running of a school.
Roles and Responsibilities of HR in a School
No matter the type of organization, HR will be responsible for certain tasks and roles within that organization. At a school, HR plays a key role in ensuring the smooth running of the school so teachers and staff can focus on the students and education. But what exactly is HR responsible for in a school?
Hiring and Recruiting
HR in a school is responsible for ensuring that the school’s staffing needs are met each day. HR must ensure that the school hires the best possible teachers and staff members for each position. If a teacher calls in sick, HR may also be responsible for finding a substitute teacher.
Record Keeping
HR is also responsible for maintaining and keeping records. Employee records that are a part of each employee’s file are kept by HR. The school may also have records and files for students that need to be maintained.
Support Teachers and Staff
HR is the liaison between different departments and different types of employees. It’s HR that supports teachers and staff and smooths over the relationships between them as well as offering the support all staff members need to do their jobs well. HR will also be the liaison between school administrators and any unions that exist for employees.
Support School Administration
HR staff is also responsible for supporting the school’s administration. This may mean that HR staff is involved with multiple school committees. They may also have to interpret state and federal regulations, compliance information, procedures, and policies on behalf of administrators. HR may also be required to attend school board meetings and meet with the school board on a regular basis.
HR Challenges for Schools
Every HR department will face challenges that they have to solve for a smoothly functioning workplace. However, there are some challenges that schools in particular will face that HR will have to address. These challenges will need to be faced in order for schools to meet their educational goals.
Hiring and Retaining Teachers
In order for schools to meet their educational goals, it’s important for schools to hire the right teachers for the job. It’s also important to retain those teachers from year to year. Turnover can cost money and there are many teachers who either leave for different schools or leave the profession altogether, often because of low pay, long hours, and stressful job conditions.
Lack of Training
Every job has training that is required for the position. Even though teachers will have done the bulk of their training during their years of education for their teachers’ certification, there will still be some training needed to show new teachers the ropes at the new school and so they know what the expectations are. Staff also require training in order to do their jobs. However, schools are busy places and sometimes can suffer from a lack of training, which can increase turnover.
Managing Human Capital
The ultimate goal of any school should be to further the education of its students. That means that strategies for managing human capital should include strategies for hiring the right people and producing effective instructional strategies for teachers. However, this requires many different features of HR, including recruitment, training, performance management, and more to align perfectly.
Benefits of HR Software for Schools
Schools provide essential education for the next generation, so it makes sense to simplify any processes that aren’t directly related to the ultimate goals of education. HR software can help to reduce the paperwork and extraneous tasks that can bog a school system down. The following are a few ways that HR software can make a school operate more efficiently and effectively.
Not all HR software is ideal for schools, so it’s important to be particular when selecting a solution. Evaluate the HR needs of your school, with the specific requirements and characteristics of your district in mind, when reviewing the features and functionality of different systems. Make sure that you also consider customer support when evaluating your options, reviewing the experiences that other schools have had with software solutions.
Helps Schools Hire Great Teachers and Staff
Great teachers and staff are the keystones of a school. HR software can help your school to optimize hiring processes so that you can find and hire the most qualified teachers and staff while allotting fewer labor hours to posting job ads, reviewing applications, checking references, and conducting interviews. You may wish to utilize an “all-in-one” HRIS solution that includes recruitment functionality or purchase a separate applicant tracking system (ATS).
Provides Development Opportunities
HR software can be set up to provide access to training programs and learning management systems. Being able to access these programs and systems from mobile devices and computer allows teachers and staff to take advantage of development opportunities on their own time and at their own pace. This can help to ensure that certifications are acquired and can assist with continuing education.
Manages Scheduling
School scheduling software can help schools with all of their scheduling needs. Teachers may need to schedule subjects throughout the school day. Administrators may need to schedule substitute teachers to cover for teachers that are absent. Teachers and staff alike may need to keep track of hours worked. With so many different types of schedules, school scheduling can be difficult to manage manually. Education scheduling software can help ease this burden and make keeping track of schedules much easier.
Assists with Compliance and District Requirements
Compliance can get tricky as employment laws are updated and changed. To make things even more complicated, different districts may have different requirements regarding benefits, hours tracking, screening of school staff and teachers, and other issues. HR software can help you to keep all documentation straight, keep you up to date with changing laws and policies, and assist you with reporting.
Aligns Goals Across the Board
Goal setting and communication are important in ensuring that all students receive a consistent education, learning certain key elements about each subject despite having different teachers. HR software that is specifically designed for schools can be helpful in setting goals across classes, schools, and districts so that every student receives instruction that will help them to advance and prepare them for the future.
Improves Staff Autonomy
Teachers and school staff are often busy, continuously furthering their own knowledge and participating in community events while also grading papers, coming up with lesson plans, and planning for future events and classes.
Self-service portals available with many HR software packages allow teachers to view and update their personal information, request time off, and view pay information while on the go. This can provide teachers a higher degree of autonomy that allows them to spend their time on more meaningful activities.
Is your school looking for a HRIS to help manage HR processes and tasks? We can help you find the software that will best meet what your school needs. Visit our Software Match page to start your search today.
