Working as a people professional in a large organisation

How people functions can be structured in large organisations 

For an organisation of a significant size, a people function could include hundreds of individuals working in a wide range of generalist and specialist roles.

There is no one size fits all HR operating model. Structures vary considerably, because what works for one organisation may not work for another. 

Typical responsibilities for people professionals in large organisations

In larger organisations, with bigger people functions, there are often multiple different roles for people professionals, including both specialist and generalist positions. What these roles look like will depend on the organisation's needs, varying from one organisation to the next.  

Typical responsibilities may include: 

• Recruitment 
• Reward and recognition 
• Performance management  
• People analytics and workforce reporting 
• Detailed financial and payroll planning  
• Health and safety  
• Contracts and management of outsourced HR providers 
• Strategic workforce planning 
• Learning and development 
• Talent management 
• Consultation and support for line managers 
• Employee engagement /experience 
• Organisational design 

Sometimes these can be covered by a single role but, in very large organisations, there is often a whole team dedicated to certain specialisms. However, teams and individual roles may also cover more than one specialist area, such as resourcing and talent management which can often be combined. Likewise, you might also have accountability for employee experience within an organisational development and design role.