The expanding role of HR

By Emma Peterson. 

From safety and compliance to training and engagement, human resources plays a vital role in the long-term success of roofing businesses. 

Human resources (HR) is sometimes a part of running a business that might be overlooked. But it is one of the most important departments for building positive company cultures and navigating the current labor shortages/challenges. In a new Roofing Road Trips® podcast, Karen Edwards visits with Terri Davidson to dive into the importance of HR.  

Terri is the senior HR business partner at Tremco WTI, which puts her in charge of around 1,200 people across the nation. In her opinion, the importance of HR is multifaceted. First, she highlighted its role in safety and compliance, sharing, “The number one thing HR does is make sure that you’re care of safety and compliance in relation to your workers.”  

She then touched on how HR departments manage talent acquisition and onboarding as well as training and development. As Terri put it, “Something else HR takes lead on is talent acquisition and onboarding. Think about it, the first people your new recruits will talk to are the hiring managers (often HR managers) and its those interactions that will make them feel welcomed and encourage them to join your organization.”  

As for training and development, that’s another area where HR takes the lead. Terri explained:  

Especially with the labor challenges, retention is key. And a big part of retaining your talent is investing in them. And here at WTI, it’s my HR team that does a lot of the work, putting a lot of pro projects and programs together to improve employee engagement and help our individual employees grow and succeed. And I’ve seen firsthand how much those efforts have paid off in terms of engagement and retention.  

Overall, while building your HR department might not seem as fun as integrating new estimating or sales tools, it is an invaluable investment into the long-term success of your business.  

Listen to the whole podcast or Watch the recorded episode to learn more about the importance of building a strong HR department.