The Guide to HR Training for Managers

Today’s workplace can be complex, including everything from regulatory guidance to social interactions, which is why you need strong HR training for your managers. Researchers have found that many staff members don’t receive leadership training until their late 30s or early 40s, which is far later than they start to become leaders (in their mid to late 20s).

Making sure your managers have received proper HR training is vital to your organization’s growth and success. Workplaces that lack proper HR training may see increased complaints to their HR department or significant employee relations issues. HR training can also help whenever a large number of managers are hired or promoted.

Let’s walk through the benefits and methods of HR training for managers.

Why You Need Basic HR Training for Managers

Regulatory & Legal Compliance

Businesses are subject to a number of federal, state, and even local regulations and compliance policies and managers are critical to an organization’s adherence.

These regulations, span subjects from preventing sexual harassment and discriminatory interviewing practices to keeping personal information secure and obtaining proper work eligibility documentation.

Not abiding by growingly complex compliance-related regulations could land your business in hot water with a wide range of government entities, resulting in fines or worse. Your managers need to be informed, trained, and competent in all applicable compliance-related policies because the stakes are so high.

Not only do untrained managers put your business at risk, but you could personally be held liable in the event you participated, knowingly or unknowingly, in their actions or inactions.

As EEOC complaints continue to rise, training for HR managers isn’t just a smart business move, it’s a necessary one.

Professional Development

Often, top individual contributors are the ones who are promoted to managerial roles. The expectation is that what made them great specialists will translate into being great managers, which means new managers are rarely trained for their new role. Unsurprisingly, many of them struggle.

HR training is an opportunity to build foundational skills for your new managers and demonstrate your investment in their continual growth. 

Leadership Skills

People don’t leave jobs, they leave bad bosses. HR training for managers not only teaches them practices that reduce organizational risk, it also teaches how to be better leaders. HR training for managers instills more equitable practices for hiring, firing, and promoting staff.

It also equips them with the tools they need to approach difficult conversations. Almost 70% of US managers are scared to talk to their employees. Training managers on how to have critical conversations can have a huge ROI. Most personnel and team cohesion challenges can be avoided by having performance discussions earlier on. 

Key HR Training Topics for Managers

HR Compliance

As previously mentioned, HR compliance isn’t something that today’s businesses can ignore. Employees are more empowered than ever. This is not only something companies should do, it’s often required with non-compliance resulting in far-reaching penalties. HR training for managers and supervisors is a cost-effective way to reduce risk for your organization and to create a more equitable work environment. It can ensure that your business complies with all regulations and legally required employment policies.

Recruitment and Onboarding

For untrained managers, hiring new employees can be a minefield of potential compliance and bias issues. What questions can or can’t be asked during an interview? What documents need to be retained in case an applicant claims discrimination?

Beyond avoiding a lawsuit in the hiring process, HR training for managers also helps instill practices that lead to better hires. For a growing business, training managers on how to recruit the right people in the right seats is well worth the investment. A good hire pays dividends while a failed hire can cost an organization dearly—about 30% of the individual’s first year potential earnings.

Managers trained in onboarding best practices also has a high return. The first 90 days of a new hire are critical in reinforcing that the candidate made the right decision, making them less likely to leave the organization before they get started, and it also sets everyone up for success. With proper onboarding, your new hire is aware of what they need to do, how to do their job, and where they can get help if they need it as they’re learning the new position.

Employee Relations and Conflict Resolution

People are complicated, and they often bring in outside stresses, even when they do their best to separate work from home. Having managers who don’t know how to handle those complications and navigate interpersonal dynamics can quickly lead to festering conflicts, resentment, and ultimately a toxic work environment.

Consider a situation where interpersonal conflict arises between team members due to miscommunication or differing working styles. Without proper intervention, small disagreements can escalate into larger issues, causing friction and disrupting team harmony. If team members feel undervalued or misunderstood, it can lead to frustration and decreased productivity. If left unaddressed, this can result in talented employees leaving the company or disengaging from their work, which creates a negative atmosphere and significant costs for the company.

With proper HR training for managers, this misunderstanding can be turned into a learning opportunity to identify what went wrong, fix the problem, and prevent it from happening in the future.

If you find that employee relations are strained, or you’re struggling with conflict resolution in your team, it is a clear sign your team would benefit from HR training for managers. 

Performance Management

Performance management is critical for the success of your organization. Having a high-performing team is important, but it must be nurtured, encouraged, and rewarded. Providing HR training for managers will give them the tools they need to give timely and constructive feedback—as well as hold employees accountable.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

HR training for managers is a first step toward creating a work environment where employees can bring their entire self to work. With proper training for HR managers, you can set up your company and your employees for success. Research has shown a significant correlation between diverse management teams and innovation, which is one of many positive benefits that DEIB training can bring to your organization.

How to Get Started with HR Training for Managers

There are a variety of options for HR training for managers. At HR Collaborative, we highly recommend hands-on team workshops that are designed to engage participants and collectively work through common scenarios. We also recommend continual learning for managers through individual training and coaching. 

Talk to the HR Training Experts

Interested in learning more about HR training and how it can improve your business? Contact us today.