What is de facto HR?

De facto HR refers to the scenario where HR support is provided by either:

• An individual or department whose primary responsibility is not HR.
• An individual or department without formal training or experience in HR.  

If refers to the person to whom HR responsibilities have been assigned – often off the side of the desk from their 'real' job – but they haven't really been trained to do them.  

Small businesses often do not have the resources to hire a full-time qualified HR specialist and may assign HR administrative or more senior-level responsibilities to:

• The Business Owner
• Office or Operations staff
• Administrators
• An Executive Assistant
• The Head of Finance
• Accounting, or Payroll
• Line managers – when no formal or informal HR support exists, responsibility for the HR function and processes often falls to individual line managers