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