As a small business grows, the owners may find they need more than one human resource worker to handle all job duties in this department. While a large corporation may employ a human resource manager who oversees associates and assistants, a small business may have a human resource associate who reports to other company management and supervises an assistant. The associate generally performs higher-level tasks, while the assistant is responsible for administrative duties.

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Assistant Duties

Human resource assistance (HR Assistance) maintain employee records. They enter information into spreadsheets and databases for new employees and update records of current employees. These records include the employee's name, address, job title, pay rate, earnings, benefits such as health insurance, tax withholdings and other withholdings, such as child support payments. The HR assistance may call references provided by job applicants to verify previous employment. She also may administer skills or personality testing for applicants and schedule urine drug tests.

Associate Duties

A human resource associate is involved in both the recruiting of new employees and retention of current ones. The associate creates and places ads for job openings, sets appointments for interviews and performs some initial interviewing of applicants. She creates and implements programs for new employees, such as orientation and workshops on company policies. Developing and implementing programs that increase employee retention is another responsibility of the human resource associate. She works for conflict resolution when workplace issues arise among employees.

Requirements

A HR assistance generally only needs a high school diploma or an equivalent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. An associate, on the other hand, may need a bachelor's degree in human resources, business or a related field, along with knowledge of relevant state and federal laws and regulations. Both the assistant and associate need excellent communication, interpersonal and organizational skills.

Job Outlook

The bureau expects jobs for human resource assistants to decline because of increasing office automation and use of electronic files. This means less need for data entry and recordkeeping. In contrast, employment for all jobs under the broad umbrella of human resource specialists will probably grow much faster than the average through at least 2018.