Retail Finances and Human Resources

Whenever there is a company hiring large groups of employees, there needs to be administrative people to take care of employee-related issues. This is where the human resources and finance departments come into play.

The human resource and finance personnel are the only people who have almost nothing to do with selling products in the retail industry. Instead, they are focused on employee relations. In that sense, they are responsible for the morale in the store – without good employee relations, the store’s employees will not work as hard and, in turn, not sell as many items.

Human resource workers deal with a number of issues. You’ll likely need a degree for this job, although specific requirements vary from store to store. In this position, you’ll likely handle things like benefits, employee training, seminar participation, employee recruitment, in-house communication, working condition problems, hiring and firing, promotions, union communication, and all other issues with employees. There may be one human resources worker, or, in a larger store, there may be whole teams that are all responsible for specific duties.

Most retail stores also have someone (or a team) in charge of finances. They work under the umbrella of human resources and are in charge of paying employees on time. Every week, they’ll review your time card, note weird punches, compared to the schedule, and calculate your earnings. They may also be responsible for dealing with retirement funds, calculating commission, and setting up direct deposits. In most cases, you’ll also need a degree to work in finances, as you do to work in human resources. Many people make a successful career in these fields.