| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Human Resources |
| Level | Mid level |
| Reports to | HR Manager |
| Direct reports | None |
| Experience | 3 to 6 years in HR roles covering more than one HR area |
HR Generalist job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: HR Generalist
Department: Human Resources
Reports to: HR Manager
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
An HR Generalist handles the full range of HR work, usually as the main HR person in a smaller company or site, or as one of a small HR team. The role covers recruitment, onboarding, attendance and leave, payroll inputs, policy queries, engagement, appraisal cycle support, compliance support and exits. It reports to the HR Manager, or to the business head where there is no HR manager. A good HR generalist knows every employee by name and keeps the basics running without gaps.
Key responsibilities
- Post jobs, screen CVs, schedule interviews and coordinate offers for open positions at the company or site.
- Complete joining formalities, collect documents, set up employee records and walk each new joiner through their first day.
- Monitor daily attendance, handle missed punches and leave queries, and close attendance for payroll every month.
- Send monthly payroll inputs covering new hires, leavers, overtime hours and deductions, and answer payslip questions from employees.
- Explain HR policies to employees and managers, and keep the policy documents current.
- Run the local appraisal cycle by sending goal-setting reminders, collecting ratings and issuing letters.
- Organize engagement activities, festival celebrations and recognition for the site.
- Support compliance by collecting PF, ESI and nomination forms, maintaining registers and helping during audits.
- Handle simple grievances and conduct issues, and escalate serious cases to the HR Manager with the facts.
- Process resignations and exits, including handover, clearance, exit interview and settlement inputs.
Requirements
- Graduate degree with an HR specialization, or a postgraduate HR degree such as MBA HR or MSW
- Working knowledge of PF, ESI, leave rules and the basics of the Labour Codes
- 3 to 6 years in HR roles covering more than one HR area
KRAs and KPIs for a HR Generalist
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Hiring | Open positions at the site filled within 30 days on average |
| Onboarding | Joining documents and records complete within 3 days of each joining |
| Attendance close | Attendance closed for payroll by the cut-off with no later corrections |
| Employee queries | Queries resolved within 2 working days |
| Engagement | At least one engagement activity held every month |
| Exit formalities | Clearance and exit interview completed for every leaver before the last working day |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: HRMS, MS Excel, Naukri or Indeed, MS Word, Biometric attendance system.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: HR Business Partner, Assistant HR Manager, HR Manager
Interview questions for a HR Generalist
- Walk us through a normal week in your current HR generalist role.
- An employee says their leave balance is wrong. How do you check it?
- How would you plan the joining of 10 people on the same Monday?
- A manager complains that HR is slow. What would you ask him?
- How do you decide which queries to handle yourself and which to escalate?
- What would you cover in a one-hour induction for a small office?
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What does an HR generalist do?
An HR generalist handles most HR work for a company or site: recruitment, onboarding, attendance and leave, payroll inputs, policy queries, engagement activities, appraisal support, compliance paperwork and exits. The role is broad rather than deep, and suits companies too small for separate HR specialists.
What is the difference between an HR generalist and an HR specialist?
An HR generalist covers many HR areas at a working level, from hiring to exits. An HR specialist goes deep into one area, such as payroll, compensation, recruitment, training or employee relations. Generalists are common in small and mid-sized companies, while larger companies employ specialists alongside HR business partners.
What qualifications are needed for an HR generalist?
A postgraduate HR degree helps, but many generalists start with a graduate degree and an HR diploma. Employers mainly want 3 to 6 years of hands-on work across recruitment, onboarding, attendance, payroll inputs and compliance, and a person employees find easy to approach.