Although HR is not a big department in most organizations, HR processes have a major impact on the employee's efforts for delivering services or product.

HR people handle the responsibility of retaining the employees while balancing the financial needs of the company.

Compensation and benefit areas taken care of by the HR department include payroll administration, time and attendance management, leave policy, stock options and so on. Six Sigma Projects such as reducing time for the paycheck deposition process, faster performance review systems and eligibility study for ESOPs can be considered for the betterment of these activities of the HR.

There could be a need for Six Sigma projects like improving multiple payroll systems for remote locations and reducing errors in employee information database.

HR personnel have to take care of areas like employee absenteeism, dispute resolution, health and safety issues, union negotiations, interpersonal communication and discrimination and harassment issues. Six Sigma projects can be undertaken to address the discrimination and harassment by way of monitoring and compliance audit, systems for improved communication among employees and executives

Six Sigma projects can aim at overall organizational development with regards to improvements in the career and succession planning, leadership, change management, workplace planning and organization, performance improvement and communication programs.

Staffing, Training and Retention - One basic responsibility of the HR department is staffing, background checks, selection and training and retention of employees. They have to design and schedule training and development programs for new employees, as well as existing ones.

They also have to handle employee contracts for permanent and temporary employees and manage the process of relocation and outsourcing of employees. They have to manage the retrenchment issues and exit interviews. There can be projects like creating self-learning and evaluation modules for the employees.

Projects to improve the hit rate for job postings followed by quick responses to the applicants, reduction in unnecessary security checks and so on can be undertaken by the HR department as Six Sigma projects.