I don't know what your company structure is and who else is involved in the HR team, but it's not necessarily a barrier to progression to be viewed as admin, it's just a challenge!

Are there things that you have learnt about on your course that you could suggest implementing or changing? Can you put some of your learning into action? Could you work alongside managers or other functions? Can you help to open their eyes to the possibilities within HR?

In reply to Polly:

Hi Polly, thanks for your reply! Sorry, I should have explained further in my original post. Those in power are not interested to listening to anyone who doesn't already sit on their table. I am in the process of writing some policies and putting together an employee handbook although these have to go through the QMS before they can be implemented. Things that are already perceived to be a HR task, we have control over, how we run inductions for example. But for example, 121s and training systems we aren't involved in, benefits packages "we don't need", culture "isn't a problem".

It is just myself and one other dealing with HR, alongside Accounts.

In reply to Sophie:

I think you have to seize the opportunities where you can find them. Induction, for example, is such a massively important part of engaging new staff, and can be a factor in engagement and retention - so I wouldn't call that just an admin task! You said you're writing policies and a staff handbook, again those are crucial in setting cultural and organisational expectations.

I'm not sure what the nature of your organisation's business is, but identifying ways you can help them achieve their core objectives will more likely provide you with opportunities. For example, do you do exit interviews? If you don't; this could be a place to start, it's something you and your HR colleague can handle so no burden on anyone else, and you can start gathering data. If you find out that people are leaving because they are not getting development and progression opportunities, you now have a financial case for introducing more L&D (because it's almost certainly cheaper than recruiting for and training a brand new staff member).

That's just an example, but using real data and examining the problems your own business is facing, will make your suggestions for change more relevant to those in charge.