We outline the key differences between HR and L&D so you can get the most out of both of these business functions.
Despite our ever-increasing moves to technology, and AI in particular, people are still important.
In fact, you could say its more important than ever.
Your people factories, human resources (HR) and learning and development (L&D) are key when it comes to building a company that talent wants to join and grow at. And not only that, but building success in your business; no matter what that looks like.
But understanding the difference between these two functions is crucial.
According to Forbes, 58% of employees said they would leave their company if they didn’t have professional development and/or training opportunities
Let’s explore the unique roles that HR and L&D play, and why both are essential to a thriving business.
We’ll go through:
- What HR is
- What L&D is
- The difference between HR and L&D
Let’s get started.
What is HR?
HR, or human resources, is the department in an organisation that manages and supports its workforce.
At its core, HR is all about helping employees perform at their best while ensuring the company follows employment laws and fosters a positive workplace environment.
What is HR’s role in a business?
One of HR’s key roles is recruitment and staffing.
This means handling everything from advertising job vacancies to interviewing and hiring new staff.
Once a new employee is hired, HR looks after onboarding and training, helping new starters settle in and providing ongoing development opportunities.
HR also deals with compensation and benefits.
This includes managing salaries, bonuses, pensions, and things like healthcare and other perks.
They play a vital role in performance management, keeping track of how employees are doing, setting goals, and supporting them if improvements are needed.
Another important part of HR’s job is employee relations.
This involves resolving conflicts, ensuring staff are engaged, and maintaining a positive working atmosphere.
In addition, HR ensures the company complies with all relevant employment laws, such as those relating to pay, working hours, anti-discrimination, and health and safety.
HR also focuses on building a strong workplace culture, often working on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to ensure everyone feels welcome and valued.
In a nutshell, HR is essential for hiring the right people, keeping staff happy and productive, and ensuring the company operates within legal and ethical boundaries.
How does HR impact a business?
HR plays a crucial role in the success of a business by managing its most valuable asset, its people.
HR impacts a company by recruiting and retaining top talent, fostering a positive workplace culture, ensuring compliance with labour laws, and developing employee skills through training and performance management.
By aligning workforce strategy with business goals, HR helps drive productivity, reduce turnover, and create an environment that supports growth and innovation.
What is L&D?
L&D, or learning and development, is a crucial part of human resources focused on enhancing employees’ skills, knowledge, and overall performance.
Related: Why L&D is outdated
The goal is to help employees grow in their roles, contribute more effectively to the organisation, and advance in their careers.
What is L&D’s role in a business?
One of the main areas of L&D is training programmes.
These can be delivered in various ways—through face-to-face sessions, online courses, or a mix of both—and cover everything from technical skills to leadership and communication.
Related: Benefits of L&D
L&D also takes care of professional development.
This involves offering employees opportunities to further their careers, whether through workshops, certification programmes, or specialised courses.
A key focus for many organisations is leadership and management development.
L&D creates programmes to prepare future leaders, equipping them with vital managerial skills, strategic thinking, and decision-making abilities.
L&D encourages employees to keep learning, adapting to new technologies, industry trends, and changes in the workplace.
Your learning teams also plays a big role in talent development.
They identify employees with high potential and create tailored learning plans to help prepare them for future roles.
In short, L&D ensures that employees have the knowledge and skills to succeed now and in the future, benefiting both the individual and the organisation as a whole.
How does L&D impact a business?
L&D significantly influences a business by enhancing employee skills, boosting engagement, and supporting career growth.
Through targeted training programs and continuous learning opportunities, L&D helps employees adapt to changing industry demands and technological advancements.
This not only improves individual performance but also drives overall organisational effectiveness. By fostering a culture of growth and learning, L&D contributes to higher retention rates, innovation, and long-term business success.
Are HR and L&D different?
HR and L&D functions are often grouped together in the workplace as they’re both focussed on people; however, they do each have slightly different goals.
HR functions have a strategic focus on policy, compensation, regulation, management and performance.
They’re also typically reactive when it comes to employee management, i.e., when there’s a problem, HR steps in to mediate.
L&D however, centres more around employee skills, knowledge and competence, taking a much more proactive approach to increase employee satisfaction and retention.
This is commonly done by providing tools for employees to learn on the job and chart their career path.
What are the similarities between HR and L&D?
HR and L&D share several key similarities, as both focus on supporting and developing employees within an organisation.
- People-centred: Both HR and L&D are primarily concerned with people.
HR manages employee well-being, relations, and performance, while L&D focuses on enhancing skills and knowledge to help individuals grow in their roles. - Employee development: They both play a role in developing employees.
HR often handles performance management and career progression, and L&D complements this by providing the training and learning opportunities necessary for that development. - Improving organisational performance: HR and L&D work towards improving overall organisational performance.
HR ensures that the right people are in the right roles, while L&D equips employees with the skills to perform their duties effectively and adapt to future challenges. - Compliance and best practices: Both departments ensure that the organisation follows best practices and complies with regulations.
HR deals with legal compliance related to employment laws, while L&D ensures that employees are trained in necessary areas like health and safety, industry standards, and ethical conduct. - Employee engagement and retention: HR and L&D both contribute to employee satisfaction and retention.
HR works on building a positive work environment and addressing employee concerns, while L&D provides opportunities for growth, learning, and career advancement—key factors in retaining talent.
What are the differences between HR and L&D?
There are several key differences between HR and L&D, even though they both focus on supporting employees.
- Scope of responsibility: HR has a broader focus on overall employee management, including recruitment, compensation, performance, and employee relations.
L&D, on the other hand, specifically concentrates on employee training, development, and learning opportunities. - Day-to-day functions: HR deals with tasks like hiring, handling grievances, managing payroll, and ensuring legal compliance.
L&D focuses more on designing and delivering training programmes, identifying skills gaps, and promoting continuous learning within the organisation. - Strategic focus: While both departments contribute to organisational goals, HR often focuses on operational needs such as filling positions, managing performance, and ensuring workplace compliance.
L&D takes a longer-term, strategic approach by developing employees’ skills and preparing them for future roles or industry changes. - Employee life cycle: HR is involved at every stage of the employee life cycle, from hiring and onboarding to retirement or exit.
L&D typically becomes more relevant after an employee has joined, concentrating on their ongoing development and career progression within the company. - Immediate vs. future needs: HR often focuses on immediate needs, such as resolving conflicts, addressing performance issues, or filling vacancies.
L&D is more future-focused, aiming to equip employees with the skills and knowledge they will need to adapt to changing job demands or to advance in their careers.
In summary, HR manages the broader aspects of employee relations and organisational needs, while L&D is specialised in fostering growth, learning, and future development.
Should a business keep HR and L&D separate?
It’s not unusual for HR and L&D functions to be merged together in a company, though it’s often because there’s the thought that they do the same job.
It’s never been an exact rule that L&D should sit with or under HR; they’re both individual functions in their own rights and both crucial to a successful business operation.
And whilst yes, their functional goals do touch each other, merging them together too much can force HR to act as the middleman between L&D and business leaders.
As a result, that can make it more difficult to understand the wider goals, the challenges of reaching them and where L&D plays its part, as it leaves planning and goal setting in a place where it’s constantly filtering through the HR department.
In an ideal world, you would position each department as equals; making L&D a partner to HR.
Is L&D still as important now that more people work remotely?
L&D wasn’t immune to the impact of the pandemic, yet the 2021 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report shows even with so many employees now working remotely, from home or on a hybrid pattern, it hasn’t taken a step back.
59% of L&D professionals listed that upskilling and reskilling was their top priority, shortly followed by leadership and management at 53% and virtual onboarding with 33%.
This indicates a need for more learning and development opportunities which can be accessed online at any point.
The report also highlights that a total of 64% of professionals now agree that L&D has shifted from a “nice to have” to a “need to have”, with of 75% of digital Gen Z employees believing that online learning is the key to a successful career.
When done right, L&D has been known to improve workplace culture, bridge skills gaps, and increase employee retention rates.
How to improve your business outcomes
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We support organisations looking to surpass their learning goals, and use learning as a key lever for business goals too.
With over 20 years of experience delivering learning solutions, we’ve helped all manner of organisations across sectors from small-scale start-ups and large enterprises.
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