Personnel administration is more commonly called human resources (HR) management. People are considered the most important resource a business has. HR or personnel administration refers to the areas of recruiting, selecting, assessing, developing and retaining employees.

Organization is a large part of personnel administration. Employees must be organized in a way that gets the work done. As long as employees are striving to be efficient in completing their employment responsibilities, companies usually work at retaining them. Keeping good employees saves the time and expense of replacing them. Laws pertaining to wrongful dismissal of employees must also be adhered to or a business could find itself in a lawsuit. The human resources department of a company instructs managers on proper conduct toward employees.

Recruiting and selecting successful employees at the start is a main objective of personnel administration. In many companies today, HR staff will conduct initial telephone interviews for advertised jobs to try to weed out unsuitable job applicants. A manager then has a lower number of higher qualified applicants to interview for the advertised position.

Once employees are hired, they may take part in training programs that have been developed or approved by HR personnel. During their employment, employees may be evaluated by managers who use assessment forms created by the company's personnel administration. Most companies use assessment forms during employees' performance reviews. A performance review allows a manager to evaluate an employee’s overall job performance and suggest any improvements. Performance reviews are often conducted before a raise in pay is considered.

Personnel administration handles issues in the workplace such as violence, discrimination or sexual harassment complaints. The personnel department must work within the law — therefore an understanding of laws pertaining to conduct in the workplace is important. Correct procedures and actions must be followed by the company or it could face legal consequences if employees take the matter to court. Following laws that apply to safe working conditions, minimum wage and overtime work is also crucial for personnel administration to focus on. The personnel department must always keep thorough records of all employees.