In the IT world, where teams grow faster than Jira boards get updated, the HR Generalist becomes the person who holds everything together. An HR Generalist is a versatile HR professional who covers the entire spectrum of HR processes: from talent acquisition to building corporate culture. According to Bersin by Deloitte, 72% of companies with up to 100 employees have only one HR professional managing all HR processes from hiring to development. Why? Because it works.

In this article, we break down who an HR Generalist is, what they do in an IT company, which skills are critical in 2026 — and why without automation, this role turns into an endless obstacle course.

Who is an HR Generalist and How Do They Differ from an HR Manager?

What is an HR Generalist?

An HR Generalist is a multifunctional HR professional who doesn't specialize in one narrow area (like a recruiter or HRBP) but covers all HR processes in the company: from hiring to offboarding, from onboarding to organizing team buildings, from managing time off to conducting engagement surveys. In short: an HR Generalist is the person who does everything.

How Does an HR Generalist Differ from an HR Manager?

These two roles are often confused, but the difference is fundamental. An HR Manager is a strategist who builds the HR function, makes process decisions, plans hiring and development budgets, and manages the HR team. An HR Generalist is an executor who takes these processes and implements them daily: hires people, onboards new employees, and handles operational issues.

Simply put: an HR Manager thinks about how to build the system. An HR Generalist makes it work every day. In small IT companies, these roles can overlap, and an HR Generalist sometimes takes on strategic functions — but the basic logic remains unchanged.

According to the SHRM Capital Benchmarking Study, in small companies, the HR-to-employee ratio is approximately 1:40 — meaning one HR Generalist serves 40-50 people and performs 7-10 different HR functions simultaneously: from recruitment to compliance. In large organizations, these functions are distributed among specialized roles (separate recruiters, HRBPs, compensation analysts, L&D specialists). This isn't about cost-cutting — it's because early-stage companies need flexibility, not bureaucracy.

Key Responsibilities of an HR Generalist in an IT Company

The work of an HR Generalist isn't about one clear job description. It's about juggling a dozen tasks daily without dropping any balls. Below is a list of tasks and responsibilities that actually fall into the daily routine of an HR Generalist.

1. Recruitment and Talent Acquisition

What this means in reality:

• Searching for candidates on DOU, LinkedIn, Djinni

• Conducting initial screenings — filtering out irrelevant candidates, inviting suitable ones for interviews

• Coordinating technical interviews with team leads and tech leads

• Managing communication with candidates (and yes, sometimes this means explaining why feedback came in 48 hours instead of 24)

The main challenge:
The average time to fill a position in IT is 52 days. An HR Generalist working on multiple open positions simultaneously can close about 2-4 vacancies per quarter — these aren't record-breaking numbers for a recruiting agency, but it's a steady flow of new people without hiring a dedicated recruiter. The main challenge is quickly understanding whether a candidate fits technically, even if you're not technical yourself. This is where basic understanding of IT roles and the ability to ask the right questions helps.

2. Onboarding and Integration

What an HR Generalist does:

• Organizes the first working day: access, equipment, welcome meetings

• Prepares welcome packages (not necessarily merch, but at least a structured plan for the first weeks)

• Assigns a mentor or buddy

• Automates the onboarding process through HRM systems (for example, Tallenta allows you to set up automatic workflows with tasks for the new hire, HR, and mentor) — because manual checklists in Google Sheets tire everyone out and get lost at the worst possible moment

How it looks in Tallenta:
Instead of manually sending 15 emails to every new developer ("Here are the Jira access credentials," "Here are the corporate policies," "Here's the company presentation"), an HR Generalist sets up an automatic workflow in Tallenta — and everything happens without their involvement. The new hire receives everything on time, tasks are completed automatically, and HR saves time and nerves.

Read more about building effective onboarding that increases new employee productivity by 70% from the first week in our article "What is Onboarding and Why It Drives Employee Loyalty"

3. HR Process Administration

The least glamorous but critically important part of the job. This is where the difference between "doing everything manually" and "automating smartly" is most felt.

What falls under HR Generalist responsibilities:

• Time off and sick leave tracking (and yes, this means constant questions like "How many days do I have left?")

• Processing HR requests from employees: equipment, training, documents, expense reimbursements

• Managing employee files: position changes, promotions, grades, rates

• Managing absences and syncing with team calendars

How it works in Tallenta:

• Automatic calculation of vacation balances according to company policies

• Processing all HR requests through a single request window — without email chaos, with automatic approval routes

• Storing all employee information in one place — access in a few clicks, not searching through folders

• Syncing with Google Calendar so vacations automatically display as Out of Office

4. Performance Management

An HR Generalist doesn't just hire people—they help them grow within the company.

What falls under their responsibilities:

• Organizing 1-on-1 meetings between employees and managers

• Conducting engagement surveys (eNPS, Pulse Surveys)

• Preparing for Performance Reviews (goal setting, feedback collection, results analysis)

How it looks in Tallenta:
An HR Generalist can create and launch surveys through ready-made templates (eNPS, Pulse, post-onboarding surveys) or build custom ones through a flexible constructor. The entire history of 1-on-1s, goals, and Performance Review results is stored in one place — accessible to HR and managers at any time. The system automatically reminds about scheduled meetings, surveys, or goal reviews, so nothing gets lost or forgotten.

5. Corporate Culture and Employee Engagement

What an HR Generalist does:

• Organizes team buildings, corporate events, offline meetings

• Manages internal communications (announcements, news, team achievements)

• Implements wellbeing initiatives: mental health, sports activities, flexible schedules

Why this matters:
Corporate culture isn't about coffee machines and foosball tables. It's about whether people want to stay at the company. According to Glassdoor, 77% of candidates consider company culture before accepting an offer.

6. HR Analytics and Reporting

An HR Generalist is primarily a business partner who works with data and tracks it.

Which metrics does an HR Generalist track:

• Time-to-hire (how many days it takes to close a vacancy)

• Retention rate (how many people stay after 3/6/12 months)

• eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score — how likely employees are to recommend the company as an employer)

• Cost-per-hire (how much it costs to attract one employee)

How HR Generalists Automate Their Work: Tools and Solutions

If 57% of HR time is spent on administrative tasks: sending reminders, processing time off, preparing documents, answering the same questions — the question arises: why do this manually when you can automate?

What can (and should!) be automated:

• Onboarding through workflows — new hires receive all instructions, access, and tasks automatically, on schedule. HR just sets up the process once.

• Time off and absence tracking — the system automatically calculates balances, approves requests through the chain, syncs with Google Calendar. No Excel spreadsheets.

• HR requests (equipment, training, documents) — centralized request window where each request goes through an automatic route to the right person. No email chaos.

• Team surveys and performance reviews — launching automatic campaigns (eNPS, Pulse Surveys), one-click results analysis, feedback templates, storing conversation history and goals.

Read more about which HR processes to automate first and how to do it step by step — from onboarding to Performance Review — in our article "HR Process Automation: 4 Steps to Effective Team Management"

Real example:
In a Ukrainian IT company with 112 employees, implementing Tallenta allowed the HR Generalist to reduce administration time by 8-10 hours per week. Instead of manually approving every vacation request through messages, sending survey reminders through Google Forms, and manually collecting data for reports every month, she set up automatic workflows and focused on team development.

Results:
Time to process vacation requests decreased from 2-3 days to 4-6 hours, eNPS survey response rate increased from 42% to 68%, and the HR Generalist gained time for conducting 1-on-1s and building corporate culture.

Why Tallenta is the Solution for HR Generalists

• Business process constructor — set up onboarding, offboarding, HR requests for your company in an hour, no programmers needed

• Single request window — all requests (equipment, training, expense reimbursements) in one place with automatic routes

• Time off management — automatic balance calculation, calendar integration, flexible policies for different teams

• Surveys and engagement — eNPS templates, Pulse Surveys, real-time analytics

• Integrations — Google/Microsoft, Jira, calendars. Everything works together, no data duplication

Conclusion: HR Generalist — The Heart of HR Function in IT

An HR Generalist in IT isn't just a role. It's the backbone of the HR function, especially in growing companies. This is the person who hires, onboards, motivates, solves problems, and builds culture.

The key to success is the right skills (hard + soft) and smart automation of routine tasks. Because the less time spent processing vacation requests in Excel, the more time for live communication with people.

Using HRM systems like Tallenta allows HR Generalists to focus on people, not paperwork. And that's exactly what modern IT teams need.

Automate Your HR Generalist's Work with Tallenta

Tallenta is an HRM platform for IT companies that frees up 40% of HR team time.

Automate onboarding, time off tracking, HR requests, and surveys in one system. Let your HR Generalist focus on team development, not routine tasks.

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