The Best HR Forums and Communities to Join This Year

Besides keeping organisations running in top shape, it’s also the job of HR professionals to stay on top of HR trends and research.

One of the best ways to do this is to join forums and communities specific to the industry.

Online communities and forums can facilitate knowledge transfer and are conducive to building and sustaining business relationships. Additionally, these groups are great places to improve your knowledge in the field.

In this article, we’ll discuss the best HR forums and communities that deserve your attention this 2022.

The Top Forums and Communities To Join

1. Reddit: Human Resources

Reddit is an online platform specifically designed to build communities.

If you’re an HR professional, Reddit’s Human Resources subreddit is an online community that you need to check out right now. Here, people operating within the same industry – HR professionals, people who work with HR professionals, and people curious about the profession – can congregate and talk to one another.

As part of the Reddit platform, you’re free to discuss anything you want in this community, as long as you’re not violating the community standards of the subreddit. This way, you can engage in some fascinating discussions with strangers all around the world.

You can also introduce other relevant topics in r/HumanResources. From professional concerns to rants about one’s job, you can find everything in this community.

2. Reddit: Ask Human Resources

While the previous subreddit has a more general environment where everyone can field topics for everyone to discuss, r/AskHR is more focused on Redditors who have questions for HR professionals specifically.

Its upvote-based content curation makes it ideal for popular and relevant topics while discouraging the opposite.

In the r/AskHR subreddit, you can usually find interesting discussions about certain topics, from professional expectations to random people looking for advice about their situation.

Anyone can ask a question in this community, so there’s something to be gained by all kinds of HR professionals with varying experience.

3. Reddit: Human Resources UK

This community is essentially a more specific variation of the first community. r/HumanResourcesUK is the place for professionals from the United Kingdom to talk about relevant topics.

If you’re currently working or are planning to work in the country, then joining this subreddit will give you a glimpse of the UK HR industry’s behind-the-scenes. It can also be a great resource to build business connections, especially if you know how to create and sustain an online professional relationship.

You can also ask questions about topics relevant to HR in the UK. Things such as work culture, salary expectations, laws and regulations, and more can be picked up and discussed in this online community.

4. LinkedIn: Linked: HR

LinkedIn is a valuable professional networking website and is best known as a place to look for job openings. It also has a group feature with people of the same professional background who can gather to exchange information and network, among other things.

Linked: HR is a more regulated and professional version of the other online communities mentioned so far in this list. The group has just reached LinkedIn’s 1M member limit. Out of necessity, a filter was recently put in place to accept only senior HR professionals to the group.

If you qualify, Linked: HR is a valuable resource where you can expand your online network internationally, know about other forums, stay on top of industry news, and more.

That said, if you don’t qualify, don’t worry; there are still plenty of other communities that will be discussed below.

5. LinkedIn: HR Professionals

This is another LinkedIn group that hosts HR professionals worldwide.

Unlike the previous group, this group doesn’t require members to be senior HR professionals. On the other hand, they only welcome current or aspiring professionals in the industry. If you’re merely curious and don’t have the background to back it, there’s a high chance you might be rejected.

Nevertheless, if you can get in, this is a group where you can ask questions about professional HR matters. You can also make posts and elicit discussion about interesting topics and even job opportunities.

There are a few community rules about the kinds of things that you post. For instance, only quality and relevant information can be posted. No promotions are allowed, and there’s an expectation of a professional environment.

6. LinkedIn: Human Resources Professionals Worldwide

Another one of LinkedIn’s professional groups, Human Resources Professionals Worldwide is exactly how it sounds: a group of HR professionals from all around the world to network and discuss various topics together.

Here, HR professionals can post and create discussions once the group moderators approve their contributions. You can be sure that every post here will be relevant to the topic and valuable to the group.

Similar to the above, members are also not allowed to sell or solicit for services, events, and other groups.

7. LinkedIn: Personnel Today

Personnel Today is another LinkedIn group that can be a valuable resource for recruitment professionals.

It’s primarily focused on professionals living within the UK and is a platform for them to network with others and read industry news.

Unlike the previous LinkedIn HR groups, the moderators for this one are not as strict in their posting policy. While they don’t allow just anyone, they are more accepting than the other groups. Currently, the group has about 37,763 members.

8. HR Exchange

HR Exchange is a learning platform where people in the HR industry can network, learn, and get free resources.

The website's main purpose is to give HR and Healthy & Safety advice. These are helpful topics, especially in the midst of the pandemic and its changes to the workplace.

Additionally, it also offers online training courses and free webinars on topics like Management Development, Health and Safety, employment law, and more. It also includes free official resources, especially on relevant policy changes, National Minimum Wage, and more HR documents.

HR Exchange can be a useful website for UK-based professionals who are looking for a platform to definitively improve their industry expertise.

9. CiteHR Discussions

CiteHR is a website holding a vast library of discussions about anything and everything related to the HR industry. 

This website is a forum for HR professionals to talk about any relevant topic they might want to discuss. If you want to participate in the discussions, you need to register and create an account. As of this writing, the forum boasts 2.4 million users, with thousands active at any given time. 

It does its best to maintain a formal vibe, encouraging and enforcing professionalism. It also discusses industry-specific topics such as leave policies, bond breaking, workplace sexual harassment, and more.

10. HR Success Talk Forum

HR Success Talk Forum is another website for HR professionals to congregate and share ideas, answer questions, and talk about the industry.

It has an organised forum list that you can sort through, and you can also search for professional topics that you’re personally interested in.

The website features over 18 thousand members and tons of threads on topics such as talent acquisition, HR business partnering, analytics, and more.

One distinguishing aspect of this forum is that it seems free for most people to access. Even non-HR professionals interested in the field are free to look around, learn, and ask questions.

11. HRhelpboard HR Discussion Forum

HR Help Board is a website that aims to be a one-stop-shop for anything HR-related. It provides an international platform for member-contributed knowledge to prosper.

It’s also useful for professionals who want to know about events, industry news, job search, and more.

Membership is divided into two groups: Public and Corporate.

Anyone can register to be a Public member. Members can comment, submit queries, and discuss things in the forum. They can also look at the offers on the website and browse recent HR articles that tackle everything from CV-writing to HR software.

On the other hand, only Corporate accounts can post jobs. This is done via request only. If you want to have a Corporate account, you need to submit a ticket to the admins detailing your personal and company information.

Regardless of your account type, the HR Help Board is a website you can turn to whatever concerns you may have related to HR.

12. Employment & HR | UK Business Forums

UK Business Forums is another website for professionals in the HR industry to congregate and talk about various topics.

Although the site itself isn’t HR-specific, it does have a subforum dedicated to everything related to employment and HR.

Like all forums, the concept is rather simple. You just have to register for an account, and you can engage with the community. You can make posts, comment on threads, and read up on the latest news and events concerning business and HR in the UK.

There are plenty of topics to be discussed, including news and current affairs, HR careers, employment law, staff management, and more.

13. HR.com Forum

Hosted by HR.com, this is another useful HR forum for professionals to join. Like other forums, you can create an account and engage with the community. You can ask questions about topics that range from HR management, recruitment practices, and leadership qualities.

However, HR.com is also more than that. This forum is housed in a website that serves the HR industry around the world by providing them with educational resources, events, and more.

HR.com even offers certifications in HRCI and SHRM preparatory courses.

These preparatory educational materials are offered in live online classes, instructor-led videos, and more, with a money-back guarantee if you fail your certification exam in the future. These materials are handy for professionals who want in-depth review before taking licensures and certifications.

14. In-house Recruitment

In-house Recruitment is a community specifically for UK-based in-house recruiters. With over 20 thousand members, 150 industry partners, and 70 associated events, it's a comprehensive community that professionals can gain a lot from.

The website features several hosted and sponsored events. It also contains whitepapers, videos, research, and statistics about the industry that are freely accessible on the website.

The community that Inhouse Recruitment hosts is based on LinkedIn and currently has over 7 thousand members.

15. Slack: HRtoHR

HRtoHR is a revolutionary concept that attempts to blend the high-value knowledge sharing of conferences to the permanence and connectivity of communities.

This is a Slack-based community that continually shares knowledge about the industry. Whether you’re talking about new HR tools, best HR practices, everyday struggles, and more, the HRtoHR Slack community has a place for you.

It’s completely free to join, and since it’s based on a highly active messaging platform, it’s can also be more engaging than some of the forums discussed.

Best HR Forums and Communities to Join in 2022

Surrounding yourself with a group of like-minded individuals creates an environment for learning and growth.

Being constantly in contact with people from our own industry facilitates great knowledge transfer and provides an excellent opportunity to enhance our business relationships.

If you want to learn more about the industry, joining online groups can be invaluable. Now that you know the 15 best HR forums and communities to join this year, you can have a head start!