It’s a classic function that doesn’t really seem important until all of a sudden it is.
As a founder you often need to learn a new skill before you hire someone to do it.
Any advice or experiences from anyone who had to learn how to do HR, whilst not really being a people person would also be greatly appreciated!
Recruiting? (Probably shouldn't be considered an HR function in an SMB.)
Benefits? (Probably taken care of by your HR platform like Justworks, at least at a small enough company.)
State compliance training? (Like the yearly required sexual harrasment training required by NY state. Hopefully covered by Justworks or similar platforms.)
Diversity and inclusion? (Better addressed by all hiring managers/top down rather than just left to HR.)
HR can be a broad category of "things managers don't feel like doing" and some things you are legally required to do.
Since you didn't mention any examples it's hard to know which parts you're thinking of.
Big companies have HR run interference so the company doesn't get sued. That is its only real function.
In a small company, if you are struggling with interpersonal conflicts you don't need HR skills, you need people skills. Empathy is the biggest one. It can be temporarily outsourced to people who do conflict resolution.